On Friday, April 23rd, 2024, Corridor will release Mimi, the Montreal-based band’s new album, worldwide on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop. The eight-track offering, which includes the highlights “Jump Cut,” “Mon Argent,” and “Mourir Demain,” was produced by Corridor and Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) at Studio Gamma in Montreal and mastered by Heba Kadry Mastering in Brooklyn. All songs on Mimi were composed by Corridor, with lyrics written by guitarist and vocalist Jonathan Robert.
Corridor’s last release was Junior, the band’s prismatic Sub Pop debut, released in 2019. That album and its singles received praise from PASTE, who said, “The French-Canadian foursome may write and perform in French, but rock music this good is something we can all understand.” Meanwhile, Bandcamp noted the record’s “strong melodies and propulsive rock structures, which reference everything from shoegaze and post-punk to Krautrock and psych.”
Corridor’s Mimi—which, fun fact, is also named after Jonathan’s cat—is a record about “getting older” and “figuring out new parts of life”—but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is also a record bursting with new energy and life. The band expands on the sounds of Junior and delivers an album with a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of post-punk’s own classic era of melding dance and rock textures.
This is evident on “Mourir Demain,” where over bright, chiming guitars and ascending synths, Robert addresses his looming mortality: “I wrote it when my girlfriend and I were shopping for life insurance,” he laughs. With our little daughter growing up, we also considered making our will. I said to myself, ‘Oh shit, from now on, I’m slowly starting to plan my death.” Watch the animated official video for “Mourir Demain,” directed by Paul Jacobs, here.
Corridor is also sharing international tour dates for 2024 to support Mimi. Highlights include Pitchfork Music Festival Mexico City (March 9th), multiple dates at SXSW in Austin, Texas (March 13th-15th), Schellraiser Festival in McGill, Nevada (May 30th), and a hometown show in Montreal at Le National on October 24th. Additional live dates to be announced soon.
Sat. Mar. 09 - Mexico City, MX - Pitchfork Music Festival Mexico City Tue. Mar. 12 - Los Angeles, CA - Ghengis Cohen Wed. Mar. 13 - Austin, TX - SXSW Thu. Mar. 14 - Austin, TX - SXSW Fri. Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW Thu. May 30 - McGill, NV - Schellraiser Festival Fri. Oct. 24 - Montreal, QC - Le National
Mimi is now available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the Loser Edition on Baby Pink vinyl. LP orders from Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) and select independent retailers the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser Edition on Blue vinyl. All whilst stock lasts.
About Corridor’s Mimi: You get older, you have a family, and you start to slow down—that’s how things are supposed to go, right? Not for Montreal band Corridor, who have returned on their fourth album, Mimi, with a sound and style that’s more widescreen and expansive than anything that’s preceded it. The follow-up to 2019’s Junior is a huge step forward for the band, as the members themselves have undergone the type of personal changes that accompany the passage of time; even as these eight songs reflect a newfound and contemplative maturity, however, Corridor are branching out more than ever with richly detailed music, resulting in a record that feels like a fresh break for a band that’s already established themselves as forward-thinkers.
Mimi immediately recalls the best of the best when it comes to indie rock—Deerhunter’s silvery atmospherics immediately come to mind, as well as the spiky effervescence of classic post-punk—but despite these easy comparisons, Corridor remain impossible to pin down from song to song, which makes Mimi all the more thrilling as a listen. The road to this point, as roads to greatness often are, was not without challenge; if the elastic guitar rock of Junior came together quickly—or, as guitarist and vocalist Jonathan Robert describes the process, “in a rush”—then the steady-as-they-go creative pace of Mimi marked a desire to break from the “exhausting” work ethic that previously birthed Junior.
“The goal was to work differently, which is the goal we have every time we work on a new album—to build something in a new way,” Robert explains. “This time, we took our time.” And so in the summer of 2020, Corridor’s members—Robert, vocalist/bassist Dominic Berthiaume, drummer Julien Bakvis, and multi-instrumentalist Samuel Gougoux—holed away in a cottage to engage in the sort of creative experimentation that would lead to Mimi’s ultimate creation. “We went there to write, and a lot of ideas came from that retreat,” Berthiaume explains. “We didn’t end up with songs as much as we did ideas, so the result is a collage of the ideas.”
