Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever announce their second record, Sideways to New Italy, out June 5th on Sub Pop, and today present a new single + video, “She’s There.” For the five-piece, returning to Melbourne after long stretches looking out at the world through the windows of airplanes and tour vans lead to a dislocation, like being the knot in the middle of a game of tug-o-war. Sideways to New Italy sees the band interrogate their individual pasts and the places that inform them. In clicking the scattered pieces back into place, they have crafted for themselves a new totem of home to carry with them no matter where they end up.
Lead by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White, Fran Keaney, and rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie, the band began grasping for something reliable after emerging from relentlessly touring their critically regarded debut Hope Downs. Rather than dwell in the displacement, Keaney was determined to channel how he was feeling into something optimistic. The album is inspired by New Italy - a village near New South Wales’s Northern Rivers – the area Tussie is from. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pit-stop of a place with fewer than 200 residents, it was founded by Venetian immigrants in the late-1800s and now serves as something of a living monument to Italians’ contribution to Australia, with replica Roman statues dotted like souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape.
”I wanted to write songs that I could use as some sort of bedrock of hopefulness to stand on, something to be proud of,” says Keaney. “A lot of the songs on the new record are reaching forward and trying to imagine an idyll of home and love.” This is the bulk of Sideways to New Italy, which boasts love songs, and familiar voices and characters, grounding the band’s stories in their personal histories.
“She’s There” is about love and heavy delusions. Over pummeling guitar and fundamental percussion, White sings: “I should’ve done better but the time rolls on // Open the window, in the air, in a mirror, she’s there // Every time I speak her name there’s a cold shiver in my veins.” The accompanying video was directed by Nick McKinlay at Melbourne’s Coburg Motor Inn. “We tried to convey that feeling in a dream where you need to be somewhere, and you don’t really know why, but you are determined to overcome every obstacle to get there,” says the band.
“We tried to make these little nods to our friends and loved ones, to stay loyal to our old selves,” Russo explains. There’s something comforting, too, in knowing the next time they’re buffeted from stage to stage around the world, they’ll be taking the voices of their loved ones with them, following cues from their neighbors and ancestors and anyone else who responded to their newfound displacement by crafting a utopia in their own backyard.
Sideways to New Italy is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the U.K., and Europe, will receive the limited Loser edition (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
“Chocolate Souffle” is a scorching, electrofunk standout and the second official video from Shabazz Palaces‘ The Don of Diamond Dreams, directed by David Shields and James Nugent (Marshawn Lynch: A History). The performative visual stars Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler amid a dizzying array of images set to match the songs rapid-fire lyrics, and was compiled by Shields, Nugent, and Butler (who acts as the video’s director of photography).
Recently, Butler sat down with his son Lil Tracy while in Los Angeles for Interview Magazine, where they discussed their lives, their music, and more (read the interview here).
Shabazz Palaces The Don of Diamond Dreams will be available April 17th, 2020 worldwide on Sub Pop. The album is now available for preorder from Sub Pop over here. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl with a silver swirl (while supplies last). All LP preorders through the Sub Pop Mega Mart will also receive The Mushroom, a 90-page, 8x8 inch zine from the elusive author TTT, inspired by The Don of Diamond Dreams (the book will also be available for purchase at Shabazz Palaces live shows).
Meanwhile, LP preorders through select independent retailers in the U.K. and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on sky blue vinyl (also, while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
A dancer hunts for a studio rental with a green screen and encounters a cast of strange characters in the wonderful, absurdist new video for Man Man’s “Future Peg,” directed by Stephanie Ward, and a single from the forthcoming Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between.
Dream Hunting… is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited Loser edition on white vinyl with a pinkish swirl (while supplies last).
After street date, a limited supply of the Loser edition LP will be available at select independent retailers in North America and at Man Man’s future live shows. Meanwhile, in the U.K. and Europe, preorders through select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on pink vinyl (also, while supplies last). There is also a new T-shirt design available through megamart.subpop.com.
Man Man’s previously announced U.S. tour dates (April 24th-May 22nd) in support of Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between are in the process of being rescheduled at this time. Additional info to be announced soon.
Father John Misty’s live album Off-Key in Hamburg is now available via Bandcamp. All proceeds from the album will be donated to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Off-Key in Hamburg was recorded live at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie on August 8, 2019 with his long-time touring band, and the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt.
The Recording Academy’s MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund will provide assistance to those in the music industry affected by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent cancellation of multiple music events. From hotel and bar gigs to major music festivals, COVID-19 is deeply impacting live music events, and the creative community behind it all. Administered through MusiCares, the COVID-19 Fund will be used to directly support those in the music community with the greatest need. MusiCares was established by the Recording Academy to safeguard the health and well-being of all music people - offering confidential preventive, recovery, and emergency programs to address financial, medical, and personal health issues.
Father John Misty Off-Key in Hamburg Tracklisting: 1. Hangout At The Gallows 2. Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings 3. Mr. Tillman 4. Disappointing Diamonds Are The Rarest of Them All 5. The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt. 6. Strange Encounter 7. Total Entertainment Forever 8. Things It Would’ve Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution 9. Ballad Of The Dying Man 10. A Bigger Paper Bag 11. I Went To The Store One Day 12. Nancy From Now Own 13. Chateau Lobby #4 (In C For Two Virgins) 14. Please Don’t Die 15. The Palace 16. God’s Favorite Customer 17. Pure Comedy 18. Holy Shit 19. I Love You, Honeybear 20. Leaving LA
Greetings, Friends, Fans and Curious On-Lookers of Sub Pop! As we all do our best to keep safe and healthy in these strange and trying times, there are things we can do to stay connected and supportive. We have received numerous requests for information on how to help Sub Pop and Hardly Art artists whose tours have been directly affected by COVID-19 and worldwide social distancing mandates. And so! Right here we will do our level best to keep a current list of those artists, complete with links to ways you can support them while they are unable to tour…
We also made a playlist of the many Sub Pop and Hardly Art artists who’ve had to cancel or postpone their 2020 tour dates. Please to enjoy them here while they’re unable to come to you -> smarturl.it/spbandsathome.
Also, please note that another perfectly acceptable (if not straight-up DELIGHTFUL) way to support any/all of the artists on Sub Pop and Hardly Art is by shopping at the Sub Pop Mega Mart, the Hardly Art Shop, and our struggling friends at the many, fine independent record stores across the country (many of whom are serving you via online orders and/or in-person delivery!) who need your patronage now too.
We’ve also found a number of resources offering some hope + relief + opportunity to lend a hand:
