Seattle band Tacocat are set to release This Mess Is a Place, their new full-length album on LP/CD/Digital and Cassette on Friday, May 3rd. The sparkly new album is their first for Sub Pop, and heralds a more pop-driven and ebullient direction in their sound. Today, Under the Radar premiered ”The Joke of Life,” the third and final pre-release single from the highly-anticipated record.
Of the track, lead singer Emily Nokes says, “I love how this song turned out. This is also one of my favorite concepts on the album — the joke is that the joke is already a joke. You know when something is so unbelievable, in a bad way, that it can’t even be satirized because irony falls short of the real thing? Like we’ve entered a twilight zone of perpetual horror and now we’re just… adapting to it. Because what else are you going to do?”
Advance review copies of This Mess Is a Place are available upon request. Pre-orders are available now from u.subpop.com/thismess.
Tacocat will be touring the US this summer. See below for a full list of performances. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and available here.
May 09 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club May 10 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club May 11 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall May 12 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Pyramid Scheme May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe May 15 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair May 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg May 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle May 19 - Washington, D.C. - U Street Music Hall May 21 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook May 22 - Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn May 23 - Nashville, TN - The High Watt May 24 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway May 25 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar Jun. 08 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox at the Market Jun. 12 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett Jun. 13 - Boise, ID - Neurolux Jun. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Jun. 15 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Jun. 17 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada Jun. 18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall Jun. 19 - Austin, TX - Barracuda Jun. 21 - Sante Fe, NM - Meow Wolf Jun. 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar Jun. 23 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah Jun. 25 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bootleg Theater Jun. 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel Jun. 28 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
Today, Calexico and Iron & Wine added new shows to the previously announced UK, European and North American dates, including stops in Philadelphia, Austin, Los Angeles and more. See all dates and on sale info below.
Calexico and Iron & Wine recently announced Years to Burn, their first full–length album together, out June 14th via City Slang in the UK/Europe and Sub Pop in the rest of the world. This is their first release since 2005’s critic and fan favorite In The Reins. Alongside the Years To Burn news, the trio released the lead track “Father Mountain” to great reception.
Calexico and Iron & Wine Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Jun. 18 - Saxapahaw, NC - River Ballroom Jul. 19 - Lisbon, PT - Super Bock Super Rock Jul. 20 - Arlesheim, CH - Stimmen Festival Jul. 22 - Milan, IT - La Triennale di Milano Jul. 23 - Gardone Riviera, IT - Anfiteatro del Vittoriale Jul. 24 - Rome, IT - Villa Ada Jul. 25 - Florence, IT - Cavea del Nuovo Teatro dell’opera Jul. 26 - Monforte D’ Alba, IT - Auditorium Horszowski Jul. 28 - Vienna, AT - Konzerthaus Jul. 29 - Palma, ES - Auditorium de Palma de Mallorca Jul. 31 - Hamburg, DE - Stadtpark Aug. 02 - Cambridge, UK - Cambridge Folk Festival Aug. 03 - Leuven, BE - M-idzommer Festival Aug. 04 - Crozon, FR - Festival Du Bout Du Monde Aug. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum Theatre ~ Aug. 17 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre ~ Aug. 19 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanic Gardens ~ Aug. 21 - Ogden, UT - Twilight Series at Ogden Amphitheater Aug. 22 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House Aug. 23 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium Aug. 24 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre Sep. 18 - Grand Rapids, MI - Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park “Meijer Gardens” Sep. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Roxian Theatre Sep. 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer Sep. 21 - Boston, MA - Rockland Trust Bank Pavillion + Sep. 22 - North Adams, MA - FreshGrass Festival Sep. 24 - Richmond, VA - The National Sep. 26 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City Sep. 27 - New Orleans, LA - House Of Blues Sep. 28 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Sep. 29 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theater Sep. 30 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre Oct. 02 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues Oct. 03 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre Oct. 04 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey’s Concertsby The Bay Oct. 06 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery Nov. 05 - Utrecht, NL - TrivoliVrendenburg - Ronda Nov. 06 -Luxemborg, LU - Den Atelier Nov. 07 - Antwerp, BE - De Roma Nov. 09 - Berlin, DE - Tempodrom Nov. 10 - Linz, AT - Posthof Nov. 11 - Munich, DE - Muffathalle Nov. 12 - Budapest, HU - Müpa Nov. 14 - Mannheim, DE - Musensaal Rosengarten Nov. 15 - Cologne, DE - Palladium Nov. 16 - Paris, FR - La Cigale Nov. 18 - Edinburgh, UK - Usher Hall * Nov. 19 - Liverpool, UK - Philharmonic Hall * Nov. 20 - Manchester, UK - Bridgewater Hall * Nov. 21 -Conventry, UK - Warwick Arts Centre * Nov. 23 - London, UK - Royal Festival Hall * Nov. 24 - Bexhill-On-Sea, UK – De La Warr Pavillion *
~with special guest Madison Cunningham +with Andrew Bird *with special guest Lisa O’Neill
Artist Presales: Wednesday, April 17 - 10 am local – Thursday, April 18 - 10 pm local Password: yearstoburn Local Presales: Thursday, April 18 - 10 am local General On Sale: Friday, April 19 - 10 am local
Minor Poet is joining Australian band Cub Sport on the group’s headlining tour in support of The Good News, out May 17th worldwide on Sub Pop. These intimate shows will find Minor Poet performing as a three-piece, beginning May 8th in Los Angeles at The Echo and ending June 7th in Phoenix at the Valley Bar. The tour will include stops in San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Austin, and Houston.
