(Made for Matador Records by The Mitcham Submarine)
Steve Gunn sings about the rhythms of life in terms of landscapes — overpasses, oceans and streets, from the perspective of characters that could step in for him but are likely based on folks he’s met along the way. It gives his songwriting a winding quality, enlivened by a dexterous-yet-mindful guitar style that has become Gunn’s own.
For the first time in years, there’s no band — just Gunn, his guitar and a meditation underscored by a video filmed on the streets of London. “Stonehurst Cowboy” muses on a father who knew how to tell a story, and who doubled as a guide through Gunn’s life. Entangled in one of his most indelible guitar melodies, he sings, “Teach us right all those steps / Before there’s nothing left, for all those cowboys in the world.”- Lars Gotrich, NPR
Earlier today, NPR Music premiered “Stonehurst Cowboy”, the second track from Steve Gunn’s incredible new album ‘The Unseen In Between’ (out January 18)
Steve Gunn on tour (new date in bold)
Thursday, January 3 Crowley Theater (Solo Show), Marfa TX
Thursday, January 31 Great Scott, Boston MA ^
Friday, February 1 Bowery Ballroom, New York NY ^
Saturday, February 2 Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA ^
Friday, February 8 The Casbah, San Diego CA ^
Saturday, February 9 Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles CA ^
Sunday, February 10 Moe’s Alley, Santa Cruz CA $
Tuesday, February 12 Aladdin Theater, Portland OR $
Wednesday, February 13 Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA $
Saturday, February 16 The Chapel, San Francisco CA #
Tuesday, March 12 Bitterzoet, Amsterdam NL
Wednesday, March 13 Paard, Den Haag NL
Thursday, March 14 Vera, Groningen NL
Friday, March 15 Nochtspeicher, Hamberg DE
Saturday, March 16 Radar, Aarhus DK
Monday, March 18 Folken, Stavanger NO
Wednesday, March 20 Revolver, Oslo NO
Thursday, March 21 Pustervik, Gothenburg SE
Friday, March 22 Loppen, Copenhagen DK
Saturday, March 23 Frannz Club, Berlin DE
Sunday, March 24 Archa Theatre, Prague CZ
Monday, March 25 UT Connewitz, Leipzig DE
Tuesday, March 26 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Wednesday, March 27 Arena, Vienna AT
Saturday, March 30 Südpol, Luzern CH
Sunday, March 31 Rotefabrik, Zurich CH
Monday, April 1 Sonic, Lyon FR
Tuesday, April 2 Le Petit Bain, Paris FR
Wednesday, April 3 De Kreun, Kortrijk BE
Friday, April 5 Oslo, London UK
Saturday, April 6 Hare & Hounds, Birmingham UK
Sunday, April 7 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK
Monday, April 8 Deaf Institute, Manchester UK
^ w/ Meg Baird & Mary Lattimore
$ w/ Meg Baird
# w/ Sachiko Kanenobu
After releasing “Alan (Rework)” via W Records last week, Perfume Genius premiered “Not For Me” today, a cover of Bobby Darin’s track, along with a new music video directed by Perfume Genius’s Mike Hadreas himself. As with last week’s release, profits from the streaming of this track will be donated in full to Immigration Equality, an LGBTQ immigrant rights organization.
Perfume Genius has announced his first date of 2019, joining the bill at Pitchfork’s Midwinter Festival on the weekend of February 15th. Tickets are on sale now.
The latest single from songwriting powerhouse Kurt Vile’s album-of-the-year contender ‘Bottle It In’ is a banjo-propelled, instant classic that belies the author’s claim, “I’ve always had a soft spot for repetition.” While peers real and imagined tip-toe on the periphery of Americana, folk and classic rock, not for the first or last time, Philadelphia’s Vile renders such considerations moot — if he’s not 2018’s wittiest, most evocative storyteller, we’d like to meet whoever else holds the crown.
