Today, TV Priest release Uppers, their full-length debut on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop.
Sub Pop became fans of TV Priest’s politically urgent, mechanical, subtly humorous (and self-deprecating) post-punk following the release of their standalone singles “House of York” and “Runner Up” as well as the Uppers early preview tracks “This Island” and “Slideshow.”
“Decoration,” Uppers’ centerpiece, has a streamlined groove soundtracking Charlie’s lyrical vignettes that captures the absurdity and mundanity of life. Its opening and closing line (“I’ve never seen a dog do what that dog does”) is a misremembered quote by Simon Cowell about a performing dog on Britain’s Got Talent. Charlie says, “We often said it in the studio as a kind of in-joke when someone did something good or unexpected. Having already toyed around with the ‘Through to the next round’ line,’ this seemed too good to leave out.” And the chorus “It’s all just decoration” is credited to the 2-year old niece of Alex’s fiancé, who reassured him after he pretended to be scared by Halloween decorations.
“Press Gang” is inspired by Charlie’s grandfather’s life’s work as a photojournalist and war correspondent on the UK’s Fleet Street from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The song is about the shifting role in the dissemination of information and ideas, and how the prevailing narrative that the “Death of Print Media” has contributed to a “post truth” world.
Album closer “Saintless” is the most personal and raw moment on Uppers. Charlie wrote a note to his son after his birth, following a difficult period his wife had faced during and after the pregnancy. The song is about how as parents we’re fallible and human, and while the world can be a difficult place at times the one thing that gets you through is giving your love to those that need and appreciate it. “Saintless” rides a motorik beat, with guitars, bass and synths building layers of intensity and emotion that replicate and swell with the message of the track.
Uppers sees TV Priest explicitly and outwardly trying to avoid narrowmindedness. Uppers sees TV Priest taking musical and personal risks, reaching outside of themselves and trying to make sense of this increasingly messy world. It’s a band and a record that couldn’t arrive at a more perfect time.
About TV Priest’s Uppers:
It’s tempting to think that you have all the answers, screaming your gospel every day with certainty and anger. Life isn’t quite like that though, and the debut album from London four-piece TV Priest instead embraces the beautiful and terrifying unknowns that exist personally, politically and culturally.
Posing as many questions as it answers, Uppers is a thunderous opening statement that continues the UK’s recent resurgence of grubby, furious post-punk music. It says something very different though – something completely its own.
Four childhood friends who made music together as teenagers before drifting apart and then, somewhat inevitably, back together late in 2019, TV Priest was born out of a need to create together once again, and brings with it a wealth of experience and exhaustion picked up in the band’s years of pursuing “real life” and “real jobs,” something those teenagers never had.
In November 2019, the band – vocalist Charlie Drinkwater, guitarist Alex Sprogis, bass and keys player Nic Bueth, and drummer Ed Kelland – played their first show, to a smattering of friends in what they describe as an “industrial freezer” in the warehouse district of Hackney Wick. “It was like the pub in Peep Show with a washing machine just in the middle…” Charlie laughs, remembering how they dodged Star Wars memorabilia and deep fat fryers while making their first statement as a band.
Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a precedent for introducing an album during a global pandemic, but among the general sense of anxiety and unease pervading everything at the moment, TV Priest’s entrance in April with the release of debut single “House of York” - a searing examination of the Monarchy - served as a breath of fresh air among the chaos, its anger and confusion making some kind of twisted sense to the nation’s fried brains.
It’s the same continued global sense of anxiety that will greet the release of Uppers, and it’s an album that has a lot to say right now. Taking musical cues from The Fall and Protomartyr as well as the mechanical, pulsating grooves of Kosmische Musik, it’s a record that moves with an untamed energy. Over the top of this rumbling musical machine is vocalist Charlie, a cuttingly funny, angry, confused, real frontman.
What people have been saying about TV Priest:
“Fuzzed-out post punk from London four-piece on debut LP… harsh, brittle eruptions offering up a variety of teeth-rattling noises.” [Uppers] Uncut
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-united Kingdom, 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. [Uppers, ★★★★] - DORK
“The post-punk band have caught attention with a string of superb singles, exemplifying their scorching post-punk sound.” - CLASH
“Vocalist Charlie Drinkwater scrolls endlessly as his country fades into irrelevance on British band TV Priest’s latest fiery missive.” [“This Island”/ “20 Best Rock Songs Right Now, Aug.”] - The FADER
”They fit in with the post-punk revival - sultry, prophetic lyricism with brash instrumentation…” [“This Island”] - Brooklyn Vegan
“Scorching” [“This Island”] - DIY
“The track’s distorted organs serve as riled-up opening remarks before gruelling dark vocals spit out patriotic cliches and commemorative Latin phrases. “This is not my national anthem” sneers Charlie Drinkwater over a fuzzy echo of the Star-Spangled Banner. Thrashing industrial guitars smash any sense of security.” [“House of York”] - The Line Of Best Fit
“’This Island’ is a densely packed ball of energy, and their occasional spillovers of momentum are exhilarating.” - PASTE
“A frenzied anthem.”[“House of York”] - Earmilk
“A riotous debut single… finding a balance of subtlety and decisive awakening that’s fed through the laconic, abstract drawl of Charlie Drinkwater, seamlessly subverting into a deafening anthem in itself.” [“House of York”] - So Young
“Their sound is ultimately chaotic, with cuts of fuzzy distortion creating a disorienting and thrilling listening experience.” [“House of York”] - Gigwise
TV Priest Uppers
Tracklisting: 1. The Big Curve 2. Press Gang 3. Leg Room 4. Journal of a Plague Year 5. History Week 6. Decoration 7. Slideshow 8. Fathers and Sons 9. the ref 10. Powers of Ten 11. This Island 12. Saintless
Today, Flock of Dimes (aka Jenn Wasner) is sharing “Two,” the official video and lead single fromHead of Roses, her stunning new album out April 2nd, 2021 via Sub Pop. Wasner’s second solo LP, Head of Roses showcases her ability to embrace new levels of vulnerability, honesty and openness, combined with the self-assuredness that comes with a decade-plus career as a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and prolific collaborator.
Head of Roses is now available for preorder through Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on peach swirl vinyl (while supplies last). LP preorders in the U.K. and in Europe will receive the Loser edition on Magenta vinyl (while supplies last).
The video for today’s release, “Two,” which was directed by Lola B. Pierson and Cricket Arrison, stars Wasner and Arrison and explores the layers of artifice that we wrap ourselves in to make it through the day.
Directors Pierson and Arrison offer this on the video’s specific theme,“The world of the video shows two humans during three consecutive days. One human lives her life from morning to night, the other from night to morning. In the middle of the day they meet and the next day begins. By exploring dichotomies (natural/artificial, day/night, everyday/majestic) the work points to the pain caused by categorization and the joy of unification.”
Wasner elaborates: “’Two’ is about trying to find a kind of balance between independence and interdependence, and the multitudes within ourselves. It’s about trying to reconcile the desire to maintain a sense of personal autonomy and freedom with the need to connect deeply with others. And it’s about struggling to feel at home in a body, and learning how to accept that the projection of self that you show to others will always be incomplete.
“I made this video with an incredible team of generous and talented people, including some very dear old friends. I think what we made captures the spirit of the song perfectly—the sense of delight and wonder at the absurd beauty of everyday life, and the true moments of spontaneous joy that can erupt in those rare moments when you catch a glimpse of yourself the way others see you.”
Flock of Dimes’ Head of Roses, which features “Two,” along with the standouts “Price of Blue,” “Hard Way,” and “One More Hour,” was produced by Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso) and Wasner at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, NC, engineered by Bella Blasko with additional engineering by Sanborn, mixed by Ari Picker and Blasko, and mastered by Huntley Miller. The album features appearances from guitarist Meg Duffy, Bon Iver’s Matt McCaughan, Wye Oak’s Andy Stack, and Landlady’s Adam Schatz. Head of Roses follows the release of Like So Much Desire, her acclaimed digital EP released June 2020 on Sub Pop.
Head of Roses is now available for preorder through Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on peach swirl vinyl (while supplies last). LP preorders in the U.K. and in Europe will receive the Loser edition on Magenta vinyl (while supplies last).
More on Head of Roses: On her second full-length record, Head of Roses, Jenn Wasner follows a winding thread of intuition into the unknown and into healing, led by gut feelings and the near-spiritual experience of visceral songwriting. The result is a combination of Wasner’s ability to embrace new levels of vulnerability, honesty and openness, with the self-assuredness that comes with a decade-plus career as a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and prolific collaborator.
Simply put, Head of Roses is a record about heartbreak, but from a dualistic perspective. It’s about the experience of having one’s heart broken and breaking someone else’s heart at the same time. But beyond that, it’s about having to reconcile the experience of one’s own pain with the understanding that it’s impossible to go through life without being the source of great pain for someone else.
“Part of the journey for me has been learning to take responsibility for the parts of things that are mine, even when I’m in a lot of pain through some behavior or action of someone else. If I’m expecting to be forgiven for the things I’ve done and the choices I’ve made and the mistakes that I’ve made, it would be incredibly cowardly and hypocritical to not also do the work that’s required to forgive others the pain they caused me.”
Showcasing the depth of Wasner’s songwriting capabilities and the complexity of her vision, Head of Roses calls upon her singular ability to create a fully-formed sonic universe via genre-bending amalgamation of songs and her poetic and gut punch lyrics. It’s the soundtrack of Wasner letting go – of control, of heartbreak, and of hiding who she is: “I think I’ve finally reached a point in my career where I feel comfortable enough with myself and what I do, that I’m able to relax into a certain simplicity or straight forwardness that I wasn’t comfortable with before.” Head of Roses puts Wasner’s seismically powerful voice front and center. Those vocals help thread it all together – it’s a textured musicality, quilted together by intentionality and intuition.
Wasner and producer Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made of Oak) assembled Head of Roses in the same way you’d put together a mixtape, painstakingly and carefully melding disparate parts into a whole, transcending genre to weave a story of heartache and healing together. And in the same way a homemade, painstakingly-crafted mixtape plays out, with the maker’s fingerprints left all over its songs – so goes Head of Roses. Carefully curated and culled from the depths of Wasner’s heartbreak and healing, it’s deeply, intensely personal.
But just as we change ourselves by embracing the pain of loss and uncertainty, so too are the purpose of these songs changed through the act of creating them. Having succeeded in healing the person who made them, they now exist for those who find them in their own moments of need. Always in motion, the original spirit of creation has already flown from this place—but it’s left behind a blueprint, a tool for you, to lean on, too.
What people are saying about Flock of Dimes: “It’s a gorgeous, lofty waltz, with synthesizers billowing around acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies, as Wasner sings an enigmatic reverie…” [“Like So Much Desire”] - New York Times
“Regardless of the how and when, Like So Much Desire is the kind of surprise release built for a time of isolation, even in these waning days of lockdown…her music here is spare and meditative — all slowburn and airy, mostly Wasner singing over restrained guitar and strings. It’s as customarily pretty as you’d expect…” [Like So Much Desire] - Stereogum
“Awash in comfort and calm, Like So Much Desire offers a space of peace and reflection, one that is most welcome in such uncertain times.” [Like So Much Desire] - PASTE
“The five atmospheric songs on the EP are a gorgeous showcase for Wasner’s songwriting and vocal abilities, with some spine-tingling harmonies and string arrangements.”[Like So Much Desire] - Brooklyn Vegan
“The five-track effort is a simply stunning collection, which draws us closer to Wasner than ever.” [Like So Much Desire] - Beats Per Minute
“Among the highlights are the title track, an offering about loss; “Spring in Winter,” a hymnal-like piece about NC’s seasonal beauty; and “Thank You Friends and Strangers”, which features actual sounds of chirping birds and outdoor noises.” [Like So Much Desire] - Consequence of Sound
“Wasner is a force to be reckoned with but on Like So Much Desire that is brought with an unforeseen gentleness. Arriving at a time when so little in life is balanced, the EP takes the pulse down a notch and gets to the deeply personal. Letting her voice take center stage, Wasner gets her message across like never before.” [Like So Much Desire] - Under the Radar
Flock of Dimes Head of Roses
Tracklisting: 1. 2 Heads 2. Price of Blue 3. Two 4. Hard Way 5. Walking 6. Lightning 7. One More Hour 8. No Question 9. Awake for the Sunrise 10. Head of Roses
BBC 6Music “Album of the Day” today, January 28th!
★★★★ 4 Stars: The Observer/Guardian, MOJO, Visions, Les Inrocks, DIY, All Music, NARC, Shindig 8/10: Exclaim, CLASH, The Line of Best Fit
Kiwi Jr. has delivered an official video for “Maid Marian’s Toast,” a standout from their just released Cooler Returns, their new album out now on Sub Pop/Kiwi Club. Jeremy Gaudet says of the video, “Footage was compiled from behind the scenes filming of the Cooler Returns recording sessions during the pandemic. Shot in July by director Sean Egerton Foreman and Johan Arthurs, the studio was sweltering and shorts were the only option.”