May 08 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo May 09 - San Diego, CA - Voodoo Room at HOB May 13 - Seattle, WA - Columbia City Theater May 14 - Portland, OR - The Old Church May 18 - Denver, CO - The Marquis Theater May 20 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern May 22 - Boston, MA - Café 939 May 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory May 24 - Montreal, QC - L’Esco May 25 - Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground May 28 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry at The Fillmore May 29 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd May 31 - Atlanta, GA - Purgatory at The Masquerade Jun. 02 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Indoor Jun. 03 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) Jun. 05 - Dallas, TX - Three Links Jun. 07 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
Minor Poet’s The Good News, which features “Museum District” and “Tropic of Cancer,” was produced by Andrew Carter and Adrian Olsen (Natalie Prass, Foxygen) at Montrose Recording in Richmond.
The Good News is now available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on clear with red and blue swirl vinyl (while supplies last).
After reading through great, heaping stacks of wonderfully inspirational applications, we here at the Really Very Official Sub Pop Records Scholarship Committee have chosen three exceptionally qualified student winners for our 2019 Sub Pop Loser Scholarship.
Ester - graduating from David Douglas High School in Portland - is our first place Loser winner this year. We were and are blown away by Ester’s talents and hereby recognize her as more than worthy of the $7,000 scholarship. As a Russian refugee immigrant, Ester and her family faced many hardships, but rather than let these difficulties drag her down, Ester found ways to use challenges in her life as inspiration. An incredible photo realist painter, Ester has earned one of the top student artist awards in the country for her Immigrant Experience art show and “I, America’s Poster Child,” series of paintings. Ester took time to interview her subjects firsthand to identify some of the troubling social constructs that immigrant youth in her community face. Through her art, Ester hopes to raise awareness of the difficult cultural circumstances many immigrant youth deal with and change some of their circumstances for the better. On top of being an incredible painter Ester also does film work, sculpture, and performance art. It is hard to believe Ester didn’t start art classes until high school because she is so incredibly talented! We love that Ester wants to use her ongoing arts education to help impoverished and immigrant artists better their lives and we are glad to be able to help further those goals in some small way. Alright, Ester!
Frankie - graduating from Seattle’s Nova High School - has done 600 volunteer hours at the Vera Project, an all-ages music and arts space in Seattle, as an audio engineer supporting local and national music acts. We loved Frankie’s application describing the mental hurdles she has had to overcome to persevere as a female doing live sound for artists. As a student in the Vera audio design program, Frankie started from the bottom and worked her way up through hard work and dedication. While taking in everything that her mentors at Vera had to teach about sound design and the professional attitude required to work with artists, Frankie was able to gain confidence in her skills as an engineer. As the only female sound engineer in her class, Frankie fought through deeply engrained societal expectations to become a professional, paid sound engineer at the age of 17. How cool is that?! Outside of Vera, Frankie also helped to revive the band program at her high school, which helped to empower many dormant but talented musicians in her orbit. Frankie hopes to further pursue professional audio engineering and wants to set an example that might help to bring other women and femmes into the audio field. Given all of this information, we’re proud to name Frankie our $5,000 Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winner!