Friday, October 12th – Grünspan – Hamburg, DE ^
Saturday, October 13th – Pustervik – Gothenburg, SE ^
Sunday, October 14th – Rockefeller – Oslo, NO #
Monday, October 15th – Bern – Stockholm, SE #
Tuesday, October 16th – Vega – Copenhagen, DK #
Thursday, October 18th – Huxleys – Berlin, DE #
Friday, October 19th – Muffathalle – Munich, DE #
Saturday, October 20th – X-Tra – Zurich, CH #
Sunday, October 21st – Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, FR #
Monday, October 22ns – Apolo – Barcelona, ES #
Tuesday, October 23rd – Teatro Barceló – Madrid, ES #
Thursday, October 25th – Lisboa Ao Vivo – Lisbon, PT #
Friday, October 26th – Hard Club – Porto, PT #
Sunday, October 28th – Rockschool Barbey – Bordeaux, FR #
Monday, October 29th – La Cigale – Paris, FR #
Tuesday, October 30th – Autumn Falls @ AB – Brussels, BE #
Thursday, November 1st – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL #
Friday, November 2nd – Kantine – Köln, DE #
Monday, November 5th – Concorde 2 – Brighton, UK # (SOLD OUT)
Tuesday, November 6th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK #
Wednesday, November 7th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK #
Thursday, November 8th – St Philips Gate – Bristol, UK #
Friday, November 9th – The Crossing – Birmingham, UK #
Saturday, November 10th – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK #
Sunday, November 11th – 02 Academy – Leeds, UK #
Tuesday, November 13th – 02 ABC – Glasgow, UK #
Wednesday, November 14th – Vicar Street – Dublin, IR #
Sunday, November 24 House of Blues, Boston MA * Wednesday, November 28 Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn NY *
Friday, November 30 9:30 Club, Washington DC *
Monday, December 3 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta GA *
Wednesday, December 5 Jones Assembly, Oklahoma City OK *
Thursday, December 6 ACL Live Moody Theater, Austin TX *
Friday, December 7 Canton Hall, Dallas TX *
Sunday, December 9 The Observatory North Park, San Diego CA *
Tuesday, December 11 The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA *
Wednesday, December 12 Fox Theater, Oakland CA *
Friday, December 14 Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR *
Saturday, December 15 Moore Theatre, Seattle WA *
Sunday, December 16 Vogue, Vancouver BC *
Wednesday, December 19 First Avenue, Minneapolis MN *
Thursday, December 20 Sylvee, Madison WI *
Friday, December 21 Turner Hall Milwaukee WI *
Saturday, December 22 Rivera Theatre, Chicago IL *
Saturday, December 29 The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA !
Thursday, February 14 Higher Ground, Burlington VT +
Friday, February 15 Mtelus, Montreal QC +
Saturday, February 16 Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON + (SOLD OUT)
Sunday, February 17 Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON
Tuesday, February 19 Majestic Theatre, Detroit MI +
Wednesday, February 20 Taft Theatre, Cincinnati OH +
Thursday, February 21 The Vogue, Indianapolis IN +
Friday, February 22 Headliners Music Hall, Louisville NY +
Saturday, February 23 Castle Theatre, Bloomington IL +
Sunday, February 24 The Pageant, St. Louis MO +
Tuesday, February 26 The Slowdown, Omaha NE +
Wednesday, February 27 Truman, Kansas City MO +
Thursday, February 28 Ogden Theatre, Denver CO +
Friday, March 1 The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT +
Saturday, March 2 M3F Fest, Phoenix AZ
Sunday, March 3 House of Blues, Las Vegas NV +
Tuesday, March 5 Rialto Theatre, Tucson AZ +
Wednesday, March 6 Meow Wolf, Sante Fe NM +
Friday, March 8 Gruene Hall, New Braunfels TX +
Saturday, March 9 White Oak Music Hall, Houston TX +
Sunday, March 10 Civic Theatre, New Orleans LA +
Tuesday, March 12 The Beacham, Orlando FL +
Wednesday, March 13 Revolution Live, Ft. Lauderdale FL +
