Sub Pop will release Shabazz Palaces’ Robed In Rareness, a new seven-song effort, worldwide on October 27th, 2023. It is the first full collection of new material since The Don of Diamond Dreams, their critically acclaimed LP released in 2020.
Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler, whose unstinting drive to reimagine hip-hop - even as he enters his fifth decade on Earth - remains undimmed. With Robed In Rareness, there’s a respectful eye on the past, an embrace of an ever-evolving present, and its feet are firmly planted in the future. It features collaborations with the likes of Seattle’s Royce The Choice and Porter Ray, Colorado Springs’ O Finess, Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo), and Butler’s son, the incomparable Lil Tracy.
Robed In Rareness was produced by Shabazz Palaces, mixed by Erik Blood, and engineered by Ishmael Butler and Blood at Studio4 West in Venice, California, with mastering by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.
Shabazz Palaces’ first round of touring in support of Robed In Rareness begins with a short run of east coast dates on Wednesday, September 27th, in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s, and runs through Sunday, October 1st, at DC9. The group will also appear at My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday event in Quintana Roo, MX, on April 4th, 2023—additional live dates to be announced soon.
2023 Wed. Sep. 27 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Thu. Sep. 28 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - Entrepot 77 (Late) Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - POP Montreal Festival (Early) Sun. Oct. 01 - Washington, DC - DC9
2024 Thu. Apr. 04 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Fri. Aug. 05 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sat. Aug. 06 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Sun. Aug. 07 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
The Query: Shabazz Palaces discusses Robed In Rareness with Larry Mizell, Jr.:
“Every time I bless a script it’s a precedent Of the jiggy OGs I’m the President.”
Query: Who, or what, is Robed in Rareness? The new Shabazz Palaces EP, first in a series, something like a SpaceX-Age Hustlers Convention for the time.
It’s been a throuple lifetimes, like 14 scoops, since Earth first perceived the light beams of Shabazz Palaces. A solar fortnight since we witnessed one of the culture’s coldest reinventions to date. The forms may flicker depending on your dimensional positioning: Palaceer Lazaro, Butterfly, “the laser lord light rider Ish Boogie at your service.”
Ishmael Butler. Affirmative.
For the record, Mr. Butler, better than anybody of his generation standing, exemplifies an authentically integrated aesthetic link between the golden era and the now. Actual, lived in, but fresh and unerringly curious. The things rappers clamor for today are things he found at the start of his career, some three decades past, leaving him since free to freak his shit off with zero fear or desire of fitting in…after all, it behooves the hotly pursued to stay cool and lose followers.
And now? Now in 2023, on their eighth go, Shabazz is icier than ever, pushing the limits of style and wit for the hottest days on record. Hydroplaning over molten asphalt on a cloud of arctic vapor, distilling a sparkling vintage too complex for amateur palates, it’s the Palaces. Built by hands divinely guided by practice-honed instinct—for the wonder and inspiration of generations coming behind.
Where’s he at? He’s in his smooth phase; peep the vet maneuvering, as if to answer his younger self’s asking “slow down for what?” Precision and detail, a myth-map meant to elevate those for whom it’s meant. This is auteur rap for an artless era, from a director that’s epitomized slickness over four decades, forever original and unadulterated. That’s what type of time he’s on.
Robed in Rareness pushes the Black Constellation gang line while deepening the ranks and harkening back to the spare, icy menace of those first Shabazz EPs back in 2009. (Note: RIP SILK DOUGIE.)
Clarify: Black Constellation. A collective of active makers and reality shapers pulled into orbit by the gravity of Shabazz’s formation. Check KEXP’s award-winning podcast Fresh off the Spaceship for more family values.
