Deer Tick Announces New EP “Contractual Obligations”
Today, Deer Tick announced their new EP “Contractual Obligations,” 8 songs recorded during the sessions for their latest album ‘Emotional Contracts’, set for release July 12th, 2024 via ATO Records. “Sometimes when you make a record you have to make a few cuts. With 2023’s Emotional Contracts, we were quite happy with all the material that ended up on the cutting room floor. So we swept it all up and compiled it into this EP titled Contractual Obligations.” says singer/guitarist John McCauley, whose bandmates include guitarist Ian O’Neil, drummer Dennis Ryan, and bassist Christopher Ryan.
The Providence-bred four-piece spent months working on demos in a warehouse space in their hometown before heading into the studio with producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Spoon, Sleater-Kinney). “Contractual Obligations” – like ‘Emotional Contracts’ – fully echoes the unruly energy of its creation, ultimately making for a heavy-hearted yet wildly life-affirming portrait of growing older without losing heart. This new EP adds another notch to their belt of timeless rock-and-roll records. Pre-order the EP on “Ice Blue” vinyl 12” HERE.
Debuting with the announcement is the energetic new single “Sacrosanct,” “a song that we’ve cut and recut a few times over the years. We always felt like it was lacking something. Recording it with Dave Fridmann gave it the kick in the pants we all felt it needed.” recounts McCauley. You can listen to the single HERE and watch the lyric video HERE.
“Contractual Obligations” follows the critically acclaimed ‘Emotional Contracts’, which featured AAA radio top ten single “Forgiving Ties” and saw the band return to CBS Saturday Morning, as well as being named one of NY Mag/Vulture‘s Most Anticipated Summer Albums, and earning praises and support from NPR Music, MOJO (4/5 star), and more.
Founded by McCauley in 2004, with the lineup solidified in 2009, Deer Tick partly attribute their unfaltering chemistry to a shared sense of humor. But as a phenomenally rowdy live act who once averaged 250 shows a year, Deer Tick mainly credit their deep-rooted connection to a mutual love for the unpredictability of the musical impulse. “I feel very lucky that we all ran into each other at some point pretty early on in our lives,” says McCauley. “From the start, I just wanted to find other musicians that would somehow all stick together, which definitely isn’t easy. But we all have a real fascination with music, and that desire to never limit ourselves or repeat ourselves is something that we all very much continue to share.”
To celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary, Deer Tick will tour extensively through the Summer, Fall and Winter 2024, kicking off with three sold-out shows at Woodstock’s Levon Helm Studios for 4th for July.
Tour Dates
Jul 3 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios+ (Low Ticket Warning)
Jul 4 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios* (SOLD OUT)
Jul 5 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios# (SOLD OUT)
Jul 7 – Rockville Centre, NY – RJ Daniels# (Low Ticket Warning)
Jul 9 – Fairfield, CT – The Warehouse at FTC#
Jul 10 – Ardmore, PA – Ardmore Music Hall#
Jul 12 – Naples, NY – Hollerhorn Distilling# (Low Ticket Warning)
Jul 13 – Garwood, NJ – Crossroads# (Low Ticket Warning)
Jul 14 – Queens, NY – The Rockaway Hotel#
Jul 16 – Amagansett, NY – Stephen Talkhouse#
Jul 17 – Marshfield, MA – Levitate Backyard# (SOLD OUT)
Jul 18 – Matunuck, RI – Ocean Mist (SOLD OUT)
Jul 19 – Matunuck, RI – Ocean Mist (SOLD OUT)
Jul 20 – Matunuck, RI – Ocean Mist (SOLD OUT)
Aug 31 – Westbrook, ME – Quarryside at Rock Row
Sep 1 – Bethlehem, NH – Colonial Theatre
Sep 5 – Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig”
Sep 6 – Newport, KY – The Southgate House Revival”
Sep 7 – Evanston, IL – SPACE= (Evanston Folk Festival Afterparty)
Sep 8 – Maquoketa, IA – Codfish Hollow Barnstormers=
Sep 10 – Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium=
Sep 11 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI Annex=
Sep 13 – Fort Hill, PA – Deer Valley Folk Festival (John McCauley & Ian O’Neil Duo)
Sep 14 – Stone Ridge, NY – Meadowlark Festival
Sep 15 – Albany, NY – Lark Hall~
Nov 7 – Buffalo, NY – Asbury Hall
^ with T. Hardy Morris
+ with James Felice
* with Ben Vaughn
# with Al Olender
” with Dylan McCartney and Dakota Carlyle (of The Drin)
= with Sugadaisy
~ with Nicolette and the Nobodies
Monsters of Folk Reissue Acclaimed Self-Titled Album
Monsters of Folk – the acclaimed band comprised of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) – release the reissue of their highly acclaimed self-titled debut. The expanded, 15th anniversary edition of their one-and-only album is out today on clear vinyl and digital download. A number of multi-colored vinyl options are also available now 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 moody folk epic “Museum Guard.”
