Bon Iver have announced a new studio album, i,i, set for release on August. 30th via Jagjaguwar Records, along with sharing two more tracks from the effort, “Jelmore” and the song “Faith.”
As was hinted at with the band’s “Sincerity is Forever in Season” teaser trailer, released earlier this month, this is the fourth studio record from Justin Vernon’s project follows in the seasonal pattern of the previous three: 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago (winter); 2011’s Bon Iver (spring); 2016’s 22, A Million (summer); and nowi,irepresenting the fall.
“It feels very much like the most adult record, the most complete,” Vernon says in a press announcement for the album. “It feels like when you get through all this life, when the sun starts to set, and what happens is you start gaining perspective. And then you can put that perspective into more honest, generous work.”
Vernon recordedi,i at Wisconsin’s April Base and Texas’ Sonic Ranch studios and, according to the press release, at times used all five studio rooms of the latter location simultaneously. For the sessions, Vernon was joined by a band comprising Sean Carey, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Mike Lewis, Matt McCaughan, Rob Moose and Jenn Wasner, along with contributions from James Blake, Brad and Phil Cook, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Bruce Hornsby and several others.
“The title of the record can mean whatever it means to you or me,” Vernon says. “It can mean deciphering and bolstering one’s identity. It can be how important the self is and how unimportant the self is, how we’re all connected.”
Bon Iver will head out on a North American tour in the late summer and fall this year, kicking off August. 31st in Missoula, MT. the two newi,isingles (which follow up the previously released “Hey, Ma” and “U (Man Like)”) .
Charly Bliss released a new album this year, “Young Enough”, via Barsuk . Many of its standout tracks were already released as pre-release singles (and all had made our must listen Songs of the Week ), but there are also some worthy album tracks too. We considered the late album ballad “Hurt Me” (“You need me like a parachute” is a good line), but album opener “Blown to Bits” caught our ears the most. In the sequencing it provides a nice built up to album highlight (and first single) “Capacity.” “I don’t know what’s coming for me after 24,” frontwoman Eva Hendricks sings. If her band keeps putting out albums as good as Young Enough then lots more great things should be coming for her in the future. Touring their sophomore album, Young Enough, that has proven they’re a true force to be reckoned with
Previously Charly Bliss shared a video for Young Enough’s first single, “Capacity,” which was directed by Michelle Zauner aka Japanese Breakfast . The they shared another new song from the album, “Chatroom,” also via a video for it. Maegan Houang directed the twisted clip, which starred Hendricks as the member of a cult. “Chatroom”. Then they shared another new song from the album, “Hard to Believe,” via a video for it .
On Guppy, Eva poked fun at herself lyrically, but on Young Enough she resists the urge to swerve sincerity. “I was trying to be completely honest, and not always go with my first instinct, which is to be sarcastic or to deflect,” she admits. Eva’s still singing about cute things like bathing suits and kissing boys, but now there’s more sex and nakedness (“I’m fucking joy and I hemorrhage light,” she belts on “Bleach”), more confessions of fear and pain.
Inspired in turn by Lorde’s Melodrama, Superorganism, and recent tours with Bleachers, Wolf Parade, and Death Cab For Cutie, the foursome is especially pleased with the way Young Enough sounds dynamic, forthright, and full of feeling. “It’s still explosive,” still has that frenetic Guppy spirit, Spencer notes, “but it’s more emotional.” They strove for diversity of sound, allowing the songs to have “more space,” to not always be “in-your-face” and “at 110 percent,” an approach that led to roomier, more languid tracks like “Young Enough” and “Hurt Me.”.
Eva, is now twenty-five, is talking specifically about the title track of the forthcoming Young Enough. Lyrically, she says, the track reflects on the anger she expressed on Guppy. “We’re young enough / to believe it should hurt this much,” she sings, her tireless voice mellower than usual; “I had to outgrow it to know or destroy you.” She calls this potent slow-burn the album’s centerpiece, because it’s about “what it means to come out the other end of a really terrible situation” as a softer person, about looking back at yourself with kindness and acceptance, about recognizing you’ve evolved. “You gotta go through it,” she says, addressing her younger self, “but it’s not who you are forever.”
While Guppy took years to complete—they recorded it twice, and some of those songs were almost five years old by the time they came out—Young Enough is the product of complete concentration. After Guppy, each member of the band quit their steady barista and bartender jobs in order to become completely engrossed in the songwriting process. Not always trusting their initial impulses is something the band can all agree on, as evidenced by the re-recording of Guppy, and their penchant for what they call the “Frankensong.” Guppy’s standout, the firecracker breakup track “Glitter,” was one of those; it went through rounds of editing and rearranging until all that remained of the demo was the pre-chorus.
It’s hard to put into words how excited we are to share our second album Young Enough, released May 10th, with all of you. This album was a joy to make. We worked harder and were more focused than ever before, and our confidence and trust in one another and ourselves grew with every song we wrote. This album is a celebration of personal growth, meant to be danced and cried to in equal measure. We can’t wait to share more songs and more information with you in the comings months, but for now, we hope you enjoy our first single, “Capacity” and the beautiful video directed by Michelle Zauner and shot by Adam Kolodny. Also, Also, a huge thank you to Ebru Yildiz for our beautiful album cover and press photos.
After eight years as a band, Charly Bliss’ unfuckwithable chemistry has only gotten stronger. “It just gets better,” says Sam, who’s lanky, earnest, and excitable, and has recently been sporting a platinum coif,
After exploding out of the gates in 2017 with arguably the best rock record of the year in Guppy, Charly Bliss were always going to have to put in the hard yards to outrun the shadow cast by their debut.
Not only were they able to achieve that with Young Enough, they were able to do so entirely on their terms. Yes, this is an album that embraces the band’s love of pop music. It’s not a dirty word where these four come from — and nor should it be.
The VIP tracks this time are “Capacity” and “Chatroom,” also the Frankensongs. “Capacity”— is a sparkling, characteristically feisty, anthem-sized song whose tempo, Sam says, was designed specifically for strutting down the street—was tabled before the band “reopened the case” many months later, during pre-production with producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, The White Stripes).
With that being said, you won’t find any other pop song on the radio right now that strikes upon the human condition the same way standout tracks like ‘Capacity’ and ‘Chatroom’ do. Emotively striking and visceral in its honesty, they’re delivered so subtly and in such glossy packaging that you might not even fully understand the weight of that verse you’ve been singing along to this whole time.
From the charging ‘I Fought the Law’ pastiche of ‘Blown to Bits’ through to the quietly-devastating title track, Young Enough is a stellar achievement for a band that doesn’t show any signs of slowing momentum. “I’m always nervous,” Eva concludes. “But it feels good to have songs that are still changing every time you play them, because you’re reviewing what’s working and what’s not working. And to be really nervous—it feels really good.”
It was announced last year that Scotland’s Belle and Sebastian would be providing the score for the indie film Days of the Bagnold Summer. Last week the band shared its first single, “Sister Buddha,” . The soundtrack to Days of the Bagnold Summeris due out September 13th via Matador.
The film is the directorial debut of Simon Bird, an actor and comedian known for his role as Will McKenzie in The InbetweenersTV and movie series. The movie is based on a 2012 graphic novel of the same name by Joff Winterhart and is due out in 2020.
A press release describes the plot of Days of the Bagnold Summer as such: “It’s a tender, touching and acutely observed coming-of-age story, which tells of a heavy-metal-loving teenager’s holiday plans falling through at the last minute, leading to him having to spend the summer with the person who annoys him most in the world: his mum.”
Nick Cave’s teenage son, Earl Cave stars as the teenager in the film. Monica Dolan (Eye in the Sky) plays the mum (who’s a librarian) and the film also stars Rob Brydon (The Trip), Tamsin Greig (Second Best Marigold Hotel), Alice Lowe (Prevenge), and Elliot Speller-Gillot (Uncle).
In a press release Murdoch admits that he wasn’t aware of the original graphic novel before Bird approached the band to soundtrack the movie version. “But its style and its atmosphere set me off straight away,” he says. “I read it on a Friday, and by Monday I pretty much had all my ideas lined up. What was great was that Simon hadn’t shot anything then. You want to get in early, because that way you can start having late night conversations with the director about The Graduate, or whatever. We all have fantasies about those great movies of the ’60s and the ’70s. If you going to get involved with a project like this, you want to do it right.”
The soundtrack features re-recorded versions of two previous Belle and Sebastian songs: “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying” (from 1996’s sophomore album If You’re Feeling Sinister) and “I Know Where The Summer Goes” (from the 1998 EP This is Just a Modern Rock Song). “Simon was adamant he wanted to use it. He’s a proper fan of the group,” says Murdoch about “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying.”
The origins of one of the tracks, “Safety Valve,” date back even further. “That one’s ancient,” says Murdoch. “It predates the band; it’s maybe 25 years old. The only time I can remember ever playing it was in a coffee shop with a friend of mine, and people scratching their heads. There was only a verse and a chorus, so I went back to it, and revised the words. It’s a simple song about being over-reliant on a particular person – probably my girlfriend at the time. But it seems to work okay here, too.”
