Today, Stockholm-based artist waterbaby has signed to Sub Pop worldwide and is sharing her first single “Airforce blue,” and its charming, firework-laden video, which introduces her hypnotic and evocative approach to music. “Airforce blue,” is available today worldwide on all DSPs.
 
“Airforce blue” is a swirling autotuned hymnal that distills the dizzying multitudes and nuances of crushing on someone. The song was created by waterbaby, Marcus White, and Anton Fernandez in Stockholm, Sweden. The video, also directed by her main collaborator White, underpins this unknowable evocative feeling, placing waterbaby amidst the backdrop of New Year’s Eve fireworks in Stockholm.

The FADER calls the track “An unguarded DIY R&B moment coming out of the Swedish capital (see March 29th news post).”
 
More on waterbaby:
Artists have always had a knack for understanding the strange psychological sorcery that comes with crushing on someone. waterbaby - intimately knows the tiny nuances between love – which is to say, the bond between two people – and the one-sided, up-and-down feelings of infatuation: the plaintive longing, the shifty wanting and the not-wanting, and all the luxuriously intrusive thoughts that come with them. If you’re at all familiar with the patterns of this (il)logic, you’ll find a welcome home in the world of waterbaby’s rhapsodic, technopastoral crush songs.
 
waterbaby’s auto-tunelets work like this: there’s the confessional of sisterly, guitar-assisted warmth infused with humane, sticky lyrics that surface in your head like bubbles floating to the top of an aquarium. waterbaby, along with executive producer and collaborator Marcus White, creates a mystic sort of blend – the songs feel spell-like, but they honor the feelings of what it’s like to love, or at least to want to feel loved.
 
The chief love in waterbaby’s life has always been music, of course. It’s infused in her blood: her great-grandad was a jazz pianist; her uncle worked in clubs and arranged concerts, and that Stockholmian syndrome of preternaturally knowing how to craft the perfect song – it’s a part of her that’s palpable in everything she writes or touches.
 
It could be because she’s got a choir-school upbringing that’s done something to her voice – made it familiar with Pythagorean melodies and spare, delicate ideas that sound simple at first but really get into the spiritual in their own way. “My parents hated my music,” she laughs, talking about her private love of the megastars of R&B that she’d sainted as paragons of sounds and feelings that accessed the full range of emotions she was getting familiar with.
 
Those emotions range from sad to empathetic, from hopeful to cocky, from doleful to ecstatic. “Airforce blue,” her first single, with tones as liquidly bright as a fish whipping through the ocean, gives form to the feel of the latter sort of pain. “I still miss you” goes the chorus over and over again, if that’s any help. Crushes and longing seem to map her life over with meaning and joy.

On Friday, June 2nd, Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno), will release Lucky For You, her kaleidoscopic new full-length on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The 10-track album combines punk grit, crunchy shoegaze bliss, and an explosive Britpop bop, all mixed in with the classic anthems Bully is known for. 
 
Lucky For You was recorded in 2022 at MMK Studios and Alicia’s House in Nashville, with help from producer JT Daly and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.
 
This pulsating lead banger, “Days Move Slow,” was written after the passing of her beloved dog and best friend, Mezzi. Bognanno offers this, “as someone who has spent the majority of my life feeling agonizingly misunderstood, there is no greater gift than experiencing true unconditional love and acceptance. I waited my whole life for the bond and irreplaceable companionship I had with Mezzi. She was my best friend and my only constant through some of the most pivotal moments and phases of my life. I was a stranger to the level of love I now know exists because of Mezzi. Love you forever; I’m lucky for you.” 
 
The “Days Move Slow” official video was directed by Alex Ross Perry, who shares about this collaboration, “This is my third time collaborating with Alicia, but my first time collaborating with Bully. Having written the original songs for my film Her Smell and performed at the Pavement Museum Tribute Concert “scene” for my forthcoming film on them, I can’t believe I finally got to make a Bully video. Right away, it seemed striking to make a piece as stark and measured as possible, not to make a video that replicates the song’s sonic energy but to visualize the emotional weight and feelings of loss and grief depicted in the lyrics. Alicia doesn’t seem to have been filmed in 16mm black and white before, so it was a no-brainer to give that a try.” You can watch this brilliant new video HERE. 

