Tomorrow, December 10th marks the physical release of Cuntry Covers Vol. 1, the debut from Toronto-based band Bria. This six-song EP of country classics features the standout covers “Green Rocky Road” (Karen Dalton), “Dreaming My Dreams With You” (Waylon Jennings) and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” (The Walker Brothers.) To celebrate the physical release, the band has shared a new video for the famed Lucinda Williams song “Fruits of My Labour.” You can watch the official video by clicking here.
Bria just returned from a two-week US tour, performing with UK band Wolf Alice, and playing iconic venues such as The Vic in Chicago, Paradise Club in Boston, Bowery Ballroom in NYC, and Terminal West in Atlanta. They will be headlining the Paradise Theater on December 17th in Toronto. Click here for the most up-to-date shows.
What people are saying about Bria: “It’s an other-worldly take on the Karen Dalton standard…” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Clash
“Where Dalton’s original is quite lo-fi and scratchy, Bria have added some fidelity and warmth to it through golden-strummed guitars and a lackadaisical but precise beat.” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Beats Per Minute
“Salmena’s raspy tinged voice provides a depth of longing and fractured tenderness on her cover of Karen Dalton’s track, “Green Rocky Road.’” [“Green Rocky Road”] - Ears to Feed
“The band’s version should will win over any Jennings fans, or fans of old country.” [“Dreaming My Dreams Of You”] - Northern Transmissions
“Cuntry Covers Vol. 1 seamlessly drifts between classic country references and a new perspective of reimagining what country could sound like” - Tonitruale
Bria Cuntry Covers Vol. 1
Tracklisting 1. Green Rocky Road (Karen Dalton) 2. Dreaming My Dreams With You (Waylon Jennings) 3. Buffalo Ballet (John Cale) 4. Fruits of My Labour (Lucinda Williams) 5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore (The Walker Brothers) 6. I Don’t Wanna Love Ya Now (Mistress Mary)
Naima spent her early childhood in Sao Paulo Brazil to a Greek/English mother and a 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.
Today, you can stream Naima’s cover of the classic Brazilian song “Berimbau.” A full-length release will follow in 2022 via Sub Pop.
Naima has also announced a handful of UK dates for November and December 2021, and January 2022. Additional live shows are to be announced soon.
2021 Thu. Nov. 24 - London, UK - Village Underground * Fri. Nov. 25 - London, UK - Ivy House Sat. Nov. 26 - Nottingham, UK - Bodega * Sun. Nov. 27 - Glasgow, UK - Mono * Mon. Nov. 28 - Edinburgh, UK - Mash House * Wed. Nov. 30 - London, UK - Servant Jazz Quarters $ Thu. Dec. 02 - Liverpool, UK - District *
2022 Mon. Jan. 17 - London, UK - The Lexington (Five Day Forecast) Fri. Jan. 28 - London, UK - Moth Club
* w/ Porridge Radio $ w/ Bingo Fury % w/ The Goon Sax
Today, Beach House is sharing Chapter 2 from Once Twice Melody, the group’s forthcoming double album, out February 18th, 2022.
Once Twice Melody, the first album produced entirely by Beach House, 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 in the lead up to the physical release, will be presented in 4 chapters with lyric animations for each song.
Chapter 1 (November 10th, 2021) 1. Once Twice Melody 2. Superstar 3. Pink Funeral 4. Through Me
Chapter 2 (December 8th, 2021 - TODAY) 5. Runaway 6. ESP 7. New Romance 8. Over and Over
Chapter 3 (January 19th, 2022) 9. Sunset 10. Only You Know 11. Another Go Around 12. Masquerade 13. Illusion of Forever
Chapter 4 (full album release, February 18th, 2022) 14. Finale 15. The Bells 16. Hurts to Love 17. Many Nights 18. Modern Love Stories
Beach House have also announced headlining tour dates in support of Once Twice Melody, which begin on February 18th, 2022 (see also November 9th, 2021 announcement).
