{"title":"Best Sellers","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"nirvana_bleach","title":"Bleach","description":"\u003cp\u003eContinuing our legacy of reminding people Nirvana had a record before \u003ccite\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/nirvana\/nevermind\" href=\"http:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/nirvana\/nevermind\"\u003eNevermind\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/cite\u003e, on November 22, 2011 Sub Pop Records presents a non-deluxe, affordably-priced, single-LP version of \u003ccite\u003eBleach\u003c\/cite\u003e, Nirvana’s debut album. Originally released by us in June of 1989, \u003ccite\u003eBleach\u003c\/cite\u003e was re-mastered, deluxed-up and reissued by us in November of 2009. \u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/releases\/nirvana\/full_lengths\/bleach_deluxe_edition\" href=\"https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/nirvana\/bleach_deluxe_edition\"\u003eThat\u003c\/a\u003e version of the \u003ccite\u003eBleach\u003c\/cite\u003e LP is two pieces of 180-gram vinyl with a 16-page booklet. It’s really nice. It’s also $28. This sturdy single-LP version of \u003ccite\u003eBleach\u003c\/cite\u003e contains the full re-mastered album, as found on that \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/nirvana\/bleach_deluxe_edition\"\u003e\u003ccite\u003eBleach: Deluxe Edition\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nirvana","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826162024544,"sku":"700341","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826162057312,"sku":"700342","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826162090080,"sku":"700344","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556511690848,"sku":"700346","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/nirvana-bleach-blacklp.jpg?v=1741202179"},{"product_id":"beach-house_depression-cherry","title":"Depression Cherry","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe current version of Depression Cherry, on both CD and LP, comes housed in a chrome-red cardboard jacket, with holographic foil-stamped lettering, and a flood of black ink inside the jacket.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBeach House is Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. We have been a band for over a decade living and working in Baltimore, MD. \u003ci\u003eDepression Cherry\u003c\/i\u003e is our 5th full-length record and was recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana from November ’14 through January ’15. This time period crossed the anniversaries of both John Lennon’s and Roy Orbison’s death.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn general, this record shows a return to simplicity, with songs structured around a melody and a few instruments, with live drums playing a far lesser role. With the growing success of \u003ci\u003eTeen Dream\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBloom\u003c\/i\u003e, the larger stages and bigger rooms naturally drove us towards a louder, more aggressive place; a place farther from our natural tendencies. Here, we continue to let ourselves evolve while fully ignoring the commercial context in which we exist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHere are a few quotes that we feel relate to the feeling and themes of this record:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e— \"I’ll never be able to be here again. As the minutes slide by, I move on. The flow of time is something I cannot stop. I haven’t a choice. I go. One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I have yet to meet, others I’ll never see again. People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes.” - \u003cspan\u003efrom \u003ci\u003eKitchen\u003c\/i\u003e by Banana Yoshimoto\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— “We inhabit a world in which the future promises endless possibilities and the past lies irretrievably behind us. The arrow of time… is the medium of creativity in terms of which life can be understood.” - from \u003ci\u003eThe Arrow of Time\u003c\/i\u003e by Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e— “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.” - from \u003ci\u003eParerga and Paralipomena \u003c\/i\u003eby Arthur Schopenhauer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e— \"Hark, now hear the sailors cry, feel the air and see the sky, let your soul and spirit fly, into the mystic……\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e….when the fog horn blows, i want to hear it, i don’t have to fear it” - from “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHere is the track listing with selected lyrics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e1. Levitation – “The branches of the trees, they will hang lower now, you will grow too quick, then you will get over it”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e2. Sparks - “It’s a gift, taken from the lips, you live again”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e3. Space Song - “What makes this fragile world go ‘round, were you ever lost, was she ever found?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e4. Beyond Love - “They take the simple things inside you and put nightmares in your hands”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e5. 10:37 - “ Here she comes, all parts of everything, stars in the motherhand”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e6. PPP - “Did you see it coming, it happened so fast, the timing was perfect, water on glass…”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e7. Wildflower - “ What’s left you make something of it\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e8. Bluebird - “I would not ever try to capture you\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e9. Days of Candy - “I know it comes too soon, the universe is riding off with you…... i want to know you there, the universe is riding off with you.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor us, \u003ci\u003eDepression Cherry\u003c\/i\u003e is a color, a place, a feeling, an energy… that describes the place you arrive as you move through the endlessly varied trips of existence…\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beach House","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":31826212618336,"sku":"711221","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826212651104,"sku":"711222","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826212683872,"sku":"711224","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556510052448,"sku":"711226","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"White LP","offer_id":32837720375392,"sku":"711223","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/BeachHouse_DepressionCherry_LPRepack_MockUp-jk.jpg?v=1712271638"},{"product_id":"soundgarden_screaming-life-fopp-2013-reissue","title":"Screaming Life\/Fopp (2013 Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Loser edition vinyl is sold out (11\/25\/13) - Black vinyl now available. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the depths of the Sub Pop archives comes a reissue of Soundgarden’s thunderous opening salvo, Screaming Life, plus bonus tracks from the Fopp EP and Sub Pop 200 compilation. This reissue marks the first time these tracks will be available digitally, and their first appearance on vinyl since the original, late-80s pressings (notwithstanding a long-gone, late-’90s repress of Screaming Life). All tracks have been remastered by Seattle studio wizard and producer of the original Screaming Life and Sub Pop 200 sessions, Jack Endino, who had this to say about it:\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003e“Ah, Screaming Life, Soundgarden’s debut, and one of the first real records I made for anyone outside my own band. I already knew Soundgarden pretty well, since they and Skin Yard had shared the stage many times in Seattle’s tiny club scene circa 1985-1986. Soon after opening Reciprocal Recording in July 1986, there I was with Soundgarden, trying to make the most of our eight tracks. Somehow, we found room for all of Matt Cameron’s ‘bonus tubs,’ Hiro’s primordial Fender bass, and a whopping four tracks to share between Kim Thayil’s mad guitar psychedelia and Chris Cornell’s still-expanding voice. ‘Nothing To Say’ was the song that made us all look at each other and go, ‘uh, holy crap, how did we do this?’\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eStuff started happening. A\u0026amp;M came calling. \u003cspan class=\"caps\"\u003eSST\u003c\/span\u003e agreed to put out their next record. But Soundgarden was not finished with Sub Pop. They contributed ‘Sub Pop Rock City,’ about Seattle’s then-rising ‘grunge’ scene, to the Sub Pop 200 comp; and they threw everyone a curveball with Steve Fisk-produced Ohio Players and Green River covers on the Fopp EP.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eThe glorious vistas of a major label future awaited them. To quote Kim from an old interview, ‘It was karma, it was dogma, it was dog breath.’\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Soundgarden","offers":[{"title":"2xLP","offer_id":31826232049760,"sku":"710651","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826232082528,"sku":"710652","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826232115296,"sku":"710654","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556521750624,"sku":"710656","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/soundgarden-screaminglife-blackvinyl-mm.jpg?v=1581644482"},{"product_id":"father-john-misty_fear-fun","title":"Fear Fun","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen discussing ‘Father John Misty’, Tillman paraphrases Philip Roth: ’It’s all of me and none of me, if you can’t see that, you won’t get it’.  What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name.  You’ve got to have a name.  I never got to choose mine.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eHe goes on, “‘People who make records are afforded this assumption by the culture that their music is coming from an exclusively personal place, but more often than not what you hear are actually the affectations of an ’alter-ego’ or a cartoon of an emotionally heightened persona,” says Josh Tillman, who has been recording\/releasing solo albums since 2003 and who recently left Seattle’s Fleet Foxes after playing drums from 2008-2011.  “That kind of emotional quotient isn’t sustainable if your concern is portraying a human-being made up of more than just chest-beating pathos.  I see a lot of rampant, sexless, male-fantasy everywhere in the music around me.  I didn’t want any alter-egos, any vagaries, fantasy, escapism, any over-wrought sentimentality.  I like humor and sex and mischief.  So when you think about it, it’s kind of mischievous to write about yourself in a plain-spoken, kind of explicitly obvious way and call it something like ‘Misty’.  I mean, I may as well have called it ‘Steve’”.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eMusically, \u003ccite\u003eFear Fun\u003c\/cite\u003e consists of such disparate elements as Waylon Jennings, Harry Nilsson, Arthur Russell, “All Things Must Pass,” and “Physical Graffiti,” often within the same song. Tillman’s voice has never been better and often sounds like Roy Orbison, “The Caruso of Rock”, at his most joyous, while the music maintains a dark, mysterious and yet conversely playful, almost Dionysian quality.  Lyrically, his absurdist fever dreams of pain and pleasure elicit, in equal measures, the blunt descriptive power of Bukowski or Brautigan, the hedonist-philosophy of Oscar Wilde and the dried-out wit of Loudon Wainwright \u003cspan class=\"caps\"\u003eIII\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eThe album began gestating during what Tillman describes as an “immobilizing period of depression”, in his former Seattle home.  “Songwriting for me had always only been interesting and necessary because I saw it as this vehicle for truth, but I had this realization that all I had really done with it was lick my wounds for years and years, and become more and more isolated from people and experiences.  I don’t even like wound-licking music, I want to listen to someone rip their arm off and beat themselves with it.  I don’t believe that until now I’ve ever put anything at risk in my music.  I was hell-bent on putting my preciousness at stake in order to find something worth singing about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eHe continues, \"I lost all interest in writing music, or identifying as a ‘songwriter’.  I got into my van with enough mushrooms to choke a horse and started driving down the coast with nowhere to go.  After a few weeks, I was writing a novel, which is where I finally found my narrative voice.  The voice that is actually useful.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003e“It was a while before that voice started manifesting in a musical way, but once I settled in the Laurel Canyon spider-shack where I’m living now, I spent months demoing all these weird-ass songs about weird-ass experiences almost in real-time, and kind of had this musical ‘Oh-there-I-am’ moment, identical to how I felt when I was writing the book.  It was unbelievably liberating.  I knew there was never any going back to the place I was writing from before, which was a huge relief.  The monkey got banished off my back.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eTillman brought the demos to LA producer\/songwriter\/pal Jonathan Wilson, and in February 2011 began recording at his home-studio in Echo Park.  \"Initially, the idea was to just kind of recreate the demos with me playing everything, since they were pretty fleshed out and sounded cool, but a place like LA affords you a different wealth of talent, potential, etc than just about anywhere else.  I realized what was possible between Jonathan’s abilities, and the caliber of musicians that are just hanging around LA, pretty quickly.  People were coming in and out of the studio all day sometimes, and other days, it would just be Jonathan and I holed up, getting stoned, and doing everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003e“I was honest with myself about what music actually excites my joy-glands when I was considering the arrangements and instrumentation,” says Tillman.  “As opposed to what’s been enjoyable to me in the past – namely, alienating people or making choices based on what I think people won’t like or understand.  Pretty narcissistic stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eWhen asked about Laurel Canyon, where he eventually ended up living in the aforementioned tree-house with a family of spiders, Tillman says, “My attitude about it all is pretty explicit in the record.  Given my fairly adversarial personal attitude about the music and aesthetic that comes from that place, it’s kind of a huge joke that I live in a former hippie-fantasy land.  I have a really morbid sense of humor.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003ePhil Ek (who everyone knows has worked with Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes) heard the rough versions of the album in May 2011 and offered his services to mix.  “Phil and I have known each other for a while by virtue of Fleet Foxes, so he was familiar with my music, but we had never discussed working together.  I think he immediately recognized the shift in my writing and singing from a producer and friend’s standpoint.  His excitement is really evident in mixes, I think.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eInterviews by Richard Metzger and Casey Wescott\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\rWritten by Paula Zabrey, Jan. 2012\u003c\/p\u003e\r\u003cp\u003eVinyl includes mp3 download code.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Father John Misty","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826234277984,"sku":"709701","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826234310752,"sku":"709702","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826234343520,"sku":"709704","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556508741728,"sku":"709706","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/11659.jpg?v=1581644531"},{"product_id":"the-postal-service_give-up","title":"Give Up","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Postal Service is a long-distance collaboration between Ben Gibbard (singer\/guitarist from Death Cab for Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello (Jimmy recorded the \u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/beachwood_sparks\" href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/beachwood_sparks\"\u003eBeachwood Sparks\u003c\/a\u003e album \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/releases\/beachwood_sparks\/full_lengths\/make_the_cowboy_robots_cry\"\u003e\u003ccite\u003eMake the Cowboy Robots Cry\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e and also records under the name \u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/dntel\/\" href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/dntel\/\"\u003eDntel\u003c\/a\u003e). Ben and Jimmy sent music back and forth, between California and Washington, each adding new elements until the record was complete. The result is a sweetly charming, largely electronic album with a warmth not typically associated with the clicks-and-beeps set. As an added bonus, additional vocals on the record are provided by Jen Wood and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Postal Service","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":39609913540704,"sku":"705955","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826275106912,"sku":"705951","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826275139680,"sku":"705952","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826275172448,"sku":"705954","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556522405984,"sku":"705956","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/postalservice-blackvinyl.jpg?v=1741202204"},{"product_id":"beach-house_bloom","title":"Bloom","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ccite\u003eBloom\u003c\/cite\u003e is the fourth full-length album by Baltimore-based Beach House. Like their previous releases (\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/releases\/beach_house\/full_lengths\/beach_house\"\u003e\u003ccite\u003eBeach House\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e in 2006, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/releases\/beach_house\/full_lengths\/devotion\"\u003e\u003ccite\u003eDevotion\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e in 2008, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/releases\/beach_house\/full_lengths\/teen_dream\"\u003e\u003ccite\u003eTeen Dream\u003c\/cite\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e in 2010), it further develops their distinctive sound yet stands apart as a new piece of work. \u003ccite\u003eBloom\u003c\/cite\u003e is meant to be experienced as an \u003cspan class=\"caps\"\u003eALBUM\u003c\/span\u003e, a singular, unified vision of the world. Though not stripped down, the many layers of \u003ccite\u003eBloom\u003c\/cite\u003e are uncomplicated and meticulously constructed to ensure there is no waste. \u003ccite\u003eBloom\u003c\/cite\u003e was recorded in 2011 at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, TX and mixed at Electric Lady in \u003cspan class=\"caps\"\u003eNYC\u003c\/span\u003e. The band co-produced the record with Chris Coady. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beach House","offers":[{"title":"2xLP","offer_id":31826312101984,"sku":"709651","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826312134752,"sku":"709652","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826312167520,"sku":"709654","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556513820768,"sku":"709656","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/12778.jpg?v=1581645744"},{"product_id":"sebadoh_bakesale-deluxe-edition","title":"Bakesale: Deluxe Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003eSebadoh’s 1994 album, \u003ccite\u003eBakesale\u003c\/cite\u003e, was the band’s fifth full-length album, arguably their best and certainly their most acclaimed. For this 2011 deluxe reissue the original album has been re-mastered and a full CD of b-sides, EP tracks and rarities, all from the same era as \u003ccite\u003eBakesale\u003c\/cite\u003e, has been added. All of which was overseen by Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein. The album is also being reissued on LP for the first time in years and will include the bonus material as a digital download.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sebadoh","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":41078582706272,"sku":"709443","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826426888288,"sku":"709441","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xCD","offer_id":31826426921056,"sku":"709442","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556507725920,"sku":"709446","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/Sebadoh_Bakesale_Anniversary_LP_MockUp.jpg?v=1720411219"},{"product_id":"wolf-parade_apologies-to-the-queen-mary","title":"Apologies to the Queen Mary","description":"\u003cp\u003eSub Pop and Wolf Parade present a new, pink-vinyl pressing of their landmark album \u003cem\u003eApologies to the Queen Mary.