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.

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

Suki Waterhouse is ringing in the new year with her jubilantly sleazy new pop single “OMG,” available worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop. She also stars in the vintage and cinematic official video for the single helmed by returning director Émilie Richard-Froozan (“Nostalgia” video). “OMG” will be on her forthcoming album, due out later this year.
 
“OMG” was written by Suki and Natalie Findlay, produced by Jules Apollinaire at TTRRUUCES HQ in London, mixed by Alex Farrar, and mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios.
 
Suki Waterhouse has been working nonstop since the 2022 release of her Sub Pop debut, I Can’t Let Go. She followed the album with the standalone single and official video for “NostalgiaOMG” and the Milk Teeth EP (featuring the Gold-certified single “Good Looking,” which went viral on TikTok and peaked at #1 on Spotify’s Viral USA Chart). In 2023, Suki released the single and official video for “To Love,” the song “Everyday’s A Lesson in Humility,” a summery collaboration with Belle and Sebastian, and in August, joined Local Natives on a reimagining of their single, “NYE.”
 
Suki also played to some of the largest crowds of her career in South America (Lollapalooza in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), the US (Governor’s Ball, Ohana, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits Festivals), and most recently, in Mexico (at Corona Capital). Suki also starred as Karen Sirko in “Daisy Jones & The Six,” the Emmy-nominated Amazon television miniseries based on the popular book by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Suki Waterhouse Website / Instagram / TikTok / Facebook / Twitter
 

March 29th, 2024, marks the release of Shabazz Palaces’ Exotic Birds of Prey, his new seven-song mini album, which will be available on CD/LP/All DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop.

Exotic Birds of Prey is the follow-up to Robed in Rareness, his well-received album from October 2023. Robed was released on all DSPs and will now be available on CD/LP formats on March 29th, 2024.

NPR Music called Robed “Enchanting and subversive…” while Pitchfork offered this, “The futurism of Shabazz Palaces has always been interwoven with the past and present, their songs scintillating tapestries of old-school shit talk, proggy psychedelia, and melodic flossing. Robed in Rareness is draped in this multiplicity as Butler and a team of close collaborators swagger across eras of rap.” 

Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ismael Butler, whose unstinting drive to reimagine hip-hop – even as he enjoys his fifth decade on Earth – remains undimmed.  

Exotic Birds of Prey furthers the modus operandi of its predecessor, Robed in Rareness – a respectful eye on the past, an embrace of an ever-evolving present, and its feet are firmly planted in the future. Where Robed… warped sounds like shoegaze and ambient music into the Shabazz Palaces multiverse, Exotic… cross-pollinates these elements with twisted electro and funk vibes.

This new endeavor features collaborations with the likes of Stas THEE Boss, Irene Barber, Japreme Magnetic, OC Notes, Cobra Coil, Purple Tape Nate, and Lavarr the Starr.

Exotic Birds of Prey was produced by Shabazz Palaces, mixed by Erik Blood, and engineered by Ishmael Butler and Blood at Studio4 West in Venice, California, with mastering by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.

Exotic Birds of Prey and Robed in Rareness are now available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders for each release in North America from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser Editions for Exotic Birds of Prey on Translucent White vinyl and Robed in Rareness on Translucent Ruby 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) and independent retail stores will receive the Loser Editions for Exotic Birds of Prey on Cream White vinyl and Robed in Rareness on Red vinyl.

Stellify Subscriber Alerts:

About Shabazz Palaces Exotic Birds of Prey:

PING.

She looked up. A rectangular notification had popped into view, obscuring the view of the road. 

>You have an update pending.

“No thank you,” she said, and brusquely waved it out of her field of view.

PING.

Her head jerked up again in annoyance. 

>Stellify Subscriber alert: new album from Shabazz Palaces: Exotic Birds of Prey. 

“Oh.” Her eyebrows arched, her fingers lightly drummed her tablet. “Play,” she said, voice softening.

The integrated Bang & Olufsen speakers cut on. Lyrics and info danced on the windscreen, casting the cabin in a crimson glow.

>Shabazz Palaces’ latest is a foreboding foray into final-days funk. Cold-forged synths cut like steel underneath paranoiac playerisms and science-faction set pieces. What will you do when the robots don’t recognize your face?

“Pour more bass on my mids.” 

“Mmm.” The bio-reactive seat gently reclined as the whole vehicle body, composed of recycled marine plastics and seaweed, throbbed with deep, monstrous tones. Her eyes closed. 

“ETA,” she mumbled. 77 minutes, the car said softly.

PING. 

>BrainBroom Subscriber: your weekly ketamine session is ready to transmit. Initiate?

She opened her eyes. Hers was the only vehicle in sight. Rain sheeted across the windscreen. In the corner, the heads-up relayed a leisurely 160 km/h and fully charged hydrogen cells. The road ahead was lit in a deep violet; the ancient LED’s on this stretch of highway had delaminated over time.

“..Sure.”

She laid back. As the corners of her sensory perception started to curl up, she heard different voices, new and old to the Shabazz cinematic universe. Stas the Boss, Irene Barber, OCnotes, Jahpreme Magnetic. Purple Tape Nate, Lavarr the Starr. 

“Many among them…traded in myths.”

As she submerged into innerspace, the soundtrack repeated, undermining her sense of time. The softly rocking motion of the vehicle, bee-lining it’s way home, did the same to her sense of space. Swirling in her mind’s eye, she saw ancient bones dancing underneath the solar-powered roadway; empty eye sockets turned and locked on her own. 

“Going back to the essence is not a bad thing.”

PING.

Directly ahead, zooming towards her, was an old Tesla, stopped, blue flames feathering out from the windows. The scream caught in her throat, a choked sob her only sound.

She opened gummy eyelids and raised her face. She was at the high, fortified gate of her rural high-rise community. She cleared her throat, and eased the windshield down. She faced the sensor.

>Face Not Recognized. Try Again.

“What?” Sweat rolled down her ribs.

>Face Not Recognized. Try Again.

She looked around, poked her head out and looked back at the forest, dark and featureless. 

“Hello?”

Unseen wings flapped in the trees, dark bodies taking flight against the moon.

Shabazz Palaces

Exotic Birds Of Prey

Tracklisting

1. Exotic BOP (feat. Purple Tape Nate)

2. Angela (feat. Stas THEE Boss & Irene Barber)

3. Myths Of The Occult (feat. Japreme Magnetic)

4. Goat Me (feat. Cobra Coil)

5. Well Known Nobody (feat. OCnotes)

6. Synth Dirt

7. Take Me To Your Leader (feat. Lavarr the Starr)