Lillian - graduating from St. Helens High School - is the winner of our $3,000 Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. Lillian is the first human interested in robotics we’ve had apply for the scholarship and her application was a stunner. Her animation reel, drawings, paintings, the inspiration she drew from her robotics team, and her understanding that being a Loser means, “…having to define your own purpose when none of the preexisting options will fit,” really set Lillian apart from the other applicants. A succinct but very well-written essay with a keen awareness of what it means to be a Sub Pop Loser helped Lillian stand out from the crowd. We are happy to know that someone in St. Helens is an art program recruit, art show curator, has taken every art class possible, is out to create her own path, is inspired by other young artists, and helps artists thrive in her local community. Lillian tells us she’ll be attending OSU as a double major in robotics and art. We are deeply into it, Lillian. Go get ‘em!
And, those are our 2019 Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winners – ta-da! Thanks to everyone who applied, we loved all of your submissions! You’re an incredibly talented, inspiring bunch of people, and these were not easy decisions. We’re certain that you will all go on to blow us away with your future accomplishments.
Support dates with Foals and Preoccupations Beginning April 12- April 30th with additional headline dates throughout May
[Photo Credit: Emily Frobos]
We are thrilled to share that Sub Pop has signed a worldwide recording deal with angular Atlantans, Omni. The band is currently working on their third album, after two acclaimed LPs of tightly wound, tuneful & cerebral, post punk-pop on the highly regarded, Trouble in Mind Records.
Omni has contributed two new tracks to the latest edition of the iconic Sub Pop Singles Club series. You can now stream “Delicacy” and “I Don’t Dance” via all digital service providers, including YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.
Frontman for the band, Philip Frobos says “Delicacy” was one of the first songs we wrote after a couple of years of non-stop touring behind Deluxe and Multi-task. It came naturally to Frankie and I but felt like we were headed someplace new. It’s written about falling in love, with who would become my wife, on a 23-hour layover in Casablanca, exploring a new continent, feeling intrigued and truly alive.
Keep your ears open for new music in the near future, and be sure to catch Omni on their upcoming tour with Foals and Preoccupations starting tonight, April 12th with a three-night stint at Brooklyn Steel, with additional shows in DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, and Minneapolis. The band will then return to the road on May 10th, performing at this years KVRX Festival in Austin with additional shows throughout the month in El Paso, Tucson, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Everett, WA for the Fisherman’s Village Music Fest, Salt Lake City and Denver, ending on May 22nd in Nashville, TN. Dates are as follows:
Apr. 12 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel * Apr. 13 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel * Apr. 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel * Apr. 16 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club * Apr. 18 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club * Apr. 19 - Boston, MA - House of Blues Boston * Apr. 20 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore Philadelphia * Apr. 22 - Toronto, ON - Rebel * Apr. 25 - St Louis, MO - The Pageant * Apr. 26 - Detroit, MI - Saint Andrews Hall * Apr. 27 – Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre * Apr. 28 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Eagles Club * Apr. 30 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue * May 10 - Austin, TX - KVRX Fest May. 11 - El Paso, TX- The Monarch May. 12 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress May. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon May. 14 - San Francisco, CA- Bottom of The Hill May. 16 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios # May. 17 - Everett, WA - Fisherman’s Village Music Fest May. 19 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court May. 20 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall May. 21 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater May. 22 - Nashville, TN - Springwater * w/ Foals, Preoccupations # w/ Downtown Boys & Cool Flowers
What “The People” have said about Omni: “If Atlanta’s Omni were a machine with a rhythm switch, it would probably just have one setting: staccato. Nearly all of the trio’s songs are built around twitchy, start-stop beats that instantly get pulses rushing and nerves tingling.”- NPR Music
”Multi-task is 11 tracks worth of sonic goodness, heavy on thick and fun guitar licks matched by equally complicated but light lyrics.” -Noisey
“The wiry Atlanta, Ga. rock trio Omni sells its nervous energy as a logical way of dealing with the world. Where other bands might smooth things out, Omni finds angles and sharp turns.” -Pitchfork
“Omni remains a band that’s best at its most berserk. Multi-Task hits its high marks when the band is doing as much as it can, or, if you will, multi-tasking.” -PASTE
“The Atlanta trio Omni…make twitchy, bouncy, catchy-as-hell post-punk, the sort of thing that NME would’ve fallen in love with if it had come from Glasgow in 1983.” - Stereogum
