“I was inspired by the transformability of creatures, and how this malleability works alongside our capacity for love. I wanted everything to feel very liquid,” Holter explained in a statement about ‘Evening Mood’, citing Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo, her daughter’s favorite movie at the time, as a reference point for the song’s production style. The track also features a “heavily filtered ultrasound heartbeat” sent through a phaser. “I wanted it to sound like it was inside the body,” Holter added.
Something in the Room She Moves is out March 22 via Domino.
Cloud Nothings have announced their next LP: Final Summer drops on April 19 via Pure Noise Records. The follow-up to 2021’s The Shadow I Remember features the previously shared title track, as well as a new song, ‘Running Through the Campus’, which comes paired with a music video directed by Errick Easterday. Check it out below and scroll down for the album’s cover art and tracklist.
Final Summer was recorded with Jeff Zeigler, known for his work with Kurt Vile, the War On Drugs, Torres, and more. It was mixed by illuminati hotties’ Sarah Tudzin and mastered by Jack Callahan.
Frontman Dylan Baldi had this to say about the new track: “I run through a college campus near my house just about every day. Occasionally it’s after dark when I end up there, and the emptiness of it at night stands in stark contrast to the hectic and crowded early mornings. ‘Running through the Campus’ is about an intrusive thought I can have on those late-night runs, about whether or not it’s slightly depressing that I’m out running around alone while everyone else is gone and actually doing something, probably with other people. The song describes my mindset at the start of my run, goes into a reckoning with and acceptance of the late night loneliness, and ends on a positive note about just doing the things that make you feel good and not getting bogged down in comparisons.”
Final Summer Cover Artwork:
Final Summer Tracklist:
1. Final Summer
2. Daggers of Light
3. I’d Get Along
4. Mouse Policy
5. Silence
6. Running Through The Campus
7. The Golden Halo
8. Thank Me For Playing
9. On The Chain
10. Common Mistake
Nick Cave is the latest artist to share his contribution to the Jack Antonoff-produced The New Look soundtrack, taking on Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’. Listen to the cover below.
Created by Todd A. Kessler, The New Look is a new Apple TV+ series focusing on the French fashion industry in the years during and after World War II. For the soundtrack, Antonoff brought together artists including Lana Del Rey, Perfume Genius, Florence Welch, and the 1975 to record covers of early to mid-20th century songs.
Teezo Touchdown has shared his cover of ‘Making Flippy Floppy’ for Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. It follows Paramore’s rendition of ‘Burning Down the House’. Take a listen below.
Everyone’s Getting Involved, which is put together by A24, also features contributions from Lorde, Miley Cyrus, the National, BADBADNOTGOOD, Blondshell, girl in red, Jean Dawson, Kevin Abstract, the Linda Lindas, Toro y Moi, and more.
Kate Bush has been announced as the ambassador for Record Store Day UK 2024, which takes place on April 20. As part of the celebration, Bush will reissue ‘Eat the Music’, from 1983’s The Red Shoes, on a 10″ vinyl, with ‘Lily’ and ‘Big Stripey Lie’ as B-sides.
Bush shared the following statement accompanying the announcement:
What a huge honour to have been asked to be Ambassador for this year’s Record Store Day. It really is a great privilege.
Isn’t it great to see how the resurgence in vinyl has taken the music industry by complete surprise? It had decided to leave vinyl far behind, but it would seem that not everyone agrees! I love that! I know there are many, many artists who are just as excited to see the audience turning the tide.
In the same way that some people like to read a book on Kindle but also want to have a book as a physical object, a lot of people like vinyl and streaming. Both have different appeals.
The added bonus of vinyl is that it encourages people to listen to albums. An art form that I’ve always thought can be treasured in a unique way. An album on vinyl is a beautiful thing, given a strong identity by its large-scale artwork. There’s a much more personal connection with the artist and their work.
It’s been fun putting designs together for some of the previous RSDs. This year’s design echoes the cancelled release of Eat the Music as the first single from the album, The Red Shoes. The image was intended to be on the cover of the single bag and is now on the disc as a UV print. The title, Eat the Music, is meant to be a playful nod to ‘If music be the food of love, play on,’ from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Each year Record Store Day gathers more attention, more momentum, and attracts more people who cram into indie record stores all over the world to see what’s up. What’s new? This year, I hope you have a fantastic time at this very important event, and that you get to celebrate music that’s been specially released for you.
Very best wishes,
Kate
In America, Paramore will serve as the ambassadors for this year’s American Record Store Day.
Rosali has released the title track from her upcoming album Bite Down, which arrives March 22 on Merge Records. It follows previous singles ‘Rewind’ and ‘On Tonight’. Check out its self-directed video for it below.
“I had a string of conversations with close friends and family during the first year of the pandemic and a lot of talk that would circle around to everything feeling pointless,” Rosali explained in a statement. “‘Bite Down’ is about perseverance over the drowning depression with a prayer to come up for air, to keep living. In our isolation, finding community and support is necessary. We can find freedom when we find humility and compassion for others and are able to receive the same. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, everything has a price — energetically speaking — we are responsible for each other and for all living things.”
Charli XCX has announced that her new album is titled Brat, and it’s set to drop in the summer. The 15-track LP clocks in at 41 minutes and 23 seconds. A new single called ‘Von Dutch’ will be out tomorrow, February 29.
On X, Charli XCX recently called Brat “a club record,” adding “i was born to make dance music.. i came from the clubs.. xcx6 is the album i’ve always wanted to make.”
