The cup of Clipping runneth over in these past few days, and just last night the Los Angeles rap group - featuring Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes - announced their triumphant return to your ears with the new Wriggle EP, which is available digitally right here, right now.
Wriggle highlights include the title track, “Back Up” (feat. Antwon and Signor Benedick the Moor), “Shooter,” “Hot Fuck No Love” (feat. Cakes Da Killa and Maxi Wild), and “Our Time” (feat. Nailah Middleton). The EP was produced by Clipping, and is the group’s first release of new material since 2014’s CLPPNG, their acclaimed (and not at all coincidentally on-sale) second album and Sub Pop debut.
F your I - Wriggle precedes a new Clipping full-length, coming this fall on Sub Pop/Deathbomb Arc.
[Pictured: Daveed Diggs with an actual fake Tony Award]
And just two nights ago, Clipping’s Daveed Diggs won an actual not-fake Tony Award for “Best Featured Actor in a Musical” for Hamilton. While promoting the musical (in which he plays the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson) he stopped by the Tonight Show for an interview. During the segment, the Roots play “Work Work” as his walk-on music, and he’s asked to prove that he is the fastest rapper on Broadway. Which he does. Watch his acapella performance (and Jimmy Fallon’s subsequent geek out) of “Taking Off” from their album CLPPNG via this link right here.
Direct from our favorite Pittsburglars (!), The Gotobeds, comes the brand new video for “Cold Gold,” one of the many stand-out tracks from their album Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic, which just so happens to be available worldwide tomorrow, dba Friday, June 10th. Please note: Limited supplies of the Loser Edition vinyl LP of Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic (on “baby poop” yellow) remain available. FOR THE MOMENT… You should, of course, order yours now!
In a joint statement, the band members (and stars of the video) Eli Kasan, Gavin Jensen, Cary Belback, and “TFP” (who also directed the video) offered the following insight: “‘Cold Gold’ features four grown men performing a highly choreographed dance routine set to beautiful music.” [Sub Pop can confirm that the band has at least one out of three of those locked in.]
Also, these guys are going to be touring this summer and we know they would love to see some of their video dance moves performed by audience members. So! We encourage everyone to get limbered up, head out to see The Gotobeds and show them what you’ve got.
In the meantime, happy Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic (almost) release day to you, The Gotobeds!
On this fine Wednesday we are beyond pleased, blissed out even if you catch us at the right moment, to share news about Phase Zero, the Sub Pop debut full length from Morgan Delt.
Phase Zero is the follow-up to Morgan’s acclaimed self-titled release that caught our eyes and ears back in 2014. It was performed entirely by Delt and recorded in his Topanga Canyon studio, with mastering by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering.
Phase Zero will beavailable worldwide on CD / LP / DL / CASS on August 26th and is available right now for preorder from the Sub Pop Mega Mart and other fine online retailers. As per usual these days for our Sub Pop releases, all LP pre-orders placed through Sub Pop Mega Mart (and most independent retailers near you) will receive a limited Loser Edition vinyl, with Phase Zero’s Loser Edition being on red vinyl. Please remember that all Loser Editions are available only while supplies last so this isn’t something that will be around for long. Order soon, is what we are saying.
Also, Morgan will be going on tour. We’ve included all the dates that have been confirmed so far below and it’s probably a good idea to stay tuned for more. Morgan’s Facebook or Sub Pop Artist Page will have you covered in that regard.
Goat’s “I Sing In Silence” b/w “The Snake of Addis Ababa” 7” single is now available in North America right here on Sub Pop, purchasable at our very fine Mega Mart store. The single is also available in Scandinavia via Stranded/Universal Sweden and rest of the world via Rocket Recordings.
Last year Goat released the single “It’s Time for Fun” which saw the band experimenting with drum machines, which brought a different pulse to their tribal psych. This desire to explore new sounds continues with their new single “I Sing in Silence.” But instead of plugging in new instruments the band have unplugged and created an addictive groove with mostly un-amped, acoustic instruments.
Elastic guitar lines, woodblock percussion, and flutes which drive the song are enveloped by one of the strongest vocal deliveries by the bands enigmatic singers, resulting in a powerful and catchy psych-pop number.
The B side, an instrumental called “The Snake of Addis Ababa,” is a looping, North-African mantra played on a teasing, fuzzed guitar, underpinned by a djembi groove. The repetitive riff is disrupted by piano that freely solos over the groove, and a pounding drum lifts the song to a seriously head-nodding conclusion.
This single is further proof that, in a world of similar sounding and similar looking psych bands, Goat are standing completely out on their own and we are all the better for it.
This summer the band will be busy writing, recording, and blowing people’s minds across Europe’s greatest stages.
Tour Dates
Jun. 01 - Barcelona, ES - Primavera Sound
Jun. 11 - Eindhoven, NL - Eindhoven Psych Lab
Jun. 12 - London, UK - Field Day
Jun. 17 - Duisburg, DE - Traumzeit Festival
Jun. 19 - Gaou/Hyeres, FR - Ile du Pointu Festival
Jul. 09 - Liege, BE - Les Ardentes Festival
Jul. 10 - Gent, BE - Cactus Festival
Jul. 22-24 - Barcelos, PT - Milhões de Festa
Aug. 28 - Turin, IT - Torino Today Festival
Sep. 03 - Dorset, UK - End of the Road Festival
Oct. 07 - Malmö, SE - Babel
Oct. 08 - Köpenhamn, DK - Den grå hal
Oct. 10 - Köln, DE - Stadtgarten
Oct. 11 - München, DE - Ampere
Oct. 12 - Berlin, DE - Berghain
Oct. 13 - Heidelberg, DE - Karlstorbahnhof Enjoy Jazz
Today marks the record release of Kristin Kontrol’s debut album, X-Communicate, which you can now stream in its entirety and purchase (definitely purchase!) right here at the Sub Pop Mega Mart.
Perhaps it bears repeating (or, communicating again?) that Kristin Kontrol is the new project from Kristin Welchez – fka Dee Dee, leader of internationally acclaimed rock outfit Dum Dum Girls, whose most excellent recordings can also be found on this very label. Throughout the best part of a decade, Dum Dum Girls morphed from the girl group-gone-bad moves of debut album I Will Be (2010), to the comparatively plush, noir-pop of 2014’s Too True. Now she’s shed her skin, ditching Dee Dee – the name she assumed for Dum Dum Girls – for her given name, Kristin, and giving us Kristin Kontrol’s X-Communicate.
Stereogum has noted about the album, “Kristin Kontrol is radically different from anything we would’ve expected from Welchez as Dee Dee. It draws on various strains of pop from various eras, collapsing them together into slick, infectious synth-pop…X-Communicate and the evolution into Kristin Kontrol show Welchez becoming an absolute machine when it comes to hooks.”
Kristin Kontrol will be kicking off an East Coast tour on June 15 at BSP in Kingston, NY and follow that short headline run with dates opening for Garbage in July. See below for itinerary.