News from 5/2024

NEWS : MON, MAY 6, 2024 at 8:00 AM

SUKI WATERHOUSE ANNOUNCES THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR

Today, musician and Sub Pop recording artist SUKI WATERHOUSE is announcing THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR, a brand new headlining trek that will visit 24 cities across North America this Fall. THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR will kick off on Saturday, September 28th in Denver at Mission Ballroom and will make stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and more.

The tour will feature direct support from RCA Records act Debbii Dawson on September 28th, and her Sub Pop labelmate Bully from October 17th through December 21st (select dates).

Special fan presales for THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR begin Wednesday, May 8th at 8am (local) and end Friday, May 10th at 9 am (local). Fans can RSVP here to receive the artist presale code on Wednesday.  Tickets for the general public will be on sale Friday, May 10th at 10 am (local) here.

The announcement comes on the heels of her Coachella debut closing out the Gobi stage both weekends. She performed her new singles “My Fun” and “Faded” along with fan favorites like “Nostalgia,” “Too Love,” “OMG,” and her newly-certified Platinum single “Good Looking,” along with a cover of the Oasis classic “Don’t Look Back In Anger.”

The upcoming series of dates follows a ramped-up year of Suki playing some of the largest crowds of her career in South America (Lollapalooza in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), the US (Governors Ball, Ohana, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Festival, and now Coachella), and Mexico (at Corona Capital).

The tour will be in support of Suki’s forthcoming album, which includes “Faded,” “My Fun,” To Love,” and “OMG,” and is due out later this year worldwide on Sub Pop.

For more ticket information, please visit https://laylo.com/sukiwaterhouse/m/sparklemuffintour.

SUKI WATERHOUSE ‘THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR’ 2024 DATES:               
Sat. Sep. 28 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom *                   
Thu. Oct. 17 - Houston, TX -  House of Blues ^                               
Fri. Oct. 18 - Austin, TX -  ACL Live at the Moody Theater ^
Sat. Oct. 19 - Dallas, TX  - The Factory in Deep Ellum ^     
Mon. Oct. 21 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren ^                    
Tue. Oct. 22 - San Diego, CA - The Sound ^           
Wed. Oct. 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre ^                     
Fri. Oct. 25 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield                                               
Mon. Oct. 28 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom ^                

Tue. Oct. 30 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater ^

Mon. Dec. 02 - Kansas City, MO - The Truman ^
Tue. Dec. 03 - St. Louis, MO - The Factory ^ 
Wed. Dec. 04 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre ^               
Fri. Dec. 06 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora ^  
Sat. Dec. 07 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Paramount ^
Tue. Dec. 10 - Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall ^                   
Wed. Dec. 11 - Washington, DC - The Anthem ^

Fri. Dec. 13 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner ^
Sat. Dec. 14 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS ^    
Sun. Dec. 15  - Toronto, ON - HISTORY ^   
Tue. Dec. 17 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre ^
Wed. Dec. 18 - Chicago, IL - The Salt Shed ^

Thu. Dec. 19 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium ^

Sat. Dec.  21 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern ^

^ w/ Bully

* w/ Debbii Dawson


About Suki Waterhouse

Sub Pop recording artist Suki Waterhouse has worked nonstop since the May 2022 release of I Can’t Let Go, her label debut. Later that year, she released the “Nostalgia” single and the Milk Teeth EP (featuring the newly Platinum-certified viral hit, “Good Looking”). In 2023, Suki released the monumental ballad “To Love.” She embarked on a wildly successful headline tour and would go on to perform in front of the largest festival crowds of her career in North and South America. 

In 2024, Suki released the jubilant “OMG” and the sparkling “My Fun” and “Faded” ahead of her well-received Coachella debut, closing out the Gobi stage. “To Love,” “OMG,” “My Fun,” and “Faded” will be on her forthcoming album due out this year. Suki will also support that release with “The Sparklemuffin Tour,” her headlining tour this fall.


