Phish Release New Song Oblivion From Forthcoming Studio Album ‘Evolve’

Phish has announced today’s premiere of “Oblivion,” the second song released from their forthcoming new album, Evolve. Phish’s first album in over four years, Evolve arrives via JEMP Records on Friday, July 12. Pre-orders are available now.

LISTEN TO “OBLIVION”

PRE-ORDER EVOLVE

 Evolve is Phish’s 16th studio album and was produced by Vance Powell and Bryce Goggin. It was recorded in the fall of 2023 at the band’s Vermont recording studio, The Barn. True to Phish’s unique creative process, the album’s 13 songs were selected from arrangements shaped by the band’s dynamic live performances. Some, like the fan-favorite “A Wave Of Hope,” have become springboards for Phish’s most soaring improvisation. The album was heralded in April with the release of its title track.

LISTEN TO “EVOLVE”

Having just completed their highly acclaimed four-night sold-out run at Sphere – described by critics as “stunning,” “revelatory,” and “transcendent” – Phish will begin their summer tour with a three-night stand at Mansfield, MA’s Xfinity Center (July 19-21) and then continuing on with performances at Uncasville, CT’s Mohegan Sun Arena (July 23-24), East Troy, WI’s Alpine Valley Music Theatre (July 26-28), St. Louis, MO’s Chaifetz Arena (July 30-31), Noblesville, IN’s Ruoff Music Center (August 2-4), Grand Rapids, MI’s Van Andel Arena (August 6-7), and Bethel, NY historic Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (August 9-11). The tour will culminate with Phish’s traditional Labor Day Weekend run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO, returning for four nights (August 29-September 1). Limited tickets remain available for most dates. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit phish.com/tours.

This summer will see also Phish hosting Mondegreen, a four-day festival set for August 15-18 at The Woodlands in Dover, DE. The band’s 11th self-produced festival and first in nine years, Mondegreen will see Phish performing over four days and nights, alongside an array of interactive fan experiences, specially curated regional food and drink, art installations, and much more. For complete details on passes, car and RV camping and parking options, on-site glamping accommodations, travel packages, and more, please visit phish.com/mondegreen.

PHISH
EVOLVE
(JEMP Records)
Release Date: July 12, 2024

Cover Painting by Mehdi Ghadyanloo / Download Hi-Res Image

Tracklist:
1. Hey Stranger
2. Oblivion
3. Evolve
4. Wave of Hope
5. Pillow Jets
6. Lonely Trip
7. Life Saving Gun
8. Monsters
9. Ether Edge
10. Human Nature
11. Valdese
12. The Well*
13. Mercy

* Vinyl Only

# # # 

PHISH – LIVE 2024

JULY

19 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

20 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

21 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center

23 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena (SOLD OUT)

24 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena (SOLD OUT)

26 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre

27 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre

28 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Music Valley Music Theatre

30 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena

31 – St. Louis, MO – Chaifetz Arena

AUGUST

2 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center

3 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center

4 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center

6 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena

7 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena

9 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

10 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

11 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

15 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen

16 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen

17 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen

18 – The Woodlands, Dover, DE – Mondegreen

29 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park

30 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park

31 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park

SEPTEMBER

1 – Commerce City, CO – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park

For more information, please visit phish.com

# # #

ABOUT PHISH:

Phish – Trey Anastasio (guitar, vocals), Jon Fishman (drums, vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals), and Page McConnell (keyboards, vocals) – has earned one of music’s most dedicated fan communities for its blend of idiosyncratic songcraft, extended improvisation, and immersive live performances, all fusing a variety of genres into their own freewheeling sound and vision.

Formed in 1983 in Burlington, VT, Phish has released 15 studio albums, beginning with 1989’s Junta and continuing through 2020’s Sigma Oasis, released on the band’s own JEMP Records. In 2002, the band launched LivePhish, which offers high-quality soundboard recordings of every show, regular releases from Phish’s substantial archive, and 4k live webcasts. LivePhish+, the band’s streaming service, is the most successful artist-driven service of its kind, offering unlimited on-demand access to the entire LivePhish catalog.

Widely recognized among live music’s most beloved and inventive artists, Phish has played over 2,000 shows since their formation, regularly selling out multiple nights at arenas, amphitheaters, and stadiums across North America including such annual traditions as sold-out Labor Day weekend runs at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park soccer stadium outside of Denver, Halloween extravaganzas, and four-night New Year’s Eve celebrations at NYC’s world-famous Madison Square Garden. To date, Phish have performed 83 sold-out shows at The Garden since their debut performance there in 1994. In 2017, Phish performed The Bakers’ Dozen, a 13-night concert series that saw the band play 237 unique songs, repeating none during the entire run. The 13 shows concluded with Phish being presented with a banner commemorating the unprecedented series, which hangs in The Garden’s rafters.

In 1996, Phish presented The Clifford Ball, the first of 10 self-produced festivals, held on the decommissioned Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate New York, and influenced a new generation of American rock festivals including Bonnaroo among others. Phish marked the turn of the millennium with a New Year’s Eve festival at Florida’s Big Cypress Indian Reservation, drawing a record-setting attendance of 80,000 people, playing an historic seven-hour set, culminating at dawn on New Year’s Day.

