Proceeds will support Fair Fight’s efforts to ensure a free, fair, and secure election in 2020.
Eddie Vedder’s new single, “Cartography” b/w “Cartography (Nick Zinner RFK remix)” is out today on all digital music platforms, and it is accompanied by a moving video, directed by Julian Gross, for the B side remix. The single is part of the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5, and proceeds will support Fair Fight’s efforts to ensure a free, fair, and secure election in 2020. This release follows the announcement of Pearl Jam’s PJ Votes campaign to encourage voting in the upcoming election.
“Cartography” is an instrumental track Eddie Vedder madeforthe soundtracktoEric Becker’s 2018 documentary film Return to Mount Kennedy (now available on streaming video services).
Eddie Vedder offers this about the single, “Listening to the speech delivered by Bobby Kennedy in regards to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago, you are reminded that once again we are at a moment in time when our society can and must do better. Voting is our most powerful form of nonviolent protest. And those whom we vote for must be made deeply aware that the issues of equality and justice in America are of the utmost importance and need to be not only restored but taken to the next level. NOW.”
The track is accompanied by a remix by Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), who added a haunting, poignant effect by weaving in audio of Robert F. Kennedy responding to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Both tracks are available now on all digital music services. Fans can get the limited-edition 7” single and many other excellent records by subscribing to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5. Subscribe now - Vol. 5 is nearly sold out!
Eddie Vedder “Cartography” b/w “Cartography (Nick Zinner RFK remix)”
Covers features interpretations of songs by Air, Alvvays, Beyonce, Edith Frost, Grimes, Elliott Smith, Muna, Radiohead, The Shins, and Sharon Van Etten.
Listen here | Preorder + get discount tix to her livestream release day show here
Marika Hackman returns with Covers, a darkly beautiful, self-produced new album which showcases a more vulnerable side, available on LP/DSPs November 13th, 2020 in the Americas through Sub Pop and the rest of the world from Transgressive Records. Accompanying the news, Marika has shared her version of Grimes’ single “Realiti”plus details of a NoonChorus live stream with her full band that will take place on album release day. Tickets for the show will be available when fans pre-order the album.
During the extended stay-at-home order 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 the blank page. She recorded and produced Covers between home and her parents’ house, then got the legendary David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx, Let’s Eat Grandma) to mix it. David also co-produced her excellent 2019 record Any Human Friend. In contrast to her last two albums (including 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, Grimes and Elliott Smith. 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.”
First single “Realiti” is a stripped back piano and guitar based version of the Grimes classic from her most celebrated album Art Angels. Marika’s take is a total reinvention and yet it feels wholly her own. Muna’s “Pink Light” from their 2019 record Saves The World is a slice of dark pop, reminiscent of The Cure. In Marika’s hands, it’s a remarkably seamless switch-up to convert these into slower, brooding soft jams.
Marika’s version of Air’s “Playground Love” is one of the highlights, taken from the soundtrack the group composed for Sofia Coppola’s coming of age TheVirgin Suicides, the result being a moodier, disorientating reworking of a classic modern moment.
Final track “All Night” sees Marika tackling one of the standouts from Beyonce’s Grammy-nominated Lemonade. Again, Marika flips the song on its head. Joined by a choir of stacked vocal harmonies, Marika’s voice transcends to conjure a deep emotional resonance.
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.
Marika Hackman Covers Tracklisting: 1. You Never Wash Up After Yourself (Radiohead) 2. Phantom Limb (The Shins) 3. Playground Love (Air) 4. Realiti (Grimes) 5. Jupiter 4 (Sharon Van Etten) 6. Pink Light (Muna) 7. Between The Bars (Elliott Smith) 8. Temporary Loan (Edith Frost) 9. In Undertow (Alvvays) 10. All Night (Beyonce)
There should be little argument that this year has been challenging, painful, and just profoundly lousy in a whole lot of ways so far. One bright bit of good news is that the US general election on November 3 is an opportunity to seize greater control of our collective future beyond the calamitous slog of 2020. This year’s election is our chance to initiate much-needed change, but we need to act quickly and together to clean up the mess.
To seize change in 2020, there are 2 things we must do:
(1)Register to vote (or confirm your info is current and valid if already registered)
(2)Participate by actually fucking voting for all races at all levels
Iwillvote.com is a handy resource to make and execute your 2020 voting plan, including: registering, confirming your registration, locating your polling place, finding out about vote-by-mail eligibility, and learning how to “own your vote” by knowing the important dates, deadlines, and requirements in your particular state.
So! Please do those 2 things! Really! DO THEM! And then also help us encourage others to do them, too! In an effort to make this easier and, we hope, more successful, we’ve created a shared folder that contains: (i) images to post on websites and social media (on the dates indicated below), and (ii) a google sheet that includes state-by-state voter registration and information links. Please share all of this far and wide, and again, encourage others to do so as well.
IMPORTANT - TO PARTICIPATE IN AND AMPLIFY #2020SeizeChange:
To maximize the impact and visibility of this campaign, we suggest that all #2020SeizeChange public engagement, mentions, social media posts, etc. happen on the following days:
Wednesday, September 16
Wednesday, September 30
Wednesday, October 14
Wednesday, October 28
Monday, November 2
Tuesday, November 3 (Election Day)
Your participation on those days can and should be your own. In short, we invite you to be part of this campaign, start anytime, be creative, and help mobilize people to register and vote in whatever way feels right to you.
“power-packed” - SPIN “this is how your rock should be rolled.” [9/10] - Classic Rock “After thirty years, this is an album that remains as relevant as ever, and now sounds just as well as it did when it influenced a generation” - The Big Takeover “has only become more potent with age.” - Irish News
On Friday, September 18th, Sub Pop will release L7’s Smell the Magic: 30th Anniversary Edition, the classic second album from these rock and roll grunge pioneers.
