2018 international tour dates resume this Sunday, June 24th with a headline appearance at the Hollywood Bowl.
Emma Elizabeth Tillman directs and Josh Tillman stars in the new Father John Misty video for “God’s Favorite Customer,” the title track from his acclaimed new album. The new visual for the song (which features a glorious duet with Sub Pop labelmate Weyes Blood) finds Tillman wandering the dark, early morning streets of New York City.
God’s Favorite Customer is one of the best-reviewed albums of the year, earning “Best Albums of the Year (So Far)” notices from the likes of Rolling Stone, Stereogum, and Consequence of Sound.
Pitchfork gave the album “Best New Music” status (8.5/10) and said, “He has the ear of Jeff Lynne and the vowels of Elton John as he casts his words into the sky and lets them hang there to be marveled at, plainspoken and myth-free.” Rolling Stone offered this, In its piano-ballad gait, baroque-pop raptures and confessional sting, Josh Tillman’s fourth album as the darkly antic Father John Misty often sounds like it was made more than 40 years earlier under yet another name: John Lennon. It’s as if Tillman wrote and arranged these songs under the sumptuous, despairing spell of Lennon’s early-Seventies solo records, with time off for the late-Sixties Zombies and the Beach Boys’ Sunflower (4/5).”
Entertainment Weekly adds, “God’s Favorite Customer sounds as lush as anything he’s done — a rich tapestry of AM-radio jangle and strum (Grade: A-).” Stereogum raved, saying, “Given the nature of the album, it feels almost crass to point out that Tillman pulled it off again. But he did, in making another stunning Father John Misty album.” USA Today gave the album a perfect score (4/4) and offered this, “Four albums in, he’s never been better than on God’s Favorite Customer.”
God’s Favorite Customer also marks Father John Misty’s third top 20 entry on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart (#18). The album was also #1 on the Alternative, Americana, and Vinyl album charts.
Father John Misty’s tour dates in support of God’s Favorite Customer resume Sunday, June 24th with a show at the Hollywood Bowl and run through November 18th in Lausanne, Switzerland at Les Docks. Father John Misty will also headline Red Rocks August 15th (with TV on the Radio).
Jun. 24 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl * Jul. 13 - Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival Jul. 20 - Jacksonville, OR - BrittPavilion ! Jul. 21 - Troutdale, OR - EdgefieldAmphitheatre ! Jul. 22 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party Jul. 27 - New York, NY - Panorama Music & Arts Festival Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival @ Jane Pickens Theater [Official Aftershow] Jul. 29 - Portland, ME - Thompson’s Point ^ Aug. 01 - Raleigh, NC - North Carolina Museum of Art Park Theater ^ Aug. 02 - Washington, DC - The Anthem *** Aug. 03 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE *** Aug. 04 - Toronto, ON - Historic Fort York & Garrison Commons Aug. 10-12 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival Aug. 12 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House % Aug. 13 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union % Aug. 15 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre ** Aug. 17 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater @ Aug. 17-19 - Omaha, NE - Maha Music Festival Aug. 22 - Mexico City, MX - El Plaza Condesa Aug. 25 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Queremos Festival Aug. 26 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Teatro Memorial Aug. 29 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - La Trastienda Club Sep. 01 - Santiago, Chile - Espacio Riesco Sep. 09 - Vancouver, BC - SKOOKUM Festival Sep. 16 - Chicago, IL - Riot Fest Sep. 18 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater $ Sep. 20 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater $ Sep. 21 - Indianapolis, IN - MacAllister Amphitheater at Garfield Park $ Sep. 22 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre $ Sep. 25 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater $ [Sold Out] Sep. 26 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore $ Sep. 28 - Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater $ Sep. 29 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live $ Oct. 01 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre $ [Sold Out] Oct. 02 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre $ Oct. 03 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City $ Oct. 06 - New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre Oct. 05-07 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival Oct. 09 - Knoxville, TN - The Mill & Mine $ Oct. 10 - Oxford, MS - The Lyric Oxford $ Oct. 11 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Jones Assembly % Oct. 12-14 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival Oct. 26 - Gateshead, UK - Sage Gateshead ^^ Oct. 27 - Liverpool, UK - Olympia ^^ Oct. 28 - Portsmouth, UK - Portsmouth Guildhall ^^ Oct. 29 - Leicester, UK - De Montfort Hall ^^ Oct. 30 - Bath, UK - The Forum Bath ^^ Nov. 01 - Antwerp, Belgium - De Roma ^^ Nov. 02 - Eindhoven, NL - Effenaar ^^ Nov. 03 - Groningen, NL - TakeRoot Festival Nov. 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso ^^ Nov. 06 - Darmstadt, DE - Centralstation ^^ Nov. 07 - Berlin, DE - Huxleys Neue Welt ^^ Nov. 09-10 - Weissenhäuser Strand, DE - Rolling Stone Weekender Nov. 11 - Gothenburg, SE - Konserthuset ^^ Nov. 14 - Budapest, HU - Müpa Budapest, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall ^^ Nov. 15 - Vienna, Austria - Arena Wien ^^ Nov. 16 - Rust, DE - Rolling Stone Park Nov. 17 - Zurich, CH - Rote Fabrik ^^ Nov. 18 - Lausanne, CH - Les Docks ^^
! w/ Blitzen Trapper * w/ Gillian Welch, Big Thief ** w/ TV on the Radio *** w/ Bully ^ w/ Jenny Lewis % w/ Lucy Dacus @ w/ David Beeman $ w/ King Tuff % w/ BRONCHO ^^ w/ Bedouine
An automobile takes a late night drive in Beach House’s mysterious new video for “Black Car.” Director Alistair Legrand takes the dark and atmospheric track, which rides an undulating bassline along a building, arrhythmic pulse, and delivers a gorgeously shot black and white visual for the song.”
7 is one of the best-reviewed albums of the year, earning Beach House “Best Albums of 2018 (So Far)” placements from the likes of Stereogum (#1), Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Consequence of Sound, and more.
Pitchfork gave 7 “Best New Music” status (8.9/10) and called it “their heaviest and most immersive-sounding of their career.” The Guardian raved in its 4-star review, “the sounds are glorious.”NY Timessays of the album, “A beguiling new pop gloss…The effect is as transcendent as ever. “ And Vulture says 7 is “their best yet.”
7 also debuted at #20 on the Billboard Top 200. The album also spent three weeks at no. 1 on the NACC Top 200 chart.
Beach House’s massive worldwide tour in support of 7 resumes July 24th in New Haven, CT at College Street Music Hall and continues on through October 20th in Dublin, IE at Vicar Street.
Jul. 24 - New Haven, CT - College Street Music Hall Jul. 26 - Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre Jul. 27 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz Jul. 28 - Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre [Sold Out] Jul. 30 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory Jul. 31 - Austin, TX - ACL Live at the Moody Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 02 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre Aug. 03 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery [Sold Out] Aug. 04 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery [Sold Out] Aug. 05 - San Diego, CA - The Observatory at North Park [Sold Out] Aug. 07 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 08 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 10 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium [Sold Out] Aug. 11 - Seattle, WA - SPF30: Sub Pop’s 30th Anniversary Concert on Alki Beach Aug. 12 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre Aug. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot [Sold Out] Aug. 15 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 17 - St. Paul, MN - The Palace Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 18 - Chicago, Il - Chicago Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 19 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre Aug. 20 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre Aug. 22 - New York, NY - United Palace Theatre Aug. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre [Sold Out] Aug. 24 - Boston, MA - House of Blues [Sold Out] Aug. 25 - Washington, DC - The Anthem Sep. 25 - Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseu dos Recreios Sep. 26 - Porto, Portugal - Teatro sa da Bandeira Sep. 27 - Madrid, ES - La Riviera Sep. 28 - Barcelona, ES - Razzmatazz Sep. 30 - Lyon, France - Epicerie Moderne Oct. 01 - Köln, DE - Gloria Oct. 02 - Berlin, DE - Huxleys Oct. 04 - Lund, SE - Mejeriet Oct. 05 - Gothenburg, SE - Trädgar’n Oct. 07 - Oslo, NO - Rockefeller Music Hall Oct. 08 - Stockholm, SE- Münchenbryggeriet Oct. 09 - Copenhagen, DK - Forum Black Box Oct. 11 - Hamburg, DE - Kampnagel Oct. 12 - Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg Oct. 13 - Brussels, BE - AB [Sold Out] Oct. 15 - Paris, FR - Olympia Oct. 17 - London, UK - Troxy Oct. 18 - London, UK - Troxy [Sold Out] Oct. 19 - Manchester, UK - Albert Hall [Sold Out] Oct. 20 - Dublin, IE - Vicar Street [Sold Out]
Sculptor will be available worldwide July 13th from Sub Pop, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand from Mistletone
Luluc has shared “Spring,” the beautiful new single and opening track from Sculptor, their forthcoming album. Singer Zoe Randell offers this on the song: “Broadly speaking, with these new songs I was interested in the difficulties that life can throw at us - what we can do with them, how they can shape us, and what say we have. That potential that is there for everyone, the different lives that are open to us. That’s what I love in Ise’s poem ‘Spring Days and Blossom’ - which form the lyrics to “Spring” - the brimming sense of spring and it’s cycle, the enormity of what’s possible and the beauty.”
Original artwork for track as seen above -> ‘Abundance’ by artist and printmaker Fleur Rendell. Listen here, and on repeat via Spotify or Apple Music.
[Photo Credit: Charlotte de Mezamat]
Luluc will release Sculptor, their gorgeous third album worldwide on July 13th from Sub Pop, with the exception of New Zealand and Australia through Mistletone. The new long-player featuring the aforementioned “Spring,” along with “Heist,” and “Kids,” 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).
UK Magazine Uncut just named Sculptor its “Album of the Month” (8/10) and said, “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.” And NPR Music’s Bob Boilen raves, “I can’t stop listening…I’ve waited for years for this record (see All Songs Considered mix, May 29th).”
Sculptor will be available on CD/LP/DL through Sub Pop and Misteltone. Preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited Loser edition on magenta vinyl. There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
On September 14th, in the faithfully defiant fashion of their 25-year career, Low will release Double Negative, its most brazen, abrasive (and, paradoxically, most empowering) album. As a prelude to the full-length album, Low presents a triptych video for the opening songs of the album. Each video can also be watched independently:
Directed by Mark Pellington - Edited by Jen Kennedy
To make Double Negative, Low reenlisted B.J. Burton, the adventurous producer who in recent years has made records with Bon Iver, Lizzo, and Francis and the Lights. Returning once again to Justin Vernon’s April Base studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (where they recorded 2015’s Ones and Sixes) Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker, and bassist Steve Garrington knew they wanted to go further with Burton and his palette of sounds: they wanted to see what someone who is, as Sparhawk puts it, “a hip-hop guy” could truly do with their music. Rather than obsessively write and rehearse at home in Duluth, Minnesota, they would often head southeast to Eau Claire, arriving with sketches and ideas that they would work on for days with Burton. Band and producer became collaborative co-writers, building the pieces up and breaking them down until their purpose and force felt clear.
