King Tuff shares a wild video for “Portrait of God,” the rollicking new single from his recently announced new album, Smalltown Stardust, out January 27th via Sub Pop.
“If you were to ask me what my religion is I would say 3 things: Music, Art, and Nature. Those are the things I’ve dedicated my life to and which bring me the purest of joy,” Thomas explains. “Often when I’m making art or music I feel something guiding me- call it god, call it Magic, call it Jim… whatever it is, it makes me happy! My god is probably something totally different than yours, and that’s a beautiful thing! I was thinking about that one day, so I wrote this song. What does your god look like? Is it a frog sitting atop a mushroom? A fifteen headed cobra? A swirling vortex? Old white guy with a long white beard is the only wrong answer!”
At the core of Smalltown Stardust lies Thomas’s desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs and create a setting unmistakably far away from Los Angeles, as evidenced in the “Portrait of God” video, shot in the rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. “It’s one of my favorite places on Earth, perhaps the most magical forest I’ve ever seen! It was honestly hard to concentrate on making the video when there was so much mossy love around us,” says Thomas. The video, directed by Nicola and Juliana Giraffe, co-stars SASAMI, who also co-wrote and co-produced the album.
Last month, King Tuff announced the album with a video for the title track “Smalltown Stardust,” which Consequence praised as “a triumphant return,” Rolling Stone called a ‘Song You Need To Know’ and Paste named one of the ‘Best Songs of the Week’ saying it’s “warped in unexpected ways.”
King Tuff is hitting the road next year in support of Smalltown Stardust. The North American tour kicks off March 1st in San Diego, CA and wraps April 7th at Joshua Tree, CA with a show at Pappy and Harriets. All dates below.
SMALLTOWN STARDUST TOUR DATES:
March 1 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
March 3 Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
March 4 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
March 6 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
March 7 Vancouver, BC @ The Wise
March 8 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
March 10 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
March 11 Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
March 15 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall Upstairs
March 17 Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
March 18 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
March 19 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
March 21 Washington, DC @ DC9
March 22 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
March 23 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
March 24 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall
March 25 Brattleboro, VT @ The Stone Church
March 28 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
March 29 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
March 31 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
April 1 Minneapolis, MN @ The Turf Club
April 3 Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
April 5 Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
April 6 Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
April 7 Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share.
It’s a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020.
But knowing he couldn’t simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas—who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont—set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand.
“I wanted to make an album to remind myself that life is magical,” he reflects.
The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist’s back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. Images of his youth abound.
While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas’s past, the album’s recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas’s Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021’s Fun House and 2022’s Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Thomas describes the time with a fitting metaphor: “I’ve always thrived around other people making things. You want to bloom with each other.” Ashworth’s contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. As Thomas notes, “I tried to follow her vision a lot. It helps to open your world to collaborators. You always get something completely different than you would have expected.”
In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. In making the record, Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by a small circle of collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us. “I’m a different person now than I was 20 years ago when I first started it. But oddly, when I first started the band, it was more like this,” he says. Which is to say, things have come full circle.
Weird Nightmare’s gloriously distorted cover of The Troggs’ 1966 classic bummer ballad, “Our Love Will Still Be There” is out now. “British Invasion is a really big part of my musical DNA” shares Weird Nightmare’s Alex Edkins. “The Kinks, The Troggs, The Pretty Things are my go-to comfort music. I wear their influence pretty heavily on my sleeve on at least a couple Weird Nightmare songs, “I Think You Know” and “Lusitania” come to mind. The Troggs, and all the American garage bands they influenced, make distorted pop that, to my ears, sounds like the precursor to punk. Loose, gritty, immediate, and heartfelt.”
This new cover follows the band’s self-titled full length debut, as well as the double A-Side split, “I Think You Know” w/ “Bird With an Iron Head” with friends Ancient Shapes, in addition to the recently released single “So Far Gone.”
Weird Nightmare are currently on tour opening a batch of US dates w Archers of Loaf, before and then after Edkins heads out on a special 10 Years Anniversary Tour on the US west coast w METZ in December. See below for a full list of dates.
