As previously announced, On November 8th, Sub Pop will release Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan, a 12-song compilation and homage to Guryan’s classic 1968 record, Take a Picture. Today, Sub Pop shared the final pre-release song, “What Can I Give You,” which was covered by Kate Bollinger. Click here to listen.
To celebrate the release of this compilation, there will be two DJ events throughout November in LA & Chicago. The first event will be on November 9th at Gold Diggers in Los Angeles with DJ Sets from Pearl & Oyster and Slyvie, with a following event on November 21st at the Empty Bottle with DJ Sets from St. Stephen and Ali Najdi. The LA event will feature a limited amount of screen-printed tote bags designed by Madalyn Stefanak for sale, so get there early to secure your bag. A portion of proceeds from these events and merch sales will be donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services. Both events are FREE to the public; click here for tickets in LA and here for tickets in Chicago.
This 12-song compilation features additional reinterpretations by contemporary artists such as Margo Price, TOPS, Clairo, Rahill, June McDoom, MUNYA + Kainalu, Frankie Cosmos + Good Morning, Kate Bollinger, Pearl & The Oysters, Bedouine + Sylvie, Barrie, and Empress Of. The release of Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan also coincides with the third anniversary of Margo’s passing. A portion of proceeds from this album will be donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services.
Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), and independent retailers worldwide will receive the limited Loser edition on Opaque Red vinyl (while stock lasts!).
Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan was produced by Izzy Fradin and Jonathan Rosner.
About Margo Guryan: Most of our stories about cult musicians who make an album or two and then seem to vanish are framed by grief, despair, and frayed ambition. Not so with Margo Guryan, an ardent jazz anomaly who disdained pop music until hearing “God Only Knows” in 1966, opening a window onto the wonders that form could contain. Only two years later, she released her own set of little pop symphonies, Take a Picture, to great praise and expectation. But having already divorced the hard-gigging valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, she declined to tour or even talk about it all that much, content even if her reticence meant Take a Picture was soon consigned to discount racks and cutout bins. She wrote and recorded for years to come, even collaborating with Neil Diamond’s band, but mostly she seemed satisfied by her relatively private life—raising her stepson, Jonathan; carousing with a small clutch of pals; talking politics with whoever was game. Rather than a tragedy, Guryan was an ornate pop architect who also drew and lived by her boundaries.
But as befits music so stunning and subtle, Guryan, who died in 2021, has enjoyed several renaissances over the last few decades—multiple reissues and international intrigue, faithful champions who introduced her tender work to successive generations. And now, it’s happening again: Soon after her near-whispered and lovelorn hymn “Why Do I Cry” made her a TikTok star in 2021, the same year she passed, Numero Group launched a reissue campaign, resulting in the acclaimed 2024 set, Words and Music. And now, a dozen artists—none of whom were born when Take a Picture was made, most of whom weren’t even born for a crucial early reissue by Franklin Castle—have reinterpreted and reimagined that entire album (plus one bonus track) for Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan. Empress Of, Margo Price, Clairo, June McDoom: They all affirm Guryan’s sharpness as a songwriter and the brilliance of an album that has far outstripped whatever promotional cycle Guryan rejected so long ago.
Guryan was born to a sprawling family in a home so big it housed multiple generations just before World War II in Far Rockaway, back when the place was still mostly framed by trees. Her family was matrilineal, with a mother who worked as a radiologist while her father played piano at home and a widowed grandmother who ran the place with unwavering sovereignty. While still a composition student at Boston University, Guryan stumbled into a gig playing piano between Miles Davis Quintet sets, signed a songwriting deal with Atlantic Records, and botched a session with Nesuhi Ertegun. But she wasn’t looking to be a singing star, anyway. In 1959, she headed to the foundational Lenox School of Jazz in the Berkshires, staving off advances from her contemporaries to write for Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, earn the attention of instructor Max Roach, and made a longtime mentor and friend of Gunther Schuller. She became an accomplished lyricist, writing not only for Coleman and Nancy Harrow but also for Harry Belafonte and Gary MacFarland.
