Wolf Parade is sharing official video for “Julia Take Your Man Home,” directed by multi-disciplinary artist and Sub Pop labelmate Chad VanGaalen. The song is from Thin Mind, the group’s forthcoming fifth album available tomorrow, Friday, January 24th worldwide through Sub Pop, with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records.
Wolf Parade’s international headlining touring schedule in support of Thin Mind begins Monday, January 27th in Portland, Oregon at Crystal Ballroom and runs through Sunday, March 15th in Dublin, Ireland at The Button Factory. Support for these shows will come from Land of Talk (January 27th-February 11th), Sub Pop/Royal Mountain label mates Jo Passed (February 12th-24th), and Joensuu 1685 (March 2nd-15th). Preceding the tour, the band has scheduled an instore performance at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle on January 26th. For more information on tickets, please visit WolfParade.com.
Thin Mind, which features the singles “Forest Green,” the aforementioned “Julia Take Your Man Home,” and “Against the Day,” was produced by John Goodmanson at Risque Disque on Vancouver Island, BC, mixed by Goodmanson at Bogroll Studios in Seattle, and mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering in Toronto. The album packaging features artwork from comic book artists Simon Roy and Hayleyglyphs throughout.
LP orders through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in the U.S. will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl with red and green swirls (while supplies last). Meanwhile, LP orders in the UK and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on yellow vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Wolf Parade Tour dates
Jan. 26 - Seattle, WA - Sonic Boom Records Instore Jan. 27 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom * Jan. 29 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore * Jan. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - The Regent Theater * Jan. 31 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern * Feb. 01 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole * Feb. 03 - Austin, TX - Mohawk * Feb. 04 - Dallas, TX - Trees * Feb. 05 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre * Feb. 07 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf * Feb. 08 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre * Feb. 09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge * Feb. 11 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox * Feb. 12 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore ** Feb. 16 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall ** Feb. 17 - London, ON - London Music Hall ** Feb. 18 - Toronto, ON - Mod Club ** [Sold Out] Feb. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer ** Feb. 22 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club ** Feb. 23 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club ** Feb. 24 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel ** Mar. 02 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg ^ Mar. 03 - Hamburg, DE - Knust ^ Mar. 04 - Berlin, DE - Gretchen ^ Mar. 06 - Cologne, DE - Club Volta ^ Mar. 07 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F ^ Mar. 08 - Luxembourg, LX - Rotondes ^ Mar. 09 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain ^ Mar. 10 - Brussels, BE - Orangerie @ Botanique ^ Mar. 11 - London, UK - The Dome ^ Mar. 13 - Bristol, UK - Thekla ^ Mar. 14 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room) ^ Mar. 15 - Dublin, IE - The Button Factory ^
* w/ Land of Talk ** w/ Jo Passed ^ w/ Joensuu 1685
Sub Pop Records is extremely proud to announce the return (for our 14th year!) of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. Further details on the scholarship are below, and even further below is some clarification on what we mean by “Loser.”
Sub Pop Records is offering a grand total of $15,000 in college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—one for $7,000, one for $5,000 and one for $3,000. As longtime, proud losers ourselves, we’re exceedingly happy to be able, in some small way, to help further the education of art-enthused misfits from the NW. Individuals from all cultures and communities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be residents of Washington or Oregon, and graduating seniors on the way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for applicants who are involved and/or interested in music and/or the creative arts in some way. However, you do not need to be pursuing an education in the arts.
To apply you must submit an essay, one page or less, using any combination of the following questions as a guide (or write something completely your own, be inspired and creative!). Please list the school you are graduating from and the school you plan to attend in the fall at the top of your essay along with your contact information.
- What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community? - What does being a Sub Pop ‘Loser’ mean to you? - What are your influences and/or who inspired you to become involved in the arts? - Describe your biggest failure and explain how it has brought you closer to your goal(s). - Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart. - How has your family or community background affected the way you see the world? - Why should you be the Loser winner?
Applicants are strongly (!) encouraged to send digital links and/or provide hard copies of their artwork, photos of community involvement, radio show links, videos, etc. along with their essay (we have never had a winner who submitted only an essay w/no extras). However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above.