Weird Nightmare Tour Dates w/ Archers of Loaf: Fri. Dec. 02 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw Wed. Jan. 11 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace Thu. Jan. 12 - Detroit, MI - El Club Fri. Jan 13 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge Sat. Jan 14 - St. Louis, MO - Delmar Hall Sun. Jan 15 - Nashville, TN - Basement East
METZ 10 Years Anniversary Tour Dates: Wed. Dec. 07 - Phoenix AZ - Valley Bar # Thu. Dec. 08 - Los Angeles, CA- Teragram Ballroom # Fri. Dec. 09 - Oakland, CA - New Parish # Sun. Dec. 11 - Seattle, WA - Neumos # Mon. Dec. 12 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge # Thu. Dec. 15 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club * Fri. Dec 16 - Chicago, IL - Metro *
# w/ Kowloon Walled City * w/ Spiritual Cramp
What people have been saying about Weird Nightmare: “The debut Weird Nightmare album from METZ guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins is a hook-filled set of blown-out power-pop with distorted guitars, punchy rhythms and bright pop melodies.” - KEXP
“The tension between chaos and order sparks gripping theater on songs like “Searching for You,” a descendant of “Anarchy in the UK,” the grunge-inclined “Lusitania” and the atypical, eight-minute ballad “Holding Out,” which suggests an angsty sleepwalker. Whatever the groove, Edkins sounds like a man on the verge of spontaneous combustion.” - The Big Takeover
“Weird Nightmare is all about hooks and melody. Still delivered with levels in the red, but these are ultracatchy powerpop songs first and foremost, and really good ones at that.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“‘Weird Nightmare’ is Alex Edkins giving us an access all areas pass to his creative process. It’s an invite no-one should decline.” - Northern Transmissions
“Weird Nightmare isn’t something that will have listeners running away or falling asleep. Edkins’s 10-song tracklist is a fun, energetic and zany concoction of sounds and textures that recall his main band while simultaneously taking things in fresh directions.” - Exclaim!
“If having fun and being free was what Edkins most wanted to come through on the recording of Weird Nightmare, he undoubtedly achieved it on his delightfully distorted and warped debut solo album.” - Exclaim!
“On the 10 tracks that comprise the project’s self-titled Sub Pop debut, Edkins revels in magnetic hooks and brighter, sunny melodies, exploring explicitly an aspect of his songwriting that had previously been mostly implicit.” - Treble
“…Weird Nightmare will bring a little noisy sunshine to your day.” - Narc
Each and every year we come to you with an irresistible deal around the time of year commonly referred to as “the holidays.” This year is evidently no different! As a sign of our gratitude we are inviting you (our ever so enthusiastic customers friends) to shop our Somewhat Satisfying Sale, where we are offering our high quality music and merchandise at a discounted rate!
Here are the very fine details: Between 12:01am (PST) November 25th and 11:59 PM (PST) January 1, 2023, buy $30 or more worth of stuff (not including shipping and tax) from the Mega Mart and get 20% off all eligible items. Buy $75 worth of stuff and you’ll also receive free domestic shipping!
What is eligible? Everything in the shop is eligible for this 20% off, except gift cards and Singles Club Vol. 8 subscriptions.
What items in particular would we describe as satisfying, you ask? New releases from Weyes Blood, Beach House, Father John Misty, Frankie Cosmos, Built to Spill, Suki Waterhouse, and so many more have us feeling fulfilled this year. We’re also pretty content with our new Sub Fuzz Sweatshirt and Flannels.
Why only “somewhat satisfying”??!
In these trying times, that just feels like enough! Plus, also the thing about not being able to please all of the people all of the time, not being able to pick your friend’s noses, etc.
Please note! If there are any pre-order items in your cart at checkout, your entire order will not ship until the shipping date of the furthest out pre-order. That means your order will not ship until after the first of the year, and you will not receive any part of your order in time for the holidays. The solution to this is: place multiple orders.
All orders placed by/on December 16th are guaranteed to ship out before we close up shop for the year, so get your orders in early and often. Related to this impending warehouse closure, any orders placed between December 17th and January 1st will not ship out until after we are back in operation on January 3rd.
Thank you in advance for your continued support and patronage (different and much more financially satisfying to us than all that patronizing…). May the end of your year be filled with happiness and also Sub Pop merchandise!
Put on your seatbelt and take in sights on this psychedelic trip through the algorithms in Quasi’s official video for “Doomscrollers,” directed by B.A. Miale. The song is from Breaking the Balls of History, out February 10th, 2023 worldwide through Sub Pop.
Quasi’s Breaking the Balls of History is the duo’s Sub Pop debut and frontrunner for our favorite album title ever. The twelve-track effort was produced by the duo and John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Unwound, Treepeople, Team Dresch) at Rob Lang Studios in Seattle, engineered and mixed by Goodmanson, and mastered by Bill Skibbe at Third Man Mastering.