In 1997, Phish founded The WaterWheel Foundation to oversee the band’s various charitable activities, harnessing the kindness of the Phish fan community to create positive change. WaterWheel fulfills this mission by collecting donations for local nonprofit organizations in association with Phish tour dates via WaterWheel’s Touring Division. WaterWheel also supports non-profits based in Phish’s home state of Vermont, especially those focused on cleaning up the Lake Champlain watershed. WaterWheel chooses beneficiaries from a wide sphere of causes including those working to protect the environment, promote social justice, fight food insecurity, provide music education, register voters, and those that help women and children, the homeless, and others in need. Phish recently performed two benefit concerts at Saratoga Springs, NY’s Broadview Stage at SPAC, raising over $3.5M for flood recovery efforts in Vermont and Upstate New York. For more information or to donate, please see www.waterwheelfoundation.org.

Monsters of Folk Celebrate 15th Anniversary Of Self-Titled Debut With Expanded New Edition

Monsters of Folk – the acclaimed band comprised of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) – are celebrating the 15^th anniversary of their self-titled, one and only album with an expanded new edition, arriving Friday, June 14 via ATO Records on clear vinyl and digital download. Pre-orders are available now. In addition, a number of multi-colored vinyl options will also be offered exclusively via Barnes & Noble, Vinyl Me Please, and Rough Trade.

First released in 2009, Monsters of Folk now sees the original 15-song album joined by five additional studio tracks from a previously unreleased 2012 session featuring “Fifth Monster” Will Johnson (Centro-matic), including the high-energy heartland rock anthem, “Disappeared,” premiering today alongside an official visualizer streaming now at YouTube.

“That session was very much kept in the moment,” says Will Johnson. “I remember looking over at Jim playing drums on ‘Disappeared,’ joyfully bashing away, and it harbored that same exuberance of starting your first band: that moment in the garage where things take flight, and the energy and happiness just lead you onward.”

LISTEN TO “DISAPPEARED”

WATCH “DISAPPEARED” OFFICIAL VISUALIZER

PRE-ORDER MONSTERS OF FOLK

Twenty years ago, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M. Ward, and Bright Eyes’ Connor Oberst and Mike Mogis came together for a revue-style tour that found the four musicians quickly developing a rarefied camaraderie. Taking their moniker from a tongue-in-cheek nickname bestowed by the tour’s road crew, the so-called Monsters of Folk reconvened a half-decade later and set to work on a self-titled debut album that alchemized their distinct sensibilities into 15 idiosyncratic yet strangely timeless songs, redefining the context of the supergroup while fully devoting themselves to the singular magic of creating without constraint.

“Making this album brought me back to the same feelings I had when I first started a band, or first started playing music in general – there’s a real simplicity and excitement to playing with folks you don’t normally play with,” says Jim James. “The spirit of play is alive on this whole thing.”

“Debut records have a freedom that can’t be matched, because there’s no history to work from,” says M. Ward. “I just hear the four of us following wherever the songs seem to be leading us.”

Mainly produced by producer/engineer/multi-instrumentalist Mogis, Monsters of Folk came to life over a series of sessions at the historic Malibu studio Shangri-La and at Mogis’ own Omaha Another Recording Company in Omaha, NE. Apart from ruling out the use of outside musicians (and handling all instrumentation on their own), the band embraced a free-flowing process that often hinged on encouraging each other to push into entirely new musical terrain. When matched with each member’s finely honed musicianship, that communal sense of creative abandon led to a lineup of songs that shift from country to pop to psych-rock with equal parts untamed imagination and ineffable ease. Fueled in part by the singles “Say Please” and “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.),” Monsters of Folk proved both a worldwide critical favorite as well as a popular sensation, reaching #15 on the overall Billboard 200 upon its 2009 release while also peaking among the top 10 on five additional album charts.

Arriving in time for the album’s 15^th anniversary, ATO’s Monsters of Folk reissue features an additional batch of songs recorded in 2012 alongside Will Johnson of Centro-matic. Those five tracks – which include “Disappeared” and the moody folk epic, “Museum Guard” – were initially meant to accompany a dystopic sci-fi film based on a screenplay penned by Oberst, a project that was eventually shelved. Looking back on album’s creation, all of the Monsters describe themselves as indelibly elevated by what Ward refers to his bandmates’ “superpowers.”

“It was amazing to have a ringside seat for the way Jim and M make records,” says Connor Oberst. “Jim’s outside-the-box knack for soul and harmony and M’s sense of space and songcraft were so inspiring and invaluable to me then, and continue to be to this day.”

“I feel like it really expanded my way of thinking about music, and my thinking in general,” James says. “It was so special to create with artists that I respect so much—to come into the project from a place of already loving so many of their songs and their outlook on the world, and then feel the whole experience opening me up to life in such a fresh and beautiful way.”  

TRACKLIST

1. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin’
4. Temazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead Of The Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map Of The World
14. The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me
15. His Master’s Voice
16. Dear to the Assassin *
17. Sweet Silence *
18. The Living Thing *
19. Museum Guard *
20. Disappeared *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS

Margaret Glaspy Announces New EP ‘The Sun Doesn’t Think’

Margaret Glaspy has announced a new EP set for release this Friday, April 26. Entitled The Sun Doesn’t Think (ATO), it will mark the follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed album Echo The Diamond which drew attention from the likes of The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone, among many others.

“While I was on tour for Echo The Diamond, I was writing this EP,” Glaspy says of the origins of the The Sun Doesn’t Think material. “I was inspired by just being around audiences and experiencing their charisma and their stories. It made me want to bring more music to them and release records closer to their inception.”  Today she shares the lead track “24/7” and Glaspy says “This song represents my attempt to understand how the threads of my childhood have woven the adult costume that I wear. I started to see that my beliefs about love and life had not evolved since I was a little girl and it had a pretty direct link to my own sense of worry and anxiety.” She adds, “I love being an adult – with it comes the opportunity to connect your own dots.”