Friday, March 15 Saturn, Birmingham AL +
Saturday, March 16 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville TN +
Sunday, March 17 The National, Richmond VA +
Thursday, April 11 Hunter Lounge, Wellington NZ
Saturday, April 13 Powerstation, Auckland NZ
Monday, April 15 Enmore, Sydney AU &
Tuesday, April 16 Unibar, Wollongong AU &
Wednesday, April 17 ANU, Canberra AU &
Thursday, April 18 Bryon Bay Bluesfest, Byron Bay AU &
Saturday, April 20 Bryon Bay Bluesfest, Byron Bay AU &
Monday, April 22 The Forum, Melbourne AU &
Friday, April 26 Bendigo Autumn Music Festival, Bendigo AU
Saturday, April 27 The Gov, Adelaide AU &
Sunday, April 28 Rosemount Carpark, Perth AU &
^ – with Meg Baird (solo)
# – with Meg Baird & Mary Lattimore
*- with Jessica Pratt
At last week’s close of Queens of the Stone Age’s massive, 129 date world tour in support of ‘Villains’, fans in Tasmania were treated to an intimate one-off acoustic set at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart – a benefit that generated $10,000 matched by QOTSA’s Joshua Homme’s own Sweet Stuff Foundation for a total of $20,000 to support the Royal Hobart Hospital Paediatrics Ward. The band visited the hospital the following day, presenting the donation to the hospital and gifts to its patients. Above – the band performing “The Way You Used To Do”.
Today King Krule releases a music video for “Biscuit Town,” the opening track from his Mercury Prize nominated album ‘The OOZ’. The video comes as the first of a three-part collaboration with WeTransfer, which sees King Krule explore the creative process with each video’s director, hosted on their WePresent platform. Directed by friends and long-term collaborators cc. Wade (aka Michael and Paraic Morrissey), the video sees King Krule (aka Archy Marshall) inhabiting his own noir “Biscuit Town” — waking up and retracing his footsteps through the city, piecing together the remnants of a hazy, half-remembered night before. A reflection of his futuristic, jazz-inflected, film-inspired sound, the video serves to compliment the warm, dreamlike quality of “Biscuit Town.”
Interpol’s Marauder is finally out tomorrow, and to preview their first LP in four years, they’ve shared the video for album-opener “If You Really Love Nothing.” The video, directed by Hala Matar, stars Kristen Stewart and Finn Wittrock.
Interpol kicks off their North American headlining dates with a sold out show at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer tonight, before playing their Marauder release show at Brooklyn’s House of Vans tomorrow night. The first five tracks of their set tomorrow will be live-streamed from the band’s Facebook and YouTube channel, beginning at 9:45pm EDT.
Upcoming Tour Dates, In Bold On Sale Tomorrow at 10am Local Time
This morning, we’re pleased to present the Kurt Vile video, “Loading Zones,” the first new music to surface from him since 2015. Directed by Drew Saracco, the video is a paean to Kurt’s City of Brotherly Love, and a farcical tribute to the song’s lyrics, a loose account of his peculiar parking strategy. Law enforcement is played by Kevin Corrigan and Matt Korvette.
Kurt and The Violators (Rob Laakso, Kyle Spence, and Jesse Trbovich) hit the road this fall on an extensive global tour. Tickets are on-sale now for the full world tour, which commences in Hamburg, Germany on October 12th. The North American leg, where fans can expect a further taste of new music in addition to the band’s iconic catalogue, kicks off on November 24th in Boston. The band has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket sold will go to support the ACLU’s work defending and protecting our individual rights and liberties. The full list of tour dates can be found below.