Posted by Abbie Gobeli

NEWS : TUE, MAY 14, 2024 at 7:00 AM

J.R.C.G.’s Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) Available August 2nd

On August 2nd, J.R.C.G. will release Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra), the second album and Sub Pop debut from the Tacoma, WA-based artist Justin R. Cruz Gallego. Conceived and executed primarily in Gallego’s home studio, Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) was co-produced by Gallego and Seth Manchester (The Body, Battles, and Mdou Moctar.) Together, they retained the intimacy of Gallego’s home recordings while taking advantage of the hi-fi stylings of Manchester’s Machines With Magnets Studio in Rhode Island.
 
Driven by opposing forces, Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) weds scouring electronics to hooky, powerful beats in a way that feels visceral and new. The lead single, “Dogear,” is a face-melting party starter that sounds like Talking Heads and Rudimentary Peni forced to jam together. “I wanted a song that felt playful in the way it attempted to be dissonant without taking itself too seriously,” Gallego says. Directed by Dustin Houston and Sam Klickner, you can watch here.
 
J.R.C.G. will be opening for Mdou Moctar, with headline dates to follow. See below for a full list of shows.
 
Tue. Jun. 18 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall $
Wed. Jun. 19 - Detroit, MI - Magic Bag $
Thu. Jun. 20 -  Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom $
Fri. Jun. 21 - Buffalo, NY - Ashbury Hall $
Sun. Jun. 23 - Boston, MA- Paradise Rock Club $
Wed. Jun. 26 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw $
Thu. Jun. 27 - Washington, DC - 9:30 CLUB $
Fri. Jun. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer $
Fri. Aug. 02 - Portland, OR - Polaris Hall
Sat. Aug. 03 - Seattle, WA  - Clock-Out Lounge
Thu. Aug. 15 - Reno, NV - Holland Project
Fri. Aug. 16 - San Fransisco, CA - Kilowatt Bar
Sun. Aug.18 Tucson - Congress
Tues. Aug. 20 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
Thu. Aug. 22- New Orleans, LA - Siberia
Fri. Aug. 23 - Atlanta, GA - 529
Sat. Aug. 24 - Nashville, TN - Hubba Hubba Tiki Tonk
Sun. Aug. 25 - Raleigh, NC -  Kings
Tue. Aug. 27 - Richmond, VA -  Warehouse
Wed. Aug. 28 - Washington, DC - Pie Shop
Fri. Aug. 30 - Providence, RI - AS220
 
 $ w/ Mdou Moctar
 
About J.R.C.G. - Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra):
To experience Justin R. Cruz Gallego’s pulverizing Sub Pop debut is to get burned down to ashes and burst forth, born anew. Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra), the Tacoma-based artist’s second album is driven by opposing forces: noisy abstractions and tightly structured beats, anguish and dissolution at the outside world and empowerment within, apathy and catharsis. Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) weds scouring electronics to hooky songs and Gallego’s powerful drumming in a way that feels visceral and new. It’s his most personal statement to date, at once playful and intent, driven and combustible, total fucking chaos mixed into glints of broken-glass beauty.
 
Born in Tucson, Arizona, Gallego experienced culture shock as a child after relocating to the frigid climes of the Pacific Northwest. He found solace in the Seattle punk scene centered around Iron Lung Records and has since remained a fixture in the underground community. 
 
“I see this record as first and foremost a musical statement,” Gallego says. “I grew up in punk and DIY subcultures, but before that I had Latin music playing in the background through my childhood and every phase of adolescence. It was surprisingly natural to incorporate. I realized I wanted to go deeper into these rhythms. I wanted to make a record that felt as experimental as much as it felt from the perspective of a Latino. When I got a glimmer of that possibility, it felt exciting.”
 