LISTEN TO “MUSEUM GUARD”
PURCHASE/STREAM MONSTERS OF FOLK (DELUXE EDITION)
Twenty years ago, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M. Ward, and Bright Eyes’ Conor 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 15th 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 Conor 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
The Heavy Heavy Announce Debut Album ‘One Of A Kind’, Out September 6th
Today, The Heavy Heavy, the “brilliant” (The Guardian) UK-based band, announced their debut album, One of a Kind, due out September 6th via ATO Records. The tracklisting’s myriad high points include the majestic title track, the feel-good and carefree love song “Because You’re Mine,” the bass-driven and gorgeously hazy “Miracle Sun,” “Wild Emotion,” a country-infused serenade laced with galloping rhythms and twangy guitar tones, the experimental, reverb-soaked closing track, “Salina,” and the lead single, “Happiness,” out today. Pre-order the album HERE and listen to “Happiness” HERE.
One of a Kind follows the breakout success of The Heavy Heavy’s critically acclaimed debut EP Life and Life Only, which featured two AAA radio top five singles and saw the band perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and CBS Saturday Morning, as well as at several renowned festivals, including Bonnaroo, Boston Calling, and Newport Folk Festival. The band also sold out headline shows in major cities like New York and Chicago and opened for the likes of Black Pumas and Band of Horses.
Accompanying the announcement, The Heavy Heavy have released lead single, “Happiness,” a sun-drenched, sing-along-ready number that serves as an auspicious bridge to the band’s new era. The summery track channels a bold determination to break free from loneliness and stagnation, ultimately providing an automatic mood lift thanks to The Heavy Heavy’s resplendent melodies and signature multi-part harmonies. You can listen to the single HERE and watch the music video HERE.
Written entirely by co-founders Georgie Fuller and William Turner and mostly recorded at Turner’s studio in Brighton, One Of A Kind maintains the self-contained approach of their debut EP, Life and Life Only — a seven-song project acclaimed by outlets like NME (who named them an essential emerging artist for 2023), The Guardian (who noted that The Heavy Heavy “write and play music with that lick of madness that makes early Fleetwood Mac and peak Stones so thrilling”), and FLOOD (who named them “one of the brightest new UK acts”). But in a departure from the EP, One Of A Kind leans away from Laurel Canyon-esque folk-rock and fully embraces their British roots, finding a particularly crucial inspiration in the gritty and groove-heavy hedonism of the Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup.
The Heavy Heavy are currently on tour throughout the US and just announced new fall headlining tour dates. This Thursday, they’ll perform at Bonnaroo and, later this summer, they’ll perform at the Edmonton Folk Festival, open for Nathaniel Rateliff and more.
The fall headline tour will see the band perform at a number of iconic venues across the country, including DC’s Howard Theatre, The Blue Room in Nashville, The Mohawk in Austin, First Avenue in Minneapolis, and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The tour will kick off on September 21st at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY and will conclude at Thalia Hall in Chicago on October 25th. Full routing below. For more information and tickets, please visit https://www.theheavyheavy.com/tour.
