In “Seven Wheel Motion” colossal drums puncture walls of labyrinthine noise sculpted from deranged synthesizers and mutated guitars, yielding an absolute powerhouse of a track. Butler seems to rap in dialogue with himself, detailing a threatening streetscape and shaping the experience into personal realizations.
In the “Seven Wheel Motion” visual, the song soundtracks the fantastical “Twin Queen Tryst” short film. Set in an alien landscape, a queen (played by Rhonda Faison of Shabazz Palaces “Déesse Du Sang” video) sends her royal subject (played by The Palaceer) on a quest for a magical jewel. Along the way, he encounters a mystical being (played by OCnotes) who helps the subject with his quest to return the jewel to the queen. This wild new video also features scene art by Olde Nightrifter and cinematography from Futsum Tsegai.
Knife Knights (The Palaceer aka Ishmael Butler, Erik Blood, OCnotes and Marquetta Miller) have a scheduled performance in Seattle on Wednesday, October 16th at Earshot Jazz Festival (at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute).
[Photo Credit: Justin Henning]
1 Time Mirage is out now on CD/LP/DL/CS worldwide from Sub Pop. The long-player features the highlights the aforementioned “My Dreams Never Sleep” along with “Give You Game,”“Seven Wheel Motion,”“Light Up Ahead (Time Mirage)” and “Low Key,” and was as produced by Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle. 1 Time Mirage includes guest appearances from labelmates Shabazz Palaces and Porter Ray, along with Stas THEE Boss, OCnotes, Thaddillac, El Mizell, Marquetta Miller, Gerald Turner, and Darrius Willrich.
1 Time Mirage orders through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers and Knife Knights shows will receive the limited Loser edition on blue vinyl (while supplies last). The album cover also features gorgeous artwork from Robert Beatty.
Seattle band Tacocat set off on a European tour starting Saturday, August 24th in support of This Mess Is a Place, their new full-length album. This Mess Is a Place is their first for Sub Pop, and heralds a more pop-driven and ebullient direction in their sound.
Today, they’ve shared a charming new claymation music video for “Crystal Ball” from director Violet Crabtree, premiered via the good music listeners at Clash Magazine. Watch it at Clash, watch it above, or watch it on the band’s YouTube channel. Then see here, a full list of upcoming overseas shows:
Aug 24 - Leeds, UK - This Must Be The Place, Belgrave Music Hall Aug 25 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast Aug 27 - Manchester, UK - Gullivers Aug 28 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach Aug 29 - London, UK - Moth Club Aug 30 - Brighton, UK - Hope and Ruin Aug 31 - Paris, FR - Supersonic Sep 01 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Sep 03 - Nijmegen, NL - Merleyn Sep 04 - Groningen, NL - Vera Sep 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Sep 06 - Eindoven, NL - Alstadt Sep 07 - Rottderdam, NL - Rotown Sep 09 - Nuremberg, DE - Kantine Sep 10 - Berlin, DE - Marie Antoinette Sep 11 - Hamburg, DE - Goldoner Saloon Sep 13 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen Sep 14 - Oslo, NO - Revolver Sep 15 - Stockholm, SE - Obaren Oct 31 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
Available worldwide in all DSPs from Sub Pop and in Canada through Royal Mountain Records.
Cartel Madras (aka Eboshi and Contra) have shared official video for “Lil Pump Type Beat,” the duo’s hyperkinetic (and cheekily-titled) new single, directed by Asim Overstands and Vince Raquel, and produced by Thotpolice (see Hip Hop DXpremiere September 4th).
Cartel Madras members Eboshi and Contra had this to say of the “Lil Pump Type Beat, “We wanted to make a fun trap song that captures the explosive energy of our live shows. We also wanted to give a nod to type beats and their ubiquity. Our shows often turn into sweaty mosh pits, so the video had to be an extension of that. It was really fun - especially having a ton of shirtless dudes moshing while we dictate the energy in the video from the middle, with the drip.”
The “Lil Pump Type Beat” single was produced by Cartel Madras, Oso Familiar, and Casey Lewis, mixed by Jae Sterling and Lewis at Echo Base Studio in Calgary, and is available now at all DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records. The track is from Age of The Goonda, the duo’s forthcoming EP, out November 1st, 2019.
Cartel Madras Tour Dates
Cartel Madras has scheduled a series of Canadian dates for the remained of 2019, which span September 8th in Winnipeg, Manitoba at Bastid BBQ through November 16th in Oshawa, Ontario at The Music Hall. Along the way, the duo will support Hollerado (November 14th-16th), make appearances at the Bastid BBQ (with DJ Maseo of De La Soul and Lil Brother), Quebec’s LVL Up Festival, and Toronto’s RBC Echo Beach (with Mac DeMarco, Prince Innocence, Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa). There will be U.S. live dates announced soon.
