News

NEWS : TUE, AUG 4, 2015 at 7:10 AM

Strange Wilds announce North American tour dates in support of ‘Subjective Concepts’

This fall, Strange Wilds embark on a North American tour in support of their debut album, Subjective Concepts, now available worldwide from Sub Pop. The trek starts September 25th in Seattle, WA at Black Lodge and ends November 19th in Portland, OR at Bunk Bar. 

Preceding the tour, Strange Wilds also have a few Pacific Northwest dates for you noise loving fans: August 9th at Seattle’s Chop Suey (8pm), another August 9th show at Old School Pizzeria in Olympia (midnight), and August 10th in Tacoma at New Frontier Lounge. Please find a complete list of tour dates below.



As you might suspect, Strange Wilds’ Subjective Concepts is available on CD / LP / DL at the Sub Pop Mega MartiTunesAmazon and Bandcamp. All customers who order the LP version of Subjective Concepts from megamart.subpop.com and Bandcamp will receive the limited “Loser Edition” on white vinyl while supplies last. That’s right: everyone’s a Loser here.  T-shirt also available, individually and also bundled with the new record.
 
Tour Dates
Aug. 09 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey ^ (EARLY)
Aug. 09 - Olympia, WA - Old School Pizzeria # (LATE)
Aug. 10 - Tacoma, WA - New Frontier Lounge
Sep. 25 - Seattle, WA - Black Lodge
Sep. 27 - Portland, OR - They Know
Sep. 30 - Olympia, WA - TBA
Oct. 01 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock
Oct. 02 - Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
Oct. 03 - Tempe, AZ - Time Out Lounge
Oct. 05 - Denver, CO - Rhinoceropolis
Oct. 09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
Oct. 11 - Detroit, MI - Marble Bar
Oct. 12 - Cleveland, OH - Now That’s Class
Oct.16 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool (Strange Victory Touring CMJ Party)
Oct. 19 - Toronto, ON - Smiling Buddha
Oct. 20 - Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
Nov. 01 - Jacksonville, FL - Rain Dogs
Nov. 04 - Austin, TX - Beerland
Nov. 09 - Fullerton, CA - Continental Room
Nov. 10 - El Centro, CA - Strangers
Nov. 11 - Los Angeles, CA - All Star Lanes
Nov. 13 - Oakland, CA - 1-2-3-4 Go Records
Nov. 18 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
Nov. 19 - Portland, OR - Bunk Bar
 
^ w/ Screaming Females
# w/ Vexx

 

Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : MON, AUG 3, 2015 at 6:10 AM

Hear Low’s ”What Part of Me” from upcoming album ‘Ones and Sixes’

Whilst awaiting their upcoming album, you can now hear Low’s “What Part of Me” the group’s affecting new single and second track release from Ones and Sixes.  The Quietus, had this to say of the track: “It’s just over three minutes of the band’s fuzzy, melodic charm, laying Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s harmonized vocals over a slightly spectral setting (see song premiere August 3rd).”

Ones and Sixes is currently available for pre-order here, and also on Bandcamp. The limited “Loser Edition” LP on yellow vinyl will be available from select independent record stores and megamart.subpop.com (while supplies last). For those who like to wear their music, two new T-shirt designs will also be available, either as individual items or as part of CD/LP bundles.  



[ Photo credit: Zoran Orlic ]

Low’s Ones and Sixes releases on CD / LP / DL worldwide Friday, September 11th.

Their previously announced North American + European tour in support of Ones and Sixes, begins September 18th in Madison, WI and ends November 21st in Seattle, WA. They’ll play their largest headlining date in London’s iconic Roundhouse on October 10th. And now, there are a few additional shows preceding and following the band’s fall trek:  Perfect Sound Forever Fest in Bergen, Norway (September 3rd); UK appearances at both the End of the Road and Electric Picnic Festivals  (September 4th-6th / select dates); and their newly rescheduled Philadelphia date at Johnny Brenda’s (February 1st). For up to date information on tickets please visit http://chairkickers.com/shows.
 