The deadline for applications is Thursday, March 19th, 2020. Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Thursday, March 19th. We will announce the scholarship winners during the first week of April.
What we talk about when we talk about “Loser.” Here at Sub Pop Records, we use the word “loser” a lot. You may have noticed. We’ve printed it on things we sell (hats, shirts, stickers, mugs, and more!), we call the first, colored-vinyl, limited-edition pressings of the records we release the “Loser Edition,” and every year since 2007 we’ve awarded tuition money to college-bound NW high school students through the “Sub Pop Loser Scholarship.” And, it’s possible we take for granted that you guys catch our drift and understand what we mean when we’re all “loser this,” and “loser that.” So! The following…
Sub Pop’s use of the word “loser” goes back to the foundation of the label and is meant as a celebration of unabashedly being ourselves without conforming to any preconceived ideas of “normal.” To be a loser is central to the very idea of underground art and culture - all of it happening and thriving outside of the mainstream, and not necessarily looking for a way in. Bruce Pavitt’s “New Pop Manifesto” in the 1st issue of Subterranean Pop included, “The important thing to remember is this: the most intense music, the most original ideas… are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist… Only by supporting new ideas by local artists, bands, and record labels can the U.S. expect any kind of dynamic social/cultural change…” And, since 2007, with the Loser Scholarship, we’ve been adding students to that list, and putting our (or, our co-founder, big boss and biggest loser ever, Jonathan Poneman’s…) money where our mouth is. Sub Pop Records strives to bring attention to music and art from the fringes that might otherwise remain marginalized. And, in that same spirit, through our annual Loser Scholarship, we’re looking for art-enthused misfits in NW high schools, losers like us, to help them pay for college. We stand proudly with and support the misfits, weirdos and losers, because we believe that when we’re able to proudly be nothing other than our true selves, we have the ability to make the world stronger, smarter and better.
So, good luck, Losers! And, again, please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Thursday, March 19th.
Moaning, the musical effort from vocalist/guitarist Sean Solomon, bassist/keyboardist Pascal Stevenson and drummer Andrew MacKelvie, will follow-up their 2018 self-titled debut with Uneasy Laughter on Sub Pop Records this March 20th, 2020. What happens when an abrasive rock trio trades guitars for synths, cranks up the beats and leans into the everyday anxieties of simply being a functioning human in the 21st century? The answer is Uneasy Laughter, the sensational second Sub Pop release from Los Angeles-based Moaning. Pre-order Uneasy LaughterHERE.
Uneasy Laughter is a collaborative breakthrough which significantly brightens Moaning’s once claustrophobic sound, again abetted by producer/engineer Alex Newport (At The Drive-In, Bloc Party, Melvins). The trio points to first single “Ego,” released today, which features a costume-heavy video directed by Ambar Navarro (Soccer Mommy, Oberhoffer, Anna Burch), as an embodiment of this evolution.
“The lyrics are about letting go of your own bullshit to help other people. Wanting to love yourself to love others. The ego can make you feel like you’re the greatest person in the world or the worst.” stated vocalist Sean Solomon. It makes you think your problems are abnormally different which is isolating and rarely true. The song is a reminder that listening to other perspectives is important and beneficial to both parties involved.”
“Musically, the song was started by repurposing a drum beat made for a different demo and putting it on top of a new synth loop. It was a digital collage where we passed Ableton files back and forth,” added bassist/keyboardist Pascal Stevenson. “We purposely avoided the impulse to add guitars to everything, letting the melodies of the synth and vocals be the focus. We wanted to embrace the songs ability to slip between genre lines.”
Solomon, Stevenson and MacKelvie have been friends and co-conspirators amid the fertile L.A. DIY scene for more than a decade. They are also immersed in other mediums and creative pursuits — Solomon is a noted illustrator , art director and animator, while Stevenson and MacKelvie have played or worked behind the boards with acts such as Cherry Glazerr, Sasami and Surf Curse. On Uneasy Laughter, they’ve tackled challenges both personal and universal the only way they know how: by talking about how they’re feeling and channeling those emotions directly into their music.
