Sub Pop Records is extremely proud to announce the return (for our
15th 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 by “Loser.”
Sub Pop Records is offering a grand
total of $15,000 in college scholarship money to three eligible high
school seniors. There are three scholarships—one for $7,000, one for
$5,000 and one for $3,000. 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 the 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 24th, 2021. Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Wednesday, March 24th. 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 2007ish
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.
So, good luck, Losers! And, again, please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Wednesday, March 24th
The new METZ video for “Sugar Pill,” from their acclaimed 2020 release, Atlas Vending, is out now. Shot in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the video is an homage to the unstoppable spirit of skateboarding and a testament to the inspiring drive to ride in any condition and any environment. Director Shayne Ehman says of the video: “Skateboarding feels great. We love to skate. The birds need to sing, we need to skate. I hope the winter skateboarding footage carries with it some of the love we have for skateboarding. I hope it contains a spirit of perseverance and the will to make it happen. Come wind, ice, or stormy weather, we shovel snow, we torch frost, we skate.” Watch the video now.
Atlas Vending, the most dynamic, dimensional, and compelling album of METZ’s career, is available now worldwide from Sub Pop.”Sugar Pill” is the 7th(!) video from the new album.
What people are saying about Atlas Vending: “Atlas Vending is the sound of a band fully confident in itself and delivering their biggest and best work yet.” ★★★★ - Upset Magazine
“The Toronto band maintain a formidable degree of power and velocity throughout their fourth album yet… provide more welcome respites from the ferocious barrage they’re otherwise highly skilled at delivering.” [8/10] - Uncut
“A record which draws on 35 years of North American alt-rock excellence, while still stamping its creators’ own identity firmly across its grooves.” [4/5] -Kerrang
”By gathering everything the group has done to date and mixing it together METZ manage to create a perfectly potent cocktail, one filled with nostalgia, sadness and grinding euphoria.” [8/10] - Loud and Quiet
“The expansiveness of the sonic palette on Atlas Vending just gives the band more room to paint outside the lines.” [8/10] - Under The Radar
“A record that feels both raw and refined, this will shake you to the core”★★★★ - DIY Magazine
“METZ still cooks and burns with the roar of Jesus Lizard and the pounding noise of Stnnng, but four albums in, the band is discovering new sonic routes to travel” - AV Club
2021 Tour Dates: Sep. 15 - Bristol, UK - The Fleece Sep. 16 - Manchester, UK - YES Sep. 17 - Glasgow, UK - Stereo Sep. 18 - Blackpool, UK - Bootleg Social Sep. 19 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club Sep. 21 - Leicester, UK - 02 Academy Sep. 22 - London, UK - Scala Sep. 23 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store Sep. 24 - Paris, FR - Petit Bain Sep. 25 - Dudingen, CH - Bad Bonn Sep. 26 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F Sep. 27 - Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie at Les Docks Sep. 29 - Berlin, DE - Lido Sep. 30 - Leipzig, DE - UT Connewitz Oct. 01 - Hannover, DE - Glocksee Oct. 02 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen Oct. 04 - Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang Oct. 05 - Cologne, DE - Gebäude 9 Oct. 06 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Oct. 07 - Groningen, NL - Vera Oct. 08 - Antwerp, BE - Trix
Sub Pop has signed Hannah Jadagu, an 18 year-old singer, songwriter, and producer from Mesquite, Texas, to release her music throughout the known universe. Her first release is the sprightly indie pop single “Think Too Much,” with an accompanying official video directed by Cameron Livesey, which stars Jadagu and a group of close friends enjoying a fall day in New York City. As for how the song was produced, the incredibly resourceful Jadagu recorded “Think Too Much” using her iPhone 7, an iRig, a microphone, guitar, and Garageband iOS, a process that has served her well throughout her young recording career.
