London singer-songwriter Sampha has returned with his first new solo single in over six years. ‘Spirit 2.0’ features musical contributions from Yussef Dayes, El Guincho, and Owen Pallet, as well as vocals from Yaeji and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz of Ibeyi. Listen to it below.
“It’s about the importance of connection to both myself and others, and the beauty and harsh realities of just existing,” Sampha said of the track in a press release. “It’s about acknowledging those moments when you need help – that requires real strength. I hope people can enjoy that feeling of someone being there for you, even if that person doesn’t have the answers. Just calling someone up without overthinking… letting go and just dancing.. wanting to see past the mundanity of things and appreciating the magic of it all, from birds nests to spaceships.”
Sampha’s debut album, Process, arrived in 2017. ‘Spirit 2.0’ follows his appearances on Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (‘Father Time’), SBTRKT’s The Rat Road (‘L.F.O.’), and Stormzy’s This Is What I Mean (‘Sampha’s Plea’).
The Clientele have released ‘Claire’s Not Real’, the latest single from their forthcoming LP I Am Not There Anymore. It follows previous cuts ‘Dying in May’ and ‘Blue Over Blue’. Listen below.
Reflecting on the new track, vocalist/guitarist Alasdair MacLean said in a statement: “I was in Cercedilla in Spain in summer 2020. There was suddenly a rain of ash and an orange glow on the horizon, and I read on my phone that nearby Ávila was burning with forest fires. This moment found its way into several songs on the album.”
I Am Not There Anymore comes out July 28 on Merge.
Speedy Ortiz have unveiled a new track, ‘Plus One’, which will appear on their forthcoming record Rabbit Rabbit. The band previously shared the singles ‘Scabs’ and ‘You S02’. ‘Plus One’ comes paired with a music video from diretor Dylan Mars Greenberg, which you can check out below.
Talking about the new song, Sadie Dupuis said in a statement:
I love touring, but the workaholism it encourages has been a convenient way to repress my feelings. In the pandemic, I found myself ruminating on my estrangement from an abusive family member. I’ve used my songwriting to process other experiences of violence, but had not broached these memories until Rabbit Rabbit. Being able to work on old trauma in therapy and in my writing has helped my boundaries elsewhere, and taught me to move on from exploitative relationships.
That’s what “Plus One” is about, and it came out pretty quickly as a sad acoustic waltz. I was sitting on the floor of an empty living room, mid-move, and the bare surroundings added a liminal starkness, though some of the imagery is inspired by scenes from West Philly that summer. When I went back to do pre-production, Texan post-hardcore was in my head, so I tried to channel At the Drive-In and Trail of Dead, bands that inspired me as a teen.
We made the video with director Dylan Mars Greenberg, whose campiness and B-movie expertise was a perfect fit for the band’s also very campy videography. We’ve done a ton of horror homages but had never paid tribute to an old school monster movie. Dylan’s pet bunny Voodoo was a perfect Godzilla-sized star—a cuddly rabbit who’s mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Rabbit Rabbit is due to arrive September 1 via Wax Nine.
James Blake has announced the follow-up to 2021’s Friends That Break Your Heart. It’s called Playing Robots Into Heaven, and it lands September 8 via Republic. According to a press release, the new record finds James returning to his experimental electronic music roots. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the lead single ‘Big Hammer’, which is accompanied by an Oscar Hudson-directed video. Check it out and find the album’s cover art (by Thibaut Grevet), tracklist, and Blake’s upcoming tour dates below.
Blake recently teamed up with Metro Boomin for the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack. He also co-produced Killer Mike’s André 3000/Future collab ‘Scientists & Engineers’.
Playing Robots Into Heaven Cover Artwork:
Playing Robots Into Heaven Tracklist:
1. Asking to Break
2. Loading
3. Tell Me
4. Fall Back
5. He’s Been Wonderful
6. Big Hammer
7. I Want You to Know
8. Night Sky
9. Fire the Editor
10. If You Can Hear Me
11. Playing Robots Into Heaven
James Blake 2023 Tour Dates:
Sep 18 – Milan, Italy – Fabrique
Sep 21 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National Club
Sep 22 – Paris, France – L’Olympia
Sep 24 – Berlin, Germany – UFO im Velodrom
Sep 26 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013
Sep 28 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace
Oct 3 – Atlanta, GA – Coca Cola Roxy
Oct 5 – Queens, NY – Knockdown Center
Oct 9 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall
Oct 10 – Montreal, QC – L’Olympia
Oct 12 – Toronto, ON – Rebel
Oct 14 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
Oct 16 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic Theater
Oct 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Becca Mancari has shared ‘Don’t Even Worry’, a new single from their upcoming album Left Hand – out August 25 via Captured Tracks. Following ‘Over and Over’ featuring Julien Baker, the track was written with Mancari’s friend and fellow Bermuda Triangle bandmate, Brittany Howard, who also provided additional production, backing vocals, guitar, keys, sub bass, and percussion. Check out director Sophia Matinazad‘s video for it below.
