Preservation Hall Jazz Band has released the video for their song “Keep Your Head Up” today, premiered via Billboard. The track, which features
Cuban singer Eme Alfonso, appears on
their new album A Tuba To Cuba, the
soundtrack to the critically acclaimed documentary directed by T.G. Herrington and Danny Clinch, out now via Sub Pop. Watch and share “Keep Your
Head Up” here. Stream
and order A Tuba to Cubahere.
“Keep Your Head Up” is simple message with a big meaning,” says Ben Jaffe. “Walk with your head
high, walk with pride, and live your life with grace and honor and an
appreciation for all humanity. Don’t let things break you down and don’t
allow anyone or anything to diminish your spirit.”
“We met the wonderful Eme Alfonso at a performance at an amazing old factory that’s
been converted into a multi-disciplinary art space called Fabrica Del
Arte. That same evening we met she came up and improvised lyrics in
Spanish on the spot. Eme later told me the words she sang have a deep meaning
in Cuba, the translation is something like “walk with your head out
front, don’t be so down, walk with joy.”
“To say Preservation Hall
Jazz Band is to refer to the purest essence of our traditions and to discover
NOLA, through the band and Ben its director, was for me one of the most beautiful
experiences of my life,” says singer Eme
Alfonso. “Because in New Orleans… Jazz and art flow from the streets
of this city and it’s clear that it has a direct connection to Cuba, Havana,
and all of those who came before us. Our grandparents are connected
through these rhythms, dances, melodies, and customs and this shared history of
our ancestors unites us all.
“New Orleans and Cuba are deeply connected,” Alfonso continues. “This
collaboration is a conduit, a lesson to show our people, and others in the
world that we are all family and that art and music has the power to unites us.”
“We went to Cuba in prayer position,” says Preservation Hall band
leader and bass player Ben Jaffe when he speaks of the pilgrimage he and the
group took to Cuba in December 2015. “We went to receive and offer at the same
time. We had never experienced a moment like this, it felt as though all roads
were intersecting at once.” The critically acclaimed 2019 documentary ATuba
to Cuba documented the band’s journey as they explored the links that
connect New Orleans and Cuba so indelibly – their shared, tragic history as
destinations where enslaved Africans struggled to simply survive, and their
current status as places where the cultural inheritance from those ancestors is
kept alive in both song and deed – but that was only half the story. This
collection of songs, a musical account of a
generations-in-the-making reunion of musical
families separated by time, politics, and distance, tells the other
half.
When
asked to describe the collection of songs assembled on Tuba to Cuba, Jaffe sums it up by saying,
“It’s like listening to the radio.” And yes, ATuba to Cuba actually feels less like
an ordinary soundtrack and more like a living document, a recording of a
broadcast that’s been waiting to exist, a modern version of the static-y radio
signals that were broadcast between America to the Caribbean in the early and
mid-20th century, sending the sounds of jazz and mambo and R&B and more back
and forth across the vast divides of water and culture and politics. It’s a
story, this album, and the tale being told mirrors the band’s experience.
The resulting
collection of songs is what Jaffe describes
as “a beautiful conversation.” The music of ATuba to Cuba is an ecstatic expression of that ongoing conversation, a
restless and lush trip up and down strange FM wavelengths bridging thousands of
miles and hundreds of years, where all involved are
talking with each other and over each other in excitement, charged with the
thrill of recognition of the evidence of their shared familial roots, an
undeniable kinship rooted in bloodlines, rhythm, and melody.
