Marika Hackman has delivered a gorgeous live performance of the Elliott Smith classic “Between the Bars”. Her interpretation of the song is from Covers, a darkly beautiful, self-produced album out now via Sub Pop in the Americas and Transgressive for the rest of the world. The “Between the Bars” live performance, which was filmed in an abandoned swimming pool, was directed and shot by Natàlia Pagès Geli and Tom Palliser, produced by Grace Manning, and mixed by Matthew Daly for Stolen Sessions.
Discussing the cover, Hackman offers: “Out of everything on this record, I kept “Between the Bars” closest to the original. On the Any Human Friend tours in 2019, I started playing it in the set - I hope you like this version from the livestream. I just wanted to do a really good performance of it, more like an homage than a cover.”
During the extended stay-at-home orders of the last few months, Marika felt that creating a covers record was a way of exploring new sound ideas and expressing herself without having the pressure of a blank page. She recorded and produced Covers between her home and her parents’ house, then got David Wrench to mix it. In contrast to her last two albums (2019’s Any Human Friend & 2017’s I’m Not Your Man), this collection of songs is more akin in tone and feel to her debut We Slept At Last, with a darker and more introspective sound. On Covers, we hear Marika’s emotive voice set against sparse arrangements of guitars and strings with the occasional synth or scattered drum groove.
Breathing new life into the songs she’s chosen, Marika reimagines work by some of the world’s most beloved artists, such as Radiohead, Air, Sharon Van Etten and more. It’s a suitably varied collection, but Marika’s intimate delivery and soft, nuanced and atmospheric touch to production, thread them all together effortlessly.
Marika explains how she came to choose the material: “When it comes to covers, I like to pick songs which I have been listening to obsessively for a while. It gives me a natural understanding of the music, and lets me be more innovative with how I transform it.”
Adventurous and versatile, Covers continues Marika’s lineage in turning each body of work into a new take and perspective on her creative vision. She twists and turns, always surprises, and is never afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve. It remains anyone’s guess to imagine where she will head next.
What people are saying about Marika Hackman’s Covers: “Covers… It’s a nuanced handling of some of her recent recent song obsessions, which need no theme and are bound together by her voice - irresistibly silken and alluringly forlorn -and and overall, introspective hush (8/10).”- Uncut
“Marika’s ability to truly make each song her own is her biggest strength, giving her selection here a reassuringly even sonic energy.” ★★★★ -DIY
“Covers is a magnificent experiment, filled with a mellifluous melancholy, bittersweet on the ears. (8/10).” - Gigwise
“A brilliantly self-produced album conceived and recorded behind doors: a close-quartered and at times uneasy listen, that both speaks to and provides an odd comfort for the current times.” - NME
“The ten track album is a very intimate joy; it’s the sound of an artist retracing their own steps back to the beginning to relocate the catalyst that began the whole endeavour in the first place.” - The Forty Five “Her ‘All Night’ is distorted, expansive and no less sensual than the original, its lyrics – “Kiss up and rub up and feel up on you” – very much in Hackman’s wheelhouse” - The Independent
“…A back-to-basics approach, keeping arrangements simple and focusing on her unique reworkings of the essential melodies and moods at the heart of these tracks.” - The AV Club
“What I think is really special about it, is that she curates, chooses these covers in a way that is almost like a form of writing…” - NPR Music
“Hackman gives us a glimpse into her quarantine playlist. And even more impressive, she tangibly shows us why these songs are so special, breaking them down to their core, and letting them speak for themselves.” - Under the Radar
Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” is the legendary group’s rendition of the black national anthem, recorded for MLK/FBI, the forthcoming Critics’ Choice award winner for “Best Archival Documentary” and multiple IDA-award nominee. The official video for the song features footage from the film, and is co-directed by Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Ben Jaffe and Kenneth Alexander Campbell. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is available now worldwide at all DSPs through Sub Pop.
[Photo credit: Dru Bui]
The Preservation Hall musicians who perform on “Lift Every Voice and Sing” include Charlie Gabriel (Tenor Saxophone), Wendell Brunious (Flugelhorn), Ronell Johnson (Piano, Organ, Trombone), Kyle Roussel (Piano), Ben Jaffe (Upright Bass), and Walter Harris (Drum Set) and are joined friends by Louis Ford (Tenor Saxophone), Walter Harris (Drum Set), Kerry “Fatman” Hunter (Snare Drum), Calvin Johnson (Soprano Saxophone), Kevin Louis (Trumpet), and Stephen Lands (Trumpet).
Sam Pollard, the director of MLK/FBI, is an Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker. Pollard says of the song, ”MLK/FBI is a movie experience I am proud to have been a part of. Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s performance of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ is an astounding version of the iconic anthem, and a perfect ending for our film. We are thrilled it will now be given a wider release.”
Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Jaffe offers this, “It’s always an Honor and Privilege that comes with huge responsibility to perform ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ All of us were touched when Ben and Sam reached out to us. To perform such an important composition, at this moment in time, for MLK/FBI and with this ensemble, makes it all the more personal and relevant.”
MLK/FBI is the first film to uncover the extent of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, utilizing a trove of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, the documentary explores the government’s history of targeting Black activists, and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Featuring interviews with key cultural figures, including former FBI Director James Comey, MLK/FBI tells this astonishing and tragic story with searing relevance to our current moment. The film is produced by Benjamin Hedin, and written by Hedin and Laura Tomaselli.
MLK/FBI will be released in theatres and video-on-demand services on Friday, January 15th, 2021 through IFC Films.
What the critics are saying about MLK/FBI: “One of the most urgent films of the year…” - Vanity Fair
“Powerhouse doc. Rewarding. Meticulously damning.” - Los Angeles Times
“Sam Pollard has assembled an engrossing, unsettling documentary…Rigorously focused on the facts of the past, the movie is also as timely as an alarm clock.” [“10 Great Movies at the New York Film Festival”] - New York Times
“Artfully assembled. It may be the best of this year’s very impressive slate. Illuminates the darkest, most insidious corners of American power and racism—past and present.” - Entertainment Weekly
“The film is a sobering watch and a timely reminder that King’s struggle for racial justice wasn’t straightforward, nor is it close to complete.” [“4 Films You Need to Watch This Fall”] - The Atlantic
Each year, in a gesture of true benevolence and gratitude, we offer you, very nearly the best followers customers in the whole wide world, an irresistible holiday sale.
And, in this one way, this year is no different! We’re offering you true believers a once-in-a-lifetime (or, certainly not more than about once in a calendar year) opportunity to join us in total enlightenment by participating in our 30-60-90 Actualization Plan and Holiday Sale.
There are three different, yet intertwined paths your journey may take; only you can determine what action is best for you (though we strongly recommend the 90 option).
30: Get 20% off your entire order when you spend $30 or more.
60: Get 20% off you entire order, PLUS receive an email with a discount code for 20% off your next pre-order* when you spend $60 or more.
90: Get 20% off you entire order, receive an email with a discount code for 20% off your next pre-order*, PLUS get free domestic shipping when you spend $90 or more.
Please note! If there are any pre-order items in your cart at checkout, your entire order will not ship until the shipping date of the furthest out pre-order. That means your order will not ship until after the first of the year, and you will not receive any part of your order in time for the holidays.
The solution to this is: place multiple orders.
All orders placed by/on December 13th are guaranteed to ship out before we close up shop for the year, so get your orders in early and often. Related to this impending warehouse closure, any orders placed between December 14th and January 3rd will not ship out until after we are back in operation on January 4th.
*Your discount code for 20% off your next pre-order will be sent out via email in January.
Thank you in advance for your ongoing support and patronage. This year has been a real mo-fo, and it requires a fair amount of chutzpah in that context to try to pull off the kind of Serenity Now BS we’re aiming for here. Know that we appreciate (what we hope will be) your wildly overzealous gift buying for you and your loved ones, and genuinely wish you a bitchen enlightenment.
The Postal Service’sEverything Will Change live album is now available digitally for the first time today through Sub Pop Records! The beloved band’s 15-track set, which features fan favorites ”Such Great Heights,” “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” “Sleeping In” and “Natural Anthem,” along with a cover of Beat Happening’s “Our Secret” and a rare live take on Dntel’s “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan,” was performed live at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA, during their 2013 reunion tour.
A collaboration between Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello (from Dntel), with Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, The Postal Service released Give Up, their one and only album, in 2003. That record went on to sell over a million copies and most of the band’s fans never had the chance to see them perform live. In 2013 and in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of Give Up, Sub Pop released an expanded, deluxe version of that album and the band reunited to tour the world.
This 2020 release of Everything Will Change was remixed by Don Gunn and remastered by Dave Cooley earlier this year, from the recordings that were originally released as part of the the 2014 concert film.
Everything Will Change was also released in 2014 as a feature-length documentary concert film directed by Justin Mitchell and includes intimate interviews, backstage footage of the band. The Everything Will Change film and Give Up are also available through Sub Pop.
The Postal Service Everything Will Change Tracklisting: 1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight 2. We Will Become Silhouettes 3. Sleeping In 4. Turn Around 5. Nothing Better 6. Recycled Air 7. Be Still My Heart 8. Clark Gable 9. Our Secret (Beat Happening cover) 10. This Place Is a Prison 11. A Tattered Line of String 12. Such Great Heights 13. Natural Anthem 14. (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Dntel) 15. Brand New Colony