\u003c\/em\u003e This edition brings the long out-of-print album back to its original, single-LP format hot on the heels of the 2025 TV show Heated Rivalry, which introduced the album’s single “I’ll Believe in Anything” to a vast new audience, making the song a bona fide viral hit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWolf Parade was founded in 2003 in Montreal, Quebec. After a pair of self-titled EPs, the band - Hadji Bakara (electronic manipulations), Dan Boeckner (guitar, vocals), Spencer Krug (keyboards, vocals), Arlen Thompson (drums) -  released Apologies to the Queen Mary to widespread acclaim in September, 2005. The album was recorded by Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and engineer Chris Chandler at Audible Alchemy in Portland, Oregon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eApologies to the Queen Mary\u003c\/em\u003e barrels headfirst and breathlessly through songs written during Wolf Parade’s early years together as a band. The album’s catchy, energetic urgency immediately established them as one of the defining forces of 2000s indie-rock. It earned a 2006 nomination for Canada’s esteemed Polaris Music Prize; The Guardian raved, “magnificent, all told”; Pitchfork gave it a 9.2 rating, saying, “Wolf Parade's true talent is transforming the everyday into the unprecedented,” and later joined the chorus of critics who placed it among the best albums of the 2000s. Two decades on, Apologies to the Queen Mary has lost none of its vitality and continues to win over new generations of fans.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wolf Parade","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":42469903597664,"sku":"706553","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826514706528,"sku":"706551","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826514739296,"sku":"706552","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826514772064,"sku":"706554","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556518834272,"sku":"706556","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/WolfParade_ApologiesToTheQueenMary_ClearPinkVinyl_Mockup_LP_US_2000x1417_a9280167-d79a-47b2-b798-f1593ddaafdd.jpg?v=1768279147"},{"product_id":"forth-wanderers_forth-wanderers","title":"Forth Wanderers","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eForth Wanderers employ a tin-can-telephone style of composition\rwhich they use even when living in the same area code. Since first\rcollaborating in 2013 as Montclair, New Jersey high schoolers, guitarist and\rsongwriter Ben Guterl and vocalist Ava Trilling have passed songs back and\rforth like pen pals. Guterl will devise an instrumental skeleton before sending\rit to vocalist Ava Trilling who pens the lyrics based off the melody. The duo\rthen gather alongside guitarist Duke Greene, bassist Noah Schifrin, and drummer\rZach Lorelli to expand upon the demo. It’s a patient and practiced writing\rsystem that has carried the quintet through two EPs (2013’s \u003ci\u003eMahogany \u003c\/i\u003eand\r2016’s \u003ci\u003eSlop\u003c\/i\u003e) and one LP (2014’s \u003ci\u003eTough Love\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003ci\u003eForth Wanderers\u003c\/i\u003e,\rthe group’s sophomore record and Sub Pop debut, is the group's most\rcomprehensive and assured statement yet.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNow living in Ohio and New York respectively, Guterl and\rTrilling have evolved their separate but collaborative writing process. “The\ronly way I can really write is by myself in my room with a notebook, listening\rto the song over and over again,” Trilling says. “I’ve never sat down to write\ra story, I write the song as it unfolds.” Since her lyrics are often embedded\rwith intimate truths from her life, the private writing experience often leads\rto intense self-reflection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003ci\u003eForth Wanderers\u003c\/i\u003e these introspections include\rmeditations on relationships, discovery, and finding oneself adrift. Despite\rthe inherent heaviness of those themes, \u003ci\u003eForth Wanderers\u003c\/i\u003e feels joyous, a\rrock record bursting with heart. Take “Not for Me,” a romping track about “the\rambivalence of love.” Trilling’s confession of “I can’t feel the earth beneath\rmy feet\/Flowers bloom but not for me” resists feeling like a dreary, pitying\rcomplaint; instead, as her bandmates bolster her melancholy with interlocking\rharmonic intricacies, she soars with self-actualization. Opener “Nevermine,” is\ra surge of confidence inspired by an ex-lover who is still captivated by her\rimage. “I don’t think I know who you are anymore\/And I think I knew who I was\rbefore,” she jabs with relish. On “Ages Ago” Trilling paints the image of a\rconstantly-shifting enigmatic lover. “I wasn’t sure who they were, they changed\rconstantly (hence the metaphor describing the “grey coat” and cutting their\rhair just to “stay afloat”),” she says. “I wasn’t going to wait any longer to\rfind out.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRecorded over five\rdays by friend and audio engineer Cameron Konner at his Philadelphia home\rstudio, \u003ci\u003eForth Wanderers\u003c\/i\u003e amplifies the heartfelt sentiments of their\rearlier works into massive anthems. Guterl and Greene’s guitars have never\rsounded sharper, Schifrin and Lorelli’s terse rhythm section is restless, and\rTrilling sounds more self-assured than ever. These are exuberant, profound\rsongs driven by tightly bound melodies and a loving attention to detail.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Forth Wanderers","offers":[{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":41821812752480,"sku":"712223","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826584469600,"sku":"712221","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826584502368,"sku":"712222","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826584535136,"sku":"712224","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556516147296,"sku":"712226","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/ForthWanderers_ST_Mockup_LP_US_2000x1417_53bd8a60-423d-44e7-973b-9f05ef918392.jpg?v=1746118776"},{"product_id":"weyes-blood_titanic-rising","title":"Titanic Rising","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe phantom zone, the parallax, the upside down—there is a rich cultural history of exploring in-between places. Through her latest,\u003ci\u003e Titanic Rising\u003c\/i\u003e, Weyes Blood (a.k.a. Natalie Mering) has, too, designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003emysteries. Maneuvering through a space-time continuum, she intriguingly plays the role of melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTellingly, Mering classifies \u003ci\u003eTitanic Rising\u003c\/i\u003e as the Kinks meet WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the album’s willful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“An\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ealbum is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says. “Sometimes you get all the dimensions—the lyrics, the melody, the production—to line up. I try to be futuristic and ancient at once, which is a difficult alchemy. It’s taken a lot of different tries to get it right.” As concept-album as it may sound, it’s also a devoted exercise in realism, albeit occasionally magical. Here, the throwback-cinema grandeur of “A Lot’s Gonna Change” gracefully coexists with the otherworldly title track, an ominous instrumental.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eTitanic Rising\u003c\/i\u003e, written and recorded during the first half of 2018, is the culmination of three albums and years of touring: stronger chops and ballsier decisions. It’s an achievement in transcendent vocals and levitating arrangements—one she could reach only by flying under the radar for so many years. “I used to want to belong,” says the L.A. based musician. “I realized I had to forge my own path. Nobody was going to do that for me. That was liberating. I became a Joan of Arc solo musician.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Weyes Blood frontwoman grew up singing in gospel and madrigal choirs. “Classical and Renaissance music really influenced me,” says Mering, who first picked up a guitar at age 8. (Listen closely to \u003ci\u003eTitanic Rising\u003c\/i\u003e, and you’ll also hear the jazz of Hoagy Carmichael mingle with the artful mysticism of Alejandro Jodorowsky and the monomyth of scholar Joseph Campbell.) “Something to Believe,” a confessional that makes judicious use of the slide guitar, touches on that cosmological upbringing. “Belief is something all humans need. Shared myths are part of our psychology and survival,” she says. “Now we have a weird mishmash of capitalism and movies and science. There have been moments where I felt very existential and lost.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs a kid, she filled that void with \u003ci\u003eTitanic\u003c\/i\u003e. (Yes, the movie.) “It was engineered for little girls and had its own mythology,” she explains. Mering also noticed that the blockbuster romance actually offered a story about loss born of man’s hubris. “It’s so symbolic that \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTitanic\u003c\/i\u003e would crash into an iceberg, and now that iceberg is melting, sinking civilization.” Today, this hubris also extends to the relentless adoption of technology, at the expense of both happiness and attention spans.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe track “Movies” marks another \u003ci\u003eTitanic\u003c\/i\u003e-related epiphany, “that movies had been brainwashing people and their ideas about romantic love.” To that end, Mering has become an expert at deconstructing intimacy. Sweeping and string-laden, “Andromeda” seems engineered to fibrillate hearts. “It’s about losing your interest in trying to be in love,” she says. “Everybody is their own galaxy, their own separate entity. There is a feeling of needing to be saved, and that’s a lot to ask of people.” Its companion track, “Everyday,” “is about the chaos of modern dating,” she says, “the idea of sailing off onto your ships to nowhere to deal with all your baggage.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"normal\"\u003eBut Weyes Blood isn’t one to stew. Her observations play out in an ethereal saunter: far more meditative than cynical. “I experience reality on a slower, more hypnotic level,” she says. “I’m a more contemplative kind of writer.” To Mering, listening and thinking are concurrent experiences. “There are complicated influences mixed in with more relatable nostalgic melodies,” she says. “In my mind my music feels so big, a true production. I’m not a huge, popular artist, but I feel like one when I’m in the studio. But it’s never taking away from the music. I’m just making a bigger space for myself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Weyes Blood","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826607931488,"sku":"712321","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826607964256,"sku":"712322","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":31826607997024,"sku":"712324","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556525682784,"sku":"712326","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/weyesblood-titanicrising-lp-black-01.jpg?v=1765408411"},{"product_id":"bobs-burgers_the-bobs-burgers-music-album","title":"The Bob's Burgers Music Album","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBob’s Burgers\u003c\/i\u003e premiered on the Fox network January 2011, and quickly became one of the most watched series on television. After enjoying the highest-rated new season premiere of the 2010-11 season, \u003ci\u003eBob’s Burgers\u003c\/i\u003e quickly settled into an average viewership of over 4 million per episode. The show has won an Emmy award and been nominated five times, including a current nomination for Outstanding Animated Program. It has inspired many popular spinoff items, including a recent, best-selling cookbook.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow comes \u003ci\u003eThe Bob’s Burgers Music Album\u003c\/i\u003e, featuring 107 songs from the first 107 episodes (all six existing seasons), plus five special cover versions of songs from the show. Originally broadcast within the episodes – and often in abbreviated form – these songs appear here in their freestanding glory for the first time. \u003ci\u003eThe Bob’s Burgers Music Album\u003c\/i\u003e – in both its affordable standard editions and its impressive deluxe edition – is sure to be a must-have for any fan of the show (and, really, any sentient life-form).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e• The album features the main cast members – Bob (Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) and their children Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Louise (Kristen Schaal) – singing original songs that build on the show’s unique sense of humor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e• Also featured are many of the show’s recurring and special guests, from comedians like Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Kline, Bill Hader, Zack Galifianakis, and Fred Armisen, to musical guests Cyndi Lauper and Carly Simon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e• Includes five never-aired “Bob’s Buskers” cover versions of songs from the show performed by St. Vincent, The National, Lapsley, and Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are multiple options available for this album:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThree 'standard' versions: a 2xCD set, a 3xLP+7”, and a digital album. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA deluxe limited-edition 3xLP +7” \u003cb\u003ebox set\u003c\/b\u003e version which includes “condiment-colored” vinyl (ketchup red, mustard yellow \u0026amp; relish green), plus a hardbound lyrics book with exclusive Bob’s Burgers artwork, a soft cover sheet-music songbook, three original posters, a six-piece sticker pack, and a patch. \u003cb\u003eBoth the standard and deluxe LP editions include the five “Bob's Buskers” tracks on a white vinyl 7” single.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Bob's Burgers","offers":[{"title":"Deluxe Box Set","offer_id":31826619859040,"sku":"711803","price":69.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"3xLP","offer_id":31826619891808,"sku":"711801","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xCD","offer_id":31826619924576,"sku":"711802","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":32668247261280,"sku":"711804","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556525518944,"sku":"711806","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/bobsburgers-blacklp.jpg?v=1581652453"},{"product_id":"suki-waterhouse_i-cant-let-go","title":"I Can't Let Go","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Can't Let Go\u003c\/em\u003e is the new full-length debut from Suki Waterhouse, available on LP, CD and Digital.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNowadays, voice memos, videos, and pictures chronicle our lives in real-time. We trace where we’ve been and reveal where we’re going. However, Suki Waterhouse catalogs the most intimate, formative, and significant moments of her life through songs. You might recognize her name or her work as singer, songwriter, actress but you’ll really get to know the multi-faceted artist through her music. Memories of unrequited love, fits of longing, instances of anxiety, and unfiltered snapshots interlock like puzzle pieces into a mosaic of well-worn country, nineties-style alternative, and unassuming pop. She writes the kind of tunes meant to be grafted onto dusty old vinyl from your favorite vintage record store, yet perfect for a sun-soaked festival stage. These compositions comprise her upcoming 2022 full-length debut album, I Can’t Let Go [Sub Pop Records].\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“The album is called I Can’t Let Go, because for years it felt like I was wearing heavy moments on my sleeve and it just didn’t make sense to do so anymore. There’s so much that I’ve never spoken about. Writing music has always been where it felt safe to do so. Every song for the record was a necessity. In many ways, I’ve been observing my life as an outsider—even when I’ve been on the inside. It’s like I was a visitor watching things happen.’ \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGrowing up in London, Suki gravitated towards music’s magnetic pull. She listened to the likes of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple. Meanwhile, Oasis held a particularly special place in her heart. She initially teased out this facet of her creativity with a series of singles, generating nearly 20 million total streams independently. Nylon hailed her debut “Brutally” as “what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now’ would sound like.” In addition to raves from Garage, Vice and Lemonade Magazine, DUJOR put it best, “Suki Waterhouse’s music has swagger.” Constantly consuming artists of all stripes, she listened to the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. In late 2020, she finally dove into making what would become I Can’t Let Go. Falling in love with Hiss Golden Messenger’s Terms of Surrender, she reached out to its producer Brad Cook [Bon Iver,War On Drugs, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee]. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“I’ve been dreaming up this record for years,” she recalls. The weeks I spent in North Carolina with Brad were by far the best of my life.’\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe first single “Moves” illuminates the nuances of her sound. Guitar echoes through soft piano and a veil of reverb. The momentum builds, and she warns, “I might put some goddamn moves on you, babe I know you need it.” \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“‘Moves’ is a song I first started writing one night on the couch, picking up the guitar and seeing what came out,” she explains. “It was a moment where I felt the urge to both sever a previous bond, while putting my faith back in trying a different path. I often think, ‘what happens when you are struck by someone who changes the course of your entire life?’ The song speculates on that journey, one that moves beyond lust and physical longing, where you know that you now have something to give.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe companion single “My Mind” pairs breathy vocals with an airy riff paced like a tumbleweed as her angelic hum takes hold. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNext up is “Devil I Know.” A sparse beat trudges in tribal-style rhythm, while she leans into the cataclysmic chorus, “Back in hell at least I’m comfortable, need your body when my fire’s gone.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThere is also “‘Melrose Meltdown,” which Suki describes as “A shattering of illusion, undoing from a cage I'd been kept myself in where I'd thought was safe. It’s a sweeter send off, but there is an anger there when I sing it’.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eI Can’t Let Go culminates on “Blessed.” Her voice ebbs in and out of the cracks between lightly strummed guitar and delicate synths as she exhales, “I could be something.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“‘Blessed’ was right at the end,” she goes on. “It’s a song about the delicacy of family, a reflection on the moments that tested the fabric of it, when supposed light contains shadows. Ultimately, you’re cherishing the mistakes.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn the end, Suki not only catalogs her life up to this point in the album, but she also fulfills a lifelong ambition.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“When I’ve been stuck or feel out of touch with a sense of inner meaning and outer purpose, I’ve found both through searching my memories and finding those events buried in the shadowy areas of the psyche where they were ignored,” she leaves off. “So many times of change in my life have required return visits—especially at the transitions through to the next stages. The album is an exploration of those moments when there is nothing left to lose. What is left and can’t be thrown away is the self.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Suki Waterhouse","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":39433514483808,"sku":"714650","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":39648314654816,"sku":"714651","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39433514516576,"sku":"714652","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":39526995492960,"sku":"714654","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":39433514451040,"sku":"714656","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/SukiWaterhouse_ICantLetGo_LP_MockUp.jpg?v=1683305539"},{"product_id":"weyes-blood_and-in-the-darkness-hearts-aglow","title":"And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow","description":"\u003cp\u003eAugust 25th, 2022 Los Angeles, CA \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello Listener, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, here we are! Still making it all happen in our very own, fully functional shit show. My heart, like a glow stick that’s been cracked, lights up my chest in a little explosion of earnestness. And when your heart's on fire, smoke gets in your eyes. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitanic Rising was the first album of three in a special trilogy. It was an observation of things to come, the feelings of impending doom. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about entering the next phase, the one in which we all find ourselves today — we are literally in the thick of it. Feeling around in the dark for meaning in a time of instability and irrevocable change. Looking for embers where fire used to be. Seeking freedom from algorithms and a destiny of repetitive loops. Information is abundant, and yet so abstract in its use and ability to provoke tangible actions. Our mediums of communication are fraught with caveats. Our pain, an ironic joke born from a gridlocked panopticon of our own making, swirling on into infinity. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs, and hyper isolation kept coming up for me. “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” is a Buddhist anthem, ensconced in the interconnectivity of all beings, and the fraying of our social fabric. Our culture relies less and less on people. This breeds a new, unprecedented level of isolation. The promise we can buy our way out of that emptiness offers little comfort in the face of fear we all now live with – the fear of becoming obsolete. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTechnology is harvesting our attention away from each other. We all have a “Grapevine” entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCould it be narcissism? We encourage each other to aspire – to reach for the external to quell our desires, thinking goals of wellness and bliss will alleviate the baseline anxiety of living in a time like ours. We think the answer is outside ourselves, through technology, imaginary frontiers that will magically absolve us of all our problems. We look everywhere but in ourselves for a salve. In “God Turn Me into a Flower,” I relay the myth of Narcissus, whose obsession with a reflection in a pool leads him to starve and lose all perception outside his infatuation. In a state of great hubris, he doesn’t recognize that the thing he so passionately desired was ultimately just himself. God turns him into a pliable flower who sways with the universe. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pliable softness of a flower has become my mantra as we barrel on towards an uncertain fate. I see the heart as a guide, with an emanation of hope, shining through in this dark age. Somewhere along the line, we lost the plot on who we are. Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order. These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment. And maybe that’s the beginning of the nuanced journey towards understanding the natural cycles of life and death, all over again. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThoughts and Prayers, \u003cbr\u003eNatalie Mering (aka Weyes Blood)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Weyes Blood","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":39537830494304,"sku":"714850","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":39537830461536,"sku":"714851","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39537830527072,"sku":"714852","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":39537830559840,"sku":"714854","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":39537830428768,"sku":"714856","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/WeyesBlood_AITDHA_LP_MockUp.jpg?v=1712271839"},{"product_id":"the-shins_chutes-too-narrow-20th-anniversary-remaster","title":"Chutes Too Narrow (20th Anniversary Remaster)","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRemastered by Adam Ayan, under the watchful eye of the band’s prime mover\/singer-songwriter James Mercer, this special release features a lovely new, custom die-cut cover for the CD and vinyl formats of the album.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eChutes Too Narrow, the heavily anticipated follow-up to The Shins’ beloved debut, Oh, Inverted World, was recorded in James Mercer’s basement home studio, with later mixing at Seattle’s Avast! Recording Co. with assistance from Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, David Cross, Les Savy Fav, etc.). With ten songs clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the record is a brief yet scintillating glimpse at chiming, reflective, and perfectly skewed pop innovation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eChutes Too Narrow was released to widespread acclaim in 2003, garnering Pitchfork’s “Best New Music,” four stars from Rolling Stone, and raves from the New York Times, MOJO, the Village Voice, and SPIN. It subsequently made best-of-the-decade lists from The AV Club, NME, Paste, Pitchfork, and Uncut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMercer says of Chutes Too Narrow, “I was very aware at the time that I had struck gold with the first record, and it was unlikely to happen again. “Sophomore slump” and all that. The pressure to prove myself as a viable writer had never been so pronounced. Midway through the mixing process, I realized one of the songs would not work, so I stayed up after everyone went to bed and wrote ‘Young Pilgrims.’ And with Ek’s help, it worked! 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This is obviously not a very aggressive release schedule, but when you figure in the live albums, guest spots, and records done with his various other bands (Dinosaur Jr., The Fog, Heavy Blanket, Witch, Sweet Apple, and so on), well, to paraphrase Lou Reed, “J's week beats your year.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat Do We Do Now began to come together during the waning days of the Pandemic. Utilizing his own Bisquiteen Studio, J started working on writing a series of tunes on acoustic with a different dynamic than the stuff he creates for Dino. “When I'm writing for the band,” he says, “I'm always trying to think of doing things Lou and Murph would fit into. For myself, I'm thinking more about what I can do with just an acoustic guitar, even for the leads. Of course, this time, I added full drums and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic. Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it's just what happened.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo guest musicians are playing this time out; Western Mass local Ken Mauri (of the B52s) plays piano on several tracks. Since J himself has some experience with keys, when asked why he needed a hired gun, he says, “Ken is great, and he plays all the keys. I tried playing some keyboards on the first Fog album, but I'm really only comfortable playing the white notes, so it's kind of limiting. [laughs] Nowadays, I could just turn the pitch on a mini Mellotron to play different sounds, but black keys just seem hard. For whatever reason, I just like banging on the white ones. Seems like it's harder to figure out how to stretch your fingers around the other ones.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMauri has no such qualms and plays all the keys very damn well. He sounds especially great on “I Can't Find You,” where he is Jack Nitzsche to J's Neil Young, creating one of the album's loveliest tunes. The other guest musician, Matthew “Doc” Dunn, is also prominent on this track. Dunn's steel guitar manages to both widen and soften the musical edges of the music, giving it a full classicist profile. Dunn is an Ontario-based polymath who J met through Matt Valentine. After J played on Doc's great 2022 Sub Pop single, “Your Feel,” he figured it was time for payback. Both Dunn and Mauri add beautifully to the songs here, helping to transform them from acoustic sketches into full-blown post-core power ballads.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat Do We Do Now is the finest set of solo tunes J has yet penned, and the way they're presented is just about perfect. Asked if he would be touring to support the album, J says he'll be doing some weekend dates, but he probably won't be putting a band together. And I'm sure these songs will sound great solo and acoustic, but the arrangements on this album are truly great and put a cool, different spin on Mascis' instantly recognizable approach to making music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo, what do we do now? Not sure. But apparently, what J does is to make one of his most killer records ever. Hats off to him.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"J Mascis","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":39889908924512,"sku":"716050","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39889908990048,"sku":"716052","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":39889908957280,"sku":"716054","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":39889909022816,"sku":"716056","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/JMascis_WDWDN_MockUp_LP_USLoserClearPurple_2000x1417_8b3ff532-09d4-4e02-9356-d304c7d8b6fb.jpg?v=1741201892"},{"product_id":"pissed-jeans_half-divorced","title":"Half Divorced","description":"\u003cp\u003ePissed Jeans has never been a band that goes halfway—they’re known for their feral vocals, biting lyrics, buzzsaw guitars, and unhinged live shows, and their sixth album, Half-Divorced is no exception. These songs skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood, and when viewed through frontman Matt Korvette’s scowl, everything takes on a level of violent absurdity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePissed Jeans’ notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer, from helicopter parents to stolen catalytic converters to being $62,000 in debt. On “Seatbelt Alarm Silencer,” Korvette growls, “Call it a death drive but that ain’t fair \/ Drive implies I’m headed somewhere.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo where does a band like Pissed Jeans go after nearly twenty years of making music, after becoming fathers, after marriages, and after divorces? Existence has festered to a boiling point. Korvette said, “Half-Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEven within the brutality that Korvette conjures on songs like “Killing All the Wrong People” (“If violence is now their form of play \/ Let’s aim em towards those who made em that way”), the energy on some of these songs is inadvertently, well, fun. Listening to this album will give even the most jaded nine-to-fiver the sense that unrestrained freedom is still possible. And who else is going to rhyme “colonizer” with “moisturizer” anyway? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKorvette, Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums) weren’t in any rush to finish Half-Divorced, which was recorded by Don Godwin at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, Maryland. “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years,” Korvette said. “Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.” This lack of restraint rages within the songs that unexpectedly veer into classic hardcore punk territory—often coming in at under two minutes long and erupting like the “butane tank explosion” Korvette sings about in “Junktime.”  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis distilled energy makes Half-Divorced sound menacing and dangerous. Korvette said, “We realized we’d never really fucked with pop punk, and we thought, this is something that isn’t going to be immediately recognizable as cool. So let’s challenge ourselves to make it feel cool to us.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere’s also a Pink Lincolns cover, “Monsters,” on which Korvette sings, “People are more hideous than monsters.” And in the last song, “Moving On,” Korvette sneers, “Cheesing into my cameraphone \/ Pretending that I’m not alone \/ Life’s the first thing that we all postpone.” One gets the sense that Pissed Jeans refuses to “postpone” life in quite the same way—life, like art, is something that happens now, not later. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe word “divorce” falls in line with the moments of humiliation and shame that are held up for all to see on this album. Korvette said, “If you say something enough or if you just allow it to exist publicly, then it loses its evil monster-in-the-closet thing.” There is clarity to be found within both the light and the dark, in both the marriage and the divorce. As the chorus of the last song calls out: “I’m moving on, I’m moving on, I’m moving on.” \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pissed Jeans","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40008629682272,"sku":"715990","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40008629715040,"sku":"715992","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40008629649504,"sku":"715996","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/PissedJeans_HalfDivorced_MockUp_USLoser_2000x1417_e88ca283-f02f-4148-98cc-7d31f0db1a45.jpg?v=1721244442"},{"product_id":"boeckner_boeckner","title":"Boeckner!","description":"\u003cp\u003eDaniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulates in the heart and that it takes an unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner’s hands, that quest comes via postapocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout his work with Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, Operators, Atlas Strategic, and more, the iconic Canadian indie rocker recognizes that few feelings are more gratifying—more memorable, more generative, more abundant—than hope. But it takes getting the hell out of your own way. A culmination of that deep library of musical reference, Boeckner is set to release his first album under his own name: Boeckner! “I think in a lot of ways in my mind I’m still playing in a punk band in Vancouver,” Boeckner laughs. “Starting back when I was a teenager, my life in music has been trying to develop my own musical language, and this record is the beginning of presenting that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo matter where his genre exploration has taken him, there’s something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner’s blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It’s a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape—fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat. Boeckner introduces this fused language immediately with the thumping opening track and lead single “Lose.” Buoyed by the scorched space-age synths developed across two records with Operators and the fist-pumping guitar push of Wolf Parade, the song charges headlong into a new world. “Now I’m a walking phantom\/ Night watch at the radar station,” Boeckner sings, as if in a race against time to keep hope alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat urgency and passion have always been a trademark of Boeckner’s, and writing on his own pushes those feelings further into the center of the scope. But while Boeckner may be the clear driving force behind the album, he’s not without collaborators for his solo debut. After meeting producer Randall Dunn while contributing to the soundtrack to the Nicolas Cage-starring psychedelic horror film Mandy, Boeckner knew he’d found the perfect counterpart for his solo debut. “I’d been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced,” Boeckner says. “Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don’t normally weave into what I’m releasing—like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlbum highlight “Euphoria” dips into that off-kilter darkness, dashes of vibraphone tossed against woozy waves of synth. “It’s too late\/ Time accelerates\/ From the cradle to the grave,” Boeckner calls like some nuclear fallout Ziggy Stardust, glitching electronics dripping off the mix. The track’s percussive thrum comes courtesy of Matt Chamberlain—whose credits include work with Bowie and Fiona Apple, not to mention a stint as drummer for Pearl Jam—and serves to bolster Boeckner’s potent guitar throughout the record. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat solid base allows Boeckner to thoughtfully weave between emotional imagism and more grounded storytelling. Throughout the record, his imagery delves into science fiction, but it’s charged first and foremost by experience.  “With the exception of early Wolf Parade, I've always tried to put myself into a fictional mindset, but with this record, I was tapping into something raw and personal,” he explains. As a prime example, the desperate reach of “Euphoria” is felt in every line, pushed to its titular state only through some unhealthy choices, the gloom drawing near.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trio of Boeckner, Dunn, and Chamberlain formed a sort of dark engine for the album, and Chamberlain’s ingenious approach of triggering a vintage Arp synthesizer simultaneously with each drum track helped Boeckner shape the record’s atmosphere. That layered shadow colors the acoustic-tinged haze of “Dead Tourists,” a song littered with bad omens—steel-eyed cattle, bodies lined on church pews, overturned luxury cars. That tense futurism was influenced by Boeckner’s time staying in Dunn’s Circular Ruin studio, a dusky, electronic aura singed into every track...He often found himself falling asleep under the synth rack in a sleeping bag, looking up through a tiny skylight at the Brooklyn lights, the faint thump of Daniel Lopatin recording his latest Oneohtrix Point Never record next door coming through the wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to tapping into his own rock roots, Boeckner brought in one of his personal guitar heroes. “As a teenager, I imported cassettes of Medicine’s flawless shoegaze noise records, and I absolutely loved Brad Laner’s sandblasting, Chernobyl guitar,” he says. And while Boeckner first reached out hoping Laner would contribute to one track, the Medicine guitarist wound up adding guitar layers throughout the album, as well as helping arrange vocal harmonies. The haunted, wordless choir on “Don’t Worry Baby” stand especially tall in that regard, Laner delivering Boeckner’s writing through his trademark Medicine guitar ravage. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This record is like an autobiography—Atlas Strategic music concrete synth explosions, lush synth stuff from Operators, the noise guitar from Handsome Furs, drawing influence from everything from Stockhausen to Tom Waits all at the same time,” Boeckner says. And as the record fades away on the low-slung “Holy is the Night,” the mutated skyline fades away, replaced by blue skies “after the plague.” No longer a sci-fi epic, Boeckner! eases into something more akin to a torched VHS copy of a John Cassevetes film, the chemtrails and nuclear fallout fading long in the distance. “How much pain can we deliver before the sunrise, baby\/ Holy is the night we can get some peace,” he sighs. “How much blood can this world want from you and me together?” Like all good sci-fi, the emotion and pain hits home for the author and listener alike, and genre flourishes there to bolster the human experience. And in revealing more than ever before, Boeckner! both ratchets up the musical intensity to unforeseen levels and hopes to find some peace at the end of the journey.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Boeckner","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40021007761504,"sku":"715050","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40021007794272,"sku":"715052","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40021007728736,"sku":"715056","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/Boeckner_Boeckner_MockUp_LP_USLoser_2000x1417_607a4897-5ca9-4265-bc6a-356aeb154e9d.png?v=1712266561"},{"product_id":"iron-and-wine_light-verse","title":"Light Verse","description":"\u003cp\u003e“All our dreamers lose to the light” - from “Angels Go Home”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the pandemic began, and the world shut down, so did the process of creating for Iron \u0026amp; Wine’s Sam Beam. In its place was a domesticity that the singer hadn’t felt in a long time, and although it was filled with many rewards, making music was not one of them. Reflecting on that time, Beam notes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I feel blessed and grateful that I and most of my friends and family made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed compared to so many others, but it completely paralyzed the songwriter in me. While so many artists, fortunately, found inspiration in the chaos, I was the opposite and withered with the constant background noise of uncertainty and fear. The last thing I wanted to write about was COVID, and yet every moment I sat with my pen, it lingered around the edges and wouldn’t leave. 