Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in January of 2013, our Co-Founder and fearless leader Jonathan Poneman has done everything he can to show others that there is life beyond Parkinson’s. Here he shares a few words on what supporting Parkinson’s research means to him:
It’s summer and that means Sub Pop is Biking for Bucks to benefit the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation (NWPF), an organization that is crucial to providing support, knowledge and better health to those in the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere) who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and to their caregivers.
I have lived with my PD diagnosis for years now. I take drugs, deal with symptoms and side effects, minding my attitude by keeping it positive. But sometimes good vibes just don’t cut it. I rely on family, friends and a network of heroes to win the day.
It’s a challenge to feign normalcy when your body is out of control. But stall outs, tremors, and bouts of anxiety are no longer a given for people with Parkinson’s. My life with PD is defined by great gains in understanding of what wellness is and the possibilities for having it in one’s life.
I remember how lonely I felt after finding out that I was sick. Nothing prepared me for the shock of vulnerability, or for stolen hours spent dwelling on morbid nonsense, feeling like a piñata at my own pity party.
Getting to know the people at the NWPF gave me a much-needed attitude adjustment as did meeting many more of my fellow travelers through the organization’s extraordinary outreach.
Every breakthrough in slowing the disease’s progression happens with a sustained effort. This is why Sub Pop’s annual biking trek inspires me so: it takes the fight to PD in a way that best exemplifies the promise of good health for everybody.
Life is ultimately defined by how well that it’s lived. The NWPF steers people like me toward regaining the upper (though still occasionally tremor-y) hand.
This year, Team Sub Pop is giving FIVE lucky donors an exclusive collection of limited edition Sub Pop vinyl (along with a Sub Pop tote bag) filled with rare and exciting items so you can rep your favorite Sub Pop gear wherever you go!
A donation of $100 or more via the Team Sub Pop page makes you eligible to win this one-of-a-kind collection. Drawings will occur every Monday at noon until August 14th, and winners will be notified via email.
In addition to some of our latest releases, a few classic titles are in the mix. A limited edition of The Shins’ second studio album Chutes Too Narrow pressed on gold vinyl (long-sold-out, and previously available only through Newbury Comics) will be included, along with a 20th anniversary double-LP edition of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and Father John Misty’s critically acclaimed Pure Comedy.
But Wait… There’s More! (ways to donate)
Here’s another way to help support our efforts: Shop the NWPF Fundraiser page in Sub Pop Mega Mart, where all proceeds from sales of these featured items will be donated to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation.
AND… if you’re traveling through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this week, you’ll also find these items on display + for sale in our store!
The Impact
Your Donation will go directly to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation. NWPF is the only independent regional Parkinson’s organization serving Washington State, and aims to establish optimal quality of life for the Northwest Parkinson’s community through awareness, education, advocacy and care.
Located in Seattle, NWPF proudly invests every dollar in local programs to support the Northwest Parkinson’s community. The organization plays a vital role in helping people with Parkinson’s live meaningfully with the disease. In addition, NWPF provides information that gives patients and their families the tools they need to find quality medical care, better manage their disease and take charge of their daily lives.
Sub Pop has a long history of supporting non-profit organizations around the globe but prefers to focus on local organizations in the Pacific Northwest. We have been involved in fundraisers for uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s Hospital, donated food and funds to Northwest Harvest, given time, support, and funds to the all-ages music venue The Vera Project, supported the campaign for marriage equality in Washington state, among many more. We believe in supporting the community that has always supported us. The Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation is an organization we feel proud to be riding for.
Other Ways You Can Help
You can also (please) go to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation main website (www.nwpf.org) and give directly to the foundation through a gift at a different time if you are not able to help now.
Or simply get the word out about our campaign! Share our story and spread some awareness for Parkinson’s Disease. While science looks for a cure, the NWPF is looking out for the Parkinson’s community. We are grateful for anything you can do to help.
2017 tour dates include Capitol Hill Block Party (July 21st) and direct support for Arcade Fire this September
We have news! News of new music, that is.
Wolf Parade have announced that Cry Cry Cry, the band’s first new album in seven years (and fourth full-length overall), will be released worldwide (pre-order here) on Friday, October 6th, 2017. The album will also be available in Canada from Universal Music.
