I’m writing to you with a heavy heart, as I must announce that this will be my final installment of the No Fly List blog. By the time you read this, I will be moving my life from Seattle, Washington, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Sometimes I think only a real idiot would leave behind a Corporate Associate position at Sub Pop Records, but the siren call of zydeco and drum buddies is too strong for me to resist.
I’ve been humbled by the many accolades that the No Fly List has received under my stewardship, including “The Only Airport Record Store Blog,” “Most Punctual Monthly Column on SubPop.Com,” and “Best Display of Crass Marketing Disguised as Blogging.” However, as I move on from my Internet throne, the No Fly List will live on, and I am excited to see what other folks from the airport store do with this blog. So stay tuned and get your eyeballs ready for some #fresh #original #authentic #curated #airportstore #blog #content next month.
I would like to use my last blog to air some final grievances and address all my personal vendettas list some of the things I will miss about working at the Sub Pop Airport store.
-The way that ’Sub Pop’ rolls off the tongues of people who are saying it for the first time in their lives. Sometimes their inflection drags on the “B,” and then emphasizes the second vowel so much it turns into an onomatopoeia, making a noise like “subbbbb POP.” For others, it’s more of a questioning, high rising intonation (a.k.a., that thing? Where all your sentences? Sound like questions?) which sounds like “Sup? Pod?”
-The people who desperately want to refold a stack of shirts that they’ve messed up, but just end up making it look worse and harder to fix. I usually try to say something like “I’m a professional shirt folder, you can mess up all the shirts you want, please don’t feel obligated to refold them.” But they try to be helpful anyway, and I love them dearly for this.
-The mystery person(s) that tried to steal our polaroid of (two members of) The 1975, and made us use a bunch of staples to keep it attached to the wall:
-The following people who were gracious enough to let me fumble my way around photographing them for our store’s polaroid wall: Elvis Costello, Nardwuar, Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, Jonathan Meiburg, and David Hinds.
-The following people who I met but was not able to photograph at the store, for a litany of reasons, but all seemed very nice: Dan Boeckner, Jemaine Clement, Randy Johnson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jason Schwartzman, Noel Gallagher, John Curley, and Eric Kretz.
-Adults who put on our child’s-size-only bucket hats. I usually don’t have the heart to burst their bubble, when I know they’re only trying to copy their favorite band’s look.
-The man who saw our “Spanning the Globe for Profit” shirt, and with venom in his eyes, asked me if our company was like Wal-Mart or Halliburton. When I told him we are a medium-sized independent record label with a cheeky sense of humor, he countered with “Well, but do you make the world a better place?” and stormed off before I could launch into some of the things that have made me incredibly proud to work here. (Just kidding, I won’t miss that asshole at all.)
-Everyone who makes Sub Pop the best place to work. This includes my fellow coworkers, the many fans who continue to be psyched to see Sub Pop at the airport, the many more people who have no idea what the hell Sub Pop is (but are open and enthused to learn more about it), and if you’re reading this, YOU.
This past Friday, Beach House appeared on Charlie Rose on PBS. The group sat for an in-depth interview and performed “Rough Song” and “The Traveller” from their latest release Thank Your Lucky Stars. In case you missed it, you can now watch here.
Beach House’s previously announced tour schedule in support of Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry is underway with a show tonight, Tuesday, August 9th in Spokane at Knitting Factory and runs through November 4th-6th in Austin at Sound on Sound Festival. Highlights for the trek include: a club and theatre tour August 8th-26th; FYF in Los Angeles on August 28th; And Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh on September 9th. Please find a full list of tour dates below.
Beach House recently delivered an official video for “The Traveller,” from Thank Your Lucky Stars. The new visual was directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford can be viewed right here.
Tour Dates + Ticket Links Aug. 09 - Spokane, Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory* Aug. 10 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theater* Aug. 12 - Sioux Falls, ID - The District* Aug. 13 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival Aug. 16 - Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe @ Old National Centre* Aug. 17 - Louisville, KY - Headliner’s Music Hall* Aug. 19 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note* Aug. 20 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater* Aug. 22 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater* Aug. 24 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues* Aug. 26 - Los Angeles, CA - Theater at Ace Hotel* Aug. 28 - Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest Sep. 09 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival Nov. 04 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival Nov. 05 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival Nov. 06 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival *w/ Entrance
Here for your listening pleasure is “Alarms,” the latest offering from GOAT’s forthcoming longplayer, Requiem (out October 7th). “Alarms” highlights the folk influence that runs through Requiem, with acoustic guitars and hand-percussion instruments driving the song, while retaining the hypnotic vocals and fuzz-drenched guitar leads the band is known for.