[Photo credit: Josh Goleman]
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tour Dates + Ticket Links:
Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
Aug. 02 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 03 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 05 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The
Arts
Aug. 06 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The
Arts
Aug. 08 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ
Aug. 09 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ
Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (7:00PM)
Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (9:30PM)
Aug. 11 - San Francisco, CA - SF Jazz Center -
Miner Auditorium
Aug. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 24 - Arrington, VA - Lockn’ Music
Festival
Sep. 20 - Louisville, KY - Bourbon & Beyond
Festival
Sep. 21 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music
Festival
Sep. 22 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music
Festival
Oct 22 - Ridgefield, CT - The Ridgefield
Playhouse
Oct 23 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
Oct 24 - New York, NY - Town Hall Theatre
Oct 25 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
Oct 26 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall
Oct 28 - Montreal, QC - Place des Arts - Theatre
Oct 29 - Toronto, ON - Roy Thomson Hall
Oct 30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Byham Theatre
Nov 01 - Kent, OH - The Kent Stage
Nov 02 - Goshen, IN - Goshen College Music
Center
Nov 04 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
Nov 05 - Saint Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theatre
Nov 07 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
Nov 09 - Phoenix, AZ - Music Theater at the
Musical Instrument Museum
Nov 11 - Livermore, CA - Livermore Valley
Performing Arts Center
Nov 13 - Chico, CA - California State University
Chico - Laxson Auditorium
Nov 15 - Santa Rosa, CA - Luther Burbank Center
for the Arts
Nov 16 - Arcata, CA - John Van Duzer Theatre
Nov 17 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
Nov 18 - Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall – Taper
Auditorium
Nov 20 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre
Nov 21 - Santa Barbara, CA - UCSB Campbell Hall
Nov 22 - San Diego, CA - Wonderfront Music
Festival
Nov 23 - Cerritos, CA - Cerritos Center for the
Performing Arts
Nov. 29 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
Nov. 30 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
Dec. 01 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
“Like the best classic albums, its
pleasures run deep.” - Pop Matters
“Like a cocaine-fuelled jam
between David Bowie, John Lennon and Leon Russell, the Louisiana-bred,
Portland-based rocker would’ve played Max’s Kansas City” [8/10] - Uncut
Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey’s new full-length Showboat Honey is out today July 12th,
2019 worldwide from Sub Pop. The album, which features the singles &
official videos for “Broken Mirror Pose,”“2 Ugly 4 NY,” and “Deathwish Blue,” was recorded and produced by Kyle
Craft, Kevin Clark, and Billy Slater at their own Moonbase Studios in Portland
over 2018. The album was mixed by Trevor Spencer and mastered by April Golden
at Golden Mastering. Stream it now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.
Showboat Honey is available through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Purchases of the LP through
megamart.subpop.com and select independent
retailers in North America, the UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on a clear
blue translucent mix with spots red hi-melt (while supplies last). There is also a new T-shirt design
available.
Kyle Craft and Showboat Honey Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey’s previously
announced headlining dates for 2019 in support of the album resume tonight,
July 12th in Seattle with an in-store at Easy Street Records, and currently end
on August 24th in San Francisco at Cafe Du Nord.
Jul. 12 - Seattle, WA - Easy Street Records instore Jul. 13 - Seattle, WA - Ballard Seafood Fest Jul. 14 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett Jul. 15 - Billings, MT - Pub Station Taproom Jul. 17 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club Jul. 18 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle Jul. 19 - Louisville, KY - Jimmy Can’t Dance Jul. 20 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop Jul. 22 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern Jul. 23 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Jul. 24 - Allston, MA - Great Scott Jul. 26 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk (Museum Stage) Jul. 30 - Woodstock, NY - Colony Aug. 01 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right Aug. 02 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Aug. 04 - Washington, DC - Pearl Street Warehouse Aug. 05 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Aug. 06 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theater Rooftop Aug. 07 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Aug. 08 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn Aug. 09 - Nashville, TN - The Basement Aug. 10 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s Aug. 11 - New Orleans, LA - One-Eyed Jacks Aug. 14 - Shreveport, LA - Minicine Aug. 15 - Dallas, TX - Three Links Aug. 16 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk Aug. 18 - Phoenix, AZ - The Valley Bar Aug. 19 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole Aug. 22 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar Aug. 23 - Los Angeles, CA - The Moroccan Aug. 24 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
What “The People” are saying about Kyle
Craft & Showboat Honey:
“Kyle
Craft and his backing band Showboat Honey provide a glam-tastic Bowie-esque
joyride, full of meaty Stones riffs and sprinkled with caustic soda lyrics that
a true Dylan devotee has processed and posted from the heart.” [4/5]- NARC
“The
result is a cohesive set of tracks centered around a rough patch that hit at
the same time as Craft was falling in love…Fans of his glam rock-influenced
sound will find plenty to latch onto.” - Billboard
“Having
been the darling of the moment when his solo debut was first released, Craft
clearly shows that he has more to offer than just being that guy with wild hair
that sounds like someone else. He has a range and depth that is showcased
beautifully on this new album, his third on Sub Pop, and first as Kyle Craft
& Showboat Honey. “ - Eleven PDX
“On
the track, his typically wailing voice is stunted by almost spoken-word verses
that ride along with a slow-rolling piano progression. It’s a suspense-building
element that pays off when the song eventually crashes into a wave of horns,
electric guitars and sheer swagger.” [“Broken Mirror Pose”/ Heavy Rotation] - World
Cafe
“A
glammy, ’70s style anthem with a soaring chorus.” [“Broken Mirror Pose”] - Brooklyn Vegan
“Craft,
whose lyrics and electric guitar hooks have drawn comparisons to Bob Dylan and
The Rolling Stones, is no stranger to vintage sounds.” [“Broken Mirror
Pose”] - PASTE
“Craft
has brought his signature twang into a more Raconteurs-esque world with his
latest release.” [2 Ugly 4 NY] - Alt Citizen
METZ, our own widely-adored and delightfully noisy 3-piece punk band from Toronto, released their Sub Pop self-titled debut in 2012 and, in the time since, have cemented their reputation as one of the planet’s most exhilarating live acts and trusted providers of bombastic outsider rock. The band is made up of Alex Edkins, Hayden Menzies, and Chris Slorach.
Automat is a collection of METZ non-album singles, B-sides, and rarities dating back to 2009, available here on LP for the first time, and including the band’s long out-of-print early (pre-Sub Pop) recordings. A chronological trip through the lesser known material of METZ, Automat is out now, worldwide on Sub Pop.
The band’s Alex Edkins shares, “The idea to release Automat came after realizing our early 7” singles were being sold online for upwards of $60 bucks a pop. We wanted to make those songs available and affordable to anyone who might want them in the physical format. What started as reissuing a couple of 45s, quickly morphed into an entire LP, compiling rarities, demos and alternate takes from over the years.”
Consumers of the vinyl format of Automat will be rewarded with a bonus single that includes three additional tracks: a cover of Sparklehorse’s “Pig,” from a very limited 2012 Record Store Day split single originally released by Toronto’s Sonic Boom record shop; “I’m a Bug,” a cover of The Urinals’ art-punk classic, originally released on YouTube (not an actual record label) in 2014; and METZ’s previously unreleased rendition of Gary Numan’s “M.E.”
METZ are currently hard at work on their 4th full-length LP which will be released on Sub Pop when we are all damn good and ready.
All tracks on Automat have been lovingly remastered by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service.
Marika Hackman unveils the video for latest single “the one,” directed by Louis Bhose (Michael Kiwanuka, Lewis Capaldi, Loyle Carner). “the one” is the second single from Marika’s forthcoming third album Any Human Friend, out August 9th from Sub Pop in North and South America and AMF Records for the rest of the world.
Marika says of “the one” it “is probably the poppiest song I’ve ever written. I loved the idea of inhabiting this ridiculous arrogant rock star character who has totally fucked their career by writing too many sad songs.” The video for “the one” sees Marika’s rock star alter-ego come to life within a photocopier. By the end of the video, Marika is repulsed by the augmented reality she has created, she takes a baseball bat to it and destroys it forever.
Director Louis Bhose reflects on the process of the video’s conception:
Marika: “I want to do a performance vid in a photocopier, where the imagined rockstar in me performs with gusto as the mediocre, let-down version of me watches.” Hack Video Director: “Say no more.”
Displaying an unapologetic attitude and a more liberated sound than ever before, “the one” has been co-produced by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx, Let’s Eat Grandma) and Marika herself. “the one” shows why Marika is fast turning herself into one of the most exciting songwriters of her time. Layered synthesizers make this the album’s most unexpected musical turn, alongside Marika’s signature new wave guitar fretwork and Blondie style delivery, she’s never sounded as widescreen.
Marika Hackman Tour Dates
Having recently teased new music at the BBC 6 Music Festival, The Great Escape, All Points East, and Field Day, Marika is gearing up for an exciting year of touring. Tickets for headline tour dates available from marikahackman.com.
Aug.15 - Beacon Breacons, UK - Green Man Festival Sep. 21 - Bristol, UK - Thekla Sep. 23 - Glasgow, UK - Oran Mor Sep. 24 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club Sep. 25 - Manchester, UK - Band On The Wall Sep. 26 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall Oct. 11 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Oct. 12 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook Oct. 13 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall Oct. 14 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Oct. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere Oct. 18 - Allston, MA - Great Scott Oct. 19 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall Oct. 20 - Montréal, QC - Bar Le ‘Ritz’ P.D.B. Oct. 21 - Toronto, ON- The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern Oct. 23 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups Oct. 24 - Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig Oct. 25 - Chicago, IL- Sleeping Village Oct. 26 - Milwaukee, WI - Back Room at Colectivo Coffee Oct. 28 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry Nov. 01 - Seattle, WA - Neumos Nov. 04 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club Nov. 06 - West Hollywood, CA - The Roxy Theatre
Any Human Friend
Any Human Friendwas co-produced by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx, Let’s Eat Grandma) and Marika herself, and shows off a sharper and more liberated sound than ever before. Now available for preorder from Sub Pop: LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on Salmon-colored vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new t-shirt design available.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band has announced the release of their new
album A Tuba To Cuba, the
soundtrack to the critically acclaimed documentary directed by T.G. Herrington and Danny Clinch, out June 28, 2019 via Sub Pop. Today,
they have released the track “Keep Your
Head Up” from the album. Listen and share “Keep Your Head Up” here and
pre-order A Tuba to Cubahere.