In terms of releasing a soundtrack vs. a regular album, Murdoch comments: “Everything we do that becomes an album is a big deal for us. We’re quietly pleased with how the collaboration went, but the truth is that you don’t know what’s going to happen when it goes out into the world, and people hear it.”
The band’s Sarah Martin adds: “It’s more consistent, probably, than most of our albums. Soundtracks are a deeper cut. They’re not a big pop statement.”
In late 2017 and early 2018 Belle and Sebastian released three interconnected EPs via Matador, all titledHow to Solve Your Human Problems. How to Solve Your Human Problems Part 1 came out in December 2017, Part 2 came out in January 2018, and Part 3 came out in February 2018. Then all three EPs were collected in a vinyl box set and CD compilation that also came out in February 2018. Then in May 2018 the band announced The Boaty Weekender, a floating festival to set sale from Barcelona to Sardinia and back again on August 8th-12th, 2019. Its initial lineup was announced in September 2018 and includes Camera Obscura, Tracyanne & Danny, Mogwai, Honeyblood, and Django Django. Also setting sail are Alvvays, The Buzzcocks, Japanese Breakfast, HINDS, Kelly Lee Owens, Nilüfer Yanya, and Whyte Horses.
Legendary British shoegazers Ride have shared a new cut from their imminent new album, This Is Not A Safe Place, Like other tracks in Ride’s discography, “Repetition” is poppier than other shoegaze songs. Swirling guitars intertwine with jubilant synths, crafting a sunny single that sounds like if Kraftwerk were stripped of technological anxieties and linked up with Devo.
Frontman Andy Bell smiles throughout the track, encouraging listeners to embrace patterns amid substantial life changes. “Repetition is a form of change / So don’t be fazed if the backdrops change,” he chants encouragingly during the chorus. Per the track’s YouTube description, Bell writes that the track “succeeds in bringing me back to all of the things we were into and talked about when we were 18, but also being of the moment, in 2019.”
Ride reformed in 2014 to do some touring and finally released their first new album in 21 years, Weather Diaries, in 2017 via Wichita. That was followed by the 2018 EP, Tomorrow’s Shore. As with those two releases, Erol Alkan produced This Is Not a Safe Place. Alan Moulder mixed the album, the fourth Ride album he has mixed. The band came together at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. A previous press release said the band were influenced by “the Jean Michel Basquiat exhibition at London’s Barbican Centre and the post-punk sound of The Fall and Sonic Youth, for an album rich in their trademark shoegaze atmosphere, whilst simultaneously sounding rejuvenated and creatively ambitious.”
Band Members
Andy Bell,
Laurence Colbert,
Mark Gardener,
Steve Queralt
This Is Not A Safe Place is out on August. 16th via Wichita Recordings.
Jay Som (aka Melina Duterte) is releasing a new album, “Anak Ko”, on August 23rd via Polyvinyl Records. Previously she shared its first single, “Superbike,” via a lyric video for the track. This week she shared another song from the album, the dreamy “Tenderness,” . Weird Life produced and directed the video.
In a press release Duterte says “Tenderness” is “a feel-good, funky, kind of sexy song” that is in part about “the curse of social media” and how it affects relationships. “That’s definitely about scrolling on your phone and seeing a person and it just haunts you, you can’t escape it,” Duterte adds. “I have a weird relationship to social media and how people perceive me-as this person that has a platform, as a solo artist, and this marginalized person. That was really getting to me. I wanted to express those emotions, but I felt stifled. I feel like a lot of the themes of the songs stemmed from bottled up emotions, frustration with yourself, and acceptance.”
Anak Ko is the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed Everybody Works, also on Polyvinyl (among most bloggers Top 100 Albums of 2017). Duterte was based in the Bay Area, but relocated to Los Angeles prior to recording the new album. She recorded Anak Ko at home as the sole producer, engineer, and mixer. A previous press release pointed out that “in some songs, you can hear the washer/dryer near her bedroom.” Although it wasn’t a completely solitary affair, the album also features plenty of guests, including Vagabon’s Laetitia Tamko, Chastity Belt’s Annie Truscott, Justus Proffit, and Boy Scouts’ Taylor Vick, as well as her touring bandmates Zachary Elasser, Oliver Pinnell, and Dylan Allard.
The album’s title is pronounced “Ah-nuh Koh,” which means “my child” in Filipino. It was inspired by a text message from Duterte’s mother, who often addresses her as “anak ko.” “It’s an endearing thing to say, it feels comfortable,” Duterte said in the previous press release.