This 30th-anniversary edition includes all 9 songs from the seminal record, remastered and together on vinyl for the first time ever! A multitude of rock music scenes populated the expanse of Los Angeles in 1989: hardcore punk, industrial goth, roots rock, and Sunset Strip hair metal, to name a few. L7 fit into none of them, creating their own unique blend of punk and hard, hooky rock loaded with humor and cultural commentary. Originally released in 1990, Smell the Magic is a landmark of ’90s feminist rock.
Earlier this month, L7’s singer and guitarist Donita Sparks recorded brand new vocals for a feisty performance of “Fast and Frightening” as part of KCRW’s Summer Series, 2020. The video stars Donita Sparks and the Lucha VaVOOM dancers who are seen shimmying on the streets of Los Angeles during a pandemic and pandemonium ensues!
Additionally, Sparks sat for an interview with Lyndsey Parker for Sirius XM’s Volume West show, which airs tomorrow, Friday, September 18th at 5pmPT.
Smell the Magic: 30th Anniversary Edition is now available for purchase from Sub Pop. LP purchased through megamart.subpop.com and select retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on clear with high melt orange, blue, and gray vinyl while supplies last. Meanwhile pre-orders through select retailers in the UK and Europe will receive the Loser edition on neon orange vinyl.
Plus, the band will perform forthcoming album Atlas Vending, in its entirety, live-streamed from The Opera House in Toronto on October 15th.
The stunning new METZ video for “Blind Youth Industrial Park,” the latest track from Atlas Vending, the band’s soon-to-be-released new album, is out now. The beautifully dystopian video depicts a woman dragging an injured companion on a stretcher through an alien landscape as the pair are tracked by a squad of armed soldiers, and provides sharp contrast to the song, which is an ode to the naivety of youth and the freedom of being unburdened by the world around you.
Shot in Queenstown, on the South Island of New Zealand, “Blind Youth Industrial Park” was directed by Dylan Pharazyn. Here’s Pharazyn on his inspiration for the video: “I started thinking of the feeling of war or samurai films, beautiful but dark and violent… but then I had this idea to work up a more unique world… I started to think of a more futuristic setting — more unusual and dream-like with the story set on a distant planet where there is future technology and some kind of alien magic… like a futuristic fable. I loved the idea of the hero Ayeth on this nomadic walk through an epic landscape… I loved the strength in her and the pairing of her with a wounded companion, something really human and vulnerable… I wanted that emotive warmth countering the cold military images.”
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Known for their unrivalled, high energy live shows and relentless touring, the band has felt a huge void with the loss of live music this year. In the hopes of capturing some of that inimitable spirit and connection, today METZ are also announcing that they will perform Atlas Vending, in its entirety, live from The Opera House in Toronto. These live streams will air in North & South America at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on October 15th, and on Oct 17th at 8 pm BST / 9 pm CEST / 8 pm AEST for those in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
Frontman Alex Edkins shares that “Something that is intrinsic to who we are as people has been taken away. We want, so badly, to find that feeling again, to forget the world for a moment, and share a brand new album that we love very much (plus some oldies) with you. To all the people of the world who have come to our shows to dance, sweat, and scream, we hope you can join us once again with this show.” You can purchase tickets and ticket bundles with LPs and merch for these shows by clicking here.
Preorders of Atlas Vending are now available from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, METZ’s merch store, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser Edition on pearlescent grey and silver vinyl. Vinyl preorders in the UK and Europe from select independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on light rose-colored vinyl. A new t-shirt design is available as well. And in Canada, Atlas Vending will be available from Royal Mountain Records.
Don’t Shy Away will be out worldwide October 23rd from Sub Pop.
Loma (Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski, and Jonathan Meiburg) has delivered two new official videos from Don’t Shy Away, their forthcoming longplayer. The aerial shot for melancholic new single “Don’t Shy Away” (the title track) was filmed, directed and edited by Duszynski, while the hypnotic, introspective album opener “I Fix My Gaze” was filmed, directed, and edited by Cross.
Duszynski says of the video for “Don’t Shy Away”: “I knew I wanted a single shot with a gradual reveal to complement the slower enveloping mood of the song. The time-stopping effect draws me in without distracting from the music. I also love Jonathan and the dogs’ cameos.”
Cross offers this on “I Fix My Gaze”: “I wanted to convey the feeling of being free even within a walled-in space. Recognizing that you’re trapped, in a way, but that there is still beauty and joy to be found.”
Meiburg says: “The video for ‘Don’t Shy Away’ was pure serendipity. So many things happen in it—the dogs, the birds, the timing—that could never be replicated, even if we tried. And I love Emily’s vision for ‘I Fix My Gaze.’ Emily was a visual artist before she was a musician, and it comes through in everything she does.”
The Malick-esque visuals were filmed in Texas (“Don’t Shy Away”) and Arizona (“I Fix My Gaze”).
Don’t Shy Away will be available on CD/LP/CS/DL October 23rd, 2020 worldwide through Sub Pop. Preorders of Don’t Shy Away are now available from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the album on translucent yellow vinyl. Meanwhile, LP preorders in the U.K. and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the album on dark green vinyl.
What “The People” are saying about Loma: “Atmospheric melodies and Cross’ otherworldly vocals blend to absorbing effect…” [Don’t Shy Away, 8/10] - Uncut
“Loma are making some gorgeous, otherworldly music.” [“Half Silences”] - Stereogum
“Cherish their return, it’s a triumph” [“Ocotillo”] - For The Rabbits
“Cross’ vocals are heaven-sent” [“Ocotillo”] - Beats Per Minute
