You can now listen to Kyle Craft’s “Eye of a Hurricane,” a standout from Dolls of Highland, his forthcoming Sub Pop debut. American Songwriter says of the track: ““Eye of a Hurricane” starts Dolls… with a sudden jolt of energy, courtesy of the song’s ragtime piano lick. The keys continue to drive the track, as the distorted guitar works to add a sense of eeriness to the song. All the while, Craft displays the full prowess of his vocal range, hitting high notes that hark back to glam rock vocals of the ’70s (see premiere March 29th).”
Rolling Stone also included Kyle Craft in its “10 New Artists You Need To Know” feature, and had this say of his music: “A swamp bar jukebox loaded with British glitter and Seventies Southern rock; a crawfish boil aboard ELO’s spacecraft (see RollingStone.com March 24th).”
Kyle Craft’s just-announced U.S. tour schedule in support of Dolls of Highland spans April 1st in Seattle at the Barboza (for Sub Pop Records 28th Anniversary Party) through May 30th in Salt Lake City, UT at Kilby Court. Highlights for the tour include: album release shows at Seattle’s The Sunset (April 28th) and Portland’s Doug Fir (April 29th); A week-long run supporting Fruit Bats (May 19th-25th); And a show in Denver at Lost Lake Lounge with label mates Arbor Labor Union (May 29th). You’ll find a complete list of dates below.
Dolls of Highland comes out on CD / LP / DL / CASS worldwide April 29th through Sub Pop, and is now available for preorder from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Bandcamp. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the Loser edition on pink vinyl with black swirl (while supplies last).
Dolls of Highland was written, recorded and produced by Craft, mixed by Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel of The Helio Sequence at the Old Jantzen Building in Portland, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.
What “The People” have said about Kyle Craft: “Craft admits his voice sounds a good deal like Bob Dylan’s, and that his muse has come to him many, many times. Still, “Lady of the Ark” hints that Craft’s music is so full of its own weird singularity that he’s on to something far beyond idol worship.” - Billboard
““Pentecost” sees Kyle Craft…return to his hometown in Louisiana, haunted by the ghost of a friend who took his own life. Paired with his knack for great melodies, it demonstrates Craft’s emotional power as a songwriter.” [“Pentecost” / “All Songs Considered”] -NPR Music
“With inviting, yet imperfect vocals and a jangly guitar melody, “Lady of the Ark” is a sweeping goodbye to a long-term relationship. It’s somehow warm, melodic, and rough at the same time.” [The Weeks Best Tracks”] - FLOOD
“Like many artists from the South, Craft has a conflicted relationship with the region’s cultural duality, a topic he tackles on “Lady Of The Ark.” Shrouded in guitars and organ, he caustically wails, “Swing low, low sweet heathen / Swing for the wretch and the rock and roll kid,” a line he says he wrote in response to the “shame, shame thing that ‘church folk’ tend to do so often,” and which doesn’t sit well with Craft. “Roam this earth repeat it / All this sin until this wicked world makes sense in time,” he defiantly growls near the song’s end. Craft’s roaming days may be done for now, but “Lady Of The Ark” shows his music as wild-eyed and restless” - [“Lady of the Ark” / “Songs We Love”] - NPR Music
Tour Dates Apr. 01 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile Apr. 28 - Seattle, WA - The Sunset Apr. 29 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir May 19 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent* May 20 - Los Angeles, CA - Roxy* May 21 - San Diego, CA - Casbah* May 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar* May 24 - Austin, TX - Parish* May 25 - Dallas, TX - Three Links* May 26 - Shreveport, LA - Bears on Fairfield May 29 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake Lounge** May 30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court *w/ Fruit Bats ** w/ Arbor Labor Union
Due to popular demand Flight of the Conchords (aka Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) has extended the “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour.” Their forthcoming summer trek now includes second dates in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Portland, and Austin. Those dates are:
June 25th - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium June 28th - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheater July 10th - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall July 20th - New York, NY - Forest Hills Stadium July 26th - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, April 1st at 10am (local time).
The “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour,” is their first since co-headlining 2013’s “Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Tour.” The Grammy Award-winning folk comedy duo has new material in the works, which they’ll showcase exclusively at these shows. The amphitheatre and concert hall tour will also make stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, and more.
The “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour” begins June 11th in Cleveland, OH at State Theatre and ends July 27th in Los Angeles, CA at The Greek Theatre. (complete tour dates below.)
For this tour, the Conchords have also partnered with the charity organization Global Citizen. Amy Freeland, Senior Manager of Global Citizen Tickets, had this to say about the union, “We are so excited that Flight of the Conchords has joined the Global Citizen Tickets program for 2016! Offering two tickets to each show on the upcoming “Flight of the Conchords sing Flight of the Conchords Tour” will engage and motivate Global Citizens across the U.S. to take action to end extreme poverty by 2030.”
