Here’s what they say about it: At long last, we’re proud to announce our new album, ‘Green to Gold’ will be released on March 26th via Anti / Transgressive Records! You can pre-order the new album via Bandcamp. And today, we’ve got a new song to share with you. This one’s called “Solstice”.
“Solstice” is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood summer, innocent barefoot hikes, staying outside all afternoon and late into the evening, well past it being too dark to see. But it’s remembered from the vantage of a present day that feels unbearably long rather than joyously endless. It’s an invocation of those simpler times, an attempt to conjure the lightness of youth, before life got so damn complicated. Peter Silberman is back with the first Antlers album in seven years, which will be out in March. Here’s the new single.
Eager to share the rest of ‘Green to Gold’ with you this spring. Thank you for listening. With love,The Antlers”
Vocals, guitar, bass, pedal steel, piano, and organ by Peter Silberman Drums and percussion by Michael Lerner
Bass clarinet on “Wheels Roll Home” by Jon Natchez Violin and viola on “Solstice” by Will Harvey Cello on “Stubborn Man” by Brent Arnold Banjo on “Just One Sec” and “Volunteer” by David Moore Slide Guitar on “Just One Sec” by Dave Harrington Baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, and french horn on “It Is What It Is” by Kelly Pratt Guitar on “Green to Gold” by Tim Mislock
While the days when you might spot David Byrne at a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show are behind us, Alec Ounsworth has continued to hone his skills as a songwriter. Born out of a dark year, “New Fragility” finds Ounsworth inspired and the songs shared so far are terrific. If it doesn’t end up being Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s best since 2005 it definitely will be the best to feature a song called “CYHSY, 2005.” New single “CYHSY, 2005” isn’t about the days when David Byrne would come to their shows, it’s about home. “Part of being away so often is leaving people behind, and never feeling you’re able to establish conventionally meaningful relationships,” says Ounsworth. “You can be searching for stability – being in one place – and discover that that’s an illusion.”
In any discussion regarding songwriters and lyricists of 21st century indie music, Alec Ounsworth and his moniker, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, will feature prominently. Few have been as consistently brilliant, eclectic, and intimate; fewer still remain defiantly independent, refusing to sign deals that compromise artistic vision. That is what characterizes Ounsworth’s oeuvre, especially the lifetime project he initiated sometime in the early 2000s, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And with each release since its landmark self-titled debut, he has refined and broadened his sound, indulging an ever wider set of influences.
Prolific and enigmatic as ever, his recent works marry the quirky, left-field spirit of the early years with a well-earned confidence, and grander sense of scale and ambition. Always heading down new avenues of song arrangement and organic connection to his audience, after nearly two decades Ounsworth remains one of music’s most distinctive voices.
The upcoming album New Fragility (February 12th, 2021 CYHSY/Secretly Distribution), including the advance singles Hesitating Nation / Thousand Oaks and Where They Perform Miracles, was produced by Alec Ounsworth, with additional production from Will Johnson,
The Sonder Bombs will follow their great 2018 debut album “Modern Female Rockstar” with “Clothbound” on 1/29, and the singles find them taking their ukulele-fuelled indie-pop punk in all kinds of exciting new directions. The Sonder Bombs have doubled down on their second record. 2018’s debut “Modern Female Rockstar” was their first bet: an all-caps attack against a male-dominated scene brandishing a ukulele and dry wit as chosen weapons. A year and some change passed, where the Cleveland band’s relentless touring ethic and tough love caused a homegrown fan base to explode worldwide. Clothbound, like the title suggests, weaves a different narrative—one of loss, letting go, and losing patience with losers. If the first record introduced unapologetic sensitivity, Clothbound searches for the root causes of other key elements.
Produced in Philadelphia during quarantine with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Beach Bunny, Modern Baseball), “Clothbound” captures a band burning at both ends. Fans of vocalist/ukulele/guitarist Willow Hawks’ exasperated kiss-offs will have plenty to unpack here, from the frantic goodbyes spat through “Swing on Sight” or “What Are Friends For,” where Hawks entertains this question while the background smoulders around the punctuation—a ukulele strum here, Willow Hawks’ vocal line trailing like an asteroid collision there. As this is the second volume in the Sondie songbook, evolved moments, like the acoustic-electric elegy “Scattered,” sit near the band at their most sloganeering and effective. “Crying is Cool” a live staple eagerly awaiting its reveal, teaches listeners of all ages that it’s okay to hole up with your feelings as long as you give them room to grow. The band’s also not afraid of taking their own advice, letting their emotions run wild on “k.,” an absolute barnstormer of a track where the Bombs fire off all cylinders while winking to hardcore and metal. The chips are down and the deck is stacked here. The band’s all in. Are you?
releases January 29th, 2021
The Sonder Bombs – “k.” From their album “Clothbound” Out January 29th via Take This To Heart Records/Big Scary Monsters (UK/EU)/Dew Process (AUZ/NZ)
Judging by the first single, “Faith Healer,” Julien Baker’s official solo follow-up to 2017’s Turn Out The Lights will be her most fleshed-out sounding solo album yet. A departure from her more stark, minimalistic material, “Faith Healer” features a full band, drums included, while losing none of the power of Julien’s emotionally charged vocals and lyrics. The album — her first release since 2018’s Boygenius EP that had her teamed up with Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers — was recorded before the pandemic, but we’re counting on its arrival to resonate deeply in lockdown all the same.
