Music News

Kishi Bashi announces new album, Sonderlust, shares “Say Yeah”

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi will release a new album on September 16th. Named Sonderlust, it will be his third full-length after 2014’s Lighght and his first big release since his live record, String Quartet: Live last year. The 10-track LP features production from Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor as well as drums by Matt Chamberlain (Morrissey, Fiona Apple, of Montreal).

For Kishi Bashi, who was a member of of Montreal, Sonderlust represents his most personal effort to date, one “forged through heartbreak” as he and his wife of 13 years struggled to stay afloat. “As I sat down to write songs last summer, I went to all my usual conduits of creation: violin loops, guitar, piano, and I came up with the musical equivalent of fumes,” he said in a press statement. “I tried to create orchestral pop recordings that I assumed were my forte, and in turn I found myself standing in front of a creative wall of frightening heights.”

“This album is straight from my soul,” he added. “I questioned everything about what it means to love and desire. The difference between loving someone and being in love.”

Kishi Bashi has shared “Say Yeah,” stream it below.

Jagwar Ma announce new album, share “OB1” video

Jagwar Ma released their debut album Howlin’ in 2013. They have now announced its follow-up, called Every Now & Then, and it is due out this fall via Mom + Pop. The announcement is joined by the video for the album’s first song “OB1.” Watch the video below. It was produced by the band and mixed by DJ Ewan Pearson, the track features drumming from Stella Mozgawa (of Warpaint). Gabriel Winterfield from the band said that the song is about “moving through the motions of life under the influence of lost love, the fear of letting go of the past when not having anything set in place in the future to hold on to.” Jono Ma added that the song was “designed for nocturnal road trips and foraging through forests for morning fresh champignons.”

The band also will go on an international tour, starting at Splendour in the Grass Festival in Australia on July 24th, and ending in November in Bordeaux, France. Find their tour dates below.

Jagwar Ma:

07-24 North Byron Parklands, Australia – Splendour in the Grass Festival
07-29 Aulnoye Aimeries, France – Nuits Secretes
07-30 Cabourg Mon Amour, France – Cabourg
08-19 St. Pӧlten, Austria – FM4 Frequency Festival
8-20 Brecon Beacons, Wales – Green Man Festival
08-25 Salt lake City, UT – Pioneer Park *
08-27 Los Angeles, CA – FYF Festival
08-29 San Diego, CA – Casbah
08-30 Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre
08-31 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
09-02 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
09-03 Seattle, WA – Bumbershoot Festival
09-10 Berlin, Germany – Lollapalooza
09-11 Isle of Wight, England – Bestival
10-01 Kent, England – By The Sea Festival
10-20 Glasgow, Scotland – The Art School
10-21 Manchester, England – Manchester Academy 2
10-23 Bristol, England – Marble Factory
10-25 Leeds, England – Brudenell Social Club
10-26 London, England – Electric Ballroom
11-03 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
11-04-06 McDade, TX – Sound on Sound Fest
11-07 Toronto, Ontario – The Hoxton
11-08 Montreal, Quebec – Theatre Fairmount
11-09 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
11-11 Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry at The Fillmore
11-12 New York, NY – Webster Hall
11-18 Tourcoing, France – Grand Mix
11-19 Paris, France – La Cigale
11-20 Nantes, France – Stereolux
11-22 Bordeaux, France – Rock School

* with Grimes

Accepting the Evolution of Local Natives and Their New Album

We are less than two months away from the release of Sunlit Youth, the new album  by California indie rock band Local Natives. The magic day is September 9th and we have already been gifted with a substantial taste of what is to come via three singles. So what should we expect? Well, the reality might not please everyone, because come that day in early September we will be listening to a different Local Natives than we are used to.

From what we can tell so far, there is less evidence of the DIY, almost bedroom rock sound that was present on the Local Natives’ debut, Gorilla Manor, back in 2010. The conditions in which the material for their debut was written – namely their chaotic residence in Orange County for which the album is named – helped to create this signature sound. Furthermore, according to guitarist/vocalist Taylor Rice, another contributing factor was their focus on making sure that they could play all of their music live which sometimes meant simplifying down their ideas. However, by their second studio release none of these factors were present.

By the time their sophomore album, Hummingbird, dropped in 2013 the band not only had performance and songwriting experience under their belt – not to mention a growing fan base – but also knowledge of the recording process. This combined with the departure of bassist Andy Hamm in 2011 resulted in the band being more adventurous during their second round in the studio. Based solely on the three singles released over the past two months, we can already see evidence that the new album will be pushing the envelope even more than Hummingbird did.

The band explained that the first single released back in April, “Past Lives“, deals with self reflection:

“The world is not static, it’s made new over and over again. But we tend to live the same patterns in a loop…But our world is not fixed, it’s constantly reemerging, and we can change it into whatever we want.”

They went on to explain how this paralleled their songwriting styles in the past and how they wanted to change as they moved forward as musicians. They later expanded on this when talking about the second single released in early June:

“Lyrically, ‘Villainy‘ is about realizing that you have the ability to change your situation, that you can start again everyday. We applied that to how we made music this time around.”

When listening to “Villainy” you can almost sense the band telling you to give their new vibe a shot as they sing “It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust. Step back into the sun.” By the time their final single, “Fountain of Youth“, released on July 7th the band was truly embracing their new direction: “We can say whatever we want. We can say whatever we need.”

