Sub Pop is ecstatic to welcome Guerilla Toss to their iconic roster of artists. The label will be releasing their latest effort, Famously Alive on March 25th. 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.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote Famously Alive at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music.
The group’s debut single and album opener, “Cannibal Capital,” is a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety. The song came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalog to date.
The band will embark on a 16 date North American tour beginning Apr. 13th in Richmond VA. With additional shows in Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Queens, NY. See below for a full list of shows.
Tour Dates:
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
Dig deep enough inside yourself – start treating your body as your sanctuary rather than your enemy – and eventually you’ll find yourself blooming right back out into the sun. That’s the transformation Guerilla Toss trace on their newest album Famously Alive, their effervescent Sub Pop debut. 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.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote Famously Alive at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. The uncertainty of COVID-19 lockdowns and the total disruption of routine forced Carlson to negotiate with herself in new and challenging ways. “You have to be with yourself all the time during the pandemic,” she says. “I had to figure out a way to manage my anxiety. The pandemic was hard, but it helped me get comfortable inside my own body. My peace of mind came out of being thrust into the deepest shit. This album is all about being happy, being alive, strength. It’s meant to inspire people.”
The album’s title derives from a poem written by a close friend of the band, Jonny Tatelman, who supported Carlson through the early stages of her recovery from opiate addiction. The poem comprises the entirety of the lyrics to the title track, an exuberant ode to loving your own survival and charting a course into unconditional self-acceptance. “The song ‘Famously Alive’ 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 Carlson. “To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously,” Negroponte adds. “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.”
Songs like the expansive, gleaming “Live Exponential” similarly invite the listener to lean into the light. “It’s about loving yourself and finding a way to be comfortable in your own body – to live life to the fullest and beyond,” says Carlson. Throughout the record, Guerilla Toss meet themselves with curiosity, generosity, and acceptance even for the harder parts of being alive. Opener “Cannibal Capital,” a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety, came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalog to date.
Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music. “I like to combine as many musical influences as possible,” says Negroponte. “We thought the sleekness of current radio pop would make our dense wall-of-sound aesthetic both more bizarre and more accessible and fun at the same time.” Carlson was similarly inspired by a wide range of artists from around the world after diving deep into obscure 7-inches for her weekly show on Radio Catskill, Rare Pear Radio.
While writing the album, Carlson took voice lessons online for the first time. Though she has been singing since she was four years old, at first with a vocal harmony group in her family’s church, she hadn’t formally trained her voice since joining Guerilla Toss. The lessons allowed her to deepen and broaden her range, helping her feel more embodied and connected to her voice. Underneath ripples of Auto-Tune, playful, searching vocal melodies suspend lyrics about reaching for yourself and holding fast in your own love.
Famously Alive finds Guerilla Toss coming into the fullness of their power, celebrating their prismatic idiosyncrasies from a place of optimism and abundance. “It felt like I didn’t need to force myself into this dark place to create anymore,” Carlson says. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m finally comfortable inside my body.
“Hotline” is Lael Neale’s effervescent new single and video, and is available today worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop. The song was written by Neale in collaboration with her friend, Jane McCarthy, arranged and produced by Guy Blakeslee, and mastered by Chris Coady. “Hotline” follows the release of Acquainted with Night, her acclaimed album of 2021.
In celebration of the new song, fans can dial a “hotline” to connect with Neale, and she will read callers’ fortunes for 2022. The number will be active beginning today, January 11th from noon - 5 pm ET. Neale explains, “I became interested in numerology through John Lennon and his belief in the significance of numbers, specifically the number nine. Because this song imagines a late night call of desperation into a psychic hotline, I thought it’d be fun to act as that ‘psychic’ and connect with people directly, giving them a personalized fortune for this year based on their unique numerology.” Call 858-224-3129 today!
Neale’s Acquainted with Night features ten tracks and includes the standouts “Blue Vein,” “Every Star Shivers in the Dark,” “For No One For Now,” and the title cut, and is available on CD/LP/CS/DSPs through Sub Pop. The album was composed and arranged by Neale, produced and mixed by Blakeslee, and mastered by Chris Coady.
Upon its release Acquainted with Night saw praise from the likes of Uncut, MOJO, Loud & Quiet, The AV Club, Stereogum, SPIN, and earned “Best of 2021” placement from the likes of Under the Radar, Les Inrocks, Aquarium Drunkard, Gold Flake Paint, Still Listening, Secret Meeting and more.