Listen/share “24/7” here and watch the visualizer here:  https://youtu.be/kFWDxg8Y_Fw

Margaret will play the songs off The Sun Doesn’t Think and other fan-favorites on her forthcoming East Coast tour. The dates kick off May 2 at the Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, MD and conclude at The Little Theatrein Rochester, NY on May 31.  Along the way she will stop at Levon Helms Studio on May 4 in Woodstock, NY and National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY on May 10.  Additionally Glaspy will be playing in Tokyo, Japan in Juneand today has announced 3 shows in London in September – tickets go on-sale Friday, April 26 at 10am BST here.  She will also be playing the Wayne Music Festival in Wayne, PA on June 8 and Pleasantville Music Festival in Pleasantville, NY on July 13. Tickets for her stateside shows are on-sale now and all dates are listed below.

In creating The Sun Doesn’t Think Glaspy embraced the momentum she was feeling on tour, and hit the studio on her own terms. “The simplicity of making this reminded me of why I make music. I took my acoustic guitar into the studio in March, played new songs in front of a microphone, and The Sun Doesn’t Think was born in a couple of days,” she says of the EP, which was engineered by Mark Goodell at Joe’s Garage and mixed and mastered by Jason Richmond of The Kitchen. She drew inspiration from Tom Waits, Kim Gordon and author Neil Gaiman’s “dark but fantastical and surrealist places.” Of her own writing process she stated, “These days I feel my heart and mind transport to other places when I write – these songs came from either the countryside or the deep night in a lonesome city.”

The EP is rounded out by four other songs including  “Will You Be My Man” which centers around a heroine in Glaspy’s mind that defies all expectations and “Bathtub” – a song that she says “feels related to the inner dialogue of an artist at times – feeling stumped or challenged, and questioning your own work, ‘I don’t know why I try.”

2023 saw Margaret Glaspy release her third full-length album Echo The Diamond via ATO Records. The LPemerged from a deliberate stripping-away of artifice to reveal life for all its harsh truths and ineffable beauty. Like the precious gem of its title, the result is an object of startling luminosity, one capable of cutting through the most elaborately constructed façades. The albums’ singles “Act Natural,” “Memories,” and “Get Back” saw support from The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Spin, and others.  “Act Natural” reached the top 20 atAAA Radio, marking Glaspy’s highest chart position of her career. The album was labeled a “notable release of the week” by both NPR and American Songwriter and Pitchfork included it in their “8 New Albums You Should Listen To” list around release and The New York Times’ Jon Pareles included “Memories” in his in Best Songs of 2023 list noting “Over a waltz of simple guitar chords, Margaret Glaspy blurts out unvarnished grief in a torn voice, bereft yet struggling to go on.”

PRAISE FOR MARGARET GLASPY’S ECHO THE DIAMOND

“(‘Act Natural’ is) one of Glaspy’s all-time best.. a roaring, wondrous stroke of blues-injected rock ‘n’ roll” Paste 

“Singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy returns to spiky, guitar-forward songs on her third LP, Echo the Diamond.”  Pitchfork

“Expanding upon the the sound and themes of her previous effort, Devotion, Echo the Diamond finds Glaspy trusting her instincts and imbuing the batch of songs with a newfound rawness and grit…(her) songwriting has never felt so immediate or urgent.  Consequence

“Margaret Glaspy’s passionate croak is haunted by the past on the folky ‘Memories,’ …the dark humor, at least, makes the anguish go down smoothly.” New York Times

“(‘Act Natural’)l is a good rocking number from Margaret Glaspy. The snappy guitar lick … immediately got my attention.”  NPR

“This moodier, more prickly attack suits Glaspy’s voice, concepts, and vision” American Songwriter

“Glaspy’s third is well-crafted and unfussy, foregrounding her sturdy guitar and clear sighted lyrics that range between grungy disaffection…and brittle yearning” MOJO Magazine

“Grungy guitar work + gutsy poeticism = great pop… 10 songs that glint like shards of glass yet brim with love, grief, courage, existential doubt and all the other stuff that makes us human.” UNCUT Magazine

Margaret Glaspy tour  – tickets here

May 2 – Annapolis, MD  @ Rams Head On Stage
May 3  – Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theater
May 4  – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios
May 5  – Homer, NY @ Center for the Arts of Homer
May 8  – Old Saybrook, CT @ The Kate
May 9  – Rockport, MA @ Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center
May 10  – Brattleboro, VT @ The Stone Church
May 11 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust
May 30 – 9^th – Buffalo, NY @  9th Ward at Babeville
May 31 – Rochester, NY @ The Little Theatre
June 8 – Wayne, PA @ Wayne Music Festival
June 18 – Tokyo, JP @ Blue Note Tokyo
June 19 – Tokyo, JP @ Blue Note Tokyo
July 13 – Pleasantville, NY @ Pleasantville Music Festival
August 4 – Vienna, VA @ Filene Center at Wolf Trap*
Sept 4 – London, UK @ St. Pancras Old Church
Sept 5 – London, UK @ St. Pancras Old Church
Sept 6 – London, UK @ St. Pancras Old Church

* = with The Mountain Goats & The New Pornographers

The Sun Doesn’t Think tracklisting 

1. 24/7
2. Bathtub
3. I Need Help
4. Would You Be My Man?
5. The Sun Doesn’t Think

Follow Margaret Glaspy here: 

Margaretglaspy.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Chicano Batman Release New Studio Album Notebook Fantasy

Today, acclaimed psych-soul band and Los Angeles institution Chicano Batman release their fifth studio album, Notebook Fantasy, via ATO Records. Produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Erykah Badu) and partly recorded at the historic Sunset Sound, Notebook Fantasy embraces a sonic approach that bassist Eduardo Arenas refers to as “painting in primary colors.”

Listen HERE.

Notebook Fantasy takes its title from a phenomenon likely familiar to anyone who feels outside the status quo: the act of spending your formative years dreaming up other worlds and realities in the pages of a notebook, exploring those possibilities with a bold and wide-eyed freedom. The band, comprised of vocalist/lyricist Bardo, guitarist Carlos Arévalo, and bassist Eduardo Arenas, first announced the album in January alongside the release of the album’s debut single “Fly,” a lovestruck reverie lit up with gauzy textures and heavenly group vocals, which they brought to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! stage on March 20th – watch the full performance HERE. Second single “Era Primavera” was released in February, a symphonic love song inspired by vocalist/lyricist Bardo’s fascination with 1960s Latin ballads. Most recently, they shared focus track “Live Today,” which opens the album with bold synths and introspective lyrics, setting the tone for the following 11 tracks. Throughout the album, Chicano Batman channel moments of lightning-in-a-bottle inspiration into songs that push into fantastically strange terrain yet remain rooted in raw emotion.

“We wanted to peel back all the fuzziness and compression, and create something big and punchy and clear that would still hold up if you stripped it down to just a vocal and one instrument,” says guitarist Carlos Arévalo.

“Making this album allowed us to stop reaching toward anything besides being completely ourselves,” Arenas shares. “We believe we have something unique to speak to the world, so we focused on getting that across with confidence and conviction instead of worrying about any outside noise. We want to be so untouchable that no one can take our shine away, and hopefully that’ll help other people to shine too.”

In addition to releasing their most collaborative album to date, Chicano Batman will also be featured on A24’s forthcoming Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense album.

The band will be embarking on an expansive world tour next month, bringing their lively performances coast-to-coast across North America, culminating the first leg in a massive homecoming with a headlining performance at The Kia Forum on June 29th. They will be joined by acclaimed Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta and El Monte’s The Red Pears along the tour. In August, they will perform a run of shows in the United Kingdom and Europe for the first time, followed by multiple performances across Mexico.

Chicano Batman celebrated the album release early with a private KROQ show on Wednesday in Los Angeles, and will continue the festivities with an in-store signing at Fingerprints in Long Beach, CA tomorrow. Fans can keep an eye out for their Reddit Indieheads ‘Ask Me Anything’ session tied to Notebook Fantasy on April 1st at 10am PST.

Be on the lookout for more news and surprises from Chicano Batman.

Notebook Fantasy Tracklist:

1. Live Today
2. Notebook Fantasy
3. Parallels
4.  Beautiful Daughter
5. Era Primavera
6.  Fly
7. Lei Lá
8. Tears Away
9. The Way You Say It (feat. Say She She)
10. Hojas Secas
11. Losing My Mind
12. Fairytale Love

Chicano Batman Tour Dates

4/19    Las Vegas, NV              Brooklyn Bowl*
4/20    Phoenix, AZ                 Van Buren*
4/21    Albuquerque, NM       The El Rey Theater*
4/22    El Paso, TX                   Lowbrow Palace*
4/24    Oklahoma City, OK      Tower Theatre*
4/25    Houston, TX                White Oak Music Hall*
4/26    Austin, TX                    Austin Psych Fest @ The Far Out Lounge
4/27    Dallas, TX                    The Factory*
4/28    New Orleans, LA         House of Blues*
5/1      Bentonville, AR           The Momentary*
5/2      St. Louis, MO               Delmar Hall*
5/3      Nashville, TN               Brooklyn Bowl*
5/4      Atlanta, GA                 Shaky Knees Festival
5/7      Richmond, VA             The National*
5/8      Washington, DC          9:30 Club*
5/9      Brooklyn, NY               Brooklyn Steel*
5/10    Boston, MA                 Paradise Rock Club*
5/11    North Adams, MA       Hunter Center Mass Moca*
5/12    Philadelphia, PA          Union Transfer*
5/15    Columbus, OH             The Bluestone*
5/16    Indianapolis, IN           The Vogue*
5/17    Chicago, IL                   Salt Shed*
5/18    Minneapolis, MN        Uptown Theater*
6/20    Seattle, WA                 Moore Theatre*
6/21    Portland, OR               Roseland Theater*
6/22    Boise, ID                      Knitting Factory*
6/24    Salt Lake City, UT        The Depot*
6/25    Denver, CO                  Ogden Theatre*
6/26    Taos, NM                     Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership*
6/28    San Diego, CA              Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre*
6/29    Los Angeles, CA           The Kia Forum*^
6/30    San Francisco, CA        TBA
8/29    Amsterdam, NL           Tolhuistuin
8/31    Manchester, UK          Manchester Psych Fest
9/3        London, UK                  Lafayette
9/4        Paris, FR                        La Maroquinerie
9/26    Guadalajara, MX         C3 Stage
9/27    Queretaro, MX            Foro Indie Rocks!
9/28    Mexico City, MX          Auditorio BB

Openers:
* Lido Pimienta
^ The Red Pears

Friko Announces SXSW Schedule + Upcoming Spring Tours

Watch the Live Video for “Crashing Through”

An essential new addition to Chicago’s long lineage of forward-thinking indie rock, Friko transform every song into a moment of collective catharsis. Formed in 2019, Friko soon began taking the stage at legendary Chicago venues like the Metro, Empty Bottle and Schubas Tavern, self-releasing their acclaimed debut EP Whenever Forever in 2022 and making their festival debut at Bonnaroo the following spring. Known for their high-energy live show, Friko aim to deliver a live experience that’s fantastically disorienting in its emotional arc. Mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Big Thief) and engineered by Jack Henry and Scott Tallarida, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here embodies a sonic complexity befitting of a band that names Romantic-era classical music and the more primal edges of art-rock among their inspirations. Friko hopes that their music’s emotional potency might have a galvanizing impact on audiences.