Julien Baker has shared the second single off her highly-anticipated third album, “Little Oblivions”, the highly-anticipated third album, is due out February 26th via Matador, and she’s just shared its second single, first track “Hardline.” Like “Faith Healer,” it’s a more fleshed-out sounding song than many others we’ve heard from Julien in the past, but it’s still as emotionally resonant as her more spare, bare bones material.
“A few years ago I started collecting travel ephemera again with a loose idea of making a piece of art with it,” Julien writes. “I had been touring pretty consistently since 2015 and had been traveling so much that items like plane tickets and hotel key cards didn’t have much novelty anymore. So I saved all my travel stuff and made a little collage of a house and a van out of it. I wanted to incorporate it into the record and when we were brainstorming ideas for videos we came across Joe Baughman and really liked his work so we reached out with the idea of making a stop-motion video that had similar aesthetic qualities as the house I built did. I don’t know why I have the impulse to write songs or make tiny sculptures out of plane tickets. But here it is anyway: a bunch of things I’ve collected and carried with me that I’ve re-organized into a new shape.”
Baughman directed the video for “Hardline,” he writes, “even after having spent 600 hours immersed in ‘Hardline’ and having listened to it thousands of times, I am still moved by it. It was a fun and ambitious challenge creating something that could accompany such a compelling song. The style of the set design, inspired by a sculpture that Julien created, was especially fun to work in. I loved sifting through magazines, maps, and newspapers from the 60s and 70s and finding the right colours, shapes, and quotes to cover almost every surface in the video.”
Meanwhile, Julien recently taped a performance for KEXP Radio a week ago, which just came out today; it includes a solo acoustic performance of Soundgarden’s “Fell on Black Days” around the 43 minute mark, and you can watch the whole thing below.
Julien Baker sharing a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and talking to Cheryl Waters. Recorded January 6th, 2021.
Songs: Faith Healer Song in E Hardline Fell on Black Days
Julien Baker – vocals / guitar / keys Calvin Lauber – bass Mariah Schneider – guitar / bg vocals Matt Gilliam – drums Noah Forbes – keys (overdubbed) Becca Mancari – guest bg vocals Session recorded at Third Man Records in Nashville, TN
Julien also appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week performing “Faith Healer.”
Julien Baker makes her return to A Late Show with this performance of “Faith Healer” from her upcoming album “Little Oblivions,” available everywhere on February 26th.
Claud, is the first signee to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory label, releases their debut album, “Super Monster”, in February, and the latest single is “Cuff Your Jeans,” which Claud says “is a song about yearning. I wrote it after having a fever dream about trying to get on a train to see my friend but missing it over and over and over because there was always some obstacle in my way. The dream left me in a cold sweat and extremely frustrated. All elements of this song are a much needed form of rebellion against my redundant lifestyle, and my pitched down vocals in the verses – which appear in a few more places throughout Super Monster – are a way to further a more courageous and outspoken persona.”
In 2021 is there more valuable indie-pop currency than a Phoebe Bridgers co-sign? Claud is the first artist signed to her Saddest Factory imprint and their debut single Gold displayed the sort of songwriting savvy that can make serious waves. Landing somewhere between the twee indie of those classic early Shins records and a hyper-current playful pop sensibility, Claud has the raw materials to step out from beneath the Bridgers banner soon enough. New album ‘Super Monster’ is out in February.
“Cuff Your Jeans” the new song by Claud from the album ‘Super Monster’, out Feburary 12th on Saddest Factory Records.
Following her signing to Polyvinyl back in August, IAN SWEET, the project helmed by Jilian Medford, has finally announced her forthcoming third record, “Show Me How You Disappear” (set for release on March 5th .
It’s creation began back in 2018, when she wrote the track “Dumb Driver,” with the record’s first single, “Power,” coming shortly after. Following a spate of panic attacks, Medford began an intensive two-month outpatient program back in January of last year, and upon finishing it found well of new songs. Collaborators on the album include Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Empress Of) and Andy Seltzer (Maggie Rogers), with mixing handled by Chris Coady. Jilian notes that she was additionally guided by the discography of her favourite band, Coldplay, and the “bizarre and magical vocal delivery” of Young Thug while piecing everything together.
“This is the first record that I leave that space for myself,” Jilian explained. “I feel a freedom on this one that I haven’t felt with the others. People always say ‘I put all of me into this,’ but I actually didn’t this time I left space.” With the album announcement comes new single “Drink the Lake.” She says that the track “taps into [her] own twisted logic to try and break away from obsessive thought patterns…it turned into a pop anthem of seemingly silly ways to try and forget someone, like saying their name backwards, but I feel these devices contributed to my healing.”
Jilian Medford will release Show Me How You Disappear, her third album as IAN SWEET, on March 5th via Polyvinyl. New single “Drink the Lake” “”taps into my own twisted logic to try and break away from obsessive thought patterns…it turned into a pop anthem of seemingly silly ways to try and forget someone, like saying their name backwards, but I feel these devices contributed to my healing.”