“All I wanna do is see the girls get a chance. All I wanna do is see the bros getting bands”
Community stays a key motif of Ish’s creative endeavors. Over the mini album’s 25 minutes, he holds court alongside a cohort of chosen comrades, whether it’s Town favorites like Royce the Choice or his Stellie Porter Ray, his twin Lavarr the Starr, ice-cold Rockies rep O Finess, or longtime Geechi Suede. He even swings lanes with the one he calls his idol: his only son, the rising superstar Lil Tracy.
“Any n**** fuck w me, he always earn You don’t know by now I’m the Don? You’ll never learn Did you make money for your folks? Or did you burn em’? Gotta MFA in this game, n**** Stay learning.”
Peep the pedigree of a forever-student OG, a 23rd Century Lightnin’ Rod hailing from 23rd Ave E, spitting gold-breaded game with pimpish disdain. Robed in Rareness, the newest brick in the Palace wall.
Let’s get it on.
Shabazz Palaces Robed In Rareness
Tracklisting: 1. Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice) 2. Woke Up In A Dream (feat. Lil Tracy) 3. P Kicking G (feat. Porter Ray) 4. Cinnamon Bun (feat. Lavarr the Starr) 5. Scarface Mace (feat. O Finess) 6. Gel Bait (feat. Geechi Suede) 7. Hustle Crossers
Sub Pop, feeling even more self-congratulatory than usual, is pleased to announce the opening of itsMega Mart 2, the brand new, first-ever, almost entirely functional and fully computerised sibling site to the world famous Sub Pop Mega Mart, catering specially to fans and customers who live outside of North America. Warehoused in the UK and stocking an array of Sub Pop goods (vinyl, CDs, and T-shirts), fans on this side of the pond who have long been suffering from outrageous (though totally real) shipping charges can finally rejoice!
As if opening Mega Mart 2 wasn’t enough incredible news, Sub Pop is also announcing a 20th Anniversary remastered reissue of The Shins’ classic 2003album Chutes Too Narrow, featuring new, custom die cut artwork. Chutes Too Narrow, the band’s heavily anticipated follow-up to their debut, Oh, Inverted World, was recorded in James Mercer’s basement home studio, with later mixing assistance from Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, David Cross, Les Savy Fav, etc.). And, with 10 songs, clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the record is a brief yet entirely scintillating glimpse at chiming, reflective and perfectly skewed pop innovation. This new, anniversary reissue will be available on limited edition coloured LP (Transparent Sun Yellow), Black LP, CD and DSPs on Oct 20th and is available for pre-order now: https://europe.subpop.com/
Chutes Too Narrow was released to widespread acclaim in 2003, garnering Pitchfork’s Best New Music, four stars from Rolling Stone, and raves from The New York Times, MOJO, The Village Voice, SPIN, and tons more. It subsequently made best-of-the-decade lists from The AV Club, NME, Paste, Pitchfork and Uncut.
Mercer says of Chutes Too Narrow, “I was very aware at the time that I had struck gold with the first record, and it was unlikely to happen again. ‘Sophomore slump’ and all that. The pressure to prove myself as a viable writer had never been so pronounced. Midway through the mixing process, I realized one of the songs would not work, so I stayed up after everyone went to bed and wrote ‘Young Pilgrims.’ And with Ek’s help, it worked! Such a stressful but beautiful experience!”
In other reissue news, on October 6th Sub Pop will be releasing Mudhoney’s seminal Superfuzz Bigmuff vinyl EP AND their ’Touch Me I’m Sick’ 7” on limited edition new colour variants (Mustard Yellow for Superfuzz Bigmuff and Neon Orange for ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’) . Both are available to pre-order now from, yes you guessed it, Mega Mart 2: https://europe.subpop.com/
Head over to Mega Mart 2 now to find not only these but all manner of Sub Pop releases old and new, including the “first ever time on vinyl in its original form” reissue of The Vaselines’The Way Of The Vaselines (due Sept 8th), CHAI’s dazzling s/t fourth album (Sept 22nd), a first-time vinyl pressing of The Postal Service’s Everything Will Change live album (Sept 8th) and Deeper’s Sub Pop bow, and third album proper, Careful! (Sept 8th).
More about Sub Pop, by Sub Pop:
Founded in 1988, Sub Pop Records is a medium-sized independent record label based in Seattle, WA. With early releases by Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and TAD, the label is often associated with something called “the grunge movement.” Exploitation of this association has frequently proven financially fruitful. Later years saw album releases from such moderately-to-somewhat-well-known artists as: Sunny Day Real Estate, The Murder City Devils, The Shins, Iron and Wine, The Postal Service, Band of Horses, Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes, Sleater-Kinney, Beach House, Washed Out, Shabazz Palaces, The Head and the Heart, Weyes Blood, Clipping, Suki Waterhouse and Father John Misty, among many other very talented and deserving artists whose managers will be contacting us shortly about inclusion in the preceding list.
At Sub Pop Records, it is our intent to market and sell the recorded music (and related merchandise) of artists whose music some shifting definition of “we” really and truly love. We mean to represent these artists as faithfully and diligently as possible and hold out hope that this is enough for us to remain solvent in the face of the well-documented collapse of the music industry at large. We also enjoy laughter, good times and the company of friends.
Mega Mart 2 Possibly Asked Questions:
Q: What is the Sub Pop Mega Mart 2? A: It’s Sub Pop’s new online store, shipping from a warehouse based in the UK.
Q: Will this be less expensive for me? A: Maybe! Depends on where you live. But, why not check?
Q: Will there be different products available at MM2 vs MM? A: Sometimes, yes!
Q: Where should I shop, MM or MM2? A: Whichever you prefer!
Q: Wait… What is “MM” and “MM2”? A: “MM” is an abbreviation for “Mega Mart,” and “MM2” is an abbreviation for “Mega Mart 2,” both of which are web stores operated by Sub Pop Records.
Q: Don’t you have an actual MM2 FAQ? A: We do! Mega Mart 2 FAQ
Q: What if I have read these dumb “Possibly Asked Questions,” and also the actual MM2 FAQ and I still have questions? A: Try here: https://support.ochre.store/hc/en-us
King Tuff shares “Tell Me,” the third single from his anticipated new album, Smalltown Stardust, out January 27th via Sub Pop. The pop gem, which features backing vocals from the album’s co-writer and co-producer SASAMI, perfectly encapsulates Kyle Thomas’ knack for melody and songwriting prowess.
“Almost every song in the world is about love, yet somehow there’s still not enough love songs,” says Thomas. “And if you took all the love songs in the world and added them to all the love songs that haven’t been written yet, well, there still wouldn’t be enough. There’s always room for more love and there’s always room for more love songs. Love is an endless well, you can do love songs about people, nature, passion, frustration, animals, joy, madness. Most of my songs are love songs, and I like it that way. But I’m still not satisfied! I want more! I want more love! And I want you to have more love! So here’s ‘Tell Me,’ a love song.”
Smalltown Stardust is “an album about love and nature and youth,” Thomas explains. It’s a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist’s back catalog, as evidenced by the album’s new single “Tell Me.” On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. Images of his youth abound.
King Tuff’s 2023 North American tour kicks off March 1st in San Diego, CA and wraps April 7th at Joshua Tree, CA with a show at Pappy and Harriets. All dates below.
SMALLTOWN STARDUST TOUR DATES:
March 1 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
March 3 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
March 4 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
March 6 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
March 7 Vancouver, BC @ The Wise Hall
March 8 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
March 10 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
March 11 Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
March 15 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Upstairs
March 17 Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
March 18 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
March 19 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
March 21 Washington, DC @ DC9
March 22 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
March 23 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
March 24 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall
March 25 Brattleboro, VT @ The Stone Church
March 28 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
March 29 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
March 31 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
April 1 Minneapolis, MN @ The Turf Club
April 3 Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
April 5 Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
April 6 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
April 7 Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
“There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share.”