Bully is extending her North American tour dates for 2023 in support of Lucky For You with new headlining shows. Dates kick-off June 4th in Charlottesville, VA, with headline stops at NYC’s Racket, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, and a hometown show at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets for these shows are on sale on Friday, March 24th, at 10:00 AM (local).
 
These new shows will follow Bully’s previously announced headlining UK/EU tour (May 20th-28th) and her 13-date main support for the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (June 8th-25th). See below for a current list of Bully live shows.
 

 
Lucky For You’s announcement was preceded by the release of the album track “Lose You,” Bully’s, which features guest vocal harmonies from Sophia Allison, aka Soccer Mommy. The song garnered support from Pitchfork, NME, DIY, The Fader, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, and RollingStone. Stereogum says of the track, “It meets in the midpoint between the two bands’ aesthetics, trading out Bully’s usual rapid-speed intensity for an ambling ’90s alt-rock vibes while holding onto the raw power. It might be the most purely catchy Bully song to date.” 
 
More about Bully:
Lucky For You is Bully’s most close-to-the-bone album yet. It’s an album that’s searing and unmistakably marked by its creator’s experiences, while still retaining the massive sound that Alicia Bognanno has become known for over the last decade. Her fourth album draws from personal pain and the universal struggle that is existing, learning, and moving on—and it’s all soundtracked by Bognanno’s rock-solid melodic sensibilities and a widescreen sound that’s impossible to pin down when it comes to the textures explored. These ten songs are simply the most irresistible Bognanno’s put to tape yet, making Lucky For You her greatest triumph to date in a career already packed with them.
 
Work on Lucky For You began last year when Bognanno brought some in-progress demos to producer J.T. Daly in his Nashville studio to see if they could strike creative kismet. “Authenticity is always on my mind, without even knowing it,” she explains while discussing their recording process together. “If I’m doing something that doesn’t feel natural or right, I’m quick to shut it down. So it was great to work with J.T. because I could tell he was a genuine fan who wanted to emphasize what he thinks is good about my writing instead of changing it. I could tell how much he cared about the project, and it meant a lot to me.” The album came together over the course of seven months, the longest gestation process for a Bully record to date: “I was freaking out about it at first because taking my time was so new for me. But a few months in, I realized how crucial that time ended up being. I got songs out of it that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
 
“With every record, I feel more and more secure in terms of doing what I want,” Bognanno continues. “For this one, I wanted to be as creative as possible with these songs.” She got her wish: A kaleidoscopic rock record spanning punk’s grit, the crunchy bliss of shoegaze, explosive Britpop, and the type of classic anthems Bully has been known for, Lucky For You’s thematic focus also zooms in on grief and loss. The record is largely inspired by Bognanno’s dog Mezzi passing away, at a time when her life already felt as if in metamorphosis.
 
“Mezzi was my best friend,” she explains. “She made me feel safe and empowered, she showed me that I was worth loving and never judged me or viewed me as a let down. I always felt accepted, understood and so much less alone. Mezzi was living, breathing proof that I was worthy of being loved.” And the oceanic first single “Days Move Slow” was written shortly after Mezzi’s passing, reflecting the persistence of Bognanno’s incisive wit even while facing adversity. “There was nothing else I could do except sit down and write.”
 
“Hard to Love” stomps and lurches with awesome abandon, resembling one of the most sonically left-field tunes Bognanno’s put to tape as Bully; and then there’s the passionate opening track “All I Do,” which kicks in the door Bully-style with huge riffs atop her lyrical reflections on three years of sobriety. “I’ve been living in this house for seven years,” she says while discussing her current Nashville abode. “Once I stopped drinking, I felt like I was still haunted by mistakes and things that had happened when I was drinking, and it’s still taking me a long time to forget about that while existing in this house. How do I shed the skin from a path I’ve moved on from?”
 