After that productive session together, Corridor continued to tinker with the songs’ raw parts digitally and remotely over the next few years, with co-producer Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) lending their own specific talents in the theoretical booth. The process was a byproduct of not having access to their previous rehearsal space as the COVID-19 pandemic faded from public view, but also a result of the four-piece leaning harder into incorporating electronic textures than on previous records.
“For a long time, we identified as a guitar-oriented band, and the goal of making this whole record was trying to get away from that,” Berthiaume states while admitting that the band encountered their own challenges as a result: “We had to figure out how to make new songs without having the chance to play together. It was complicated sometimes.” Berthiaume also describes Mimi—which, fun fact, is also named after Jonathan’s cat—as a record about “getting older” and “figuring out new parts of life”—but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is a record bursting with new energy and life, a vibrance that’s owed in no small part to Gougoux joining the band full-time after pitching in on live performances in the past.
“I come more from a background of electronic music, so it was nice to involve that with the band more,” he explains, and Mimi contains a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of classic era-post-punk’s own melding of dance and rock textures. Over bright, chiming guitars and ascending synths, Robert addresses his looming mortality on “Mourir Demain”: “I wrote it when my girlfriend and I were shopping for life insurance,” he laughs. With our little daughter growing up, we also considered making our will. I said to myself, ‘Oh shit, from now on I’m slowly starting to plan my death.”
“Jump Cut” is pure psychedelic bliss, with hypnotic ziggurats of guitar lines aligning themselves in the distance as Robert and Berthiaume’s vocals excitingly duck and weave throughout the lovely chaos created; meanwhile, the nocturnal air of “Caméra” provides perfect cover for ruminations on self-promotion and exposure in the digital age, while the hypnotic haze of “Mon Argent” tackles the realities of making a living while making music. “Nothing is more abstract, insecure, and random than a musician’s income,” Jonathan muses while discussing the song’s thematic bent. “The responsibilities piling up in my adult life have, unfortunately, prevented me from continuing to avoid the subject. We end up giving a lot of importance to something we don’t understand.”
Don’t mistake this as music about dead ends, though, as Mimi embraces and champions unfettered creativity while paving a way for Corridor’s own bright future. “We just focused on making a record that sounded the way we wanted,” Gougoux exclaims while discussing the band’s aims. “There were no limitations when it came to what was possible.”
“Crosshatching space rock to stoner metal, Krautrock to black metal, the void to the arduous resurrection, their musical scope is broad enough to at least approach that end-times question: Where can we go when what we have is gone?” - Bandcamp (Album Of The Day)
“Exhilaratingly expansive music balanced by a sense of darkness and foreboding, travelling simultaneously into outer space and inner turmoil. SLIFT’s expansive energy and transcendental creativity provide a uniquely rewarding thrill.” - Kerrang!
“An exhilarating ride, one which continually scales modes of attack and intensity, even as it’s held in place by SLIFT’s purposeful songwriting.”- Wire
“One of the most mesmerizing live bands you could ever hope to see.”- Louder
“SLIFT’s mind-expanding mastery of heavy dynamics, six-string flair and psychedelic experimentalism marks them out as one of the most exciting metal bands we’ve heard…” - Guitar World
“The psych-rock giants blur the lines between rock subgenres for an all-encompassing, full-body listening experience” - Glide
Today, January 19th, French psychedelic rock outfit SLIFT release their Sub Pop debut, ILION, on CD/LP/DSP. ILION launches SLIFT even deeper into the cosmos, merging the furious intensity of metal and the wigged-out guitar heroics of psych-rock with post-rock’s epic sense of scale.
The band is brothers Jean and Remí Fossat and Canek Flores. Formed in 2016, SLIFT quickly made an impression on rockers worldwide with their 2017 debut EP, Space Is the Key, and the following year’s full-length La Planeté Inexplorée. In 2019, their KEXP session recorded at the Trans Musicales festival became a viral sensation, racking up more than 1.5 million YouTube views and setting the stage for their acclaimed 2020 space-rock opus, UMMON, and a subsequent limited-edition 7” for the Sub Pop Singles Club.