Requiem finds GOAT focusing more on their subdued, bucolic ritualism than psilocybin freakouts, with a pronounced folk-rock influence pervading the album. But GOAT hasn’t foregone their fiery charms—tracks like “All-Seeing Eye” and “Goatfuzz” conjure the sultry pulsations that ensnared us on 2012’s World Music and 2014’s Commune.
Requiem will be available in North America on CD / 2xLP / DL / CASS on October 7th, 2016. (via Stranded Rekords in Nordic countries, and Rocket Recordings in the rest of the world.) North American fans can (and should) preorder* the new record here.
*LP pre-orders through the Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent record stores will receive the limited Loser Edition on translucent red vinyl with black streaks (as pictured above) while supplies last.
GOAT recently announced some European shows, with more dates to follow. Current performance schedule is as follows:
Clipping just dropped their official video for “Air ‘Em Out,” another stellar track off their upcoming Sci-Fi/dystopian concept album Splendor & Misery (outSeptember 9th via Sub Pop and Deathbomb Arc.
Lopez Estrada says of the clip, “I met with clipping a few months ago to talk about potential ideas for this video and Jonathan half jokingly said that we should put Daveed in zero gravity. I emailed them back a few days later saying “I know you were kidding, but what if we do?” We then embarked on a wonderful creative journey of scrappy visual effect techniques and ended up with our own janky version of zero gravity, which turned up to be a pretty cool thing, I believe.”
Splendor & Misery is led by the highlights “Baby Don’t Sleep,” “A Better Place,” and the aforementioned “Air ‘Em Out,”and is now available for preorder on CD/LP/DL/CASS from Sub Pop [here] and Deathbomb Arc [here]. Preorders through Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent retailers near you will receive the Loser edition - pictured above - on crystal clear vinyl while supplies last.
Additionally, Wriggle, the group’s recent surprise EP, is also available [right over here].
Clipping’s current tour schedule in support of Wriggle and Splendor & Misery includes: A hometown release show on September 8th in Los Angeles at Highways Performance Space (with Busdriver and Pedestrian Deposit); September 11th at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival; And September 30th in Los Angeles at the Smell. More dates will be announced soon, and the current schedule is below.
[Photo Credit: Sarah Sitkin]
Tour Dates + Ticket Links Sep. 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Highways Performance Space* Sep. 11 - San Francisco, CA - San Francisco Electronic Music Festival Sep. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - The Smell (Benefit Show)** * w/ Busdriver, Pedestrian Deposit ** w/ The Mae Shi
Experimental Noise Hip-Hop trio Clipping made its network television debut on the Late, Late Show with James Corden just last night, performing “A Better Place” off Splendor & Misery (stream the album here). Set your sights on this magnificent performance right here, right now.
Corden also caught up with Diggs about a number of topics, including texting regularly with his childhood hero, MC Hammer [watch it here].
Clipping is also the subject of features this week, in both the Los Angeles Times [link] and The New York Times [link].
Splendor & Misery, Clipping’s Sci-Fi/dystopian concept album, is out Friday, September 9th on CD/LP/DL/CASS, worldwide from Sub Pop [link here] and Deathbomb Arc [link here]. The album is led by highlight tracks “Baby Don’t Sleep,” “A Better Place,” and “Air ‘Em Out,”
Preorders through Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent retailers near you will receive the Loser edition on crystal clear vinyl (while supplies last; we’re nearly sold out of these beauties in the Mega Mart).
Clipping’s current tour schedule in support of Splendor & Misery and its summer predecessor, the Wriggle EP (get it here), includes: two hometown appearances tonight, Thursday, September 8th beginning with an in-store at Amoeba Records in Hollywood (6pm), and concluding with a headline show at Highways Performance Space with Busdriver and Pedestrian Deposit (9pm); September 11th at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival.
TOUR UPDATE - Dates added as follows: beginning October 26th in Brooklyn at the Market Hotel and ending November 4th in Austin at Sound on Sound Music Festival. Along the way, the group will see support from Youth Code (October 26-November 2nd). Preceding the tour there will be two Southern California shows including the just-announced appearance on September 24th at Music Tastes Good Festival, and September 30th in Los Angeles at the Smell with The Mae Shi. There will be additional live dates announced soon, but for now see current dates below.