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A larger tour with Andrew Bird followed in the summer of ’22, and Beam was inspired even more by the excitement of collaborating with Andrew and his band and the warmth of musical friends. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“By the time I got home, the paralysis had officially passed, and I was finishing lyrics and booking studio time for what would become Light Verse!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Beam began to assemble the musicians he wanted for his record, one common thread arose- they all lived in Los Angeles!  Outside of his own pedigree, the decision to work with engineer and mixer Dave Way at his studio Waystation high up in Laurel Canyon was a logical step based on recommendations from two of the joining players on the record. An additional session would also take place at Silent Zoo Studio, where a 24-piece orchestra would lay claim to a handful of songs, helping prepare them for lift-off.   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve met and played with so many talented musicians from Los Angeles over the years but never recorded there, and this felt like the perfect time to try. Tyler Chester plays all the keyboards, Sebastian Steinberg plays the bass, David Garza guitar and slide and stuff, Griffin Goldsmith, Beth Goodfellow, and Kyle Crane all play drums here and there, and Paul Cartwright plays many various sizes of violin and mandolin and wrote some wonderful string arrangements for the orchestra! Even Fiona Apple was kind and generous enough to lend us her voice (that miracle that sounds like both a sacrifice and a weapon at the same time) to a duet called “All In Good Time.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeam lyrically once again takes focus on a series of both fictional and personal insights, filled with desperate characters and wide-eyed optimists, offering promise and a dose of heartache, tears and laughter, life and love. Taking stock in the album’s title, he jokes, “Light verse is a form of poetry about playful themes that often uses nonsense and wordplay, and it’s my first official Iron \u0026amp; Wine comedy album!…. Just kidding….”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile true this may be Iron \u0026amp; Wine’s most playful record, Beam says the title mostly reflects the way the songs were born with joy after the heaviness and anxiety of the pandemic. Where recent records like Beast Epic or Weed Garden gave air to the disquiet of middle-aged frailty and brokenness, these songs trade that for the focus acceptance can bring. Moment by moment, they delight in being pointed or silly (or both) and attempt beauty over prettiness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLight Verse arrives April 26th, and it’s Iron \u0026amp; Wine’s seventh full-length overall and fifth for Sub Pop Records. Fashioned as an album that should be taken as a whole, it sounds lovingly handmade and self-assured as a secret handshake. Track by track, its equal parts elegy, kaleidoscope, truth, and dare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Iron \u0026 Wine","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40146832097376,"sku":"716150","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40146832130144,"sku":"716152","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40146832031840,"sku":"716156","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/IronandWine_LightVerse_MockUp_LP_USLoser_2000x1417_cae3f57d-fbac-4df4-b67b-a97506fb588a.jpg?v=1712186865"},{"product_id":"amen-dunes_death-jokes","title":"Death Jokes","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmen Dunes has always worked with an outsider’s verve, but as he approached his seventh album in fall 2019, it was clear to Damon McMahon that he needed to become an outsider to his own history. “I was tired of the music I’d become convinced I had to limit myself to.” Instead of embarking on a familiar project, he decided to become a beginner again, immersing himself in the fundamentals of both piano and the electronic music he’d grown up with at raves and clubs but never imagined himself able to make. Few Amen Dunes fans might have perceived the lasting effect such music had on his work, but with Death Jokes, these influences would become clear. This album also marks a change in thematic focus; through samples and lyrics, Damon is much more directly critiquing the way American culture exalts violence, coercion, and groupthink as societal inevitabilities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo learn the piano, Damon hired the first teacher his local shop recommended, a psychic medium named Jonichi who had studied with Nadia Boulanger, a preeminent French conductor and music teacher who left lasting influences on everyone from Igor Stravinsky to Quincy Jones. Parallel to those tradition-focused lessons, Damon was teaching himself how to use Ableton and program drum machines, a departure for a musician who had long avoided working with “any technology more complex than a screwdriver,” but a homecoming for the kid who’d grown up to a soundtrack of techno and rap music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne day that winter Damon felt a song coming on and recorded a voice memo as he sang along with the piano. The resulting demo eventually became “Round the World,” the nine minute penultimate track on Death Jokes which soon seemed prophetic. What first sounds like a heartbreak ballad— Made up my mind\/ I give up on you— later warps into a ghostly dirge—This world’s on fire\/ Nothing seems true. The haunted refrains of round the world, round the world and let it rattle, let it rattle, sounded quite different a few months later, when the pandemic took over around the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A lot of my songs come to me in full,” he says, but this one felt more like a channeling, like speaking to ghosts before they were ghosts. To write “Round the World,” a three-year process in total, Damon listened to the original voice memo and “took dictation, word for word, of exactly what the singer had sung.” Many of the tracks on Death Jokes had similar beginnings, a process he recalls with a raw disbelief. These songs almost seem to foresee the pandemic, but they’re more about the lingering effects those years have had on all of us, spiritually and emotionally. Their meaning morphed as the pandemic went on: at first they were reflections on our attachment to form, and to ourselves, and then they shifted into solemn indictments of our culture’s blind spots as we misjudge and attack, our veiled self-centeredness and self-importance masquerading as morality. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe plague’s coming, he sings on “I Don’t Mind,” another song written before covid took over the states. If they take me first, I’ll come back for you. This song “blossomed madly, starting with just the little harpsichords,” before including “drum loops from my R100,” and “wonderfully fucked” midi guitars, “wild double vocals, bass tracks from Sam Wilkes, digital chorus singers, an alarm clock, and a sarangi player coming in and out of the whole thing.” The song sounds like “the world’s on fire” because it was and still is. As he worked, Damon fought intense illness for most of 2020, first with Covid, then with lingering respiratory issues, and thirty lost pounds. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout this depleted state, two years and twenty-one failed collaborations passed. He was unable to find those who understood his unorthodox methods, this “loose, wild, self-propelled approach” that signaled a new direction for Amen Dunes. As he kept working, Damon saw the birth of his first child, moved cross country to Woodstock, NY, and dove repeatedly into the uncertain states of learning and losing. He knew he had to go it mostly alone this time, but not everything from that year was a wash; the collaborations that worked, however small, proved to be profound. The jazz bassist Sam Wilkes appears on a trio of songs, and Christoffer Berg (Fever Ray) and Kwake Bass (Tirzah \u0026amp; Dean Blunt) provided tracks on several others; sessions with Panoram and Money Mark also ended up in the final version of Death Jokes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough the eerie, modern blend of folk and blues that Amen Dunes is best known for is very much present here, Death Jokes is a major departure, an ambitious electronic album that reveals new artistic abilities and concerns. On most songs Damon incorporated sounds, talking, and music pilfered from Youtube, and the vast collage of samples include Nadia Boulanger giving advice in French, an ancient music scholar’s lyre performance of the oldest written song in human history, protest chants, a grunting powerlifter, and bits of stand-up from Lenny Bruce, and others, included as “thought provocation and irritant.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese fourteen songs function as an essay on the way America’s culture of violence, dominance, and destructive individualism has crescendoed and imploded in recent years. On “Exodus, Damon seems to sing in tongues: You say life is hard \/ Well at least you think it is\/ But it’s a joke\/ Some day we lose it. The imperative that follows— so use it — is garbled and chopped, as if the only way to deliver sincerity into our spiritual malaise is to smuggle it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn “Mary Anne,” a ballad about the ways we fail and harm each other and an ode to the innocence that persists, you can still get the feeling that all our human mess is worth it: In purgatory we both got lost\/ When we meet again we will catch up, love. When a comment Damon made a few years ago about having never collaborated with women was interpreted by a journalist without curiosity, he felt compelled to publicly speak about the sexual abuse two women committed against him in his childhood. “Mary Anne” is a gentle song in a dark album, an attempt to forgive both the abuse and the ignorant retribution.   “Purple Land,” also speaks to the fragility of youth, this time as a time capsule for a child as she grows up in a dark and uncertain world—You’ll be all grown \/ I’ll be long gone  \/You’ll be living on the sun \/ If you ain’t careful, you’re gonna forget it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeen as an essay, Death Jokes reaches a thesis in the last two tracks. These songs mourn “the soul atrophy and separation between us” but they mourn with hope that we might be able to move past the coldness of holding passing convictions above the more complicated truths inherent in this life. These are gospel songs. They’re spirituals that have clawed their way out of a culture dead-set on smothering the boldness that a spiritual life fosters. Yet there’s still humor here alongside open-ended questions. “I Don’t Mind,” a cheerful, bleating ode to everything we can’t understand, ends like a music box slowing down as the singer calls up someone who is about to die to ask, What’d you think of life on earth?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amen Dunes","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":40226457518176,"sku":"715550","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40226457485408,"sku":"715552","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40226457452640,"sku":"715556","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/AmenDunes_DeathJokes_MockUp_LP_USLoser_2000x1417_ebbdc416-c1ff-4ffc-b112-c59624fb2e73.jpg?v=1712253677"},{"product_id":"metz_up-on-gravity-hill","title":"Up On Gravity Hill","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith time, we come to understand the way the joy of connection is mirrored by the void of loss, how the constancy of love is matched only by the impermanence of life, the simple idea that we could not create light if we did not risk the dark—we’d never need to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo it is with METZ, a band once known for blowing out eardrums with songs of joyous rage who have, over their past few records, begun exploring ways to turn abrasiveness into atmospherics, the evolution of their sound not only a reflection of the maturing of the band themselves but also of a changed world that demands nuance and compassion to comprehend and to survive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was a journey already underway on 2020’s Atlas Vending, but one that reaches new heights on Up On Gravity Hill, where the Canadian trio creates a kaleidoscopic sonic world as tender as it is dark, aided once again by engineer Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Lingua Ignota, Battles, The Body). Deep, detailed, and unyieldingly personal, it is not only METZ’s most powerful record to date but also their most beautiful.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStill three punks from Ontario at heart, guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, drummer Hayden Menzies, and bassist Chris Slorach waste no time as opener “No Reservation\/Love Comes Crashing” sweeps in like a wave, sonically and thematically setting the scene for the record to come. A dynamic song about feeling suspended in stasis, layers of dissonance melt into a restlessly heady outro marked by escalating crescendos of shimmering noise that reach for the stars—and is that a violin quivering brightly beneath those elegant swells of guitar, those charging drum fills, those intricate bass lines? It is indeed, courtesy of composer Owen Pallett; his presence an immediate indicator that METZ are thinking more cinematically than ever before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe change is partially inspired by Edkins’ work as a scorer for film and television and his pop-leaning solo project, Weird Nightmare, where, he says, he learned to write more intuitively, letting his emotions lead the way. “The lyrical content is more heart-on-sleeve than I've ever allowed myself to do,” he says. “I tried to be direct with my words, this record felt like a big step.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut make no mistake: Up On Gravity Hill is a total band effort, the work of three musicians who have been playing together for over a decade, with all the trust that entails. “We’re at the point now where we feel really strong as a band and as musicians, and there is no second guessing our collective instincts. Allowing ourselves to branch out and work with other musicians has been a blessing and also continues to remind us that what we have, our musical bond, is very rare and really special.” says Edkins. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor those who believe in the power of the rock band to exemplify the highest resonance of human connection, there is much on Up On Gravity Hill to lift the spirit, a puzzle worth repeated listening to unlock or just to get lost in again and again. Rather than the music being flattened into a single plane, the band explores “the space above the cymbals,” resulting in some of the most spacious, sympathetic, and accessible songs—could we call them pop?—of their career. If this seems contradictory, well, METZ has always been something of a contradiction. “We’ve never been heavy enough for metal or hardcore purists, but we're way too heavy for indie rock. We just don't have a lane—and that's okay. We exist outside the lines of delineation. I think this record is even more like that,” says Edkins.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLyrically, Up On Gravity Hill pulls no punches: this is a record about death the way all art is ultimately about death, yet it crackles with life and intensity. “Entwined” is a charging throwback to the cerebral Dischord punk bands the trio grew up loving; the snarling “99” takes on the nonstop onslaught of advertising that marks our modern lives; “We are all just a dream,” sings Edkins on “Superior Mirage,” Menzies’ charged drumming and flickering hi-hats a contrast to the song’s ghostly themes of impermanence. The record peaks on the gorgeous closer “Light Your Way Home,” which features vocal contributions from Amber Webber of Black Mountain. Here, Edkins confronts the choices that keep him from the people he loves, their absence only emphasizing how much they matter. “If only I could see what isn’t shown\/ I’d clear a path for you,” he sings, a deeply emotional confession for a band that has found a new way to bend the raw power of rock music to its most delicate, intricate ends. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"METZ","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40242363531360,"sku":"715600","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40242363564128,"sku":"715602","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40242363629664,"sku":"715606","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/Metz_UpOnGravityHill_MockUp_LP_US_2000x1417._1_copy.png?v=1711660427"},{"product_id":"man-man_carrot-on-strings","title":"Carrot On Strings","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWhen Man Man released its last album, “Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In Between,\" frontman Honus Honus (né Ryan Kattner) was in a state of unrest, oscillating between hope and cynicism. Perhaps fittingly, the album ended up dropping during the pandemic. (We could all relate.) But much like that bizarre turn of global events, the ennui seems so distant now to Man Man’s creative force, whose revived sense of purpose washes through Carrot on Strings (out June 07, Sub Pop), his latest release, which radiates a mix of calm and confidence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eKattner always embodied a wild-man pied-piper vibe: his melodic, art-rock output just unhinged enough that it was at once intriguing and angsty. He was so alluringly creative that you went along with it, even if you were never sure where Man Man would take you. Carrot on Strings is no less inventive, but its ethos is radical in context of the band’s two-decade, idiosyncratic career. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe name “Carrot on Strings” came to Kattner while experimenting with the sound of someone munching on the vegetable, which you can hear in the cacophonous, almost similarly named title track. It refers to “the diagnosis of my career,” or how success always seemed to dangle uncertainly before him—life as a series of “almost maybe” opportunities to elevate things to a more sustainable tier. But listen intently, and you’ll hear a more content Kattner, making an uneasy peace with, “Life, as far as I’ve known it, has always been side hustles. Would it be great if I could go into a studio and record for a year without figuring out how to finance it? Yeah, it would be,” he says. “But ultimately, I need to keep making music because art is an extension of my psyche. It’s not about how I define myself or want to be perceived necessarily. It’s how I have learned to translate the palpitations of my heart.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe unrest may have slightly lifted (chalk that up to fatherhood), but “Carrot on Strings” opener, the shot of scintillating adrenaline that is “Iguana,” clarifies that he’s still on a mission to traverse uncharted territory, even if it is total banger sing-along. The song melds Krautrock, dance music, no-wave, and even an homage to Old Yeller (the 1950s Disney film) sneaks in for good measure. Kattner, who penned the lyrics to “Iguana” while cycling through the hills of Los Angeles, was inspired by director Werner Herzog’s somewhat mystical cave-painting documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. “In the last 10 minutes of it, he has this beautiful monologue about uncertainty and the universe, the evolution of self-consciousness, albino crocodiles. How nothing is real, nothing is certain. Here you have this relatively straightforward documentary about ancient cave paintings, and in the end, Herzog can't escape himself from being himself, which in the end, why would you want to escape yourself anyway” he recalls, drawn to this outsider artist who infiltrated mainstream culture without compromising his impulses. With “Iguana,” Honus Honus continues, “I’m trying to write a very genre-specific song, but I can’t escape my own idiosyncratic pull into making it be something else or a combination of something else.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eGrowing up with a father in the U.S. Air Force, Kattner lived an itinerant childhood that included a few pivotal years in Germany, where he honed in on an appreciation for out there German cinema and art. He’d go on to teach himself to play piano at age 22 by playing with drummers, developing a style more rhythm-based than chops heavy but was also equally focused on screenwriting, the craft he studied in art school along with playwriting. (He continues to more-than-dabble in the film industry with an acting role in the upcoming horror-comedy movie Destroy All Neighbors, for which he also served as composer; music supervising season 1 \u0026amp; 2 of the Interview With The Vampire AMC TV series; and shopping around, with director Matthew Goodhue, a script he wrote that he describes as a Wim Wenders road movie on acid.) “As a child I gravitated towards troublemakers but not necessarily out of rebellion but more likely because it simply seemed more interesting at the time,” yet, growing up as a multiracial Hapa kid (half Filipino, half white), “I didn’t have anyone else to relate to on that level until I discovered playing music in my early 20s. The artworld and especially underground music is scattered with people from all sorts of disparate backgrounds.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eLike “Iguana,” the spacious, indie-pop “Odyssey” is a slight nod to another of his German avant heroes, the filmmaker Rainer Fassbinder (also the musician’s professed style icon). “My melodies are typically born out of playing parts on repeat,” he explains, “and pushing the boundaries of where my voice can go. Music and lyrics are birthed together, laborious but significant in that it instills a combined permeance. One fits into the other like a puzzle ring.” Meanwhile, “Blooodungeon” — a symbolic sexy, mutinous lovechild between Italo-disco legends La Bionda and the goth-rocker the Sisters of Mercy (or as Kattner puts it, “Dario Argento’s Goblin mixed with something from a ’90s leather bar”) — even finds him crooning suavely in German at one point. Sensing a theme yet?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAll these journeys off the beaten path are underscored by a palpable ease that’s way less about the process and more about the outcome. “It’s never been a driving factor in my life as a performing artist but I’m just at a point now where I don't give a fuck about image or any of that stuff,” he says. “And it’s not about acquiescing. Making music, acting in people’s films, these things are more fun these days, come more naturally. That doesn’t mean it’s easier by any means. There’s still love, labor, and toil involved. And a reserved spot on the wall for banging my head in frustration.” This newfound looseness is imminently apparent on songs such as the twangy “Cherry Cowboy,” a lingering, ambling ode to small-town Texas (where he was born), loosely inspired by a Randy Newman ear worm from the 1986 comedy Three Amigos and “Pack Your Bags,” a thumping stadium chant just waiting to be unleashed for consumption.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIn a bid to not overthink anything (mindful that his last album took about seven agonizing years to make), he booked out five days in Mant Sounds studio in Glassell Park, Los Angeles and enlisted “very chill” producer Matt Schuessler, with whom he had worked on a cover of Neu!’s “Super” for the seminal Krautrock band’s box set. He and the band knocked out the songs live, workshopped in front of live audiences while Man Man toured, in 5 days and then hashed out other sonic ideas over the coming months. “I wanted things to be loose. My intention was just to knock it all out,” he says. He even recorded more than a few of the single-track vocals while reclining on a couch. “It’s pretty wild,” he says — “because, you know, it wasn’t actually wild at all. It was the first time I wasn’t sequestered in an isolation booth, extensive baffling keeping me apart from the rest of the music. Something about being in the mixing room, tracking vocals, songs blasting out of the monitors that just felt perfect for this particular album.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“Odyssey” considers Kattner’s transformation, his newly defined sense of self that distinguishes his outsize stage persona from the thoughtful, soulful guy he actually is. Before surmounting this identity crisis, he frequently faced bouts of severe depression and imposter syndrome. “I first got into music to escape from myself,” he says. “And now, it sounds so corny, but I have zero doubt that music ended up saving my life.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSo when you hear him croon on tracks such as the wistful meditation on humility “Mulholland Drive” or the cheeky-tableau “Cryptoad”, you’re actually hearing Kattner liberate himself. “Take me home,” he sings on the latter. ”This party sucks.” It’s his favorite song on the album. “I didn’t want to make an overtly heavy record. The world already has too much heaviness,” he explains. “We're teetering on the brink of fascism, the planet is boiling, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.  We don’t need to have another album that points that out with every breath.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“On a cellular level, I'm not even the same person I was on my last album. This time around, I didn't want to overthink it, or beat myself up too much about it,” he continues. “I think I spent the first 15 years of playing music, wanting to quit every day. And now…it just feels like a gift.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Man Man","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40409574801504,"sku":"715500","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40409574834272,"sku":"715502","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40409574867040,"sku":"715506","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/ManMan_CarrotOnString_MockUP_LPv1_2000x1417_f51f6809-d68e-4989-8009-9e7ed3fbaf77.jpg?v=1712253581"},{"product_id":"velocity-girl_ultracopacetic-copacetic-remixed-and-expanded","title":"UltraCopacetic (Copacetic Remixed and Expanded)","description":"\u003cp\u003eVelocity Girl formed in 1989 or so at the University of Maryland outside Washington DC, and shortly thereafter settled on the lasting lineup of guitarist Archie Moore (Black Tambourine), guitarist Brian Nelson (Black Tambourine), drummer Jim Spellman (Starry Eyes, Foxhall Stacks, High Back Chairs, Julie Ocean, Piper Club), bassist Kelly Riles (Starry Eyes), and singer Sarah Shannon (Starry Eyes, The Not Its). The band combined English-inspired noisy shoegaze fuzz with scrappy US indie rock and classic ‘60s-style pop songwriting. A killer single on Slumberland and non-stop touring grabbed the attention of the indie-rock cognoscenti of the day, and, following a heated courtship involving both dinner AND dessert, Velocity Girl signed a contract on a car hood in Hoboken, New Jersey, making Sub Pop their home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1992 the band began work on their debut album, Copacetic, at Easley Studios - once home base to the Bar-Kays and other classic soul bands - in Memphis with Bob Weston (Volcano Suns, Shellac) at the helm, and then mixed the album with Weston in Chicago. While the album had strong songs - pop tunes like “Audrey’s Eyes,” “Pop Loser,” and “Living Well” alongside ambitious explorations like “Pretty Sister” and “Here Comes” - the band had little experience with production and lacked the skills to “drive the boat” in the studio. As a result, the album turned out to be a rather stripped-down affair, lacking the lushness of their prior recordings. To the band’s ear it was jarring, and they soon realized this wasn’t the record they hoped to make. Bob Weston had done exactly what was asked of him and captured the sounds, but the band didn’t do its part to articulate a clear vision. But the band’s slot in the studio was over, and Polvo had just showed up to work on their album, so off Velocity Girl went to shoot the video for “Audrey’s Eyes.” Copacetic came out in 1993 and people seemed to like it just fine, but within the band there was a sense of disappointment to the point where most members couldn’t stand to hear the record.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween then and now, the band learned a lot about recording, and Archie Moore developed a career in audio work, and the band finally decided to revisit Copacetic. After extensive digging, the 2” tape reels appeared in Jim’s ex-wife’s mother’s house, and in the spring of 2023 Archie began working on a remix.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSong by song the new mixes emerged just as the band envisioned them. Soaring vocals from Sarah (who studied opera in college), chiming lead guitar, juicy fuzzed out rhythm guitars and clear pounding drums. The pop songs are much poppier. The sonic blasts are more powerful, and the record hangs together as a cohesive document that flows from song to song. The approach was not to make a 2024 sounding record but rather to go back to the 1992 mindset and create the record the band should have made then. The result, UltraCopacetic (Copacetic Remixed and Expanded), is an exciting alternate history of Copacetic. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd, while they were at it, the band dug up and refreshed the rest of their studio material from the era: Ultracopacetic includes “Warm\/Crawl” from the Velocity Girl\/Tsunami split 7”, “Creepy” from the Crazy Town 7”, “Stupid Thing” from the Audrey’s Eyes 7”, and the unreleased album outtake “Even Die.” Topping it all off is the band’s complete five-song 1993 John Peel session, including two tracks that haven’t been heard since the original broadcast. UltraCopacetic is truly the definitive version of Velocity Girl’s first record.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Velocity Girl","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":40964323836000,"sku":"716400","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"2xLP","offer_id":41195210408032,"sku":"716401","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40964323770464,"sku":"716402","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40964323803232,"sku":"716406","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/VelocityGirl_UltraCopacetic_MockUP_Black_2000x1417px.jpg?v=1724367600"},{"product_id":"suki-waterhouse_memoir-of-a-sparklemuffin","title":"Memoir of a Sparklemuffin","description":"\u003cp\u003eSuki Waterhouse’s music sounds like a collage of her inspirations, experiences, and emotions stitched together by honeyed vocal delivery, bright-eyed melodies, and evocative storytelling. It doubles as a mirror image of her life as a consummate creative, artist, actress, model, and mother, yet it also breaks the glass to unveil raw truth. She leans on an ever-evolving sonic palette to convey what she’s feeling—whether it be folky Americana, nineties alternative, turn-of-the-century indie, or handcrafted otherworldly pop. You’ll hear Suki’s longing in a swooning chorus, fearlessness in a crunchy chord, elation in a danceable waltz, and wonder in a soft coo befitting of a lullaby. Now, the platinum-certified songstress asserts herself as a versatile, vibrant, and vital presence on her 2024 double-LP, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin [Sub Pop]. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe faithfully followed a lifelong passion for music to her 2022 full-length debut, I Can’t Let Go. Adorned by “Moves” and “Melrose Meltdown,” it incited widespread critical applause from Variety, Nylon, NME, The Line of Best Fit, and more. Between headlining shows and touring with Father John Misty, “Good Looking” surged online, generating nearly a billion streams, going RIAA platinum, and paving the way for the Milk Teeth EP and her sold-out, headlining Coolest Place in the World Tour. Simultaneously, Suki’s life moved at lightspeed. She absorbed inspiration from a season of change earmarked by unforgettable moments a la gracing the stage of Lollapalooza 2023, performing on multiple continents, becoming a mom, and closing out the Gobi Tent at Coachella in 2024. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, she carefully assembled Memoir of a Sparklemuffin. Beyond listening to everyone from Camera Obscura to The Raveonettes, Bloc Party, and The Teenagers, she took advantage of her proximity to various collaborators.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I finished the record in the last few months of my pregnancy and turned my living room into a home studio,” she recalls. “I stopped going to big studios and enclosed myself at home for the last two months of being pregnant, and the best thing about LA is you can call up the most incredible musicians in the world and have them in your front room in 15 minutes!”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe brought this body of work to life with Executive Producer Eli Hirsch (courtship.) as well as Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, Beyonce), Brad Cook (Bon Iver, War on Drugs, Snail Mail), Greg Gonzalez (Cigarettes After Sex), Rick Nowels (James Blake, Lana del Rey), and Natalie Findlay and Jules Apollinaire of the band Ttrruuces (with whom she co-wrote “Good Looking” and “OMG”). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe loosely tethered these 18 tracks to a transformative central concept represented by the Sparklemuffin spider….\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I always put the past into what I make because I feel like you need to keep exposing darkness to sunlight. When it’s exposed, it heals. I wanted a totem of metamorphosis, but I didn’t feel like a butterfly. I felt more like a scrappy spider,” she laughs. “I came across the Sparklemuffin—which is wildly colored, does this razzle-dazzle dance, and its mate will cannibalize it if she doesn’t approve of the dance. It’s a metaphor for the dance of life we’re all in. The title felt hilarious, ridiculous, and wonderful to me. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe initially teased the record with “OMG,” “Faded,” and “My Fun,” drawing listeners into Sparklemuffin’s sticky stylistic web. The propulsive gallop of the single “Supersad” bursts out of the gate, kickstarted by fast-paced drum fills and garage-y guitars. On the hook, she reminds, “There’s no point in being supersad.” “I tried to write a nineties song you could hear playing at the mall in Clueless or as an opening track for Legally Blonde,” she smiles. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen, there’s “To Get You.” Recorded to tape and co-written with Greg of Cigarettes After Sex with production by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, her vocals glide over softly strummed acoustic guitar, a delicate bassline, and a distant backbeat. She exhales, “Honey, you’ll never know, what I did…to get you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I know I've experienced sadistic and fetishized love, and this song was about everything I had to go through in order to find love in a pure form,” she notes. “It’s a difficult journey to discover peace within yourself and share your heart with another person. I didn’t always imagine it for myself. You can picture a girl scouring the streets for ‘the one’.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Blackout Drunk” intoxicates with its swinging handclap-laden bounce, woozy riffing, doo-wop harmonies, and chantable chorus. She sets the scene, “There’s always the guy who can’t keep his shit together on a night out. It just doesn’t need to happen! She’s furious and falling asleep next to him, but she can’t wait to wake him up and tell him all the shitty, embarrassing things that he did last night.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gateway Drug” illuminates the dynamics of the record. Drums lumber beneath her ethereal intonation as guitars rev up in a rush of distortion. “There’s a massive crash, and it’s a huge release of energy,” she smiles. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong other standouts, “Model, Actress, Whatever” instantly transfixes, threading a lilting acoustic guitar melody through hazy verses. Emotion overflows on the swooning hook, “All of my dreams came true, the bigger the ocean, the deeper the blue, call me a model, actress, whatever.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUltimately, Suki’s unapologetically being herself on the album, and it’s wonderful to hear, see, and feel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I just hope this can be the soundtrack to somebody’s life,” she says. “Whenever I'm making music, I always try to remember why I started writing in the first place and continue to do so. If I truly capture something pure that I’ve gone through, I know it’ll resonate with other people.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Suki Waterhouse","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":41004095209568,"sku":"715800","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41004095111264,"sku":"715802","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":41004095176800,"sku":"715804","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41004095144032,"sku":"715806","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/SukiWaterhouse_MOAS_MockUp_LP_USLoser_2000x1417_68a38202-6517-4073-835b-1c32be29004a.jpg?v=1718729220"},{"product_id":"alan-sparhawk_white-roses-my-god","title":"White Roses, My God","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlan Sparhawk has always been a prolific, protean musician. A restless soul eager to explore unfamiliar sonic and psychic terrain. Though he’s obviously (and justifiably) best-known for his thirty years as frontman of the legendary band Low, a look at Sparhawk’s many side projects across that same span of time shows him experimenting with everything from punk and funk to production work and improvisation. Low itself never settled for a set sound or approach. The band was always a collaboration—a conversation, a romance—between Sparhawk and his wife, Mimi Parker, who was the band’s co-founder, drummer, co-lead vocalist, and its blazing irreplaceable heart. To take the journey from Low’s hushed early work, through the tremendous melodies of their middle period, all the way to the late lush chaos of their final albums, is to witness heads, hearts, and spirits in an act of perpetual becoming. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParker passed away in 2022 after a long battle with cancer, and there is no question that WHITE ROSES, MY GOD is a record borne of grief. You can hear it in the title, as well as tracks such as “Heaven”, in which Sparhawk describes the afterlife, wrenchingly, as “a lonely place if you’re alone.” You can sense it too in Sparhawk’s decision to create this thing entirely on his own: every note, every lyric, every programmed beat. It would be reductive, even foolish, to see grief as the sole source or the final limit of this taut, brilliant, provocative, thrilling album, whose bold experimentation is powered by profound lyrics and propulsive beats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the album’s composition, Sparhawk had this to say:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The kids had the drum machine and a microphone set up in the studio. They’d have their friends over sometimes, and they’d record themselves taking turns free-styling. I brought them a synth and a voice pitch affect to have more options to mess with but before long, my curiosity won, and I found myself secretly stabbing around at possibilities with the unfamiliar tools, improvising, turning knobs until something would hit and a song would form. In hindsight, I can see now that it must have been what needed to come out of me, but at the time it felt like chaos and naïveté-even a little desperate. It kept tapping into a part of me that I’ve come to trust, so I kept recording.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I found that the sounds and the rigidity demanded a certain structure, a framework, and I was trying to improvise songs within that framework. Which meant that the things that were organic had this freedom to be even more non-regimented. I really respect the moment when the music instigates transcendence.  The vocals ended up being this very spontaneous, visceral engine. There’s a moment when something comes out of your mouth that you didn’t know was going to come out, and then it turns into something else. And something else. And it shakes you. Because what just came out was more precise and accurate and organized than anything you could have come up with. There’s magic in it because it is from the moment that it was created.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can you feel something here?” Sparhawk asks on “Feel Something.” The line repeats over and over, evolving first into “I want to feel something here” and then “Can you help me feel something here?” Meanwhile the musical means he’s chosen to convey this message—especially the pitch-shifter—might seem at first like they’re making it harder to access that very something he wants us (and himself) to feel. Isn’t the vocoder a barrier between us and the deep emotionality we’ve long associated with an Alan Sparhawk vocal? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not. But even if it is, then it’s a barrier worth breaking and the music itself is the hammer. Sparhawk conjures forth the ghosts trapped inside these machines. WHITE ROSES, MY GOD is an exorcism whose purpose is not to banish the spirit but to set it free.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrying to trace influences is a dodgy business, and fishing for comp titles is even worse. But let’s say you’re looking for forebears and fellow travelers to help situate WHITE ROSES, MY GOD. Just to start with a curveball, how about Childish Gambino, whose “Me and Your Mama”, Sparhawk has been known to cover live with The Derecho Rhythm Section, the funk quartet he plays in with his son? Or what about upstart weirdos extraordinaire 100 Gecs? Are those nods to fellow-Minnesotan Prince (maybe the Camille songs in particular?) in song titles like “Not the 1” and “Can U Hear”?  