Tour Dates Jun. 11 - Cleveland, OH - State Theatre Jun. 12 - Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for Performing Arts Jun. 13 - Washington, DC - Wolf Trap Filene Center [SOLD OUT] Jun. 14 - Columbus, OH - Palace Theatre [SOLD OUT] Jun. 16 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre [SOLD OUT] Jun. 17 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum [SOLD OUT] Jun. 18 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre [SOLD OUT] Jun. 19 - Chicago, IL - Pritzker Pavilion [SOLD OUT] Jun. 22 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Park Concerts [SOLD OUT] Jun. 23 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum [SOLD OUT] Jun. 24 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium [SOLD OUT] Jun. 25 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium [JUST ADDED] Jun. 27 - San Francisco, CA - The Masonic [SOLD OUT] Jun. 28 - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheater [JUST ADDED] Jul. 01 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl Jul. 02 - San Diego, CA - Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU Jul. 03 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre Jul. 05 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre Jul. 07 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre Jul. 09 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall [SOLD OUT] Jul. 10 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall [JUST ADDED] Jul. 11 - New Orleans, LA - Saenger Theatre Jul. 12 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre Jul. 14 - Nashville, TN - Ascend Amphitheater Jul. 16 - Boca Raton, FL - Mizner Park Amphitheatre Jul. 17 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheatre Jul. 18 - Cary, NC - Koka Booth Amphitheatre Jul. 20 - New York, NY - Forest Hills Stadium [JUST ADDED] Jul. 22 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk 2016 (Fort Adams State Park) [SOLD OUT] Jul. 23 - Boston, MA - Blue Hills Bank Pavilion [SOLD OUT] Jul. 24 - New York, NY - Central Park SummerStage [SOLD OUT] Jul. 26 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre [JUST ADDED] Jul. 27 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre [SOLD OUT]
You can now listen to Mike and The MelvinsThree Men and a Baby, the long-awaited collaboration album featuring Mike Kunka (godheadSilo, Enemymine) and the Melvins, in it’s entirety at RollingStone.com.
Three Men and a Baby will be available on CD/LP/DL/CASS on April 1, 2016 worldwide through Sub Pop. The 12-song album features the highlights “Chicken ‘n’ Dump” and “Limited Teeth.” Most of Three Men and a Baby was recorded in 1999 at Louder Studios by Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), and it was finished in 2015 at Sound of Sirens by Toshi Kasai.
About Mike and the Melvins: Three Men and a Baby is the new album by Mike and the Melvins. It was supposed to come out sixteen years ago.
These are the facts we can be sure of: in 1998, around the time his band godheadSilo went on hiatus, bassist/vocalist Mike Kunka busied himself by tagging along on a tour with his friends the Melvins. Somewhere along the way, Mike and the Melvins – King Buzzo (guitar/bass/vocals), Dale Crover (drums/vocals), and Kevin Rutmanis (bass/vocals), at the time – decided to make a record together, and gave the project the imaginative moniker Mike and the Melvins. Sub Pop, ever on the hunt for music’s Next Big Thing, enthusiastically agreed to fund and release the super-group’s debut, and recording commenced sometime in 1999.
It’s at this point that things get hazy. Apparently, one or more of the following happened:
Some “junior-high level bullshit.”
A house was built, a barn was raised, children were born.
Typical record-label skullduggery.
A scorching case of whooping cough.
Surgery. Lots of surgery.
Shocking and poorly-timed gear theft.
Some other stuff, probably, or maybe not.
Whatever the reasons, the incomplete recording languished on a shelf from 1999 until 2015, when, much to everyone’s surprise, the involved parties reconvened, finished the damn thing, and delivered it post-haste to Sub Pop International Headquarters, where it was promptly scheduled for the coveted April 1st, 2016 release date. What a story, right?
So, about the record: It’s real good! Mike’s signature bass crunch and vocals are all over it, and the Melvins are in fine form. It has everything from hefty noise-rock churn to a Public Image Ltd. song to cough-syrup blues to deconstructed black metal. Neither Melvins nor godheadSilo fans will be disappointed, nor will detractors of either; to paraphrase Mike, if you don’t like it, it probably wasn’t meant for you (read more at Sub Pop)
Pittsburgh’s The Gotobeds will release their new album, BLOOD // SUGAR // SECS // TRAFFIC, on CD/LP/DL/CASS worldwide June 10th on Sub Pop. The 11-track album, featuring the brazen lead single “Real Maths/Too Much,” was produced the band and Matt Schor in their friend My War Matt’s basement, and mastered by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering.
The Gotobeds BLOOD // SUGAR // SECS // TRAFFIC is conveniently available for preorder now at Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Bandcamp and independent retailers near you. Worth noting: LP preorders at the Mega Mart will receive the limited “Loser” edition on baby poop yellow, while supplies last.
The Gotobeds have scheduled a show preceding the release of BLOOD // SUGAR // SECS // TRAFFIC on April 30th in Columbus, OH at Big Room Bar. More live dates will be announced soon, stay tuned.
Arbor Labor Union has announced a U.S. tour in support of their upcoming album, I Hear You, and has made a new track off the album, “Belief’d” available today via Brooklyn Vegan.
I Hear You is set for worldwide release May 13th on CD/LP/DL/CASS through Sub Pop and is available for preorder now Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Bandcamp and independent retailers near you. LP preorders via megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser” edition on pink vinyl.