New international festival appearances include Best Kept Secret Festival in Hilvarenbeek, NL (June 10th-12th), Portugal’s Paredes de Coura (August 16th-20th), and This Ain’t No Picnic in Pasadena, CA (August 27th-28th). For more information on tickets, please visit oncetwicemelodytour.com.
What people are saying about Once Twice Melody: “Chapter One captured that storybook quality with sweeping ballads fit for a baroque fairytale, each guided by Victoria Legrand’s typically enchanting vocals.” - The AV Club
“…Their most cinematic record yet. Working with a live string ensemble for the first time, they summon a sound more surrealistic than anything on 2018’s 7, bringing to mind 1960s psychedelia, Stereolab, and Broadcast’s ‘Come On Let’s Go’.” - Pitchfork
“Beach House’s music contains many gifts, but it’s the group’s ability to magnify life’s small dramas into sky-sized emotions that glitters (“Superstar”).” - New York Times
“‘Like walking into a fairytale — it’s reminiscent of psychedelic ’60s folk and other kinds of evocative vintage pop.” - PAPER
“All of them are amazing. All of them have their proponents. But “Superstar,” while perhaps not the most novel of the bunch, is the one that gave me the spine-chilling sensation of listening to a bona fide Beach House classic for the first time.” (“Song of the Week”) - Stereogum
“Things begin with the stunning title track that mixes low-fi electronics with baroque touches and a stirring string section. You can hear echoes of Broadcast, Stereolab and Spacemen 3 (whose Sonic Boom produced their last album, 7). The hand-drawn animated lyric video, directed by Annapurna Kumar, is great too. From there, it’s the pulsing, kaleidoscopic ‘Superstar’ (video by Nicholas Law), the neon dread of ‘Pink Funeral’ (full of strings right out of a horror film and a video by Scott Kiernan), and the melting arpeggiations of ‘Through Me’ (with a video by San Charoenchai). The visuals for all four songs are fantastic, very different, but majorly psychedelic.” - Brooklyn Vegan
On the heels of Bully’s critically acclaimed 2020 release Sugaregg comes a new single “Just For Love.” Recorded during the Sugaregg sessions, this standalone single was co-produced by John Congleton and Alicia Bognanno. You can listen to “Just For Love” HERE.
Starting Dec. 9th Bully will begin a 9 date Southeast/East Coast run. This run will begin in Asheville, NC with shows in Washington D.C, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, and Pittsburgh, ending on Dec 18th. In Louisville, KY. See below for a full list of shows.
Tour Dates: THU. Dec 09. - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall FRI. Dec 10 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern SAT. Dec 11 - Washington, DC - Black Cat SUN. Dec 12 - Philadelphia , PA - Underground Arts TUE. Dec 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl WED. Dec 15 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall THU. Dec 16 - Lancaster, PA - Tellus 360 FRI. Dec 17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe SAT. Dec 18 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
What people are saying about SUGAREGG
“Full- throated, wild and free.” - Rolling Stone
“Sticky hooks, shout-along lyrics, and walloping, caffeinated riffs.” - Pitchfork
“…These songs are too insistent not to linger.” - The New Yorker
“Most developed offering from Bully yet” - Vulture
“Bognanno may be continuing a great tradition, but it provides a framework for catharsis that is deeply personal and candour that feels truly progressive.” ★★★★ - The Guardian
“SUGAREGG is confident and assured.” ★★★★ -NME
“The record flows, hitting knee-skinning highs like “Stuck in Your Head” (“I just wanted to pick up the tempo!” Bognanno sing-songs as the band counts off), barn-burners like “You” (about, it seems, an absent parent) and the hauntingly discordant “Hours and Hours.” Whatever the subject matter, whatever the tempo, each track finds Bognanno full-throated, wild and free…their most self-assured album yet.” ★★★½ -RollingStone
“SUGAREGG shows a musician at the top of their game, unafraid to take themselves a little less seriously than before.” ★★★★½ -The Forty Five
“When push comes to shove, SUGAREGG goes far to ease and maintain the cool in encountering happy sentiments and combine them with a fuck-it-all attitude. It is the blistering irresistibility of what is achieved at that point, which makes this record striking and inescapable.”[8/10] -CLASH
