Beggars Group Canada

JULIEN BAKER DEBUTS VIDEO FOR NEW SONG ‘TURN OUT THE LIGHTS’

Julien Baker today debuted the video for the title track from her highly anticipated new album Turn Out The Lights, which will be released on October 27, via Matador Records.

Directed by Sophia Peer (Paramore, The National, Interpol), who also helmed Baker’s video for first single Appointments

Turn Out The Lights is already being greeted with enthusiastic early praise, from outlets including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Noisey and DIY, among others.

Baker also appeared on the season premiere of legendary US radio program Prairie Home Companion last weekend, performing acclaimed single ‘Appointments’, previously unheard album cut ‘Hurt Less’ and a rendition of the traditional hymn ‘It Is Well With My Soul’. The full episode can be listened to – with Baker’s performances at 18:00, 23:15, and 1:53:50 – HERE.

Baker begins her North American headlining tour in support of Turn Out The Lights tomorrow, October 12th. Canadian stops include Toronto (Opera House – October 24th), Montreal (Theatre Fairmount – October 25th) and Vancouver (Rickshaw Theatre – December 9th)

Recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Baker’s hometown of Memphis, TN, Turn Out The Lights expands upon the sound and vision of Sprained Ankle while retaining the haunting, confessional songwriting style for which she has become known. Throughout the album, she reflects on experiences of her own and those closest to her, exploring the internal conflicts that wrestle inside us all: how we deal and cope with our struggles, and how it all impacts both ourselves and our relationships of all kinds. The result is a deeply empathetic album that embraces the grays and complex truths of humanity and mental health. Turn Out The Lights was written and produced by Baker, and mixed by Craig Silvey (The National, Arcade Fire, Florence & the Machine).

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN ANNOUNCE HOW TO SOLVE OUR HUMAN PROBLEMS

A new Belle and Sebastian release is always something to cheer. So today’s announcement of three new releases leads to the inevitable conclusion: three cheers!

To celebrate this announcement, Belle and Sebastian has revealed a new song titled ‘I’ll Be Your Pilot’, which can be found on EP2. The single encapsulates the essence of the groups gentle attention to melody, and takes as its subject Stuart Murdoch’s young son: “Having your first kid is a huge event, so I wrapped a lot of things I felt about Denny into the song. Being a dad made me feel a little like the pilot in The Little Prince, hence all the references to the Sahara!”

Here is the latest instalment in a career that has always pursued a singular and delightful vision of what pop represents and what it can achieve, a career that has seen them triumph against the odds to win a Brit award, be one of the first bands to curate their own festival, and play at the official London residence of the US ambassador (the last president’s ambassador, not the current one’s).

Their new music has the timeless blend of joy and melancholy that has always characterised them. What has changed is how the group want their music to be released, and over the coming months, Belle and Sebastian will gift the world a double album’s worth of music – richly melodic, deliciously literate, as gentle as a summer stream but as insistent as a river

Harkening back to their 1997 release of three consecutive EPs (Dog On Wheels, Lazy Line Painter Jane, and 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds Of Light), Belle and Sebastian will release three new EPs under the umbrella title How To Solve Our Human Problems, with the first EP coming out on December 8th, the second on January 19th, and the third on February 16th (vinyl and digital only). The EP trilogy will culminate with a compilation CD and a limited vinyl box set containing all three EPs, with the option of a box just for EP3 for those who have already purchased 1 and 2.

Just as those three early EPs are at the very heart of the Belle and Sebastian canon, so these three new releases deserve to be treated not as a stopgap, but as definitive releases in their own right. How To Solve Our Human Problems is both an era of its own, and part of a long, rich history. How To Solve Our Human Problems is, if you like, Belle and Sebastian Redux.

When Belle and Sebastian felt new music percolating within them, they decided to break from the working methods of the recent years and instead stay at home, record the tracks as and when, often producing themselves, working with friends and collaborators to see what emerged. Working in Glasgow gave them the freedom to work without the constraints that making an album can impose: they could take their time honing and experimenting.

One thing that has defined Belle and Sebastian has been their relationship with fans, and that’s apparent in the new EPs. For the three sleeves, the group issued a call to fans to come to be photographed by Murdoch at a studio in Belsize Park in North London. Fifty were selected, and all those photographed were also recorded answering the question: “How do you solve your human problems?”

These days, Murdoch accepts, the band’s relationship with their fans is “very comfortable.” They’re now seeing a second generation – the children of their original fans, kids who’ve found them as the internet has opened up the whole of pop history. But in the past few years, he has started thinking about his own responsibilities to those fans. “I do feel it’s not just about the music anymore, and it shouldn’t be. You have this platform to spread good vibrations. Life is short! What are we doing here? Are we becoming better people?”