The soaring choruses, rousing anthems, sprawling guitars and chaotic keys that make up Wolf Parade are proudly on display over the course of Cry Cry Cry. These elements are captured on the album’s anthemic lead single “Valley Boy” and additional standouts “You’re Dreaming,” “Artificial Life” and “King of Piss and Paper.” Cry Cry Cry was produced by John Goodmanson at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in New York.
[Photo Credit: Shane McCauley]
Wolf Parade announced its return to the live stage in early 2016, after a five-year hiatus, scheduling multi-night residencies that May in New York, London, and Toronto to support of Apologies to the Queen Mary, the reissue of its classic, Sub Pop debut. Tickets sold out within a matter of hours. As the May shows neared, Wolf Parade surprised fans again, with a self-titled-and-released EP’s-worth of new material. The excitement surrounding the band’s return led to marquee festival appearances and late night TV performances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan and Last Call with Carson Daly.
Tour Dates + Ticket Links
Wolf Parade’s previously announced tour schedule for 2017 resumes later this week, with a performance at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party on Friday, July 21st. In August, the band will also appear at Ponderosa Music & Arts Festival in Rock Creek, BC on August 18th-20th. Then from September 5th through September 28th, Wolf Parade will act as direct support for The Arcade Fire (select dates). There will be additional live dates announced soon.
Jul. 21 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party Aug. 18-20 - Rock Creek, BC - Ponderosa Music & Arts Festival Sep. 05 - Quebec City, QC - Videotron Center* Sep. 06 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre* Sep. 09 - Ottawa, ON - Canadian Tire Center* Sep. 21 - Duluth, GA - Infinite Energy Arena* Sep. 22 - Tampa, FL - USF Sun Dome* Sep. 23 - Coral Gables, FL - Watsco Center* Sep. 24 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine, FL Amphitheatre* Sep. 26 - New Orleans, LA - UNO Lakefront Arena* Sep. 27 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center* Sep. 28 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center* *w/ Arcade Fire
Cry Cry Cry is now available for pre-order on CD / 2xLP / DL / CS, worldwide from Sub Pop right over here and in Canada from Universal Records here. LP pre-orders through megamart.subpop.comand select independent retailers in the U.S. will receive the limited loser edition on creme colored vinyl (while supplies last). A new t-shirt design will also be available.
Cry Cry Cry Tracklisting
1. Lazarus Online 2. You’re Dreaming 3. Valley Boy 4. Incantation 5. Files on the Sun 6. Baby Blue 7. Weaponized 8. Who Are Ya 9. Am I an Alien Here 10. Artificial Life 11. King of Piss and Paper
About Wolf Parade’s Cry Cry Cry: The soaring choruses, rousing anthems, sprawling guitars and chaotic keys that make up Wolf Parade are on proud display over the course of Cry Cry Cry, the band’s thunderous first album in seven years.
Wolf Parade’s unique combination of sounds and influences, spearheaded by electric co-frontmen Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner—is a complex yet relatable, energetic brew of glam, prog, synth-rock, and satisfying discomfort—helped define 2000s indie rock with three critically celebrated albums, and propelled a growing Wolf Parade fandom even after the band went on a then-indefinite hiatus in 2010.
Cry Cry Cry is their first album to be produced by Pacific Northwest legend John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Unwound) at Robert Lang Studios outside of Seattle, and is accompanied by a renewed focus and the creativity of a band that took their time getting exactly where they needed to be. It’s also a homecoming to Sub Pop, which released all three of the band’s previous albums.
“The band itself is almost a fifth member of the band, something more or at least different than the sum of its parts,” says Spencer Krug. “We don’t know who or what is responsible for our sound, it’s just something that naturally and consistently comes from this particular combo of musicians.”
“Once we got back together, I was playing guitar, writing and singing in a way that I only do while I’m in Wolf Parade,” says Dan Boeckner, who shares primary lyrical and singing duties with Spencer. “It’s just something that I can’t access without the other three people in the room.”
In the time apart, the band scattered geographically and focused on family and other work–Spencer on his solo project Moonface, Dan on his bands Handsome Furs, Operators, and Divine Fits (with Spoon’s Britt Daniel), and Dante De Caro on records with Carey Mercer’s Frog Eyes and Blackout Beach. And that time allowed for an even stronger, tighter band to emerge.
