We are filled with pride and happy to report that So Pitted’s neo is now available worldwide from Sub Pop. The album, featuring the highlights “rot in hell”, “holding the void”, and “feed me”, was co-produced & mixed by So Pitted & Dylan Wall and recorded at The Old Fire House, Media Lab, Spruce Haus, the band’s practice space and Tastefully Loud in Seattle. neo was also engineered by Wall at Tastefully Loud and mastered by Eric Boulanger at The Bakery in Los Angeles.
So Pitted’s neo has garnered praise from the likes of Pitchfork, FLOOD, Consequence of Sound, The Stranger, Seattle Weekly,Seattle Times, The Guardian, Uncut, Drowned in Sound, Brooklyn Vegan, Impose, Loud & Quiet, The Skinny, CLASH and more.
Seattle Weekly had this to say of the band: “So Pitted is a very difficult band to pin down, and that’s part of why they are so interesting. The triad has haunted Seattle’s DIY underground since 2010, sometimes playing three shows a week (seemingly re-dying their hair a different color for each), honing an incredibly loud, atonal style of neo-grunge, equal parts confusing and enthralling. Koewler plays her guitar through a bass amp to achieve the band’s defining metallic low-end scuzz. Rodriguez, plucking out chaotic leads on his heavily effected guitar, barks unintelligibly feral screeds into a microphone so hard that his veins often look as though they’ll pop. Downey usually performs with self-fashioned pipe-cleaner antennae sticking out from his head. He occasionally switches places with Rodriguez to mumble his own strange songs, a left-field take on ’80s New Wave filtered through a filthy meat grinder (see feature February 16th).”
Meanwhile, FLOOD Magazine raved: “Boldly going where no rock band has gone before—and fucking around a bit, too (see “Breaking” feature February 16th).”
So Pitted’s previously announced tour schedule for 2016 spans February 19th in Seattle at Everyday Music and currently ends March 27th in Spokane, WA at The Bartlett. Tour highlights include: February 25th in San Francisco at Noise Pop (supporting The Thermals); March 15th-20th in Austin for SXSW; March 23rd -27th in Boise at Treefort Fest; And March 26th-27th supporting Diarrhea Planet. (complete dates below.)
So Pitted’s neo is available on CD / LP / DL / CASS and you can trade your dollars for it via Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and Google Play. LP preorders of neo through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser”edition on white vinyl. (while supplies last, of course.)
What have “They” been saying about So Pitted? Let us share the words:
“Minimalist force is what Seattle punk band So Pitted does. They excel at it. On neo, their debut, the trio sound like the proverbial (mechanical) bull in a china shop—except that bull is intentionally there to fuck up some fine dinnerware and is determined to have a hell of a time doing it.” - Pitchfork
“Catharsis and candor are embedded in these explosive tracks. So Pitted tap into the void that the likes of Black Flag and Nirvana looked into and saw themselves in.” - Consequence of Sound
“It’s grimy and tormented all right, but intent on subverting the many adolescent cliches and connotations that come with grunge.” - The Guardian
“Maddeningly loud, loosely formed, disgusting like a romantic weekend trip down the local sewers.” - DIY
“Their primal, scrappy rock and roll scrapes all optimism from your soul until you just don’t care about anything anymore.” [8/10] -Drowned In Sound
“…A barbed tarpit of sound.” - Loud & Quiet
“Snotty, snarling and belligerent.” - Uncut
“neo is part debut-album, part audio assault.” [4/5] - Upset
“It’s early in the year to make this sort of claim, but we can say with confidence that in ten months’ time you’ll be looking back on neoas one of 2016’s best debuts, by some distance.” - The Skinny
“…A raucous, inspiring noise, the buzzsaw melody is matched to wailing feedback - imagine Bikini Kill set against early Mary Chain and you’d probably be in the same ballpark.” - Clash
“Quite simply, neo is noise rock like nothing else.” - London In Stereo
“…making a name for themselves with a sneery, warped, post-apocalyptic punk sound and wild stage show.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“…Buzzing with nausea and excitement. [rot in hell] burns with the urgency of the music you need to make or you’ll crumple, music you’d be making whether other people heard it or not.” - Impose
“So Pitted are poised to start a riot that’s very much their own.” -Record Collector
