As previously announced, Bully will release their new album SUGAREGG worldwide on August 21st through Sub Pop. Bully’s Alicia Bognanno has shared a new video for the single “Every Tradition”, which she co-directed remotely with Alan Del Rio Ortiz. Pivoting traditional video making techniques due to the pandemic, Del Rio Ortiz and Bognanno aimed to make something simple yet interesting with the budget and time they had. Del Rio Ortiz walking Bognanno through the gear via Facetime and Bognanno sending over shots as she filmed to make sure they were on track. “After we tested out this method (me shooting alone at my house and sending the footage to Alan to edit and put everything together) with Where to Start I liked it so much I wanted to do it again and trusted Alan to turn my mess into a well put together music video. Surprisingly I was a lot more comfortable on my own as opposed to having a crew of people there like there has been for past music videos. I also have a newfound appreciation for any cinematographer because god damn it’s a lot of work.”
This filmic exploration perfectly encapsulates the vibrant themes of the song, Bognanno adds, “‘Every Tradition’ is one of the most literal songs on the record, forcing myself throughout the writing process to cut out the bullshit and put down on paper exactly what was going through my mind, silencing the paranoia of the different ways it could be received. Some songs just call for that sort of process and ‘Every Tradition’ was one of them.”
SUGAREGG was produced and mixed by John Congleton and Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, with additional production and mixing by Graham Walsh, recorded at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, and Palace Sound in Toronto, Ontario, and mastered by Heba Kadry.
Preorders of SUGAREGG are now available from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on a translucent blue w/white “smoke” colored vinyl. Meanwhile, preorders in the U.K. and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the Loser edition on transparent red vinyl. There will also be a new t-shirt design available.
Artists from the labels’ rosters are covering their favorite Sub Pop/Hardly Art songs.
Sub Pop and Hardly Art are, together, very excited to announce Got You Covered (a cover song series)! Got You Covered will feature Hardly Art and Sub Pop artists covering their favorite songs from the labels’ catalogs. Beginning today, Monday, July 6th at 6 pm PT (and every weekday evening this week), artists like Yuno, Chad VanGaalen, Lala Lala, Whitmer Thomas, and Jenn Champion will offer their takes on songs by Beach House, The Vaselines, Chastity Belt, and Nirvana.
The first installment of Got You Covered, Yuno’s excellent and sweetly affecting rendition of the Beach House song “Zebra,” is available to see/hear right now here.
Second in the series, here now is Jenn Champion’s take on Nirvana’s “Dive.”
Number three from the Big Baby himself: comedian / musician / world-famous actor Whitmer Thomas covers his friends Chastity Belt’s anthemic hit “Different Now” over here.
Please join us here in our appreciation of multi-talented weirdo Chad VanGaalen covering The Vaselines “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.”
Polish singer and producer Perfect Son covers Chad VanGaalen’s “Molten Light” from beloved (and recently repressed to vinyl!) album ’Soft Airplane’ here.
Here’s Lala Lala’s lovely rendition of Beach House’s “Space Song.”
Prepare to be mesmerized here by Morgan Delt covering another mellifluous Beach House classic, “PPP.”
Rounding out this week’s collection of ‘Got You Covered’ tunes, here’s Alicia aka Bully absolutely shredding a cover of Sub Pop alum Orville Peck’s hit song ‘Turn to Hate.”
Including Father John Misty, Man Man, Jon Benjamin: Jazz Daredevil, METZ, Gazebos, The Gotobeds, Omni, Versing, and Frankie Cosmos.
On Friday, June 3rd, (aka Bandcamp Friday) Sub Pop & Hardly Art artists past and present – Jon Benjamin, Father John Misty, Frankie Cosmos (as Franz Charcoal), Gazebos, The Gotobeds, Man Man, Omni, METZ, and Versing – will be offering a variety of special releases, sales, and deals through Bandcamp’s “No Revenue Share Day.” Sub Pop and Hardly Art will be passing through 100% of digital sales revenue on Bandcamp to all of our active artists.
Jon Benjamin: Jazz DaredevilWell I Should Have… – long out-of-print LP now available on a special limited edition Red/White/Blue colored vinyl.
Father John MistyAnthem +3 – a 4-song EP featuring covers of Leonard Cohen, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, and Link Wray. Proceeds to benefit both CARE Action Network and Ground Game LA. Pay-what-you-want $5 minimum for the whole EP, no individual track sales.
Gazebos “Therapy” – Previously unreleased track with all proceeds raised Friday, July 3rd to benefit King County Equity Now. Pay-what-you-want on July 3rd, $1/per track after
The Gotobeds “Have You Checked the Tapes?” b/w “Blazing Sun of Youth” – Two previously unreleased tracks from their Debt Begins at 30 album sessions. Proceeds from July 3rd will benefit Sisters PGH COVID-19 support. Pay-what-you-want on July 3rd, $1/per track after Man Man “Dig Deep” – Releases a brand new single with proceeds to benefit both the NAACP and Know Your Rights Campaign. Pay-what-you-want w/ $1 minimum.
METZLive at Ramsgate Music Hall – a 4-song digital EP featuring live versions of METZ’s “Cellophane,” “Acetate,” “Nervous System,” and “Raw Materials” recorded during the band’s date at the UK venue on May 3rd, 2018. Proceeds to help raise funds through Ramsgate Music Hall’s Bandcamp page, while they’re closed due to COVID-19. Pay-what-you-want through July 5, £1.50 per track / £5 for the full EP thereafter.
Omni “The Stranger” b/w “Art for Art’s Sake” – Covers of Billy Joel’s The Stranger,” and 10cc’s “Art for Arts Sake,” originally recorded for Aquarium Drunkard Lagniappe sessions. Proceeds raised July 3rd to benefit Georgia NAACP. Pay-what-you-want on July 3rd, $1/per track after
Versing “Red Wave” b/w “Once Bitten” – Previously unreleased single with all proceeds raised Friday, July 3rd to benefit Northwest Community Bail Fund. Pay-what-you-want on July 3rd, $1/per track after
Washed Out’s Purple Noon, his first full-length in three years, will be available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs on August 7th, 2020 worldwide through Sub Pop. The 10-track effort which features the lead single “Time to Walk Away,” along with standouts “Too Late,” and “Paralyzed,” was produced and recorded by Ernest Greene and mixed by Ben H. Allen in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Time to Walk Away” is also the subject of a new video from Australian director Riley Blakeway. The video is a reinterpretation of a personal short film Blakeway shot years ago, now presented in music video form, beautifully (and painfully) telling the story of a relationship crumbling.
Preorders of Purple Noon are now available from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, Washed Out’s official website, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl. Meanwhile, preorders in the U.K. and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the Loser edition on purple vinyl. There will also be new t-shirt designs available.
About Washed Out’s Purple Noon:
Washed Out is Atlanta-based producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ernest Greene. Over the course of three uniquely enchanting, critically-lauded albums and an EP, the music he makes has proved both transportive and visual, each new effort inviting listeners into immersive, self-contained universes. With Purple Noon, his fourth album, and return to Sub Pop, he delivers the most accessible Washed Out creation to date.
Life of Leisure, the first Washed Out EP, set the bar for the Chillwave era, shimmering in a warm haze of off-the-cuff Polaroids and pre-IG filters. Within and Without, his full-length debut on Sub Pop, found Washed Out’s sound morphing into nocturnal, icy synth-pop and embraced provocative imagery. Paracosm is Greene’s take on psychedelia, with a full live band and kaleidoscopic light show, and saw him playing to the largest audiences of his career. The sample-heavy Mister Mellow delivered a 360 audio/visual experience, with cut-n-paste and hand-drawn animation to match the hip hop influences throughout the album. With each release, Greene has approached his evolving project with meticulous detail and a steadfast vision.
For Purple Noon, Greene again wrote, recorded, and produced the entirety of the album, with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen (Paracosm, Within and Without). Production of the album followed a brief stint of writing for other artists (most notably with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena) which enabled Greene to explore genres like R&B and modern pop for the first time. These brighter, more robust sounds made their way into the songs of Purple Noon and mark a new chapter in Greene’s growth both as a producer and songwriter. The vocals are front and center, tempos are slower, beats bolder, and overall, a more comprehensive depth of dynamics that has yet to be heard on a Washed Out record. One can hear the luxuriousness of Sade, the sonic bombast of Phil Collins, and the lush atmosphere of the great Balearic beat classics.
The coastlines of the Mediterranean inspire Purple Noon, and Greene pays tribute to the region’s distinct island culture – with all of its rugged elegance and old-world charm – and uses it as a backdrop to tell the album’s stories of passion, love, and loss (Purple Noon’s title comes from the 1960 film directed by Rene Clement, which is based on the novel “The Talented Mister Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith). Much like the romantic Hollywood epics, the melodrama throughout is strong – a serendipitous first meeting in “Too Late”; the passionate love affair in “Paralyzed”; the disintegration of a relationship in “Time to Walk Away”; the reunion with a lost love in “Game of Chance.” Each Washed Out release has been rooted in a form of escapism, but coupled with this new layer of emotional intensity, Purple Noon takes Washed Out’s music to dazzling new heights.
Tracklisting:
1. Too Late 2. Face Up 3. Time to Walk Away 4. Paralyzed 5. Reckless Desires 6. Game of Chance 7. Leave You Behind 8. Don’t Go 9. Hide 10. Haunt
Sub Pop has signed Flock of Dimes, the solo outlet for songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jenn Wasner, to release her music throughout the world. We are also announcing today the release of Like So Much Desire, her excellent five-song effort and label debut (and first new Flock of Dimes material since 2016’s If You See Me, Say Yes), which is available now through all DSPs.
Like So Much Desire, the new EP from Jenn Wasner’s Flock of Dimes, is about the inseparable nature of desire and grief. It’s a collection of songs about finding peace amidst personal hardships, an offering of both comfort and personal reflection, reaching out across the unknown in search of connection. Moving and strikingly intimate, Like So Much Desire is Wasner’s most personal work yet.
Also of note: Flock of Dimes has scheduled a live concert stream via NoonChorus on Tuesday, June 30th at 7 pm ET.
Flock of Dimes Like So Much Desire Tracklisting: 1. Spring in Water 2. Like So Much Desire 3. Again (For the First Time) 4. When the Body Does Not 5. Thank You Friends and Strangers
Like So Much Desire, which includes standouts like the slow-burn title track, “Spring In Winter” and “Again (For the First Time),” was written and produced by Wasner, mixed by Ari Picker and mastered by Ryan Pickett.
The EP’s title track is a masterclass in slow burn, a song that deals directly with how you have to lose to gain, an acoustic beginning growing into a tangle of whirring gadgetry. The subdued, mellow prettiness of “Again (For the First Time)” offers reassurance, the sonic equivalent of leaning on someone’s shoulder. The piano-based “Spring in Winter” sounds near-hymnal, warmed by strings, dealing with the fleeting beauty of North Carolina’s unexpected springtime popping up in the cold, while “Thank You Friends and Strangers” opens on chirping birds and outside sounds – the sounds of nature and normalcy. Like So Much Desire blends all of these worlds seamlessly.
In many ways, Like So Much Desire feels like postcards sent from a strange new world. And fittingly, the work came together at a distance. The bulk of the songs were recorded by Wasner in her home in isolation, with other pieces coming from across the country; drummer JT Bates recorded his parts from Minneapolis, while the subtly-cinematic, swelling strings came via New York’s Paul Wiancko, Michi Wiancko, and Ayane Kozasa. The final product balances sparseness and fullness. Strange, glitchy synths flit in and out, an echo of distant playfulness, but the main instrument is the depth of Wasner’s voice and how she uses space around it.
As a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Wasner has been a longtime omnipresent force in modern music. As half of beloved duo Wye Oak she’s worked with everyone from Metropolis Ensemble to the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and more recently she’s been a member of both Bon Iver and Sylvan Esso. But for all her collaborative expertise, it’s Wasner’s solo work as Flock of Dimes that is most salient, her songwriting at the forefront, strange, beautiful, and dazzling at the same time.
For Wasner, the making of this EP had to do with rediscovering the powerful, healing connection of making music, the peace it offers, the way it makes it possible to bridge a gap – and as such, Like So Much Desire strives to offer comfort during upheaval and uncertainty. Both sorrow and joy all at once, it looks at halves of a whole, the broken-up spectrum of human experience distilled into just five tracks.
Now is the perfect time to follow Flock of Dimes in all the places:
