For those of us already in the know, the three years between New Zealand songwriter Nadia Reid’s albums have been an excruciating wait. A wait no doubt earmarked by endless listens to her pristine sophomore album, Preservation. On March 6th 2020, Nadia Reid will release her third album, “Out Of My Province”, on her own aptly named Slow Time Records. The album will release outside of New Zealand on Spacebomb Records, and yes, she made the trek to Richmond, Virginia, to receive the full Spacebomb production treatment of strings and lush arrangements. First single and video, “Best Thing” is already out. Reid has a voice that is at once delicate, but also sturdy enough to command attention and instill an instant addiction. A voice that stands up to any instrumentation thrown her way and earns whatever superlatives you care to apply. Reid only first toured out of her native home to neighboring Australia in 2016 and maintained her job at a cafe up to that point.
Since then, Reid has performed in the U.K., Europe and barely in the U.S. As her new album predicts, Reid will undoubtedly find herself extensively out of her province in the ensuing year. Already having been nominated for numerous awards at home, the rest of the world will soon figure out that she is a necessary fixture in their listening libraries.
“Best Thing” off the album ‘Out of My Province’ due for release March 6th, 2020, on Spacebomb Records.
Algiers return in 2020 with their third album ‘There Is No Year’, which will be released January 17th on Matador Records. ‘There is No Year’ solidifies and expands upon the doom-laden soul of their foundation, toward an even more epic, genre-reformatting sound, one somehow suspended in the amber of “a different era,” as described by guitarist Lee Tesche.
The Dinked Edition comes in a mirrorboard sleeve with reversed colours. Pressed on gold coloured vinyl and includes exclusive bonus 7” featuring ‘Void’ and ‘Can The Sub_Bass Speak?’.
Algiers new album ‘There Is No Year’ is here and will be hitting the racks this Friday. There is a small amount of the incredible Dinked Edition version. Pressed on gold vinyl, with an amazing mirror finish sleeve and a bonus 7”. This is one of the nicest Dinked packages we’ve had far! There’s only 500 of this badboy, so don’t hang about.
Algiers return with their third album ‘There Is No Year’, which solidifies and expands upon the doom-laden soul of their foundation, toward an even more epic, genre-reformatting sound.
Algiers’ new album, “There Is No Year” released by Matador Records on January 17th, 2020
When Anna Burch introduced herself on her 2018 debut Quit the Curse, it was with a concentrated wash of energetic, serotonin-boosting pop. Jangly guitars, blithe vocal harmonies and an occasional undercurrent of grungy fuzz all converged in seemingly straightforward songs that hid their complexities under sunny hooks. The impact of the songs was immediate and exciting, presenting narratives of confusion and upheaval with melodies so bright it was hard to do anything but smile. Two years later, Burch’s follow up “If You’re Dreaming” takes us down a different path than its predecessor, shedding some nervous energy in favor of a deeper exploration of an internal world.
After months on the road in support of Quit the Curse, Burch disappeared for a while. The long stretches of touring had been broken up by only a few weeks off here and there, and a month spent writing in Berlin between European dates. The time she did get to spend at home in Detroit was disrupted by several unexpected housing changes, adding to the transient feelings brought on by constant touring. When things finally stabilized, Burch encamped into a slow, thoughtful and intentional writing process for what would become the second album. Days were spent playing guitar, exploring unconventional chord changes, ruminating on song structures and allowing her subconscious to wander until lyrics materialized. Though about half of the songs were already written, this time was dedicated to taking a closer look at the loose ends of three years of ideas and seeing if there were common threads that held them together.
If You’re Dreaming was tracked with producer Sam Evian in his home studio in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. Where the first album had been a rush of inspired songwriting followed by a drawn-out process of arrangement and mixing, Burch and Evian worked with self-imposed time limitations to establish a sharper focus and get to the core of the new songs. The work was swift but somehow more relaxed, locking into a groove of tracking the basic elements and then expanding on the arrangements with overdubs and auxiliary instrumentation. The end goal was to present not just an assortment of new songs, but craft an album that moved dynamically through an interconnected emotional arc.
With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Burch’s intrinsically catchy songwriting dials down the urgency of her debut a notch, taking a turn towards airy, jazz-voiced chords, floating reverb and an expansion of the sonic palate with unexpected instrumentation. The soft-rock bass grooves and understated saxophone lines of “Not So Bad” push an impressive pop structure into exciting new territory, and the sweetly melancholic “Tell Me What’s True” centers around muted electric piano, its languid but metered vibe recalling the gentler side of Carole King.