Tour Dates Feb. 19 - Seattle, WA - Everyday Music Feb. 20 - Vancouver, BC - Alf House Feb. 25 - San Francisco, CA - Noise Pop / Brick & Mortar Music Hall* Feb. 26 - Oakland, CA - The Hole http://on.fb.me/1ovT7qH Mar. 04 - Paris, FR - La Mecanique Ondulatoire Mar. 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Butcher’s Tears Mar. 07 - London, UK - Shacklewell Arms Mar. 08 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Games Room Mar. 09 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store Mar. 10 - Lille, UK - La Peniche Mar. 11 - Brussels, BE - Homeplugged Mar. 12 - Berlin, DE - West Germany Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 18 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 19 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 20 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 23 - 27 - Boise, ID - Treefort Music Fest Mar. 26 - Missoula, MT - The Palace** Mar. 27 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett** * w/ The Thermals ** w/ Diarrhea Planet
Sub Pop Records in Seattle, WA is offering a grand total of $15,000 worth of
college scholarship money to three eligible
high school seniors. There are three scholarships—one
for $7,000, one for $5,000 and one for $3,000. As longtime and proud losers
ourselves, we’re exceedingly happy to be able, in some small way, to help
further the education of art-enthused misfits from the NW.
Applicants must be
a resident of Washington or Oregon, and a graduating senior on your way to
full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for
applicants who are involved and/or interested in music and/or the creative arts
in some way. However, you do not need to be pursuing an education in the arts.
To apply you must submit an essay, one page or less, using any combination
of the following questions as a guide (or write something completely your own,
be inspired and creative!). Please list the school you are graduating from and
the school you plan to attend in the fall at the top of your essay along with
your contact information.
- What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?
- What does being a Sub Pop ‘Loser’ mean to you?
- What are your influences and/or who inspired you to become involved in the
arts?
- Describe your biggest failure
and explain how it has brought you closer to your goal(s).
- Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart.
- How has your family or community background affected the way you see the
world?
Applicants are strongly encouraged to send digital links and/or provide hard
copies of their artwork along with their essay (we have never had a winner who
submitted only an essay). However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return
any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal
opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above. The deadline
for applications is Sunday, March 20th.
Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by
March 20th, 2016. We will announce the scholarship winners on April 12th.
The Staff of the Sub Pop Airport Store Pick Their Favorite Light in the Attic Releases
Beginning this month, the Sub Pop Airport Store has unveiled its newest addition: a staff picks section! On a semi-regular basis, we, the illustrious and expert curatorial airport store staff, will be highlighting and showcasing different albums that we really, really, really, like. For our inaugural staff picks, we decided to all choose albums from Light in the Attic, a Seattle record label that specializes in re-issuing criminally under-appreciated music. In honor of this being our first round of staff picks, I asked my fellow co-workers, “Why did you pick the album that you picked?” Here’s what they said…
(Be sure to check out the Spotify playlist down below, which contains our favorite tracks from these albums.)
Betty Davis: Betty Davis
Audrey says: “Betty Davis is a psychedelic funk queen who pushed boundaries and broke stereotypes in the name of self expression. With the encouragement of T-Rex singer Marc Bolan, she switched from writing songs for others to songwriting for herself. This self titled album released in 1973 is the first of three albums that are so freaky and badass, religious groups protested her shows and radio stations banned some of her songs. She was really a musician ahead of her time.”
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Press Color
Rachel says: “I first found Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s Press Color in a rare record store super score! Someone had sold a bunch of their no wave/Ze Records titles like Contortions, Mars, and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Press Color was one of my favorites because it’s so fun and danceable. Thanks to Light In The Attic Records for reissuing this great record!”
The Free Design: Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love
Josh says: “Funk-filled, family friendly, kite flying, wholesome harmonies, only god itself could have reissued as heavenly a record. But since god is not real, it must be the goodly folks at Light in the Attic and to them I give thanks and praise.”
