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

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 

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.

Today, May 24th, Australian group Girl and Girl are releasing their vibrant debut full-length, Call A Doctor, on CD/LP/DSP via Virgin Australia (AU/NZ) and Sub Pop (ROW.)  Call A Doctor is an unforgettable first bow from Girl and Girl, an audacious and aggressively tuneful blast of a record from this Australian four-piece garage rock outfit. The band is comprised of frontperson Kai James (singer, guitarist) and his Aunty Liss (drums), along with longtime friends Jayden Williams (guitar) and Fraser Bell (bass). Call A Doctor was recorded at Sundowner Sound in Melbourne, a two-story industrial complex where the band ate, slept, and made music in marathon sessions for two weeks straight with producer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin).

 
Following the release of “Hello,” “Mother,” and “Oh Boy!” comes a new video Directed by Tayla Lauren for the self-titled track “Call A Doctor.”
 
Frontman Kai James shares on the track/video: “For me, ‘Call a Doctor’ needed to be as dramatic and silly and over the top as possible. I needed to trick myself into a deep dive of a lot of very confronting thoughts and feelings, it was the only way I could honestly express and move through them. I like the idea of it playing out like that from an audience’s perspective, too, you don’t realize what’s happening till 2 or 3 listens in, and by then, it’s already too late; you’re self-reflecting and growing as a person, haha sucker.”
 
Click here to watch.
 
The band just concluded a 20-date North American run opening for Royel Otis, which ended yesterday in Seattle, WA. They will perform tonight at 7:00 PM at Easy Street Records in West Seattle, with additional AU, UK & EU performances this Summer and Fall. See below for a complete list of shows.

 
Fri. May 26 - Seattle, WA - Easy Street Records (FREE)
Fri. Jul. 05- Belfort, FR - Les Eurokennees Festival
Sat. Jul. 06 - Hyeres , FR - Midi Fest
Tue. Jul. 09th - Dorset - UK - Academy Bournemouth $
Wed. Jul. 10th - Oxford. UK - Academy 2 $
Thu. Jul. 11th -  Sheffield, UK - Foundry  $
Fri. Jul. 12th - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club $
Fri. Aug. 02 - Gold Coast, AU - Mos Desert Clubhouse
Sat. Aug. 03 - Brisbane, AU - Outpost
Fri. Aug. 09 - Sydney, AU - Waywards
Sat. Aug. 10 - Melbourne, AU - Howler
Fri. Aug. 30th - Brighton, UK -  Brighton Psych Fest
Sat. Aug. 31- Manchester, UK - Manchester Psych Fest
Sun. Sep. 01 - Dorset, UK - End of the Road
Tue. Sep. 03 - London, UK - George Tavern
Wed. Sep. 04 - Bristol, UK - Louisiana
Fri. Sep. 06 - Asten, NL - Misty Fields Festival
Mon. Sep. 09 -  Paris, FR - Point Ephemere
Fri. Sep. 13th - Haldern, DE - Haldern Pop Bar
Sat. Sep. 14th - Munich, DE - Strom
Sun. Sep. 15th - Berlin, DE - Lark
Mon. Sep. 16th -  Cologne, DE - MTC
Wed. Sep. 18 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen
Wed. Sep. 18-Sun Sep. 21 -  Hamburg, DE - Reeperbahn Festival
 
$ w/ ROYEL OTIS

“Girl and Girl recall the stalwarts of 2010s garage rock, their affinity with jangly guitars and buoyant rhythms undercut by feverishly intense playing and a cloying sense of claustrophobia.” - DIY
 
“A fantastic debut from a sparkly and singular new band.” - NME
 
 “…every member of Girl and Girl is too young to have experienced the garage rock revivalism of Y2K firsthand, save Aunty Liss, the drummer who supports her nervy nephews in this band of Australian post-punk traditionalists. Fronted by the wiry Kai James — handsome and jittery, never reclusive — the group treated sacred post-punk texts as if they were a common language when they played the 13th Floor, giving their barbed hooks and sideways riffs real kick. They’re carrying a torch without succumbing to nostalgia or formalism, all because they’re intoxicated by the noise they make.” - [Best of SXSW 2024] RollingStone
 
“Emotional mayhem that’s relatable, and very catchy.” - Rolling Stone (AU)
 
 “Brisbane four-piece Girl and Girl are ones to watch in the world of sharp-tongued raucous-riffed garage rock…Girl and Girl’s all too rare multigenerational collaboration brings a fresh angle on the post-Strokes garage rock sound.” - KUTX Radio
 
“There’s something special about this group…Their music has a raw and unfiltered feeling which elevates it far above your run-of-the-mill “indie” and gives it a near-euphoric flavour.” - [“Hello”]  Life Without Andy
 
“A perfect dose of indie – punk rock at its best.” - [“Hello”] Happy Mag
 
“A warped mix of Talking Heads, Rolling Blackouts and bits of post-punk but led by a man with a mullet and one of their aunts plays drums in the band!” - [SXSW Review] BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq

Girl and Girl
Call A Doctor
 
Track Listing:
1. INTRO
2. Call A Doctor
3. Hello
4. Maple Jean and the Anthropocene
5. Oh Boy!
6. Suffocate
7. Mother
8. You’ll Be Alright
9. Comfortable Friends
10. Our Love (Ours Only)
11. OUTRO