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd let’s not forget Sparhawk’s regional compatriot, the great Neil Young. Forget the border for a second: from Duluth, it’s 150 miles south to Minneapolis, but it’s only 190 miles north to Thunder Bay, Ontario. There’s always been a healthy dose of Young in Sparhawk’s music—see for instance the Low+Dirty Three cover of “Down by the River”—but wait until you hear the next solo record after this one, recorded with Trampled by Turtles as his backing band and featuring a totally different arrangement of “Heaven.” WHITE ROSES, MY GOD might remind you of Young’s 1982 album, Trans, and if that sounds like a backhanded compliment then you probably haven’t heard it lately. Young recorded Trans in part as an homage to Kraftwerk; in part as a way to connect with his severely autistic son, whose love of computers helped him learn to communicate; and in part just to say, I don’t have to be who you think I am. Hell, I don’t even have to be who I think I am! Trans is a visionary record that has aged beautifully and buried its skeptics. So will WHITE ROSES, MY GOD.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"docs-internal-guid-04f21675-7fff-8601-5bf2-504ad2b72a91\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn many ways WHITE ROSES, MY GOD feels like a hard break with the past, almost a debut. And yet there’s incredible continuity with Sparhawk’s past work and his traditional ways of working. He’s pathbreaking, yet again, invested as ever in the endless process of becoming himself. As he puts it on “Station”: “I can please myself with the things I seek out.” Us, too. We are lucky to be here to hear it as it happens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alan Sparhawk","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41092559175776,"sku":"716550","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41092559208544,"sku":"716552","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41092559143008,"sku":"716556","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/AlanSparkhawk_WhiteRosesMyGod_MockUp_LP_Loser_2000x1417_932c7c6b-8b19-4049-b4bb-1e4530246cc8.jpg?v=1721061881"},{"product_id":"john-waters_jingle-bells-its-a-punk-rock-christmas","title":"Jingle Bells \/ It's a Punk Rock Christmas","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe A-side single features a parody version of The Singing Dogs’ “Jingle Bells’,\" which takes the Christmas classic on a howling turn that should delight (and possibly dismay) dog owners everywhere. 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class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt was arranged by Drew Erickson.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt was performed by Josh Tillman, Drew Erickson, Jonathan Wilson, Dan Bailey, Eli Thomson, David Vandervelde, Chris Dixie Darley, Jon Titterington, and Kyle Flynn.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt was executive produced by Jonathan Wilson.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e It was recorded and mixed at Five Star and East\/West, United Studios, and Drew’s House. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMahāśmaśāna (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eमहामशान\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e)— great cremation ground, all \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethings going thither\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e 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The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Ricky Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of ‘80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, ‘60s garage rock, and ‘70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, ‘70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRising from the ashes of early-’80s Denver bands Frantix (whose “My Dad’s a Fuckin’ Alcoholic” is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label’s European licensing partner, Glitterhouse. Witnessing The Fluid’s dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle’s Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe band fit right in on Sub Pop’s nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk\/rock\/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7” with Nirvana in 1991, before doing one album for a major label and promptly disbanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band’s existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows… and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like “Cold Outside” sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings (“Black Glove”), bluesy romps (“Leave It”), the occasional grungy dirge (“Wasted Time”), and raw punk bangers (“Is It Day I’m Seeing?” from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn’t shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock ‘n roll. As it turns out, that wasn’t a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid’s entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988’s Clear Black Paper; 1989’s Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, of Nevermind fame); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it’s high time The Fluid get their due. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLP Tracklist:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1.  Our Love Will Still Be There \u003cbr\u003e2.  Black Glove \u003cbr\u003e3.  Closet Case \u003cbr\u003e4.  Kick Out the Jams (Glue outtake) \u003cbr\u003e5.  Candy \u003cbr\u003e6.  Pretty Mouse \u003cbr\u003e7.  Wasted Time \u003cbr\u003e8.  Hey 13 (Glue outtake)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Fluid","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41360345071712,"sku":"716310","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41360345104480,"sku":"716316","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/TheFluid_Glue_LoserLP_2000x1417_6a3855fa-23c7-408b-b83c-c510b76321a4.jpg?v=1728920483"},{"product_id":"the-gits_enter-the-conquering-chicken-2024-remaster","title":"Enter: The Conquering Chicken (2024 Remaster)","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMia Zapata of the Gits was the greatest rock singer of her time. This is not hyperbole; if you ever saw her, you know it’s true. She was likely the greatest singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the ’78. Tragedy did not make this true. Mia Zapata made this true, and the ferocious, spring-loaded shrapnel frame built around her by Andy Kessler, Matt Dresdner, and Steve Moriarty made it true.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMia Zapata (1965 – 1993), the vocalist and front person for The Gits (1986 – 1993), was not the type of voice one usually associates with a punk rock band. She had the sizzle, sass, shriek, grace, rasp, and fury of a classic blues shouter (what if Janis Joplin had fronted Fugazi, we ask?). There was a purity and accuracy to her voice. She could simultaneously point it at the stars and scoop cigarette butts off of the venue floor. It sounded like a voice on fire, desperate and angry, pleading and commanding, all at the same time (what if Amy Winehouse had fronted Fugazi, we ask?). And her onstage persona was utterly devoid of bullshit: Mia Zapata was a rag doll, a stick figure, a sock puppet, alternately bent with sadness and arched with rage. Sometimes, she looked like she was in pain, clawing at an ulcer; other times, like a holy woman on a soapbox, testifying the joy of truth; and still other times, like someone draped in a bedtime t-shirt reading from the margins of her notebooks. The voice and the presence were extraordinary, and there was nothing like it anywhere in punk – it was like finding the missing link between Nina Simone and Johnny Rotten (what if Joss Stone had fronted Fugazi, we ask?).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMuch of this story takes place in Seattle during the strange night fog of the early 1990s, but did that matter? No. The Gits were beyond era or place. Maybe that’s why they were one of the most important acts to emerge from Seattle during that time. The Gits defied any categorizations – were they ferocious post-hardcore sideways-metal screw-propellor punk rockers? Some cross between Iron Maiden and an SST band? And although Mia Zapata was undoubtedly a once-in-a-generation talent – a wrapped-tight urchin\/ingenue\/artist applying a shredded Bonnie Raitt blues-rasp perfect-pitched alto to tight punk rock – the band matched her and inspired her to double down. Andy Kessler (guitar – metronomic and furious), Steve Moriarty (drums – martial and explosive), and Matt Dresdner (bass – fluid, punching, beat-addicted and melodic) wrote and performed with a jaw-tightened fury, a clenched soul that shrieked and stomped with precision. The Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop, and Ian MacKaye all in the same goddamn song.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986. Matt, Mia, Andy, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill where they (and fellow travelers) woodshedded and rehearsed for the next few years. The Gits put out three EPs in 1990 and ’91 before signing with C\/Z Records and releasing their first full-length album, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrenching The Bully\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Soon, Seattle, North America, and the world felt the kind of awe the Gits inspired when peak emotion meets peak grindage.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, Sub Pop is re-releasing the entirety of the Gits’ catalog, including all four extant albums (three of which, sadly, were released posthumously): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrenching The Bully\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1992), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEnter: The Conquering Chicken \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(1994), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKings \u0026amp; Queens\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1996), and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSeafish Louisville\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (2000). All have been remastered by Jack Endino, one of Seattle’s most respected producers and engineers and the band’s closest studio associate.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn July 7, 1993, Mia Zapata died. We leave it at that, not only because you can read the sad details elsewhere but because this is not about death but an extraordinary life. So, friends, please listen to one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, fronted by the greatest woman rock vocalist of the last half-century. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eTim Sommer\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Gits","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":42332849504352,"sku":"716490","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":42332849537120,"sku":"716492","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41420139855968,"sku":"716496","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/TheGits_EnterTheConqueringChicken_Mockup_LP_US_2000x1417_4513fd45-7b44-41f0-b8ee-abe5e7135d8e.jpg?v=1759293548"},{"product_id":"the-gits_frenching-the-bully-2024-remaster","title":"Frenching The Bully (2024 Remaster)","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMia Zapata was the greatest rock singer of her time. She may well have been the greatest blues singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the ’78. Tragedy did not make this true. Mia Zapata made this true, and the ferocious, spring-loaded shrapnel frame that was built around her by Andy Kessler (guitar: metronomic and furious), Matt Dresdner (bass: fluid, punching, beat-addicted and melodic), and Steve Moriarty (drums: martial and explosive) - who, with Mia, combined to form The Gits - made it true. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986, grabbing and swapping pieces of art, thrash, noise, punk rock, classic rock, and all the sorts of magical silly and bookish jingle bells that an old-school liberal arts education handed you; for the next few years they worked on turning it all into something tough, sensitive, both brutal and kind. Andy, Matt, Mia, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill where they (and fellow travelers) wood-shedded and rehearsed for the next few years. The Gits put out three EPs in 1990 and ’91 before signing with C\/Z Records and releasing their first full-length album, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrenching the Bully\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. Seattle quickly claimed the quartet as their own and embraced the Gits blend of ferocious fangs and soft heart, the slug\/slap of the guitars, and the gorgeous, soft underbelly of the poetic emotions. These qualities not only fit in with the doe-eyed\/sharp-clawed grunge ethos but earned the Gits the respect of their peers, including Nirvana, who tapped them to open a major local show in 1990. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen other stuff happened, and their frantic, confessional barbed-heart snowball began rolling up hill very, very fast; the Gits “quickly” (hah! After half a decade learning to implode and explode hearts and stomping their boots on manifold beer-softened, Marlboro-weeded wood stages!) inspired rapture, awe, and the levitation that happened when peak emotion meets peak grindage in front of amps spitting out something that sounded like the mad marriage of Bolan swagger and Dischord tension… all fronted by a genuinely incomparable woman who held her heart in her mouth and shared it, in all its celebration and fear,  without hesitation. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with and tuned by the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop and Ian MacKaye  all in the same goddamn song.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1993, less than four weeks after accepting an offer from Atlantic Records, Mia died. I leave it at that, because this is not about death; it’s about an extraordinary life. I do not say, “You should have been there,” I say, “We are lucky so many of us were, and I am so glad we have this extraordinary evidence of the power and gifts of Mia and the Gits that you now can hold in your hands.” And I note that \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrenching the Bully\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, this extraordinary testament to the soul, shock, fury and feeling of the Gits, has been long out of print on vinyl and CD, and this new edition - remastered by legendary Seattle engineer Jack Endino - joyfully rectifies that.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-Tim Sommer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Gits","offers":[{"title":"White Vinyl LP","offer_id":42431777964128,"sku":"716483","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Color LP","offer_id":41865983819872,"sku":"716485","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41420139954272,"sku":"716480","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41420139921504,"sku":"716482","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41420139888736,"sku":"716486","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/TheGits_FrenchingTheBully_LP_ThirdPressing_MockUp_2000x1417_b75872c2-5fc7-459b-9f92-1c08773b88a9.jpg?v=1765317316"},{"product_id":"deep-sea-diver_billboard-heart","title":"Billboard Heart","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the middle of July 2023 in a Los Angeles studio, Deep Sea Diver mastermind Jessica Dobson took a guitar solo but somehow felt nothing. Just days earlier, her Seattle band played a series of semi-secret shows for devotees at a hometown bar, de facto rehearsals for cutting a new record. The sets had gone well, but, almost immediately, the sessions didn’t. The songs’ essence seemed muddled, Dobson’s conviction lost somewhere in the 1,000 miles between Southern California and the home studio she shares with partner, drummer, and frequent cowriter Peter Mansen. On that first night in Los Angeles, she broke down, wondering what she was doing there, what her band could do to fix it. For the first time ever, Deep Sea Diver retreated, heading home without an album. Did they need to scrap it all, to begin again with new material? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot at all: Following a brief break, Dobson found a renewed sense of self, a trust in her vision for her band and songs and her ability to capture them. After that Los Angeles hiccup, longtime collaborator Andy Park asked Dobson how the new stuff was going over an early fall dinner. She admitted she needed help. In that humbling confession, she soon found ways of working that helped her reimagine and reinvigorate Deep Sea Diver and led directly to the power and brilliance of Billboard Heart, Deep Sea Diver’s fourth album and first for Sub Pop. It is a coup, a triumph over self-doubt in which what first felt like failure became an opportunity to find new freedom, belief, and strength. You can hear it in each of these 11 songs, the beating heart that makes everything here feel like a new anthem for finding your own way forward. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe cocksure Bad Seeds swagger of “Shovel,” the tender mercies of “Loose Change,” the serpentine machinations of “Let Me Go,” where Dobson tangles with fellow guitar dynamo Madison Cunningham: Billboard Heart immediately puts Deep Sea Diver in the company of St. Vincent, TV on the Radio, and Flock of Dimes, bands that have found newly ornate and magnetic ways to make indie rock by discarding notions of how it must sound or what it must say. Dobson punches through her past here. As she howls during Billboard Heart’s rapturous title track, she is “welcoming the future by letting go of it.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExactly three years before Dobson’s galvanizing dinner with Park, Deep Sea Diver issued its third album, 2020’s Impossible Weight, via ATO, the colossal indie imprint that has helped My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes, and King Gizzard build careers across the last quarter-century. It was a significant step up for a band that had self-released its first two LPs. The surge of resources resulted in a groundswell of exposure, even a spot on Billboard charts. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat success, though, caused Dobson to doubt her impulses, to begin thinking about what an idea’s impact or reception might be as much the strength of the idea itself. During this period of second-guessing, she and Mansen sat near the wide windows of their Seattle living room, with her on piano as he hammered a guitar nearby. “See in the Dark”—a song about coveting your own notions, despite the occasional sense they’re slipping away—emerged in that single sitting, its gothic elegance and pop grandeur proffering a blueprint for what else could come.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat moment of domestic creation proved essential for several reasons. Before Impossible Weight, Dobson and Mansen wrote many of Deep Sea Diver’s songs together; this was a return to that bond, which carried over to more than half of Billboard Heart. What’s more, the pair began recording more at home, too. They borrowed microphones and a small clutch of essential gear to capture guitars and vocals in their basement. When talks later began in earnest with Park following the Los Angeles debacle, Dobson began revisiting those earlier recordings, realizing that she had captured so much of that ineffable spark at home, where the atmosphere was of her own design. Mansen and Park helped convince her these weren’t just good enough to use but riveting in their realness. These early versions became templates and blueprints to build upon and frame, plus a way for Dobson to believe again in the material and, most important, herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd from end to end, the material on Billboard Heart is astonishing. The title track is the one song Deep Sea Diver actually finished in Los Angeles. It’s a radiant and magnificent thing, the billowing synths of member Elliot Jackson and tunneling pedal steel of guest Greg Leisz pushing up an anthem for fearlessly advancing into the future, as best you can. “Emergency” links hardcore’s famous vim to electroclash’s instant allure, Dobson’s italicized voice racing like a gust of wind. Her brief guitar solo at the end is an all-timer, a few hiccupping notes suddenly moving like a sports car in terrifyingly tight corners. Tender and vulnerable, “Tiny Threads” is a sweeping anthem for anyone trying to hold anything together—life, love, themselves. “If it haunts me, let it haunt me,” Dobson sings softly over a stillness framed only by bass and noise. She lets her guitar careen into feedback, then steadily sculpts it into something tuneful. It’s a lifetime of anxiety and sublimation, crystallized into 10 seconds. Billboard Heart feels that way at large.