Tour Dates
Sep. 03 - Bergen, NO - Perfect Sounds Forever Fest @ Landmark
Sep. 04 - Wiltshire, UK - End of the Road Festival
Sep. 05- Stradbally, IE - Electric Picnic
Sep. 18 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon*
Sep. 19 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall*
Sep. 21 - Toronto, ON - The Mod Club*
Sep. 22 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz PDB*
Sep. 23 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall*
Sep. 24 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg*
Sep. 25 - Hamden, Connecticut – The Ballroom at The Outer Space*
Sep. 26 - Washington, DC - Black Cat*
Oct. 07 - Manchester, UK - Cathedral ^
Oct. 08 - Glasgow, UK - Art School =
Oct. 10 - London, UK - Roundhouse ^
Oct. 12 - Koln, DE - Gebaude 9 =
Oct. 13 - Hamburg, DE – Knust =
Oct. 14 - Copenhagen, DK – Vega =
Oct. 15 - Stockholm, SE – Kagelbanan =
Oct. 17 - Berlin, DE – Lido =
Oct. 19 - Munich, DE – Ampere =
Oct. 20 - Bologna, IT - Teatro Antoniano =
Oct. 22 - Zaragoza, ES - Las Armas =
Oct. 23 - Barcelona, ES – Bikini =
Oct. 24 - Valencia, ES - Deleste Festival
Oct. 26 - Madrid, ES - Teatro Lara =
Oct. 27 - Santander, ES – Escenario =
Oct. 29 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso ^
Oct. 30 – Tourcoing, FR – Le Grand Mix =
Oct. 31 - Brussels, BE – AB +
Nov. 02 – Paris, FR – Le Divan du Monde =
Nov. 11 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue*
Nov. 12 – Omaha, NE – Reverb Lounge*
Nov. 13 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge*
Nov. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex*
Nov. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour*
Nov. 18 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall*
Nov. 20 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir*
Nov. 21 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile*
Feb. 01 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
 
* w/ Andy Shauf
^ w/ Two Gallants
+ w/ Chelsea Wolfe
= w/ Mike Noga


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : MON, AUG 3, 2015 at 5:30 AM

Selective Listening: Notes from the desk of the General Manager… (August 2015)

Selective Listening: Notes from the desk of the General Manager, August 2015.

Now that’s what we call a BM*!

Because I have a very TOP LEVEL and (let’s just say…) incisive understanding of the contents of my email inbox, I was recently made aware of an interesting and modest experiment in music distribution put together by a musical trio from Minneapolis called The Hand, whose members have all done or still do time in other bands and whose mean age is 46 (approximately 750 in band years, and near-certain assurance of their lifelong anonymity). You can read all about it yourself here. And, this thing is interesting for a bunch of reasons, not least of which is the following description, which, to me, seems like a pretty good raison d’être for any band or any record label still standing, and one which we’d unabashedly steal or co-opt were we not, at some root, dna-type level, constitutionally unable to full-stop commit to anything so definite and old guard as a mission statement.

It goes like this:

“we promise to never put up anything we don’t think is worth $4, and to try not to be boring and/or behave like “professional musicians” with a “career” (because we’re not and we don’t). you promise to not....i dunno, be an asshole about the whole thing.”

Right?

Not at all coincidentally (because it was only his email to me on the subject which managed to disrupt my usual laser-ish focus on important business-related matters here in the professional music business), I am familiar with one of the folks responsible for this thing: it’s our old friend Zak Sally! Zak is probably best known to you for playing bass in Low for 10 or 12 years. He is further known to me as one of those people who provide plain evidence of my own laziness in way that is frustratingly difficult to ignore (and I have tried…). In addition to his time spent in Low, and doing stuff with The Hand, he’s also a cartoonist, a comics art professor, runs his own small publishing company, and put together an upcoming 2-day festival of independent culture called Autoptic. All this in addition to being a parent, spouse, and exceptionally solid dude. I’m sure there’s more, but I already feel badly enough about myself.

