The US leg of Hot Snakes tour begins tomorrow night,  November 8th

On Friday, January 19th, 2018, Hot Snakes entire discography – Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress – will be reissued worldwide through Sub Pop. The first pressing of the LP reissues of these albums will be on colored vinyl (Automatic Midnight on orange, Suicide Invoice on yellow, and Audit in Progress on pink) and each album will come with its own, new set of 6 stickers designed by the band’s Rick Froberg. And January 19th will be the first time any of these albums have been available on cassette.

These influential post-hardcore all-stars – boasting members of Pitchfork, Rocket From the Crypt,  Drive Like Jehu, Earthless, Obits, Burning Brides, OFF!, The Delta 72, and more –released three of our favorite rock records of the past 20 years: Automatic Midnight in 2000, Suicide Invoice in 2002 and Audit in Progress in 2004. And now, finally, they’re ours! As we await the somewhat-later-in-2018 release of their first new album since 2004, please make these Sub Pop reissues yours…

Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress are now available for preorder in the below listed formats (plus there’s an updated Hot Snakes T-shirt design) [preorder them all here]

• CD digipack with custom dust sleeve
• LP in a single-pocket jacket with custom dust sleeve and new sticker sheet
• Cassette
• Digital

New to Hot Snakes? Check out the handy Hot Snakes Beginner’s Guide on Spotify and/or the equally-as-handy Hot Snakes Essentials on Apple Music.

Automatic Midnight, Hot Snakes’ first studio album, originally came out in 2000. Both the band and the album began as a side project for John Reis in June 1999, during time off from his main band Rocket From the Crypt. Reis wrote and recorded a batch of songs in San Diego with Delta 72 drummer Jason Kourkounis. To provide vocals for the tracks Reis called in Rick Froberg, whom he had played with in Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu from 1986 to 1995. Most of the material from these sessions was used to create Automatic Midnight, which became the first release for Reis’ newly formed Swami Records label. The band’s sound represented a return to the unrealized past of its members: direct, undraped and rock ‘n’ roll while still maintaining the dense and turbulent character of the members’ previous work. In April or May of 2000, Hot Snakes added bassist Gar Wood, found their live sound and established themselves as primo, down-stroke warlords.

Automatic Midnight
Tracklisting
1. If Credit’s What Matters I’ll Take Credit
2. Automatic Midnight
3. No Hands
4. Salton City
5. 10th Planet
6. Light Up the Stars
7. Our Work Fills the Pews
8. Past Lives
9. Mystery Boy
10. Apartment 0
11. Let It Come

 
Suicide Invoice, their second album, was originally released in 2002. It was recorded at San Diego’s Drag Racist Studios in 2002 with engineer Ben Moore. The album exhibits Hot Snakes’ slightly larger palate in mood and dissonance. People enjoyed the shows and listening to the recorded music. But, strain from controversy and fame would reveal cracks in the seemingly impenetrable hide of Hot Snakes. A year after the album’s release, drummer Jason Kourkounis left to focus on other music.

Suicide Invoice
Tracklisting
1. I Hate the Kids
2. Gar Forgets His Insulin
3. XOX
4. Who Died
5. Suicide Invoice
6. Paid in Cigarettes
7. LAX
8. Bye Nancy Boy
9. Paperwork
10. Why Does It Hurt
11. Unlisted
12. Ben Gurion

Audit in Progress is their third studio album, originally released in 2004. The band recorded the album with new drummer Mario Rubalcaba at San Diego’s Big Fish Recording with engineer Ben Moore. An increased attraction to dissonance surfaced on Audit in Progress. The album was well-received by critics and fans and was named “best punk album” at the 2005 San Diego Music Awards. More shows were played and enjoyed and the band visited many cities all over the world. By 2005, the band spiraled into a mid-life punk crisis and stopped performing.

Audit in Progress
Tracklisting
1. Braintrust
2. Hi-Lites
3. Retrofit
4. Kreative Kontrol
5. Think About Carbs
6. Audit in Progress
7. Hatchet Job
8. This Mystic Decade
9. Lovebirds
10. Reflex
11. Hair and DNA
12. Plenty for All
 

Lucky for all of us here in the present, Hot Snakes are charging back, renewed, recording new music and playing shows with both drummers, and planning for the release of a new album in 2018 on Sub Pop Records. Read more on Hot Snakes by Swami John Reis here.

