Apple Music today announced masked country crooner Orville Peck will kick off the new year as the latest Up Next artist to join Apple Music’s monthly artist initiative geared towards identifying, showcasing and elevating rising talent. Peck embodies the program’s rising star status as a modern alt-country artist for the Instagram age, a burgeoning fashion and cultural icon who is breaking boundaries in the country music tradition.

Apple Music has fully supported the masked indie artist following the release of his critically acclaimed 2019 debut album, Pony. Since then, Peck has been celebrated as a guitar artist crossing genre bounds and showcased across Apple Music’s Pure Country Radio, Today’s Country, Indie Radio, Untitled, Up Next, Country Wide, Eclectic Rock, as well as Zane Lowe and Matt Wilkinson’s Beats 1 anchor shows.

“I’m thrilled to have been chosen as Apple’s newest Up Next artist,” said Peck. “They have been so supportive of me and it feels real nice to be able to bring y’all a little closer to who I am as a country musician and an artist.”

“Orville Peck is an enigma alright: a glorious mix of differing qualities that, on paper, really shouldn’t work,” said Apple Music host Matt Wilkinson. “Yet when you listen to his music, and hear his story, and watch how he connects with people on stages all over the world, there can be no denying that he’s hit upon something very special indeed. At his London show last October I saw stetson-wearing country old-timers stood shoulder-to-shoulder with drag queens, hipsters, indie kids, members of the fashion elite and sweet couples out on date night - all completely connected thanks to the music of one man who says he’s spent his entire life feeling disconnected. The irony of that!”

Peck’s Up Next short shot on iPhone 11 comes to Apple Music exclusively today and is available to watch HERE. In the film, Peck speaks to his trademark fringed mask, and tells Apple Music, “The point is combining ultra-sincerity with a heightened version of who you are at your core.”

On January 29th, Peck will perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as part of Apple Music’s Up Next program.

The latest music from Orville Peck, along with that of his Up Next peers, is available now on the Apple Music Up Next Playlist.

Performs at Eurosonic Festival on January 17th, 2020 in Groningen, Netherlands.

Perfect Son’s (aka Tobiasz Biliński) Sub Pop debut Cast was released last year to critical acclaim from such places as Brooklyn Vegan, EXCLAIM!, Pop Matters and Big Take Over. The 10-track album features the lead single “It’s For Life,” along with the highlights “Promises,” “Lust” and the latest video offering, “Almost Mine.” 
 
Directed by Evan and Kristina Fellers, “Almost Mine” was shot on land and underwater in Costa Rica, Iceland, Canada, and the United States. The video perfectly encapsulates how energy transitions through the self-realizing universe.

 
Perfect Son has confirmed an appearance on January 17th, 2020 at Eurosonic Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands. Biliński is also one of 16 nominees for the “Music Moves Europe Award” which Eurosonic co-organizes (winners will be announced on January 17th).  Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman will also appear as the festival’s keynote speaker. The band will then perform the following night, January 18th in Hamburg, Germany at Mucke bei die Fische. Perfect Son has also confirmed a 5 date run throughout the UK with Canadian band The Dears. These shows will begin on April 16th in Bristol and find the band opening shows in London, Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester.
 
Tour Dates:

Cast is available from Sub Pop Mega Mart right over here.
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What The People are saying about Perfect Son:

“As Perfect Son, Biliński makes hard, streamlined pop music, building waves of pulsating keyboards up around his impressive, expressive voice.” [“It’s For Life”] - Stereogum 
 
“Typically, in this genre, artists will get dark and deep, but PS create a non-threatening, subdued landscape where Biliński’s vocals tend to float rather than cause confrontation.” [Cast] - The Big Takeover
 
” An electronic pulse, hip programmed percussion, and grungy guitar lines guide Biliński’s angelically crestfallen harmonies regarding losing and finding his humanity.  It’s intense yet serene, with subtle but purposeful modulations in the arrangement that keep it cryptic and enthralling (8/10).” [Cast] - Pop Matters 
 
“Cast nails both style and substance; an exciting debut.” - Exclaim!
 
“A heavily-layered, beat-driven dose of appealing art-pop.” [“Lust”] - Brooklyn Vegan 

Wolf Parade is sharing “Julia Take Your Man Home,” a new single from Thin Mind, the group’s forthcoming fifth album. Featuring Spencer Krug on lead vocals, the song is like a caricature of male stupidity. “I’m singing about some other, worse version of myself. It’s not actually me.” Krug says. “I’ve never carved shapes that look like dicks into anything.”

Wolf Parade’s international headlining touring schedule in support of Thin Mind begins January 27th in Portland, Oregon at Crystal Ballroom and runs through March 15th in Dublin, Ireland at The Button Factory. Support for these shows will come from Land of Talk (January 27th-February 11th), and Sub Pop/Royal Mountain label mates Jo Passed (February 12th-24th.Tickets for these shows are on sale now. For more information on tickets, please visit WolfParade.com.