It’s a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020.
But knowing he couldn’t simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas—who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont—set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand.
“I wanted to make an album to remind myself that life is magical,” he reflects.
While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas’s past, the album’s recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas’s Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021’s Fun House and 2022’s Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Thomas describes the time with a fitting metaphor: “I’ve always thrived around other people making things. You want to bloom with each other.” Ashworth’s contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. As Thomas notes, “I tried to follow her vision a lot. It helps to open your world to collaborators. You always get something completely different than you would have expected.”
In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. In making the record, Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by a small circle of collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us. “I’m a different person now than I was 20 years ago when I first started it. But oddly, when I first started the band, it was more like this,” he says. Which is to say, things have come full circle.
DEBBY FRIDAY will release GOOD LUCK, her supernovic, full-length debut on CD/LP/Digitally worldwide (ex. Canada) on March 24th 2023 through Sub Pop. The album, which features “SO HARD TO TELL,” “I GOT IT,” “SAFE,” and the title track, was co-produced and mixed by DEBBY FRIDAY and Graham Walsh (METZ, Holy Fuck) at Candle Recording Studio in Toronto, and mastered by Heba Kadry in New York.
Of the cosmically sublime lead single “SO HARD TO TELL,” FRIDAY offers this, “I have a lower register and speak with vocal fry so I don’t know what came over me when I made this track. I have never in my life sung like this before and I had no idea I could even make these kinds of sounds with my voice. There’s no pitch effects on ‘SO HARD TO TELL,’ it’s all me.”
The video, co-directed by Kevan Funk and DEBBY FRIDAY, sees FRIDAY in prismatic view. Roaming through rocky hillsides, psychedelic forests, ancient stone temples and more, FRIDAY is luminescent and multitudinous - the many versions of herself synthesizing into the shape of a burgeoning star.
DEBBY FRIDAY’s international headlining tour dates and festival appearances in support of GOOD LUCK begin January 21st and currently run through May 6th, 2023. Highlights include SXSW (March 15th - 18th), and shows in the US, Canada, and UK. Additional live performances for 2023 to be announced soon.
Sat. Jan. 21 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa w/ Pelada Fri. Feb. 17 - Toronto, ON - Boiler Room Wed. Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW Thu. Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW Fri. Mar. 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW Sat. Mar. 18 - Austin, TX - SXSW Fri. Mar. 24 - Montreal, QC - Phi Centre Sat. Mar. 25 - Toronto, ON - Garrison Wed. Apr. 12 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Thu. Apr. 13 - Seattle, WA - Barboza Fri. Apr. 14 - Los Angeles - Zebulon Sat. Apr. 15 - Vancouver, BC - Cobalt Wed. Apr. 19 - Brooklyn, NY - Babys Alright Thu. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle Wed. May 03 - London, UK - Corsica Studios w/ Grove
GOOD LUCK is available now to preorder from Sub Pop. LP pre orders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent stores in North America, the U.K., and E.U., will receive the limited Loser edition on metallic silver vinyl (while supplies last).
About DEBBY FRIDAY’S GOOD LUCK: The usual boom-and-bust cycles of growing up – breaking down, gathering the strength to get up, fumbling hard, doing it all over again - can feel unmooring, to say the least, but, and according to DEBBY FRIDAY, its tragedies and glories need savoring. Losing illusions, gaining expectations; getting deep into the private, soupy kaleidoscope of what’s possible and what’s futile – GOOD LUCK, her debut, and supernovic, full-length album, is built on welcoming the journey’s complicated drops and mountain highs with something more like grace.
Nigerian-born, then an emigré to bits of Canada - from Montreal to Vancouver to Toronto - DEBBY FRIDAY’s roamings through space and time really began when the sun fell. Nightlife was her emancipation from the toughness of home life, and she fell into it, body and soul, totally seduced. Raves til sunrise; house music in unknown basements and warehouses – the lure of the party was the perfect escape. “I was like a little club rat,” she laughs. Her adoration of the world that it opened for her came in “almost in a sensual way.”