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a minute there, Dobson let that mix of art and commerce we call the music industry cloud her judgment and interfere with her impulses, a common enough story for anyone whose decades of work suddenly yield success. She found her way out of that wormhole by embracing newness, whether that meant practicing songwriting as if it were collegiate homework, believing in her skills recording at home, or playing bass herself because the band had blown so much money during those aborted Los Angeles sessions. (N.B. The big but elastic bass lines are a consistent highlight here, so: good choice.) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMostly, she let go of the fear that comes when we think about our jobs, no matter what they are, and remembered that making music is less work than a way of reckoning and playing with the world, of healing and finding other ways forward. Billboard Heart emerged when Dobson trusted her instincts, a personal breakthrough that prompted an artistic one. It is, in turn, the best Deep Sea Diver album yet, a defiant and brilliant exclamation mark at the end of a long period of wandering. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Deep Sea Diver","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41520692691040,"sku":"716650","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41520692625504,"sku":"716652","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41520692658272,"sku":"716656","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/DeepSeaDiver_BillboardHeart_MockUp_LP_US_2000x1417_000e3434-3bb5-4564-a91d-f63d42115501.jpg?v=1736225722"},{"product_id":"clipping_dead-channel-sky","title":"Dead Channel Sky","description":"\u003cp\u003eBecause of their mix of hellified gangster shit and progressive compositions, I once jokingly called Clipping “Death-row Tull.” Well, it’s not a joke anymore. While their last few projects have been record-long concepts like the classic prog rock of old, Dead Channel Sky is mix tape-like, a carefully curated collection of songs in which every track is a love letter to a possible present. Like a mashup of distinct elements, the overall concept is there, but the result is brief glimpses into a world rather than an overview of it. It sounds crisp and classic at the same time. When something strikes us as retrospective and futuristic at the same time, it’s a reminder of how slipshod our present moment truly is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my book Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future, I draw what Walter Benjamin would call correspondences between early hip-hop culture and cyberpunk literature, the binary stars of the solar system at the end of the millennium. I exploit their similarities to illustrate how the cultural practices of hip-hop have informed the cultural practices of the now. Hip-hop was borne of the post-apocalyptic scene in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. Its repurposing of outmoded technology, the hand-styled hieroglyphic screen names on every colorfast surface, and the gyrating dance moves—an entire culture forged from the freshest of what was available at hand—mirrors the post-apocalyptic techno-scrounge of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Rudy Rucker’s Software, and other early works by the contributors to Bruce Sterling’s Mirrorshades anthology (Pat Cadigan, John Shirley, Lewis Shiner, and Sterling himself, among others). Add the leather-clad mohawks of Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force or Rammellzee’s B-boy battle armor and a blend of the two comes further into focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJuxtaposing high-tech, corporate command-and-control systems (the “cyber”) with the lo-fi, D.I.Y. underground (the “punk”), cyberpunk proper starts in 1982 and ends in 1999, from Blade Runner to The Matrix. There are works before and works since that embody the visions and values of cyberpunk, but these dates act as rough parameters for their assimilation into the larger social sphere, for the time it took cyberpunk to become cyber-culture. In the meantime, hip-hop matured, went through its Golden Era, then melted into further forms. Over the same decades, it went from “Planet Rock” to “Bring da Ruckus” to “Hard Knock Life,” from Fab 5 Freddy to Public Enemy to Missy Elliott, from Run-DMC to N.W.A. to Notorious B.I.G. While other genres flirted with it, hip-hop was fickle and fey. Any tryst with the odd bedfellow was a one-night stand at best. Rap and rock birthed mutant offspring maligned by most, and hip-hop’s relations with electronica rarely fared any better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose twin suns—hip-hop and cyberpunk—both rose in the 1970s and warmed the wider world during the 1980s and 1990s. What if someone explicitly merged them into one set and sound? After all, both movements are the result of hacking the haunted leftovers of a war-torn culture that’s long since moved on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Dead Channel Sky, Clipping texture-map the twin histories of hip-hop and cyberpunk onto an alternate present where Rammellzee and Bambaataa are the superheroes of old; where Cybotron and Mantronix are the reigning legends; where Egyptian Lover and Freestyle, are debated endlessly, and Ultramag and Public Enemy are the undeniable forefathers; where the lost movements of 1980s and the 1990s are still happening: rave, trip-hop, hip-house, acid house, drum \u0026amp; bass, big beat—the detritus of a different timeline, the survivors of armed audio warfare. That war at thirty-three and a third, its atrocities imprinted upon yet another generation, what someone once called, “the presence of the significance of things” without a hint of ambiguity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClipping are very story oriented. They deal in ontology and narrative as much as beats and rhymes. They’ve been approaching making music like writing science fiction since the band’s conception. Two of their records have been nominated for Hugo Awards (one of science fiction’s top literary prizes), and a novella spun-off from their music was nominated for a third. As Clipping, they’ve collaborated with as many of their fellow experimental noise artists as they have fellow rappers. Here those co-conspirators include everyone from the guitarist Nels Cline on the outro to “Dodger” (titled “Malleus”) to their label-mates Cartel Madras on “Mirrorshades, pt. 2,” rapper\/actor Tia Nomore on “Scams,”as well the wordy wordsmith Aesop Rock on “Welcome Home Warrior.” Diggs is known for intricate lyrics and rapid-fire rapping, and the tracks that Snipes and Hutson build in the background are no less complex. On “Code,” they sample narrated memories from the Afrofuturist documentary The Last Angel of History; and on “Dominator,” they repurpose a line from the classic Dutch hardcore track “Dominator” by Human Resource. All of the above serves to give us a glimpse of an adjacent possible present, where hip-hop and cyberpunk are one culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"docs-internal-guid-8dfb840a-7fff-3fb0-c40a-56ced277fa52\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBinary stars are often perceived as one object when viewed with the naked eye. Like those twin sun systems, it’ll take some special equipment and some discerning attention to pull the stars apart on this record. 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These tracks bleed off the record, having been born from the indelible stamp of Poison Idea’s 1990 anti-oppression anthem “Discontent” and Japanese punk legends Paintbox’s “The Door.” Sitting at the chaotic crossroads of punk, hardcore, and grunge, the two songs have found the most fitting home possible: a Sub Pop single.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Disabuse” is a song Damian wrote for his daughter, who experienced bullying and intimidation, while “Self Driving Man” wrestles the out of control automation of our world onto the pavement and into the abyss of faceless progress. 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The mostly-black, art-rock band triumphed through two decades of volatile cultural change to become one of the most beloved, enduring and influential groups from New York City’s early-2000s rock scene. Though Tunde’s poetic songwriting and transparent, towering vocals are central to the band’s dissonant sound, TV On The Radio, has and always will be a collaboration between a group of singular musicians.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTunde’s personal story exists on a parallel path, as a sort of creative polymath. He is a musician but also an illustrator and painter. He’s a former animator and one-time stop-motion filmmaker. He is a television and film actor. And now he is also a solo artist, with his first-ever formal solo album, Thee Black Boltz (Sub Pop, 2025).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTunde initially conceived of the album in 2019, while TV On The Radio was on a break. Two years later, as the world was emerging out of the global Covid pandemic, he started to put ideas down on paper; specifically, a notebook, which captures a free-thinking mix of words, illustrations and ideas. It is how Tunde begins most of his projects. Included in this notebook was a list of musical references and visual sketches that constituted what he calls, “mixtape of emotions the music could evoke. A feeling map of sorts.” He started capturing those ideas in 2021 with the help of multi-instrumentalist Wilder Zoby (Run The Jewels), with whom he shares a studio with in Los Angeles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA child of Nigerian immigrants who came to America for a better life, Tunde split his youth between Nigeria and Pittsburgh. His father was a medical professional who loved to doodle and draw, and in doing so, ignited a passion for visual art in his children. “I remember the first time I saw that he could draw, like really draw,” Tunde remembers, “it was like he revealed some superpower. From then on, I was always doodling and he was very encouraging.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTunde moved to New York to attend college and found himself amongst a group of friends immersed in indie rock, tape-trading and zine-making. He discovered that creative expression, often visual, was a language he felt most comfortable with; that art allowed him to best communicate his feelings and also to make sense of the world around him. NYU Film School followed (much to his parents’ chagrin), and it was there Tunde developed an interest in the world of stop-motion animation. It ultimately led to a job working on MTV’s cult hit, “Celebrity Deathmatch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFilm school is also where Tunde was introduced to acting. “I thought I wanted to be a director, but I didn’t feel comfortable giving anyone real instruction,” he laughs. “But I took direction well, and being in front of the camera felt more collaborative, more my speed.” Tunde’s first official role in front of the camera was in a classmate’s film, 2001’s “Jump Tomorrow.” Subsequently, Tunde has appeared in several television and film projects, including critically acclaimed roles in “Rachel Getting Married” (2008), “Spider Man Homecoming” (2017), “Twisters” (2024) and “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” (2024).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround the same time as he was shooting his first movie, Tunde was also experimenting with making music. Making 4-track recordings in his bedroom and doing noise shows with his friends utilized the same creative muscles, he found, as making tapes and zines. “I don’t play an instrument. But it was one of the first times that I really got into just a punk ethos of like, if you have an idea, just get it out. It doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t need a label or billboards. You can do everything yourself.” It was doing these 4-track songs and moving to Williamsburg in 2000 that led Tunde to meet Dave Sitek and his brother, and their collective lo-fi recordings became the genesis for TV On The Radio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThee Black Boltz is not a TV On The Radio album. But in a lot of ways, the excitement of doing something on his own for the first time ignited a similar spark in him as the early TV On The Radio days. The songwriting process is the same, he says, but with his TVOTR bandmates, Tunde knows he doesn’t always have to complete his ideas. “I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel or Kyp will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go. But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of the album is its title, a nod to Tunde’s propensity to write and sing about the human condition, in all its forms, under all its stressors, both big and small. It is his response to the macro unease of a post-pandemic world careening towards violent authoritarianism and the personal grief that has come from loss in recent years, specifically the sudden passing of his younger sister while making this album. Thee Black Boltz is Tunde’s desperate grasping of small moments of joy amidst the dissonance and sadness, any way he can. Making this album, he says, was his way of processing everything. “It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd thus, Thee Black Boltz. As he writes in his notebook, “The sparks of inspiration\/motivation\/hope that flash up in the midst of (and sometimes as a result of) deep grief, depression or despair. Sort of like electrons building up in storm clouds clashing until they fire off lightning and illuminate a way out, if only for a second.” “Also,” he adds. “It’s a good name for a cool metal band, and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tunde Adebimpe","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41561968083040,"sku":"715350","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41561968115808,"sku":"715352","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":41688877072480,"sku":"715354","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41561968050272,"sku":"715356","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/TundeAdebimpe_TheeBlackBoltz_MockUp_LP_US_2000x1417_9fecf652-e0dc-4d19-8a2c-04b06313411d.jpg?v=1738024273"},{"product_id":"alan-sparhawk_with-trampled-by-turtles","title":"With Trampled by Turtles","description":"\u003cp\u003eNo one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There’s an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so, it only made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low’s, taken under Sparhawk and Parker’s wing from their earliest days as a bar band—Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: “There’s a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town,” Sparhawk muses. “Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two artists hold the kind of ironclad, lifelong bond where they stand by one another as artists and people. Following Parker’s passing in 2022, Trampled by Turtles invited Sparhawk to join them on tour to give him a space to be surrounded by friends. Occasionally, he would join them onstage. The outpouring of love was palpable every time they played together, a surge of warmth. Nurturance was in every note.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen playing together is that powerful an embrace, why stop there?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCut to: Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Winter 2024. Trampled by Turtles had time booked at Pachyderm Studios recording a record, when Alan Sparhawk came in towards the end with several songs in development. Some had never worked in Low; others were just fresh and waiting for the right setting. For years, the two parties had talked about making something together, but the talk was never more than hypothetical. When Sparhawk needed it most, the promise reemerged, sharper than ever. “When the opportunity seems right,” Sparhawk says, “you jump.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith Trampled by Turtles is a record exactly as its name implies: Collective. Communal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFraternal. Empathetic. There is never a moment of complete solitude. With Trampled by Turtles is a vessel for comfort, a reminder of the harmony that can be brought when surrounded by those closest to you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn complete trust, both artists let the overflow of human emotion drive their collaboration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing is real until everybody is in the room,” as Trampled by Turtles vocalist and guitarist Dave Simonett puts it. “I can practice the songs myself as much as I want, but it’s almost like starting over when everybody’s there.” There were no group practices prior to recording; all the players let whatever surfaced at the moment guide the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost everything you hear was recorded in a day, with minimal overdubs done with producer Nat Harvie later. “I like seeing artists in a situation where they can be quickened,” Sparhawk says. “You really see their gifts.” Those gifts emerge at their most emphatic in moments completely spontaneous: the wails of fiddle and cello on “Screaming Song” and “Don’t Take Your Light,” the swells of banjo and mandolin on “Torn \u0026amp; in Ashes.” What you hear is honest emotion, the thrums of several hearts spilling out together in real-time, as only a band in complete instinctual unity can.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor Simonett, “Screaming Song” was the emotional cornerstone of the session. He recalls tears welling in his eyes from Sparhawk’s first line: “When you flew out the window and into the sunset, I thought I would never stop screaming \/ I thought I would never stop screaming your name.” Simonett still chokes up thinking about recording it: “You’re almost letting the feeling out of yourself. It was one of the most emotional experiences of playing music that I ever had.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimonett also sees With Trampled by Turtles as another side to the same coin as White Roses, My God, Sparhawk’s last record—not least of which because Nat Harvie produced that record as well. Where White Roses plunged headfirst into electronica and radical vocal modulation, With Trampled by Turtles leans into the folk and bluegrass stylings of its backing band, Sparhawk’s voice now completely unvarnished. The records also share two common tracks—“Heaven” and “Get Still,” both initially written in the sessions for White Roses and now reworked with lush accompaniment by Trampled by Turtles. On “Heaven,” the band conjures a rich overture of acoustic guitars and mandolin, setting the scene before Sparhawk's voice enters. “Get Still,” once an abstract lyrical improvisation, is now rendered clear as day. For Sparhawk, revisiting the track meant trying to better understand where it came from emotionally: “You want to be true to what you’re singing.” He is no stranger to sonic shapeshifting—see the aforementioned funk stylings of DERECHO Rhythm Section, or the buzzsaw-sharp electric blues of the Black-Eyed Snakes, or Low’s own evolution from soft-spoken slowcore to billowing noise walls. “Always making yourself feel a little uncomfortable with the forward step you’re taking is the only way to go,” he says. “You have to make yourself afraid.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith Trampled by Turtles is far more than just Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles. It’s Nat Harvie, who—in addition to producing Sparhawk’s records—has been collaborating and performing with Sparhawk for years. It’s Sparhawk’s daughter Hollis, who takes vocal lead on the chorus of “Not Broken,” dueting with her father. It’s an affirmation of all the people who have been vital in Alan Sparhawk’s life and music, and an opportunity to hold each of their gifts into the light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it’s Mimi Parker, too—“Too High,” “Princess Road Surgery,” and “Not Broken” were all tracks she and Sparhawk had conceptualized and had been working on in the last few years. With the assistance of Trampled by Turtles, these songs finally found a setting that stirringly commemorates them, bolstered by a full ensemble making every note so vibrantly sing. Their presence is a kind of eternal connection to Parker, a way her musical grace will keep flourishing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe greatest poignance of all is that With Trampled by Turtles is never truly a “solo record.” The words may be Sparhawk’s, but the sentiments are never his alone, not when his friends and loved ones are always there beside him. The voices are abundant—a full chorus harmonizing on “Stranger,” collective hums and bellows on “Too High” and “Get Still,” the combined force of a Gregorian chant on “Don’t Take Your Light.” In Sparhawk’s own words: “That singing together is love—the feeling of support. It means years of friendship.