Monks: The Early Years 1964-1965
Jacob says: The Monks’ 1966 one-off album Black Monk Time is an out of time, anti-Vietnam war, proto-art-rock oddity, made by some forward thinking discharged American GI’s stationed in Germany (playing and honing their skills at some of the same wild nightclubs the Beatles had made a name for themselves in a few years prior), that while probably not being directly influential, at the very least predicted, and works as a critical jump-off point for a lineage of still to come conceptual agitating greats like Devo and the Residents. I would consider the album an artistic equal to Zappa’s Freak Out!, also from 1966, and a distant relative to more recently recognized, and ahead of their time, Los Saicos, from Peru.
This brings me to my Light In The Attic showcase selection: Monks’ The Early Years.
At first, a listener familiar with Black Monk Time may be slightly disappointed with these demos lack of finished lyrics, or all out vocal assaults found on the album proper. But that is actually part of the strength and distinction that makes the demos these GI’s made so very interesting; the sheer chunky rhythmic monotony and minimalist organ-preset style jungle-tom drumming, and what I see as the secret ingredient to their sound: the snare drum doubled up by nearly-indiscernible, textural muted banjo strikes. All of this is to the forefront on these demos. The Stooges had their single repetitive piano note through a song, and the Monks had their transparent banjo, damn it! To put this all in context, the Monks pre-date the full swing of Jazz Rock Fusion, and Progressive rock drumming; it would be another 6-7 years until Krautrock bands learned to unlearn and play-on-purpose the simplified, minimal, ‘Motorik’ beat. I sincerely wonder if whoever it was who approached CAN’s Jaki Leibezeit and profoundly stated “you must play monotonous” had been lucky enough to have seen the Monks do it first.”
Honey Ltd: The Complete LHI Recordings
Kane says: “Good harmonies.”
Public Image Ltd: First Issue
Olivia says: “PiL broke the punk paradigm with this first album. Punk was now carte blanche, not just a sped up tempo with a fashion shtick. I can’t listen to this without thinking about how Seattle was channeling punk on its own terms years later. I think we were really inspired by this post-punk freedom! Punk rock should ALWAYS be about freedom. That includes being free to call out any particular icon, steal their booze and comfy chair, and throw salami on their bus if necessary…”
Marcos Valle: Marcos Valle
Javier says: “I just really like the flavors presented here. Thumpy, warm melodic bass lines, very chill vocals, mostly in Portuguese, tasteful touches of piano chords and the drumming is just straight up groovy. I have no idea what these songs are about but there are some really delightful flute bits and psychedelic touches sprinkled throughout. Just a solid little nugget of good Bossa Nova made in 1970. Sign me up!”
Various Artists: I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America, 1950-1990
Ben says: “Trading in the ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll’ for crystals, eastern philosophies and incense (and well, ok, maybe not trading away all of the drugs…) New Age wasn’t about fame and fortune. Instead, it explored the boundaries of music: From Gregorian chants to gongs, and from chimes and bells to synths. I Am The Center covers 40 years of New Age, focusing mostly on home-made recordings and unheralded-in-their-own-time artists. (While also leaving out soft heavy hitters like Yawni and Enya (a.k.a, the soundtrack to my childhood road-trips)). Let these CDs help you open your third eye, align your chakras, or even relax while paying your taxes (if possible).”
Various Artists: Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985
I say: “Vancouver-based record archaeologist Kevin “Sipreano” Howes spent 15 years searching for music from the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the northern United States, and Native North America is the culmination of his efforts. Taking cues from the genres of “folk, rock, and country” that ruled over popular music in the latter half of the 20th century, you will hear Arctic garage rock from the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, melancholy Yup’ik folk from Alaska, and hushed country blues from the Wagmatcook First Nation reserve in Nova Scotia, among many other sounds and locales. Listening to this staggering compilation reminds me of the work that Bruce Pavitt did with the original Sub Pop fanzines, scouring for artists outside of the major cultural hubs of North America, and discovering vibrant, enriching, and totally unique regional music.”
