North American tour dates with labelmates Blitzen Trapper November 7th-18th) and J Mascis (November 20th-December 15th) also announced

In Luluc’s official video for “Kids,” a standout from Sculptor, their just-released, gorgeous third album, director Katie Mitchell wanted to capture “an intimate portrait of the band and their collaborators in Brooklyn.” With beautifully shot performance footage, Mitchell subtly renders the defiance of the protagonist of the song and the camaraderie she has forged. Watch now [see NPR Music August 23rd].

Luluc Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Luluc will also hit the road this fall performing songs from Sculptor, acting as direct support for labelmates Blitzen Trapper (November 7th-18th) and J Mascis (November 20th - December 15th). Headline dates in Australia, Europe and North America will follow in early 2019.
 
Nov. 08 - Chico, CA-  Sierra Nevada Brewing Company*
Nov. 10 - Novato, CA - Hopmonk Tavern*
Nov. 11 - Sebastopol, CA - Hopmonk Tavern*
Nov. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room*
Nov. 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent*
Nov. 16 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile*
Nov. 17 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge*
Nov. 18 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge*
Nov. 20 - Chicago, IL - City Winery^
Nov. 21 - Chicago, IL - City Winery^
Nov. 27 - Atlanta, GA - City Winery^
Nov. 28 - Nashville, TN - City Winery^
Nov. 29 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar^
Nov. 30 - Detroit, MI - El Club^
Dec. 01 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall^
Dec. 04 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe^
Dec. 05 - Washington, DC - City Winery^
Dec. 07 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade^
Dec. 08 - New York, NY - Public Arts^
Dec. 09 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom^
Dec. 12 - Providence, RI - The Met^
Dec. 13 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair^
Dec. 14 - Northampton, MA - The Academy of Music^
Dec. 15 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall^
Jan. 11 - Melbourne, AU - Howler
Jan. 12 - Castlemaine, AU - Theatre Royale
* w/ Blitzen Trapper
^ w/ J Mascis

Sculptor is available worldwide from Sub Pop, with the exception of New Zealand and Australia through Mistletone. In addition to “Kids,” the album features standouts “Spring” and “Heist,” and was produced and recorded by Luluc. The album also includes guest appearances from J. Mascis, Aaron Dessner (The National), Jim White (The Dirty Three), Dave Nelson (The National, Beirut) and Matt Eccles (Weyes Blood, Connan Mockasin). LP purchases from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited Loser edition on magenta vinyl (while supplies last).

 
What The People are saying about Luluc’s Sculptor:

“Quietly devastating....when Luluc really want your attention they don’t shout, they whisper. The strongest and most assured record of their career. The songs dig deep emotionally – but critically their aesthetics are well-balanced, the voice and instruments perfectly calibrated. While its predecessors had a tendency for introspection, Sculptor is wide open.” [8/10] - Uncut
 
“…Sculptor, the Australians’ self-produced follow-up to 2014’s wonderful Passerby, also broadens Luluc’s palette and subject matter in rewarding ways.” [First Listen] - NPR Music
 
“Ultimately, the album repays careful and repeated attention, its varied qualities cohering effectively with a measured sense of control that, simultaneously, offers positive indications of the considerable potential for future even more diverse arrangements.” [8/10] - The Line of Best Fit
 
“Zoe Randell and Steve Hassett are back with an album that complicates their modest aesthetic. The lyrical wrestling and sonic exploration nearly betrays their earliest work yet elevates their catalog—already so celebrated—to another level… Sculptor is an album that feels important.” [8/10] - Under the Radar
 
“Sculptor is a small gift coming at the right time, a 36-minute reverie that nonetheless remains rooted in waking life.” - PopMatters
 
“Sculptor yields center-stage to Randell’s haiku-like celebrations of human spirit and suburban transcendence.” [4/5] - MOJO
 
“Randall and Hassett have made a record that boldly turns a corner while still slotting neatly into their already sterling catalog.” [4/5] - All Music

“Randell’s lyrics reveal subversiveness too, telling of teenage insurrections and small-town upsets. Steve Hassett’s backing, meanwhile, is characterized by enough strange impulses and pleasing deviations to whirr and rattle through the stillness. The band’s third album is filled with such quirks and quiet rebellions.”  [4/5] - Q Magazine

Watch KEXP live performances of 1 Time Mirage tracks “Seven Wheel Motion,” “Give You Game,” and “My Dreams Never Sleep”

Knife Knights have shared “Seven Wheel Motion,” a new offering from 1 Time Mirage, their forthcoming debut album for Sub Pop. Colossal drums puncture walls of labyrinthine noise sculpted from deranged synthesizers and mutated guitars throughout and is an absolute powerhouse of a song. Ishmael Butler seems to rap in dialogue with himself, detailing a threatening streetscape and shaping the experience into personal realizations. “Smooth landings, queens in tandems, cash in grand sums,” he declares at one point. “Life is random/I roll the dice and bet on me.”