KING KRULE New Track “Half Man Half Shark

With the release of his much anticipated second album The OOZ barrelling towards us this month, Archy Marshall, aka King Krule give us yet another taste of what’s to come, with the jittery punk rock of “Half Man Half Shark”.

At once glowering yet utterly compelling, “Half Man Half Shark” digs even deeper into the gritty, decaying blues of previous single “Dum Surfer”, delivering an unsettling, surreal fever dream in which Marshall charts a terrifying journey of mental disintegration, where “simplest soft thoughts become menacing/ twisted raw adrenaline/ racing through my bones, racing through my body”, ending with the pleading refrain ‘brother, brother/ I’ve only got two fighting hands”. It’s one turbulent, emotionally fraught sucker punch of a track, and another shining example of what makes King Krule stand out above the rest.

“The OOZ” is the second release from King Krule, following on from 2013’s critically lauded 6 Feet Beneath the Moon. In the interim Marshall also released A New Place 2 Drown, a collaborative multimedia projects with his brother, Jack. In addition, following on from high profile slots at summer festivals such as Primavera in Barcelona and FYF in California, as well as a smattering of surprise shows in London and New York, King Krule will be embarking on his biggest headline tour of the UK to date, which also takes in sold out shows in London, Manchester and more.

UPCOMING LIVE DATES:

Tour Dates:

10/21 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
10/22 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
10/24 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
10/25 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
10/26 – Boston, MA – Paradise
10/28 – Montreal, QC – MTelus
10/29 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall (SOLD OUT)
10/30 – Chicago, IL – Metro
10/31 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
11/3 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
11/4 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
11/5 – Vancouver, CAN – Vogue Theatre
11/7 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
11/8 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
11/9 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
11/20 – Bristol, UK – Marble Factory
11/21 – London, UK – Koko
11/22 – London, UK – Koko
11/23 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall
11/26 – Paris, France – Casino De Paris
11/28 – Milan, Italy – Magazzini Generali
11/29 – Lyon, France – L’Epicerie Moderne
11/30 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik
12/1 – Cologne, Germany – Burgerhaus Stollwerck
12/3 – Hamburg, Germany – Uebel & Gefahrlich
12/4 – Berlin, Germany – Astra
12/6 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
12/8 – Stockholm, Sweden – Vasateatern
12/10 – Amsterdam, Holland – Melkweg
12/11 – Antwerp, Belgium – De Roma
12/13 – Dublin, Ireland – Academy
12/14 – Manchester, UK – Academy 2
12/15 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3

The Breeders Release New Single ‘Wait in the Car’

The Breeders have announced their return to 4AD with the infectious new track, Wait in the Car. The single is the first music to be released by the classic line-up behind the iconic album, Last Splash.

‘Wait in the Car’ marks the welcome reunion of band members Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson. The quartet returned to the stage in 2013 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their platinum-selling record Last Splash and have since been spending time together in the studio working on new material. The two-minute ‘Wait In The Car’ offers an enticing preview to a band who are still as vital and relevant as ever.

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The single will also form part of a series of 7”s releases. One will be available at the band’s upcoming tour dates, starting October 15 (pressed on orange vinyl, featuring a cover of Amon Düül II’s 1970 track ‘Archangel’s Thunderbird’, recorded with Steve Albini in Chicago). Another will be available exclusively at select independent record stores from October 27 (pressed on yellow vinyl and including a cover of Devo’s ‘Gates of Steel’). Details of a third version (featuring Kim’s dreamy reimagining of Mike Nesmith’s ‘Joanne’ and pressed on red vinyl) will be announced later in the year. Each version is limited to 1,500 copies worldwide.

The artwork and visuals for ‘Wait in the Car’ come from Chris Bigg (formerly of the v23 team who worked on the band’s previous 4AD releases) and Martin Andersen, with the video piecing together 800 still images.

“It all started with a brick,” the pair say. “We both liked the idea of using something iconic yet quite banal. An old brick has a story and it’s a beautiful raw object. We started collecting more and more (some intact, some broken) and realised how different they all appear, each one having its own identity.”

The Breeders will begin their previously announced 19-date EU and North American tour later this month.

The Breeders
Kelley Deal
Kim Deal
Jim Macpherson
Josephine Wiggs

TOMORROW’S MODERN BOXES TO BE REISSUED DECEMBER 8TH ON XL RECORDINGS

Thom Yorke’s 2014 album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes will be re-issued on XL Recordings on 8th December. The album will be available in record stores on CD & Vinyl and via streaming services.

In addition Thom will perform two US headline shows in a live mix with Nigel Godrich and visual artist Tarik Barri.

Playing tracks from across his solo material, the two dates are an addition to his previously announced appearance at Day for Night Festival in Houston, Texas.

The dates are:

December 12th The Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
14th Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
17th Day For Night Festival, Houston, TX

Go here for ticket details.

The tickets will go on general sale on Friday 6th October at 10am PST.