Various Artists: Summer Records Anthology (1974-1988)
Chase says: “Summer Sound Studios was a Toronto-based record label started by Jerry Brown that produced some of the first notable Canadian reggae artists. This compilations covers releases from ‘74-‘88 and includes alternate masters and some previously unheard takes, all of which are really great! Stand out tracks include, “Right, Right Time,” “Warrior,” and “Dreadlock Lady”. A must buy if you’re trying to warm up this winter.”
Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn: Cubist Blues
Brent says: “Coming from a vinyl completest of all things Big Star and Suicide, it took a LITA reissue to finally bring “Cubist Blues” to my ear holes. Not to mention It was only pressed once in Spain twenty years ago and would set you back at least a hundred bucks. I discovered Alex’s Chilton’s output from the 1980’s and began to avoid it for the most part. I admire the company he kept and his taste for self-destruction: if you haven’t seen the footage of his performance with the Panther Burns live on the Marge Thrasher show, do so now: https://youtu.be/2U-k32L0KCc
I can’t help but think of one of Gene Vincent’s last albums, I’m Back and I’m Proud, when listening to “Cubist Blues”, which was produced by Kim Fowley, who also collaborated with Ben Vaughn. I want to think of this as a ‘art rock’ record, but that might just be the fact that Vega is a sculptor and Chilton’s parents owned a gallery. This is my pick of this month mostly because I usually only want to listen to Suicide, and so I figured I’d see what happened.”
DIY says of the neo: “So Pitted fashion their own brand of crunching, gnarled madness out of the sludge and darkness of their minds (see album premiere February 12th).”
The band’s previously announced tour schedule for 2016 spans February 19th in Seattle at Everyday Music and currently ends March 27th in Spokane, WA at The Bartlett. New highlights include: March 23rd -27th in Boise at Treefort Fest; And March 26th-27th supporting Diarrhea Planet. Please find a current list of dates below.
Sub Pop will release neo on CD / LP / DL worldwide on February 19th, 2016, and it’s currently available for preorder from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and Google Play. LP preorders of neo through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited“Loser”edition on white vinyl. There will also be a time-limited edition T-shirt, hand-bleached by So Pitted, that will be available only during pre-order; also available with LP and CD bundles (during pre-order only).
More about So Pitted’s neo: These eleven tracks are lean and snarling rebukes, torch songs not in the traditional, unrequited-love sense, but songs thatwilltorchyour fucking house down. Screams and howls overtake chants and muttering, equal parts dejection, rejection, and convection, the hot, muggy air circling continuously. It’s fuzzy, angular, throbbing, and pounding, and still, ingrained in the songs by their makers, breathes that catchy quality present in so much of the music they love. Songs like “holding the void,” “rot in hell,” and “woe” crash over and over, turning under themselves like waves, but as the measures tick off, the dog-eared melodies and familiar themes begin to reveal (read more at Sub Pop).
What “The People” have said about So Pitted: “Ragged, nonlinear, a little dangerous, “rot in hell” was one of the first tracks So Pitted wrote together, and the video is funny and surreal, featuring a friend of the band playing various band members. It feels like being at home at a basement show, ready to hit your head on a low ceiling bringing your amp down the stairs, buzzing with a little bit of nausea and excitement. It burns with the urgency of the music you need to make oryou’llcrumple, music you’d be making whether other people heard it or not.” [“rot in hell”] - Impose
“Catharsis and candor are embedded in these explosive tracks. So Pitted tap into the void that the likes of Black Flag and Nirvana looked into and saw themselves in.” - Consequence of Sound
“Maddeningly loud, loosely formed, disgusting like a romantic weekend trip down the local sewers.” - DIY
“Snotty, snarling and belligerent.” - Uncut
“It’s grimy and tormented all right, but intent on subverting the many adolescent cliches and connotations that come with grunge.” [“rot in hell”] -The Guardian
“…A raucous, inspiring noise, the buzzsaw melody is matched to wailing feedback - imagine Bikini Kill set against early Mary Chain and you’d probably be in the same ballpark.” [‘rot in hell”] - Clash Music