Friday, October 12th – Grünspan – Hamburg, DE ^
Saturday, October 13th – Pustervik – Gothenburg, SE ^
Sunday, October 14th – Rockefeller – Oslo, NO #
Monday, October 15th – Bern – Stockholm, SE #
Tuesday, October 16th – Vega – Copenhagen, DK #
Thursday, October 18th – Huxleys – Berlin, DE #
Friday, October 19th – Muffathalle – Munich, DE #
Saturday, October 20th – X-Tra – Zurich, CH #
Sunday, October 21st – Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, FR #
Monday, October 22ns – Apolo – Barcelona, ES #
Tuesday, October 23rd – Teatro Barceló – Madrid, ES #
Thursday, October 25th – Lisboa Ao Vivo – Lisbon, PT #
Friday, October 26th – Hard Club – Porto, PT #
Sunday, October 28th – Rockschool Barbey – Bordeaux, FR #
Monday, October 29th – La Cigale – Paris, FR #
Tuesday, October 30th – Autumn Falls @ AB – Brussels, BE #
Thursday, November 1st – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL #
Friday, November 2nd – Kantine – Köln, DE #
Monday, November 5th – Concorde 2 – Brighton, UK #
Tuesday, November 6th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK #
Wednesday, November 7th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – London, UK #
Thursday, November 8th – St Philips Gate – Bristol, UK #
Friday, November 9th – The Crossing – Birmingham, UK #
Saturday, November 10th – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK #
Sunday, November 11th – 02 Academy – Leeds, UK #
Tuesday, November 13th – 02 ABC – Glasgow, UK #
Wednesday, November 14th – Vicar Street – Dublin, IR #
Sunday, November 24 House of Blues, Boston MA * Wednesday, November 28 Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn NY *
Friday, November 30 9:30 Club, Washington DC *
Monday, December 3 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta GA *
Wednesday, December 5 Jones Assembly, Oklahoma City OK *
Thursday, December 6 ACL Live Moody Theater, Austin TX *
Friday, December 7 Canton Hall, Dallas TX *
Sunday, December 9 The Observatory North Park, San Diego CA *
Tuesday, December 11 The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA *
Wednesday, December 12 Fox Theater, Oakland CA *
Friday, December 14 Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR *
Saturday, December 15 Moore Theatre, Seattle WA *
Sunday, December 16 Vogue, Vancouver BC *
Wednesday, December 19 First Avenue, Minneapolis MN *
Thursday, December 20 Sylvee, Madison WI *
Friday, December 21 Turner Hall Milwaukee WI *
Saturday, December 22 Rivera Theatre, Chicago IL *
^ – with Meg Baird (solo)
# – with Meg Baird & Mary Lattimore
*- with Jessica Pratt
Following a seven-week US tour on the heels of the recent release of their new album, Beyondless, Iceage have shared a new video for album stand-out track, “Under The Sun.” The video was filmed in Tokyo during their ‘Opening Nights’ residencies, which was an inter-continental exhibition that saw Iceage collaborating with their favorite visual artists (also staged in NYC and LA).
Directed by XXX, the “Under The Sun” video features the vibrant, eye-catching floral designs of renowned flower sculptor, Azuma Makoto, who handpicked Iceage for his flower-music installation series titled “Crazy Garden x Iceage.” The band’s darkly beautiful and chaotic live performance is an unexpected, yet fitting, foil to the delicate blooms
After a North American co-headline tour with The Black Lips in November, Iceage will return to London for a special performance at the Hackney Arts Centre on December 7th, with Helm and Astrid Sonne opening, and set design by Christian Friedlander. The full list of tour dates can be found below.
Interpol have released the video for powerhouse new single, “The Rover” taken from their forthcoming Dave Fridmann-produced new album, ‘Marauder’, out August 24th.
The video was shot on-location in Mexico City in June, during a whirlwind journey where Interpol announced their new album via a live-streamed press conference – only to be unexpectedly interrupted halfway through by a mysterious figure played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, confusing fans and media alike. Today, the mystery has finally been revealed with the release of the video directed by Gerardo Naranjo (“Narcos”, “The Bridge”) – giving further context to the elusive cult-like character, ‘The Rover’ himself, blurring the line between documentary and fever dream in a heady montage of psychedelic, hedonistic adventures with his young followers in tow, as they ‘rove’ through the pulsing Distrito Federal.
Following last month’s single “Pristine,” Snail Mail released “Heat Wave” today ahead of her debut LP Lush. The video, directed by Brandon Herman, features Lindsey Jordan showing off her high school varsity hockey chops and not-to-be-overlooked air hockey skills to boot.