In that vein, Lucky For You is a document of perseverance in the face of the big and the small stuff. “I’m so overly emotional and sensitive, it’s a blessing and a curse,” she says with a laugh, but there’s no downside to her expressions of vulnerability on this record; it’s the latest bit of evidence that nothing can hold Bognanno back.

Bully
Lucky For You
 
Tracklisting:
1. All I Do
2. Days Move Slow
3. A Wonderful Life
4. Hard to Love
5. Change Your Mind
6. How Will I Know
7. A Love Profound
8. Lose You
9. Ms. America
10. All This Noise

CHAI — the beloved Japanese quartet composed of identical twins MANA (vocals/keys) and KANA (guitar), drummer YUNA, and bassist/lyricist YUUKI — are “professional purveyor[s] of whimsy” (The New York Times). Today, the four-piece unveils their first new single/video of 2023, “We The Female!” Following CHAI’s acclaimed 2021 album, WINK, which “exudes a newfound sense of serenity, even as they remain committed to exuberant self-love” (Pitchfork), “We The Female!” continues expanding CHAI’s canon of anthemic dance jams. The accompanying video, directed by Cezan Iseda, is a charming collage of 80s television homages. 

Of “We The Female!,” YUUKI adds: “We are human and were born as female, but we have both female and male aspects in each of our souls, each with our own sense of balance.  We can’t just label ourselves into clear-cut, simple categories anymore! I’m not anyone else but just ‘me,’ and you are no one else but just ‘you.’ This song celebrates that with a roar! Yooooooooo!!”  

WATCH CHAI’S “WE THE FEMALE!” VIDEO

WINK followed CHAI’s beloved 2017 debut PINK, and their superb 2019 sophomore effort, PUNK. Surrounding WINK’s release, CHAI was profiled in V Magazine, The New York Times, NPR  and more; it was named one of the year’s best releases by Under The Radar and Paste, who hailed: “CHAI make every moment feel like a treat.” 

“WE THE FEMALE!” is a small taste of what CHAI has in store for the year.

Sub Pop is thrilled, chuffed even, to announce that we, the ‘practically legendary’ Seattle-based media conglomerate, will be Rough Trade Stores’ ‘Label of the Month’ for the entirety of April 2023!

A compensated spokesperson from Rough Trade gave us the following very nice (and objectively true…) statement…, “What can we say about Sub Pop Records? A label born from the ardent practice of DIY culture, built on a pioneering grunge scene and a reformed idea of what it means to be a music brand. Though they are a decade our junior, we’ve enjoyed growing up together and witnessing the evolution not only of music, but of our own institutions; the breadth and diversity among their current roster is testament to this. Sub Pop’s culture is as much about the label as it is about the music. They are one of the best indie labels in the world, and we’re proud to call them friends. Long, long may they live.”

Plus, in a rare instance of true synergy, April 1st, 2023 marks Sub Pop’s 35th anniversary! And we are hereby kicking off celebrations of our 35 or so years of excellence in our chosen field (whatever that might be). Happy Birthday to us!
 
As some small measure of our true gratitude surrounding this ‘Label of the Month’ business, we have pressed 5 arguably classic albums from our bountiful catalogue on exciting, coloured vinyl! These limited-edition pressings will be sold exclusively via the Rough Trade stores, both in the group’s 5 UK physical retail locations (see below for addresses) and online via the magic of impersonal, odorless web sales.
 
The details thereof:

 
Get to it, collector scum! (whilst stocks last…)
 
We’ve also collaborated on a handsome and exclusive new t-shirt, featuring print on both the front and back, which will also be available from Rough Trade (whilst stocks last). This t-shirt is available in two colours (if you count black and white as colours, and we do) and in several sizes.
 
Sub Pop and Rough Trade: Making April (2023) Great Again!

Today, DEBBY FRIDAY is sharing an icy new remix of “HOT LOVE,” from her acclaimed debut album GOOD LUCK, reworked by electronic music duo Boy Harsher and available today on all DSPs from Sub Pop. 