But it was that subsequent encounter with the Beach Boys that opened the trap door for Guryan to Take a Picture and scores of other super songs, many of which appear on Words and Music. Take a Picture is a sophisticated survey of mid-20s romance and indecision, from the flirty romp of “Sunday Morning” and falling-for-you affirmation “Can You Tell” to the desperate helplessness of “What Can I Give You.” In less than 150 seconds, “Thoughts” traces a relationship from its ecstatic start to empty end, Guryan’s pillowtop voice sitting perfectly between the bouncing piano and lachrymose strings. She mines nostalgia for the recent past in “Someone I Know” and, quite brilliantly, for something that hasn’t even ended yet in the title cut. What remains astonishing about Take a Picture is how placid and nice the surface can seem yet how much is going on just beneath it—the difficult rhythmic shifts, the textural juxtapositions, the dissonance and eeriness lurking in the crevices. Twice as long as almost everything else here, the willfully psychedelic excursion and closer, “Love,” is a jarring semaphore, telling you to go back and listen for the intricacies in everything else. “When do you get to be someone who can give/And live without hurting someone you love?” she coos over caustic guitar and curling organ, the question spilling in reverse over the rest of the record.
Those mirrored senses of slyness and meticulousness, both musical and lyrical, presided over Guryan’s output long after any idea of stardom had faded. She turned earthquake danger into existential boogie on “California Shake,” celebrated the outlaws and their long odds during “I’d Like to See the Bad Guys Win,” and danced with entendre during “Come to Me Slowly.” Indeed, Guryan was not afraid of mischief, whether lampooning the president and all his men during a three-song suite about Watergate or presaging Rihanna by half a century on “Under My Umbrella.” Her perpetually soft voice, audacious songcraft, and complete candor: Guryan, in 1968 and beyond, was making daring music, no matter how gently those sounds seemed to move.
A portion of proceeds being donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services, Like Someone I Know reinforces the strength of Guryan’s songs by allowing a dozen different artists to take them for trips of their own. The core always remains, unwavering. McDoom stretches static and harmony beneath “Thoughts,” as if they’re spinning on a dub plate beneath her arcing vocals. Rahill lets “Sun” unfurl over harmonium drone and entrancing percussive ticks, digging into Guryan’s interest in the surreal. Frankie Cosmos and Good Morning take a country shuffle through “Take a Picture,” entwined vocals falling over the rhythmic skips with perfect romantic relish. Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly clear just how good Guryan was, how sturdy her songs have been amid varying tides of taste. Like Someone I Know offers absolute validation, a testament to the enduring relevance and brilliance of Guryan’s work.
Various Artists Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan
Tracklisting: 1. Sunday Morning (TOPS) 2. Sun (Rahill) 3. Love Songs (Clairo) 4. Thoughts (June McDoom) 5. Don’t Go Away (MUNYA | Kainalu) 6. Take a Picture (Frankie Cosmos |Good Morning) 7. What Can I Give You (Kate Bollinger) 8. Think of Rain (Pearl & The Oysters) 9. Can You Tell (Bedouine | Sylvie) 10. Someone I Know (Empress Of) 11. Love (Barrie) 12. California Shake (Margo Price)
Today, November 12th, Clipping shares “Keep Pushing,” a driving new jam with electro-funk and big-beat elements, written and produced by the group, featuring strings from John W. Snyder, mixed by Steve Kaplan, and mastered by Levi Seitz at Blackbelt Mastering.
“Keep Pushing” is another offering from Clipping’s forthcoming new album, a long-in-the-works Hip-Hop and Cyberpunk project, due worldwide from Sub Pop in 2025. It follows the release of the group’s acclaimed horrorcore series Visions of Bodies Being Burned (2020) and There Existed an Addiction to Blood (2019), also available from Sub Pop.