“Drummy” launches J.R.C.G. beyond the sound of the project’s 2021 debut, Ajo Sunshine, marrying that album’s noisy experimentalism to a newfound focus on rhythm. “It was the first song I wrote for Grim Iconic. To me, it’s the very next scene after the last album closes. ‘Drummy’ married the two approaches and pushed it into this next sequence of songs.” Fascinating amalgams of visceral rhythms and incandescent noise permeate Grim Iconic… (Sadistic Mantra), from the looping hand drums of “34” to the Funhouse-meets-Tropicália blasts of “World i.” It all embraces a sense of freedom while facing modernism.
 
“Dogear” is a face-melting party starter that sounds like someone forced Talking Heads and Rudimentary Peni to share a practice space. “I wanted a song that felt playful in the way it attempted to be dissonant without taking itself too seriously,” Gallego says. “Cholla Beat” is even more ambitious, an anthemic mix of WAR and Wire led by unruly synthesizers spiraling down a labyrinth of production.
 
Gallego’s influences for the album are vast, ranging from British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis to electric Miles Davis to audio miscreants like Demdike Stare and Oneohtrix Point Never. But it’s Gallego’s assured sonic vision that resounds the loudest. And, while J.R.C.G. is a solo project, conceived and executed primarily in Gallego’s home studio, he found strength in opening the project to others, starting with Seth Manchester as co-producer. Manchester’s penchant for bone-rattling frequencies, as seen in his production work with The Body, Battles, and Mdou Moctar, made him a natural fit for Gallego. Together, they retained the intimacy of Gallego’s home recordings while taking advantage of the hi-fi stylings of his Machines With Magnets Studio in Rhode Island. The closing song, “World i,” offers a glimpse into the live experience of Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra), with upwards of seven band members blasting off. The album features a fascinating mix of supporting players, many of whom cycle through J.R.C.G.’s live lineup: Morgan Henderson (The Blood Brothers, Fleet Foxes), Jason Clackley (Dreamdecay, The Exquisites), Jon Scheid (Dreamdecay, U Sco), Erica Miller (Casual Hex, Big Bite), Veronica Dye (Terminator) Phil Cleary (U Sco), and Alex Gaziano (Dreamdecay, Kidcrash, Science Amplification).
 
Taken as a whole, G.I.S.M. is a whirlwind of sound, pummeling, and cleansing. It’s a sweaty, thrilling aural adventure and, like a great basement show, it’ll leave you breathless, exhausted, and wanting to repeat it all over again. As any good mantra should.
Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) is now available to preorder on CD, LP, and digital formats from Sub Pop. LP and CD preorders available at megamart.subpop.comselect North American Independent retailersEU/UKindependent retail stores & Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart). Vinyl orders will receive the clear-vinyl Loser Edition while supplies last.


J.R.C.G.
Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra)
 
Track Listing:
1. Grim Iconic
2. 34
3. Dogear
4. Drummy
5. Liv
6. Party People (Heaven)
7. Junk Corrido
8. Cholla Beat
9. World i

Posted by Abbie Gobeli

NEWS : WED, MAY 15, 2024 at 7:00 AM

Loma Shares “Pink Sky” Animated Official Video

Today, May 15th, Loma (Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski, Jonathan Meiburg) shares “Pink Sky,” a dubby and mischievous standout from How Will I Live Without a Body?, out June 28th worldwide from Sub Pop.
 
The official “Pink Sky” video was directed and animated by Sabrina Nichols (youbet’s “Nurture,” The Smile’s A Light For Attracting Attention), working from watercolor artwork by Emily Cross.
 
Loma’s Jonathan Meiburg says, “This mischievous little song was a late addition to the album. We recorded it in a chilly, whitewashed room in southern England, and we didn’t have many instruments to work with at first - just a nylon string guitar, a 2-piece drum set, a Casio keyboard, and a clarinet. But we liked the challenge.”
 
Loma’s How Will I Live Without a Body? was self-produced and recorded in England, Texas, and Germany, mixed by Dan Duszynski, and mastered by Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound in New York. All songs were composed by the group—with a few nudges from a unique AI (see below).
 
How Will I Live Without a Body? is a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting a sense that we’re all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. Throughout, the core of Loma’s sound remains intact: earthy, organic, and deeply human, anchored by Cross’s cool, clear voice.
 