Purchase Where we’ve been, Where we go from here
Watch Friko’s “Where We’ve Been” Video
Watch “Crashing Through” Video
Watch “For Ella” Video
Watch “Crimson to Chrome” Lyric Video
Listen to Friko’s “Get Numb To It!”

Friko Tour Dates (New Dates in Bold):
Sun. Mar. 10 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ Midwest House Showcase at Half Step (8 PM)
Tue. Mar. 12 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ Waterloo in-store (3 PM)
Wed. Mar. 13 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ PASTE Magazine at High Noon (12:40 PM)
Wed. Mar. 13 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ South by San Jose (5 PM)
Thu. Mar. 14 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ KUTX Live at Scholz Garten (9 AM)
Thu. Mar. 14 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ Luck Reunion (3:20 PM)
Fri. Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ KROX at Inn Cahoots (2 PM)
Fri. Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ SOHO House (Members Only) (5:30 PM)
Sat. Mar. 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW @ Winspear and Pond at Cheer Up Charlie’s (1:30 PM)
Sat. Apr. 6 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahalls &
Sun. Apr. 7 – Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch &
Tue. Apr. 9 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake &
Thu. Apr. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy &
Fri. Apr. 12 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall &
Sat. Apr. 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made &
Sun. Apr. 14 – Washington, DC @ Atlantis &
Tue. Apr. 16 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl &
Wed. Apr. 17 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings &
Fri. May 3rd – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s *
Sat. May 4th – Lincoln, NE @ Lincoln Calling Festival
Mon. May 6th – Memphis, TN @ Growlers *
Tue. May 7th – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic *
Wed. May 8th – Oklahoma City, OK @ Resonant Head *
Fri. May 10 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
Thu. May 16 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room %
Fri. May 17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Atrium %
Sat. May 18 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project %
Sun. May 19 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlett Room %
Tue. May 21 – Portland, OR @ Mano Oculta %
Wed. May 22 – Seattle WA @ Vera Project %
Wed. May 29 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge %
Thu. May 30 – San Diego, CA @ Voodoo Room %
Fri. May 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre %
Sat. June 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel %

& w/ Willis
* w/ Water From Your Eyes
% w/ Mind’s Eye

Praise for Friko & Where we’ve been, Where we go from here

“Where we’ve been, Where we go from here… reaffirm[s] that indie rock, as a style and ethos, can still feel like the most exciting thing a young person could be into.” — Pitchfork

“[Friko is] my new favorite band… There is so much abandon in their music.”
— Stephen Thompson,  NPR Music’s Running List of the Year’s Best Songs

“[Where we’ve been, Where we go from here] places [Friko] in a lineage of great indie- and alt-rock acts like Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Bright Eyes—bands with prominent weird streaks, arena-sized potential, and the chops to build a bridge between the two.”  — SPIN

Old 97’s Celebrate 30th Anniversary with New Album American Primitive Out April 5

Thirty years after the release of their powerhouse debut Hitchhike to Rhome, alt-country pioneers Old 97’s are celebrating with the announcement of their lucky 13th studio album American Primitive that will be released on April 5 via ATO Records. Opening with the lyric “You’ve got to dance like the world is falling down around you, because it is,” American Primitive radiates with rambunctious joy even as Miller’s lyrics contend with complex questions of love and mental illness and the routinely daunting state of the world. Today, the three-decade-long lineup of singer and guitarist Rhett Miller, bassist Murry Hammond, guitarist Ken Bethea, and drummer Philip Peeples released the official video for first single “Where The Road Goes” which features Peter Buck on guitar.

Watch the official video for “Where The Road Goes.”

Pre-Order American Primitive.

“I was in Montana and found myself on the banks of the Blackfoot River, watching the water pounding with a ferocious power, and I started building this song as a statement of gratitude for having survived this long,” explains Miller. “It revisits some of the darkest moments of my life, including a suicide attempt at age 14 that by all rights I shouldn’t have lived through and yet somehow did. In a way it’s like a spiritual travelogue that rolls back through all the places that shaped me for better or worse, and ends up in this beautiful place that I felt so thankful to experience.”

Produced by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Neko Case) and featuring iconic guest musicians like Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey of The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5, the album took shape in a series of deliberately whirlwind sessions at Flora Studio in Portland, Oregon. “This was the first record we’ve ever done with zero pre-production,” Miller points out. “It’s us working completely on instinct, leaning on 30 years of playing together to come up with something on the fly rather than overthinking any of our choices.”

The album’s title was lifted from a bit of fictional art criticism in Stephen King’s psych-horror novel Duma Key and experienced a full-circle moment when King himself tweeted the news about the album early. In choosing the cover art for American Primitive, Old 97’s selected a painting created by Hammond’s 17-year-old son Tex Hammond — a prodigious talent who, at age 14, became the youngest artist ever to exhibit at the prestigious LA Art Show. It’s a fitting choice for a band who’ve maintained a certain youthful exuberance more than three decades into their career, and for an album in which a palpable sense of wonder prevails despite its world-weary undercurrent. 