Sep. 08 - Winnipeg, MB - Bastid’s BBQ (at La Carnita) ^ Sep. 21 - Laval, QC - LVL Up Festival (at Place Bell Esplanade - Outdoor) Sep. 24 - Toronto, ON - RBC Echo Beach # Nov. 14 - Peterborough, ON - Red Dog Tavern* Nov. 15 - London, ON - Rum Runners Music Hall* Nov. 16 - Oshawa, ON - The Music Hall*
* w/ Hollerado ^ w/ Dj Maseo of De La Soul, Brother Ali # w/ with Mac DeMarco, Prince Innocence, Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa
1. The powerful juxtaposition of a Western term aimed at ghettoizing other cultures and the English colonial name foisted on Chennai, India; 2. A queer, female, Desi act igniting a revolution because they’re sick of this bullshit
“We really want people who come to our shows to feel like they’ve been punched in the face,” says Contra, one-half of rap provocateurs Cartel Madras, of their FOMO-inducing live shows. “It’s like a riot just passed you, and you’re like, ‘What was that? What did I just experience?’” But also, “‘How do I do that again?’”
Cartel Madras also includes Contra’s sibling, Eboshi—both born in Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and raised in Calgary, Canada. Like their upbringing, their music is a cultural syncretism, a heady mix of trap with punk, house, and South Indian aesthetics that they’ve anointed “goonda rap.” Their second EP is Age of the Goonda, a sonically expansive successor to their first EP, Trapistan, which boasted the party-down hit “Pork & Leek. A manifesto for the times, Age of the Goonda is an in-your-face call to arms for—immigrants, women of color, the LGBTQ+ community, Desis (a.k.a. Westernized Indians)—those who must resist being treated as underdogs (read more at Sub Pop dotcom).
Updated international tour dates October 23rd -December 13th, 2019.
Montreal’s Corridor will release Junior, their Sub Pop debut, on CD/LP/DL/CS October 18th, 2019 worldwide through Sub Pop with the exception of Canada through Bonsound. With Junior, the group make the most dazzling, immediate and inventive album of their young career: 39 minutes of darting and dodging guitars, spiraling vocal harmonies, and the complicated, goldenrod nostalgia of a Sunday mid-afternoon. The album features the singles “Topographe,” “Grand Cheval,” “Pow,” “Domino” and the title track, and was produced by Emmanuel Éthier, engineered by Samuel Gemme, mixed by Éthier and Gemme in Montreal at ReelRoad Studios, and mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering in New York.
You can now watch the new Monty Python-esque animated video for “Topographe,” which stars the band themselves. Corridor’s Jonathan Robert directed the visual and had this to say, “While I’ve explored and mixed many different techniques in my past music videos, it’s the first time that I took the process this far, blending all of them together in one place. It’s a melting pot of stop motion, green screen, illustration, animation, collage, and live video. It’s the visual equivalent of the progression of the song, a simple idea that takes amplitude through repetition.”
Corridor Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Corridor has extended its international tour schedule in support ofJunior, which span October 23rd in Philadelphia at Boot & Saddle and currently end December 13th in Los Angeles at Morrocan Lounge. New highlights for this time frame include: Brooklyn’s Union Pool (October 24th); Nyon, Switzerland at La Parenthese (October 31st); Soy Music Festival in Nantes, France (November 2nd); and Vancouver, BC at Astoria (December 8th). For more information on tickets, visit Corridor’s Sub Pop tour dates page.
Oct. 23 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Oct. 24 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool Oct. 25 - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong Oct. 29 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso (Upstairs) Oct. 31 - Nyon, CH - La Parenthese Nov. 02 - Nantes, FR - Soy Music Festival Nov. 04 - Paris, FR - Point Ephemere Nov. 06 - London, UK - The Waiting Room Nov. 08 - Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang Nov. 09 - Berlin, DE - Westgermany Nov. 10 - Kortrijk, BE - Sonic City Music Festival Nov. 20 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison* Nov. 22 - Montreal, QC - M for Montreal Festival (Le National) * Nov. 28 - Quebec City, QC - l’Anti Dec. 04 - San Francisco, CA - Milk Bar Dec. 07 - Portland, OR - Bunk Bar # Dec. 08 - Vancouver, BC - Astoria ^ Dec. 10 - Seattle, WA - Barboza Dec. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge
* w/ Absolutely Free # w/ The Woolen Man ^ w/ N0V3L
Corridor’s Junior is now available to preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on Soft-Boiled colored vinyl (while supplies last). Meanwhile, LP preorders of Junior throughout the UK and Europe from select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on Egg Yolk colored vinyl (while supplies last).