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alan Sparhawk","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":41685639987296,"sku":"716800","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":41685640020064,"sku":"716802","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":41685640052832,"sku":"716804","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":41685640085600,"sku":"716806","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/AlanSparhawk_WithTrampledByTurtles_Mockup_US_LP_2000x1417_c1f0dc3c-d069-4224-8a79-c8ddad1176c6.jpg?v=1741888987"},{"product_id":"flock-of-dimes_the-life-you-save","title":"The Life You Save","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eI did not enter this world afraid\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd I refuse to leave it this way.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFlock of Dimes – the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and producer Jenn Wasner – releases her third album, \u003cem\u003eThe Life You Save\u003c\/em\u003e, worldwide on October 10th, 2025, on Sub Pop Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross the last few decades – whether it be as Flock of Dimes, as half of beloved duo Wye Oak, or via one of her many collaborations with Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, and a sprawling list of other musical juggernauts – Wasner’s extensive catalog displays her gift for balancing authenticity and directness with an unmistakable left-of-center sensibility. Her songwriting has always found her as a keen-eyed observer, a deeply empathetic and thoughtful storyteller with a skill for probing memory, heartbreak, and unhealed trauma, a shroud of syncopation or off-kilter guitar taking a song somewhere quietly prodigious. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer last solo album, the critically-lauded Head of Roses, took on heartbreak from a dualistic perspective, following a winding thread of intuition into the unknown and into healing. Her new album, The Life You Save, takes that a step further; put simply, it’s the most honest, intimate and personally revealing record of Wasner’s career. As heart-wrenching as they are hopeful, its twelve tracks delve the depths of addiction and codependency, inherited and experienced trauma, and the process of finding peace in the face of others’ suffering. The Life You Save is resonant, unflinchingly exposed – like a missive from the eye of a storm. But while it somehow manages to feel both viscerally raw and vulnerable, above it floats a sense of quiet peace, a sheen of hindsight, or perhaps of acceptance. It is the story of how it feels to be trapped between two worlds—the one you came from, and the one you’ve escaped to; about the belief that somehow, you can take the ones you love with you to this place; about the grief of realizing that the only person you can save is yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Life You Save was produced by Jenn Wasner and recorded at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, NC, and Montrose Recording in Los Angeles, CA, and includes the highlights “Long After Midnight,” “Defeat,” “Afraid,” “Keep Me In The Dark,” and “River In My Arms.” The Life You Save also features additional production from Nick Sanborn (tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11), is engineered by Adrian Olsen \u0026amp; Alli Rogers, mixed by Adrian Olsen, and mastered by Huntley Miller.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJenn writes on The Life You Save:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My previous records, generally, have been a summary of things I had already been through— experiences I had observed and reflected upon, reporting back from some amount of distance. But this record is different. It is an attempt to report from inside of a process that is ongoing and unfinished, from which I will likely never fully emerge as long as I am alive: my struggle within the cycles of addiction and co-dependency. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I set out trying to make a record about \u003ci\u003eother \u003c\/i\u003epeople.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eTheir\u003c\/i\u003e problems, \u003ci\u003etheir\u003c\/i\u003e struggles, \u003ci\u003etheir\u003c\/i\u003e addictions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I struggled for many years to give myself permission to write about this subject–worried that I was telling someone else’s story, a story that was not mine to tell. The work felt hazy and obscured; I was confused, and I struggled. The beauty of songwriting, at its best, is that it puts you in touch with your subconscious–a place where you can only tell the truth. Many of those truths were hard to accept.  Some I don’t, even now, feel fully ready to say. But through this process, I came to understand that I was struggling with this record because I wasn’t being honest with myself. I was so deeply entrenched in the system in which I was raised that I thought I was outside of it, and the ways in which I continued to participate remained invisible to me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But slowly, painstakingly, through this work I began to realize—I am not apart from all of this. I have been performing my role from a distance, but I am still engaged, still connected: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m inside it, after all. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As it turns out, this record is not someone else’s story–it is mine, the story of my life. A life spent believing I had escaped, and that I deserved to feel guilty for doing so. A life in which I believed that the right combination of words, actions, effort, and expense could somehow change others’ behavior. And a life in which blindness to my own patterns caused me to hurt others, and prevented me from finding the true love and acceptance I yearned for. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The belief that you can rescue others comes from more than one place, internally speaking. The part that is easiest to see and acknowledge is the one that stems from love, good intentions, and a genuine desire to offer care and support. But there’s an uglier side, and that part is harder to look at—the ego, the pridefulness, the belief that you are better, stronger, somehow more deserving than all the rest. That through your attempts to control others’ behavior, you can somehow secure a sense of safety for yourself. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e“I know the rules, but I ignore them, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eI think I’m good enough to pull this off. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or, more simply: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e“I think I’m god; I know I’m not. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For me, that was the puzzle piece that finally made it all make sense. But it was also the piece that was the hardest to hold. It took a long time for me to build up enough love—not for others, but for myself—that acknowledging this truth would not break me. I understand now that I’m not the savior, not the hero, not the chosen one. I’m spinning in my own wheel, a bundle of addictions and adaptations and blind spots, just like everybody else. And there is a beauty to that, along with a kind of freedom. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the end, it is my hope that this record exists as a testament to the depth of my love for those I cannot save, and that it might provide some comfort for anyone who is still learning how to love and live for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFlock of Dimes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Life You Save \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eProduction Credits\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Jenn Wasner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Defeat\" produced by Jenn Wasner and Nick Sanborn\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdditional production on “Keep Me in the Dark,” “Long After Midnight,” “Close to Home,” “Not Yet Free,” “Pride,” and “River in My Arms” by Nick Sanborn\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEngineered by Adrian Olsen \u0026amp; Alli Rogers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMixed by Adrian Olsen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered by Huntley Miller\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, NC and Montrose Recording in Los Angeles, CA.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePlayers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJenn Wasner - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esynthesizers, electronics \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlan Good Parker - electric bass, acoustic, electric and tenor guitars, pedal and lap steel, mandolin, cello\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJacob Ungerleider - piano, synthesizers, pump organ, tenor guitar \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatt McCaughan- drums and electronics\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTJ Maiani - drums\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNick Sanborn - synthesizer and modular processing \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdam Schatz - saxophone and electronics\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeg Duffy - acoustic guitar and sustainer guitar \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdrian Olsen - modular processing \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCaroline Shaw - violin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Flock of Dimes","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":42153504374880,"sku":"715950","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":42153504342112,"sku":"715952","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":42153504309344,"sku":"715956","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/FlockOfDimes_TheLifeYouSave_Mockup_US_LP_2000x1417_f4e815dd-ca80-446a-bbf5-3d29b3afcc47.jpg?v=1753242613"},{"product_id":"velocity-girl_simpatico-remastered-and-expanded","title":"¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded)\u003c\/i\u003e gives Velocity Girl’s long out-of-print 1994 sophomore album, \u003ci\u003e¡Simpatico!\u003c\/i\u003e, an overdue refresh with a sparkling-fresh mastering job and a treasure trove of bonus tracks from the \u003ci\u003e¡Simpatico!\u003c\/i\u003e era. The original album sounds better than ever, and it’s complemented by a full album of B-sides and rarities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelocity\n Girl formed in 1989 or so at the University of Maryland outside \nWashington, DC with guitarist Archie Moore (Black Tambourine), guitarist \nBrian Nelson (Black Tambourine), drummer Jim Spellman (Starry Eyes, \nFoxhall Stacks, High Back Chairs, Julie Ocean, Piper Club), bassist \nKelly Riles (Starry Eyes), and singer Sarah Shannon (Starry Eyes, The \nNot Its). The band combined English-inspired noisy shoegaze fuzz with \nscrappy US indie rock and classic ‘60s-style pop songwriting. A killer \nsingle on Slumberland and non-stop touring grabbed the attention of the \nindie-rock cognoscenti, and soon after Velocity Girl signed a contract \nwith Sub Pop on a car hood in Hoboken, New Jersey. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter touring in support of their debut, \u003ci\u003eCopacetic\u003c\/i\u003e,\n the band spent the better part of a year coming up with a batch of \nsongs for a second album. They had never worked that way before – having\n focused time, and a budget (from a label!), to make an album that \nwasn’t a self-produced, punk-rock studio thing was a fresh experience. \nHaving played their new material for months in the noisy style of \u003ci\u003eCopacetic\u003c\/i\u003e,\n the band found themselves excited about the tunes, but trying to move \naway from the scrappy, amateur vibe of their previous records. And their\n influences were a bit different this time around: less My Bloody \nValentine and Wedding Present, more New Order. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSomebody\n at Sub Pop connected the band with John Porter, the one-time Roxy Music\n member who had produced The Smiths, Billy Bragg, The Alarm, and a bunch\n of other 80’s stuff. They met up on a tour stop in Los Angeles, at a \nHamburger Hamlet. He agreed to produce the album, in a three-week \nsession at Cue Studios in Falls Church, VA. He was exactly what the band\n needed: an editor, arranger, and taskmaster. As he mercilessly excised \nevery unnecessarily repeated bar, the band realized they’d gravitated to\n a sound with cleaner lines, and almost entirely ditched the noisy \nguitar, no doubt influenced by Porter’s presence. Velocity Girl was \nextremely happy with the results, and \u003ci\u003e¡Simpatico!\u003c\/i\u003e came out in June of 1994.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis\n expanded reissue adds eight songs recorded at Inner Ear Studios in \nArlington, VA, a few months after the album sessions. These sessions \nprovided playfully experimental B sides to the album’s singles, two \ncover songs (the New Order cover “Your Silent Face,” and a Beach Boys \ncover) for a single on Merge Records, and a compilation track. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Velocity Girl","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":42405558583392,"sku":"717030","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":42405558616160,"sku":"717032","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":42405558648928,"sku":"717036","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/VelocityGirl_Simpatico_Mockup_LP_US_2000x1417_8bafbd7d-6160-4d6c-a64c-27f4a57ff67c.jpg?v=1764096839"},{"product_id":"sunn-o_sunn-o","title":"sunn O)))","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor nearly 30 years, SUNN O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – have pushed the boundaries of heavy music, straddling the worlds of the avant-garde and rock to forge a style instantly recognizable as their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, SUNN O))) return with their first album of new material since 2019’s acclaimed Pyroclasts. Their tenth album – their debut for new label Sub Pop – demonstrates the duo’s mastery of time and space, light and dark, and their willingness to evolve their unmistakable sound into bold new forms.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe eponymously titled SUNN O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood (HuM, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair). This location would prove crucial to the recording process.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It was very inviting and very comfortable there,” adds Anderson. “There was no stress, no worry about the timeline or anything like that. We just let ourselves go, and let the music come out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSUNN O))) have long welcomed collaborators into their self-contained world, including such esteemed fellow travellers as Hungarian vocal explorer Attila Csihar, Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore, Texan polymath Mark Deutrom, Silkworm co-founder Tim Midyett and legendary singer-songwriter Scott Walker. For the new album, however, O’Malley and Anderson explore the still-fertile, primal territory of the duo format.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“On this album for the first time all of the instrumentation was performed by Greg and I,” says O’Malley. “All of the records have our leadership and direction, of course, but this time around, it was almost like this crucible of ideas that was really at the core of what we’ve been doing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecording exclusively as a duo should not be interpreted as SUNN O))) limiting or restricting themselves. To the contrary, it has opened up new possibilities for their music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What’s been happening with our performances over the last couple years with the two of us and no other collaborators or players has been really fresh and exciting,” says Anderson. “There’s been a lot of development. A lot of that was unexpected. And a lot of things that happened in the studio were really exciting and different from what we had been playing live, as well.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe six compositions on SUNN O))) are expansive and panoramic yet finely detailed, reflecting the arboreal setting in which they were recorded. Opener “XXANN” enters with howling feedback before crunching into what might at first seem familiar territory – until one registers the sound of water trickling beneath. “Mindrolling” likewise incorporates field recordings, as does “Glory Black”, which in addition introduces piano, by turns sonorous and delicate, into the mix, lending the already formidable piece a hushed, solemn feel. The Newcastle-forged originators of black metal get a shout out in the title of “Does Anyone Hear Like Venom?” which seems to position Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon as deep listeners, attuned to their Tyneside surroundings in much the same way as SUNN O))) are to the forest enfolding Bear Creek Studios. Throughout the album, the interplay between O’Malley and Anderson attains fresh heights of telepathic intensity as they shape a music that itself breathes the bracing, earthy air of the Pacific Northwest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s always developing,” says Anderson. “That’s a constant, and that’s what sustains my interest and passion. There’s a movement that’s happening, whether it’s forward, backwards, to the side, whatever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat’s what makes playing in this group, at least for me, different and unique and special.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn October 2025 SUNN O))) released the first fruit of a new deal with celebrated US label Sub Pop in the form of a maxi 12” featuring “Eternity’s Pillars”, “Raise The Chalice” and “Reverential” – three monumental tracks from the same sessions that produced the new album. The alliance with Sub Pop makes perfect sense, as Anderson explains.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We decided that we should approach Sub Pop, after I’d had some great conversations with Jonathan Poneman,” he says. “So I called him up and before I could get the words out of my mouth, he said, ‘We’d love to do it. Tell me what you guys need.’ He was really excited and supportive.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSUNN O))) are no strangers to striking cover art – as illustrated by their collaborations with Joanne Ratcliffe for Black One, Richard Serra for Monoliths \u0026amp; Dimensions, Angela LaFont Bolliger for Kannon and Samantha Keely Smith for Life Metal and Pyroclasts. For SUNN O))) they have been granted permission by the estate of the late American artist Mark Rothko to reproduce two of his paintings on the album’s sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Over a few years, I developed a correspondence with Christopher Rothko via the Rothko Foundation’s Henry Mandell,” explains O’Malley. “It’s such an honour to be in the proximity of art on that scale, which has moved me personally so much for decades. Standing in front of a Rothko painting you can experience landscapes, worlds and environments subjectively in the abstraction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiner notes for the album are provided by award-winning British writer Robert Macfarlane, famed for his works concerning landscape and the multifaceted relationship between humanity and nature. Macfarlane negotiates the peaks and valleys of the SUNN O))) sound in a poetic, philosophical manner that will be familiar to readers of Mountains Of The Mind: A History Of A Fascination (2003), The Wild Places (2007), Underland: A Deep Time Journey (2019) or Is A River Alive? (2025).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“I’ve been very interested in Robert’s writing for a long time,” says O’Malley. “He was very up for engaging with this project. And what he ended up turning in was mind-blowing. It’s part of the creative process, framing our music in a certain way, visually and with language, before presenting it to the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll of which adds up to a fully immersive experience, uniting sound, word and visual into something that is undeniably, completely SUNN O))).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoseph Stannard, January 2026\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"sunn O)))","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) 2xLP","offer_id":42466638332000,"sku":"716850","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":42466638364768,"sku":"716852","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":42466638397536,"sku":"716856","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/sunnO_sunnO_Mockup_LP_US_2000x1417_wObi.jpg?v=1768240566"}],"url":"https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/collections\/best-sellers\/format-3xlp.oembed","provider":"Sub Pop Mega Mart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}