Relatedly! Low, the other very excellent MN-based band mentioned above (whose records it is our good fortune to release unto the world bearing the Sub Pop imprimatur of occasional quality), have a top-notch, BJ Burton-produced new album called Ones and Sixes, coming out in September. We have released a song or songs (who knows?) from this record as clear proof of that aforementioned top-notch-ed-ness. Please listen, love, buy, stream, or otherwise consume, won’t you?

But I digress mid-digression…

What I’m going to go ahead and charitably refer to as my point here is that a good business model, like the one that The Hand put together, is increasingly difficult to find. Why, even seasoned music professionals, like those who I’m told work here at Sub Pop Records, occasionally falter. And here’s where a couple of illustrative examples might fit nicely:

- As it happens and in spite of what we recall as countless magazine articles on the great, cresting popularity of the cupcake trend of the recent past, people are largely unwilling to pay $15.98 for a cupcake with a download code for a full album of mp3s, and this is especially true, to a degree that borders on discriminatory, if your company does not just outright excel at baking or food safety standards compliance.

- Same with sliders!

- Though nearly every single software developer who has ever cold-called and then set up a meeting with us [or… my boss, which I then had to attend when she bailed for more interesting or relevant uses of her time,] has practically, though not exactly, in so many words, GUARANTEED us that just having an app, regardless of what that app might do, is a disruptive, game-changing, fucking RAINMAKER, we have come to learn that there are shockingly few people interested in GrungeSquish-ing a selfie at $1.29 a pop.

- Suffice it to say that we were profoundly surprised to learn, only after pouring great, pornographic sums of money into the much-ballyhooed new SAP streaming service for MIDI-fied music, that today’s savvy music consumers expect or even demand more than one album from the catalog of such a streaming service. Further suffice it to say that SAP still seems marginally more interesting than Pono.

As a company which has overtly (for a carefree, golden time before the Business Affairs Dept. noticed…) declared ourselves “Going Out of Business Since 1988,” it’s probable we’re not anyone’s first source of insight on how to navigate the complicated mess of the music business ca. right about now. That’s probably for the best and anyway, who cares?

As long as there are outfits like The Hand coming up with great, innovative BMs (and we occasionally wake up long enough to steal their ideas), it’s alright. We can have our cupcake and listen to it, too.

*With “BM,” of course, I mean to evoke “Business Model.”



Posted by Chris Jacobs

NEWS : THU, JUL 30, 2015 at 9:20 AM

Listen: Deaf Wish ‘Pain’ Album stream via SPIN

You can now listen to Deaf Wish’s Pain in its entirety via SPIN.  The band’s first album on Sub Pop Records releases worldwide next ween on August 7th.

Pain is available for preorder from Sub Pop Mega MartiTunesAmazon, and Bandcamp.  Why preorder, you ask?  All LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited Loser edition on clear, black marbled vinyl (while supplies last), and you may (or may not be) surprised to hear… there’s also a t-shirt for that. 

SPIN had this to say of the album, “The group debuted on Sub Pop last October with their four-track EP St. Vincent’s, a short, dissonant introduction to the band for the wider public. With the release of their first LP for the label, Pain, it’s safe to say that the Australian foursome has since abandoned that initial mission, proving through nauseous instrumentation and chiming vocals that they have something worth sticking around for. Songs off Pain play with the whole spectrum of anxious indie rock. Some are small ruptures of electrified rage (“Newness Again,” “Eyes Closed”) while others are more mellow and melodic (“Sunset’s Fool,” “On”). All four members take turns on vocals, and each offers a hypnotically haunting aura no matter if they’re screaming or taking it easier on their vocal cords (see album premiere July 30th)”

Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : FRI, JUL 24, 2015 at 12:07 PM

Strange Wilds ‘Subjective Concepts’ Album Release + Watch “Pronoia” (official video) via FLOOD

Strange Wilds’ ear-splitting debut album Subjective Concepts is now available on CD / LP / DL worldwide and can be yours today.
 
In celebration of today’s release, the band also presents an official video for “Pronoia,” the album’s lead single.  Director David Hoejke and young shredders Strange Wilds will test the limits of your eyes, ears and speakers with this audiovisual assault (see FLOOD videp premiere July 24th).
 