“Over the last year of touring in celebration of our 30th anniversary, it’s been impossible not to feel some emotion welling up at the idea that my bandmates and I have been in this close brotherhood for so long,” says Miller. “I think a lot of that longevity has to do with the fact that we’re really the same band we were back then. We’ve experimented with pushing in different directions, and we’ve had experiences outside the band where we’ve learned new things, but the way we approach this music has fundamentally remained the same. Our heart is still in the exact same place.”

Old 97’s will kick off a spring west coast tour in Santa Fe, NM on April 3 and make stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and more. Find a full list of tour dates below or visit their website.

Early Acclaim for Old 97’s American Primitive:

“If it’s the end of the world as we know it, this is the record we want to hear to push us on through to the next level.”

– Rosanne Cash

“Little did you know, Jerry Lee Lewis and Leonard Cohen had a bunch of bastard children that were raised in a dumpster behind a bar in Amarillo and their names are the Old 97’s.” 

– Rainn Wilson

“This is all I’ll be listening to until the next Old 97’s album.”

– Tig Notaro

American Primitive tracklist:

1) Falling Down
2) Somebody
3) American Primitive
4) Where The Road Goes
5) Honeypie
6) By The End Of The Night
7) Masterpiece
8) Incantation
9) Magic
10) Western Stars
11) Chased The Setting Sun
12) This World
13) Estuviera Cayendo

Tour Dates:
4/3 – Santa Fe, NM – Tumbleroot Brewery
4/4 – Tucson, AZ – Hotel Congress
4/5 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace
4/6 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
4/7 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
4/8 – Morro Bay, CA – The Siren
4/9 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
4/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
4/12 – Bend, OR – Domino Room
4/13 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
4/14 –Seattle, WA – The Showbox
4/16 – Missoula, MT – The Wilma
4/17 – Bozeman, MT – The ELM
4/18 – Billings, MT – Pub Station – Ballroom
4/19 – Laramie, WY – Gryphon Theatre
4/20 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
4/21 – Jackson, WY – Jackson Hole Center for the Arts – Center Theater

Grace Cummings Announces New Album ‘Ramona’ Out April 5

Australian singer-songwriter Grace Cummings has released “On and On” the first single to be taken from her upcoming third album Ramona to be released April 5 via ATO Records. Cummings has been quietly making a name for herself with a string of impressive releases, praised by the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, NPR Music and Billboard for her riveting, powerful voice and intense, blues-inflected songwriting. Ramona – her finest and most captivating work yet – was recorded in Topanga Canyon with acclaimed producer Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty, Margo Price) puts Cummings’ rich vocals and dramatic storytelling front and center.

Today’s track release comes with an accompanying video featuring the singer bathed in amber light – directed by James Gorter.

STREAM “ON AND ON” HERE

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO HERE

Ramona is a work of raw truth rendered in its most beautiful form. In a departure from the self-produced approach of her 2019 debut Refuge Cove and its 2022 follow-up Storm Queen—the Melbourne-based artist dreamed up a lavishly orchestrated sound that fully accommodates the depth and scope of her vocal prowess. With its visceral reflection on grief and self-destruction and emotional violence, Ramona brings a stunning new grandeur to Cummings’ music while refusing to soften or temper its humanity.

Recorded at Wilson’s Fivestar Studios in Topanga Canyon, Ramona came to life in collaboration with a stacked lineup of musicians that includes harpist Mary Lattimore and string arranger/multi-instrumentalist Drew Erickson (Weyes Blood, Mitski, Lana Del Rey). “I wanted everything and the kitchen sink on this record, to make it as big and dramatic as possible and show a whole range of colors,” says Cummings. “Jonathan and all the other musicians are so incredibly good at what they do, and so considered in their approach, but there was also a sense of fun and lightness in the studio that allowed me to be myself.” Featuring Cummings on guitar and piano and Wilson on guitar, drums, banjo, and organ, Ramona ultimately serves as a dazzling showcase for the voice once hailed by The Guardian as “powerful enough to pound granite into dust.”

Also an accomplished stage actor, Cummings imbues all of Ramona with an unbridled theatricality—an element on glorious display in the album’s title track. “I wrote that at a time when I wasn’t doing well and had the sense that other people saw me as a weak little bird,” says Cummings, who mined inspiration from Bob Dylan’s 1964 song “To Ramona.” “I didn’t want to be myself so I decided to be Ramona instead, full of intensity and melodrama. For me there’s a lot of safety in putting on a costume or a mask; sometimes it feels like the only way to express any true honesty or vulnerability.”

Cummings hopes that Ramona might provide her audience with a similar sense of relief and release. “A lot of the time the only way for me to process what’s happening in my life is to write about it,” she says. “So it’s a deeply personal record. But I hope that people come away from this album feeling like the songs were written just for them. Because they were, in a way. Watching the deeply personal evolve into something that’s shared by so many different people makes me feel less lonely in this world.“

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

Wed 15 May – Forest National – Brussels Belgium *

Thu 16 May – Stadthalle – Offenbach, Germany *

Sat 18 May – Forum Karlin – Prague, Czechia *

Sun 19 May – Arena Wien – Vienna, Austria *

Mon 20 May – Columbiahalle – Berlin, Germany *

Tue 21 May – Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, Germany

Thu 23 May – AFAS Live – Amsterdam, Netherlands *

Fri 24 May – 100 Club – London, United Kingdom

Sun 26 May – Olympia – Liverpool, United Kingdom *

Mon 27 May – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, United Kingdom *

Wed 29 May – Civic Halls – Wolverhampton, United Kingdom *

Thu 30 May – Bristol Beacon – Bristol, United Kingdom *

Fri 31 May – Brighton Dome – Brighton, United Kingdom *

Sun 02 Jun – Maifeld Derby – Mannheim, Germany

Mon 03 Jun – Import Export – Munich, Germany

Tue 04 Jun – Unaltrofestival @ Circolo Magnolia – Milan, Italy *

Fri 07 Jun – La Boule Noire – Paris, France

Wed 12 Jun – Bergenfest – Bergen, Norway

*King Gizzard Support

Chicano Batman Announce New Studio Album ‘Notebook Fantasy’

Leveling up in 2024, acclaimed psych-soul band and Los Angeles institution Chicano Batman will unveil their much-anticipated new album, Notebook Fantasy, on March 29 via ATO Records. Pre-save/pre-order HERE. It notably marks their fifth full-length LP and first since 2020. The group heralds its arrival with the new single and music video “Fly” out now. 