Junior Tracklisting:
1. Topographe 2. Junior 3. Domino 4. Goldie 5. Agent double 6. Microscopie 7. Grand cheval 8. Milan 9. Pow 10. Bang
About Corridor’s Junior: Corridor are a group from Montreal and their Sub Pop debut, Junior, was made just yesterday. The rock’n’roll band had barely inked their record deal when they surfed into studio, racing against time to make the most dazzling, immediate and inventive album of their young career: 39 minutes of darting and dodging guitars, spiraling vocal harmonies, and the complicated, goldenrod nostalgia of a Sunday mid-afternoon.
This ain’t Corridor’s first rodeo. Junior is the band’s third full-length and their third recorded with their friend, producer (and occasionally roommate) Emmanuel Ethier. However 2015’s Le Voyage Éterneland 2017’s Supermercado were made languorously, their songs taking shape across whole seasons. This time Dominic Berthiaume (vocals/bass), Julian Perreault (guitar), Jonathan Robert (vocals/guitar/synths), and Julien Bakvis (drums) permitted themselves no such indulgence. The band were committed to releasing an album every two years, and for Junior it required a blitz. “If you want to release something this fall, we need the masters by the 10th of May,” the label had warned them. Winter was already in its last throes: on March 1, Corridor went into studio; in mid-April, Corridor came out. They had somehow created Junior and it was, if we may be so bold, spectacular.
Singers, two guitars, bass, drums: the timelessness of the setup underpins the timelessness of the sound, a rock’n’roll borrowing from each of the past six decades—punk and pop, psych and jangle, daydream and swoon. This is music that’s muscular, exciting and full of love, its riffs a kind of medicine. Whereas Corridor’s past work could sometimes seem overstuffed, twenty ideas to the same song, the new work is hypnotic, distilled. “Part of the beauty of the thing is that we didn’t have time to think about it,” says Berthiaume. Six of Junior’s 10 tracks were conceived during a single weekend. The words to “Bang” were written on the eve of the sessions, as Robert began to panic: “Je payerai tôt ou tard,” he sings: I’ll pay, sooner or later. Fewer jams, fewer overdubs—no fortnight in the countryside, secluding themselves in a chalet. Even the artwork came in the nick of time: in spite of other, meticulous, masterpieces, Robert’s “shitty last-minute collage” (of an egg saying hello) was the one his bandmates went for.
That might be Corridor’s best trick—their mixture of seriousness and whimsy. Songs like “Miscroscopie” and the standout “Domino” are purposeful, full of songcraft, even as they let loose, slip their collar. “Topographe“‘s all call and answer, like rival Cupids shooting arrows at each other across a ravine. “Pow” and “Goldie” are like hurtling racecars, or teams of horses, accelerating towards a memory. And Junior’s title track—by turns twitchy and anthemic—is in fact a tribute to Perreault, their “joueur étoile,” star player: in spite of his disappointed parents (“parents déçus”), he’s Corridor’s VIP. Junior’s ten tracks are filled with tributes like this, impressionistic portraits of characters in the band-members’ lives. Their tone is affectionate, the meaning hazy—even if you speak French.
Sub Pop have never before, in their 33-year history, signed a Francophone act. Maybe the band’s magic springs from their ingenious hooks, their topaz-tinted vision. Maybe it’s the panache of Québec’s insurgent underground scene, or the camaraderie of Robert and Berthiaume, who have played together since they were 14. Maybe it’s their name—a hallway crossed with a toreador. Probably it’s all of these, and none of them: Junior is a joy, a hasty miracle, because it’s so much damn fun to listen to. This album is 39 minutes; each day has 24 hours; you can listen 36 times before tomorrow.
