On June 28th, Sub Pop will release Washed Out’s fifth and most audacious album to date, 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. In 2021, Washed Out’s creative force, Ernest Greene, left Atlanta to return to the countryside he knew growing up. Where escapism once flooded his thoughts, today, he is preoccupied with the universe of wonder in the reality around him.
He named the former horse farm he moved to “Endymion” (after the pastoral John Keats poem about a lovesick shepherd — its opening line: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”). It has shaped all that he’s created there, from his music to his albums’ creative direction to his planned large-scale visual-art experiments. That purity of vision is what makes Notes From a Quiet Life so potent. It’s the first album Greene wholly self-produced, with mixing assistance from Nathan Boddy (James Blake, Mura Masa) and David Wrench (Caribou, Florence + the Machine).
Unabashed and unafraid to pioneer and incorporate new technologies within his art, Greene enlisted multi-disciplinary Artist, Writer, and Director Paul Trillo to direct the music video for the album’s lead single, “The Hardest Part.” Created using OpenAI’s Sora, “The Hardest Part” marks the first collaboration with an artist and filmmaker to be generated entirely utilizing this technology.
Director Paul Trillio shares: “I had the seed of this video concept 10 years ago, where we do an infinite zoom of a couple’s life over the course of many decades, but I have yet to attempt it because I figured it’d be too ambitious for a music video. While the technology is experimental and cutting-edge, I wanted to do something that also felt like a classic music video that would hold your attention no matter what tech was being used in the process. I was specifically interested in what makes Sora so unique. It offers something that couldn’t quite be shot with a camera, nor could it be animated in 3D, it was something that could have only existed with this specific technology. The surreal and hallucinatory aspects of AI allow you to explore and discover new ideas that you would have never dreamed of. Using AI to simply recreate reality is boring. I wasn’t interested in capturing realism but something that felt hyperreal. The fluid blending and merging of different scenes feels more akin to how we move through dreams and the murkiness of memories. While some people feel this may be supplanting how things are made, I see this as supplementing ideas that could never have been made otherwise. Many artists in this industry are constantly compromising and negotiating their ideas with the reality of what can be made. This offers a glimpse at a future where music artists will be given the opportunity to dream bigger. An overreliance on this technique may become a crutch and it’s important that we don’t use this as the new standard of creation but another technique in the toolbelt.”
Ernest Greene says about the song & video: “‘The Hardest Part’ is a story about nostalgia and love lost. With the video, I wanted to bring this narrative to life in a sincere way that was also exciting and unexpected. I’ve been a fan of Paul for a long time and he is amazingly skilled at incorporating cutting-edge visual effects that elevate a story instead of simply supplementing it with shock and awe. He was at the top of my list of potential collaborators.
What he’s come up with is nostalgic, sad, uplifting, and often quite strange. However, he still manages to make you feel for the characters and invested in the journey of how their lives progress. I think that Paul is right when he says that this video could only be made using this new AI technology. In my opinion, the hallucinatory quality of Sora clips feel like the beginning of a new genre unto itself - one that is surreal and unpredictable and entirely unique to traditional cinema or even animation.”
About Sora/OpenAI: OpenAI’s Sora is an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative videos from text instructions. Though the model is not yet released, OpenAI is working with a number of visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be most helpful for creative professionals.
About OpenAI: OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
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 released a gorgeous new single today, “I’ll Go With You.” La Luz is at their dreamiest here — with sparkly instrumentals and soothing vocals, “I’ll Go With You” is a moment of tranquility. The new track is off their forthcoming album News of The Universe, out May 24th via Sub Pop, and follows the two previously released singles “Strange World” (which Uproxx deemed “futuristic”) and most recently, “Poppies” of which Austin Town Hall said, “there was something truly majestic in Shana Cleveland’s vocal performance.” Fans can pre-order the album HERE.
“This song is heavily influenced by Yanti Bersaudara, a group of Indonesian sisters who released some of my very favorite music originally released in the mid 60s and early 70s,” says lead singer Shana Cleveland on the new single. “Lyrically, this song is a retelling of a dream I had one night when I had gone to bed with the melody of this song in my head. I had some different words in mind, but this sweet little romance dream took over” she continues. Listen/share “I’ll Go With You” 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
05/23 Barcelona, ES @ Sala Upload
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 @ Horseshoe Tavern
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.
Sub Pop is seeking a full-time VP of Publishing to manage their Publishing Division. This is a hybrid remote/on-site role based in Seattle, WA or Los Angeles, CA. The schedule is M-F during West Coast business hours.
About the Team
Sub Pop Publishing was founded in 2011 and is the publishing division of Sub Pop Records, an independent record company founded in 1988. It is based in Seattle with offices in Los Angeles and London.