Following summer shows in the UK, Germany, and Poland, the band will embark on a first leg of touring in support of the new album with a two-night stand at National Sawdust in New York City. See below for a full list of tour dates, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Tour Dates: Jun. 19 - Leeds, United Kingdom - Brudenell Social Jun. 20 - London, United Kingdom - Queen Elizabeth Hall (Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival) Jun. 23 - Duisburg, Germany - Traumzeit festival Jun. 25 - Munich, Germany - Ampere Jun. 26 - Dresden, Germany - Beatpol Jun. 29 - Bialystok, Poland - Amphitheater of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic (Halfway Music Festival!) Sep. 20 - New York, NY - National Sawdust Sep. 21 - New York, NY - National Sawdust Sep. 29 - Lisbon, Portugal - Lisboa ao Vivo Oct. 1 - De Compostela Santiago, Spain - Sala Capitol Oct. 2 - Madrid, Spain - Sala But Oct. 3 - Barcelona, Spain - Fabra i Coats Oct. 5 - Milan, Italy - Teatro Dal Verme Oct. 6 - Zurich, Switzererland - Bogen F Oct. 8 - Leipzig, Germany - Conne Island Oct. 9 - Berlin, Germany - Festsaal Kreuzberg Oct. 11 - Brussels, Belgium - Orangerie (at Botanique) Oct. 12 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso Oct. 13 - Paris, France - La Gaîté Lyrique Oct. 15 - Bristol, UK - Trinity Oct. 16 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Cathedral Oct. 17 - Manchester Cathedral - Vicar Street Nov. 02 - St. Paul, MN - The Fitz Nov. 03 - Davenport, IA - Daytrotter Nov. 05 - Detroit, MI - El Club Nov. 06 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall Nov. 08 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa Nov. 09 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall Nov. 10 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts Nov. 12 - Washington, DC U Street Music Hall Nov. 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - The Funhouse Nov. 14 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop Nov. 16 - Chicago, IL - Rockefeller Chapel Nov. 17 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
Pre-orders of Double Negative through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Edition on crystal clear vinyl with an enclosed full-color flat of album artwork. The album cover for Double Negative was created by longtime collaborator, English artist, Peter Liversidge.
Double Negative Tracklisting: 1. Quorum 2. Dancing and Blood 3. Fly 4. Tempest 5. Always Up 6. Always Trying to Work It Out 7. The Son, The Sun 8. Dancing and Fire 9. Poor Sucker 10. Rome (Always in the Dark) 11. Disarray
[Photo Credit: Shelly Mosman]
More on Low’s Double Negative by Grayson Currin: In 2018, the band Low will turn twenty-five. Since 1993, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker—the married couple whose heaven-and-earth harmonies have always held the band’s center—have pioneered a subgenre, shrugged off its strictures, recorded a Christmas classic, become a magnetic onstage force, and emerged as one of music’s most steadfast and vital vehicles for pulling light from our darkest emotional recesses. But Low will not commemorate its first quarter-century with mawkish nostalgia or safe runs through songbook favorites. Instead, in faithfully defiant fashion, Low will release its most brazen, abrasive (and, paradoxically, most empowering) album ever: Double Negative, an unflinching eleven-song quest through snarling static and shattering beats that somehow culminates in the brightest pop song of Low’s career.
To make Double Negative, Low reenlisted B.J. Burton, the quietly energetic and adventurous producer who has made records with James Blake, Sylvan Esso, and The Tallest Man on Earth in recent years while working as one of the go-to figures at Bon Iver’s home studio, April Base. Burton recorded Low’s last album, 2015’s Ones and Sixes, at April Base, adding might to many of its beats and squelch and frisson beneath many of its melodies.
This time, though, Sparhawk, Parker, and bassist Steve Garrington knew they wanted to go further with Burton and his palette of sounds, to see what someone who is, as Sparhawk puts it, “a hip-hop guy” could truly do to their music. Rather than obsessively write and rehearse at home in Duluth, Minnesota, they would often head southeast to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, arriving with sketches and ideas that they would work on for days with Burton. Band and producer became collaborative cowriters, building the pieces up and breaking them down and building them again until their purpose and force felt clear. As the world outside seemed to slide deeper into instability, Low repeated this process for the better part of two years, pondering the results during tours and breaks at home. They considered not only how the fragments fit together but also how, in the United States of 2018, they functioned as statements and salves.
Double Negative is, indeed, a record perfectly and painfully suited for our time. Loud and contentious and commanding, Low fights for the world by fighting against it. It begins in pure bedlam, with a beat built from a loop of ruptured noise waging war against the paired voices of Sparhawk and Parker the moment they begin to sing during the massive “Quorum.” For forty minutes, they indulge the battle, trying to be heard amid the noisy grain, sometimes winning and sometimes being tossed toward oblivion.