“We’ve known each other forever and we’re really comfortable trying to express where we’re at. A lot of bands aren’t so close,” says MacKelvie. Adds Solomon, who celebrated a year of sobriety during the Uneasy Laughter sessions, “Men are conditioned not to be vulnerable or admit they’re wrong. But I wanted to talk openly about my feelings and mistakes I’ve made.”
Stevenson’s initial demo was slower and in what he calls “a strange time signature,” which stymied Solomon’s attempts to write vocal melodies. Borrowing a MacKelvie drumbeat from the demo of a different song, Stevenson found that it fit perfectly. The track was fleshed out further in practices and through passing demos back and forth, with the result “perfectly capturing every idea we wanted to play with,” says MacKelvie.
“I don’t think we would have been able to approach writing a song that way before,” adds Stevenson.
Several of the songs originated on acoustic guitar, and guitar can be heard in at least some form on nearly every album track. But the willingness to experiment with synths and loops greatly expanded Moaning’s sonic palette, particularly on the guitar-less album closer “Say Something.”
Recalls Solomon, “I wrote it as a folk song. When I brought it in, I told the guys, ‘I kind of hate this, but I like the melody and lyrics, so how do we turn it into a Moaning song?’” The answer turned out to be by stripping out guitar entirely and turning it into “a complete digital creation. It’s super weird and clubby. Now we just need to figure out how to play it live,” he says with a laugh. “When you hear Nirvana cover the Vaselines, it’s still the same song but it sounds completely different. Song structure can transcend style and genre. I wanted to write things I felt confident were good songs, regardless of whether it was on acoustic guitar or synths.”
“Guitars always sound like guitars, whereas with keyboards you have the ability to thin them out or thicken them up more dramatically, and then mold them to fit into whatever spot you need them to fit into,” says Stevenson. Flecked by patterns of neon synths and a rush of guitar, “Fall in Love” is both metronomic and completely human. “I would never play a bass line on an actual bass that’s so on the grid,” Stevenson offers. “But it does something major for the feel of the song.”
Elsewhere, distortion reverberates atop the pounding drums and earworm melody of “Make It Stop,” while “Saving Face” contrasts Solomon’s gauzy vocals with an undulating synth bass line, creating an off-kilter bliss. The restrained atmospherics and synth loops on “Connect the Dots” belie a tense revelation responsible for the new album’s title. “A lot of these songs wouldn’t have been this different and awesome without Pascal’s expertise with synths,” MacKelvie enthuses.
Solomon admits Uneasy Laughter could have gone in quite another direction had he not gotten sober and educated himself on such core subjects as gender and mental health. “I did a lot of reading in the tour van — ‘All About Love’ and ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ by bell hooks, ‘Capitalist Realism’ by Mark Fisher and ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life’ by Alain de Botton. I don’t want to be the guy who influences young people to go get high and become cliched tragic artists,” he says. “What I’d rather convey to people is that they’re not alone in what they think and how they feel.”
“We want to be part of a community,” he adds. “I wrote online about being sober for a year, and I had kids from all over writing and asking for advice. One of them said, ‘For the first time I can remember, I didn’t drink last night.’ I thought, for once, maybe we did something besides sell a record. That’s a win. That’s incredibly exciting.”
Weyes Blood is announcing international tour dates for 2020 in support of Titanic Rising, her massively acclaimed album recently named one of the “Best Albums” of the 2010s and 2019.
Her “A Lot Has Changed Tour,” which includes new shows in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, spans February 23rd in Perth, AU as part of Perth Festival and runs through August 14th in Nashville, TN at The Basement East.
A special fan presale for U.S. headlining dates begins Thursday, January 23rd at 10 am (local), with tickets on sale to the general public (all territories) this Friday, January 24th at 10 am (local). Please visit WeyesBlood.com for more info.