Eventually, Spencer, Dante, and Arlen found themselves all back living on remote Vancouver Island, accompanied by a population density less than that of Alaska, and the tranquility that leads to creative emanations like a government-sponsored bathtub race. With Dan on the same coast in Northern California, discussions began about picking things up where they left off.
“All of our albums are always a reaction to our last one,” says Arlen. “Expo 86 (2010) was about as sparse as we get, which is usually still pretty dense, and this time we wanted to make the palette a little larger.” Adds Dante, “Expo was a real rock record. We just sort of banged it out, which was kind of the point.” Cry Cry Cry, on the other hand, is more deliberate in its arrangements and embrace of the studio process. “If a part was going on for too long it would get lopped, you know?” says Dan. “That being said, there are two very long songs on the record and I don’t think it would be a Wolf Parade record if it didn’t have some kind of prog epic.”
“I think we’re actually a better band than we were when we stopped playing music together,” says Arlen. “A little bit more life experience for everybody, and people having made a bunch of records on their own.”
The result of this new consciousness is songs like “Valley Boy,” a Bowie-inflected anthem for which Spencer wrote lyrics after Leonard Cohen died the day before the 2016 election (“The radio’s been playing all your songs, talking about the way you slipped away up the stairs, did you know that it was all gonna go wrong?”). “You’re Dreaming,” also influenced by the election and the spinning shock that followed, is driving, urgent power pop that draws from artists like Tom Petty and what Dan calls one of his “default languages” for writing music. The swirly, synth-heavy crescendo of “Artificial Life” takes on the struggle of artists and at-risk communities (“If the flood should ever come, we’ll be last in the lifeboat”).
The album carries a sense of uprising that is not unrelated to Wolf Parade’s renewed determination to drive the band forward in uncertain times. Welcome to Cry Cry Cry.
Talk Tight is Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s first release, which originally came out on CD in March of 2016 on Ivy League Records in the band’s home country of Australia. This is the first time Talk Tight will been available in the US, and the first time it is available on vinyl anywhere.
One might consider Talk Tight a mini-album, or extended EP, if you will. Whatever you call it, this thing garnered the band critical acclaim in their home country and in the US, where Pitchfork gave the record an 8.0 (!) and described it like so:
“Seven rip-roaring tracks that move by their own logic, any one of which could be a single and all of which leave you wanting more in the best way possible… Listening to these seven tunes, you can easily trace a national lineage: the relentlessness of Radio Birdman, the pop literacy of the Go-Betweens, the rambunctious energy of the Easybeats, and the belief—shared with Courtney Barnett—that guitars are not just crucial to the message but might very well be the message themselves.”
The band released their Sub Pop debut, The French Press EP, in March of 2017, and they are currently working on their first full-length album.
AUS and European tour dates + ticket links can be found right over here.
You can (and should) follow Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever everywhere in the known universe… via Facebook | Instagram | Twitter and also here on subpop.com.
Light Information will be available in Canada from Flemish Eye and the rest of the world from Sub Pop on September 8th.
In Chad VanGaalen’s new animated video for “Pine and Clover”, a shapeshifter is born with the inability to form memories. It transforms into whatever creature or object it senses to be closest to it in the moment, but cannot remember what it was previously. It seems to have no sense of self, whatsoever. Or as VanGaalen humorously theorizes it: “This is what humans will end up being, or possibly have been.”
Created by VanGaalen, the “Pine and Clover” video is a combination of hand drawn drawn animation (cell animation), claymation, and paperless 2D animation. As the singer describes it: “The style and economy of the animation is governed by my ability to sit in a chair and draw for as long as I possibly can without being distracted by my beautiful vegetable garden. Because of the garden and its beauty, I have been inspired to make most of the environments similar to what I see in the garden, so needless to say there is a lot of lettuce.”
Chad VanGaalen’s “Pine and Clover” is one of the highlights from Light Information, the creative polymath’s sixth album.
Read more about Chad Van Gaalen (bio by Evie Nagy) at subpop.com, and follow Chad everywhere in the known inter-verse via Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.
[Photo Credit: Marc Rimmer]
In other fantastical (but also very factual) news: on September 8th, Sub Pop will repress VanGaalen’s Infiniheart, his beloved and long out of print (on vinyl) 2005 debut on 2xLP and Turquoise vinyl. And now at long last, Chad VanGaalen’s discography (Shrink Dust, Infiniheart, Skelliconnection, Soft Airplane, and Diaper Island) is available for the first time time ever on Bandcamp.