During the immersive “Dancing and Blood,” Parker slowly comes into focus, as if singing from the wind-ripped mouth of a cave. Parker appears to beat back disaster for “Fly,” her soulful vocals curving into and above Garrington’s bold bassline as Sparhawk’s own signal cuts in and out. Elsewhere, though, songs like “Always Trying to Work It Out” and “Tempest” threaten to swallow the pair whole, their overwhelming quakes of dissonance aiming to silence them once and for all. Sometimes, Sparhawk and Parker are stuck in the Sisyphean middle, capable of neither failing nor forging ahead. During the brilliantly conceived “Poor Sucker,” written in large part by Garrington, their voices suggest skiffs stuck on some turbulent sea, falling beneath and rising above the cacophony with seasick irregularity. In this frustrated song of self-defeat, Low lists all the ways they could have made their lives matter. It is a eulogy of could-have-beens for a time that won’t really let you be.
As “Rome (Always in the Dark),” a march that forces its way through the din with damn-the-torpedoes tenacity, fades toward a rare silence, a pulse sculpted from a shard of noise emerges, flashing from a distance like the safety of a life raft. It rises into a steady thump, with Sparhawk and Parker floating above it in crystalline unison: “Before it falls into total disarray/You’ll have to learn to live a different way,” they sing, their melody forming a tightrope of despair and delight. In some ways, it’s a warning of the bad times to come. But it’s also a promise that we’re more powerful and adaptable than madness itself, that we have the ability to persevere. During the song’s back half, Sparhawk and Parker don’t say anything. They instead lock into august harmony and glide between notes, Parker’s purely ascendant tone pulling Sparhawk’s falsetto skyward. It is an exquisite and triumphant moment, an exhalation after all the damage and din.
In spite of the mounting noise, Sparhawk and Parker still sing. Or maybe they sing because of the noise. For Low, has there ever really been a difference?
Today we share the bittersweet news that New York’s LVL UP will embark on their final tour this fall, and has released “Orchard” the group’s final single today on Sub Pop. The trek begins August 27th in Boston at Great Scott, and ends September 28th in New York at Bowery Ballroom. Full list of dates is below.
LVL Up have issued a statement on the farewell tour and “Orchard” single:
“We have decided to retire this project. It has been an extremely rewarding journey beyond anything we could have ever realistically imagined. The band began in a college dorm room in 2011 as a lighthearted recording project. We have since been lucky enough to tour nationally and internationally over the last seven years with the support of many lovely people, and will never be able to thank our friends, families, and loved ones enough for providing such warmth throughout this experience. Our deepest gratitude goes out to every label, band, and person who’s played a role in this wild ride.
“Here is our last single, “Orchard”, which we recorded early this year. As always, thank you to our eternal friend and fifth member Mike Ditrio for helping us with this and every other recording process we’ve had.
“Everyone in the band will continue to support each other while we release new material through different outlets.
“LVL UP will be performing live for a final stretch of time this coming fall.
“Thank you for everything, *_* Dave, Greg, Mike, Nick *_*”
Aug. 27 - Boston, MA - Great Scott Aug. 28 - Montréal, QC - Bar Le Ritz Aug. 29 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison Aug. 30 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s Aug. 31 - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen Sep. 01 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry Sep. 04 - Missoula, MN - Union Ballroom Sep. 05 - Seattle, WA - Barboza Sep. 06 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Sep. 08 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord Sep. 09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo Sep.10 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge Sep.13 - Dallas, TX - Three Links Sep.14 - Austin, TX - Barracuda Sep.16 - Nashville, TN - High Watt Sep.17 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight Sep.18 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Sep.19 - Richmond, VA - The Camel Sep. 20 - Washington, DC - DC9 Sep. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Sep. 28 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
LVL Up’s last full-length release, Return To Love, is also available now on CD/LP/DL/CS from Sub Pop right here.