ONE OF A KIND TRACKLIST
1. One of a Kind
2. Happiness
3. Because You’re Mine
4. Miracle Sun
5. Feel
6. Wild Emotion
7. Everything
8. Cherry
9. Lemonade
10. Dirt
11. Lovestruck
12. Salina
THE HEAVY HEAVY 2024 SUMMER TOUR DATES
6/13/24 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
6/15/24 – Winnetka, IL – Winnetka Music Fest
7/16/24 – Nantucket – The Chicken Box
7/17/24 – Nantucket – The Chicken Box
7/20/24 – Amagansett, NY – The Stephen Talkhouse
7/21/24 – Portsmouth, NH – 3S Artspace
7/22/24 – Wakefield, RI – Ocean Mist
7/24/24 – Elkton, MD – Elkton Music Hall
7/25/24 – Richmond – The Broadberry
7/26/24 – Floyd, VA – FloydFest
7/28/24 – Nelsonville, OH – Nelsonville Music Fest
7/30/24 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
7/31/24 – Wilmington, NC – Bowstring Brewyard
8/1/24 – Virginia Beach, VA – New Realm Brewing Co.
8/3/24 – Hamilton, OH – David Shaw’s Big River Get Down
8/4/24 – Asheville, NC – AVLFest
8/6/24 – Lexington, KY – The Burl
8/7/24 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI
8/8/24 – Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig
8/10/24 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Festival
8/11/24 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Festival
8/13/24 – Salt Lake City – The State Room
8/15/24 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater*
8/16/24 – Boise, ID – Outlaw Field at The Idaho Botanical Gardens*
*Supporting Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
THE HEAVY HEAVY 2024 FALL HEADLINE TOUR DATES
9/21/24 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Of Williamsburg
9/22/24 – Camden, NJ – XPoNential Music Festival
9/24/24 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall
9/25/24 – Toronto, ON – The Great Hall
9/28/24 – Portland, ME – Portland House of Music
9/29/24 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
10/1/24 – Washington, DC – Howard Theatre
10/3/24 – Nashville, TN – The Blue Room
10/4/24 – Louisville, KY – The Whirling Tiger
10/5/24 – Monticello, KY – Black Mountain Jamboree
10/6/24 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
10/9/24 – Dallas, TX – The Kessler Theater
10/10/24 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
10/14/24 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
10/16/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
10/17/24 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
10/19/24 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
10/20/24 – Portland, OR – Mission Theater
10/22/24 – Boulder, CO – The Fox Theater
10/24/24 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10/25/24 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
THE HEAVY HEAVY UK IN-STORE DATES
9/7/24 – Brighton, UK – Patterns
9/8/24 – London UK – Rough Trade East (In Store)
9/9/24 – Bristol, UK – Rough Trade (In Store)
9/10/24 – Nottingham UK – Rough Trade Nottingham (In Store)
9/11/24 – Leeds UK – Jumbo (In Store)
9/12/24 – Liverpool UK – Rough Trade Liverpool (In Store)
Brigitte Calls Me Baby Announce Debut Album Set For August 2nd
ATO Records’ Chicago-based quintet Brigitte Calls Me Baby announce their debut album for the label today, The Future Is Our Way Out, set for release on August 2nd. Partially recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville with previous collaborator and 9x Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton), The Future Is Our Way Out also features a selection of songs self-produced by lead singer Wes Leavins and his bandmates: guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish. With the band’s poetic meditations on desire, anxiety, and the complexities of impermanence, it arrives as a potent evolution of Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s debut EP This House Is Made Of Corners— which earned acclaim from the likes of NPR, FLOOD, WXPN and NME, who said the “Chicago romantics deliver the thrills of a bygone era.”
Also out today is the lead single “We Were Never Alive” with shuddering rhythms and spectral guitar lines that meet in a gloriously bleak contemplation of mortality. “Devin wrote the music to that song and I loved how dramatic it felt, so the goal was to match that drama in the lyrics,” says Leavins. “It became a song about how in the grand scheme of existence, the time we’re alive is so brief and insignificant. At some point, after you’re gone, when everyone who knew you is gone as well, it’s almost as if you never existed at all.”
Watch/Listen to “We Were Never Alive” Here
In choosing a title for the full-length debut, Brigitte landed on a phrase Leavins impulsively scrawled onto a white t-shirt as a teenager and continued to revisit over the years, eventually transforming it into a lush and cinematic pop song. “I want to be earnest even when it’s uncomfortable, and write unapologetically about things like my intense fear of death,” says Leavins. “‘The Future is Our Way Out’ is about that fear, but it’s also about hoping there might be something beyond death, a way out of all the mess and the sadness that plagues us in life.
