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. Following the previously released Notes From A Quiet Life, Documentary that was shot earlier this year and Directed by Kristian Melom (“Dear, Dreamer” and “The River”), comes the new single “​​Running Away.”
 
Washed Out’s Ernest Greene shares about the song: “Starting work on a new album often means a lot of failed experiments.  Basically, I’m just waiting around until I stumble into something new that I can build an album concept around.  For NFAQL, that song was “Running Away”.  It had all of the ingredients that ended up shaping the aesthetic for the album: a more minimal arrangement, sonic clarity, and more of an emphasis on classic songwriting technique.”
 
Additionally, Washed Out has announced live shows to support his forthcoming record, with festival appearances at 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.

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 

Today, 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,” “Tastes Like Metal,” and “Alibi” comes the new official video for their cheeky tableau, “Cryptoad,” which was directed by former Man Man member Dan Scofield. If only car washes could clean the soul of a man…
 
Click here to watch. 
 
Carrot On Strings was recorded at Mant Sounds studio in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, and produced by Matt Schuessler, with whom Man Man frontman Ryan Kattner (Honus Honus) 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.” 
 
As previously announced, Man Man will tour the UK & Europe in 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 available to order from Sub Pop. LP orders in North America from megamart.subpop.com, select 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.

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

Seattle, WA (June 20th, 2024) - Today, musician Suki Waterhouse is announcing the release of Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, her new 18-track double album, out worldwide on Friday, September 13th, 2024, from Sub Pop.
 
Suki is also sharing “Supersad,” the lead single which bursts out of the gate, kickstarted by fast-paced drum fills and garage-y guitars. “I tried to write a nineties song you could hear playing at the mall in Clueless or as an opening track for Legally Blonde,” she smiles. The single was produced by Brad Cook and the album’s Executive Producer Eli Hirsch, and written by Suki with Chelsea Balan, John Mark Nelson, and Lilian Caputo.
 
Also out today is the “Supersad” official video, in which Suki plays a bed-rot protagonist and her game show fairy godmother. The sparkling new visual is from filmmaker and longtime creative collaborator Émilie Richard-Froozan.
 
Suki’s music sounds like a collage of her inspirations, experiences, and emotions stitched together by honeyed vocal delivery, bright-eyed melodies, and evocative storytelling. It doubles as a mirror image of her life as a consummate creative, artist, actress, model, and mother, yet it also breaks the glass to unveil raw truth. She leans on an ever-evolving sonic palette to convey what she’s feeling—whether it be folky Americana, nineties alternative, turn-of-the-century indie, or handcrafted otherworldly pop. Now, the platinum-certified songstress asserts herself as a versatile, vibrant, and vital presence on Memoir of a Sparklemuffin.
 
Suki brought this body of work to life with the album’s Executive Producer Hirsch, as well as Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, Beyonce), Cook (Bon Iver, War on Drugs, Snail Mail), Greg Gonzalez (Cigarettes After Sex), Rick Nowels (James Blake, Lana del Rey), and Natalie Findlay and Jules Apollinaire of the band Ttrruuces (with whom she co-wrote “Good Looking” and “OMG”).
 
She loosely tethered these 18 tracks to a transformative central concept represented by the Sparklemuffin spider….
 
“I came across the Sparklemuffin—which is wildly colored, does this razzle-dazzle dance, and its mate will cannibalize it if she doesn’t approve of the dance. It’s a metaphor for the dance of life we’re all in. The title felt hilarious, ridiculous, and wonderful to me.”
 
Suki’s The Sparklemuffin Tour, her previously announced 25-city North American headlining jaunt in support of the album, now begins at Salt Lake City’s Love Letters Festival on Friday, September 27th, and will make stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, and more. 
 
Preceding the tour, Suki will also appear at Seattle’s Day In Day Out (July 12th), London’s All Points East (August 18th), and will support Mitski at Portland, OR’s Moda Theatre (September 21st).
 
For more ticket information, please visit https://laylo.com/sukiwaterhouse/m/sparklemuffintour.
 
SUMMER/FALL 2024
Sat. Jul. 12 - Seattle, WA - Day In Day Out Festival
Sun. Aug. 18 - London, UK - All Points East Festival
Sat. Sep. 21 - Portland, OR - MODA Center +
 
“THE SPARKLEMUFFIN TOUR” FALL 2024
Fri. Sep. 27 - Salt Lake City, UT - Love Letters Festival
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 ^ [Sold Out]
Sun. Dec. 08 - 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
+ w/ Mitski
 
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin will be available on CD/2xLP/CS/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (US), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), and your local record store will receive the limited Loser edition vinyl on Sparklemuffin Pearl (North America), and Sparkle Starlight (UK/Europe). There is also an Afterglow Purple vinyl, along with new Suki merch available from her Official Merch Store (All limited edition vinyl colors available whilst stock lasts!).
 