The nuance of arrangements that could sometimes get buried on Quit the Curse rises to the surface on patient, opulent tunes like “Every Feeling” and in the twelve-string guitar hooks of “Party’s Over.” The album drifts dreamily as much as it hones in with a sharper clarity on some of Burch’s most personal songs.
Even at its most introverted, If You’re Dreaming is always warm and present. It’s a deliberately drawn chapter of Burch’s work, trading in the wild-eyed and sometimes neurotic party hopping of Quit the Curse for a more solitary walk after midnight. Daring and clear-headed, these songs cut deeper in their subtleties. If You’re Dreaming moves with intention, taking its time revealing new layers of sophistication and growth in Burch’s always charming songcraft.
GQ clothes-horse and man who saw a darkness Bonnie Prince Billy has his first album of new songs since 2011. This time, he brings the lightness, with help from a Louisville band including picker Nathan Salsburg, ex-Gary Burton Quartet drummer Mike Hyman and singer-songwriter Joan Shelley. Influenced by songwriters John Prine and Tom T. Hall and inspired by the state of Hawaii, I Made a Place finds Bonny using his considerable powers for good.
“This Is Far From Over” features and was edited by Captain Olivia O Wyatt. She just completed a solo transpacific crossing from San Diego to Hawaii on her 34 ft. boat, Juniper. The voyage lasted 23 days and was chronicled on her blog Wilderness of Waves . From Hawaii, she will sail around the world to destinations guided by humpback whale migration patterns. As Olivia traverses the sea, she is creating an ethnographic film exploring the mystery of humpback whale songs from the perspective of indigenous communities who revere them as deities.
Confronting the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued Allison since pre-pubescence, “Color Theory” explores three central themes: blue, representing sadness and depression; yellow, symbolizing physical and emotional illness; and, finally, grey, representing darkness, emptiness and loss.
Written mostly while on tour and recorded in Allison’s hometown of Nashville at Alex The Great, Color Theory was produced by Gabe Wax (who also produced Clean), mixed by Lars Stalfors (Mars Volta, HEALTH, St. Vincent), and features the live Soccer Mommy band on studio recording for the first time, with a live take at the foundation of almost every track. The resulting album is a masterpiece that paints an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait of an artist who, according to 100+ publications, already released one of the Best Albums of 2018 and the 2010s, and is about to release an early favorite of 2020.
The third LP from Slaughter Beach, Dog; released on Lame-O Records on August 2nd, 2019. Across the previous Slaughter Beach, Dog albums, Jake Ewald has crafted his sound. It’s one that incorporates pop music, indie-rock, folk, and just the faintest dash of punk in order to create something that’s accessible but still artistically rich. With Safe And Also No Fear, the band’s third album, Ewald has abandoned his usual practices in service of creating something richer.
Where he once offered tightly woven vignettes about characters that mirrored the people in his life, Safe And Also No Fear now finds Jake joined by a full band, spinning out songs that push and expand Slaughter Beach, Dog’s sonic boundaries in subtle, evocative ways. Opener “One Down” leans on a pedestrian acoustic pattern that plods in one ear and out the other. “I dress up nice/I feel all right/I get loaded/And I come home late at night,” Ewald sings, without enough conviction to absolve the cliché. He falls into a half-spoken drawl on “Dogs,” a tender discourse on human friendships (“I know he always understands me/Even when I am being evasive”), but the stream-of-consciousness melody feels as aimless as another night at the neighborhood bar.
“Black Oak” achieves a more affecting result by ditching the vocal melody altogether: “His belly warm with drink/He leaned into the freeway in the night/Investigating exit ramps/Waiting for a sign,” Ewald recounts in an unnerving deadpan. The guitars drop out as the song’s protagonist meets tragedy: “They found him at the black oak/They dug him up last night.” A looping coda evokes the spaced-out lapse of highway hypnosis, as if the band were cruising those darkened roads themselves.
After two LPs performed entirely by himself, the beach must’ve grown lonely; on Safe and Also No Fear, Ewald’s third album, he’s joined by a full ensemble that includes Modern Baseball bassist Ian Farmer, his first official reunion with a former bandmate since their indefinite hiatus. Together, they dive into the pared-down folk-rock Ewald had just begun to explore on previous solo releases.
Recorded and produced by Jake Ewald, Ian Farmer, Nick Harris, and Zack Robbins at The Metal Shop Studio in Philadelphia, PA.
The Flaming Lips + Deap Vally = DEAP LIPS. Our new single is out now. Listen to ‘Home Thru Hell’ & pre-order the album today.