Tomorrow, Friday, April 28th, FANGORIA will premiere DEBBY FRIDAY’s accompanying album short film GOOD LUCK, a pseudo-autobiographical tale, largely drawn from her own life and experiences growing up as a zillenial anti-heroine. A surrealist reflection on the tumultuous whirlwind that is the end of adolescence and the emotionality of youth, GOOD LUCK is co-directed by FRIDAY and Nathan De Paz Habib (Chino Amobi’s Eroica, and The Bicycle).

 
Photo Credit:  Chinelo Yasin

DEBBY FRIDAY’s headlining tour and festival dates for the UK and Europe begin May 2nd in Brighton, UK at Crofters Rights and run through May 13th at The Great Escape Festival (@ Patterns).
 
Her international tour schedule has also been extended through November 11th in London at The Roundhouse for Pitchfork London (with Yaeji). New highlights include June 3rd in Toronto at Boiler Room; June 8th-18th for an Australian club and festival tour; July 28th at Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario; and two Canadian shows supporting Tegan & Sara on July 29th in Saskatoon, SK at TCU Place, and July 31st in Winnipeg, MB at Burton Cummings.

Of her recent appearances at SXSW, Rolling Stone raved: “Welcome to Planet Debby: If you wandered into the back room at Empire Garage and Control Room at the right moment on Thursday afternoon, you found yourself in the middle of an interstellar rave in full swing. Toronto experimental artist Debby Friday was onstage, performing a thudding electro-rap song with hints of Azealia Banks and Donna Summer… Leaping off the stage into the small crowd, she demanded that they come closer — “I need your energy!” — and kept on chanting, in a long vamp that bent space and time. It was the kind of serendipitous moment that makes SXSW one of the best places in the world to discover a new favorite.”

Tue. May  02 - Bristol, UK -  Crofters Rights 
Wed. May 03 - London, UK - Corsica Studios #
Fri. May 05 - Krems, AT - Donau Festival 
Sat. May 06 - Brussels, BE - Botanique (La Rotonde)
Wed. May 10 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB
Thu. May 11 - Leeds, UK - Headrow House
Fri. May 12 - Manchester, UK - The White Hotel
Sat. May 13 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape @ Patterns
Jun. 03 - Toronto, ON - Boiler Room
Thu. Jun. 08 - Melbourne, AU - Rising (Max Watts) ^
Fri. Jun. 09 - Hobart, AU - Dark Mofo
Sat. Jun. 10 - Hobart, AU - Dark Mofo
Mon. Jun. 12 - Sydney, AU - Vivid Wavyland Metro Theatre
Wed. Jun. 14 - Sun. Jun. 18  Melbourne, AU - Rising
Sat. Jul. 08 - Québec City, QC - Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ)
Fri. Jul. 28 - Guelph, ON - Hillside Fest
Sat. Jul. 29 - Saskatoon, SK - TCU Place *
Mon. Jul. 31 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings *
Sun. Sep. 03 - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot
Fri. Oct. 27 - Chicago, IL - Sanctum @ Thalia Hall
Sat. Nov. 11 - London, UK - Pitchfork London %
* w/ Tegan & Sara
^ w/ Desire Marea
# w/ Grove
% w/ Yaeji, Jessy Lanza

GOOD LUCK is available now from Sub Pop. LP purchases from megamart.subpop.com, select independent stores in North America, the U.K., and E.U., and DEBBY FRIDAY’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition on metallic silver vinyl (while supplies last).
 
GOOD LUCK features “SO HARD TO TELL,” “I GOT IT,” “WHAT A MAN,” and “HOT LOVE,”  was co-produced by DEBBY FRIDAY and Graham Walsh (METZ, Holy Fuck) at Candle Recording Studio in Toronto, and mastered by Heba Kadry in New York.