Prior to the May 4 release of ‘Girly-Sound To Guyville’ : The 25th Anniversary Box Set’, we’ve released the remastered audio for “Bomb” (culled from ‘Sooty’, the third ‘Girly-Sound’ cassette’) as well as premiering Phair’s video for “Stratford On Guy” (the song that “Bomb” would eventually morph into) with remastered audio as well (above).
“We were in talks with labels about the second record – Matador was being courted by Atlantic – and Danny Goldberg came backstage to meet me. I told him about my idea for the next video – ‘Stratford-On-Guy’ – explaining that we were stalled due to budget constraints. He asked ‘what do you need?’ I said, ‘a private plane to fly over downtown LA and get footage at night.’ I wanted to shoot the electric veins of the city. He just said, ‘done!’ It was one of those real rock star moments.
So my husband, his friend Michael Mees, who was the DP, and I went up in this 8 seater Lear Jet and got the greatest footage ever. We were literally flying sideways so Michael could shoot straight down over the rooftops of all the buildings. We were executing these tight turns above the skyscrapers and the G force was incredible. You could feel your internal organs dragging to the other side of your body cavity. Michael was using this really heavy camera and Jim, my husband, had to hold onto him as we shot. The lens of the camera was pressing down against the window pane and I remember Michael nervously joking – and not really in jest – that the glass beneath him better hold. It was so fun. We made two approaches into the airport so we could capture that fantastic runway lighting. Those images are etched in my memory forever. I seem to recall I somehow wedged my head up between the pilots like a dog peering over the backseat so I could see that awesome 180* cockpit view, too. Good times!” – Liz Phair
Upcoming Tour Dates
Thursday, May 31 Masonic Lodge, Los Angeles CA SOLD OUT
Friday, June 1 Swedish American Hall, San Francisco CA SOLD OUT
Saturday, June 2 The Crocodile, Seattle WA SOLD OUT
Monday, June 4 Turf Club, St. Paul MN * SOLD OUT
Wednesday, June 6 The Sinclair, Boston MA * SOLD OUT
Thursday, June 7 National Sawdust, Brooklyn NY * SOLD OUT
Friday, June 8 Wichita Riverfest, Wichita, KS
Saturday, June 9 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL * SOLD OUT
Iceage have released a new video for their track ‘The Day the music dies’ – shot on location in Detroit -Directed produced by Iceage & Graeme Flegenheimer
The band will be kicking off their EU leg of dates on May 2nd in Copenhagen, two days before the official release of ‘Beyondless’, before heading to the US for a grand headline tour later in the month
Belle and Sebastian have released a video for “Poor Boy,” a track from EP3 of How To Solve Our Human Problems. The video, which features Stuart and company on a normal evening off, is directed by Oscar Sansom & Ciaran Lyons of The Forest of Black.
In conjunction with the release of the new video, the group has also announced “The Belle and Sebastian Mixtape Maker,” which allows you to create a sharable Spotify playlist and customized image that replicates the How To Solve Our Human Problems cover.
Belle and Sebastian are currently on tour with Julien Baker in the United Kingdom. They’ll be touring North America this June, with support from Snail Mail, Perfume Genius and others.
“Head Like A Haunted House” is the latest video from Queens of the Stone Age’s colossal ‘Villains’, directed by auteur beyond compare Liam Lynch. QOTSA’s updated global schedule can be found below, and beware that tickets are running low in several places (and you simply cannot xerox your own).
Earlier today, Pitchfork Live premiered the entirety of Yo La Tengo’s set from Brooklyn’s National Sawdust last week that saw the band performing songs from the forthcoming, ‘There’s A Riot Going On’, many of them for the first time in public.
Via director Brook Linder, here’s an acoustic performance of Stephen Malkmus’ “Middle America”. The Jicks’ previously announced US tour commences June 1 ; the June 14 date at Brooklyn’s Music Hall Of Williamsburg is sold out but a second show has been added the following night (see below).