In the press release Duterte said the album is about the importance of patience and kindness and that those concepts have helped her growth as an artist. “In order to change, you’ve got to make so many mistakes,” she said. “What’s helped me is forcing myself to be even more peaceful and kind with myself and others. You can get so caught up in attention, and the monetary value of being a musician, that you can forget to be humble. You can learn more from humility than the flashy stuff. I want kindness in my life. Kindness is the most important thing for this job, and empathy.”
For “Superbike,” Duterte’s aim was to merge Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette for a song that she said lets “loose over swirling shoegaze. I came up with the vocal melody while chopping onions during a rare snowstorm in Joshua Tree, definitely one of my favorite memories from making the album.”
The album is due out in North America on Polyvinyl, in Australia/New Zealand/Asia via Pod/Inertia Music, and in the rest of the world via Lucky Number.
Back in February Jay Som also shared a brand new song, “Simple,” that was released as part of the Adult Swim Singles series. That song is not featured on the new album. Last year Jay Som teamed up with Justus Proffit for a collaborative EP, Nothing’s Changed.
Jay Som’s new album, Anak Ko, out August 23rd, 2019.
The Band Lower Dens (which is led by singer/songwriter Jana Hunter) are set to be releasing a new album, The Competition, on September 6th via Ribbon Music. Previously they shared a video for its first single, “Young Republicans” This week they shared another song from the album, “I Drive,” also via a video for the track.
Jason Nocito directed the black & white video, which features choreography by Veleda Roehl and dancers Stephannie Henriquez and Steven Jeltsch. The song finds Hunter lamenting, “Why can’t we be with the ones we were made to love?”
Hunter had this to say about the song in a press release: “Like a lot of queer and trans people, I’ve learned that real family is made, and it isn’t necessarily blood. Even my blood relatives, we work for that familial connection and trust. This song is about leaving behind obligations to people who don’t love or care about you, being with and about people who do. It’s a feeling so strong it’s driving me. That’s the driving I’m doing.”
Hunter had this to say about the album in the previous press release: “The issues that have shaped my life, for better or for worse, have to do with coming from a family and a culture that totally bought into this competitive mindset. I was wild and in a lot of pain as a kid; home life was very bleak, and pop songs were a guaranteed escape to a mental space where beauty, wonder, and love were possible. I wanted to write songs that might have the potential to do that.”
The Competition is the follow-up to 2015’s Escape From Evil. A previous press release said The Competition “might be Hunter’s most vulnerable, hook-filled album yet, a leftfield, resistance pop record that could only be released in 2019.”
Band Members
Jana Hunter, Nate Nelson
Lower Dens’ forthcoming album ‘The Competition’, out September 6th on Ribbon Music.
In June 2017, New Order returned to the stage at Manchester’s Old Granada Studios where Joy Division made their television debut on Tony Wilson’s So It Goes programme in 1978. For the celebrated show ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes .., New Order deconstructed, rethought and rebuilt a wealth of material from throughout their career: familiar and obscure, old and new. Featuring tracks such as Disorder, from Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures and not played live for 30 years, up to 2015’s Plastic from New Order’s critically acclaimed Top 5 album Music Complete– this is the perfect document of those magical 5 nights. The album was recorded live on 13th July 2017 and includes the full show and encore plus 3 additional tracks recorded over the residency to give listeners a full representation of the breadth of material performed.
If you’re looking for a New Order live album chock full of their greatest hits, go pick up Live at the London Troxy or Live at Bestival 2012. If you’re looking for a New Order live album with a more unconventional setlist, a broader artistic vision and a 12-piece synthesizer orchestra, check out this new one, the arty-mathy, horrendously titled ?(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.
Their MIF performance featured a bold stage setup and dramatic light show, which “reacted” to the music and was designed by English conceptual artist Liam Gillick. Its aesthetic devotion to sharp lines and spiraling motifs can be found throughout. Above all, this is an album full of intention. The way it toggles between the dreamy, the rave-y, the interstellar and the mathematical is what makes it uniquely transcendent. It’s so easy to get locked into the pulsing grooves and club beats on “this weird New Order live album” (which is likely how you’ll refer to it) that you won’t even realize songs like “Age of Consent” or “Blue Monday” are missing.
New Order Ltd. Under exclusive licence to Mute Artists Ltd. Released on: 2019-07-12
3LP – Limited Edition Triple album pressed on transparent coloured vinyl. Packaged in individual sleeves and into a hardback slipcase, all with spot gloss finish.24 page 12″ sized booklet with silk finish containing exclusive imagery and text relating to the legendary event. Includes hi definition digital download of all 18 tracks.