Last month, Clipping released the official video for the single “Run It.” Consequence of Sound says of the track, “It seems as if Clipping have rediscovered their love for rave-ready bangers — at least Clipping’s fucked up version of a rave-ready banger. ‘Run It’ is a relentless, skittering, up-tempo rager complete with noisy embellishments and Daveed Diggs’ technical flows. In other words, it goes nuts.”
Stereogum said, “It’s a fast, physical rap attack…On ‘Run It,’ Daveed Diggs goes into athletic overdrive, rapping over a pulsing, clanking, extremely fast beat from his bandmates Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson. The track’s smears of digital noise sometimes cohere into Detroit techno riffs. This is a good one — a track that keeps all the prickly intensity of clipping.’s music without getting so extreme that you couldn’t play it on your headphones while you’re on the treadmill. In the quick-cut Lawrence Klein-directed video, secret agents tail clipping. through DC, Berlin, Prague, New Delhi, Bangkok, and Seoul, on some Jason Bourne/Carmen Sandiego shit.”
Clipping will appear at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival on Saturday, March 29th, 2025. Tickets for the fest are on sale now—additional tour dates to be announced soon.
Sub Pop is proud to share the news that we are the new home of The Gits, the ferocious Seattle punk band fronted by the late Mia Zapata. Their entire discography – Frenching the Bully (1992), Enter: The Conquering Chicken (1994), Kings & Queens (1996), and Seafish Louisville (2000) – features newly designed album cover art by Sub Pop’s VP of Creative Jeff Kleinsmith, and have all been remastered by legendary producer Jack Endino. They are available to hear NOW on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
Right now, you can watch The Gits’ official video for Frenching the Bully single “Second Skin,” directed by Doug Pray. The live visual features original film footage courtesy of DC9 and Pray from his 1993 documentary, Hype!.
Read Evelyn McDonnell’s interview with The Gits’ band members Andy Kessler and Matt Dresdner in The New York Times (see November 12th “Critics Notebook”).
The Gits members Andy Kessler, Matt Dresdner, and Steve Moriarity offer this on the reissues:
“It’s been more than thirty-one years since The Gits played our last show. We’re rereleasing The Gits catalog now for the people who loved our music, and hopefully others who have yet to find it. And we’re doing this now for the love of our dear friend, our co-conspirator, our singer, Mia Zapata.”
Sub Pop founder and president Jonathan Poneman says of the signing, “The Gits first knocked me out with their very unadorned, unmacho abandon. Their songs and spirit still kick, inspiring a triumphal racket.”
Frenching the Bully; Enter: The Conquering Chicken Kings & Queens; Seafish Louisville
About The Gits by Tim Sommer:
“Mia Zapata of the Gits was the greatest rock singer of her time. This is not hyperbole; if you ever saw her, you know it’s true. She was likely the greatest singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the ’78. Tragedy did not make this true. Mia Zapata made this true, and the ferocious, spring-loaded shrapnel frame built around her by Andy Kessler, Matt Dresdner, and Steve Moriarty made it true.
Mia Zapata (1965 – 1993), the vocalist and front person for The Gits (1986 – 1993), was not the type of voice one usually associates with a punk rock band. She had the sizzle, sass, shriek, grace, rasp, and fury of a classic blues shouter (what if Janis Joplin had fronted Fugazi, we ask?). There was a purity and accuracy to her voice. She could simultaneously point it at the stars and scoop cigarette butts off of the venue floor. It sounded like a voice on fire, desperate and angry, pleading and commanding, all at the same time (what if Amy Winehouse had fronted Fugazi, we ask?). And her onstage persona was utterly devoid of bullshit: Mia Zapata was a rag doll, a stick figure, a sock puppet, alternately bent with sadness and arched with rage. Sometimes, she looked like she was in pain, clawing at an ulcer; other times, like a holy woman on a soapbox, testifying the joy of truth; and still other times, like someone draped in a bedtime t-shirt reading from the margins of her notebooks. The voice and the presence were extraordinary, and there was nothing like it anywhere in punk – it was like finding the missing link between Nina Simone and Johnny Rotten (what if Joss Stone had fronted Fugazi, we ask?).