“‘Think Too Much’ is the only song that I’d written with the intent of putting it on an EP,” Jadagu says. “Sonically, I was challenging myself to make a song that was high energy, fun, and a ‘bop,’ as I like to call it. At the time, I remember listening to a lot of Dayglow, Jean Dawson, and Winnetka Bowling League, and thinking to myself, ‘These people are making such catchy and fun songs without even trying.’ Then I thought to myself, ‘You’re really thinking too much.’ I asked all my friends what they thought about ‘too much,’ compiled their responses, chose some fun chords and rhythms inspired by Snail Mail and Phoenix, and went to work.”
She continues, “Essentially the song is a conversation with myself, as heard through the chants and the ‘kids voices,’ which is just my voice recorded in different pitches and tones. The lines ‘You’re just getting started, you’re the coolest I know’ were inspired by one of my favorite teachers in high school. She never actually taught me, but she was the young, cool teacher that would come into my leadership class, and we would bond over music and stylistic choices (Shout-out, Ms. Drillette). After letting go, and using a scrapped guitar demo I had, I was able to finally write and produce ‘the bop’.”
Sub Pop first became aware of Jadagu in early 2020 via her Soundcloud recordings “Unending” and “Pollen.” While growing up in the Dallas suburb, she began making music at home, as a fun and creative outlet. Bedroom pop artists like Her’s, Gus Dapperton, Yeek, and Sales served as inspiration, as did listening to mixtapes in the car that her mom made, while they drove around town.
“When I was in elementary school, I would always finish my work early to play on the computers and use GarageBand on the early Macs,” Jadagu says. “That was my first glimpse into music production. Then, I gravitated towards percussion and school choirs, even joining the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas.”
The multitalented Jadagu currently resides in New York City, and is in her first year attending NYU. She will release her debut EP later this spring. Hannah is definitely just getting started, and we could not be more excited.
On April 30th, 2021, Sub Pop will release Indian Yard, the debut record from Sitka, Alaska project Ya Tseen. Band founder, Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. His work spans sculpture, video, installation, photography, jewelry and music; advocating for Indigenous sovereignty, racial, social and environmental justice, for present, and future generations.
Indian Yard is a compelling document of humanity centered in an Indigenous perspective. Created by one of the world’s foremost Indigenous artists, the irrepressible Indian Yard is an intense illumination of feeling and interconnectedness. On the groups’ debut offering, “Close the Distance”, Galanin “reflects on the universal need for connection and the expression of desire across distances. The official video, directed by Stephan Gray (Shabazz Palaces “Dawn In Luxor,” “Deesse Du Sang”), extends beyond human experience to consider physical expressions of desire in biological, mechanical, and celestial forms.”
Galanin began working on the record in 2017 while going back and forth between his home in Sitka and Juneau, Alaska where he was carving a totem pole. The album entwines falling in love and the birth of a child with the urgency of current social and environmental justice movements to tear down destructive systems and build anew. He shared the concepts with bandmates Zak D. Wass and Otis Calvin III and together they structured the album alongside longtime collaborator Benjamin Verdoes. Through sessions in Sitka and Seattle, a cast of brilliant friends—Shabazz Palaces, Nick Hakim, fellow Indigenous Alaskan singer and songwriter Qacung, to name a few—helped form Indian Yard into a cataract of intensely current pop wonders.
There will also be a North American deluxe edition on clear vinyl available for preorder in the coming weeks. The deluxe packaging will include a 24-page hardcover LP-sized book with covers featuring a sci-fi landscape populated by a toddler wearing artist Merritt Johnson’s sculpture Mindset, a VR headset woven from sweetgrass. The interior art was designed by Galanin. This deluxe edition will be available while supplies last.
More on Ya Tseen’s Indian Yard: Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Born in Sheet’ka (Sitka, Alaska), Galanin is Tlingit and Unangax̂; he creates from this perspective as an Indigenous man. His work calls for an accounting of the damages done to land and life by unfettered capitalism while envisioning and advocating alternate possibilities. For the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, he excavated the shape of the shadow cast by the monumental statue of Captain James Cook, a call for the burial of monuments to violent histories; ArtNEWS and Artsy called a defining work of 2020. Land Swipe—a painted deer hide that depicts the NYC subway map, marked with selected sites of police violence against Black youth—was called one of “the most important art moments in 2020” by TheNew York Times. His work spans sculpture, video, installation, photography, jewelry, and music; advocating for Indigenous sovereignty, racial, social, and environmental justice, for present, and future generations.