Cooler Returns and it’s singles have also seen international praise and notices from the likes of The Observer/The Guardian, MOJO, CLASH, Uncut, Les Inrocks (France), Visions (Germany), OOR Monthly (Netherlands), The AV Club, Exclaim, Under the Radar, The Line of Best Fit, All Music, So Young, Brooklyn Vegan, Pitchfork, NME, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and more. Cooler Returns is also BBC 6Music’s “Album of the Day” today, Thursday, January 28th.
The returns on Kiwi Jr’s Cooler Returns: “…The accomplished successor to this band’s promising 2019 debut finds Kiwi Jr having their cake and eating it.” - ★★★★ The Observer/TheGuardian
“Sustaining momentum near-flawlessly across 13 songs… Kiwi Jr. have the skills to match their smarts” - ★★★★ MOJO
“Canadian absurdists’ return is a lyrical delight” - Uncut
“Kiwi Jr. songs unfold like the aisles of a cluttered curio shop, their retro-rock melodies overflowing with non sequiturs and hyper-specific scraps of story.” - The AV Club
“The band rattle through a seemingly inexhaustible supply of hooks and melodies” - ★★★★ DIY
“Packed with golden hooks and subtle weirdness” - [8/10] Exclaim
“Crammed full of wry, observational wit and pop smarts in taut fashion” - [8/10] CLASH
“…Still light and agile, basking in the sunlight as their vivid guitar work and straightforward vocals do the talking. They love a good hook as much as they love a charismatic, illuminating one-liner.” - PASTE
“The band’s knack for simple but sticky melody is in even clearer view on Cooler Returns.” - ★★★★ All Music
[“Cooler Returns” is] “a jangly, indie rock earworm that’ll lodge itself in your brain” -NME
“Shambolic yet catchy songs are loaded with fractured riffs and lyrical non-sequiturs” - Uproxx
“Ook de referenties zijn dik in orde: the Chills, The Strokes, The Kinks, Pavement en de vroege R.E.M. ‘Fonkelende gitaarplaat die refereert aan heden en verleden.” - [Best Albums of the Month”] OOR
“…Another mighty fine record.” - Under the Radar
“An impressive set of ‘90s-influenced slacker-rock with jangly guitars, rollicking piano and occasional organ, harmonica, and other instrumentation, along with observational, often-sardonic lyrics and an abundance of catchy song hooks. - KEXP
“Cooler Returns is all hits, a baker’s dozen of ridiculously catchy three-minute pop nuggets that deliver massive sing-along-choruse…” - Brooklyn Vegan
“A bloody good album full of vivid charm” - ★★★★ NARC
“They understand sarcasm, can write clever, funny lyrics and don’t take themselves completely seriously.” [9/10] - God Is In The TV
“Perfect pop-songs” - Louder Than War
“Cooler Returns is everything you might expect from a band like Kiwi Jr., and so much more.” - [4/5] Stereoboard
“Angular, catchy as hell, revved up power-pop racket” ★★★★ Shindig
“What sets Kiwi Jr. apart from their peers though is their madcap view of the world and Cooler Returns establishes them as a band too confident to conform; a band who have all the skills to match their lyrical smarts” - [8/10] Line Of Best Fit
“L’année 2021 ne pouvait mieux commencer qu’avec cet excellent disque a l’entrain communicatif, d’une inspiration jubilatoire, veritable rayon de soleil au cour de l’hiver”- [4/5] Rock & Folk (France)
“Les quatre musiciens de Toronto ne changent pas leur formule gagnante et livrent une guitare jangly élégante et efficace.” - Les Inrocks (France)
“…Timeless, memorable, beautifully crafted pop songs” - Echoes and Dust
”Cooler Returns is an impressive achievement” -Our Culture
“…A jangle-pop delight filled with tight hooks and creative tales” - The Revue
Kiwi Jr. Cooler Returns
Tracklisting 1. Tyler 2. Undecided Voters 3. Maid Marian’s Toast 4. Highlights of 100 5. Only Here for a Haircut 6. Cooler Returns 7. Guilty Party 8. Omaha 9. Domino 10. Nashville Wedding 11. Dodger 12. Norma Jean’s Jacket 13. Waiting in Line
Multimedia auteur Chad VanGaalen has delivered a phenomenal animated video for “Samurai Sword,” (premiering on YouTube + Adult Swim’s Toonami) the first single from World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, his new album — out on CD/LP/DSPs March 19th, 2021 worldwide through Sub Pop and in Canada from Flemish Eye. The thirteen-track effort, which also features “Nightwaves,” “Starlight,” “Where Is It All Going?,” and “Flute Peace,” was written, performed, recorded, and mixed by VanGaalen at his Yoko Eno Studio in Calgary, Alberta, and mastered by Ryan Morey in Montreal, Quebec.