“‘Don’t Even Worry’ started as two best friends hanging out, exploring what it would be like to write and produce a song together,” Mancari explained in a statement. “After a night of simply enjoying whatever flowed out, Brittany sent me a 1-minute instrumental track that I started building melodies and words over. As I sat with the music, I kept hearing this phrase, ‘Don’t even worry, I got you!’”
Mancari continued, “This song, to me, is an anthem of the deep bond of friendship that Brittany and I have; she is my chosen family who has been with me every step of the way in my musical journey, but more importantly my life. This song is about underrepresented people who literally say to each other: ‘Hey, I know that the world often says it’s not made for us, and I know that this weight can be too heavy sometimes, but when you’re down and feel lost I will carry you through it, and vice versa, because we don’t give up on each other, and I got you.’”
Howard added: “It’s wonderful to announce that Becca Mancari and I have released ‘Don’t Even Worry’. Becca is my dearest friend (and 1/3 of our project Bermuda Triangle) and I’m so proud to see them shine in all of their glory. This song is to all the friends we consider family. To our ride or dies! To the ones that see us, protect us, cry with us, laugh with us. To the ones who celebrate the highs and cushion the lows with us. To the ones who see us shining in the dark. To the friends that love us at our best and worst! I’m just so grateful I get to create music and throw it out into the world with you!”
The new album finds Sullivan diving into the electronic elements he incorporated on his earlier recordings, including Field Medic’s debut album, light is gone. “I’ve always loved Trap music and New Wave music,” he explained in a statement. “I used to try and incorporate those with keyboards and beats back in my lofi days, but now I feel like I’ve finally figured those elements out.”
“I started recording some of these songs at the same time as the last record,” Sullivan added. “I was feeling a bit bored of making folk music and was listening to a lot of Trap music, and it inspired me to experiment more with digital recording and different kinds of production. At the time I felt like I didn’t really have the skills to make the songs sound the way I wanted them to, so I set them aside. But then this past year I spent more time working on my side project, paper rose haiku, and learning more about production. I started to dive back into the songs, just trying to use new sounds that I wouldn’t normally use, intentionally trying to make them not like acoustic folk songs.”
light is gone 2 Cover Artwork:
light is gone 2 Tracklist:
1. they all seem so happy
2. TSION
3. you deserve attention
4. everything’s been going so well
5. without you i’d have nothing (& i might even be dead)
6. the look on her face like a reoccurring dream
7. mass market paperback
8. iwantthis2last!
9. empty arms
Big Tief guitarist Buck Meek has released a new single called ‘Paradise’. It’s set to appear on his upcoming LP Haunted Mountain along with the previously shared title track. Check it out below.
“Sometimes when you half-hear something spoken, something unspoken inside the words is revealed,” Meek said of ‘Paradise’ in a statement. “Your mind fills in the blank, finishes the sentence, infers deep meaning – though you still can’t fully explain it. Jolie Holland sent me some of the lyrics for this song, about feeling in awe of the vastness within a loved one, and I wrote it thinking about how love often feels too big to comprehend, like death, or life after death, or space.”
Jon Batiste has announced his new album, World Music Radio. The follow-up to 2021’s We Are, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, will be released August 18 via Verve/Interscope. Recorded with producer Jon Bellion, it features contributions from Lana Del Rey, Lil Wayne, Kenny G, J.I.D, NewJeans, Fireboy DML, Camilo, and Rita Payés. Listen to the first single, ‘Calling Your Name’, below.
“World Music Radio is a concept album that takes place in the interstellar regions of the universe,” Batiste explained in a statement. “The listener is led through the album by an interstellar traveling griot named Billy Bob Bo Bob, who takes you sonically all around the world at the speed of light. I created this album with a feeling of liberation in my life and a renewed sense of exploration of my personhood, my craft and of the world around me unlike anything I ever felt before.”
World Music Radio Cover Artwork:
World Music Radio Tracklist:
1. Hello, Billy Bob
2. Raindance [feat. Native Soul]
3. Be Who You Are [feat. JID, NewJeans and Camilo]
4. Worship
5. My Heart [feat. Rita Payés]
6. Drink Water [feat. Jon Bellion and Fireboy DML]
7. Calling Your Name
8. Clair de Lune [feat. Kenny G]
9. Butterfly
10. 17th Ward Prelude
11. Uneasy [feat. Lil Wayne]
12. Call Now (504-305-8269) [feat. Michael Batiste]
13. Chassol
14. Boom for Real
15. Movement 18′ (Heroes)
16. Master Power
17. Running Away [feat. Leigh-Anne]
18. Goodbye, Billy Bob
19. White Space
20. Wherever You Are
21. Life Lesson [feat. Lana Del Rey]
Crooks and Nannies have shared a new single, ‘Weather’, lifted from their upcoming album Real Life. It follows the previously released cut ‘Temper. Check it out below.