Knife Knights recently premiered the aforementioned “Seven Wheel Motion” with additional 1 Time Mirage standouts “Give You Game,” and “My Dreams Never Sleep” live for KEXP. Watch now [see July 19th session].

Knife Knights recently premiered the aforementioned “Seven Wheel Motion” with additional 1 Time Mirage standouts “Give You Game,” and “My Dreams Never Sleep” live for KEXP. [see July 19th session.]

1 Time Mirage will be available worldwide September 14th from Sub Pop. The otherworldly long-player features guest appearances from labelmates Shabazz Palaces and Porter Ray, along with Stas THEE Boss, OCnotes, Thaddillac, El Mizell, Marquetta Miller, Gerald Turner, and Darrius Willrich. The album was produced by Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle.  

Preorders of 1 Time Mirage through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition pressed on blue and white marbled vinyl. The 1 Time Mirage album cover also features artwork from Robert Beatty.

North American tour dates begin November 7th in Vancouver, BC.

On November 9th, J Mascis will release Elastic Days, his third solo album for Sub Pop. “See You At The Movies,” the first song to be released from the album, has a fully evolved sense of identity and loss hanging over it, and features the classic couplet, “I don’t peak too early/I don’t peak at all.” You can listen to the debut offering here now, and also on Apple Music or Spotify.

J Mascis Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Shortly before the release of Elastic Days, Mascis will embark on a 23-date North American run, with Sub Pop labelmates Luluc opening a number of shows. The tour will kick off in Vancouver on November 7th with shows in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, and New York, among others, before ending December 15th in Portland, Maine. 
 
Nov. 07 - Vancouver, BC - Imperial 
Nov. 08 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
Nov. 09 - Seattle, WA - Tractor
Nov. 10 - Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo
Nov. 14 - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s 
Nov. 15 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Nov. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
Nov. 17 - Denver, CO - Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox
Nov. 18 - Fort Collins, CO - Washington’s 
Nov. 20 - Chicago, IL - City Winery
Nov. 21 - Chicago, IL - City Winery
Nov. 27 - Atlanta, GA - City Winery
Nov. 28 - Nashville, TN - City Winery
Nov. 29 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
Nov. 30 - Detroit, MI - El Club
Dec. 01 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall
Dec. 04 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe
Dec. 05 - Washington, DC - City Winery
Dec. 07 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade
Dec. 08 - New York, NY - Public Arts
Dec. 09 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom
Dec. 12 - Providence, RI - The Met
Dec. 13 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair
Dec. 14 - Northampton, MA - The Academy of Music
Dec. 15 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall

[Album Cover Art by John Brattin]

Pre-orders for Elastic Days through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on clear w/purple swirl vinyl (while supplies last).

Elastic Days
Tracklisting:
1. See You At The Movies
2. Web So Dense
3. I Went Dust
4. Sky Is All We Had
5. Picking Out the Seeds
6. Give It Off
7. Drop Me
8. Cut Stranger
9. Elastic Days
10. Sometimes
11. Wanted You Around
12. Everything She Said

The time is now to follow J Mascis everywhere in the galaxy, starting with jmascis.com and also Spotify | Apple | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | and here on subpop.com.

[Photo Credit: Cara Totman] 

About Elastic Days:
Near the end of Reagan’s first term, the Western Massachusetts Hardcore scene coughed up an insanely shaped chunk called Dinosaur. Comprised of WMHC vets, the trio was a miasmic tornado of guitar noise, bad attitude and near-subliminal pop-based-shape-shifting. The contours of their sound ebbed and flowed and mutated for 13 years before the name was retired. And in the course of that time, Dinosaur (amended to Dinosaur Jr. for legal reasons) defined a very specific, very aggressive set of oblique song-based responses to what was going on. Their one constant was the scalp-fryingly loud guitar and deeply buried vocals of J Mascis. 
 
A couple of years before they ended their reign, J cut a solo album called Martin + Me. Recorded live and acoustic, the record allowed the bones of J’s songs to be totally visible for the first time. Fans were surprised to hear how melodically elegant these compositions were, even if J still seemed interested in swallowing some of the words that most folks would have sung. Since then, through the reformation of the original Dinosaur Jr lineup in 2005, J has recorded solo albums now and then, when he had songs that were suited to acoustic (or at least relatively toned-down) performance. And those album, Sings + Chant for AMMA (2005), Several Shades of Why (2011) and Tied to a Star(2014) all delivered incredible sets of songs presented with a minimum of bombast and a surfeit of cool. 
 