Things that feel good sometimes do fall apart, though. In 2017, after DJing for less than a year, her life just sort of imploded. Parties started getting less functional. Nothing was going the way that she wanted it to go. So she gathered her things and embarked on what would turn out to be the first of a few of her coming-of-age stories – a wave of bildungsromans. “Personal issues: mental health stuff, substance abuse stuff, stupid love;” she lists, but the way FRIDAY says it, it seems as if she’s grateful for the valleys she had to walk through in order to see the version of herself we get today. After making the decision to stop herself in her tracks, she pulverized new paths for herself forward. Late-night YouTube tutorials on music production led to an EP, BITCHPUNK, and BITCHPUNK led to her first public performances, and all that gave way to a second EP, DEATH DRIVE. Her art endowed her with the strength she needed to move on. “This is what I was born to do,” she goes. “It came to me so naturally and instinctively. I felt just so clear, focused, and in my power in a way that I’d never felt before up until that point.”
So what does it take to hone that power? Discipline - routines, rituals; an MFA, practices of writing and filmmaking, and music-making that guide a person from one day to the next - but something close to mysticism, too. FRIDAY’s serious, long-term relationships to the study of astrology, psychology, and philosophy allow her to move through the world, relate to others, and get closer to what’s inside her. She believes in what emerges. She believes in making the unconscious, conscious. She wants to be in dialogue with the darkness.
It’s why GOOD LUCK works like such a study in entropy. On the surface, you’ll hear hints of Santigold’s dub dazzle, the MIDI-crush of Death Grips, but less obviously the plaintiveness of directors like Eric Rohmer, or the grotesque decadence of later-era Sylvia Plath. (Juno Award and Polaris Prize-nominated composer Graham Walsh adds a sort of heft and pull to the genre-flexibility on parade here: think of it a little like Sevdaliza meets FKA Twigs.)
Few do it like her, though. If lucid, acid housey, high-BPM tracks like “I GOT IT” - accompanied by Chris Vargas of Pelada / Uñas - has her cocksure and vainglorious about her “big ol ego” and “red blood libido,” a crushing track like “LET U DOWN” (“I been your Brutus, your Judas / I’ve been so wrecked and so ruthless”) doesn’t hesitate to explore the lower ends of the emotional register. She’s drawn to certain keys and moods (the brooding D and F minors, for instance, are all over this album) to suggest melancholia and darkness. However, the lead single, “SO HARD TO TELL,” sees FRIDAY totally shed all of her signature industrial tropes, to deliver a completely out-of-pocket, totally assured, falsetto pop song. Sounding like little that has come before in her catalog, this track is a crucial signifier in FRIDAY’s development.
The album GOOD LUCKwill be co-released with a short film of the same name, co-directed by FRIDAY and Nathan De Paz Habib (past work includes Eroica, based on Chino Amobi’s novel of the same name). It’s a story of individuation. It’s a love story about a woman and her masked beloved, but outside of the accompanying-but-stand-alone visual, it’s all a willing, yearning investigation into what goes on behind the veil of sadness, of cruelty. Because knowing the darkness is the only way to understand the light, but also the greys and the blues and the in-between states. FRIDAY’s explorations in GOOD LUCK – delving down into the muck of nuance - are a kind of courage.
DEBBY FRIDAY GOOD LUCK
Tracklisting: 1. GOOD LUCK 2. SO HARD TO TELL 3. I GOT IT 4. HOT LOVE 5. HEARTBREAKERRR 6. WHAT A MAN 7. SAFE 8. LET U DOWN 9. PLUTO BABY 10. WAKE UP
On February 24th, 2023 Bria will release her follow-up EP Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 on LP/CD/DSPs. On the heels of the release of her cover, “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” (Paula Cole), comes the reimagined version of the late and great Loretta Lynn’s iconic song “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”
“We wanted to reimagine all the confidence and assertion in Loretta Lynn’s version into an upbeat and frantic pop song” shares Bria. “One that reminded me of my seventeen-year-old self when I heard it for the first time.”
