Melbourne-based band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever will release their highly-anticipated second album, Sideways to New Italy, this Friday, June 5th via Sub Pop. Today, they release the album’s fourth single, “Cameo,” which follows “Falling Thunder,” “She’s There,” and “Cars in Space.” ‘Cameo’ begins with open guitar strums and Fran Keaney’s lone voice, before building to a swirling roar, showcasing a band at the peak of their powers both instrumentally and lyrically.
“This is a love song. It’s about reaching through time portals,” says Keaney. “The lyrics were pieced together over about a year like a little puzzle. I found the first pieces in Rushworth, and the last pieces in Darwin.”
Here is a video for my song “Wild Time” that was shot on 16mm pre-Pandemic, then edited together during isolation. Felt like the right time to let this video out into the world, seeing as we’re all getting saddled down by some pretty grim realities. This song is about yearning for wildness and Mother Nature in a time of chaos. It’s for sensitive people who worry about the fate of humanity and feel powerless to do anything about it.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking apocalyptic thoughts and realizing that won’t get you anywhere. What if the world has always been ending? What if the sprawl of our cities are just as wild as the forests? What if climate change and the destruction of our natural habitat is a reflection of the nature within us, however sublimely horrifying and hard to understand? We’re animals, we play out a very precarious drama of life, and we grasp for what’s left of the protective womb - but maybe the notion that we’re somehow separated from her is an illusion. Maybe it is, truly, a wild time to be alive. Maybe getting in touch with that as a culture and society would avert the worst case scenarios of ecological crisis and existential dread.
If you’ve gotten this far, wow, thank you for actually taking the time to read this. In other news, as you may have assumed, I am canceling all of my headline shows for 2020, but I’m beginning to work on my next album that will come out in 2021- a different time, when hopefully we can see each other face to face once again.
Earlier this month, Bully delivered two excellent covers of Nirvana’s “About a Girl” and Orville Peck’s “Turn To Hate” via a sold-out 7” single and cassette, and now, both are available at all DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop.
Bully’s Alicia Bognanno offered this on the covers, “Normally during this time I’d be running around trying to promote the upcoming record and rehearsing to get ready to tour again but given the circumstances, I’m trying to work with what I can do at home alone. I picked a couple Sub Pop songs to cover to release something in the meantime. I played everything on these songs (for better or worse haha) and tracked them in my living room. Gotta do what ya gotta to spice it up sometimes.”
Of the “About a Girl” cover, Rolling Stone raved, “Hearing the Nashville band cover Nirvana is almost too obvious — but, good God, is it glorious. Their spin on 1989’s “About a Girl” strikes a perfect balance of raw and melodic, without ever sounding like the output of a cover band…Still, it’s not just a skilled copy of a classic. She mixes in some experimental guitar squeals on the instrumental and a truly trippy solo that keeps the sound from going thoroughly Nineties. Plus, Bognanno differentiates herself from your average karaoke crooner with her stellar delivery.
As for her take on “Turn To Hate,” Stereogum had this to say, “A song that sounds incredible in Bully’s rocket-fueled garage rock style.” Paste concurs, “Bully’s rendition is possibly even better than the original with its incredibly anthemic chorus.”
Shabazz Palaces has delivered a thoughtful new lyric video for “Thanking The Girls,” a highlight from The Don of Diamond Dreams, his acclaimed new album out now on Sub Pop.
The visual is directed by Josh Sessoms, a contemporary artist focusing on figures that encapsulate the mystery, dynamism and poetic nature of the African and Caribbean diasporas. Exemplification of grace, dignity, love, and power is a starting point from which he begins his artistic musings. Sessoms says of the video, “There is an ongoing spiritual connection among the characters which is being fortified by the full moon. Ishmael’s lyrics and vocal performance inspired a kaleidoscopic explosion of ideas. I immediately heard a palpable sense of compassion and ardor in his voice. I sense that Ishmael wants this song to be an eternal gift and a perpetual gesture of appreciation to loved ones (both near and far); those of the present moment, of yesteryear and of future generations.”
The visual saw its premiere today via Essence Magazine, who offered this, “Brimming bright with a dedication to the women in Ish’s life, ‘Thanking The Girls’ is a wonderful tribute that proves that this slick-talking, experimental rap bohemian is still a real G that should be protected at all costs (see “Playlist” premiere May 8th, 2020).”
Shabazz Palaces was also the subject of a recent interview with Frannie Kelly for NPR’s Morning Edition, where he discussed the new album, and how “musical innovation is a family legacy (see May 5th interview).”
The Don of Diamond Dreams is available worldwide from Sub Pop.
The Don of Diamond Dreams, which includes the aforementioned “Thanking The Girls,” “Fast Learner (ft. Purple Tape Nate),”“Chocolate Souffle,”“Wet,” “Bad Bitch Walking (ft. Stas THEE Boss),” features contributions from singer/keyboardist Darrius Willrich, percussionist Carlos Niño, Knife Knights collaborator OCnotes, saxophonist Carlos Overall, and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes.
The Don of Diamond Dreams was recorded throughout 2019 and produced by Shabazz Palaces at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle, mixed and engineered by Erik Blood with mixing assistance from Andy Kravitz at Studio 4 Labs in Venice, California, and mastered by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles.
Shannon Lay’s Live At Zebulon, her first-ever live album, was recorded last fall while on tour in support of August, her Sub Pop debut, and is available now at all DSPs. The thirteen track effort features songs from throughout her three album catalog - August, All This Going Down, Living Water - and her covers of Karen Dalton’s “Something On Your Mind” and Black Box’s “Everybody, Everybody.”
Cover photo by: Notes from Vivace
Shannon says of Live at Zebulon, “During November of 2019 I set off on tour with three of my best friends, Shelby Jacobson, Denee Segall and Sofia Arreguin. We played all over the U.S. and then returned home for a December residency at Zebulon in Los Angeles. We were joined on stage by Ben Boye and Mikal Cronin for three nights of celebration and with the help of engineer Elizaveta Boldyreva and the mixing skills of Michael Kriebel these are the recordings that came out of it. I had never toured with a band before and the songs became brand new again. I am so happy to have captured what they were in those moments with those people. To get to play music with the friends I love so much is a very special thing and I want to sincerely thank Shelby, Denee, Sofia, Ben and Mikal for adding their magical touch. In my wildest dreams I never imagined knowing such incredible people and getting to share the stage with them.”
Shannon has also delivered a full album stream for Live At Zebulon featuring footage culled from the tour. Lay offers this on the YouTube document, “To go along with the live record we filmed footage of the U.S. tour in November 2019. Edited by Shelby Jacobson and filmed by Shelby Jacobson, Sofia Arreguin, Denee Segall and Shannon Lay it is a moment in time that we knew would be fleeting so we wanted to preserve it somehow. I hope you enjoy listening to the album while watching this film.”
Shannon Lay’s August, her acclaimed 2019 long-player, is also available from Sub Pop.
Shannon Lay Live At Zebulon Tracklisting:
1. Nowhere 2. November 3. Something On Your Mind 4. Parked 5. Wild 6. The Moon’s Detriment 7. All This Life Goin Down 8. Recording 15 9. Coast 10. Death Up Close 11. August 12. The Dream 13. Everybody, Everybody