Loma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanized by kind words from Brian Eno; this time they were inspired by another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her work. The band sent it two photos, and Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used fragments of these poems in two songs,” says Meiburg. “And then Dan noticed that one of AI-Laurie’s lines, ‘How will I live without a body?’ was perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.” (Read more at Sub Pop).
 
How Will I Live Without a Body? is available to preorder on CD/LP/digitally worldwide from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, and select independent stores in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on Transparent Smoke Vinyl. In the UK and Europe, LP preorders through Sub Pop’s new Mega Mart 2, and UK/EU Independent retailers will receive the Loser edition on Neon Orange Vinyl (All whilst stock lasts!)
 
What people are saying about Loma:
“Dusty piano arpeggios carry “How It Starts” by the off-again, on-again trio Loma, whose members overcame career and geographical separations to record a new album, How Will I Live Without a Body? The song itself suggests a tentative but inevitable reunion: “This is how it starts to move again,” Emily Cross sings, as Jonathan Meiburg (from Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski build an arrangement behind her, gathering heft as they reconvene.” - “The Playlist” - New York Times
 
“Gorgeous” [“How It Starts”] - Brooklyn Vegan
 
“Musically, the track is fascinating, all purposeful scatters of piano keys and contrastingly driving percussion, that feels like it’s dragging the whole thing forward, the ray of sunshine chipping away at the ice, daring it to crack…From a woven coffin to a stunning rebirth, Loma are back and on this evidence might just be even more vital than ever.” [“How It Starts”] “Five Things We Liked This Week (#1)” - For The Rabbits
 
“A beautiful return, it inaugurates a fresh chapter with tremendous guile, while Emily Cross sculpts the hypnotic video.” [“How It Starts”] - CLASH



Loma
How Will I Live Without A Body?
 
Tracklisting
1. Please, Come In
2. Arrhythmia
3. Unbraiding
4. I Swallowed a Stone
5. How It Starts
6. Dark Trio
7. A Steady Mind
8. Pink Sky
9. Broken Doorbell
10. Affinity
11. Turnaround


Posted by Abbie Gobeli

NEWS : WED, MAY 15, 2024 at 9:00 AM

Washed Out Shares Intimate Documentary Inspired By The Making Of Notes From a Quiet Life

On June 28th, Sub Pop will release Washed Out’s fifth and most audacious album, Notes From a Quiet Life. The music of Washed Out has always levitated over a timeless frontier. You can sense it in his immersive, amorphous vocals, expansive soundscapes, and wistful storytelling. Before starting work on his new album, Washed Out’s creative force, Ernest Greene, and his family moved to a former horse farm in rural Georgia. He named the property “Endymion” (after the pastoral John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd), and it became a catalyst for his creative process. Directed by Kristian Melom, Greene has shared an intimate behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of Notes From A Quiet Life. Inspired by the lifestyle change and simplicity of country living, this documentary paints an intimate picture of the story behind the record.
 
Click HERE to watch.
 
Additionally, Washed Out has announced live shows to support his forthcoming record, with festival appearances at Just Like Heaven Festival in May, Sundown Festival and Twilight Concert Series in June, and Day In Day Out in July. North American Headline shows to follow in August. See below for a full list of shows.

