You guys, we did it. We finally fucking did it. The Pittsburgh, PA band The Gotobeds have signed a worldwide recording contract with Sub Pop Records. As fans of The Gotobeds from their very first cassette release up through their excellent debut LP, Poor People Are Revolting, released in 2014 on Gerard Cosloy’s 12XU label, we here at Sub Pop couldn’t be happier to work with these fine young men. Keep your ears open for new music in the near future, and be sure to catch The Gotobeds on their upcoming tour with Hardly Art recording artists Protomartyr, which begins with a hometown show on April 8th at Gooski’s and ends April 18th in Athens, GA at Caledonia Lounge (dates below).
 
Who the heck are The Gotobeds, you ask? Well, here’s the deal, according to the band’s singer/guitarist Hazy Lazer (real name TBD):
 
Around March 2009, shortly after I lost my job, I bumped into my longtime friend Parryman at an all-night art gallery and we talked about finally making a band stick beyond a couple of drunken, hazy practices. Pittsburgh at the time had a nice, Thatcher-esque feel thanks to the housing bubble bursting, so I was keen to do something beyond getting up at noon and trying to hit my favorite brunch spot. But not toomuch more.
 
I had all of these songs sitting around that didn’t make sense for my other band, Kim Phuc. Parryman wasn’t really a drummer and I wasn’t really a singer so it seemed natural that we’d try our hand at those things. We made long lists of bands and strange sounds we wanted to try out. Being from a city that has great bands but is removed from most things gave us time to gestate, and if you’re intelligent enough to read between the lines you know I’m covering for the fact that we were initially pretty terrible.
 
Arid Plateau took on bass duties once he made the correct decision to move from Chicago to Pittsburgh despite only knowing a couple of people here. As far as guitar players go, we had several in our infancy, but each of them turned out to be simply experiencing a moment of transitional chaos before they resigned themselves to the rat race. COOL U, who drummed in Kim Phuc, eventually asked to play guitar with us, which completed our final lineup.
 
We kicked around for a few years to find our footing. It’s easy to form a band with an initial sound or look that is someone else’s, but that’s always the least interesting way to go about things. So we tried on a few hats to figure out that they didn’t fit or they wouldn’t get us laid. Most of what we agree on is stuff with guitars in it. I wanted to be the Swell Maps and just make a big bunch of classic songs with junk on top, but we ended up with a mish-mash of DIY/Punk/Post-Punk/Indie sounds ala The Fall, early Pavement, Wire, Wipers, Mission of Burma, Sonic Youth, Total Control, Tyvek, Protomartyr, etc.
 
We approached our first LP in the fashion of The Replacements’ Let It Be, what with the cheeky title and grab-bag of disparate strands of rock. Every band is trying to incorporate too much shit, so we just made sounds that we all loved, and lucked into recording all the songs in one day. “Secs Tape,” “Jenna Rations,” and “Fucking Machine” are all first takes. The ’90s are back! We’re waiting to cash our checks.
 
Important note: The Gotobeds is one word. It’s someone’s name. We’re a punk family like The Ramones or the Osmonds. We’re not going to bed anytime soon.
Jah Bless - Hazy Lazer 2014.
 
What people have said about The Gotobeds:
“This is attitude-heavy, snarling, railing-against-everything punk-informed indie rock. If you dig Protomartyr and Parquet Courts or Pavement or The Fall (or Wire), this is pretty much essential listening.” - Brooklyn Vegan

“A rowdy, ramshackle party house of a band, built on the intersecting bedrock of post-punk and indie rock…The Gotobeds’ members paint a dirty, driven, vulgar portrait of Rust Belt restlessness.” [Poor People Are Revolting] - NPR Music 

“A noisy, raucous 41-minute post-punk assault…” [Poor People Are Revolting] - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“A stellar debut from a band you should be excited about, especially if you’re young enough to not remember the times when indie-rock was actually the adventurous land of creative bands. Gotobeds (along with Protomartyr and some others) seem to be possibly making that happen again.” [Poor People Are Revolting] - Terminal Boredom

Tour Dates
Apr. 08 - Pittsburgh, PA - Gooski’s *
Apr. 09  - Ithaca, NY - Cornell University *
Apr. 11 - Providence, RI - AS220 *
Apr. 12 - Cambridge, MA - Club Bohemia *
Apr. 13 - Willimantic, CT - Willimantic Records
Apr. 14 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s *
Apr. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - The Wick *
Apr. 16 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall *
Apr. 17 - Winston-Salem, NC - The Garage *
Apr. 18 - Athens, GA - Caledonia *
* w/ Protomartyr

Sub Pop & Hardly Art at SxSW 2015 / March 15-22:
Danny Bland, Chastity Belt, King Tuff, La Luz, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Luluc, METZ, Rat Fist (Randy from No Age), & THEESatisfaction
 
Sub Pop & Hardly Art SXSW Rdio & Beats Playlists
Rdio: http://goo.gl/WvCPgq
Beats: http://goo.gl/a8wlr7

 
Sub Pop & Hardly Art artists Danny Bland, Chastity Belt, King Tuff, La Luz, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, Luluc, METZ, and THEESatisfaction, along with our friends Rat Fist (feat. Randy from No Age), will appear at the 2015 edition of SXSW. Please find a complete schedule for each artist below.