What people are saying about Lael Neale: “Who knew the world was lacking a country-folk version of Broadcast until now?” - ★★★★ MOJO
“With her Omnichord, the singer/songwriter exposes the nerve endings of her songs.” ★★★★★ - Musikexpress
“This album reminds listeners that life is full of beauty not in spite of, but because of, the ordinary details of every day.” [8/10] - Loud & Quiet
“…an intimate, lo-fi set of songs that seem unearthed from the dusty vaults of time.” ★★★★ - The Forty Five
“The simplicity is part of what makes her record so beautiful; just her voice, her words, her electric guitar, and her omnichord are enough to put the listener in a trance.” - SPIN
“The result is the urgent melodies and unadorned instrumentals on Acquainted With Night, a collection of songs that’s disarmingly poetic in its simplicity.” - The AV Club
“Her lyrics are intuitive, meandering between memory and fantasy. As she ponders the rituals of the mundane – folding sheets, making toast, watching strangers in the street – her old-timey vocals and country-folk melodies make gorgeous, placid trails, gently crackling on the four-track tape.” - The Guardian
“With a celestial voice stripped of any artifice, Lael Neale skillfully blends romance and the banality of life with brilliant songs of drama and humor.” - Les Inrocks
“…There is a raw, unvarnished energy screaming throughout these 10 tunes.” [8/10],Northern Transmissions
“Lael Neale’s second album weaves intimacy with dreamy, Omnichordal magic.” - Secret Meeting
“A collection of intimate, powerful, and incredibly relatable songs, Acquainted with Night paints a portrait of solitude that resonates with the current state of the world.“ - Monster Children
Father John Misty returns with Chloë and the Next 20th Century, his fifth long-player and first new material since the release of God’s Favorite Customer in 2018. Watch the official video for “Funny Girl,” the album’s first offering, directed by Nicholas Ashe Bateman.
Chloë and the Next 20th Century was written and recorded August through December 2020 and features arrangements by Drew Erickson.
The album sees Tillman and producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson resume their longtime collaboration, as well as Dave Cerminara’s return as engineer and mixer. Basic tracks were recorded at Wilson’s Five Star Studios with strings, brass, and woodwinds recorded at United Recordings in a session featuring Dan Higgins and Wayne Bergeron, among others.
Chloë and The Next 20th Century includes the singles “Funny Girl,” “Q4,” “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.
Tracklisting: 1. Chloë 2. Goodbye Mr. Blue 3. Kiss Me (I Loved You) 4. (Everything But) Her Love 5. Buddy’s Rendezvous 6. Q4 7. Olvidado (Otro Momento) 8. Funny Girl 9. Only a Fool 10. We Could Be Strangers 11. The Next 20th Century
Limited edition deluxe 2xLP box set with exclusive, expanded artwork in a gorgeous hardcover book containing both LPs pressed on clear red vinyl, a poster by Rafa Orrico, and two bonus 7” singles featuring covers of Chloë and the Next 20th Century songs, performed by Lana Del Rey (“Buddy’s Rendezvous”) and Jack Cruz (“Kiss Me (I Loved You)”).
The limited Loser Edition 2xLP gatefold version pressed on clear blue vinyl (North America-only).
Standard 2xLP gatefold version pressed on black vinyl.
CD in a gatefold digipak with a poster.
Cassette
Digital
There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Father John Misty and his band have also scheduled 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. Tickets for these shows will be on sale Friday, January 7th, 2022 at 10 am (local).
You can now watch Low’s new video for “I Can Wait,” directed by Manuel Aragon (who directed the group’s video for “Lies” from Ones & Sixes). The song is from HEY WHAT, their Grammy-nominated and massively acclaimed album from 2021.
HEY WHAT saw placement on many “Best Albums of 2021” lists and readers polls including:
The New Yorker: Amanda Petrusich (#8) New York Times:Lindsey Zoladz (#8) Gold Flake Paint (#11) PASTE (#12) AV Club (#13) Rolling Stone (#16) EXCLAIM! (#18) Loud and Quiet (#20) NPRMusic (#21) The Guardian (#31) Gorilla vs. Bear (#39) Louder Than War (#50) The Quietus (#98)
HEY WHAT also saw placement on Pitchfork’s “Best Rock Albums of 2021” and Rough Trade’s “100 Albums of 2021” lists. Meanwhile “Days Like These,” the album’s lead single, earned placement on “Best Songs of 2021” lists from Pitchfork (#3) and PASTE (#20).
Low’s previously announced international headline dates in support of HEY WHAT begin February 16th, 2022. For a full list of shows click here.
Tracklisting: 1. White Horses 2. I Can Wait 3. All Night 4. Disappearing 5. Hey 6. Days Like These 7. There’s a Comma After Still 8. Don’t Walk Away 9. More 10. The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)
The Sub Pop Singles Club is back for yet another year! Subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 7 to get twelve exclusive, limited-edition, colored-vinyl 7” records that you will, undoubtedly, love and adore and absolutely not sell on the internet for a lot of money in a few years!
We have, yet again, convinced some of the top musicians of the day to allow us to put their songs out: Vol. 7 of the series will include L7, 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 six more TBA artistic geniuses.
Subscribers will be mailed two singles at a time, every other month, starting April 2022 and ending February 2023. And they’ll get digital versions of the songs via their Sub Pop Mega Mart account. Only 1,000 subscriptions are available. Subscribe now to avoid a life of regret!
While we have you, we’re down to the very last few sets of Vol. 6. Snag one of the last available subscriptions here. The final single – by awesome Seattle rock group The Black Tones – is out in February!
Hear music from Sub Pop Singles Club, Volumes 1-6 now via the Singles Club playlist!
