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.

You can now hear the final installment of the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 6, a new single by The Black Tones, out today worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
 
Simply put, The Black Tones are like a mixture of Kurt Cobain and cornbread. Consisting of founders/twin siblings Eva Walker on guitar/vocals and Cedric Walker on drums, the blues- and punk-based dynamo continuously project subversion, power and the potential for something new. 
 
The Black Tones’ “The End of Everything” is about just that: the end of the world and, well, eventually the universe. Named after the book The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack, the song confronts the fact that, whether it’s the second coming of who or whatever you believe in, this will all end. “Mr. Mines,” named after a black tour-bus guide/driver from Eva and Cedric’s youth, is guided by the light yet hearty vocals of Ednah Holt (Talking Heads/Ritchie Family). The song is heavily influenced by Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky” and Jackie Mittoo’s “Ghetto Organ”.
 
The Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 6 series includes subscription-only 7” singles by John Waters, Kim Gordon/J Mascis, Jeff Tweedy, Duma, LIDS, Washed Out, Hand Habits, Porridge Radio, Sheltered Workshop Singers, TV Priest, BNH Deluxe, and The Black Tones. Hear music from the series via the Singles Club playlist, and grab one of the last remaining subscriptions here (we only made 1,000 and they’re almost gone!).
 
We’d also like to remind you that the Sub Pop Singles Club will continue for yet another year! Subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 7 to get twelve exclusive, limited-to-1,000-copies, colored-vinyl 7” records that you will, undoubtedly, love and adore. Subscribers will get 7”s by Bartees Strange, Party Dozen, Matthew “Doc” Dunn, The William Loveday Intention (feat. Billy Childish!), The Shadracks (feat. the son of Billy Childish!), Sidney Gish, and more TBA. Vol. 7 runs from April, 2022 and ending February, 2023.

The Black Tones
“The End of Everything” b/w “Mr. Mines”

Watch the official video for Father John Misty’s “Q4,” the new single from Chloë and the Next 20th Century, his forthcoming new album, directed by Grant James (“I Love You, Honeybear,” “Funtimes in Babylon”) with title design by Rafa Orrico, and typestract animation by Cossa.

On April 14th, 2022, Father John Misty will celebrate the release of Chloë and The Next 20th Century, with a pair of intimate performances presented by Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center at the iconic Rainbow Room.
 
Entry to the show is free with the pre-purchase of a signed LP edition of Chloë and The Next 20th Century, available for $32.98, on a first-come-first served basis from the online store here. Pre-purchase of the record confirms your RSVP to the show. Availability is limited.
 
Up to two records may be pre-purchased per person for redemption of two passes to the show.
 
Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center present Father John Misty at The Rainbow Room
April 14, 2022
Early show / 7pm
Late show / 9:30pm
Rainbow Room (65th Floor)
30 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC
 
Father John Misty’s first two symphony performances for 2022 — February 25th in Los Angeles at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the LA Phil, and April 7th in London at the Barbican with Britten Sinfonia conducted by Jules Buckley — are now both sold out.
 
Chloë and The Next 20th Century, which also includes the singles “Funny Girl,” “Goodbye Mr. Blue,” and “Kiss Me (I Loved You),” and will be available April 8th, 2022 worldwide from Sub Pop and in Europe from Bella Union. All formats of Chloë and the Next 20th Century are available for preorder now from Sub Pop, Bella Union (UK/Europe), and select independent retailers in North America.
 
“Funny Girl,” Chloë and the Next 20th Century’s first single, saw praise upon its release in early January. Rolling Stone offers this, “A lovely, languid gem that shows Tillman quietly reintroducing himself  — with a little help from an orchestral arrangement that echoes old Hollywood…in classic Misty fashion, leaves us quizzically charmed (“Song You Need To Know”).” The FADER says ‘Funny Girl’ is a “lush and romantic ballad…and shows that there’s much more to Josh Tillman… (‘20 Best Rock Songs Right Now’),” while CLASH calls it a “Gorgeous new song” and notes that it’s “sheer Father John Misty - tender, open, and just a touch ironic, the word play is matched to a clipped, neo-classic vocal.”

Sub Pop is delighted to welcome Weird Nightmare, the electrifying new project from METZ guitarist and singer Alex Edkins, to the label’s storied roster of artists. Label co-founder, Jonathan Poneman on the irresistible allure of Weird Nightmare: “One can hear, respect, and fully appreciate Alex’s reverence for the ingratiating hook, which he wields both generously and masterfully. Yeah. Killer!”

 The debut full-length Weird Nightmare album will be released by Sub Pop later this year and we’ll have a lot more to say about that very soon. In the meantime, please enjoy a brief glimpse of Weird Nightmare in this gloriously fuzzy teaser.

Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are thrilled to announce their new album, Endless Rooms, out May 6th on Sub Pop, as well as their first North American tour since 2019. Additionally, they are sharing the album’s first taste, “The Way It Shatters,” alongside an accompanying video. The band – comprised of Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie, and brothers Tom and Joe Russo - return following 2020’s Sideways To New Italy with their most naturalistic and expansive album yet, a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of Rolling Blackouts C.F. In their own words, Endless Rooms is the band “doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together.” 

The lead single “The Way It Shatters” started simply as a home-recorded MIDI-jam before expanding into the blistering earworm it is now. It heavily features synth, an instrument rarely seen on previous releases from Rolling Blackouts C.F. The band further elaborates: “It’s about how ending up in your particular situation in life is the result of absolute randomness. If you happen to be born into wealthy Australia or happen to be born into a war zone in Syria. That’s just the way it shatters. So it’s when this good luck is mistaken for a sense of pride in one’s self or their country they become confused and deluded about what’s important. It’s when those on the other side of the luck scale are completely othered and considered not worthy.” In the accompanying video, directed by frequent collaborator Nick Mckk, Joe White plays a man who wakes up on the shore and stumbles into a birthday party, attended by the rest of the band members. 

While initial ideas for Endless Rooms were traded online during long spells spent separated by Australia’s strict lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush around two hours north of Melbourne built by the extended Russo family in the 1970s. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there (and put the house on the album cover). For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duffy). The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind. “It’s almost an anti-concept album,” says the band. “The Endless Rooms of the title reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities.”

ENDLESS ROOMS TRACKLIST
1. Pearl Like You
2. Tidal River
3. The Way It Shatters
4. Caught Low
5. My Echo
6. Dive Deep
7. Open Up Your Window
8. Blue Eye Lake
9. Saw You At The Eastern Beach
10. Vanishing Dots
11. Endless Rooms
12. Bounce Off The Bottom