As The Future is Our Way Out unfolds, Brigitte Calls Me Baby explores the extremities of their genre with the jittery post-punk of “Fine Dining” to the stark and sleepy serenade of the album-closing “Always Be Fine.” On “Too Easy,” the band slips into a moment of new-wave majesty built on skittering guitar tones and darkly throbbing beats, with Leavins’ voice taking on a near-operatic grandeur as he questions the reliability of memory and the durability of love.
Since the release of the band’s debut EP This House Is Made of Corners, which shines with its pounding rhythms and shimmering guitar tones, Brigitte Calls Me Baby has achieved major feats such as performing on national TV. Recently the band made their national TV debut On CBS Saturday Morning. Revisit the performances here. They also took the stage as part of NPR’s World Cafe (who hailed Leavins’ “swoon-worthy voice and on-stage swagger that suggests he was always destined for bright lights and throngs of screaming fans”). The band has also kept up a relentless touring schedule, routinely captivating crowds with live favorites and touring behind legends and those in the making – the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Strokes, The Last Dinner Party, and more.
This year, after two sold-out hometown dates at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall and their first-ever performances at Summerfest and Lollapalooza in August, the band will head out on a string of headlining tour dates with stops in Austin, TX and Washington, D.C. before a series of shows with the Airborne Toxic Event continuing into the fall.
With their name nodding to frontman Wes Leavins’ teenage pen-pal correspondence with iconic French actress Brigitte Bardot, the Chicago-based five-piece emerged in early 2023 and soon scored a breakout hit with “Impressively Average”—a sublimely shimmering anthem that shot to the Top 10 at Triple A radio, setting the band on a swift rise that’s recently included embarking on a headline tour with sold-out dates across the country. Now, with their debut LP, The Future Is Our Way Out, Brigitte Calls Me Baby share a body of work that ingeniously spans genres and eras, merging the lavish romanticism of mid-century pop with the frenetic energy and spiky intensity of early-millennium indie-rock. Centered on Leavins’ hypnotically crooning vocal work, the result is a rare convergence of sophistication, style, and unabashed sincerity.
The band’s unusual path began when frontman and songwriter Wes Leavins moved from Texas to Chicago after high school. After arriving in Chicago, he joined forces with bassist Devin Wessels, drummer Jeremy Benshish, and guitarists Trevor Lynch and Jack Fluegel; and the group began gigging locally when Graceland came calling. Leavins was recruited to record music for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film Elvis. While on set, he met the Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile) and the two hit it off.
Stay tuned for more to come from Brigitte Calls Me Baby.
PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE THE FUTURE IS OUR WAY OUT
THE FUTURE IS OUR WAY OUT TRACKLIST
- The Future Is Our Way Out
- Pink Palace
- Eddie My Love
- Fine Dining
- I Wanna Die In The Suburbs
- Too Easy
- Palm Of your Hand
- Impressively Average
- We Were Never Alive
- You Are Only Made Of Dreams
- Always Be Fine
BRIGITTE CALLS ME BABY 2024 TOUR DATES
6/21/24 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL (SOLD OUT)
6/22/24 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL (SOLD OUT)
6/27/24 – Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI
8/3/24 – Lollapalooza – Chicago, IL
9/7/24 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN
9/8/24 – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
9/10/24 – Resonant Head – Oklahoma City, OK
9/12/24 – Empire Control Room – Austin, TX
9/13/24 – White Oak Music Hall – Upstairs – Houston, TX
9/14/24 – Three Links – Dallas, TX
916/24 – Vinyl at Center Stage – Atlanta, GA’
9/17/24 – The End – Nashville, TN
9/18/24 – Upstairs at Avondale – Birmingham, AL
9/20/24 – Cat’s Cradle Back Room – Carrboro, NC
9/21/24 – XPoNential Music Festival – Camden, NJ
9/22/24 – The Atlantis – Washington, DC
9/25/24 – The Drake Underground – Toronto, ON
9/26/24 – The Stache at The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
9/27/24 – HI-FI Indianapolis – Indianapolis, IN
9/28/24 – Rose Bowl Tavern – Urbana, IL
10/1/24 – The Coast – Fort Collins, CO
10/2/24 – Fox Theatre – Boulder, CO
10/4/24 – Reverb Lounge – Omaha, NE
10/5/24 – The Raccoon Motel – Davenport, IA
10/7/24 – Paramount Theatre – Denver, CO *
10/8/24 – The Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO *
10/10/24 – Knitting Factory Concert House – Boise, ID *
10/11/24 – The Showbox – Seattle, WA *
10/12/24 – The Showbox – Seattle, WA *
10/13/24 – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR *
10/15/24 – Ace of Spades – Sacramento, CA *
10/17/24 – The Warfield – San Francisco, CA *
10/19/24 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA *
10/21/24 – Humphreys Concerts By The Bay – San Diego, CA *
*opening for Airborne Toxic Event
Friko Shares “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” (Radiohead Cover), Announces Fall North American Tour With Royel Otis
Chicago band Friko — vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger — shares a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” and announces performances at Lollapalooza, Newport Folk Festival, and Fuji Rock, a North American tour supporting Royel Otis, and the band’s first European headline run. The band just wrapped their first North American tour in support of Where we’ve been, Where we go from here (out now on ATO Records), playing shows with Water From Your Eyes, WILLIS and Mind’s Eye. Their cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” has become an exciting surprise during recent live dates. They performed it at their sold-out, headlining record release show at the 1000-capacity Metro in Chicago, and will continue to captivate larger and larger audiences throughout the rest of 2024.