“This is joyous bubblegum grunge…Alicia Bognanno’s voice is as mesmeric and feral as ever, and her band sound simply, effortlessly, gigantic…you’re going to be rotting your teeth on SUGAREGG for weeks.” ★★★★ - NARC
“It’s a product full of joy, not maddening, but genuinely uplifting and encouraging. It’s also the best thing Bognanno has written. As the public is becoming increasingly accustomed to performances composed of lies and consistent sleight of hand, it’s rewarding to see someone go in the opposite direction and peel back the layers, revealing a freer and more transparent artistic self. It clearly hasn’t been easy, but on this basis, it certainly seems worth it.” - The Line Of Best Fit
“The most explosive collection of songs from Bognanno’s discography.” - Under the Radar
“…The songs on SUGAREGG feel like the singer, songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer has reached a new level of comfort in her relationship with herself.” - Nashville Scene
This year, CHAI made their Sub Pop debut with WINK, securing their position as “a professional purveyor of whimsy” (The New York Times). Today, the band announces their forthcoming WINK TOGETHER EP, a reimagination of songs from their beloved record, and reveals “END” (Confidence Man Remix). For WINK TOGETHER, CHAI tapped their favorite artists from around the world for what they call their “most powerful album yet.” Collaborators include Korea’s Beenzino, Japan’s ZAZEN BOYS and STUTS, as well as Australia’s Confidence Man. “CHAI and ConMan are a match made in party heaven,” Confidence Man explains. “When we heard their track ‘END,’ we just knew we had to put our hands all over it. Make the girls the 90’s hip hop stars they truly are. And if we do say so ourselves, it’s truly turned into the collab of our dreams.”
Today’s remix is a small taste of what CHAI have in store with WINK TOGETHER, as well as what they will bring to their 2022 North American tour of the same name. The WINK TOGETHER tour will see CHAI bookending their run of dates supporting Mitski, including stops in Chicago, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles.
WINK TOGETHER Tracklist
END (Confidence Man Remix)
ACTION (with ZAZEN BOYS)
Miracle (Scoobert Doobert Remix)
PING PONG! (Busy P Remix)
Nobody Knows We Are Fun (STUTS Remix)
Donuts Mind If I Do (with Beenzino)
CHAI TOUR DATES
Fri. Feb. 4 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Sat. Feb. 5 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
Sun. Feb. 6 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Wed. Feb. 9 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
Fri. Feb. 11 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Sat. Feb. 12 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
Sun. Feb. 13 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Tue. Feb. 15 - Brooklyn NY @ Elsewhere
Thu. Feb. 17 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel * - SOLD OUT
Fri. Feb. 18 - Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz * - SOLD OUT
Sat. Feb. 19 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern * - SOLD OUT
Mon. Feb. 21 - Birmingham, AL @ Iron City * - SOLD OUT
Tue. Feb. 22 - New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre * - SOLD OUT
Thu. Feb. 24 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Outside Lawn) * - SOLD OUT
Fri. Feb. 25 - Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory * - SOLD OUT
Sat. Feb. 26 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater * - SOLD OUT
Mon. Feb. 28 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren * - SOLD OUT
Wed. March 2 - Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall * - SOLD OUT
Thu. March 3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall * - SOLD OUT
Fri. March 4 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater * - SOLD OUT
Sat. March 5 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater * - SOLD OUT
Mon. March 7 - Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall * - SOLD OUT
Wed. March 9 - Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre * - SOLD OUT
Thu. March 10 - Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre * - SOLD OUT
Sat. March 12 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sun. March 13 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Tue. March 15 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club
Thu. March 17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom