The Claypool Lennon Delirium Announce New Album

The Claypool Lennon Delirium will return this spring with their third and most outlandish album yet: The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, due May 1st via ATO Records. Reuniting after several years of intergalactic solo missions and sonic side quests, Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon once again combine their mutant minds to deliver an elaborate, 14-song concept record reflecting on morality, mortality, and the warnings of A.I., with a story-world that doubles as a cautionary tale about sustainability and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy.

Available for pre-order on vinyl and CD, the physical edition expands the album’s mythology into a true companion piece: a 2-LP set in a tip-on gatefold jacket paired with a 24 page comic book, with each song mapped to its own illustrated chapter. What began as an ambitious idea for a feature-length animated film ultimately became a fully realized graphic narrative – one that now defines the album’s identity as much as the music itself. Exclusive color variants are available to preorder via the band’s store, at Indie shops and other retail sites where vinyl is sold!

Out today alongside the album announcement is the project’s latest single and official music video, “The Golden Egg of Empathy (feat. WILLOW).” A key moment in the album’s narrative arc, the track introduces WILLOW’s lead vocal as Claypool and Lennon tilt the Delirium’s technicolor theatrics toward something strangely tender, surreal, and human. In the song’s language, the modern world’s glowing conveniences start to look “insignificant,” “devoid of love,” and the search for empathy becomes its own kind of destiny. The video serves as a first glimpse into the album’s elaborate visual universe, animating the rich illustrations and characters that populate the full-length comic companion. 

Set in the once-glorious land of Cliptopia, where a sentient A.I. known as Cliptron and his army of robots are resourcing everything, then turning it all into Clipnex brand paperclips, the album follows young artist Hippard O. Campus Jr. as he rebels against his father, Hippard Sr. (owner of the CLIPNEX corporation and creator of CLIPTRON). With help from salty sea-dog Colonel O’Coren, Hipp embarks on a fantastical adventure to stop Cliptron’s cold, chrome heart from converting the world, humans included, into paperclips.

Hipp’s quest leads across the sea to the Isle of Lucidity, where the all-wise Ministry of Manatees guide him to the Great Parrot-Ox, whose Golden Egg of Empathy is the only thing that can bring understanding and emotion to Cliptron. 

“The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy is a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men,” Lennon shares. “It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.” 

“Willow spent seven months living as a parrot in the Amazon basin preparing for her role as the Great Parrot Ox,” Lennon adds. “She is the coolest. There was no one else we even considered for this song.”

It’s a world of distorted fables and absurdist characters, told across 14 songs with classic psychedelic and progressive rock stylings, paired with a fully realized visual universe and comic storytelling.

Recorded at Claypool’s Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County, as well as Lennon’s studio The Farm in upstate New York, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy pairs elaborate narrative arcs with the band’s signature blend of psychedelic-prog theatrics, absurdist humor, and conceptual invention. Based on the “Paperclip Theory,” the renowned thought experiment about artificial intelligence safety, the album poses a pointed question: in the face of extreme, rampant, single-minded efficiency, can human values and empathy save the day?

The album’s story and music were created by The Claypool Lennon Delirium, with artwork by longtime collaborator Rich Ragsdale. “Rich Ragsdale is an old friend,” Lennon shares. “He directed the ‘Animals’ video for The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, an animated video for Uni, and the ‘Blood and Rockets’ video for the Delirium,” Lennon explains. “Initially Les and I were imagining a feature length animated film for Parrot-Ox, but we realized there wasn’t enough time to complete such an undertaking, so we asked Rich if he could distill the story into a comic book for us. He did an incredible job.”

“I think we all share a lot of taste and sensibility,” Lennon continues. “The process was really smooth for the most part. I think the Colonel said he’s never been so happy so quickly with that kind of thing. Les and I really belabored the story beforehand, but when it came time for Rich to flesh it out, things went very quickly. Now that the story exists in this comic book form it’s even easier to imagine it becoming a feature some day. And you never know!”

The animated “Golden Egg” video marks the first time that world moves beyond the page, offering a preview of how deeply intertwined the story, artwork, and music are across the entire project.

View a short video showcasing the exclusive physical edition of The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy HERE 

“The Great Parrot Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy was over three years in the making and was the most labor intensive recording I have ever been involved in,” shares Claypool. “The results are something Shiner and I are very proud of; a relevant concept piece accompanied by a colorful, phantasmic comic book.” 

The album announcement follows the January release of first single “WAP (What a Predicament),” which opened the Delirium’s next chapter with a warped meditation on AI, morality, and what happens when empathy gets optimized out of existence.

Beyond the Delirium, Claypool has remained relentlessly prolific, reuniting his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, celebrating his solo legacy with the Adverse Yaw: The Prawn Song Years box set, and launching Primus’ Interstellar Drum Derby, the global open call that drew over 6,200 applicants and culminated in the addition of drummer John Hoffman. 

Lennon has likewise stayed active across disciplines, performing in an improvising trio with John Zorn and Laurie Anderson, releasing his experimental instrumental album Asterisms on Zorn’s Tzadik label, producing Temples’ Exotica, earning a Grammy in 2025 for his design of John Lennon’s Mind Games boxed reissue, and writing and producing the animated short inspired by John & Yoko’s “War Is Over,” which earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Following the album’s release, Claypool will hit the road with Claypool Gold, a full-evening tour that brings together Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade in one surreal, genre-defying night, with each band performing a full set. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.primusville.com.

The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy x Tracklist

1. Pro-Log 
2. WAP (What a Predicament) 
3. The Wake Up Call
4. Meat Machines
5. Troll Bait
6. Simplest of Deeds
7. Heart of Chrome
8. Through the Horizon
9. Mantra of the Manatee 
10. The Golden Egg of Empathy feat. WILLOW
11. Cliptopia
12. Cliptron Scuttle
13. Melody of Entropy 
14. It’s a Wrap

Claypool Gold 2026 Tour

Wednesday, May 20 – Reno Events Center – Reno, NV

Friday, May 22 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR

Saturday, May 23 – Marymoor Live – Redmond, WA

Monday, May 25 – KettleHouse Amphitheater – Bonner, MT

Tuesday, May 26 – The Lot at the Complex – Salt Lake City, UT

Thursday, May 28 – Starlight Amphitheatre – Kansas City, MO

Saturday, May 30 – The Factory – St. Louis, MO

Sunday, May 31 – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre – Rochester Hills, MI

Tuesday, June 2 – Jacobs Pavilion – Cleveland, OH

Wednesday, June 3 – Salt Shed – Chicago, IL

Friday, June 5 – The Caverns Outdoor Amphitheater – Pelham, TN

Saturday, June 6 – KEMBA Live! Outdoor – Columbus, OH

Tuesday, June 9 – Thompson’s Point – Portland, ME

Wednesday, June 10 – Leader Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA

Friday, June 12 – Saratoga Performing Arts Center – Saratoga Springs, NY

Saturday, June 13 – Stone Pony Summerstage – Asbury Park, NJ

Sunday, June 14 – All Good Now Festival – Columbia, MD

Tuesday, June 16 – The AMP Ballantyne – Charlotte, NC

Wednesday, June 17 – Firefly Distillery – North Charleston, SC

Friday, June 19 – St. Augustine Amphitheatre – St. Augustine, FL

Saturday, June 20 – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park – Atlanta, GA

Monday, June 22 – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR

Tuesday, June 23 – ACL Live at Moody Theatre – Austin, TX

Thursday, June 25 – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory – Irving, TX

Saturday, June 27 – Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, CO

Sunday, June 28 – Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, CO

Tuesday, June 30 – Arizona Financial Theatre – Phoenix, AZ

Wednesday, July 1 – Gallagher Square – San Diego, CA

Friday, July 3 – Long Beach Amphitheater – Long Beach, CA

Saturday, July 4 – Meritage Resort & Spa – Napa, CA

Deer Tick Announce New Album Coin-O-Matic

Providence’s Deer Tick have announced the June 5 release of their ninth studio album,  Coin-O-Matic, via ATO.  The LP casts a bright light on a little-known facet of the American mythos: the hidden histories of the band’s home state of Rhode Island, where the everyday dramas of working-class families long collided with the menace of the mafia underworld. As they tapped into their infinite fascination with that strange duality, singer/guitarist John McCauley, guitarist/singer Ian O’Neil, drummer/singer Dennis Ryan, and bassist Christopher Ryan assembled a batch of songs exploring desperation, grief, redemption, and resilience with both cinematic detail and lived-in emotionality. A sharp new turn from one of indie-rock’s most enduringly vital forces, Coin-O-Matic arrives as a complicated love letter to a way of life slowly slipping from the collective memory.

Coin-O-Matic is deeply informed by the singular experience of growing up Irish-Catholic.  That is exemplified by the album’s lead single, the ramshackle jangle-pop “Mary Singletary,” which Deer Tick share today. It tells a tender yet irreverent tale of interfaith teenage lust. “Most of the stories on the album are from my parents’ generation and the generation before that, when the idea of a Catholic and a Protestant getting together was very scandalous,” saysMcCauley. “With that song in particular, I liked the idea of writing about Catholic guilt and pre-marital sex and adding in a little bit of Looney Tunes-style violence—sometimes as a young Catholic boy, I did imagine a vengeful God cutting me down in a cartoonish kind of way.”  Listen/share “Mary Singletary” here and watch the video, directed by Colin Devin Moore, here:

Pre-save Coin-O-Matic

Today Deer Tick also announce an extensive North American tour in support of Coin-O-Matic with dates throughout 2026.  The first leg kicks off this month and includes a hometown show at Providence’s Uptown Theater on March 13.  They head back out on the road in June and again this fall with dates in September, October and November.  Deer Tick will play Brookyn’s Warsaw on June 9 and The Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on October 9.  All shows are listed below and tickets are on-sale here on Friday, March 13 at 10am local.

The follow-up to Emotional Contracts (hailed by Uncut as one of 2023’s best albums), Coin-O-Matic takes its title from a cigarette-vending-machine company that served as the headquarters of Raymond Patriarca—a legendary mobster who ran one of the most ruthless crime families in U.S. history. “If you grew up in Rhode Island years ago, you’d see all these mobsters on the news and then run into them at a restaurant on Federal Hill,” says McCauley, referring to Providence’s version of Little Italy. “They were criminals but also very colorful characters, and I wanted the album to partly reflect a certain nostalgia for that kind of seediness.”

Recorded at Deer Tick’s home studio, Coin-O-Matic marks their first self-produced album in their two-decade-plus lifespan, during which they’ve enlisted A-list producers like Dave Fridmann (a Grammy-winner known for his work with The Flaming Lips and Spoon). “At first it was daunting not to have that extra ear in the studio, but it felt like the right time to peel off the Band-Aid and fully trust ourselves,” says O’Neil. “Since we were working in our own space and there weren’t any limitations on time, we had the freedom to take these four-guys-in-a-room rock songs and experiment with different ways of decorating them.” Featuring guest musicians like Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin (on baritone saxophone) and former Deer Tick member Rob Crowell (on organ), Coin-O-Matic frequently brings a live-wire immediacy to their finespun storytelling. “We’ve never been so comfortable making a record, and I think you can feel that in the performances,” says Dennis, who engineered the LP. “We weren’t beholden to anyone else’s idea of what Deer Tick sounds like, and because of that this album feels like an unfettered capturing of who we are as a band.”

In its soulful contemplation of recklessness and consequence, longing and devotion, Coin-O-Matic ultimately joins the canon of rock albums whose geographically rooted storytelling reveals deeper truths about the human experience. “I think there’s something universal in stories of regret and loss and poor decisions, even if they’re told through the lens of all the odd characters in this little state of ours,” O’Neil points out. “One of the reasons I wanted us to make this album is that I think Rhode Island deserves to be a contender for a place that people sing about,” McCauley adds. “Sonically there’s nothing country about it, but to me it almost feels like a country record set in an urban environment—there’s definitely some outlaws in there. I hope that people see themselves in it, and that they understand a little more about the place that we come from.”

Deer Tick tour dates 

3/11 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
3/12 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
3/13 – Uptown – Providence, RI

6/9 –  Warsaw – Brooklyn, NY
6/10 – Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA
6/12 – The Atlantis – Washington, DC
6/13 – Thunderbird Music Hall – Pittsburgh, PA

6/14 – Ludlow Garage – Cincinnati, OH

6/16 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
6/17 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN
6/19 – Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI
6/20 – El Club – Detroit, MI

6/21 – The Opera House – Toronto, ON
6/23 – Bearsville Theater – Woodstock, NY

6/25 – State Theatre – Portland, ME
6/26 – Royale – Boston, MA
6/27 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT

9/24 – The Waiting Room Lounge – Omaha, NE
9/25 – recordBar – Kansas City, MO
9/26 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
9/27 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
9/29 – The Elm – Bozeman, MT
9/30 – Shrine Social Club – Boise, ID
10/2 – Aladdin Theater – Portland, OR
10/3 – Neumos – Seattle, WA
10/4 – Hollywood Theatre – Vancouver, BC
10/6 – Harlow’s – Sacramento, CA
10/7 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
10/9 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA
10/10 – Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA
10/13 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA
10/14 – Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
10/16 – Scoot Inn – Austin, TX
10/17 – The Heights Theater – Houston, TX
10/18 – The Kessler Theater – Dallas, TX

11/5 – The Basement East – Nashville, TN
11/6 – Eulogy – Asheville, NC
11/7 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA
11/8 – Motorco Music Hall – Durham, NC

11/9 – Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC
11/11 – Revolution Live – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
11/13 – Bayboro Brewing Co. – St. Petersburg, FL

11/14 – The Social – Orlando, FL
11/15 – The Pour House – Charleston, SC
11/17 – The Broadberry – Richmond, VA
11/19 – House of Independents – Asbury Park, NJ

11/20 – Arrow at Archer Music Hall – Allentown, PA
11/21 – District Music Hall – Norwalk, CT

Improvement Movement Announce Signing To ATO Records

Improvement Movement has quickly emerged as one of Atlanta’s most exciting new bands, blending folk, psych-rock, and an indie sensibility to deliver a timeless sound. They have been building a steady world-of-mouth following that ultimately caught the attention of ATO Records who have now signed the band.  Today they share their new single, “Still Cold,” their first new music for the label.    

“In the studio we ended up talking about a lot of different experiences that qualify as bittersweet, or melancholy, including the idea that anything good happening in our lives right now takes place against the ominous backdrop of an ever angrier, chaotic world,” says keyboardist Zach Pyles. “A couple of hours later we had recorded ‘Still Cold,’ yielding a song that explores those emotional poles in both the lyrics and the harmony itself.”  

LISTEN TO “STILL COLD” HERE

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “STILL COLD” HERE

Improvement Movement is currently touring North America with Iron & Wine. Upcoming tour highlights include Chicago’s Thalia Hall on May 5 and Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn on May 13.  In addition the band are playing at a handful of festivals this summer.  See below for the full itinerary and tickets are available here. 

The four members, Marshall Ruffin (bass), Clark Hamilton (guitar), Tony Aparo (drums), and Zach Pyles (keyboards), met playing together in Atlanta’s diverse music scene, fostering a strong community that they keep front-of-mind. Over the course of several years of constant collaboration, they forged a collective approach to their music with all band members contributing to songwriting, trading lead vocals, and swapping instruments in the studio and on stage. Likened to Grizzly Bear and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for their ability to defy genres, Improvement Movement adds modern indie and experimental textures to a classic harmony-heavy sound that is uniquely their own.

Join the Improvement Movement today. 

Alex Amen Announces Debut Album, Sun of Amen, Out June 12th

“A transportive quality; you’ll be washed with a sense of nostalgia for the ’70s folk scene…bolstered by raw and irrefutable talent.” — American Songwriter

“This is folk country at its finest.” — Saving Country Music 

Alex Amen—the 26-year-old indie folk-country singer-songwriter from Texas—announces his debut album, Sun of Amen, out June 12th via ATO Records and releases the new single/video, “Diamonds.” An artist untethered from time or place, Alex Amen crafts music that feels eternally familiar, yet strikingly new – shaped by a wandering spirit always in motion. Newly signed to ATO Records, Amen’s full-length debut is a body of work that opens a space for sustained and quiet wonder, offering up songs touched with both ease and beauty.

At 18, Amen moved from Texas to California to study filmmaking. After one semester he dropped out and moved onto the Dittman Family Commune, a commune with historic ties to the countercultural movements of the mid-60’s. It was here that he formed his first band in 2017 which broke up shortly after, resulting in Amen’s move from Southern California to the  island of Vashon in Washington’s Puget Sound. The next three years he spent in relative isolation, taking up various interests in mycology, mountaineering, poetry, and wooden boat building. As years passed, Amen felt the increasing need to return to California to pursue music. In January of 2023 he began self-producing his first EP The Zorthian Tapes (2025) in a self-built studio at the historic Zorthian Ranch in Altadena, California. Amen now lives in Los Angeles—releasing music among the growing Folk/Americana/Country scene in the city and performing his music across North America and beyond. 

Produced by Amen and engineered by Jonny Bell (Cage the Elephant, Chicano Batman), Sun of Amen matches its old-soul warmth with an astonishing clarity—the natural byproduct of his reverence for classic records and ardent refusal to chase nostalgia. “With this album we were meticulous about creating something high-quality while recording in a more traditional way, which has its own challenges—older gear is temperamental, so sometimes we’d have to break for three hours because the tape machine caught on fire,” Amen comments.

Partly recorded at the legendary Valentine Recording Studios in L.A., Sun of Amen unfolds with a rich sonic depth achieved with the help of an expansive lineup of musicians, including several of Amen’s longtime bandmates as well as in-demand talents like Tommy de Bourbon (a multi-instrumentalist whose recent endeavors include playing pedal steel in Lana Del Rey’s touring band). Over the course of its 11 songs, the album’s lush and unhurried sound serves as a potent backdrop to Amen’s storytelling, adding another layer to his sharply observed conjuring of atmosphere and landscape. This is exemplified by the heavy-hearted sprawl of today’s single, “Diamonds,” a wistful reflection on life and love gained and lost during his time in California. The accompanying video features footage of Alex rock climbing, his time in Vashon where he took up wooden boat building and his excursion sailing from Washington to Canada last summer.

Watch Alex Amen’s “Diamond” Video

As he moves into a new chapter of his journey, music and the natural world remain parallel forces in Amen’s life, providing an endless source of fortifying joy. “I think it’s important for everyone to have a physical connection with nature, partly because it creates more of a desire to make sure we’re not destroying the planet, but it’s also good for humans on every basic level to move and be outside,” he says. “It’s the same thing with music—I think I’ve been very blessed in the sense that music has always been something I’ve done because I love it; it’s never felt forced to me. I really just love the way it feels to play music, and I’ve found the more you chase it and live with an open heart, the more life brings you songs.”

In the past year, Amen has toured with Folk Bitch Trio, performed at festivals such as Pitchfork London & Paris, Newport Folk, Iceland Airwaves, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, and also participated in the Americana Music Association’s annual GRAMMY Eve concert at the Troubadour to honor Neil Young. Fresh off performing at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion during this year’s SXSW, Amen will wrap up his month-long New York City residency at Night Club 101 next Tuesday, April 14. He’ll also perform at several festivals in the coming months including WXPN’s NON-COMMvention, Analog Reunion, Green River and Winnipeg Folk. 

Pre-Order Sun of Amen

Watch/Stream:
“Diamonds”
“Cabin By The Sea”

Sun of Amen Tracklist:

1. Diamonds
2. Cabin By The Sea
3. Please Don’t Tell Me You Love Me
4. Peaches
5. Her Spirit Wanders
6. Memories of You
7. California Blues
8. Changes
9. April
10. Lonely People

Alex Amen Tour Dates:
(New Dates in Bold)
Tue. April 14 – New York, NY @ Night Club 101
Thu. May 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Radio NonComm Convention
Sat. May 16 – Healdsburg, CA @ Analog Reunion Festival
Sat. June 20 – Greenfield, MA @ Green River Festival
Wed. July 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom (w/ Kurt Vile and the Violators)
Fri. July 10 – Sun July 12 – Winnipeg, MB @ Winnipeg Folk Festival
Thu. Sept. 3 – Sun. Sept. 6 – Salisbury, UK @ End of the Road Festival

Download Cover Art & Hi-Res Images of Alex Amen

Sun of Amen Album Artwork

Website | Instagram | TikTok

Angine de Poitrine – Vol I & II out June 12th on Vinyl and CD

Angine de Poitrine

Vol. I & Vol. II

In Stores June 12

Available on Vinyl & CD for the first time in the U.S. !

ATO Records is extremely excited to announce an exclusive distribution partnership with Angine de Poitrine for their physical records in the USA.

The first wax pressings for U.S. customers are finally here !

Vinyl and CD copies of Vol.1 & Vol. II will be available at all retailers starting June 12. Fans are encouraged to contact their favorite record store or online retailer to pre-order. See suggested pre-order links in our bio.

Angine de Poitrine’s music makes hearts pound and human bodies dance frantically. Through solid drum grooves and intricate inter-weavings of microtonal guitars, the duo creates hypnotic vortices of sound and visual patterns.

The duo have spent the past two years in the eye of an ever-growing storm of enthusiasm from audiences and critics thanks to their asymmetrical, dissonant music and electrifying performances, including a stunning Live on KEXP session that has quickly amassed over 8M views and counting.

Hailed by The Guardian for their “hypnotic riffs and grooves, whose proggy time shifts are all in astonishing lockstep, making this as much party music as it is prog,” the Mantra-Rock Dada Pythagorean-Cubist Orchestra known as Angine de Poitrine gaze in wonder at hot dogs, pyramids, and rock music in all its glorious excess.

Friko Announces New Album, Something Worth Waiting For, Out April 24th

Friko—the Chicago based band of vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan, drummer Bailey Minzenberger, guitarist Korgan Robb, and bassist David Fuller—announces their sophomore album, Something Worth Waiting For, out April 24th via ATO Records, and presents the lead single/video, “Seven Degrees.” The album bears a heightened urgency that Friko partly attributes to a profound shift in their production process. Produced by Grammy-award winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Mannequin Pussy, Mogwai, Angel Olsen) and recorded at his Los Angeles studio, Something Worth Waiting For is equal parts sonically extravagant and emotionally searing. “On our first record we were much more involved in the technical aspect of everything, but this time John made it clear that he wanted us to just come in and do our thing,” says Minzenberger. “I think that allowed us to let go in a way that we never had before, and because of that we captured something very raw.”

While Something Worth Waiting For often embodies a frenzied intensity, the album tilts toward the ecstatic on songs like lead single “Seven Degrees,” a sing-along-ready anthem born from a linguistic misunderstanding on Kapetan’s part. “For a long time I thought the saying was ‘seven degrees of separation’ and not ‘six,’” he explains. “There’s a lightness to that song but really it’s about connection, and trying to stay close to the people you care about.”Something Worth Waiting For ultimately locates a wildly elusive balance between the wide-eyed idealism of youth and the self-possessed grit of lived experience. The accompanying video for “Seven Degrees” was produced by Infinite Dog (They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Geese, MJ Lenderman) and delves into the world of RC cars.

Something Worth Waiting For marks the first Friko release to feature Robb and Fuller, who joined the band in the midst of their globe-spanning tour in support of their full-length debut—an endeavor that included headlining shows all over North America, England, Europe, and Asia (and achieving remarkable success in Japan, where they performed at Fuji Rock Festival then quickly returned for a sold-out show at Tokyo’s 1,000-capacity Kanda Square Hall), as well as touring with seminal alt-rock acts like The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse. And with the expansion of their lineup, Kapetan and Minzenberger found an ideal match for their viscerally attuned yet voraciously creative sensibilities. “We spend so much of our time talking about these songs and focusing on every detail,” says Fuller. “That deep love of the music is in all our bones, which makes it really special for every one of us.”

As they assembled songs for the new album, they mined inspiration from their constant activity over the past two years, arriving at a body of work that speaks to a more existential form of movement. “If the general theme of the record is transit, then the title gets at the idea of always moving toward something you never quite seem to reach,” says Kapetan. “That might sound pessimistic, but maybe the reaching isn’t necessarily the point,” Minzenberger adds. “I think life is meant to bring new experiences so that your world is ever-expanding, and not about constantly striving to achieve one particular thing.”

As they look toward their future, Friko express a sense of promise: “there’s been so much change and growth since the first record, which I think will continue as we move forward,” says Minzenberger. “There’s usually a lot of fear or discomfort when you’re trying something different, but we’re just going to keep being as genuine as possible and keep creating whatever feels true to us.”

When Friko delivered their uncompromising and thrilling debut album Where we’ve been, Where we go from here in 2024, they introduced a galvanizing new voice into the indie-rock canon. Both uncompromising in spirit and thrilling in impact, the 2024 LP landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Pitchfork, the cover of NME, and led to glowing acclaim from Rolling Stone, Paste, NPR Music, and SPIN. In the making of their sophomore full-length, the band gained a powerful new clarity on their purpose and vision while embracing an even bolder sense of abandon, exploring everything from noise-rock to avant-garde classical to ’70s-era symphonic balladry.

Friko will celebrate the release of Something Worth Waiting For with a hometown show at Chicago’s Metro. Tickets are on sale this Friday at 10am CST. The following exclusives are also available for pre-order: Artist Store exclusive (“Hot Air Balloon” tri-color variant), Rough Trade Exclusive (“Bike Wheel” variant), and Chicago Exclusive (Blue Vinyl), in addition to the wide black vinyl and CD.

Something Worth Waiting For Tracklist:
1. Guess
2. Still Around
3. Choo Choo
4. Alice
5. Certainty
6. Hot Air Balloon
7. Seven Degrees
8. Something Worth Waiting For
9. Dear Bicycle

Friko Tour Dates:
Sat. April 25 – Chicago, IL @ Metro [Release Show]

Altin Gün Announce New Studio Album ‘Garip’

Today, Altin Gün — “Amsterdam’s finest Turkish psych revivalists” (Pitchfork) whose experimental vision of rock and folk music has led them to world tours, opening slots for Tame Impala and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Coachella and Primavera festival stages, and even a GRAMMY nomination — announces Garip, their sixth album out February 20 on ATO Records.

Lead single “Neredesin Sen” is a swirling motorik interpretation of a Turkish folk classic, injected with a hint of Queens Of The Stone Age’s lysergic edge.

Listen to “Neredsin Sen” here and watch the video here. 

Garip — which translates to “strange” in English — is a loving tribute to Neşet Ertaş, a beloved icon of Anatolian music who carried the spirit of the ashik folk tradition into the modern era. Ertas was a gifted singer, lyricist, and bağlama virtuoso who recorded more than 30 albums and wrote hundreds of songs — some of which were famously recorded by the likes of Bariş Manço and Selda Bağcan.

Through reimagining ten Ertaş compositions, Altin Gün carry on his trailblazing spirit — weaving in lush Arabesque string arrangements, bursts of saxophone, glimmering synth balladry, and a fresh surge of tightly wound rock ’n’ roll. Throughout they maintain a distinct cinematic scope, equal parts Bollywood and spaghetti western. Garip a fitting way to honor a figure as titanic as Ertaş, a work that traces Altin Gün’s sonic roots while simultaneously charting an exhilarating path forward.

Pre-order / pre-save Garip here.

For Altin Gün’s vocalist, keyboardist, and bağlama player Erdinç Eçevit, interpreting a suite of Ertaş’s tunes is a chance to get back to his roots. “Both of my parents are from Turkey, from the same area he is from,” he says. “It’s the music that I grew up with. When I was five, six years old, my grandfather always had cassettes by Neşet Ertaş and I used to listen to it all day long. Then I was too young to really understand the lyrics and the meaning, but I really liked the melodies.”

Now, years later, Eçevit has fully immersed himself in Ertaş’s lyrics — messages from the heart that are, he says, “stories about what he’s facing in life. The Turkish traditional music is the blues of the Turkish people.”

On Garip, Altin Gün recast these songs of longing, heartache, and resilience with the freewheeling verve that has kept them on the cutting-edge of 21st century psychedelic music. They even collaborated with the Stockholm Studio Orchestra to lend a luxuriant, sophisticated feel to various tracks, with arrangements inspired by Egyptian popular music, Turkish Arabesque, and swooning mid-century French and Italian pop.

Altin Gün have European live dates set through the spring, with more dates to be announced throughout the year. See full dates below.

GARIP TRACKLIST
1. Neredsin Sen
2. Gōnūl Daği
3. Öldürme Beni
4. Niğde Bağları
5. Benim Yarim
6. Suçum Nedir
7. Gel Yanima Gel
8. Zülüf Dökülmüs
9. Gel Kaçma Gel
10. Bir Nazar Eyledim

TOUR DATES
Jan 31 – Muziekgieterij – Maastricht, NL
Feb 14 – Doornroosje – Nijmegen, NL
Feb 26 – 013 – Tilburg, NL
Feb 28 – De Roma – Antwerp, BE
Mar 5 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
Mar 10 – Trianon – Paris, FR
Mar 13 – Koko – London, UK
Mar 17 – Carlswerk – Cologne, DE
Mar 19 – Huxleys Neue Welt – Berlin, DE
Mar 22 – Grosse Freiheit – Hamburg, DE
Mar 24 – Grev Hall – Copenhagen, DK
Mar 26 – Fallan – Stockholm, SE
Mar 27 – Pustervik – Gothenborg, SE
Mar 28 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, NO
Apr 11 – Le Temps Machine – Joue Le Tours, FR
Apr 12 – Attabal – Biarritz, FR
Apr 14 – Kafe Antzokia – Bilbao, ES
Apr 15 – Son Estrella Galicia – Santiago De Compostella, ES
Apr 16 – Bee Week – Madrid, ES
Apr 18 – Psych Fest – Barcelona, ES
Apr 19 – Le Bikini – Toulouse, FR
May 12 – La Laiterie – Strassbourg, FR
May 13 – Fri Son – Fribourg, CH
May 14 – Sudpol – Luzern, CH
May 15 – Gemini Festival – Bologna, IT

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Brigitte Calls Me Baby Announce Their New Album ‘Irreversible’

Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby have just announced their sophomore record Irreversible, which will arrive March 13th via ATO Records. Lead single “Slumber Party” finds frontman Wes Leavins’ iconic voice on full display, backed by propulsive guitar and percussion. The group have had a whirlwind few years following the release of their debut album and relentless touring schedule. With sold-out tours across the US, UK and Europe alongside Morrissey, Muse, & Fontaines D.C., and television performances at Kimmel, Kelly Clarkson, and CBS, the band are ready to return with an electrifying suite of songs that fully captures the energy and grandeur of their live show.

Produced by Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman (Blondshell, Yves Tumor), Irreversible marks the follow-up to their critically lauded 2024 debut The Future Is Our Way Out. Recorded live at Lawrence’s home studio, the 11-song LP reveals a band profoundly transformed by their countless hours on the road and instilled with a newfound fearlessness.

WATCH “SLUMBER PARTY” OFFICIAL VIDEO

“Slumber Party” delves into the dark corners of the human psyche, with Leavins sharing that he “wrote that song thinking about the type of people who isolate and ruminate, to the point where it becomes a chore to leave the home.” Written on the road, like much of the record, “Slumber Party” was added to their San Diego setlist on a whim. The crowd’s feverish reaction made something click—the band realized they weren’t just gathering ideas and writing songs; they were building a record.

Alongside the album announcement, the band today have also revealed their headline North American Tour dates that will see them play this spring in Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Nashville, DC, NYC and more. Their North American tour follows their upcoming headline dates in the UK and a stint supporting The Vaccines. See full list of tour dates below, tickets go on-sale, Friday, January 16th at 10AM local time – find tickets HERE.

Tour Dates

Jan 21st – Chicago, IL @ Schubas SOLD OUT

Jan 23rd – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

Feb 28 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow * SOLD OUT

Mar 1 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Victoria Warehouse * SOLD OUT

Mar 3 – Newcastle, UK @ O2 City Hall * SOLD OUT

Mar 4 – Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall * SOLD OUT

Mar 6 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Victoria Warehouse * SOLD OUT

Mar 7 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy * SOLD OUT

Mar 9 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy * SOLD OUT

Mar 10 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City * SOLD OUT

Mar 11 – Bristol, UK @ The Prospect Building * SOLD OUT

Mar 13 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton * SOLD OUT

Mar 14 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton * SOLD OUT

Mar 16 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso (Upstairs)

Mar 17 – Brussels, BE @ Madame Moustache

Mar 19 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor

Mar 20 – Hamburg, DE @ Molotow

Mar 22 – Berlin, DE @ Hole 44

Mar 23 – Munich, DE @ Strom

Mar 24 – Prague, CZ @ Café v Lese

Mar 25 – Vienna, AT @ Chelsea

Mar 28 – Milan, IT @ Circolo Magnolia

Mar 29 – Zurich, CH @ Dynamo Werk 21

Mar 31 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo

Apr 2 – London, UK @ Scala

Apr 3 – Liverpool, UK @ Hangar 34

Apr 4 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club

Apr 13 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon

Apr 14 – Des Moines, IA @ xBk

Apr 16 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall

Apr 18 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway

Apr 19 – Kansas City, MO @ RecordBar

Apr 21 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater

Apr 24 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza

Apr 25 – Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret

Apr 26 – Portland, OR @ Holocene

Apr 28 – San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord

Apr 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

May 1 – San Diego, CA @ Voodoo Room at House of Blues

May 2 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar

May 4 – Dallas, TX @ Puzzles

May 5 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s Nightclub

May 6 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs)

May 8 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement

May 9 – Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl at Center Stage

May 11 – Washington, DC @ The Atlantis

May 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at The Fillmore

May 14 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

May 15 – Boston, MA @ The Red Room at Cafe 939

May 16 – Uncasville, CT @ Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Resort

May 19 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall

May 20 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch

May 21 – Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI

*supporting The Vaccines

In the larger-than-life world of Brigitte Calls Me Baby, our most difficult emotions become beautifully warped into something sublime: heartbreak turns to melancholy, desperation takes on a poetic glamour, infatuation becomes something unruly and impossible to contain. With their lavish and electrifying breed of alt-rock, the Chicago-based band doesn’t seek to resolve these feelings so much as sit inside them: idealizing, interrogating, and ultimately surrendering to their emotional weight. It’s a sensibility that’s earned the band a diehard following since forming in 2022. In a major leap forward for Leavins and his bandmates—guitarist Jack Fluegel, bassist Devin Wessels, drummer Jeremy Benshish—Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s sophomore album Irreversiblepushes further into the exquisite pathos of their songwriting, all while fully capturing the transcendent grandeur of their live show. The result: a majestic suite of songs that burn bright, hit hard, and passionately celebrate the drama of being alive.

Produced by Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman (Los Angeles-based brothers whose collective credits include Blondshell and Yves Tumor), Irreversible marks the follow-up to Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s widely lauded debut album The Future Is Our Way Out—a 2024 release that delivered standouts like “Impressively Average” (a Top 10 hit Triple A radio) and earned praise from tastemakers like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, SPIN and NME (who noted that “[i]n having so much fun with their legendary touchstones, Brigitte Calls Me Baby have carved out a triumph of their own”). Over the past few years, the band has toured relentlessly through the U.S., U.K., and Europe, moving from small rooms to sold-out headlining shows with a sense of disbelief that slowly gave way to confidence. Touring alongside bands like Fontaines D.C and Morrissey. only reinforced their instincts, offering irrefutable proof that there’s room for music that refuses to flatten its edges.

Much of Irreversible was written in transit: lyrics scribbled in hotels and Airbnbs, melodies rigorously analyzed over headphones, voice memos traded back and forth between Leavins and Wessels while the rest of the world slept. When Brigitte Calls Me Baby returned to Chicago for brief stretches, they’d flesh out those songs before heading back out on the road, then further refine them in soundchecks and test the new material live.

That exacting but illuminating process left the songs exceptionally dialed-in by the time Brigitte Calls Me Baby entered the studio with the Rothmans, whose work with artists like Girl in Red and Angel Olsen proved immensely inspiring to the band. Recording sessions were intentionally brief—four-hour days that prioritized intuition over excess—because the songs already knew what they wanted to be. In a profound evolution of their debut, Irreversible is more layered and less direct, allowing for more texture, tension, and space to linger in emotional extremes. “Our first album taught me that you’ve got to reach as far down into your soul as possible and be willing to show something real and raw to the world, and with this album that felt even easier and more natural,” says Leavins. “There was a time when I tried to bury the kind of feelings we’re displaying on this record, but now I’m at the point where I don’t feel the need to hold anything back.”

Thematically, Irreversible centers on acceptance: of reality, of time, of the present moment as something that can’t be undone. Death and its inevitability loom large throughout the album—not as shock value, but as a quiet motivator. While touring, Leavins has made a ritual of visiting graveyards as a form of exposure therapy, stopping in places like England’s Abney Park Cemetery to sit with the fear rather than avoid it. That confrontation with impermanence runs through Irreversible, which views death as the ultimate transition. Many of the album’s love songs wrestle with desire in its most unwieldy form: the wish to fully possess another person, or be possessed in return, even while knowing that kind of unity is impossible.

An instant transmission of pure unfiltered feeling, Irreversible explores everything from existential anxiety to generational cycles of depression to the toxic self-delusion of the emotionally manipulative. Centered on a boldly singular sound that feels both thrillingly new and immediately essential to the modern rock landscape, Irreversible spotlights the distinct narrative voice Leavins first cultivated by writing songs as a 13-year-old kid in Port Arthur, Texas. “My whole inclination toward music came from being in this small town in Texas with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and wanting to be understood without having to say anything,” he says.

Despite its fascination with the more shadowy dimensions of our emotional lives, Irreversible bears a subtle undercurrent of hope—a sense that peace can arrive when you stop resisting what is. And with the release ofIrreversible, Brigitte Calls Me Baby aim to impart others with a similar sense of hopeful determination. “All these songs just come from writing about what genuinely touches me, whether it’s my own experience or something I’ve observed in others,” Leavins acknowledges. “But in the end I want them to give hope to people who are yearning for something—whether that be in the romantic sense, or in the sense of finding a place in the world that truly feels like theirs. I want to leave people with the same sense of possibility I’ve always found in the music I love.”

Irreversible Tracklisting

1. There Always
2. Slumber Party
3. I Danced With Another Love in My Dreams
4. The Pit
5. Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
6. These Acts of Which Were Designed
7. Sillage
8. I Can’t Have You All To Myself
9. I Can Take the Sun Out of the Sky
10. The Early Days of Love
11. Send Those Memories

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Brother Wallace Announces Debut Album Electric Love

Some artists spend their whole lives getting ready for the moment the world finally hears them. Brother Wallace is one of them. The West Point, Georgia-bred singer, pianist, and soul revivalist announces his debut album, Electric Love, out May 8, and shares the album’s title track—a Motown-esque number that’s equal parts playful, revelatory, and gloriously cathartic—alongside an official music video.

On “Electric Love,” Brother Wallace doesn’t just sing about joy—he fights for it. The song moves like a shot of sunlight through a storm cloud: Stax-and-satin soul, piano-driven, and bursting with momentum, it’s built for the exact moment when you decide you’re not going to let the world harden you. “It’s about choosing connection,” Wallace says. “Finding that current again—the thing that reminds you you’re alive.”

Raised in a small rural town where the church was both community and classroom, Brother Wallace began singing early and started formal piano training at six years old. By 14, he was directing a 100-member choir—leading not from ambition, but from instinct. Music wasn’t extracurricular; it was identity. Still, his path didn’t follow the typical industry arc. Wallace built a life at the intersection of art and service, becoming a K–12 music teacher and shaping young voices day after day, even as his own kept growing into something undeniable.

Over time, that “teacher” story expanded into something bigger: including sharing the stage with gospel legend Kirk Franklin performing at Madison Square Garden. But it wasn’t until a chance meeting sparked a creative partnership—one that stretched across years and continents—that Brother Wallace’s vision began assembling into the album it was always meant to become.

That partnership was with Dan Taylor (The Heavy), who became not just a collaborator but a catalyst. Recorded at Real World Studios (the legendary facility founded by Peter Gabriel) and produced/co-written by Taylor, Electric Love captures the breathless immediacy of Wallace’s performances—engineered and mixed by Bob Mackenzie (James Blake, The 1975, King Krule, SAULT) and Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys). The result is soul music that feels alive in your hands: gritty, radiant, and built around the kind of vocal that turns rooms silent before it turns them inside out.

Across its 13 songs, Electric Love is less a debut than a revelation—a body of work fueled by gospel roots and classic soul lineage (Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Southern soul greats) while refusing to live in nostalgia. Wallace writes in lived-in scenes and hard-earned feeling: heartbreak without defeat, joy without naïveté, vulnerability without apology.

This spring, Brother Wallace will bring that world to the stage supporting St. Paul & The Broken Bones on his first-ever tour—an ideal match for a performer whose voice and presence were made for big rooms, shared air, and nights that feel like revival.

TOUR DATES, with St. Paul & The Broken Bones
4/17/2026 – Charlotte, NC – Fillmore
4/18/2026 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
4/19/2026 – Raleigh, NC – Ritz
4/21/2026 – Richmond, VA – Botanical Garden
4/23/2026 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
4/24/2026 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
4/25/2026 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
4/26/2026 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
4/28/2026 – Toronto, ON – Danforth
4/29/2026 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews
5/1/2026 – Chicago, IL – Salt Shed
5/2/2026 – Minneapolis, MN – Palace Theatre
5/3/2026 – Madison, WI – Sylvee
5/5/2026 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
5/6/2026 – Lexington, KY – Burl Outdoors
5/8/2026 – Atlanta, GA – Eastern
5/9/2026 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall

UK/EUROPE TOUR DATES
5/13/2026 – Brighton, UK – The Great Escape Festival
5/24/2026 – London, UK – Cross The Tracks Festival
More Dates TBA Soon