Listen HERE. Watch the music video HERE. 

Once again, Chicano Batman stretch boundaries and magnify the scope of their striking signature sound with panache, poise, and passion. Throughout the album, produced by GRAMMY Award winner John Congleton (Erykah Badu, Death Cab For Cutie, St. Vincent), the musicians lace gritty soul with arena-size ambition projected out loud through artful electric guitar, unshakable grooves, and entrancing earworm melodies. “Fly” lifts off with an anthemic hook chanted like an invitation, “I wanna fly with you.” 

On the new single, the band shares, “‘Fly’ is a song that you hope for as a songwriter. Lighting in a bottle, straight up! It’s the kind that comes organically from the universe, and if you get out of the way, it takes shape effortlessly into the song it needs to be. Like a river flowing and weaving seamlessly through its banks. This song’s creation process was euphoric and full of many inspired and memorable moments in the studio from beginning to end. We hope those sentiments translate to you, the listener!”

Simultaneously, the accompanying visual, directed by sisters Juliana and Nicola Giraffe, translates this energy to the screen in cinematic fashion. The ultra-camp 70s inspired clip features Bardo Martinez adorned in pearls and heavy makeup, Eduardo Arenas in a fringed cowboy suit, and Carlos Arévalo shredding a gold glittering guitar. Complete with a heart backdrop and flying dove, the music video is a lighthearted celebration of love. 

A product of Los Angeles’s unmatched melting pot of cultures and vibes, Chicano Batman remains a hometown favorite and has popped off as an international phenomenon. Bringing the new material to life, the band will launch an extensive North American tour in 2024. They hit the road on April 19 in Las Vegas, NV at Brooklyn Bowl, visit major markets coast-to-coast, and return home for a massive gig at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles, CA on June 29. This run closes out on June 30 in San Francisco, CA at Stern Grove Festival at  Sigmund Stern Grove. The group will be joined by acclaimed Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta and El Monte’s The Red Pears along the tour. Check out the full confirmed itinerary below.

Be on the lookout for more news and surprises from Chicano Batman.

Get ready to experience Notebook Fantasy in 2024.

Notebook Fantasy Tracklist:

1. Live Today
2. Notebook Fantasy
3. Parallels
4. Beautiful Daughter
5. Era Primavera
6. Fly
7. Lei Lá
8. Tears Away (feat. Say She She)
9. The Way You Say It (feat. Say She She)
10. Hojas Secas
11. Losing My Mind (feat. Say She She)
12. Fairytale Love (feat. Say She She)

Chicano Batman Tour Dates
4/19 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl*
4/20 Phoenix, AZ Van Buren*
4/21 Albuquerque, NM The El Rey Theater*
4/22 El Paso, TX Lowbrow Palace*
4/24 Oklahoma City, OK Tower Theatre*
4/25 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall*
4/26 Austin, TX Austin Psych Fest @ The Far Out Lounge
4/27 Dallas, TX The Factory*
4/28 New Orleans, LA House of Blues*
5/1 Bentonville, AR The Momentary*
5/2 St. Louis, MO Delmar Hall*
5/3 Nashville, TN Brooklyn Bowl*
5/4 Atlanta, GA Shaky Knees Festival
5/7 Richmond, VA The National*
5/8 Washington, DC 9:30 Club*
5/9 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel*
5/10 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club*
5/11 North Adams, MA Hunter Center Mass Moca*
5/12 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer*
5/15 Columbus, OH The Bluestone*
5/16 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue*
5/17 Chicago, IL Salt Shed*
5/18 Minneapolis, MN Uptown Theater*
6/20 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre*
6/21 Portland, OR Roseland Theater*
6/22 Boise, ID Knitting Factory*
6/24 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot*
6/25 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre*
6/26 Taos, NM Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership*
6/28 San Diego, CA Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre*
6/29 Los Angeles, CA The Kia Forum*^
6/30 San Francisco, CA TBA
8/29 Amsterdam, NL Tolhuistuin
8/31 Manchester, UK Manchester Psych Fest
9/3        London, UK                       Lafayette
9/4        Paris, FR                             La Maroquinerie

Openers:
* Lido Pimienta
^ The Red Pears

Dylan LeBlanc Announces Coyote (Expanded Edition)

Celebrated singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Dylan LeBlanc has just announced the expanded edition of his critically-acclaimed 2023 album Coyote, out January 19th via ATO Records.

To celebrate the expanded edition, LeBlanc is releasing the beautiful ballad “Let It Rain,” one of the four new studio tracks from the Coyote sessions that will be available on the extended release. Other previously unreleased songs on the expanded edition include “Day By Day” “Fortune Teller” and “Angel.” The new version also features five live performances, recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Coyote is a semi-autobiographical concept album centered on the character of Coyote, a man on the run from his past. The album was produced by LeBlanc and recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, the area where he watched his father perform and began his own career. His rich lyrics reflect the wisdom and endurance of a tough childhood spent between Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. But while he has experienced hardships, LeBlanc is an example of how beauty comes from perseverance. LeBlanc’s U.S. tour begins January 17^th in New Orleans and runs through March. A full list of dates is below

2024 U.S. Tour Dates
January 17 – New Orleans, LA – Chickie Wah
January 18 – Muscle Shoals, AL – For The Record 
January 19 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
January 20 – Asheville, NC – Eulogy
January 23 – Washington, DC – Songbyrd Music House
January 24 – Philadelphia, PA – MilkBoy Philadelphia
January 25 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
January 26 – Fairfield, CT – Stage One
January 27 – Woodstock, NY – Colony Woodstock
January 28 – Buffalo, NY – Iron Works
January 30 – Toronto, ON – The Drake
February 1 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village
February 2 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
February 3 – Minneapolis, MN – Turf Club
February 6 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads
February 7 – Denver, CO – Lost Lake
February 9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Block Party
February 10 – Boise, ID – Neurolux
February 11 – Bend, OR – Volcanic Theatre Pub
February 13 – Seattle, OR – Barboza
February 14 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
February 16 – San Francisco, CA – Chapel
February 17 – Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
February 18 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brew
February 20 – Los Angeles, CA – The Moroccan
February 21 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
February 23 – Fort Collins, CO – Magic Rat
February 24 – Colorado Springs, CO – Lulu’s Downstairs
February 27 – Oklahoma City, OH – Ponyboy
February 29 – Ft. Worth, TX – Tulips
March 1 – Houston, TX – Continental
March 2 – Austin, TX – Sagebrush

Friko Presents New Single “For Ella” From Debut Album Out Feb. 16

Today, Chicago band Friko — vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger — presents their new single/video, “For Ella,” from their forthcoming debut album, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here, out February 16, 2024 on ATO Records. Where we’ve been, Where we go from here achieves a dreamlike grandeur on “For Ella,” a love song sketched by Kapetan after visiting a graveyard in Wisconsin. In bringing the piano-laced reverie to life, Friko worked with violinist and Chicago stalwart Macie Stewart, as well as cellistAlejandro Quiles, elevating the track into a quietly symphonic epic touched with a lovely melancholy.

Following lead single “Crashing Through,” the “For Ella” video is again helmed by Alice Avery (a testament to Friko’s tight-knit group of friends and collaborators) and is a feat in stop-motion animation, vividly translating the song’s fabled qualities. “‘For Ella’ is our ode to classical music and we knew from the beginning we wanted the song to go side by side with a stop motion video,” says the band. “We’ve been working with our close friend Alice Avery, who also went to the same high school as us, on various videos, but the connection between this video and song feel particularly special to us.”

Watch Friko’s “For Ella” Video

It’s been an exciting few weeks since Friko announced Where we’ve been, Where we go from here. Paste ran an in-depth feature on the band and Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and Guitar World all covered “Crashing Through” as well. The song was also featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday, All New Indie, Today’s Indie Rock, and Fresh Finds Rock playlists in addition to the New Noise cover. “Crashing Through” continues the success of “Crimson to Chrome,” a downhearted yet exultant track that reigned #1 on the Sirius XMU chart for three weeks, graced the cover of Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlist, and garnered acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, FLOOD, and Consequence, who praised Friko for “carrying on the great Chicago musical tradition of unpretentious fun.”

Watch “Crashing Through” Video

Watch “Crimson to Chrome” Lyric Video

The band is currently on tour, having just completed a run of East Coast shows in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York City last week. They’ll continue across the Midwest this weekend with shows in Milwaukee and Madison. More dates will be announced soon!

Friko Tour Dates

Sat. Dec. 9 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club

Sun. Dec. 10 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon

An essential new addition to Chicago’s long lineage of forward-thinking indie rock, Friko transform every song into a moment of collective catharsis. On their full-length debut and first release for ATO Records, the band merges elements of post-punk and chamber-pop and experimental rock, magnifying their music’s exhilarating power with a steady barrage of spirited gang vocals. Poetic, explosive, and sublimely raw in feeling, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here brings an equally visceral intensity to brutally heavy anthems and heart-on-sleeve ballads alike, creating an immediate outlet for the most unwieldy emotions.

Formed in 2019, Friko soon began taking the stage at legendary Chicago venues like the Metro, Empty Bottleand Schubas Tavern, self-releasing their acclaimed debut EP Whenever Forever in 2022 and making their festival debut at Bonnaroo the following spring. Known for their high-energy live show, Friko aim to deliver a live experience that’s fantastically disorienting in its emotional arc. Mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Big Thief) and engineered by Jack Henry and Scott Tallarida, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here embodies a sonic complexity befitting of a band that names Romantic-era classical music and the more primal edges of art-rock among their inspirations. Friko hopes that their music’s emotional potency might have a galvanizing impact on audiences. Niko says, “I want our music to pick people up, so that they can actually go out and do something with whatever they’re feeling.”

Pre-order Where we’ve been, Where we go from here

Download hi-res images & jpegs of Friko

“Friko are animated, direct and vividly in-sync. And the world has never needed that kind of joyous, purposeful brilliance more than it does right now.” — Paste

“Bouncing and woozily melodic, the first single from Chicago two-piece Friko’s debut album drops discordance alongside brainworm hooks.” — Guitar World

“[‘Crashing Through’ is] a sweeping and hooky indie rock song with a great sense of dynamics.” — Brooklyn Vegan