Quasi is supporting Breaking the Balls of History with a headlining U.S. tour in early 2023 beginning Friday, February 10th in Boise, ID at Neurolux and ending Tuesday, March 28th in Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe. Preceding these dates, Quasi will headline a show in London, UK on December 7th, 2022 at The Victoria. Tickets for these shows are on sale now. The tour will feature support (select dates) from the likes of Hurry Up (Feb. 22nd-25th), Yuvees (Feb. 10th-20th), No. 2 (Mar. 2nd-4th), Shaylee (Mar. 4th), and Bat Fangs (Mar. 14th-28th). Please find a complete list of dates below.
Wed. Dec. 07 - London, UK - The Victoria Fri. Feb. 10 - Boise, ID - Neurolux ^ Sat. Feb. 11 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court ^ Mon. Feb. 13 - Albuquerque, NM - Sister ^ Wed. Feb. 15 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger ^ Thu. Feb. 16 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall ^ Fri. Feb. 17 - Austin, TX - The Parish ^ Sat. Feb. 18 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada ^ Mon. Feb. 20 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace ^ Wed. Feb. 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge * Thu. Feb. 23 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy and Harriet’s * Fri. Feb. 24 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon * Sat. Feb. 25 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club * Sun. Feb. 26 - Sacramento, CA - Starlet Room Thu. Mar. 02 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret # Fri. Mar. 03 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern # Sat. Mar. 04 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge # ! Tue. Mar. 14 -Boston, MA - The Sinclair % Wed. Mar. 15 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s % Thu. Mar. 16 - Ridgewood, NY - TV Eye % Fri. Mar. 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s % Sun. Mar. 19 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook % Tue. Mar. 21 - Atlanta, GA - 529 % Wed. Mar. 22 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn % Thu. Mar. 23 - Nashville, TN - Blue Room at Third Man Records % Fri. Mar. 24 - St. Louis, MO - Off-Broadway % Sat. Mar. 25 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle % Sun. Mar. 26 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups % Mon. Mar. 27 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records % Tue. Mar. 28 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe %
Quasi’s Breaking the Balls of History features the aforementioned “Doomscrollers,” “Nowheresville,” “Gravity,” and “Queen of Ears,” the album’s first single and official video, directed by Patrick Stanton.
Quasi’s Breaking the Balls of History will be available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs and can be preordered now from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on pink vinyl.
Quasi Breaking the Balls of History
Tracklisting: 1. Last Long Laugh 2. Back in Your Tree 3. Queen of Ears 4. Gravity 5. Shitty Is Pretty 6. Riots & Jokes 7. Breaking the Balls of History 8. Doomscrollers 9. Inbetweenness 10. Nowheresville 11. Rotten Wrock 12. The Losers Win
Weyes Blood’s And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, her astonishing new album, will be available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs this Friday, November 18th, 2022 from Sub Pop. Today, she shares the devastating album centerpiece “God Turn Me Into A Flower,” which features synthesizer from Daniel Lopatin.
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow ten tracks were written by Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, with album production from Mering along with Jonathan Rado on all songs except for “A Given Thing,” produced by Mering and Rodaidh McDonald. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow was mixed by Kenny Gilmore at 101 Studio, mastered by Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood at The Lodge, and features guest appearances from Meg Duffy, and Mary Lattimore.
Weyes Blood’s “In Holy Flux Tour,” a headlining international touring run for late winter and Spring of 2023 in support of And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, begins on Saturday, January 28th in Berlin at Festsaal Kreuzberg and currently runs through Saturday, April 2nd in Tulsa at Cain’s Ballroom. Preceding the tour dates in the new year, there are two new Southern California shows for December 2022: Tuesday, December 6th in San Diego at Music Box and Wednesday, December 7th in Yucca Valley at Awe Bar. For up-to-date information on tickets, please visit WeyesBlood.com/tour.