Our writers have contributed to songs by A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, Christine and the Queens, SYML, Olafur Arnalds, SZA, KayCyy and others.
The primary responsibilities of the VP of Publishing would be overseeing the Sub Pop Publishing team, setting the direction of Sub Pop Publishing in direct coordination with Sub Pop’s management team, and acting as the main point of contact for our writers and their management.
We are accepting resumes through the position closing date of May 10, 2024.
Main Tasks and Responsibilities
Actively manage the publishing division and its team
Act as the main liaison with songwriters and their teams
Participate in the A&R process
Review the terms and oversee deal negotiations for new signings with our Business Affairs Department
Expected to have and maintain relationships with PROs and collection partners around the world
Find and coordinate writing and collaboration opportunities for our songwriters
Make recommendations to Sub Pop management on growth strategies for the publishing division
Required Experience & Qualifications
Minimum of 5 years experience at a Publishing Company
Strong communication skills
Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
Proficiency in Mac, MS Office, Google Workspace
Special consideration will be given to candidates with any of the following:
Familiarity with the Sub Pop Publishing writers and catalog
Supervisor:
Co-President of Sub Pop Records & Publishing
Salary range:
$90,000-$110,000
Description of Benefits:
PTO (Paid time off including sick time) beginning at 15 days per year, 14 paid holiday days, 401k plan with partial employer match, medical/dental/vision insurance paid for employees and partially paid for their family, transportation benefits, discounted merchandise.
Sub Pop Records is an equal-opportunity employer. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran or disability status. Sub Pop Records will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.
Corridor is releasing “Jump Cut,” an ecstatic new single that is accompanied by an absolutely bonkers, GIF-tastic official video from award-winning filmmaker and designer Winston Hacking (Flying Lotus, Run The Jewels, Andy Shauf).
“Jump Cut” is a highlight from Mimi, the group’s forthcoming album, out this Friday, April 26th worldwide from Sub Pop and in Canada from Bonsound.
Winston Hacking offers this of the video, “Our video reflects the song’s theme of grappling with the overwhelming influence of technology and feeling adrift in its wake. Using AI to enhance archival footage resulted in a deliberate distortion, symbolizing the potential consequences of our intertwined relationship with it. It invites reflection on how technology blurs the lines of our identities and infiltrates every aspect of our lives.”
Mimi is Corridor’s first new album in four years and includes the aforementioned “Jump Cut” along with “Mon Argent,” “Mourir Demain,” and “Camera,” and was produced by Corridor and Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) at Studio Gamma in Montreal and mastered by Heba Kadry Mastering in Brooklyn. All songs on Mimi were composed by Corridor, with lyrics written by guitarist and vocalist Jonathan Robert.
Corridor’s Mimi—which, fun fact, is also named after Jonathan’s cat—is a record about “getting older” and “figuring out new parts of life”—but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is also a record bursting with new energy and life. The band expands on the sounds of Junior and delivers an album with a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of post-punk’s own classic era of melding dance and rock textures.
Corridor’s international tour plans for 2024 to support Mimi resume May 9th in Amsterdam, NL where they will be performing a free show at Skatecafe (presented by Dr. Martens) and currently ending November 16th in Caen, FR at Le Cargö. North American tour dates are to be announced soon.
Spring & Summer 2024 Thu. May 09 - Amsterdam, NL - Skatecafe (Free Show) Sat. May 11 - Esch-sur-Alzette, LU - Out Of The Crowd Festival Mon. May 13 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Wed. May 15 - Leeds, UK - Hyde Park Book Club Thu. May 16 - London, UK - Shacklewell Arms (Free Show) Fri. May 17 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival (Green Door Stage) Fri. May 17 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival (The Mucky Duck) Sat. May 18 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival (Patterns) Wed. May 29 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Thu. May 30 - McGill, NV - Schellraiser Festival Fri. Jun. 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw * Thu. Jun. 20 - Calgary, AB - Sled Island Festival Sat. Jun. 22 - Vancouver, BC - Westward Festival Fri. Jul. 19 - Baie-St-Paul, QC - Le Festif Festival
Fall 2024 Wed. Oct. 02 - Quebec, QC - Secret Location Fri. Oct. 04 - Montreal, QC - Le National Wed. Nov. 06 - Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie Thu. Nov. 07 - Lorient, FR Festival Indisciplines @ Hydrophone Fri. Nov. 08 - Amiens, FR - La Lune des Pirates Sat. Nov. 09 - Lille, FR - L’Aeronef Sun. Nov. 10 - Laval, FR - 6PAR4 (Matinee Show at 5.30pm) Tue. Nov. 12 - Limoges, FR - Jean-Gagnant Wed. Nov. 13 - La Roche Sur-Yon, FR - Quai M Thu. Nov. 14 - Bordeaux, FR - Rock School Barbey Fri. Nov. 15 - Rouen, FR - Le 106 Sat. Nov. 16 - Caen, FR - Le Cargö
Stereogum caught the band’s live set in Austin this past March and raved, “Corridor were a formidable machine onstage Wednesday night. Performing on the Swan Dive patio at a SXSW showcase arranged by Pop Montréal and M For Montréal, the band blitzed through song after song with a contagious kinetic force, building cathedrals of sound at time-lapse speed. Waves of lysergic vocal harmonies coalesced over a pair of spiky interlocking guitars (sometimes with their capos placed so high on the neck) and a rhythm section that added an off-kilter funky jolt to your average motorik backbeat. At the center of the action, beanied and bespectacled, Dominic Berthiaume danced hard — like a composer swept up in his creation — on the handful of songs where he handed off the bass to auxiliary man Samuel Gougoux.”