You can watch the official video which was directed by Andrew Matthews here.
Bria has confirmed two live shows, performing songs from Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. The first of these performances will happen on March 9th at Zebulon in Los Angeles, CA and the second at March 18th at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, ON. Additional shows to be announced soon.
Tour Dates: Thur. Mar. 09 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon Sat. Mar. 18th - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
About Cuntry Covers Vol. 2: As its name suggested, the intimate and sultry Cuntry Covers Vol. 1. was always going to have a follow-up. Cuntry Covers Vol. 2 is every bit as potent as its predecessor whose noir-inflected alternative country-rock stood in sharp contrast to the singer’s commanding delivery as leader of post-punk revivalists FRIGS. Debuting the project in 2021, the languid, reverb-drenched Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 saw her artfully collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Duncan Hay Jennings and reimagining a carefully picked collection of Americana anthems.
Vol. 2 pushes the envelope further and harder. Encompassing feverish takes on tracks by Gillian Welch, Paula Cole, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Robert Lester Folsom, Glenn Campbell – by way of Nick Cave – and the late, great Loretta Lynn, Bria’s deliciously dark approach shimmers through these six startling songs.
Created during a break from Salmena and Jennings’ work in Orville Peck’s world-conquering backing band, Vol. 2 was recorded directly after Peck’s second album and Bria’s US tour supporting Wolf Alice. Embracing contrast, the sunny circumstances in which Vol. 1 was made were flipped on their head. Instead of a bucolic barn in the Canadian countryside, they recorded the new tracks in chilly Toronto, huddled together in their tiny makeshift home studio, with Jennings at the controls. They enlisted the help of local Toronto musicians Lucas Savatti (FRIGS), Simone Baril (US Girls, The Highest Order, Darlene Shrugg, Partner), Andrew Manktelow, and frequent collaborator Jaime Rae McCuaig.
While Vol. 1 was Bria’s attempt at subverting country music’s conservative roots and primarily white and heterosexual agenda, here the emphasis was on experimentation. While Vol. 2 might be less personal, it’s just as idiosyncratic, with half of the reversions staying true to the originals and others taken to a dierent universe entirely. Building on the tried-and-true/bold-and-new duality of Cuntry Covers’ first oering, Vol. 2 delivers a deeper dive into the duo’s brilliant alchemy of traditional and contemporary reinterpretations. The added experimental flourishes, from dizzying electronica and pulsing bass to sax-driven soul, take Bria’s new EP into previously uncharted territory, signaling a thrilling new step in Bria’s adventurous evolution.
What people are saying about Bria: “It’s an other-worldly take on the Karen Dalton standard…” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Clash
“Where Dalton’s original is quite lo-fi and scratchy, Bria have added some fidelity and warmth to it through golden-strummed guitars and a lackadaisical but precise beat.” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Beats Per Minute
“It’s the the third track that’s truly mind-blowing, however. An ode to the late, great trailblazer, Loretta Lynn, Bria turns the classic ‘Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin (With Lovin’ On Your Mind) into a vibrant pop song that ABBA or The Primitives would be proud of.” - The Rodeo
“Salmena’s raspy tinged voice provides a depth of longing and fractured tenderness on her cover of Karen Dalton’s track, “Green Rocky Road.’” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Ears to Feed
“The band’s version should will win over any Jennings fans, or fans of old country.” [“Dreaming My Dreams Of You”] - Northern Transmissions
“Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 seamlessly drifts between classic country references and a new perspective of reimagining what country could sound like” - Tonitruale
Bria Cuntry Covers Vol. 2
Track Listing: 1. Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? 2. When You Know Why You’re Happy 3. Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind) 4. By The Time I Get to Phoenix 5. I Dream A Highway 6. See You Later, I’m Gone
Sullen the Gorilla takes a solitary hike through “Nowheresville,” the official video and new single from Quasi’s Breaking the Balls of History, the duo’s tenth-album and label debut for Sub Pop.