Listen to “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” (Radiohead Cover)
An essential new addition to Chicago’s long lineage of forward-thinking indie rock, Friko transforms every song into a moment of collective catharsis. Known for their high-energy live show, Friko aims 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 “Crimson to Chrome” Lyric Video
Listen to Friko’s “Get Numb To It!”
Friko Tour Dates:
Fri. June 14 – Chicago, IL @ Q101 PIQNIQ (Taste of Randolph)
Tue. July 9 – Evanston, IL @ SPACE
Thu. July 18 – Indianapolis, IN @ Rock The Ruins ^
Fri. July 26 – Niigata, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
Sun. July 28 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
Sat. Aug. 3 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
Sun. Aug. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall (Lollapalooza Aftershow)
Thu. Aug. 8 – Nashville, TN @ Bobby Nashville (WNXP Event)
Wed. Aug. 28 – Louisville, KY @ WFPK Waterfront Wednesday
Mon. Sept. 9 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall %
Wed. Sept. 11 – Rochester, NY @ Essex Music Hall %
Thu. Sept. 12 – Toronto, ON @ History %
Fri. Sept. 13 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre %
Sat. Sept. 14 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee %
Sun. Sept. 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue %
Thu. Sept. 19 – Champaign, IL @ Canopy Club (Pygmalion Fest)
Tue. Sept. 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Wed. Sept. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel %
Thu. Sept. 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel %
Fri. Sept. 27 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club %
Sat. Sept. 28 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues %
Mon. Sept. 30 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern %
Tue. Oct. 1 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl %
Tue. Oct. 8 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre %
Wed. Oct. 9 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater %
Mon. Oct. 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %
Tue. Oct. 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %
Wed. Oct. 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Palladium %
Fri. Oct. 18 – Oakland, CA @ The Fox %
Sun. Oct. 20 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom %
Mon. Oct. 21 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre %
Tue. Oct. 22 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum %
Sat. Nov. 2 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
Sun. Nov. 3 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Weekender
Tue. Nov. 5 – Rennes, FR @ L’Antipode
Thu. Nov. 7 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Avant Garde
Sat. Nov. 9 – London, UK @ Pitchfork Festival London
Sun. Nov. 10 – Bristol, UK @ Louisiana
Tue. Nov. 12 – Manchester, UK @ YES
Wed. Nov. 13 – Glasgow, UK @ King Tuts
Thu. Nov. 14 – Dublin, IR @ Workman’s Club
^ supporting Hippo Campus
% supporting Royel Otis
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
“[Friko’s] passion is combustible… That’s the power of a great rock crescendo.” – Vulture
“[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
“Friko have cemented themselves as one of the most distinguished up-and-coming voices in all of indie-rock.” — Paste
“The dust has barely settled on last year’s ‘best of’ music lists, yet there’s already a good contender for the 2024 tallies.” — Chicago Sun-Times
“[Friko are] one of indie rock’s most exciting new acts.” — UPROXX
“Kapetan’s clear emotional commitment to Friko’s music makes the band’s scrappy, homemade aesthetic feel as grand as a symphony.” — Chicago Reader
“Friko is on the cusp of something special…” — WGN-TV
My Morning Jacket Lifts The Curtain On New 4K Version of Concert Film Okonokos
My Morning Jacket is lifting the curtain on Okonokos, a new 4K version of their acclaimed 2006 live concert film capturing a blistering 2-hour performance from the band’s November 2005 two-night stand at San Francisco, CA’s legendary Fillmore Auditorium mixed in 5.1 audio. Abramorama, a preeminent global distribution, marketing and sales partner for nonfiction and music films, will set up targeted event screenings globally in partnership with ATO Records, the band’s record label. The film will receive a number of limited theatrical screenings across the country later this month, just in time for My Morning Jacket’s eagerly awaited return to the Fillmore, a four-night headline run – with no repeats – set for May 27, 28, 30, and 31. For complete details and showtimes, please see LINK. Watch the official trailer here.