VanGaalen says of “Samurai Sword,” “I had just ripped a bunch of old leaking copper pipe out of my basement in a reno job that I jumped into willy nilly. Realizing how magical the pipes sounded, I put them on some dirty styrofoam and banged out the janky beat that introduces the song! Garbage is life.”
He continues, “It just spilled out in a couple minutes. I didn’t try to stop it because I was smiling like I was just cruising through my neighbourhood. Simple like a sandbox. An ode to the simplicity. It’s hard to let things be simple. But simple is easy on the mind, and being jovial in song is something I find really difficult. Why? What?”
As for the “Samurai Sword” video, he elaborates, “I was drawing black and white plant backgrounds for this song because of the great old samurai movies of the past. I like how nature sometimes takes the lead. I was getting all knotted in my mind about the sky. I looked at my dad’s watercolor paintings of a sky, and felt like I couldn’t get the feel right. So, I just borrowed his sky for a scene and then I realized that my dad’s paintings were perfect and already full of real life energy. I used them to finish the video and felt like we got to go on this quest together. In my mind. Fuck time.”
The video for “Samurai Sword” gives viewers a peek into VanGaalen’s surrealistic world, expanding the 2:04 album version to a gloriously weird extended version with a 3:39 run time, and can now be viewed via VanGaalen and Adult Swim’s YouTube channels. The video will also see its broadcast television premiere on Adult Swim’s Toonami, the network’s popular weekly anime programming block, on Saturday, January 30th.
VanGaalen has also created the “Samurai Sword Scavenger Hunt” contest, with Easter eggs hidden throughout the video. He’s sharing a list of some of these hidden objects every week, and challenging fans to find them. He says, “To stop myself going squirrely over the last few months, I started hiding things as I animated this video.”
Every week for the next three weeks (through February 18th, 2021), one lucky person will win a prize pack of stuff from VanGaalen, including a copy of World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, as well as some unique personalized items made by VanGaalen himself. At the end of the contest one person will be awarded a grand prize (You need to enter all three phases to win the grand prize!). To enter, please visit https://chadvangaalen.com/samuraisword.
More on Chad VanGaalen’s World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener by Sean Michaels: 2020 was a terrible year for gardening. It was terrible for peppers, it was terrible for tomatoes, it was terrible for the condition of the soul. But Chad VanGaalen somehow raised a garden all the same: carrots and sprouts and broccoli and a revivifying new album, all of them grown at home. He likes to eat directly off the plant, he says—”I get down on my knees and graze. It’s nice to feel the vegetables in your face”—and the 13 songs on World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener were harvested with just such a spirit: in their raw state, young and vegetal, at the very moment, they were made (read more at Sub Pop).
Chad VanGaalen World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener
Tracklisting: 1. Spider Milk 2. Flute Peace 3. Starlight 4. Where Is It All Going? 5. Earth From a Distance 6. Nightwaves 7. Plant Music 8. Nothing Is Strange 9. Inner Fire 10. Golden Pear 11. Nightmare Scenario 12. Samurai Sword 13. Water Brother
Surprise! Today, Yuno has returned and stars in the official video for “Somebody,” his irresistible emo-pop single, directed by Jordanna Koffsky. The song is his first new recorded output since the release of 2018’s Moodie and is available now worldwide from Sub Pop.
Yuno says of the single, “Spending so much time at home during the pandemic brought back a lot of feelings from my adolescence. I grew up as somewhat of a loner–spending most of my time isolated in my bedroom, and I wanted to capture the parallels between my life now and the life of my younger self. I drew a lot from the pop-punk, post-hardcore, reggae, and southern hip hop that I’ve loved throughout my life. I feel like my 14-year-old self would be very proud.”
“Somebody,” was written by Yuno Moodie, produced by Moodie and Christoph Andersson, mixed by Andersson and mastered by JJ Golden.
[Photo credit: Jordanna Koffsky]
Yuno is currently at work on the follow up to Moodie, his acclaimed Sub Pop debut.
