On the heels of the single releases of “30 Degrees,” and her cover of the classic Brazilian song “Berimbau”, comes the latest single, “Every Morning” from London-based artist Naima Bock.  
 
Naima spent her early childhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil with her Greek/English mother and Brazilian father. She was exposed to a diverse range of music from an early age. Artists like Baden Powell, Chico Buarque, Geraldo Vandre, Cartola were constantly playing in her house, and on long drives, she and her family would take to the beach. Naima and her family moved to South London when she was seven. As a teenager, Naima began attending shows, mostly at the Windmill Brixton.  At the tender age of 15, she and a group of friends decided to start making music which would eventually turn into her first band Goat Girl. After six years of touring the world and playing bass in the band, Naima felt like it was the right time to leave, mostly due to a desire for a change in musical direction. 
 
“Every Morning” was written by Naima, with production and arrangements with long-time collaborator Joel Burton. Naima met Burton (of the band Viewfinder, which she was a fan of) three years ago and, needing someone to play with, began booking shows as a duo. In recording, Naima leads with the structure, chords, and melody for a song whilst Joel oversees key parts including piano, string, and horn arrangements.
 
Naima says of “Every Morning”: I wrote this song whilst traveling, it was initially a stupid song about having some horrible eye infection and the chorus line was ‘itchy itchy eyes’. Then someone told me the melody was nice so I (naturally) reached into the barrel of neurosis and scooped out a gewey bunch of regret and nostalgia which resulted in the lyrics of ‘Every morning’. Since then, the only thing I’ve learnt is that people are the same. I’ve tried to stop lying but the white one slips out occasionally, I’ve tried to stop this too. Leaving people is also difficult, this song points to a very specific period in my life which consisted of tearing away from friends that I loved. It is not a song about romance, it is a song about the ending of friendships and how that can be just as much, if not more, painful. Producer Joel Burton wrote the beautiful outro melody in which we wanted to convey a sense of being at sea, alone but content.
 

Beach House’s Once Twice Melody, the group’s internationally acclaimed new album, is out today worldwide from Sub Pop, in Europe from Bella Union, and Australia and New Zealand from Mistletone.
 
Once Twice Melody is the first album produced entirely by Beach House, and was recorded at Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, MN, United Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore, MD. For the first time, a live string ensemble was used, with arrangements by David Campbell. Once Twice Melody was mostly mixed by Alan Moulder but a few tracks were also mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.
 
Once Twice Melody features 18 tracks, and is presented in 4 chapters with lyric animations for each song.. Watch the just-released Chapter 4 animations now at Beach House’s YouTube channel.
 
Chapter 1
1. Once Twice Melody
2. Superstar
3. Pink Funeral
4. Through Me
 
Chapter 2
5. Runaway
6. ESP
7. New Romance
8. Over and Over
 
Chapter 3
9. Sunset
10. Only You Know
11. Another Go Around
12. Masquerade
13. Illusion of Forever
 
Chapter 4
14. Finale
15. The Bells
16. Hurts to Love
17. Many Nights
18. Modern Love Stories
 
All formats of Once Twice Melody are available from Sub Pop, Bella Union (UK/Europe), and Mistletone (Australia / New Zealand), and select independent retailers in North America.
 
For those living in or traveling to Seattle, the Beach House Once Twice Melody pop-up/installation at Sub Pop on 7th in the city’s Belltown neighborhood, is now open (through March 14th, 2022). Fans can find Once Twice Melody-related merchandise (+ limited signed letter from the band with purchase of the Gold Edition box set, while supplies last), enter to win daily giveaways of rare Loser Editions from the band’s catalog, and much more. 
 
Beach House’s headlining tour begins tonight, February 18th in Pittsburgh at Stage AE and runs through Sunday, July 24th in Washington, DC at Anthem. For up to date information on tickets, please visit beachhousebaltimore.com.
 
What people are saying about Once Twice Melody:

“It’s also so sublimely imagistic that it makes you wonder why film directors and music supervisors haven’t been hounding Legrand and Scally to create movie scores.” The New Yorker“Its most ambitious and dynamic…” The New Yorker
 
“The band’s sprawling eighth album luxuriates in the rhapsody of sensation itself.” Pitchfork
 
“A symphony of sound that feels like a best-of Beach House collection, except every song is brand new.” Stereogum

“Legrand and Scally have truly outdone themselves…” Consequence

 
“Beach House proves there’s more to the duo than fans may think, with brash, lively arrangements that shine as much as the restrained ones (B+).” AV Club
 
“Once Twice Melody sometimes seems more like a painting than an album, one in which bits of color have been added to every corner over a long stretch of time..” Wall Street Journal
 
“Once Twice Melody’s greatness lies not in its hugeness - it’s in the duo’s ability to create music that possesses the same intimacy regardless of its scope (8/10).” UNCUT
 
“Their brand of meticulously crafted songwriting, candy-flossed melodies and textured, widescreen ambiance remain as compelling and mesmerizing as ever.” SPIN

“An epic, dreamy journey from heartbreak to redemption.” ★★★★ The Telegraph
 
“Back in 2006, Paris’s Victoria Legrand and Baltimore’s Alex Scally came up with a new style: dreamlike alternative pop, ambient but precise, with Legrand’s clear, unforced vocals floating over it all. Since then the duo have not so much transformed as honed their vision, leading to this superb double album.” ★★★★ The Times of London
 
“With its incredible ability to balance horror and romance, machinery and humanity, this is a diverse, innovative and well-considered collection of songs that, while asking a lot of listeners, rewards absolutely.” ★★★★ Irish Times
 
“The Baltimore duo’s masterful fusion of organic and synthetic textures makes each song a diaphanous little earworm of delight: on ‘Runaway’ the aerated guitar and celestial Moog interlude; the autumnal chamber backing on ‘Sunset’; Victoria’s echoed vocal at the beginning of ‘Only You Know’; the ghostly lullaby which laces the Badalamenti-flavored ‘Through Me.’” ★★★★ Record Collector
 
“Literally gives you shivers.” - Rockerilla
 
“In eighteen timeless and vaporous tracks, the dream pop duo does wonders. An eighth album to be placed high in their already rich discography.” Les Inrocks
 
“Rightfully proclaimed genre-defining purveyors of dream-pop, Victoria and Alex effortlessly match their own mountainous standards, delivering yet another all-engulfing, pensive package of sonic escapism. Let yourself be a canvas, and Beach House will paint you a beautiful picture.” ★★★★ DORK
 
“Beach House’s hymn to the grandeur of relationships is, perhaps, the most musically diverse and thematically mature project the duo has released to date—an emphatic affirmation of life’s joys and sorrows.” ★★★★ SLANT
 
“As much as any Beach House album is about finding new places to explore—or perhaps more accurately escape—within their hypnotic lullabies, Once Twice Melody is Beach House at their most uninhibited and playful, seemingly trying different things for the fun of it and by and large succeeding.” Treble
 
“Weaving in dustier threads to Beach House’s ever shimmery fabric proves that the cyborgian approach of mixing the organic with the mechanical is an increasingly winning formula (8/10).”  No Ripcord
 
“Once Twice Melody is a grand statement from Beach House that sits together as an extended album, while also offering more bite-sized memorable moments to take away, no doubt leaving plenty to discover on each return (8/10).’ Gigwise

“GOLD” Edition 2xLP Box / “SILVER” Edition 2xLP   

On March 25th, Guerilla Toss will release their Sub Pop debut, Famously Alive. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent – awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
 
On the heels of their latest single, “Cannibal Capital,” the band has shared a new video/single for their self-titled track “Famously Alive,”  directed by Jonny Kosmo. The song is about “living with purpose and excitement whether you’re famous or not, accepting your strangeness and thriving even if your successes look different than other people’s,” notes the band’s singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson. Multi-instrumentalist and band member Peter Negroponte offers this, “To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously. I also like to think of it as a way to describe living through something traumatic and coming out of it a stronger, wiser person.” 

 
Guerilla Toss have expanded their North American tour, which now begins on Thursday, April 7th in Greenfield, MA with a show at Hawks & Reed, and ends Thursday, May 12th in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s.
 
Thu. Apr. 07 - Greenfield, MA - Hawks & Reed
Fri. Apr. 08 - Catskills, NY - Avalon Lounge 
Sat. Apr. 09 - New Haven, CT - Space Ballroom 
Wed. Apr. 13- Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall
Thu. Apr. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
Fri. Apr. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5
Sat. Apr 16 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room @ Third Man Records
Sun. Apr. 17 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
Tue. Apr. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
Wed. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle
Thu. Apr. 21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 
Fri. Apr. 22 -  Toronto, ON - The Garrison
Sat. Apr. 23 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B
Mon. Apr. 25 - Portland, ME - Space
Tue. Apr. 26 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom at Somerville
Wed. Apr. 27 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theatre 
Thu. Apr. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
Fri. Apr. 29 - Queens, NY - TV Eye
Sat. Apr. 30 - Queens, NY - TV Eye
Wed. May 11 - Washington, DC - DC9
Thu. May 12 - Kingston, NY - Tubbys

Famously Alive is now available to preorder from Sub Pop. LPs purchased through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America and in the U.K. and Europe will receive the LOSER version on Clear Purple vinyl. 

Guerilla Toss
Famously Alive 
 
Tracklisting:
1. Cannibal Capital
2. Famously Alive
3. Live Exponential
4. Mermaid Airplane
5. Wild Fantasy
6. Pyramid Humm
7. Excitable Girls
8. I Got Spirit
9. Happy Me
10. Heathen In Me

In the official video for TV Priest’s “One Easy Thing”, the group’s excellent new single, singer Charlie Drinkwater is a beleaguered 15th-century knight on his return home from battle, and soon after, a solo danse macabre ensues. The darkly comic “One Easy Thing” video was helmed by Joe Wheatley (“Decoration”, “Press Gang”), shot on 16mm black and white stock by director of photography Kristof Brandl. The song is available today worldwide on DSPs from Sub Pop.
 