Strange Wilds have a few Pacific Northwest shows - see below - in support of Subjective Concepts (including one in their hometown of Olympia, WA) from July 24th through August 10th, including two Seattle record-release shows today, July 24th: an instore at Everyday Music (at 5pm) and a performance at Capitol Hill Block Party’s Barboza stage (at 7:30pm). Do yourself a favor if you’re a lucky Pacific Northwesterner and watch them crush it in person.
 
We also suggest purchasing the album Subjective Concepts from Sub Pop Mega MartiTunesAmazonBandcamp or your friendly neighborhood record store.  FYI - All customers who order the LP version of Subjective Concepts from Mega Mart and Bandcamp will receive the limited “Loser Edition” on white vinyl, with a limited-edition poster, while supplies last. (There’s also a new T-shirt design available individually or as part of a bundle with the record.  Yeah, we thought you’d like that.)
 
It Seems ‘They’ Have Something To Say About Strange Wilds’ Album Debut:

“The album is a wake-up call to rock above the hazy summer daze, but then, just like that, it’s gone—a 35-minute sing-along tornado demanding to be played again immediately.” - FLOOD

“Pronoia is the opposite of paranoia, essentially the happy delusion that there is a conspiracy that exists to help people. It’s also the name of the hellish four-minute blast of noise that’s the best song on this debut album by Seattle trio Strange Wilds. The follow-up to 2014’s four-track ‘Wet’ EP, Subjective Concepts sounds like it was raised on ‘Bleach’-era Nirvana and aligns the band with their Washington peers Milk Music and Naomi Punk. They build a monumental wall of hardcore noise on ‘Egophillia’, before taking a wrecking ball to it and screaming wildly into the mess. Elsewhere, there are tight grooves on ‘Disdain’ and ‘Terrible’, and the guttural riffs on ‘Starved For’ offer plenty for bleeding gums to gnaw on.” -NME
 
“Touch And Go-style post rock with early grunge.” - The AV Club
 
“Northwestern American trio tap into grunge’s collective unconscious, channeling crushing riffs and ancestral memories of hardcore.” MOJO
 
“Loud, sneering, and heavy-set, Subjective Concepts could come wrapped in a rain-soaked plaid shirt.” - LOUD & QUIET
 
“Taut, virile hardcore punk with a seething intelligence… It’s an absolute gem.” - CLASH MUSIC
 
“An undeniably exciting listen.” - UNCUT
 
“While the barbed, razor-sharp riffs and tightrope bass thuds ofBleach largely inform the scrappy nature of key tracks like caustic opener “Pronoia” and the pensive “Oneirophobe,” there is an influential undercurrent of the signature sounds of their own city back in the day as well. Shades of K Records classics from Beat Happening and Some Velvet Sidewalk additionally factor into the more melodic elements of Subjective Concepts, particularly within the structures of college radio-ready songs like “Don’t Have To” and “Lose and Found.” - PASTE
 
“They are a powerful outfit, and Subjective Concepts is cohesive and fierce.” - Pitchfork
 
“Toggles between a coiled-snake groove and the kind of full scream-along ferocity that makes you want to thrash around in a small, dark room with a bunch of sweaty strangers. This is noisy, heavy, grimy music, and it’s great.” [“Pronoia”] - Stereogum
 
“A sludged-out mess of hardcore that slam dances with the Seattle label’s past and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see them on a tour run that’s stacked with Mogwai, METZ, or Pissed Jeans” [“Pronoia”]  - BLARE
 
“‘Starved For’ sounds exactly like what you’d want to be listening to if you lived inside of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater game.” - Noisey
 
Tour Dates
Jul. 24 - Seattle, WA - Everyday Music in-store (5pm)
Jul. 24 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party (7:30pm)
Aug. 09 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey ^ (EARLY)
Aug. 09 - Olympia, WA - Old School Pizzeria # (LATE)
Aug. 10 -  Tacoma, WA - New Frontier Lounge
 
*w/ So Pitted
^ w/ Screaming Females
# w/ Vexx

Posted by Rachel White