A Lot Has Changed Tour Australia/New Zealand 2020 / Winter Feb. 23 - Perth, AU - Perth Festival Feb. 25 - Brisbane, AU - The Zoo Feb. 26 - Melbourne, AU - Melbourne Recital Hall Feb. 28 - Melbourne, AU - Melbourne Zoo Twilights ** Feb. 29 - Wollongong, AU - Farmer & The Owl Festival Mar. 03 - Sydney, AU - The Factory Theatre Mar. 04 - Hobart, AU - Odeon Theatre Mar. 05 - Adelaide, AU - Adelaide Festival Mar. 07 - Castlemaine, AU - Theatre Royal Mar. 08 - Victoria, AU - Golden Plains Festival Mar. 13 - Wellington, NZ - New Zealand Festival of the Arts / Michael Fowler Centre * Mar. 14 - Auckland, NZ - Auckland Town Hall * Mar. 15 - Christchurch, NZ - Christchurch Town Hall * * w/ Aldous Harding ** w/ Julia Jacklin
US 2020 / Spring Apr. 11 - Indio, CA - Coachella Apr. 18 - Indio, CA - Coachella May 01 - Felton, CA - Felton Music Hall May 02 - San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom May 04 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge May 05 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater May 08 - Dallas, TX - Trees May 10 - Austin, TX - Scoot Inn May 11 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs) May 12 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger May 14 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
Europe 2020 / Spring Jun. 03-07 - Barcelona, ES - Primavera Sound Jun. 08 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix Jun. 10 - London, UK - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire Jun. 14 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret Festival Jun. 16 - Cork, IE - Cork Midsummer Festival Jun. 17 - Dublin, IE - Vicar Street Jun. 19 - Istanbul, TU - Zorlu PAC Jazz Festival
US 2020 / Summer Jul. 31 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall Aug. 01 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater Aug. 04 - Columbus, OH - Skully’s Music Diner Aug. 05 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of The Living Arts Aug. 07 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club Aug. 08 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Aug. 10 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground Aug. 12 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel Aug. 13 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse Aug. 14 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East
Weyes Blood’sTitanic Risingappeared on over 100 “Best of 2019” lists and readers polls, earning “Album of the Year” honors from Brooklyn Vegan, FLOOD, Magic (France), PASTE, and Uncut, and additional placement from outlets including The AV Club, BBC News, Consequence of Sound, Dazed,Double J (Australia), Exclaim, GAFFA (Sweden), Genius, God is in the TV, Gorilla vs. Bear, GQ (France), The Guardian, Idolator, The Independent, Les Inrocks (France), The Line of Best Fit, Loud & Quiet, Magnet, MOJO, Musikexpress (Germany), The Needle Drop, NME, Northern Transmissions, No Ripcord, NPR Music, Passion of the Weiss, Pitchfork, Q, Record Collector, Rolling Stone (Germany), Rough Trade, The Skinny, Slant, Stereogum, The Independent, The Observer, The Sunday Times Culture, The Times, Thrillist, Treble Zine, Under the Radar, Uproxx, and Vice. Titanic Rising also spent 4 weeks atop the NACC 200 College Chart.
Titanic Rising was also named one of the “Best of the Decade” from the likes of All Music, Aquarium Drunkard, The AV Club, Brooklyn Vegan, Pitchfork, PASTE, Treble Zine, and Uproxx.
Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising, which features the highlights “Movies,” “Everyday,” “Andromeda,” “Something to Believe” and “Wild Time,” is available everywhere from Sub Pop.
Wolf Parade is sharing “Julia Take Your Man Home,” a new single from Thin Mind, the group’s forthcoming fifth album. Featuring Spencer Krug on lead vocals, the song is like a caricature of male stupidity. “I’m singing about some other, worse version of myself. It’s not actually me.” Krug says. “I’ve never carved shapes that look like dicks into anything.”
Wolf Parade’s international headlining touring schedule in support of Thin Mind begins January 27th in Portland, Oregon at Crystal Ballroom and runs through March 15th in Dublin, Ireland at The Button Factory. Support for these shows will come from Land of Talk (January 27th-February 11th), and Sub Pop/Royal Mountain label mates Jo Passed (February 12th-24th.Tickets for these shows are on sale now. For more information on tickets, please visit WolfParade.com.
LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in the U.S. will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl with red and green swirls (while supplies last). Meanwhile, LP preorders in the UK and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on yellow vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Thin Mindwill be available CD/LP/DL/CS January 24th worldwide through Sub Pop, with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records. The ten-track album, which features the singles “Forest Green,” the aforementioned “Julia Take Your Man Home,” and “Against the Day,” was produced by John Goodmanson at Risque Disque on Vancouver Island, BC, mixed by Goodmanson at Bogroll Studios in Seattle, and mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering in Toronto.
Credit: Pamela Evelyn & Joseph Yarmush
Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Jan. 27 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom * Jan. 29 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore * Jan. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - The Regent Theater * Jan. 31 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern * Feb. 01 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole * Feb. 03 - Austin, TX - Mohawk * Feb. 04 - Dallas, TX - Trees * Feb. 05 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre * Feb. 07 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf * Feb. 08 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre * Feb. 09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge * Feb. 11 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox * Feb. 12 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore ** Feb. 16 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall ** Feb. 17 - London, ON - London Music Hall ** Feb. 18 - Toronto, ON - Mod Club ** Feb. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer ** Feb. 22 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club ** Feb. 23 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club ** Feb. 24 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel ** Mar. 02 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg Mar. 03 - Hamburg, DE - Knust Mar. 04 - Berlin, DE - Gretchen Mar. 06 - Cologne, DE - Club Volta Mar. 07 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F Mar. 08 - Luxembourg, LX - Rotondes Mar. 09 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain Mar. 10 - Brussels, BE - Orangerie @ Botanique Mar. 11 - London, UK - The Dome Mar. 13 - Bristol, UK - Thekla Mar. 14 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room) Mar. 15 - Dublin, IE - The Button Factory
On the star-drenched streets of the Quartz City, the Dancer and the Don float the red beamer towards the diamondest dreams ever known in Shabazz Palaces new video for “Fast Learner (ft. Purple Tape Nate),” the lead single from his forthcoming album, The Don of Diamond Dreams. The visual from director Stephan Gray (“Dawn In Luxor,” “Deesse Du Sang”) stars Ishmael Butler and Umaara Elliott, a New York-based professional dancer and an activist (a co-organizer of “Millions March NYC”).
Released earlier this month, the “Fast Learner” single saw praise from the likes of Hip Hop DX, who called the track “another futuristic trip.” The FADER concurred, offering this, “It’s a psychedelic groove, chopped and screwed in the fifth dimension.” Meanwhile, Hypebeast had this to say, “a perfect reintroduction to the duo’s Afrofuturistic groove — hazy lo-fi electronica mashes alongside funky instrumentation, allowing for both Ishmael and Nate to rap out their lyrical abstractions.” And Stereogum says, “A woozy and echo-laden lurch that the group recorded with the excellently named Purple Tape Nate…It’s a cool piece of music, a starry-eyed vibe-out, and it’s a strong indicator for how the rest of the album might sound…The track draws stylistic connections between rumbling ’80s electro, broken-up Brainfeeder beat music, and circa-now astral Auto-Tuned drug rap.”
Shabazz Palaces The Don of Diamond Dreams will be available April 17th, 2020 worldwide on Sub Pop. The 10-track album includes the highlights features “Chocolate Souffle,” “Bad Bitch Walking (ft. Stas THEE Boss),” “Thanking The Girls,” and the aforementioned “Fast Learner,” with additional contributions from singer/keyboardist Darrius Willrich, percussionist Carlos Niño, Knife Knights collaborator OCnotes, saxophonist Carlos Overall, and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes.
The Don of Diamond Dreams is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl with a silver swirl (while supplies last). All LP preorders through the Sub Pop Mega Mart will also receive The Mushroom, a 90-page, 8x8 inch zine from the elusive author TTT, inspired by The Don of Diamond Dreams (the book will also be available for purchase at Shabazz Palaces live shows). Meanwhile, LP preorders through select independent retailers in the U.K. and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on sky blue vinyl (also, while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