SLIFT will embark on a mammoth UK & EU tour beginning February 23rd in Brighton, UK, and ending April 6th in Marseille, France. The band’s 2023 KEXP performance is a tantalizing taste of the band’s live powers, which merge earth-rattling volume, cosmic soundscapes, and psychedelic visuals into a mind-bending, glorious experience. See below for a complete list of dates.
Fri. Feb. 23 - Brighton, UK - Chalk Sat. Feb. 24 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla Sun. Feb. 25 - Dublin, IE - Whelan’s Mon. Feb. 27 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Wed. Feb. 28 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom Thu. Feb. 29 - Lille, FR - Aéronef Fri. Mar. 01 - Paris, FR - La Cigale Sat. Mar. 02 - Saint Malo, FR - Route du Rock Hiver Wed. Mar. 13 - Toulouse, FR - Bikini Fri. Mar. 15 - Nantes, FR- Stereolux Sat. Mar. 16 - Rouen, FR - 106 Mon. Mar. 18 - Bruxelles, FR - Ancienne Belgique Tue. Mar. 19 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg Wed. Mar. 20 - Cologne, DE- Club Volta Thu. Mar. 21 - Groningen, NL - Vera Fri. Mar. 22 - Hamburg, DE - Gruenspan Sun. Mar. 24 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen Mon. Mar. 25 - Gothenburg, SE - Pustervik Tue. Mar. 26 - Oslo, NO- John Dee Wed. Mar. 27 - Stockholm, SE - Hus 7 Sat. Mar. 30 - Berlin, DE - Lido Mon. Apr. 01 - Leipzig, DE- UT Connewitz Mon. Apr. 02 - Stuttgart, DE - Wisemann Club Tue. Apr. 03 - Esch Sur Alzette, LU - Kulturfabrik Wed. Apr. 04 - Zurich, CH - Mascotte Thu. Apr. 05 - Lyon, FR - Epicerie Moderne Fri. Apr. 06 - Marseille, FR - Espace Julien
1. Ilion 2. Nimh 3. The Words That Have Never Been Heard 4. Confluence 5. Weavers’ Weft 6. Uruk 7. The Story That Has Never Been Told 8. Enter The Loop
March 15th, 2024, marks the release of Boeckner!, the self-titled debut solo outing from Daniel Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Operators, Divine Fits, Handsome Furs), which will be available worldwide on CD/LP/DSPs from Sub Pop.
Boeckner! is an eight-song, thirty-two-minute collection that includes the highlights “Euphoria,” “Dead Tourists,” and its first offering, the hopeful synth rocker “Lose.”
The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Randall Dunn at Circular Ruin in New York City and mastered by Heba Kadry in Brooklyn.
Boeckner! also features Matt Chamberlain on drums, Medicine’s Brad Laner, who assisted with vocal arrangements and added guitar flourishes throughout the record, and Jeremy Gaudet of labelmates Kiwi Jr., who co-wrote the song “Dead Tourists.”
Boeckner! is now available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album from megamart.subpop.com, Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart), and select independent retailers in North America and the UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser Edition on Orange vinyl. A special Jalapeno Green vinyl edition will also be available from select retailers in Canada.
More on Boeckner!: Daniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulates in the heart and that it takes an unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner’s hands, that quest comes via postapocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout his work with Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, Operators, Atlas Strategic, and more, the iconic Canadian indie rocker recognizes that few feelings are more gratifying—more memorable, more generative, more abundant—than hope. But it takes getting the hell out of your own way. A culmination of that deep library of musical reference, Boeckner is set to release his first album under his own name: Boeckner! “I think in a lot of ways in my mind I’m still playing in a punk band in Vancouver,” Boeckner laughs. “Starting back when I was a teenager, my life in music has been trying to develop my own musical language, and this record is the beginning of presenting that.”
No matter where his genre exploration has taken him, there’s something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner’s blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It’s a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape—fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat. Boeckner introduces this fused language immediately with the thumping opening track and lead single “Lose.” Buoyed by the scorched space-age synths developed across two records with Operators and the fist-pumping guitar push of Wolf Parade, the song charges headlong into a new world. “Now I’m a walking phantom/ Night watch at the radar station,” Boeckner sings, as if in a race against time to keep hope alive.