 
What people are saying about DEBBY FRIDAY:
“The Nigerian-born, Toronto-based singer and rapper Debby Friday’s ambitious, charismatic album “Good Luck” is one of my favorite debuts of the year so far…She’s a shape-shifting, swashbuckling dynamo journeying through different tempos and genres, always on a heroine’s quest for self-discovery.” “The Amplifier” - The New York Times
 
“Her first full-length is sweaty and determined, eager to deliver on its teeth-chattering beats with a feverish intensity. The influences are obvious, but the ways that Debby Friday crashes those sounds together are not.” “Album of the Week” - STEREOGUM
 
“GOOD LUCK is an assured and frequently surprising debut that feels like a trip into the lascivious, eclectic wormhole of Friday’s world – and with so much to take in, and so much fun to be had, you won’t want to leave.”  8/10 - CRACK
 
“There’s an extraordinary elasticity across GOOD LUCK’s masterful production that makes repeated listens not just enjoyable but irresistible.” “8/10, Album of the Week” - LOUD & QUIET
 
“[Her] most fully realized set of songs to date. The abrasion and urgency of her early EPs remains, but the 10 songs here lean more heavily toward the pulse of the club—and often a vampiric underground den at that…Friday more openly embraces pop on her debut album, but rarely does so outside the presence of the shadow and mystique her music so often casts.” “Album of the Week” - Treble
 
“DEBBY defies easy categorization, mixing rap, electro, post-punk, industrial, techno and more into a glitchy, bruising and bitcrushed blend that is fiery, magnetic and all her own.” [GOOD LUCK] - Brooklyn Vegan
 
“Imagine you walk into a club and there’s industrial playing, then the next track is house, the next cybergoth, and the next alt-pop. Maybe that would sound like sonic whiplash — but in the world of DEBBY FRIDAY, that’s all possible, and the club is bumping… The Nigeria-born-Toronto-based DJ-turned-recording-artist just released her first album with Sub Pop, GOOD LUCK, and it’s an expansive display of her influences, from heavy rock to alt-R&B. Fans of Azealia Banks, JPEGMAFIA, SZA, Yves Tumor, and even Nine Inch Nails could all find themselves at home in her world. And soon enough, with her innovation and confidence, it seems like the rest of the world will, too.” “The Rising Artists You Need To Know Right Now” - Alternative Press
 
“Friday strikes a remarkable balance on her forthcoming debut LP, GOOD LUCK: between the boisterous and the tranquil, the erudite and the crass, a packed dancefloor and quiet isolation. Featuring unequivocal bangers like “I Got It,” “Pluto Baby,” and “Heartbreakerrr,” Debby Friday is destined for bigger stages in 2023.” “15 Artists to Watch in 2023” - SPIN
 
“…An album that testifies to the liberating potential of making a racket.” [GOOD LUCK] - SLANT
 
“On Friday’s previous EPs, 2018’s Bitchpunk and 2019’s Death Drive, she reveled in messy synth-punk exuberance. That energy is amped-up on GOOD LUCK…Packed into a succinct, live-wire 33-minutes, GOOD LUCK is testament to how effectively Friday can capture life in all its dense, unpredictable emotions.” - Chicago Reader
 
“An explosive, pounding, relentlessly calisthenic dance-floor banger with attitude to spare. A pulsating beat flickers like a strobe light as Friday and Chris Vargas of the duo Pelada, appearing here as Uñas, trade braggadocious bilingual verses. ‘Let mama give you what you need,’ Friday shrieks before calmly assuring, ‘I got it.’” [“I GOT IT”] “The Playlist” - New York Times
 
“In contrast to the pulse-quickening tempos and noisy synths of her past music, her production is deft and graceful, with a skipping beat and cascading backing vocals. ‘Lady Friday/All you do is rеbel,’ Friday chastises herself—tough talk against a fragile, gorgeous sound.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Best New Track” - Pitchfork
 
“One of the young year’s most audacious bangers” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - Billboard
 
“Hyperpop can sometimes come off as abrasive but in the hands of Canadian singer DEBBY FRIDAY it’s soulful, even elegant.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - NYLON
 
“A graceful entrance into yet another territory: lush R&B”[“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Now Playing” - NPR Music
 
“If you’ve ever deep-dived into Debby Friday’s discography, you’ll know she slammed this single into left field, but man is it a hit! This edgy extraordinaire has taken a dip into the darkside via falsetto pop.”  ” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - MTV