The Flaming Lips have a long-standing tradition of collaborating with other artists for full albums. Now, WayneCoyne and Steven Drozd have teamed up with Deap Vally’s Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards to form a new supergroup called Deap Lips. Their new album Deap Lips is out March 13th via Cooking Vinyl.
In the past, the Flaming Lips have shared collaborative albums with Miley Cyrus, Neon Indian, Stardeath & White Dwarf, and a whole slew of “heady fwends.” This year they dropped the new album King’s Mouth and a live orchestral Soft Bulletin album.
The Flaming Lips + Deap Vally = DEAP LIPS. The self-titled album releases March 13th, 2020.
Ex Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Mike Campbell is turning his attention to his band the Dirty Knobs. The group of Los Angeles-based musicians, led by the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist, is releasing their debut album “Wreckless Abandon” on March 20th.
Mike Campbell formed the Dirty Knobs 15 years ago, but they have never gigged outside of Los Angeles or released an album. In addition to Campbell, the group features singer-guitarist Jason Sinay, bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Matt Laug.
“Over the years, The Knobs became an outlet for me to play some of the other songs I was writing,” Campbell says in a statement, “and to keep the creative juices flowing in between working on albums and tours with Tom and The Heartbreakers.”
Background Vocals: George Drakoulias Background Vocals: Jason Sinay Bass: Lance Morrison Drums, Percussion: Matt Laug Keyboards, Percussion, Lead Vocals: Mike Campbell
Emily Yacina’s new song “Gleaming” is an upward rush of momentum. “Meet me here/ I’ll show you/ The same light/ I’m feeling,” she sings, her delivery breathless, words spilling out in an incantatory pulse. The track was originally supposed to be entirely instrumental, and it wasn’t until late in the process of making her new album, Remember The Silver, that Yacina stumbled on a melody that fit. The result feels like getting sucked up into space, a hermetic environment where only you and your object of affection exist.
“It’s inspired by throwing yourself into a situation and letting your heart determine your feelings,” Yacina explains. “Letting go and just enjoying someone — for a night or an experience.” In only 90 seconds, she captures that feeling of love without consequence, that glowing moment of rapture where next-steps don’t matter.
“Gleaming” is the lead single to Remember The Silver, the latest in a series of stellar releases from Yacina, whose voice you might recognize as the foil to many a (Sandy) Alex G song. She grew up in the same Philadelphia suburb as Alex Giannascoli, and it was during high school that she first started putting music online. Since then, she’s carved out a niche for gauzy and emotionally earnest songs. Her string of Bandcamp releases, including 2015’s Soft Stuffand 2017’sHeart Sky, are a treasure trove of wrenching melodies and delightfully off-kilter meditations on time and absence. Heart Sky is particularly great, made up of songs that Yacina wrote while isolated in Alaska for a couple of months during a summer. Her songs often operate at that kind of remove, like she’s trying so intimately to document a feeling that she ends up questioning whether that feeling even really exists at all.
Her new album is her most fully-realized project yet, recorded with Eric Littmann — who has also produced similarly introspective albums by Yohuna and Julie Byrne — and put together over the course of the last couple years as Yacina finished school, getting a degree in Environmental Studies, and settling down in New York City as an adult. Remember The Silver captures those first few tentative steps into adulthood, when suddenly who you are is defined entirely by what you make of it.
The video for new single “Gleaming” was directed by Caroline Pigou. “Getting to work with one of my dearest friends, Caroline Pigou, on this video makes it so special to me,” Yacina said. “I was so comfortable shooting because it was her and I, and I feel like that intimacy / confidence comes through like magic.
The album’s title is taken from a book about UFO abductions. The songs themselves play out sort of like a series of abductions in the form of relationships which take over your entire being. They explore what happens when all of a sudden a relationship is over, and you’re left figuring out how to fit into the world once again on your own. That search for definition drives the album, which sounds ecstatically sad in that exploration of the unknown.
We don’t get enough indie rock prom ballads. There’s nothing revolutionary about Shannon Lay’s heart-rending new single “Blue.” It’s a slow, gorgeous love song. “I will love you till my hair turns blue,” Lay sings — calm, matter-of-fact, reassuring. Behind her, the guitars have just the right level of reverb and sustain. The contemplatively bluesy electric piano solo arrives at just the right moment. The key change kicks you in the heart, just the way you might hope it would. It’s a beautiful song that never tries to be anything other than a beautiful song. It’s six minutes long, and if it was longer, nobody would complain. You could slow dance to this song.
Shannon Lay’s new single “Blue” b/w “We Mend” (Released December 12th, 2019) is available now on all streaming services and is a part of the latest edition of the iconic Sub Pop Singles Club series.