“Drink The Lake” is taken from IAN SWEET’s new album, Show Me How You Disappear, out March 5th, 2021.
Composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman has shared a new song, “Sorry,” which is another of the songs, like “Happy,” that he’d written especially for his 2020 Coachella performance that ended up not happening due to the pandemic. “‘Sorry’ was the first song I’ve written for myself in a long time,” Elfman says. “It began as an obsessive choral-chant instrumental work, which at the time I called ‘alien orchestral chamber punk’ and evolved slowly into a song. I was surprised by the amount of rage I’d been storing inside myself which came bursting out as soon as I applied my voice.”
The creepy, animated video for the song was made by Jesse Kanda, who has worked with Arca, FKA Twigs, and Bjork, and like the song, it was created for the Coachella performance.
With frontman Robert Pollard leading the way, Guided by Voices added three more albums to their massive catalogue last year, including December’s “Styles We Paid For”. Pollard is looking to carry that non-stop momentum into 2021 with the announcement of a new side-project, Cub Scout Bowling Pins are a new secret identity of super-heroes, turning up the craziness knob by 10%. First song “Heaven Beats Iowa” is an insanely catchy power-pop tune, distinctly different from GBV with a Farfisa organ chug, by jingo!”
Having released three albums with Guided by Voices in 2020 (the most recent less than a month ago), Robert Pollard doesn’t appear to be slowing down for 2021. Rolling Stone notes he’s got a new project, Cub Scout Bowling Pins, who will release their six-song debut EP, Heaven Beats Iowa, on January 22nd via Guided by Voices Inc.
The forthcoming collection consists of six songs, including a title track that serves as the lead single. While details on Cub Scout Bowling Pins, like their music, are fuzzy, it’s clearly Bob singing on Heaven Beats Iowa’s janunty, organ-fueled title track that has a distinct ’60s pop vibe.
Releases January 22nd Limited to 1000 7inch EP’s and 1000 CD’s worldwide
One of 2020’s very best new punk bands was Baltimore’s Pinkshift, who released an increasingly good run of singles and plan to put out an EP and/or album too. They recently told us that they “have the material written, and there are plans to release the songs in entirety (hopefully sooner rather than later).”
“i’m gonna tell my therapist on you” might be one of the most fitting punk song titles ever. Granted, we wouldn’t expect anything less from Pinkshift. This Baltimore-based outfit are yet another who hit the scene running. On the heels of their 2019 debut, the band have rapidly grown a relatively large listener base. Check out their latest release, “Rainwalk,” for a good sample of their uniquely modern, grunge-leaning take on punk.
Rat city punk rock. Influenced by punk rock and grunge, Pinkshift showcases their fast and heavy song writing in their first release, Mars. With every new release, they aim to bring energy and grit to every listener.
Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of all time, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. Hendrix’s innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form and his influence resonates to this day. In 1969, Hendrix custom-ordered a left-handed Gibson Flying V directly from Gibson. Used during the Band of Gypsy’s era, the following year Hendrix’s Gibson Flying V was made forever famous during his performance at the Isle of Wight Festival at Afton Downs on August 31st, 1970.
The Jimi Hendrix 1969 Flying V has been created in both right and left-handed versions and features a Murphy Lab Aged Ebony finish and aged gold hardware. Only 125 right-handed Vs and 25 left-handed Vs will be created as part of this very special run of guitars. The Certificate of Authenticity for the Jimi Hendrix 1969 Flying V in Aged Ebony features an image of Jimi performing at the Isle of Wight with the guitar. On September 9th, 1969, for his second appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show,” Hendrix played a right-handed 1967 Gibson SG (strung lefty) for a medley of “Izabella” and “Machine Gun.” The new limited edition Jimi Hendrix 1967 SG Custom in Aged Polaris White accurately replicates the exact guitar Hendrix performs with on the show.
The SG Custom features a Murphy Lab Aged Polaris White finish and is one of only 150 models created as part of this run, hand-made by the expert luthiers and craftspeople of the Gibson Custom Shop. The Certificate of Authenticity for the Jimi Hendrix 1967 SG Custom in Aged Polaris White features an image of Jimi performing on “The Dick Cavett Show” with the SG guitar. “I don’t know of a more perfect time than the present for the world to be inspired and electrified by the spirit of Jimi, embodied in these guitars! Jimi didn’t play with just his hands, he played with his heart and really his soul, using his guitar to create positive energy. He wanted to awaken the world with it.
Gibson has harnessed some of that energy, and beautifully! It’s amazing to know that fans and those who love Jimi, and his music, will be able to plug into that power and keep his legacy alive. With Gibson, we’ve selected two of his most impressive guitars to recreate. It’s quite an homage to Jimi, and we couldn’t be more excited about what this means historically.” -Janie Hendrix Jimi Hendrix 1969 Flying V (Left-Handed), Aged Ebony https://bit.ly/3nroMrU Jimi Hendrix 1969 Flying V, Aged Ebony https://bit.ly/35CriFB
The Fat Angel Sings 