Much of this story takes place in Seattle during the strange night fog of the early 1990s, but did that matter? No. The Gits were beyond era or place. Maybe that’s why they were one of the most important acts to emerge from Seattle during that time. The Gits defied any categorizations – were they ferocious post-hardcore sideways-metal screw-propellor punk rockers? Some cross between Iron Maiden and an SST band? And although Mia Zapata was undoubtedly a once-in-a-generation talent – a wrapped-tight urchin/ingenue/artist applying a shredded Bonnie Raitt blues-rasp perfect-pitched alto to tight punk rock – the band matched her and inspired her to double down. Andy Kessler (guitar – metronomic and furious), Steve Moriarty (drums – martial and explosive), and Matt Dresdner (bass – fluid, punching, beat-addicted and melodic) wrote and performed with a jaw-tightened fury, a clenched soul that shrieked and stomped with precision. The Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop, and Ian MacKaye all in the same goddamn song.
The Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986. Matt, Mia, Andy, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill where they (and fellow travelers) woodshedded and rehearsed for the next few years. The Gits put out three EPs in 1990 and ’91 before signing with C/Z Records and releasing their first full-length album, Frenching The Bully. Soon, Seattle, North America, and the world felt the kind of awe the Gits inspired when peak emotion meets peak grindage. Now, Sub Pop is re-releasing the entirety of the Gits’ catalog, including all four extant albums (three of which, sadly, were released posthumously): Frenching The Bully (1992), Enter: The Conquering Chicken (1994), Kings & Queens (1996), and Seafish Louisville (2000). All have been remastered by Jack Endino, one of Seattle’s most respected producers and engineers and the band’s closest studio associate.
On July 7, 1993, Mia Zapata died. We leave it at that, not only because you can read the sad details elsewhere but because this is not about death but an extraordinary life. So, friends, please listen to one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, fronted by the greatest woman rock vocalist of the last half-century (see expanded liner notes here).
On Saturday, November 16th (@ 9 am PT / 12 pm ET / 5 pm UK / 6 pm EU), Father John Misty will host a one-time-only early album visual playback experience of the album on YouTube.
On Wednesday, November 20th, record stores around the world will celebrate the release of Father John Misty’s Mahashmashana with in-store listening parties. Attendees will have the chance to hear the album two days before its official release and access exclusive giveaways, including signed art cards (US and Canada only), white label variants (EU-UK only), stickers, and more. Check with your local store for timing and details.
Last month, Father John Misty recently released “She Cleans Up,” the dance-filled official video for his current single from Mahashmashana. Rolling Stone calls the song “a stomping glam-and-grit rocker driven by a chunky bass line, splashy baselines, and guitar riffs designed to be blown to rattle the casings of your speakers.”
Father John Misty’s previously announced headlining tour dates for 2025 in support of Mahashmashana, including his North America run with special guests Destroyer and UK dates with support from Butch Bastard, are on sale now.
Father John Misty’s Mahashmashana will be out Friday, November 22nd, 2024, worldwide from Sub Pop and in the UK and EU from Bella Union.
What People Are Saying About Mahashmashana:
“Another great, mind-bending, soul-baring, melodically rich album.” “Album of the Month” - ★★★★ MOJO
“Another set of brilliant, beautiful songs… Tillman is an outstanding vocalist, a master of phrasing and inflection.” 8/10, Uncut
“Josh Tillman addresses mortality with wickedly expansive style on his sixth album. Flushed with wit and luminous melodies, his songcraft remains an inexhaustible pleasure.” ★★★★ Record Collector
“Father John Misty’s sixth album eulogises humankind in Josh Tillman’s idiosyncratic, endlessly intriguing way… These 50 minutes of music are simultaneously momentous and sublime… There’s plenty of lushly arranged emotional climaxes; it’s not rare for the songs to reach a sweeping peak that is as towering, dense, overwhelming and ultimately moving as life.” ★★★★ Shindig