Recently, Clipping also released the gravity-defying “Air ‘Em Out” visual, which was directed by returning director Carlos Lopez Estrada (“Work Work,” “Inside Out”), and stars the group’s lyricist/frontman Daveed Diggs. (yes, he’s that Hamilton Musical, Tony Award Winning actor.)
[Photo Credit: Brian Tamborello]
What precisely have The People said about Splendor & Misery? We’re glad you asked:
“A magnificent, nerve-jangling and altogether rather riveting blast of unflinching white noise and throb, virtuoso rapping and, most improbable of all, richly romantic gospel-choir interludes designed as much to disconcert as to offer tuneful respite from and guidance through the surrounding sonic shrapnel.” [9/10, Album of the Week] - Loud & Quiet
“A hugely inventive slab of sonic theatre plotted to the tiniest detail..” [4/5] - MOJO
“Replete with sci-fi references and nudges to Afrofuturist musicians before them, the album confronts the crushing darkness inherent to the alienation of black diaspora and speculates on the identity as an intrinsically fluid process. Splendor & Misery is sincere and staunchly ambitious. With it, clipping. Have solidified their position at the forefront of experimental music.” [8.6/10] - Northern Transmissions
“The production, helmed by dual composers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, make use of field recording techniques only instead of chimes and sampled radio alarms, the sharp clangs of breached hulls and airlocks closing are the content used to create these paranoia inducing and dissonant instrumentals. What makes Splendor & Misery beckon for repeat listens, bar Daveed Diggs torrential flow, is how concise and dense the record is. It flows like a satellite in orbit, emerging over horizons witnessing serene beauty only to encounter disruptive asteroid belts moments later like the three ‘Interlude’ tracks where Daveed spits over broken and static-laced connections.” [8/10] - CLASH
“Utterly uncomfortable, but with such an imaginative foundation that you can’t help but feel invited back to try to learn a little more about the strange and beautiful world of Clipping.” [8/10] - Under the Radar
“The space hiphoperatics of California trio Clipping extend the story of the middle passage into the cosmos.” [Album review] - The Wire
“It’s Afro-futurist dystopia from an album…that tells the “Her”-like love story of a man who survives a slave uprising on an interstellar ship and an onboard computer. That might explain the industrial sounds, pre- and post-digital revolution, and the sense of disorientation; but you don’t need to know it to feel the track’s organization and power.” [“Baby Don’t Sleep,” Playlist] - New York Times
“Beatmakers Snipes and Hutson send you plummeting into the mainframe with a musique concrète cut-up beat of television fuzz and white noise. Negative space sucks the air out of your chest as Diggs raps in an arresting staccato, deconstructing the hegemony in a most deliberate manner: “Saviors are fiction / memories are fading like ghosts.” [“Baby Don’t Sleep”] - Passion of the Weiss
“This bangs, in the most enervating fashion possible.” [“Baby Don’t Sleep”] - Stereogum
“Spirits are present in clipping.’s video for “Air ‘Em Out.” We open on frontman Daveed Diggs settling in to another shift at his jumpsuit-requiring place of employment. As the beat builds, however, mysterious tremors start to unsettle Diggs and the litany of office supplies at his desk. It’s another top-quality video from a group that has made a habit of just that, a simple idea perfectly executed.” [“Air ‘Em Out,” Best Videos of August 2016] - Pigeons & Planes
We’ve got new music for you from the lads of LVL UP; now hear ”Spirit Was,” the third single from their highly anticipated upcoming third album (aka their Sub Pop debut), Return To Love. “Spirit Was” comes hot on the heels of two previously released singles off Return to Love, both of which are available to surprise and delight your ears: ”Pain” and ”Hidden Driver”.
LVL UP have also expanded their Fall tour which includes a Record Release show at Market Hotel in Brooklyn, NY and dates with Bear vs Shark, Alex G and Eskimeaux. Details are below.
[Photo Credit: Shawn Brackbill]
Return To Love is currently available for pre-order; LP pre-orders through Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent retailers near you will receive the limited Loser Edition on Orange Creamsicle Swirl vinyl (while supplies last).
Might we suggest you follow LVL UP on every one of their social channels, namely Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? Oh there, I think we just did.