 
Sat. May 18 -  Los Angeles, CA - Just Like Heaven
Sat. Jun. 08 - Anchorage AK Sundown Festival
Sat. Jun. 22 - Ogden, UT - Twilight Concert Series
Sun. Jul. 14 - Seattle, WA - Day In Day Out Festival
Thu. Aug. 01 - Atlanta, GA -  The Eastern
Fri. Aug. 02 - Columbia, SC - The Senate
Sat. Aug. 03 - Asheville, NC - AVLFest
Mon. Aug. 05 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl
Tue. Aug. 06 - St. Louis, MO, Delmar Hall
Thu. Aug. 08 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
Fri. Aug. 09 - Chicago, IL -  Metro
Sat. Aug. 10 - Madison, WI - Majestic
Sun. Aug. 11 - Columbus, OH - Kemba
Tue. Aug. 13 - Detroit, MI - Majestic
Wed. Aug.14 -  Toronto, ON - Danforth
Fri. Aug. 16 - Norwalk, CT - District Music Hall
Sat.  Aug. 17 - Boston, MA - Paradise
Sun. Aug. 18 - Brooklyn,  NY - Paramount
Tue. Aug. 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
Wed. Aug. 21 - Washington, DC -  930 Club
Fri. Aug. 23 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
Sat. Aug. 24 -  Birmingham, AL - Iron City
 

Notes From a Quiet Life is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on Honeydew Melon vinyl. LP orders from independent retail stores & Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) in the UK and Europe will receive the Loser Edition on Yellow-Green vinyl. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.


Washed Out
Notes From a Quiet Life
 
Track Listing:
1. Waking Up
2. Say Goodbye
3. Got Your Back
4. The Hardest Part
5. A Sign
6. Second Sight
7. Running Away
8. Wait on You
9. Wondrous Life
10. Letting Go 


Posted by Abbie Gobeli

NEWS : THU, MAY 16, 2024 at 7:00 AM

Man Man Shares New Single “Alibi”

On Friday, June 7th, Man Man will release their new album, Carrot On Strings, on CD/LP/DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop Records. Following the single releases of “Iguana” and “Tastes Like Metal” comes the melodious bop “Alibi.”
 
Man Man has announced UK/EU dates for late October and November. See below for a full list of shows.
 

Wed. Oct. 30 - Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie
Thu. Oct. 31 - La Rochelle, FR - La Sirène
Fri. Nov. 01 - Rouen, FR - Le 106
Sat. Nov. 02 - Lille, FR - Le Grand Mix
Mon. Nov. 04 - Bristol, UK - The Lanes
Tue. Nov. 05 - Leeds, UK - Headrow House
Wed. Nov. 06 - Birkenhead, UK - Future Yard
Thu. Nov. 07 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint
Fri. Nov. 08 - Edinburgh, UK - Sneaky Pete’s
Sat. Nov. 09 - Middlesbrough, UK - Teesside Univ. Students’ Union
Sun. Nov. 10 - London, UK - MOTH Club
Tue. Nov. 12 - Rotterdam, NL- Rotown
Wed. Nov. 13 - Lasne, BE - Rideau Rouge
Thu. Nov. 14 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
Fri. Nov. 15 - Wiltz, LU - Prabbeli
Sat. Nov. 16 - Dijon, FR - La Vapeur
 

Carrot On Strings is now available to preorder from Sub Pop.
LP preorders in North America from megamart.subpop.comselect independent retailers, and in the UK/Europe from Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and select UK/EU independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on Transparent Orange. All color vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
 
Carrot On Strings was recorded at Mant Sounds studio in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, and produced by Matt Schuessler, with whom Kattner had worked on a cover of Neu!’s “Super” for the seminal Krautrock band’s box set. He and the band knocked out the songs live (workshopped in front of live audiences while Man Man toured) over 5 days in August 2022 and then hashing other sonic ideas over the following months. “I wanted things to be loose,” Kattner shares. “My intention was just to knock it all out,” he says. He even recorded more than a few of the single-track vocals while reclining on a couch. “It’s pretty wild,” he says — “because, you know, it wasn’t actually wild at all. It was the first time I wasn’t sequestered in an isolation booth, extensive baffling keeping me apart from the rest of the music. Something about being in the mixing room, tracking vocals, songs blasting out of the monitors that just felt perfect for this particular album.”