Charlie says “Writing ‘One Easy Thing’ was key to unlocking a more direct and personal approach to our songwriting. It’s about dealing with the small things of everyday life; the anxiety, pressures, and battles inside your own headspace - and not being afraid to show this in our songs.”
 
“One Easy Thing” further ushers in a new direction for the band and will appear on TV Priest’s forthcoming new album, due out on Sub Pop later this year. It follows the recent “Lifesize”  b/w ”All Thing” single (their contribution to volume 6 of the Sub Pop Singles Club), and Uppers, the band’s acclaimed, full-length debut, both released in 2021.
 
What people have said about TV Priest Uppers:
“With their wry wit and infectious hooks, this band might just be the future of music (9/10).” God Is In The TV
 
“Uppers…should rubber stamp TV Priest as one of, if not your favorite new act” - The Line Of Best Fit
 
“The blistering debut is a collection of delightfully pungent tracks, delivered in all their unashamed, reckless glory.” - CLASH
 
Ragged yet tight, sprawling yet focussed, it’s a singular vision of a disparate time. It rounds up most of the usual suspects of our Un-UK, the pop culture, the insularity, the lies on the side of a bus, but manages to breathe new life into those old tropes by sheer force of personality (★★★★) - DORK
 
“[Drinkwater’s] snarling style jostles perfectly with TV Priest’s fuzzed-and-flinty bass-forward style which, at its most brash, recalls McLusky, and at its most swaggering is in line with Iceage and Merchandise…what Uppers really shows is he’s best when he sings. That booming voice of his can carry a tune and is capable of holding a little bravado, too, without sliding too far into melodrama, which comes in handy on dark, brooding tracks like ‘Saintless,’ ‘This Island,’ and ‘Slidewater.’” - Brooklyn Vegan
 
“The album … is quite possibly the ideal soundtrack to our current climate. It’s harsh, overwhelming and, honestly, pretty fucking funny (8/10).” - Northern Transmissions
 
“Uppers provides thrills aplenty from a band making their mark during strange times as our new normal sets in, intent on seizing their second chance.” - Beats Per Minute

Sub Pop Records is extremely proud to announce the return (for our 16th year!) of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. Further details on the scholarship are below, and even further below is some clarification on what we mean with all this “Loser” business.

Sub Pop Records is offering a grand total of $17,500 in college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—one for $7,500, and two for $5,000 each. As longtime, proud losers ourselves, we’re exceedingly happy to be able, in some small way, to help further the education of art-enthused misfits from the NW. Individuals from all cultures and communities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be residents of Washington or Oregon, and graduating seniors on the way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for applicants who are involved and/or interested in music and/or creative media and arts in some way. However, you do not need to be pursuing an education in the arts.

To apply: you must submit an essay, one page or less, using any combination of the following questions as a guide (or write something completely your own, be inspired and creative!). Please list the school you are graduating from and the school you plan to attend in the fall at the top of your essay along with your contact information.

- What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?

- What does being a Sub Pop ‘Loser’ mean to you?

- What are your influences and/or who inspired you to become involved in the arts?

- Describe your biggest failure and explain how it has brought you closer to your goal(s).

- Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart.

- How has your family or community background affected the way you see the world?

- Why should you be the Loser winner?

Applicants are strongly (!) encouraged to send digital links and/or provide hard copies of their artwork, photos of community involvement, radio show links, videos, etc. along with their essay (we have never had a winner who submitted only an essay w/no extras). However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022.

Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Wednesday, March 23rd. We will announce the scholarship winners during the first week of April.

What we talk about when we talk about “Loser.”

Here at Sub Pop Records, we use the word “loser” a lot. You may have noticed. We’ve printed it on things we sell (hats, shirts, stickers, mugs, and more!), we call the first, colored-vinyl, limited-edition pressings of the records we release the “Loser Edition,” and every year since 2007 ish we’ve awarded tuition money to college-bound NW high school students through the “Sub Pop Loser Scholarship.” And, it’s possible we take for granted that you guys catch our drift and understand what we mean when we’re all “loser this,” and “loser that.” So! The following…

Sub Pop’s use of the word “loser” goes back to the foundation of the label and is meant as a celebration of unabashedly being ourselves without conforming to any preconceived ideas of “normal.” To be a loser is central to the very idea of underground art and culture - all of it happening and thriving outside of the mainstream, and not necessarily looking for a way in. Bruce Pavitt’s “New Pop Manifesto” in the 1st issue of Subterranean Pop included, “The important thing to remember is this: the most intense music, the most original ideas… are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist… Only by supporting new ideas by local artists, bands, and record labels can the U.S. expect any kind of dynamic social/cultural change…” And, since 2007 or so, with the Loser Scholarship, we’ve been adding students to that list, and putting our (or, our co-founder, big boss and biggest loser ever, Jonathan Poneman’s…) money where our mouth is. Sub Pop Records strives to bring attention to music and art from the fringes that might otherwise remain marginalized. And, in that same spirit, through our annual Loser Scholarship, we’re looking for art-enthused misfits in NW high schools, losers like us, to help them pay for college. We stand proudly with and support the misfits, weirdos and losers, because we believe that when we’re able to proudly be nothing other than our true selves, we have the ability to make the world stronger, smarter and better.