A pair of Gregg Allman reissues are due next month. The late rocker’s 1973 solo debut, Two years after his death, Gregg Allman’s 1973 solo debut Laid Back, and his 1974 live album, The Gregg Allman Tour, will be released on vinyl on August 30th. To be reissued on August 30th via Mercury/UMe.
Recorded at the same time as the Allman Brothers’ iconic Brothers and Sisters, Laid Back is a densely soulful record, The album “Laid Back”, which includes Allman’s cover his own “Midnight Rider” in a more mournful, dirge-like manner, and Jackson Browne’s “These Days” gets its most touching and tragic-sounding rendition as well. Although Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe are here, there’s very little that sounds like the Allman Brothers Band — prominent guitars, apart from a few licks by Tommy Talton (Cowboy), are overlooked in favor of gospel-tinged organ and choruses behind Allman’s soulful singing.
The set arrives as part of a two-CD Deluxe Edition that fills out the first disc with early mixes of all eight songs. A second disc contains Allman’s demos, outtakes, rough mixes and a solo live version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Melissa” recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y., on April 13th, 1974.
While promoting Laid Back, Allman performed two nights at New York’s Carnegie Hall and a third at the Capitol Theatre with a 24-piece orchestra and the band Cowboy. Highlights from those dates were released on The Gregg Allman Tour, which has been out of print on vinyl since 1987.
In addition to songs from Laid Back and Allman Brothers classics like “Dreams” and “Stand Back,” Allman covered “Turn on Your Love Light” and “I Feel So Bad” on the album. Cowboy, which featured Allman BrothersBand keyboardist Chuck Leavell, also perform two songs, “Time Will Take Us” and “Where Can You Go?”.
Allman’s live album The Gregg Allman Tour is also being reissued, pressed for the first time since 1987. Featuring live tracks from Carnegie Hall and the Capitol Theater, the tracklist includes “Oncoming Traffic” and a cover of Elvis Presley’s “I Feel So Bad.” The vinyl edition will be pressed in grey and white marble, modeling the original so that side one and four will be on the first LP, while sides two and three will be on the other.
These Days (Solo Guitar, Piano & Vocal Demo) · Gregg Allman
The Gregg Allman Tour and Laid back , will be released on vinyl on August 30th. To be reissued on August 30th via Mercury/UMe.
its almost 1am here in LA and i’m thinking about this song “midnight choir” that i am so happy to share with you today, what it meant to me. every time i write a song, it changes the way i see the world a little bit. this song taught me a lot that i am grateful for. i am learning that we don’t have to choose one – joy or sorrow – or even esteem one as superior to the other — that these worlds are maybe not so far apart. the same song can contain both and still be true… maybe truer because it refuses to be one thing ?
i had the chance to make this song with producer rob schnapf who is a bit of a legend here. he has worked with some of my favorite artists — beck, elliot smith, cat power — and the process was super cool, a bit magical. i found some new spaces in this song that i haven’t been before. i think that amazing producers help you find that — the thing thats in you that you block yourself from unleashing.
well, i hope you enjoy this cosmic hug from me to you. i hope you are happy, or on the way there.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced their 15th studio album (!) in the past 7 years. Infest The Rats’ Nest will be released on Flightless Records on August 16th, 2019 with pre-order for the album going live on June 25th, Infest The Rats’ Nest features the band’s two recent singles Self-Immolate and Planet B, both of which were accompanied by dark, violent John Angus Stewart-directed videos.
The new tracks are evidence that Infest the Rat’s Nest will take a distinctly different track to the band’s recently released album, Fishing For Fishies, which came out on Flightless in late April 2019. That album ended up at #1 on ARIA vinyl charts.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released a whopping five new albums last year. The Melbourne psych-rock outfit shared their latest LP, Fishing For Fishies, back in April, and now they’ve announced their second album of 2019. Infest The Rats’ Nest will be King Gizzard’s 15th album in the past seven years.
Infest The Rats’ Nest sees the band embracing thrash metal. The press release says it’s their “hardest and heaviest album to date. How metal is it? Very Metal. Maybe even more.” The album was recorded with three of the seven band members. Frontman Stu Mackenzie and guitarist Joey Walker share guitar and bass duty while Michael Cavanagh handles the drums.
“The A-side of the album is set in the near future and is about real shit going on right now – especially ecological disaster,” Mackenzie explains in a statement. “We’ve got a lot of things to fear. The B-side tells the story of a group of rebels who are forced to leave Planet Earth and try to settle on Venus. I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of humanity and the future of Planet Earth. Naturally these thoughts seep into the lyrics.”
Infest The Rats’ Nest is out 8/16 via Flightless/ATO.
King Gizz will embark on a massive world tour . These shows are not to be missed.