[Photo Credit: Dominic Berthiaume of Corridor]
What people are saying about Corridor:
“The Montreal band Corridor knows how to highlight its strengths while getting in and out of a song with maximum efficiency: Sung in French, “Coup d’épée” only needs a little more than two minutes to let its robust guitar sound — a kind of weaponized jangle — fully worm its way in your head.” [“Coup d’épée” / Supermercado] - NPR Music
“Supermercado is the best French record of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and even 2022 (for all we know, at least, since I doubt the Earth will explode exactly at midnight on January 1, 2022, even if it’s a possibility we shouldn’t ignore).” - Vice
“Their jangly, synth-pop-tinged sound will entrance fans of the genre and post-punk newbies alike. On their latest LP, Supermercado, post-punk fans will gravitate towards their tight, neat percussion and spasmodic guitars while others will get lost in their bright vocals and spellbinding soundscapes.” [Supermercado] - PASTE
“Corridor sing entirely en Français. Don’t let that put you off though: the creativity and abundance of killer tunes found on their acid-baked 2017 album Supermercado breaks through the language barrier. Corridor are even better live, with a real joie de rock that knows no borders — guitars slash, harmonies soar, bodies a constant blur.” [Supermercado] - Brooklyn Vegan
Their Reddit Indieheads AMA is tomorrow, Sep. 6th at 9:00 am PST/12:00 pm EST.
Frankie Cosmos’ fourth studio album, Close It Quietly is out tomorrow, Sep. 6th worldwide via Sub Pop Records. This album is a manifestation of the band’s collaborative spirit: Greta Kline and longtime bandmates Lauren Martin (synth), Luke Pyenson (drums), and Alex Bailey (bass) luxuriated in studio time with Gabe Wax, who engineered and co-produced the record with the band at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios.
In celebration of the release of Close It Quietly, the band has shared a new video for “41st” which features tour footage from the bands Spring 2019 European tour with close friends, Ian Sweet. Watch it here or watch ithere.
Frankie Cosmos’ frontperson, Greta Kline will be camped out at her computer tomorrow, Sep. 6th starting at 9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET to answer any and all of your Frankie Cosmos queries. You can access the REDDIT r/indieheads AMA by clickinghere.
Close It Quietly is available from Sub Pop starting Friday, September 6th. LP preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on blue pearlescent (North America) and opaque yellow (UK/EU) while supplies last.
The “Puppy” version is a Stuffed Animal CD version of the album. A cute stuffed dog acts as the packaging for a CD version of “Close It Quietly”. Super cute. Super limited!
Headlining shows for October 2019 in Brooklyn, DC, Toronto, and Oakland also announced.
Clipping has delivered a lyric video for “La Mala Ordina”, a new single featuring rappers Benny The Butcher (Griselda/Shady Records) and Elcamino (Black Soprano Family), and harsh noise artist The Rita. The lyric video was made by the band itself, with Cristina Bercovitz. The track is a standout from Clipping’s forthcoming album,There Existed an Addiction to Blood, available on Friday, October 18th worldwide from Sub Pop.
There Existed an Addiction to Blood finds Clipping interpreting another rap splinter sect through their singular lens. This is Clipping’s transmutation of horrorcore, a purposefully absurdist and creatively significant sub-genre that flourished in the mid-90s. If some of its most notable pioneers included Brotha Lynch Hung and Gravediggaz, it also encompasses seminal works from the Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and the near-entirety of classic Memphis cassette tape rap.
The most subversive and experimental rap has often presented itself as an “alternative” to conventional sounds, but Clipping respectfully warp them into new constellations. There Existed an Addiction to Blood absorbs the hyper-violent horror tropes of the Murder Dog era, but re-imagines them in a new light: still darkly-tinted and somber, but in a weirder and more vivid hue. If traditional horrorcore was akin to Blacula, the hugely popular blaxploitation flick from the early 70s, Clipping’s latest is analogous to Ganja & Hess, the blood-sipping 1973 cult classic regarded as an unsung landmark of black independent cinema, whose score by Sam Waymon, the band samples on “Blood of the Fang” and inspired the album’s title.
There Existed an Addiction to Blood features the singles “Nothing Is Safe,” “Blood of the Fang,” and the aforementioned “La Mala Ordina,” and was produced by Clipping, mixed by Steve Kaplan, and mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysium Masters in Los Angeles. The album also features appearances from Ed Balloon, La Chat, Counterfeit Madison, and Pedestrian Deposit.
[Photo credit: Cristina Bercorvitz]
Clipping Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Clipping has just announced their first headlining shows in nearly 3 years in support of There Existed an Addiction to Blood which span October 9th in Brooklyn at Zone One at Elsewhere and currently end October 14th in Oakland at The New Parish. Additionally, the band will perform on Saturday, November 16th at the 2019 Adult Swim Festival in Los Angeles.
Oct. 09 - Brooklyn, NY - Zone One at Elsewhere Oct. 10 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall Oct. 11 -Toronto, ON - The Garrison Oct. 14 - Oakland, CA - The New Parish Nov. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - Adult Swim Festival