Daughn Gibson’s Carnation will be available on CD / LP / DL June 1st in Europe, June 2nd in North America and June 8th in the UK from Sub Pop. The album, featuring the highlights “Shatter You Through,” “Bled to Death,” “It Wants Everything,” was co-produced by Gibson and Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Tim Hecker), recorded at Avast Studios in Seattle, Washington and mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering. The album features guest appearances from composer/violinist to Eyvind Kang (string arrangements), renowned studio drummer Matt Chamberlain, as well as Gibson’s long-standing musical conspirator, Jim Elkington. Additional contributions include: Steve Moore (Piano, Trombone, Keyboards and Synths); Milky Burgess, Paul Wegman, and Jer Rouse (Guitars); Skerik (Saxophone); and Jay Kardong (Pedal Steel). Carnation is the follow up to Me Moan, his Sub Pop debut.  Please find a complete tracklisting below.
 
You can now listen to the lead single, “Shatter You Through” via Stereogum, who says of the track: “As odd as anything he’s committed to tape, but it’s also his most instantly appealing single” (see premiere March 12th).”
 
Pre-orders of Carnation are available through Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. Fans who purchase the album from megamart.subpop.com will receive the Loser Edition on white, black and blue swirl colored vinyl (while supplies last).  There will also be new T-shirt design, available individually and as part of a bundle with purchase of Carnation.
 
About Daughn Gibson’s Carnation:
Daughn Gibson of Carlisle, PA is a singer, songwriter and musician possessed of a singular and strange vision. Carnation is the latest exhilarating and dark embodiment of that vision. It’s also his third album. It’s an album that’s more elegant and sophisticated than anything he’s done to date, and which sees the elements of country music, more prominent on his past records (the 2012 release All Hell on the White Denim label and Sub Pop’s 2013 release of Me Moan), undone by ambient textures and sounds to extraordinary effect.

Shot through with a deep sensuality, Carnation is a high-wire balancing act, at times sexual, emotionally intense and comforting. The album features Daughn’s strongest songwriting yet, with lyrical subject matter that shares a kinship with writers Raymond Carver and Donald Ray Pollack. The music here combines with those lyrics to widescreen effect, and Carnation feels filmic in its execution: It evokes, and in many ways pays homage to, the works of Tim Burton, Pier Paulo Pasolini, and John Waters.
 
Carnation’s most pervasive theme might best be described as the chaos of circumstance and the 11 tracks here tell related stories. In “Bled to Death,” Daughn passes away and laments the cruel hand dragging him back to earth.  On “Daddy I Cut My Hair,” a young man recently released from a mental health facility desperately searches for sexual intimacy. “A Rope Ain’t Enough” follows the story of an ambivalent man suddenly awaking to the disease of masculinity, and formulating a plan to eradicate it. “It Wants Everything” is written from the point of view of a drunk and belligerent “jester of circumstance”. Then there’s the addictive lead single, “Shatter You Through,” which happens to detail a moment of peaceful sleep broken by the alarm clock toll of dread and sadness, but proves to be one hell of an earworm (read more at Sub Pop).

We here at Sub Pop Records love few things more than Record Store Day. On Saturday, April 18th, 2015 aka Record Store Day, we will release two very limited (and potentially, for you) anticipated efforts: The self-titled LP from the Alan Bishop-led Koes Barat and a heart-shaped single from Father John Misty.     
 
Father John Misty’s “I Loved You, Honeybee” 7” Single:
Father John Misty presents a lovely, alternate version of the title track of his latest album, I Love You, Honeybear, along with a new, exclusive B-side, truthfully-entitled “I’ve Never Been a Woman,” on a red-colored, heart-shaped 7” in a 10” sleeve. This release is exclusive to Record Store Day, and it is limited to 5,700 copies worldwide.
 
Koes Barat Koes Barat LP:
In 2010, Sun City Girls legend Alan Bishop asserted his fandom of Indonesian ‘60s/’70s pop legends Koes Bersaudara (aka Koes Plus) with two archival releases on his and Hisham Mayet’s Sublime Frequencies label. But that wasn’t enough. Feeling an overwhelming urge to interpret Koes tunes, Bishop recorded Koes Barat in less than a week of sessions with some of his favorite musicians and producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Marisa Nadler). The result is the most immediate, fun collection that the prolific Bishop has ever led. This album is a Record Store Day exclusive, limited to 3,800 worldwide.
 
Father John Misty
“I Loved You, Honeybee” 7” (includes download code)
Tracklisting:
A. “I Loved You, Honeybee”
B. “I’ve Never Been a Woman”
                                                                                                                                              
Koes Barat
Koes Barat
LP (includes download code)
Tracklisting:
1. Kelelewar
2. Kisah Sedih di Hari Minggu
3. Pent Juri Hati
4. Mister Time
5. Hidup Yang Sepi
6. And to the so-called “The Guilties”
7. Tjintamu Telah Berlalu
8. Poor Clown
9. Land of Evergreen
10. Rahasia Hatiku
11. Tiba Tiba Ku Menangis
 
More About Record Store Day:
This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers, and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home