December 2022 Tue. Dec. 06 - San Diego, CA - Music Box Wed. Dec. 07 - Yucca Valley, CA - Awe Bar Thu. Dec. 08 - Los Angeles, CA - The Theatre at Ace Hotel [SOLD OUT] Fri. Dec. 09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Theatre at Ace Hotel [SOLD OUT]
In Holy Flux Tour 2023 UK/Europe Sat.Jan. 28 - Berlin, DE - Festsaal Kreuzberg Mon. Jan. 30 - Stockholm, SE - Berns Tue. Jan. 31 - Oslo, NO - Rockefeller Wed. Feb. 01 - Copenhagen, DK - VEGA Fri. Feb. 03 - Cologne, DE - Kulturkirche Sat. Feb. 04 - Paris, FR - Le Trianon Sun. Feb. 05 - Brussels, BE - Botanique - Orangerie Mon. Feb. 06 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Wed. Feb.08 - London, UK - Roundhouse Thu. Feb. 09 - Bristol, UK - SWX Fri. Feb. 10 - Glasgow, UK - QMU Sun. Feb. 12- Dublin, IE - Vicar Street Mon. Feb. 13 - Manchester, UK - O2 Ritz Tue. Feb. 14 - Brighton, UK - CHALK
North America Wed. Feb. 22 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl Thu. Feb. 23 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse Fri. Feb. 24 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel Sat. Feb. 25 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle [SOLD OUT] Mon. Feb. 27 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club [SOLD OUT] Tue. Feb. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer Fri. Mar. 03 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel [SOLD OUT] Sat. Mar. 04 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Steel [SOLD OUT] Sun. Mar. 05 - Boston, MA - Roadrunner Tue. Mar. 07 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS Wed. Mar. 08 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall Thu. Mar. 09 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall Fri. Mar. 10 - Detroit, MI - El Club [SOLD OUT] Sat. Mar. 11 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre Mon. Mar. 13 - Milwaukee, WI - The Pabst Theater Tue. Mar. 14 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue Wed. Mar. 15 - Des Moines, IA - Wooly’s Fri. Mar. 17 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre Sat. Mar. 18 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot Sun. Mar. 19 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House Tue. Mar. 21 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom Wed. Mar. 22 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox at The Market [SOLD OUT] Thu. Mar. 23 - Portland, OR - McMenamins Crystal Ballroom Sat. Mar. 25 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom [SOLD OUT] Sun. Mar. 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom Tue. Mar. 28 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren Wed. Mar. 29 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf [SOLD OUT] Fri. Mar. 31 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater Sat. Apr. 01 - Dallas, TX - Studio at The Factory Sun. Apr. 02 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom What people are saying about Weyes Blood’s And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow: “Ms. Mering has described this LP as the second in a trilogy—Titanic Rising was about the ecosystem and touched on climate change, Darkness is about the fragile state of the human psyche, and the next album will be about hope. We find all of those subjects on this record in varying degrees, and though it’s hard to know if she will follow through on this plan, it’s exciting to see an artist thinking about her work with such ambition. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow easily matches its acclaimed predecessor in quality and scope, which is saying something.” Wall Street Journal
“Her voice alone is worth preserving humanity for…(9/10).” - Uncut
“Her reverence for the devotional reverberates in many of her songs, especially the ones on her new album And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, whose sumptuous melodies often rise like a prayer.” ★★★★ ½ - Our Culture
“And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow again shows Mering’s most extraordinary craft.” ★★★★ - MOJO
“Her latest is rock ballads, a feminine twist on the tradition of Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd. Mering writes alone, which is unheard of these days, and sings spectacularly well. Murmuring one minute, soaring the next, she pulls you into her world.” ★★★★ - Mail on Sunday
“Gorgeous, sprawling soundscapes (8/10)” - Crack
“Mering has concocted a successor to Titanic Rising that any gambler worth their salt would have no doubt taken the under on. That Mering topped her own prior masterwork is its own reward and one we are no doubt not worthy of. Daring to think of what might come next should be set aside while letting this one fully sink in (9/10).” - No Ripcord
“Right from the first line of the first song, you remember how Natalie Mering is one of the best around for perfectly poising a line to make you stand up and take notice. On And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, she lets you back into her world with her warm, lugubrious tones riding high in the mix, setting up a confessional, intimate feel to the entire album.” ★★★★ - The Skinny
“And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow weaves a spell around listeners like a cocoon. It’s a triumph…(9/10).” - RIFF
“Mering pins her hopes on the idea that as naturally as things fall apart, they often fall into the right place, too. Maybe there’s a bit of magical thinking on her part – it would certainly fit the ethereal essence of all her music – but she might be onto something. Hopefully we won’t have to hold on much longer for the final part of the trilogy to see if she’s right (8/10).” - Northern Transmissions
Weyes Blood And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Tracklist 1. It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody 2. Children of the Empire 3. Grapevine 4. God Turn Me Into a Flower 5. Hearts Aglow 6. And in the Darkness 7. Twin Flame 8. In Holy Flux 9. The Worst Is Done 10. A Given Thing