Thin Mind is now available for preorder in U.S. from Sub Pop and Wolf Parade’s official webstore. The album packaging features artwork from comic book artists Simon Roy and Hayleyglyphs throughout.

LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in the U.S. will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl with red and green swirls (while supplies last). Meanwhile, LP preorders in the UK and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on yellow vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available. 

Thin Mind will be available CD/LP/DL/CS January 24th worldwide through Sub Pop, with the exception of Canada through Royal Mountain Records. The ten-track album, which features the singles “Forest Green,”  the aforementioned “Julia Take Your Man Home,” and “Against the Day,”  was produced by John Goodmanson at Risque Disque on Vancouver Island, BC, mixed by Goodmanson at Bogroll Studios in Seattle, and mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering in Toronto. 

Credit: Pamela Evelyn & Joseph Yarmush

Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Jan. 27 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
Jan. 29 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
Jan. 30 - Los Angeles, CA -  The Regent Theater *
Jan. 31 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern *
Feb. 01 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole *
Feb. 03 - Austin, TX - Mohawk *
Feb. 04 - Dallas, TX - Trees *
Feb. 05 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre *
Feb. 07 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf *
Feb. 08 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre *
Feb. 09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge *
Feb. 11 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox *
Feb. 12 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore **
Feb. 16 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall **
Feb. 17 - London, ON - London Music Hall **
Feb. 18 - Toronto, ON - Mod Club **
Feb. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer **
Feb. 22 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club **
Feb. 23 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club **
Feb. 24 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel **
Mar. 02 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg
Mar. 03 - Hamburg, DE - Knust
Mar. 04 - Berlin, DE - Gretchen
Mar. 06 - Cologne, DE - Club Volta
Mar. 07 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F
Mar. 08 - Luxembourg, LX - Rotondes
Mar. 09 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain
Mar. 10 - Brussels, BE - Orangerie @ Botanique
Mar. 11 - London, UK - The Dome
Mar. 13 - Bristol, UK - Thekla
Mar. 14 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room)
Mar. 15 - Dublin, IE - The Button Factory

* w/ Land of Talk
** w/ Jo Passed

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician Orville Peck makes his late-night television debut tomorrow night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The performance comes as part of Apple Music’s “Up Next” program, which recently selected Peck as their featured artist for January.

This honor continues a breakout year for Peck following the release of his debut album, Pony, out now on SubPop Records. In celebration of the album, Peck will continue his extensive U.S. tour this spring with newly confirmed stops including Seattle’s Showbox, San Francisco’s The Independent, Las Vegas’ Brooklyn Bowl, San Diego’s Humphrey’s and New Orleans’ Music Box Theatre. Peck will also perform at both Coachella and Stagecoach festivals this spring, one of the select few artists performing at both events. Tickets for the newly confirmed shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, January 31 at 10 a.m. local time via https://www.orvillepeck.com/tour.

You can now listen to The Shins and Shannon Lay’s contributions to the Sub Pop Singles Club, which are available now for the first time at all DSPs.

The Shins release features remastered versions of three early recordings: “When I Goose-Step,” “The Gloating Sun” and the original version of “New Slang,” which was previously titled “When You Notice the Stripes.” All 3 songs were first available on a tour-only CD EP in 1999.  Omnibus Records released “When I Goose-Step” b/w “The Gloating Sun” on a long out-of-print 7”, also in 1999. Listen here.

Meanwhile, “New Slang (When You Notice the Stripes)” was released by Sub Pop in February 2001 on a now out-of-print 7” single before the release of Oh, Inverted World, The Shins acclaimed label debut album, which recently just surpassed 1 million copies sold.

 
Shannon Lay’s “Blue” and “We Mend” were recorded during the sessions for August, her Sub Pop debut released earlier this year. Listen here.

“We Mend” is a song for healing. In those moments where everything seems broken, it can be hard to have perspective, but whether we know it or not everything will be ok.  “Blue” is about the struggle of loving someone who is gone a lot. A gentle reassurance to one another that even if you’re not physically together, the love remains strong. “Blue” is also a reference to, as Shannon puts it, “the color of Marge Simpson’s hair. I’ve always admired her devotion and understanding.”

Guy Garvey, frontman of the UK band Elbow, premiered “Blue” earlier this week via his Sunday BBC6 radio show, and today revealed that August, Shannon’s Sub Pop debut, is his album of the year.

The Shins and Shannon Lay’s 7”’s are the December 2019 installments of the Sub Pop Singles Club, subscriptions to which are completely sold-out. However, you still have a chance to sign up for the Volume 5/2020-21 edition of the club, with an entirely new set of artists (subscribe here please).