“We are so proud and honored to share a project
we’ve poured so much of ourselves into,” says Ben
Jaffe. “The impact visiting Cuba had on us will live with us both
individually and as a band forever. We’re still absorbing everything we
experienced.”
“We went to Cuba in prayer position,” says Preservation Hall band
leader and bass player Ben Jaffe when he speaks of the pilgrimage he and the
group took to Cuba in December 2015. “We went to receive an offer at the same
time. We had never experienced a moment like this, it felt as though all roads
were intersecting at once.” The critically acclaimed 2019 documentary ATuba
to Cuba documented the band’s journey as they explored the links that
connect New Orleans and Cuba so indelibly – their shared, tragic history as
destinations where enslaved Africans struggled to simply survive, and their
current status as places where the cultural inheritance from those ancestors is
kept alive in both song and deed – but that was only half the story. This
collection of songs, a musical account of a
generations-in-the-making reunion of musical
families separated by time, politics, and distance, tells the other
half.
When
asked to describe the collection of songs assembled on Tuba to Cuba, Jaffe sums it up by saying,
“It’s like listening to the radio.” And yes, ATuba to Cuba actually feels less like
an ordinary soundtrack and more like a living document, a recording of a
broadcast that’s been waiting to exist, a modern version of the static-y radio
signals that were broadcast between America to the Caribbean in the early and
mid-20th century, sending the sounds of jazz and mambo and R&B and more
back and forth across the vast divides of water and culture and politics. It’s
a story, this album, and the tale being told mirrors the band’s experience.
The resulting
collection of songs is what Jaffe describes
as “a beautiful conversation.” The music of ATuba to Cuba is an ecstatic expression of that ongoing conversation, a
restless and lush trip up and down strange FM wavelengths bridging thousands of
miles and hundreds of years, where all involved are
talking with each other and over each other in excitement, charged with the
thrill of recognition of the evidence of their shared familial roots, an
undeniable kinship rooted in bloodlines, rhythm, and melody.
A Tuba To Cuba Tracklisting:
1. Yesteryear 2. Tumba 3. I Am 4. Descarga del Son 5. Keep Your Head Up 6. Corazon 7. Elegguà 8. Kreyol 9. El Manicero 10. Solitude 11. Las Palomas 12. Malecón
[Photo credit: Josh Goleman]
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tour Dates:
Jul. 05 - Elkhorn, WI - Alpine Valley Music
Theatre*
Jul. 06 - Elkhorn, WI - Alpine Valley
Music Theatre*
Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
Aug. 02 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 03 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 05 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The
Arts
Aug. 06 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The
Arts
Aug. 08 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ
Aug. 09 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ
Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (7:00PM)
Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (9:30PM)
Aug. 11 - San Francisco, CA - SF Jazz Center -
Miner Auditorium
Aug. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm
Aug. 24 - Arrington, VA - Lockn’ Music
Festival
Sep. 20 - Louisville, KY - Bourbon & Beyond
Festival
Sep. 21 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music
Festival
Sep. 22 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music
Festival
Oct 22 - Ridgefield, CT - The Ridgefield
Playhouse
Oct 23 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
Oct 24 - New York, NY - Town Hall Theatre
Oct 25 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
Oct 26 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall
Oct 28 - Montreal, QC - Place des Arts - Theatre
Oct 29 - Toronto, ON - Roy Thomson Hall
Oct 30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Byham Theatre
Nov 01 - Kent, OH - The Kent Stage
Nov 02 - Goshen, IN - Goshen College Music
Center
Nov 04 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
Nov 05 - Saint Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theatre
Nov 07 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
Nov 09 - Phoenix, AZ - Music Theater at the
Musical Instrument Museum
Nov 11 - Livermore, CA - Livermore Valley
Performing Arts Center
Nov 13 - Chico, CA - California State University
Chico - Laxson Auditorium
Nov 15 - Santa Rosa, CA - Luther Burbank Center
for the Arts
Nov 16 - Arcata, CA - John Van Duzer Theatre
Nov 17 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
Nov 18 - Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall – Taper
Auditorium
Nov 20 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre
Nov 21 - Santa Barbara, CA - UCSB Campbell Hall
Nov 22 - San Diego, CA - Wonderfront Music
Festival
Nov 23 - Cerritos, CA - Cerritos Center for the
Performing Arts
Nov. 29 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
Nov. 30 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
Dec. 01 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff
Symphony Hall