Like its predecessors, Elastic Dayswas recorded at J’s own Bisquiteen studio. Mascis does almost all his own stunts, although Ken Miauri (who also appeared on Tied to a Star) plays keyboards and there are a few guest vocal spots. These include old mates Pall Jenkins (Black Heart Procession), and Mark Mulcahy (Miracle Legion, etc.), as well as the newly-added voice of Zoë Randell (Luluc), among others. But the show is mostly J’s and J’s alone.
 
He laughs when I tell him I’m surprised by how melodic his vocals seem to have gotten. Asked if that was intentional, he says, “No. I took some singing lessons and do vocal warm-ups now, but that was mostly just to keep from blowing out my vocal cords when Dino started touring again. The biggest difference with this record might have to do with the drums. I’d just got a new drum set I was really excited about. I don’t have too many drum outlets at the moment, so I played a lot more drums than I’d originally planned. I just kept playing. [laughs] I’d play the acoustic guitar parts then head right to the drums.”
 
There is plenty of drumming on the dozen songs on Elastic Days. But for those expecting the hallucinatory overload of Dinosaur Jr’s live attack, the gentleness of the approach here will draw easy comparisons to Neil Young’s binary approach to working solo versus working with Crazy Horse. This is a lazy man’s shorthand, but it still rings true.
 
J’s vocals have always leaned in a direction acknowledging the Bard of Toronto, but as early as Dinosaur Jr’s third single, the epoch-defining “Freak Scene,” J’s off-hand vocal delivery was instantly recognizable. On a track like “Sky Is All We Had,” the same dynamism is at work, but the evolution of technique is so massive as to lift the proceedings to a new level. The album is chock-full of similar nuggets. Built around acoustic guitar figures, often holding off electric flights of guitar backdrop until the third act, the tunes are massively seductive and satisfying. J’s fave track is “See You At The Movies,” which has a fully evolved sense of loss hanging over it, and features the classic couplet, “I don’t peak too early/I don’t peak at all.”  My own choice is “Picking Out the Seeds,” on which J pulls out his falsetto voice to great effect, and maintains a middlin’ pace that makes the tune one of the great Beard Rock readymades of the era. 
 
But Elastic Daysbrims with great moments: Epic hooks that snare you in surprisingly subtle ways, guitar textures that slide against each other like old lovers, and structures that range from a neo-power-ballad (“Web So Dense”) to jazzily-canted West Coasty post-psych (“Give It Off”) to a track that subliminally recalls the keyboard approach of Scott Thurston-era Stooges (“Drop Me”). The album plays out with a combination of holism and variety that is certain to set many brains ablaze.

J says he’ll be taking this album on the road later in the year. He’ll be playing by himself, but unlike other solo tours he says he’ll be standing up this time. “I used to just sit down and build a little fort around myself – amps, music stands, drinks stands, all that stuff. But I just realized it sounds better if the amps are higher up because I’m so used to playing with stacks. So I’ll stand this time.”
 
I ask if it’s not pretty weird to stand alone on a big stage. “Yeah,” he says. “But it’s weird sitting down too.” Ha. Good point. One needs to be elastic. In all things.
 
–Byron Coley

[Photo Credit: Josh Spencer] 

Cullen Omori’s The Diet is now available worldwide on Sub Pop. The new album, led by the singles ”Four Years,” ”A Real You“ and ”Happiness Reigns,” is buoyed by warped, analog pedals/transistors, tailor-made guitar tones that crisscross ‘70s art rock vocals and classic songwriting all within the span of 40 minutes. You can now stream The Diet in its entirety via Spotify and Apple Music. 
 
The Line of Best Fit had this to say of the album, “It’s all so hopeful and luminous, a reflection of the headspace the singer’s now in, worlds apart from a couple years ago. Omori’s rediscovered life’s good side, and found more of himself in the process; ultimately, that’s led to him being able to pour a whole lot more of his heart and soul into his songs, and it’s a beautiful thing (8/10).” 

Pitchfork offered this, “The former Smith Westerns member’s second album represents a return to his core strengths: crystalline, cosmically ornate melodies and wryly clear-eyed lyrics.” And PopMatters raves, “The resulting sound is inventive, fun, fresh, and perhaps Omori’s best release to-date (8/10).”

The Diet is available now through Sub Pop. LP purchases through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on lavender swirl vinyl (while supplies last). A new t-shirt design is also available.

Low Tour Dates + Ticket Links