Hot Snakes Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Hot Snakes have added new UK headlining dates to their 2017/18 international tour schedule. These UK dates begin January 25th, 2018 in Manchester at Gorilla and end February 3rd, 2018 in Bristol at Thekla. The tour includes stops in London, Leeds, Glasgow, Brighton, Nottingham, Newcastle, and Cambridge. Tickets on sale to general public today at 3pm GMT. 
 
Hot Snakes’ previously announced U.S. shows begin tomorrow night, November 8th, 2017 in Long Beach at Alex’s Bar and run through November 18th, 2017 in Philadelphia at Underground Arts.
 
For up to date ticket information, please visit hotsnakes.shofetti.com.
 
Nov. 08 - Long Beach, CA - Alex’s Bar [Sold Out]
Nov. 09  - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour [Sold Out]
Nov. 10 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel  [Sold Out]
Nov. 11-  Portland, OR - Star Theatre [Sold Out]
Nov. 12 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey  [Sold Out]
Nov. 15  - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
Nov. 16  - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House  [Sold Out]
Nov. 17 - Boston, MA - Middle East - Boston
Nov. 18  - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
Jan. 25 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla
Jan. 26 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast
Jan. 27 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny
Jan. 28 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
Jan. 30 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
Jan. 31 - Cambridge, UK - The Portland
Feb. 01 - Brighton, UK - Sticky Mikes
Feb. 02 - London, UK - The Dome
Feb. 03 - Bristol, UK - Thekla (Early Show)

First headlining U.K. & Irish tour in over seven years

[Photo Credit: Matt Grace]

UPDATED INFORMATION REGARDING ENTRY TO NEWLY ANNOUNCED SHOWS:

Flight of the Conchords and their representatives have addressed the issues with secondary ticketing sites and resellers that followed the October 23, 2017announcement. In an effort to thwart reselling at higher prices, tickets for the newly announced shows are not transferrable and the purchaser must show photo ID matching the lead booker’s name to gain
admission to the show.

- - - - -

Let us start the week off with this exciting news: Grammy Award-winning folk comedy duo Flight of the Conchords (aka Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) will return to the U.K. & Ireland in March of 2018.
 
The “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour,” is their first U.K. & Irish headlining tour in over 7 years. Jemaine and Bret will showcase new material at these shows. The arena and theatre tour will make stops in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, and Liverpool.
 
The UK & Irish edition of “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour” will begin with a two-night stand March 19th & 20th, 2018 in London at Eventim Apollo and ends April 1st, 2018 in Liverpool at Echo Arena Liverpool.  Tickets will be on sale Friday, October 27th at 10am GMT. 

UPDATE: Tickets for newly announced shows will be on sale Friday, November 3rd at 10am GMT.

For up to date information on tickets, please visit  metropolism.uk/5N5azK.
 
Mar. 05 - Portsmouth, UK - Guildhall
Mar. 06 - Portsmouth, UK - Guildhall
Mar. 07 - Portsmouth, UK - Guildhall
Mar. 09 - York, UK - Barbican
Mar. 10 - York, UK -  Barbican
Mar. 11- York, UK - Barbican
Mar. 13 - Milton Keynes, UK-  Milton Keynes Theatre
Mar. 14 - Milton Keynes, UK - Milton Keynes Theatre
Mar. 15 - Milton Keynes, UK - Milton Keynes Theatre
Mar. 18 - London, UK - Eventim Apollo [Sold Out]
Mar. 19 - London, UK - Eventim Apollo [Sold Out]
Mar. 20 - London, UK - Eventim Apollo [Sold Out]
Mar. 22 - Birmingham, UK - Birmingham Genting Arena [Sold Out]
Mar. 23 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Arena [Sold Out]
Mar. 25 - Dublin, IE - 3Arena [Sold Out]
Mar. 26 - Glasgow, UK - The SSE Hydro [Sold Out]
Mar. 27 - Leeds, UK - Leeds First Direct Arena [Sold Out]
Mar. 29 - London, UK -  The O2  [Sold Out]
Mar. 30 - London, UK - The O2 [Sold Out]
Apr. 01 - Liverpool, UK - Echo Arena Liverpool [Sold Out]
Apr. 02 - Dublin, IE - 3Arena
Apr. 03 - London, UK - The O2 

Listen to Flight of the Conchords on Spotify and Apple Music

About Flight of the Conchords:
In 2005, Bret and Jemaine received an invitation to perform at the Aspen Comedy Festival, in Colorado, USA. Against tradition they left New Zealand’s summer to go to the northern hemisphere’s winter and were shocked by the snow when they stepped off the plane in t-shirts and jandles. The HBO executives liked their act and asked them to film a half hour performance for a stand-up comedy show called One Night Stand.
 