Speaking about the track, vocalist/drummer Sam Huntington said in a statement:
It was spring of 2020, and despite being the first warm night of the season, the city was eerily empty,. After weeks of being cooped up I wanted to see something new and decided to make a rule for myself: If I came across an unfamiliar street I was required to turn down it. Drunk and restless, I biked for hours, until my phone died and I realized I was lost. I was in a non-residential area that I didn’t recognize and it was very late. In Philly many of the major streets are numbered, but I was having difficulty finding one. I seemed to be trapped in a labyrinth of exit ramps, warehouses and negative space. By the time I made it home, I had sweated through my shirt, popped a tire, had a bizarre encounter with a flock of geese, stumbled upon a massive house fire, and written a song. The bike ride felt like some kind of strange upsetting dream and I think deeply informed the tone of Weather. The song is about feeling hollow.”
The vocals throughout this track are from the original demo. My roommate came home while I was recording them and, feeling self-conscious about the lyrics, I sang the ending section as a whisper. I figured it would be a placeholder but we decided to lean in, emphasizing the fragility in the vocal performance and doing everything in our power to make the instrumental go really fucking hard. There are like 8 layers of guitar feedback. We hit a trash can with a mallet and layered it over the snare. That’s our engineer, Mark Water, screaming. The abrupt ending symbolizes death, perhaps a life cut short.
Real Lifeis set to come out August 25 via Grand Jury.
Chicago-based band Slow Pulp have announce their new album and ANTI- debut, Yard. The follow-up to 2020’s Moveys is slated for release on September 29, and it includes the previously released song ‘Cramps’. New single ‘Slugs’ arrives today along with a music video created by Jakob Lazovick and Rich Smith. Check it out below, and scroll down for the album cover (by Henry Stoehr), tracklist, and Slow Pulp’s upcoming tour dates.
“‘Slugs,’ put simply, is about falling in love in the summertime,” vocalist/guitarist Emily Massey explained in a statement. “The song lives in that place where the newness and freshness of getting to know someone turns into a tinge of fear because you realize how much you have come to care about them. I tend to get so overtaken in feelings of uncertainty or impermanence when it comes to relationships. Probably due to having rocky foundations or complications in them in the past. But suddenly, for the first time, I found myself in something that felt safe, with healthy attachment and mutual admiration, and the inevitability of uncertainty became more easily accepted. I think it’s so sweet that the song found this full circle moment in the timelessness of different types of firsts in love.”
While finishing Moveys in isolation, Massey temporarily moved back home and recorded vocals with her dad, Michael, in his small studio. The band recorded vocals Michael again on Yard, which was their only option at the time. “Working together, we can be very honest with each other in a way that I wouldn’t be able to do with a stranger or a producer that’s not my family,” Massey said. “He already has so much context for what the songs are about, knowing my life so intimately. He is able to be very direct, saying things I often don’t want to hear but need to hear. I think it often leads to getting the best takes out of me.”
Yard first started coming together in February 2022 when Massey was staying alone at a friend’s family cabin in northern Wisconsin. “Part of what we discovered is that taking that time to be intentionally isolated is really important, as is being more collaborative at other times,” bassist Alex Leeds commented. “We’ve learned a lot about balancing and being intentional about that through this process.”
Wed Oct 04 – Milwaukee, WI – Colectivo – Backroom ^
Thu Oct 05 – Minneapolis, MN – Amsterdam Hall ^
Fri Oct 06 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown ^
Sun Oct 08 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall ^
Tue Oct 10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court ^
Thu Oct 12 – Seattle, WA – Neumos ^
Fri Oct 13 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl on Granville ^
Sat Oct 14 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theatre ^
Mon Oct 16 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel ^
Wed Oct 18 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom ^
Fri Oct 20 – San Diego, CA – Voodoo ^
Sat Oct 21 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room ^
Sun Oct. 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge ^
Tue Oct 24 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall ^
Wed Oct 25 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada ^
Thu Oct 26 – Austin, TX – The Parish ^
Sat Oct 28 – Atlanta, GA – Purgatory ^
Sun Oct 29 – Durham, NC – Motoco ^
Mon Oct 30 – Washington, DC – Union Stage ^
Tue Oct 31 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry ^
Wed Nov 1 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom ^
Fri Nov 3 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall ^
Mon Nov 6 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz ^
Tue Nov 7 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern ^
Fri Nov 10 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theater ^
Sat Nov 11 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall ^
Wed Nov 29 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club #
Thu Nov 30 – Liverpool, UK – Jimmy’s #
Fri Dec 1 – Glasgow, UK – The Hug and Pint #
Sat Dec 2 – Dublin, IR – The Workman’s Club #
Mon Dec 4 – Manchester, UK – YES (Basement) #
Tue Dec 5 – Bristol, UK – Strange Brew #
Wed Dec 6 – London, UK – MOTH Club #
Thu Dec 7 – Brighton, UK – The Green Door Store #
Sat Dec 9 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Upstairs
Sun Dec 10 – Antwerp, BE – TRIX #
Mon. Dec 11 – Paris, FR – L’International #
Wed Dec 13 – Berlin, DE – Badehaus Szimpla #
Thu Dec 14 – Leipzig, DE – Conne Island #
Fri Dec 15 – Schorndorf, DE – Manufaktur #
Sat Dec 16 – Munster, DE – Gleis 22 #