This morning, Iceage release their first new music since 2014 in the form of the self-produced, “Catch It” (recorded at Göteborg, Sweden’s Kungsten Studios by Mattias Glavå) with an accompanying video directed by Adam Hashemi, mostly shot on 8mm in Los Angeles. In addition to previously announced European dates, Iceage kick off a North America tour on May 10 at Seattle’s Nordic Museum (dates and relevant ticket links are below)
Following the announcement of her sophomore effort, ‘Historian’ (out March 2), the album’s 2nd single, “Addictions”, premieres today in the form of Lucy Dacus’ directorial debut. A myassive touring schedule for ‘Historian’ kicks off on release day at Brooklyn’s Music Hall Of Williamsburg (see below).
(Pre-orders from The Matador Store will include ten postcards with individual art by ten different artists. Each postcard is inspired by one of the tracks off of ‘Historian’)
Car Seat Headrest fans, new and old alike, will be elated to learn that Will Toledo’s 2011’s Bandcamp masterpiece, ‘Twin Fantasy’, has been re-recorded and re-imagined for release on February 16th (*pre-order breakdown below). With a seven-piece band in tow (including members of Naked Giants), Car Seat Headrest will bring its explosive and live show to Australia, Europe, and select West Coast cities through the first half of 2018, with a full US tour to be announced at a later date.
Today’s album announcement comes with the release of “Nervous Young Inhumans” and its accompanying video, which can be seen above. It is a frenetic, anthemic, split-screen choreographed crescendo, and the result of Toledo’s visionary work as a first-time director.
Toledo always knew he would return to ‘Twin Fantasy’. He never did complete the work. Not really. Never could square his grand ambitions against his mechanical limitations. Listen to his first attempt, recorded at nineteen on a cheap laptop, and you’ll hear what Brian Eno fondly calls “the sound of failure” – thrilling, extraordinary, and singularly compelling failure. Will’s first love, rendered in the vivid teenage viscera of stolen gin, bruised shins, and weird sex, was an event too momentous for the medium assigned to record it.
Even so, even awkward and amateurish, ‘Twin Fantasy’ is deeply, truly adored. Legions of reverent listeners carve rituals out of it: sobbing over “Famous Prophets,” making out to “Cute Thing,” dancing their asses off as “Bodys” climbs higher, higher. The distortion hardly matters. You can hear him just fine. You can hear everything. And you can feel everything: his hope, his despair, his wild overjoy. He’s trusting you – plural you, thousands of you – with the things he can’t say out loud. “I pretended I was drunk when I came out to my friends,” he sings – and then, caught between truths, backtracks: “I never came out to my friends. We were all on Skype, and I laughed and changed the subject.”
You might be imagining an extended diary entry, an angsty transmission from a bygone LiveJournal set to power chords and cranked to eleven. You would be wrong. ‘Twin Fantasy’is not a monologue. ‘Twin Fantasy’ is a conversation. “You know,” he sings, “that I’m mostly singing about you.” This is Will’s greatest strength as a songwriter ; he spins his own story, but he’s always telling yours, too. Between nods to local details – Harper’s Ferry, The Yellow Wallpaper, the Monopoly board collecting dust in his back seat – he leaves room for the fragile stuff of your own life, your own loves. From the very beginning, alone in his bedroom, in his last weeks of high school, he knew he was writing anthems. Someday, he hoped, you and I might sing these words back to him.
“It was never a finished work,” Toledo says, “and it wasn’t until last year that I figured out how to finish it.” He has, now, the benefit of a bigger budget, a full band in fine form, and endless time to tinker. According to him, it took eight months of mixing just to get the drums right. But this is no shallow second take, sanitized in studio and scrubbed of feeling. This is the album he always wanted to make. It sounds the way he always wanted it to sound.
It’s been hard, stepping into the shoes of his teenage self, walking back to painful places. There are lyrics he wouldn’t write again, an especially sad song he regards as an albatross. But even as he carries the weight of that younger, wounded Toledo, he moves forward. He grows. He revises, gently, the songs we love so much. In the album’s final moments, in those “apologies to future me’s and you’s,” there is more forgiveness than fury.
This, Toledo says, is the most vital difference between the old and the new: he no longer sees his own story as a tragedy.