Suki initially teased Memoir of a Sparklemuffin with the singles “To Love,” “OMG,” “Faded” and “My Fun,” drawing listeners into Sparklemuffin’s sticky stylistic web. The latter single is currently the soundtrack to the new Sonos Ace headphone campaign, in which Suki also stars.

Suki Waterhouse
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin
 
1. Gateway Drug
2. Supersad
3. Blackout Drunk
4. Faded
5. Nonchalant
6. My Fun
7. Model, Actress, Whatever
8. To Get You
9. Lullaby
10. Big Love
11. Lawsuit
12. OMG
13. Think Twice
14. Could’ve Been A Star
15. Legendary
16. Everybody Breaks Up Anyway
17. Helpless
18. To Love

Velocity Girl formed in 1989 or so at the University of Maryland outside Washington DC, and shortly thereafter settled on the lasting lineup of guitarist Archie Moore (Black Tambourine), guitarist Brian Nelson (Black Tambourine), drummer Jim Spellman (Starry Eyes, Foxhall Stacks, High Back Chairs, Julie Ocean, Piper Club), bassist Kelly Riles (Starry Eyes), and singer Sarah Shannon (Starry Eyes, The Not Its). The band combined English-inspired noisy shoegaze fuzz with scrappy US indie rock and classic ‘60s-style pop songwriting. A killer single on Slumberland and non-stop touring grabbed the attention of the indie-rock cognoscenti of the day, and, following a heated courtship involving both dinner AND dessert, Velocity Girl signed a contract on a car hood in Hoboken, New Jersey, making Sub Pop their home.
 
In 1992, the band began work on their debut album, Copacetic, at Easley Studios - once home base to the Bar-Kays and other classic soul bands - in Memphis with Bob Weston (Volcano Suns, Shellac) at the helm, and then mixed the album with Weston in Chicago. While the album had strong songs - pop tunes like “Audrey’s Eyes,” “Pop Loser,” and “Living Well” alongside ambitious explorations like “Pretty Sister” and “Here Comes” - the band had little experience with production and lacked the skills to “drive the boat” in the studio. As a result, the album turned out to be a rather stripped-down affair, lacking the lushness of their prior recordings. To the band’s ear it was jarring, and they soon realized this wasn’t the record they hoped to make. Bob Weston had done exactly what was asked of him and captured the sounds, but the band didn’t do its part to articulate a clear vision. But the band’s slot in the studio was over, and Polvo had just showed up to work on their album, so off Velocity Girl went to shoot the video for “Audrey’s Eyes.” Copacetic came out in 1993 and people seemed to like it just fine, but within the band there was a sense of disappointment to the point where most members couldn’t stand to hear the record.
 
Between then and now, the band learned a lot about recording, and Archie Moore developed a career in audio work, and the band finally decided to revisit Copacetic. After extensive digging, the 2” tape reels appeared in Jim’s ex-wife’s mother’s house, and in the spring of 2023, Archie began working on a remix.
 
Song by song the new mixes emerged just as the band envisioned them. Soaring vocals from Sarah (who studied opera in college), chiming lead guitar, juicy fuzzed-out rhythm guitars, and clear pounding drums. The pop songs are much poppier. The sonic blasts are more powerful, and the record hangs together as a cohesive document that flows from song to song. The approach was not to make a 2024-sounding record but rather to go back to the 1992 mindset and create the record the band should have made then. The result, UltraCopacetic (Copacetic Remixed and Expanded), is an exciting alternate history of Copacetic.
 
And, while they were at it, the band dug up and refreshed the rest of their studio material from the era: Ultraopacetic includes “Warm/Crawl” from the Velocity Girl/Tsunami split 7”, “Creepy” from the Crazy Town 7”, “Stupid Thing” from the Audrey’s Eyes 7”, and the unreleased album outtake “Even Die.” Topping it all off is the band’s complete five-song 1993 John Peel session, including two tracks that haven’t been heard since the original broadcast. UltraCopacetic is truly the definitive version of Velocity Girl’s first record.

Velocity Girl
UltraCopacetic (Copactic Remixed and Expanded)
 
Tracklisting:
1. Pretty Sister
2. Crazy Town
3. Copacetic
4. Here Comes
5. Pop Loser
6. Living Well
7. A Chang
8. Audrey’s Eyes
9. Lisa Librarian
10. 57 Waltz
11. Candy Apples
12. Catching Squirrels
13. Warm/Crawl
14. Creepy
15. Stupid Thing
16. Even Die
17. Here Comes (Peel Session version)
18. Always (Peel Session version)
19. Crazy Town (Peel Session version)
20. 57 Waltz (Peel Session version)
21. Copacetic (Peel Session version)