Light Information is available for preorder now on CD / LP / DL / CS from Sub Pop and Flemish Eye. LP pre orders of the album from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on crystal clear vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available for your bundling pleasure.
Chad VanGaalen’s previously announced fall 2017 international tour dates in support of Light Information span October 15th in Utrecht, Netherlands at EKKO through December 8th in Montreal, Quebec at The Fairmount.
Europe Oct. 15 - Utrecht, NL - EKKO Oct. 16 - Rotterdam, NL - Rotown Oct. 17 - London, UK - Oslo Oct. 18 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club Oct. 20 - Hamburg, DE - Molotow (Sky Bar) Oct. 21 - Copenhagen, DK - Stengade Oct. 22 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain Oct. 24 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn Oct. 25 - Lyon, FR - Le Sonic Oct. 26 - Amiens, FR - La Lune des Pirates Oct. 27 - Paris, FR - Point Ephemere Oct. 28 - Nantes, FR - SOY Festival Oct. 29 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix Oct. 30 - Luxemburg, LU - Rotondes Oct. 31 - Gent, BE - NEST
North America Nov. 09 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret Nov. 10 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern * Nov. 12 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir * Nov. 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel * Nov. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - Satellite Club * Nov. 16 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar * Nov. 17 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar * Nov. 19 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive * Nov. 20 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Nov. 30 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace Dec. 01 - Detroit, MI - El Club ** Dec. 02 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle ** Dec. 03 - Indianapolis, IN - The Hi Fi ** Dec. 05 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe ** Dec. 06 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade NYC ** Dec. 07 - Allston, MA - Great Scott ** Dec. 08 - Montreal QC - Fairmont** *w/ NE-HI **w/ Un Blonde
“Accompanied by production from Greg Norman and Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, Downtown Boys sound sharper than ever, their urgency tightened into a raging storm.” – Pitchfork, Best New Track
“[A Wall] feels powerful enough to break down any physical boundary.” – FADER
“Downtown Boys’ mission: to reject boundaries that separate our humanity.” – NPR
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Downtown Boys will release their third album, Cost of Living, August 11th on Sub Pop. The Providence, RI band savagely stand their ground with this new album cut (and follow-up to the politically charged single “A Wall”) “Lips That Bite,” now available from the Adult Swim Singles Program via Stereogum.
Downtown Boys’ new album, Cost of Living, will be released on CD / LP / CASS / DL, and is available for pre-order here now. LP pre-orders in North America through the Sub Pop Mega Mart and select independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on marbled gold vinyl while supplies last. Plus, a new T-shirt design will also be available for some sweet bundling action.
[Photo Credit: Miguel Rosario]
Downtown Boys use their ferocious energy and powerhouse live shows to unite crowds in the struggle to smash racism, queerphobia, capitalism, fascism, boredom, and all things people use to try to close our minds, eyes and hearts. In addition to festival appearances at Riot Fest, London Calling, Made In America, and a House of Vans summer show w/ Royal Headache and Sheer Mag next week, Downtown Boys have added a slew of dates to their upcoming tour. Full list of dates HERE or see below.
Cost of Living is Downtown Boys’ first record for Sub Pop, and the band is using this new platform as a megaphone for their protest music, amplifying and centering Chicana, queer, and Latino voices in the far-too-whitewashed world of rock. The album is at once incendiary, cathartic, and fun, melding the band’s revolutionary ideals with boundless energy. Produced by Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, one of indie-rock’s most mythological figures (he also produced Blonde Redhead, The Gossip, and others), Cost of Living shows a sense of maturity without compromising the band’s righteous assault and captivating presence.
The position of Downtown Boys has been clear since they started storming through basements and DIY spaces with their radically-minded, indefatigable rock music: they are here to topple the white-cis-het hegemony and draft a new history. This is how Downtown Boys began, and their resolve has only strengthened as both their sound and audience have grown. Like the socially conscious groups of years past, from Public Enemy to Rage Against the Machine, Downtown Boys harness powerful sloganeering, repetitive grooves, and earworm hooks to create one of the most necessary musical statements of today.