“…making a name for themselves with a sneery, warped, post-apocalyptic punk sound and wild stage show.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“It’s early in the year to make this sort of claim, but we can say with confidence that in ten months’ time you’ll be looking back on neoas one of 2016’s best debuts, by some distance.” - The Skinny
“So Pitted’s set called to mind Metz, Minutemen, Big Black, Pere Ubu, and Nirvana at their wildest” - FLOOD
“So Pitted are poised to start a riot that’s very much their own.” -Record Collector
“[A] Seattle trio who are basically unmatched in terms of sheer gonzo ingenuity. Live, the band combines anarchic heaps of guitar and childish melodies with plodding, sludgy rhythms. They understand just how powerful their live show is, too” - Portland Mercury
“What’s special and unique about So Pitted is that they not only clench to the demonic punk downpour and logger-heavy rock of the Northwest, but also to the nihilistic musical cannibalism of San Francisco weirdos Chrome and late-’90s San Diego artcore groups like the VSS and the Gravity Records camp. There’s a caustic demo quality to their sound that’s alien and distorted, liquidated to move units at the Gross Out. It’s not only thorny, horny, and repulsive, but angular, tangled and mangled.” - The Stranger
Tour Dates Feb. 19 - Seattle, WA - Everyday Music Feb. 20 - Vancouver, BC - Alf House Feb. 25 - San Francisco, CA - Noise Pop / Brick & Mortar Music Hall* Feb. 26 - Oakland, CA - (tba) Mar. 04 - Paris, FR - La Mecanique Ondulatoire Mar. 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Butcher’s Tears Mar. 07 - London, UK - Shacklewell Arms Mar. 08 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Games Room Mar. 09 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store Mar. 10 - Lille, UK - La Peniche Mar. 11 -Brussells, BE - Homeplugged Mar. 12 - Berlin, DE - West Germany Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 18 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 19 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 20 - Austin, TX - SXSW Mar. 23 - 27 - Boise, ID - Treefort Music Fest Mar. 26 - Missoula, MT - The Palace Mar. 27 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett * w/ The Thermals ** w/ Diarrhea Planet
Sure,
we have loved and lost before. Who among us hasn’t? And when it comes to that
rare, fine sort of love reserved for major music industry awards like the
Grammys, we have loved really, really hard. With the exception of that one time
in 2008, when The Flight of the Conchordssomewhat miraculously won for Best
Comedy Album,
we have also, regularly, lost. In fact, we have lost TWICE over the years just
to “Weird Al” Yankovic alone. One would imagine that we would, at some point,
learn from these experiences.
[To
be clear here, when I use “we” throughout the preceding and following, I am,
it’s worth admitting, attempting to associate Sub Pop Records with the
accomplishments of people, groups or artists who have worked with or for us,
thereby taking some largely undeserved credit for their accomplishments…]
But,
hope (and our desire for just this sort of prominent music industry
recognition) blooms springs eternal! Which is why, this year, with the nomination of
our own Sasha Barr (one of Sub Pop’s Art Directors, and a member of our
profoundly talented and surprisingly sensitive Art Department) in the category
of “Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition
Package,” we are ready to love again. We are, it turns out, SO ready to love
again that we have asked Sasha, and he has reluctantly agreed, to document his
experience this weekend and through Monday’s awards presentation in photos. In
turn, we will be foisting the favorites of these on you through our various and
powerful social media channels (likely: Instagram and Twitter, both @subpop). You
can, and we very much hope you will, follow along with our Mr. Barr on his
journey as a Grammy nominee from the comfort (or other conditions) of your own
home or mobile device! It should be fun and will, undoubtedly, be at least a
little strange.
Nominated for his art direction of the Deluxe Edition of
Father John Misty’s 2015 album I Love You, Honeybear, we are exceedingly
proud of Sasha, and Father John Misty, and the amazing illustration work by
Stacey Rozich featured
throughout the album’s art. So much so that win or lose (as unimaginable as
that latter thing may be), we have every intention of very thoroughly
celebrating Sasha on his return. If he does not bring home the Grammy he
deserves, we will present him with our own, less official and recognizable,
though no less merited and certainly way more homemade, award. It will probably
be called a Grumpy or something.
So,
good luck, Sasha! We’ll all be watching, very closely!
We
do, in fact, want what we haven’t got (more than that one time).