That urgency and passion have always been a trademark of Boeckner’s, and writing on his own pushes those feelings further into the center of the scope. But while Boeckner may be the clear driving force behind the album, he’s not without collaborators for his solo debut. After meeting producer Randall Dunn while contributing to the soundtrack to the Nicolas Cage-starring psychedelic horror film Mandy, Boeckner knew he’d found the perfect counterpart for his solo debut. “I’d been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced,” Boeckner says. “Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don’t normally weave into what I’m releasing—like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences.”
Album highlight “Euphoria” dips into that off-kilter darkness, dashes of vibraphone tossed against woozy waves of synth. “It’s too late/ Time accelerates/ From the cradle to the grave,” Boeckner calls like some nuclear fallout Ziggy Stardust, glitching electronics dripping off the mix. The track’s percussive thrum comes courtesy of Matt Chamberlain—whose credits include work with Bowie and Fiona Apple, not to mention a stint as drummer for Pearl Jam—and serves to bolster Boeckner’s potent guitar throughout the record.
That solid base allows Boeckner to thoughtfully weave between emotional imagism and more grounded storytelling. Throughout the record, his imagery delves into science fiction, but it’s charged first and foremost by experience. “With the exception of early Wolf Parade, I’ve always tried to put myself into a fictional mindset, but with this record, I was tapping into something raw and personal,” he explains. As a prime example, the desperate reach of “Euphoria” is felt in every line, pushed to its titular state only through some unhealthy choices, the gloom drawing near.
The trio of Boeckner, Dunn, and Chamberlain formed a sort of dark engine for the album, and Chamberlain’s ingenious approach of triggering a vintage Arp synthesizer simultaneously with each drum track helped Boeckner shape the record’s atmosphere. That layered shadow colors the acoustic-tinged haze of “Dead Tourists,” a song littered with bad omens—steel-eyed cattle, bodies lined on church pews, overturned luxury cars. That tense futurism was influenced by Boeckner’s time staying in Dunn’s Circular Ruin studio, a dusky, electronic aura singed into every track…He often found himself falling asleep under the synth rack in a sleeping bag, looking up through a tiny skylight at the Brooklyn lights, the faint thump of Daniel Lopatin recording his latest Oneohtrix Point Never record next door coming through the wall.
In addition to tapping into his own rock roots, Boeckner brought in one of his personal guitar heroes. “As a teenager, I imported cassettes of Medicine’s flawless shoegaze noise records, and I absolutely loved Brad Laner’s sandblasting, Chernobyl guitar,” he says. And while Boeckner first reached out hoping Laner would contribute to one track, the Medicine guitarist wound up adding guitar layers throughout the album, as well as helping arrange vocal harmonies. The haunted, wordless choir on “Don’t Worry Baby” stand especially tall in that regard, Laner delivering Boeckner’s writing through his trademark Medicine guitar ravage.
“This record is like an autobiography—Atlas Strategic music concrete synth explosions, lush synth stuff from Operators, the noise guitar from Handsome Furs, drawing influence from everything from Stockhausen to Tom Waits all at the same time,” Boeckner says. And as the record fades away on the low-slung “Holy is the Night,” the mutated skyline fades away, replaced by blue skies “after the plague.” No longer a sci-fi epic, Boeckner! eases into something more akin to a torched VHS copy of a John Cassevetes film, the chemtrails and nuclear fallout fading long in the distance. “How much pain can we deliver before the sunrise, baby/ Holy is the night we can get some peace,” he sighs. “How much blood can this world want from you and me together?” Like all good sci-fi, the emotion and pain hits home for the author and listener alike, and genre flourishes there to bolster the human experience. And in revealing more than ever before, Boeckner! both ratchets up the musical intensity to unforeseen levels and hopes to find some peace at the end of the journey.
Available today, January 12th, 2024, Sub Pop is digitally releasing the Destroy All Neighbors (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The film was scored by Ryan Kattner and Brett Morris of Man Man and features a new Man Man track titled “Free.” Kattner also lends his acting chops to the film’s ensemble cast, which stars Jonah Ray Rodrigues and Alex Winter.