Charli XCX’s fifth album, Crash, arrived in March 2022. Last October, she collaborated with Sam Smith on the single ‘In the City’.
Mdou Moctar have announced a new album called Funeral for Justice. The follow-up to the Nigerien quartet’s 2019 breakout Afrique Victime arrives May 3 via Matador. Check out a video for the lead single and title track below, and scroll down for the album cover, tracklist, and the band’s upcoming tour dates.
“This album is really different for me,” Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and guitarist, said in a press release. “Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the US and Europe came here, they said they’re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.”
“Mdou Moctar has been a strong anti-colonial band ever since I’ve been a part of it,” commented producer and bassist Mikey Coltun, who has been playing with Moctar since 2017. “France came in, fucked up the country, then said ‘you’re free.’ And they’re not.”
“Ilana was the gateway album, saying that this is a raw rock band. And Afrique Victime was a summation of that vision,” added Coltun, who recorded the new LP over five days in a mostly unfurnished house in upstate New York. “With Funeral for Justice, I really wanted this to shine with the political message because of everything that’s going on. As the band got tighter and heavier live, it made sense to capture this urgency and this aggression – it wasn’t a forced thing, it was very natural.”
In 2022, Moctar released the Niger EPs Vol. 1 & 2.
Funeral for Justice Cover Artwork:
Funeral for Justice Tracklist:
1. Funeral For Justice
2. Imouhar
3. Takoba
4. Sousoume
5. Imagerhan
6. Tchinta
7. Djallo #1
8. Oh France
9. Modern Slaves
Mdou Moctar 2024 Tour Dates:
Apr 14 – Indio, CA – Coachella Music and Arts Festival
Apr 21 – Indio, CA – Coachella Music and Arts Festival
Jun 5 – Atlantic City, NJ – Anchor Rock Club
Jun 6 – Harrisburg, PA – The Abbey Bar at ABC
Jun 7 – Richmond, VA – Cheers Brown’s Island
Jun 8 – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom
Jun 9 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
Jun 11 – Charleston, SC – Pour House
Jun 12 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn
Jun 13 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
Jun 14 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
Jun 15 – Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi
Jun 18 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
Jun 19 – Detroit, MI – Magic Bag
Jun 20 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
Jun 21 – Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall
Jun 22 – Greenfield, MA – Green River Music Festival
Jun 23 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
Jun 26 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
Jun 27 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
Jun 28 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
Cigarettes After Sex have announced a new album, X’s, which will be out July 12 on Partisan. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the new song ‘Tejano Blue’, which you can hear below.
“The record feels brutal,” bandleader Greg Gonzalez said in a press release. “I could sit and talk about this loss to someone, but that wouldn’t scratch the surface. I have to really write about it, sing about it, have the music, and then I can start to analyse and learn from it. Or just relive it—in a good way. I don’t have that Eternal Sunshine-thing of wanting to forget.”
Commenting on the first single, Gonzalez added:
I grew up in El Paso & Tejano music is huge there. You could go to a lot of the bars in the city and hear artists like Selena, Los Ángeles Azules & La Mafia playing over the speakers. It was in the atmosphere around me back then, but I always rejected it and gravitated towards anything else I was attracted to really.”
Years later when I was living in New York City I finally started listening to Selena’s ‘Como La Flor’ at the same time that I was also listening to a lot of Cocteau Twins. I had the idea then to try to combine both of their sounds somehow, which felt a bit strange, but also felt like it was coming from a genuine place of rediscovering & finally connecting with the music that I heard around me in my youth.
The band have also announced a world tour in support of the album, including dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena.
X’s Cover Artwork:
X’s Tracklist:
1. X’s
2. Tejano Blue
3. Silver Sable
4. Hideaway
5. Holding you, Holding me
6. Dark Vacay
7. Baby Blue Movie
8. Hot
9. Dreams From Bunker Hill
10. Ambien Slide
Tara Jane O’Neil has returned with news of her first album in seven years. The follow-up to her 2017 self-titled effort is titled The Cool Cloud of Okayness, and it’s out April 26 on Orindal Records. Check out the lead single ‘Curling’ below’, along with the cover artwork and tracklist.
Recorded at O’Neil’s home studio in Upper Ojai, California, the new LP features contributions from her partner, dancer and choreographer Jmy James Kidd, drummer/percussionist Sheridan Riley of Alvvays, multi-instrumentalist Walt McClements, and, on a couple of tracks, guitarist Meg Duffy of Hand Habits.
Speaking about the new song, O’Neil shared in a statement:
‘Curling’ began as a bass figure, discovered on one of many afternoons in a desert studio inside the first year of the pandemic. Jmy Kidd and I spent the time there keeping our public practices of dance and music going but in private chambers of improvised realities. Most of the music on The Cool Cloud Of Okayness started in this way and then found fuller shape with time, intention, and Sheridan Riley on drums and Walt McClements on his effected accordion. Like mantra, propulsion, persuasion, ‘Curling’ is a repetitive drone piece, rendered as a lively jam.
Lyrically this became a portrait of a shapeshifter- transforming, transfiguring, evolving and surviving. With an eye toward the queer kids coming up in my hometown during this era of legislative oppression against inclusion, expression, and safety.
To quote another song from the record, ‘joy is a form of fight, We bright’
One step more, forward.
The Cool Cloud of Okayness Cover Artwork:
The Cool Cloud of Okayness Tracklist:
1. Cool Cloud of Okayness
2. Seeing Glass
3. Two Stones
4. We Bright
5. A Dash
6. Glass Island
7. Curling 05:32
8. Fresh End
9. Kaichan Kitchen