Breaking the Balls of History will be available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs on February 10th, 2023. The album features twelve-tracks and was produced by Quasi and John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Unwound, Treepeople, Team Dresch) at Rob Lang Studios in Seattle, engineered and mixed by Goodmanson, and mastered by Bill Skibbe at Third Man Mastering.
Quasi is supporting Breaking the Balls of History with a headlining U.S. tour hat begins on the album’s release day, Friday, February 10th in Boise, ID at Neurolux and ends Tuesday, March 28th in Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe. The tour will feature support (select dates) from the likes of Yuvees (Feb. 10th-20th), No. 2 (Mar. 2nd-4th), Shaylee (Mar. 4th), and Bat Fangs (Mar. 14th-28th). Tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Fri. Feb. 10 - Boise, ID - Neurolux ^ Sat. Feb. 11 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court ^ Mon. Feb. 13 - Albuquerque, NM - Sister ^ Wed. Feb. 15 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger ^ Thu. Feb. 16 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall ^ Fri. Feb. 17 - Austin, TX - The Parish ^ Sat. Feb. 18 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada ^ Mon. Feb. 20 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace ^ Wed. Feb. 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge Thu. Feb. 23 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy and Harriet’s Fri. Feb. 24 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon Sat. Feb. 25 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club Sun. Feb. 26 - Sacramento, CA - Starlet Room Thu. Mar. 02 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret # Fri. Mar. 03 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern # Sat. Mar. 04 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge # ! Tue. Mar. 14 -Boston, MA - The Sinclair % Wed. Mar. 15 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s % Thu. Mar. 16 - Ridgewood, NY - TV Eye % Fri. Mar. 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s % Sun. Mar. 19 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook % Tue. Mar. 21 - Atlanta, GA - 529 % Wed. Mar. 22 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn % Thu. Mar. 23 - Nashville, TN - Blue Room at Third Man Records % Fri. Mar. 24 - St. Louis, MO - Off-Broadway % Sat. Mar. 25 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle % Sun. Mar. 26 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups % Mon. Mar. 27 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records % Tue. Mar. 28 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe %
Quasi’s Breaking the Balls of History, featuring the aforementioned “Nowheresville,” along with the official videos for “Doomscrollers” and “Queen of Ears,” is seeing early praise from the likes of Brooklyn Vegan, who say, “[Queen Of Ears] Has all the Quasi earmarks: pointed lyrics, jagged melodies, skronky organ, bashing drums, and Sam & Janet’s distinctive harmonies.” Stereogum says “Lead single “Queen Of Ears” finds Coomes and Weiss bashing away on their keyboard and drums, respectively, lending a raw edge to an otherwise bright and poppy song. The backing vocals are clutch on this one.” Meanwhile, of “Doomscrollers,” MOJO offers this “Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes here switch on all their chaotic McCartney/Malkmus energy for a state-of-the-planet address.” Finally, Shindig! calls “Doomscrollers” “A punchy blend of state-of-things stream of consciousness and melodic brightness signals the much-awaited return of Pacific Northwest legends Quasi.” Breaking the Balls of History, was included in Pitchfork’s “The 34 Most Anticipated Releases for 2023” (see January 9th story).
Breaking the Balls of History can be preordered now from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on pink vinyl.
Tracklisting: 1. Last Long Laugh 2. Back in Your Tree 3. Queen of Ears 4. Gravity 5. Shitty Is Pretty 6. Riots & Jokes 7. Breaking the Balls of History 8. Doomscrollers 9. Inbetweenness 10. Nowheresville 11. Rotten Wrock 12. The Losers Win