So what should we expect from Sunlit Youth? Well, the reality might not please everyone, because come that day in early September we will be listening to a different Local Natives than we are used to. There might be more synthesizers in the mix. There might be less emphasis on group harmonies and more of a focus on Taylor Rice’s vocals. There might be more conviction and self-analysis in their lyrics. Although this might be an evolved Local Natives, they are still the band we fell in love with six years ago. Besides, it doesn’t really matter what we think – they can say whatever they want, and I think, come September 9th, we should listen.

Real Estate announces fall tour

Real Estate announced that guitarist Matt Mondanile was leaving the band in May in order to focus on his own Ducktails project. After his departure, the band played a few shows with new member and guitarist Julian Lynch as “a prelude to the recording of their next album.” They have announced a fall U.S. tour today.Check out Real Estate’s upcoming itinerary below.

In May, Real Estate stated that their next album is “tentatively slated” to be released early 2017.

Real Estate:

07-31 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Ampitheater *
08-26 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
09-29 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater $
09-30 Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom $
10-01 Atlanta, GA – Project Pabst
10-02 Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre #
10-04 Bloomington, IL – Castle Theater $
10-05 Champaign, IL – The Accord $
10-07 Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theater
10-08 Madison, WI – Club Majestic $
10-10 Grand Rapids, MI – The Pyramid Scheme $
10-11 Columbus, OH – Skully’s Music Diner $
10-12 Ithaca, NY – The Haunt $

* with The National
# with Blitzen Trapper
$ with EZTV

Bon Iver announce West Coast shows

Bon Iver have announced shows on the West Coast, which will happen in October. One of them is at the Beach Goth Festival. They will be joined by Francis and the Lights in Oakland, and by Julianna Barwick in San Diego. Check out the dates below. The shows are paired with a previously announced West Coast show with Patti Smith and Hiss Golden Messenger, which will happen in October also. Last week, Bon Iver and Kanye West appeared on Francis and the Lights’ “Friends,” which had a video where Justin Vernon did a synchronized dance. Watch it below.

Vernon said earlier this year announced that new Bon Iver music would debut at the band’s headlining gig at Eaux Claires Festival, which is curated by Vernon. The band’s last release was 2011’s self-titled record.

Bon Iver:

08-12-13 Eau Claire, WI – Eaux Claires Festival
10-18 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater *
10-22 Santa Ana, CA – Beach Goth Festival
10-23 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl &%
10-26 San Diego, CA – Copley Symphony Hall ^

* with Francis and the Lights
& with Patti Smith
% with Hiss Golden Messenger
^ with Julianna Barwick

Watch Cat Power, Wayne Coyne, Michael Stipe, more pay tribute to David Bowie in new documentary

In April, Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall hosted a pair of sold-out tribute shows in tribute of David Bowie. Artists such as Michael Stipe, the Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Laurie Anderson, and more covered songs that spanned throughout Bowie’s career. Okayplayer TV has shared a documentary, directed by Rafe Scoobey-Thal, that features interviews with many of the concert’s participants. Recorded backstage during rehearsals for the show, the artists revealed some of their favorite songs and talked about their favorite memories of Bowie. Cat Power, Stipe, the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, Esperanza Spalding, Anderson, Cyndi Lauper, Harry, the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, Bilal, Perry Farrell, Rickie Lee Jones, Robyn Hitchcock, and Heart’s Ann Wilson talked in the video. You can watch it below.

The documentary also featured footage of Bowie live shows and music videos, mixed with the interviews.

Father John Misty, André 3000, Lizzo to appear on new Adult Swim show

“Brad Neely’s Harg Nallin’ Sclopio Peepio” is a new cartoon that will premiere on July 10th on Adult Swim. The show stars Ilana Glazer (“Broad City”), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Darrell Hammond (“Saturday Night Live”) and more. It will also star one guest star per episode, some will perform music for the show. Father John Misty, André 3000, and Lizzo will appear on the first season, singing songs written by Neely. “This show for me is an opportunity to make a lot of music and have fun people sing my songs,” Neely said in a press release. Below, watch a clip from the show.

Flying Lotus makes directorial debut with short film

Sundance NEXT FEST is a film and music festival that takes place August 12-14 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. It premieres the Los Angeles six new independent films from the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and are “paired with a music act, live performance, or conversation with an icon of independent cinema.” The 2016 festival will show the directorial debut of Flying Lotus, under his alias “steve,” premiering a short film called Royal. Shamir will perform at this year’s event with a screening of So Yong Kim’s Lovesong, which features Jena Malone and Riley Keough. Sunflower Bean has been paired with Andrew Neel’s Goat, which stars Nick Jonas. Nick Kroll, Craig Robinson, and a “surprise music artist” are also set to appear.

The Flying Lotus-scored short film FUCKKKYOUUU premiered at Sundance last year which can be watched below.

Watch Cassius’ new interactive video for “The Missing”

In April, French electronic duo Cassius shared “The Missing,” a new song from their upcoming album, Ibifornia, which features OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. They have now shared a new interactive video for the song, which shows tons people making out. Directed by We Are From LA, the video allows viewers to change the many actors around, swapping who is making out with whom, by clicking on them during the video. Head here to see the video.

Ibifornia is  set to be out August 26 through Interscope / Polydor.

https://twitter.com/CASSIUSOFFICIAL/status/750232304631422981

A$AP Ferg joined By Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Young Thug, Schoolboy Q

WOO HAH! Festival happened tonight in Tilburg, Netherlands. Due to the festival’s huge lineup, A$AP Ferg was joined by some guests during his set. While he performed “Work,” “Shabba,” and “New Level,” he was joined by A$AP Rocky, Tyler, the Creator, Young Thug, Schoolboy Q, and others. Watch professionally shot footage of the set here via 3voor12.