Man Man
Carrot On Strings
 
Tracklisting:
1. Iguana
2. Cryptoad
3. Tastes Like Metal
4. Mongolian Spot
5. Blooddungeon
6. Carrots On Strings
7. Mulholland Drive
8. Pack Your Bags
9. Alibi
10. Cherry Cowboy
11. Odyssey


Posted by Abbie Gobeli

NEWS : FRI, MAY 24, 2024 at 7:00 AM

LA LUZ RELEASE NEW ALBUM NEWS OF THE UNIVERSE

La Luz - the band led by Shana Cleveland – has today released their incredible new album News of The Universe, via Sub Pop. Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. The album was a mentioned as an essential release by Bandcamp, an album of note out this week by Stereogum, a new and notable release from Brooklyn Vegan, was named as the “Album of the Week” by Post-Trash, amongst more. 

Today, La Luz also share the music video for the song that is truly the heart of the album, “Always In Love.” On the track and it’s music video, Shana Cleveland shares “To me this song is the heart of the album. I get emotional every time I hear it. Lyrically it’s about realizing that love is the only thing that matters and that it’s always a choice that I’m able to make. It’s hard to explain how huge that is, but if you get it you get it. In the guitar solo that closes the song I can hear myself blasting through all the fear and stress of the year before, the most difficult time of my life, and moving past all of that propelled by the dedication to live in love. The video for this song is inspired by the Japanese camp horror film House.” Watch the music video for “Always in Love” here

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, News of the Universe finds guitarist and songwriter Cleveland embracing a changing world with unconditional love. News of the Universe is also a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. 

La Luz will be touring North America, Europe, and the UK in support of News of the Universe, and the first run of dates will kick off May 23 in Barcelona. The band’s first show stateside is Record Release Party on May 30 at The Crocodile in Seattle, WA.  Their touring goes into full swing starting on September 26 with a show in Chicago, IL, stopping at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere on October 9, before concluding with a 2-night run at Lodge Room in Los Angeles, CA, on November 8 and 9. All shows are listed below.  Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is News of the Universe all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia that, in recent years, has drawn upon the changing landscape around her rural California home for inspiration, notably on last year’s critically acclaimed solo release, Manzanita, a magical realist documentation of her pregnancy and early motherhood that appeared on many year-end lists.

Sonically, the record is all urgency. Songs trip over themselves as if trying to outrun the apocalypse. The powerful sense of openness that permeates News of the Universe is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. “There is something inherently and simultaneously sweet and brutal about womanhood,” says Cleveland. “That is something I hear on this record.”

Working with producer Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress. Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on News of the Universe, which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful. After everything, how could it not?

La Luz Tour Dates

05/24 Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas Festival

05/25 London, UK @ Wide Awake Festival

05/30 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile (Record Release Show)

07/27 Portland, OR @ Project Pabst

08/30 Brighton, UK @ Brighton Psych Fest

08/31 Manchester, UK @ Manchester Psych Fest

09/01 Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Psych Fest

09/03 Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew

09/05 Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere

09/06 Sart-Messire-Guillaume, BE @ SMG Music Fest

09/07 Asten-Heusden, NL @ Misty Fields Festival

09/08 Amsterdam, NL @ Indiestadt x Sugar Mountain @ Paradiso

09/10 Cologne, DE @ Bumann & SOHN

09/11 Hamburg, DE @ Prinzenbar

09/12 Berlin, DE @ Badehaus

09/13 Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur

09/14 Zürich, DE @ Bogen

09/26 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean

09/27 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon

09/28 St. Paul, MM @ Turf Club

09/30 St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill

10/01 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar

10/02 Nashville, TN @ The End

10/03 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade - Purgatory

10/04 Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall

10/05 Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall

10/06 Washington, DC @ The Atlantis

10/08 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

10/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere - Hall

10/10 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

10/11 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz

10/12 Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall

10/13 Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch 

10/28 Denver, CO @ Marquis

10/30 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

10/31 Boise, ID @ The Olympic

11/03 Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl

11/06 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s

11/07 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

11/08 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

11/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

News of the Universe is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. The album can be pre-ordered in North America from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers, and the band’s website, and in Europe and the UK from independent retail stores, and Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart), with vinyl available on limited variants. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.


Posted by Abbie Gobeli