Mimi is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the Loser Edition on Baby Pink vinyl. LP orders from Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and select independent retailers the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser Edition on Blue vinyl. All whilst stock lasts.
What people are saying about Corridor: “Lead single ‘Mourir Demain’ exemplifies this – the jagged edges nod to post-punk, but there’s a sense of 60s baroque pop, too. The lilting French language vocal is intoxicating, while the slightly martial feel to the drumming underneath gives it an adde. d intensity.” CLASH
“I’d rather listen to this all day than the 300th band that wants to be the next Idles.” AUSTIN TOWN HALL
“The first single from Mimi is “Mourir Demain,” which with its prominent acoustic guitars sounds unlike anything Corridor have ever released before.” - BROOKLYN VEGAN
On May 24th, Australian group Girl and Girl will release their vibrant debut full-length, Call A Doctor, on CD/LP/DSP via Virgin Australia (AU/NZ) and Sub Pop (ROW.)
Following the single release of “Hello” and “Mother” comes the new official video for “Oh Boy!”
Girl and Girl frontperson Kai James shares: “I’d had Oh Boy! half written for a few years before we got round to recording it. I really loved the first half and had kind of psyched myself out of finishing it. When it was finally demoed early last year, this big sort of chaotic, sprawling word vomit poured out of me that seemed to tie the whole thing up nicely, it’s brimming with joy and misery and sarcasm, all things girl and girl.”
Tayla Lauren directed the video. Click HERE to watch.
Girl and Girl will embark on a 20-date North American run opening for fellow Aussie band Royel Otis on April 23d at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St Paul, MN, with additional appearances at Eurokennees in France and End of the Road in the UK in July and August. These shows are not to be missed. If you need some proof, you can watch some reels that fans have posted here. See below for a complete list of shows.
Tue. Apr. 23 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Hall * WED. Apr. 24 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall * Fri. Apr. 26 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall * Sar. Apr. 27 - Columbus, OH - A&R Music Bar * Sun. Apr. 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop * Tue. Apr. 30 - New York, NY - Racket * Wed. May 01 - New York, NY - Racket * Thu. May 02 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater For The Living Arts * Fri. May 03 - Washington, DC - The Howard * Sat. May 04 - Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle * Wed. May 08 - Austin, TX - The Parish * Thu. May 09 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves * Sat. May 11 -Denver, CO - The Perplexiplex at Meow Wolf * Wed. May 15 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge * Thu. May 16 - Hollywood, CA - The Fonda Theater * Fri. May 17 - Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant & Music Club * Sat. May 18 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop * Mon. May 20 - Portland, OR - The Aladdin Theater * Tue. May 21 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret * Wed. May 22 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theater * Thu. Jul. 04 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Fri. Jul. 05 - Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Sat. Jul. 06- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Sun. Jul. 07- Cravanche, FR - Les Eurokennees Thu. Aug. 29 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road Fri. Aug. 30 - Dorset, UK - End Of The Road Sat. Aug. 31 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road Sun. Sep. 01 - Dorset, UK -End Of The Road
* w/ Royel Otis
Call A Doctor is available to preorder now on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers (US), select independent retail stores (EU/UK) & Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) will receive the Loser Edition on White vinyl. All colored vinyl versions are available while stock lasts.
“…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.”- [SXSW 2024 Show Review] RollingStone
“The band’s circuitous riffs feel reminiscent of early Car Seat Headrest – the type of material that could mint a future cult classic.” - [10 essential new acts you need to see at SXSW 2024] NME
“that’s Girl and Girl like 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. I enjoyed them, some good melodies. That was Girl and Girl with Hello.” - [SXSW Review] BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq
“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
“Emotional mayhem that’s relatable, and very catchy.” - Rolling Stone (AU)
“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