His debut as Ya Tseen (“be alive,” and a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen) is Indian Yard, his first album for Sub Pop. Rich with emotional range and sharp awareness, Indian Yard explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind and body. The lusty electro-soul cascade of “Close the Distance,” the lithe funk frolic of “Get Yourself Together,” the insistent weight of “Back in That Time,” sung in Yupik: These 11 tracks put Galanin, Ya Tseen, and Indigenous art at large in a current musical conversation with the likes of Moses Sumney and TV on the Radio, FKA Twigs, and James Blake.
Indian Yard is a profound record of liberation and an implicit act of protest, making its case by facing the intersection of past, present, and future realities. In a nod to Sun Ra, “Gently To The Sun” mentions “meds for a nightmare”—an apt description for a record that offers a much-needed antidote for what now ails us personally and universally.
This is not, by any means, Galanin’s first album. He has released a steady stream of records under a panoply of aliases, including Silver Jackson and Indian Agent. He has worked with the likes of Meshell Ndegeocello, Tanya Tagaq, and Samantha Crain. And for the better part of a decade, he’s also been part of the revolutionarily borderless art collective Black Constellation alongside Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction (read full bio at Sub Pop).
Ya Tseen Indian Yard
Tracklisting: 1. Knives (feat. Portugal. The Man) 2. Light the Torch 3. Born into Rain (feat. Rum.gold and Tunia) 4. At Tugáni 5. Get Yourself Together 6. Close the Distance 7. We Just Sit and Smile Here in Silence 8. A Feeling Undefined (fat. Nick Hakim and Iska Dhaaf) 9. Synthetic Gods (feat. Shabazz Palaces and Stas THEE Boss) 10. Gently to the Sun (feat. Tay Sean) 11. Back in That Time (feat. Qacung)
Today, Sub Pop has released Bob’s Burgers Valentine’s Day whichfeatures songs from the 20th Television’s Emmy-award winning hit comedy, now in its eleventh season.
The Bob’s BurgersValentine’s Day release features music performed by the main cast members – Bob (H. Jon Benjamin), Linda (John Roberts), their children Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), Louise (Kristen Schaal) and handyman Teddy (Larry Murphy).
Bob’s Burgers Valentine’s Day features ten songs from the show including the lyric video for “Girl Power Jam,” along with highlights “Hate The Way I Love You,” “Sky Kiss” (“Intro” and “Extended”) and “The Right Number of Boys.”
Bob’s Burgers Valentine’s Day is the third holiday-themed EP release (along with Thanksgiving and Bob’s Burgers Christmas released November 2020) and is available now worldwide through all DSPS from Sub Pop.
About Bob’s Burgers Valentine’s Day Every fan of Bob’s Burgers has a favorite song from the show. Every fan also has a favorite holiday episode. Sub Pop Records has gathered together these fan-favorite Valentine’s Day musical moments from seasons one through eleven so you can enjoy them with your loved ones. Produced by the series creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard’s Wilo Productions in partnership with Bento Box Entertainment, with Sub Pop licensing the rights from 20th Television. Fans know that music is more than just a condiment to Bob’s. Sometimes silly, sometimes sprawling, always heartfelt and firmly in the voice of the show, the music of Bob’s Burgers is part of the meat of the thing itself.
Bob’s Burgers Valentine’s Day
Tracklisting: 1.The Briefest of Glances 2. Sky Kiss (Intro) 3. Sky Kiss (Extended) 4. Girl Power Jam 5. Alone 6. Doot Doo I Love You 7. Friend Zone 8. Hate the Way I Love You 9. No Pants in Space 10. The Right Number of Boys