Over the next four years they made a TV pilot, a sitcom, released an EP (The Distant Future)  and a full length album (self-titled LP), toured North America, made a sandwich, filmed a second season of the sitcom, toured North America again, released a second album (I Told You I Was Freaky), and went back to New Zealand.
 
The HBO sitcom became a hit. This, along with the praise for the subsequent album releases (on Sub Pop Records) and the duo’s live show, was the comedic hat trick that catapulted Flight of the Conchords to international sensations.
 
The Conchords would also see major success individually. Jemaine lent his voice to the character Nigel the cockatoo in the Rio films (2011 and 2014).

He was cast as “Boris The Animal” in Men in Black 3 (2012). Jemaine also wrote, produced and starred in a variety of projects including the acclaimed Vampire comedy film, What We Do In the Shadows and People Places Things. More recently, he joined the cast of The BFG, the new Steven Spielberg adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, as the giant named Fleshlumpeater.
 
Bret has also been hard at work writing and acting for various television and film projects. Most notably The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), the former of which won him an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” for the power ballad “Man or Muppet”. In 2012 he starred in the New Zealand black comedy Two Little Boys and then in 2013 he was cast in Jerusha Hess’s romantic comedy Austenland. He is currently writing the screenplay and songs for a film adaption of Neil Gaiman’s book Fortunately the Milk as well as penning tunes for the upcoming Disney film Bob the Musical.
 
And somehow, between all of the film and TV work, the Conchords managed to co-headline the “Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival” alongside Dave Chappelle in 2013. 
 
In 2016, Jemaine and Bret announced the wildly successful “The Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour.”  The duo premiered new material alongside fan favorites, and quickly sold out amphitheatres and concert halls across the U.S. Also that year, the duo headlined Tenacious D’s Festival Supreme in Los Angeles (read more at Sub Pop). 
 

The band’s 2017 European tour dates are currently underway.

Now see this: Shabazz Palaces powerful new video for “Since C.A.Y.A.,” the elastic and transportive track from the group’s acclaimed Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star. The new visual stars Shabazz Palaces’ Palaceer Lazaro with footage shot by director Kahlil Joseph, cinematography by Marcus Reposar, and is helmed by returning collaborator Stephan Gray (“Dawn in Luxor”).  
 
DIY calls “Since C.A.Y.A” “… a glitchy and disquieting new video. The Thundercat-featuring track gets a black and white visual to match; all crashing waves, pixelated distortion, foreboding tunnels, and writhing snakes (see video premiere October 30th).”

“Since C.A.Y.A.” features dazzlingly funky bass licks by the magnificent Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner and was produced by Knife Knights (aka Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood), recorded and mixed by Blood at Protect and Exalt Labs: A Black Space in Seattle.

Last week, Shabazz Palaces’ “Tiny Desk Concert” performance premiered on NPR and NPR Music’s Rodney Carmichael says of the performance, “Palaceer Lazaro lays the ground rules for all present to enter the group’s metaphysical headspace. And, man, talk about being transported to the other side. It’s impossible not to envision the Seattle studio, Black Space Labs, where Shabazz’s otherworldly soundscapes emerge to provide the ideal backdrop for shining a light on the fake…Leave it to hip-hop’s unorthodox lot to conceive an ambitious pairing that launches the narrative’s protagonist on an interstellar journey far from home. It’s the perfect proxy for the growing sense of alienation we’re all suffering, to some degree or another, in today’s space and time…While the premise of Tiny Desk usually involves artists stripping down their set, Shabazz Palaces’ entire steelo is about unplugging from the metaphorical matrix, and sometimes a hybrid of digital-analog plugins is exactly what it takes to navigate alternate dimensions [see more at NPR Music].”

Quazarz Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines, the group’s third and fourth albums for 2017, are available now on CD / LP / DL / CS / Illustrated album worldwide through Sub Pop right over here.  

[Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines Illustrated Album]

Shabazz Palaces Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Shabazz Palaces’ 2017 international tour schedule in support of both Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines, is underway with a show tonight, October 30th in Paris at Batofar. The European leg will end November 11th at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands. Shabazz Palaces have also scheduled three North American shows: December 1st in Vancouver, BC at The Cobalt; December 2nd in Victoria, BC at The Upstairs Cabaret; and December 17th in Houston, TX at Day for Night Festival.
 
Oct. 30 - Paris, FR - Batofar
Oct. 31 - Lisbon, PT - Lux Fragil
Nov. 01 - Madrid, ES - Taboo
Nov. 02 - Braga, PT - Gnration
Nov. 03 - Dublin, UK - Sugar Club
Nov. 04 - Rotterdam, NL - REC Festival
Nov. 06 -  London, UK - Oval Space
Nov. 07 - Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute
Nov. 08 - Glasgow, UK - Art School
Nov. 09 - Leeds, UK - Belgrave Music Hall
Nov. 10 - Brussels, BE - AB
Nov. 11 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who? Festival
Dec. 01 - Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt
Dec. 02 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs Cabaret
Dec. 17 - Houston, TX - Day For Night Festival
 

The U-Men anthology will be available worldwide November 3, 2017 from Sub Pop.

Today Dangerous Minds premiered “Trouble Under Water,” a previously unreleased track (!!!) from the U-Men’s forthcoming self-titled anthology, out next Friday, November 3rd on Sub Pop.
 
“Bands like The U-Men don’t come along often. A Seattle band at a time when the phrase “Seattle band” carried zero cultural cachet, The U-Men kitchen-sinked Gun Club rootsiness, classic garage rock ‘verb-and-twang, punk sneer, gothic darkness, and Ubu/Beefheart artiness into a single coherent sound that galvanized a hinterlands underground scene and directly influenced the grunge explosion,” says Dangerous Minds (see interview + track premiere October 26th).

U-Men is a comprehensive and remastered collection, which compiles the entire studio-recorded output of The U-Men, plus five unreleased songs, with a 16-page book of photos, liner notes, and interviews with the band. The U-Men anthology was executive produced by Jack Endino, and is now available for preorder from Sub Pop right here and is available in the following formats:

• 3xLP box set housed in a cardboard slipcase with printed inner sleeves + 16-page booklet
• 2xCD digipack with custom dust sleeves + 16-page booklet
• Digitally

 
[Photo Credit: Cam Garrett]

“Trouble Under Water” follows previously U-Men shared tracks “Dig It A Hole,” “Gila,” and “The Fumes.”
 
“Dig It A Hole” [hear here] was available as a self-released single and via the group’s sole studio album, Step on a Bug. “Gila” [hear here] was initially on the group’s first EP, released by Bruce Pavitt on Bombshelter Records. The track would reappear years later on the Sub Pop 100 compilation, and a split single with the Melvins for Amphetamine Reptile’s Sugar Daddy Live! series. Meanwhile, “The Fumes” [hear here] was found on the tracklisting for Stop Spinning, the group’s second EP originally released by Homestead Records.

Those in the Seattle area can celebrate the release of U-Men with a special event on November 1st, 2017 at Georgetown Stables. The members of the U-Men will be interviewed live on stage followed by a brief audience Q & A. U-Men will also be available (2 days ahead of official release). The event begins at 7pm event and is all ages.
 

More on the U-Men from Mudhoney’s Mark Arm: 
The U-Men are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen. They were hypnotic, frenetic, powerful and compelling. It was impossible to resist getting sucked into their weird, darkly absurd world. They effortlessly blended The Sonics, Link Wray, Pere Ubu, and Captain Beefheart. Their shows were loose-limbed, drunken dance parties and no two shows were alike. The U-Men were avant garage explorers and, most importantly, they fucking rocked. I was lucky enough to live in their hometown and I saw them every chance I could.  
 
From 1983 to 1987, the U-Men were the undisputed kings of the Seattle Underground. No one else came close. They ruled a bleak backwater landscape populated by maybe 200 people. They were the only band that could unify the disparate sub-subcultures and get all 200 of those people to fill a room. Anglophilic, dress-dark Goths; neo-psych MDA acolytes; skate punks who shit in bathtubs at parties; Mod vigilantes who tormented the homeless with pellet guns; college kids who thought college kids were lame; Industrial Artistes; some random guy with a moustache; and eccentrics who insisted that they couldn’t be pigeonholed: all coalesced around the U-Men (read more at Sub Pop).