The Destroy All Neighbors film depicts William Brown (Jonah Ray Rodrigues), a neurotic, self-absorbed musician determined to finish his prog-rock magnum opus, facing a creative roadblock in the form of a noisy and grotesque neighbor named Vlad (Alex Winter). Finally working up the nerve to demand that Vlad keep it down, William inadvertently decapitates him. But, while attempting to cover up one murder, William’s accidental reign of terror causes victims to pile up and become undead corpses who torment and create more bloody detours on his road to prog-rock Valhalla.
Ryan Kattner (aka Honus Honus of Man Man) offers this on the experience: “When I was first approached to score Destroy All Neighbors, I didn’t realize how incredibly bonkers and wall-to-wall the music cues would be; I was too absorbed by how psychotic the script was and in disbelief that it was getting made. It reminded me of the Blockbuster Video movie you’d rent as a kid and watch multiple times over the weekend.
“Once the dust settled and I decided to take the gig (and, more importantly, they decided to hire me), one thing became very clear: I would need a brilliant guitar wizard/musician to help execute the scale of everything required. Insert Brett Morris (Comedy Bang Bang). Between progressive rock cues, Euro-trash EDM, 80s synth diving, bad acoustic guitar pop, etc., we got to cover a gambit of vibes, and we’re proud of our contributions (even if the schizophrenic nature of the cues made us lose our minds at times).
“While this wasn’t my first time scoring, it was the first time I got a little weirder with the job. Since we didn’t have the budget to license the semi-obscure prog song everyone fell in love with during the edit, it forced me to write an original Man Man song to win over hearts/minds, which, in turn, created its own issues because the film people then had to change my mind about not keeping it for the new Man Man album coming out this year.
“Scoring hire aside, a month out from shooting, they asked me to read for one of the film’s antagonists, Caleb Bang Jansen, probably because they wanted to see me run around in only my skivvies (which I somehow overlooked when reading the audition sides) and play a horrendously penned acoustic guitar song on camera. I’d only done one previous feature and a handful of short films, but I love being forced out of my comfort zone. I also have the forgiveness of “musician turned actor” that isn’t afforded to the inverse. Sharing screen time with Alex, Jonah, and Thomas Lennon was a blast. I’ve got the bug if anyone else wants me for anything. That’s how this happens, right? Maybe my dream of a B-Movie actor will finally come true!
“Anyhoo, Sub Pop putting out a 69-track album of bizarre cues means everyone wins. Go see Destroy All Neighbors while it’s on the big screen, rewatch it on Shudder, and stream the fuck out of the soundtrack. I love you.”
Next month, J Mascis will release What Do We Do Now, worldwide on Sub Pop Records. Following the friend-studded “Can’t Believe We’re Here” video and the electrifying single “Set Me Down” comes “Right Behind You,” a melodious new tune featuring keys, drums, and J’s classic shred.
J has scheduled two solo headline shows for 2024 in Australia, which coincidentally happens during a run with Dinosaur Jr. The dates include Sydney’s Liberty Hall on Tuesday, February 20th, and in Brisbane at The Triffid on Saturday, February 24th. Additional solo dates will be announced soon.
What Do We Do Now can be pre-ordered now from Sub Pop. North American orders from the Sub Pop Mega Mart will receive the limited Loser Edition on clear purple vinyl. In the UK and Europe, LP orders from Mega Mart 2 (the new, UK-based sibling site to the world-famous Sub Pop Mega Mart) will get neon pink Losers or a strictly limited edition run on Blue Curacao Vinyl available from this wonderful emporium – all whilst stock lasts!
What Do We Do Now is the fifth solo studio outing from J Mascis. The album was recorded at his studio Bisquiteen in Western Massachusetts, and is J’s first solo album that features full drum and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic. What Do We Do Now features guest musicians, including Western Mass local Ken Mauri of The B-52s on keys and Ontario-based polymath Matthew “Doc” Dunn on steel guitar. The album will be available on February 2nd, 2024 worldwide from Sub Pop.
J Mascis What Do We Do Now
Tracklisting: 1. Can’t Believe We’re Here 2. What Do We Do Now 3. Right Behind You 4. You Don’t Understand Me 5. I Can’t Find You 6. Old Friends 7. It’s True 8. Set Me Down 9. Hangin Out 10. End Is Gettin Shaky