Okonokos encapsulates My Morning Jacket at a peak moment in their career. Filmed and recorded on November 11-12, 2005, during the Z tour, the set draws heavily from that record and its predecessor, It Still Moves, for a scorching and exhilarating live concert experience which SPIN described as “an aesthetic-and-career-defining set…the album they were destined to make.” Among the film’s many highlights are “Gideon,” “One Big Holiday” “Lowdown,” “Wordless Chorus,” “Golden,” “Steam Engine,” “Mahgeetah” and more !
“It’s wild how much technology has changed since we shot OKONOKOS and released it on DVD so many moons ago,” says My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. “We are excited to bring it to you in all its new hi-res hi-def picture and sound, in a limited theatrical run. We hope you have as much fun as we did jumping back into its world again!”
Evan Saxon, President and Head of International Distribution, Abramorama added “I’m ecstatic to again be working with My Morning Jacket and bringing Okonokos to fans around the world. The film captures the band giving an amazing performance fans are still talking about.”
# # #
The upcoming Fillmore run comes at the start of My Morning Jacket’s busy summer schedule, kicking off with a top-billed performance at Napa, CA’s BottleRock Napa Valley on Saturday, May 25. A wide range of headline dates and festival appearances follow, Hartford, CT’s The Capitol Groove (June 29), Chicago, IL’s Rose On The River (July 4), Park City, UT’s Park City Summit (August 16), and Louisville, KY’s Bourbon & Beyond (September 22). For complete details and ticket availability, please see www.mymorningjacket.com/events.
In addition, My Morning Jacket will also join Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats for The Eye To Eye Tour, a very special co-headline run that will see the two acclaimed bands playing equal-length sets and swapping performance order with each show. The Eye To Eye Tour gets underway September 10 at Wilmington, NC”s Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park and then continues through the month. Complete details and performance order can be found at www.eyetoeyetour.com.
My Morning Jacket and the non–profit REVERB are partnering for the fourth consecutive year to reduce the environmental footprint of their tour and take action on the climate crisis. In addition to a comprehensive tour sustainability program, the band will be supporting REVERB’s climate portfolio which funds projects that measurably reduce greenhouse gas pollution, address climate justice, and directly decarbonize the music industry. For more, please visit reverb.org.
MY MORNING JACKET – TOUR 2024
MAY
25 – Napa, CA – BottleRock Napa Valley *
27 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore †
28 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore †
30 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore †
31 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore †
JUNE
29 – Hartford, CT – The Capitol Groove *
JULY
1 – Grand Rapids, MI – Meijer Gardens Amphitheater # (SOLD OUT)
2 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple #
4 – Chicago, IL – Rose On The River *
AUGUST
16 – Park City, UT – Park City Summit *
SEPTEMBER
10 – Wilmington, NC – Live Oak Bank Pavilion at Riverfront Park ^
12 – Charlotte, SC – Credit One Stadium ^
13 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion ^
14 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre ^
16 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily’s Place ^
18 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater ^
19 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater ^
22 – Louisville, KY – Bourbon & Beyond *
24 – Syracuse, NY – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview ^
26 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center ^
27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion ^
28 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek ^
* Festival Appearance
† An Evening With – No Repeats
# w/ Special Guest Karina Rykman
^ The Eye To Eye Tour w/ Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
ABOUT MY MORNING JACKET:
Hailed by The New York Times as “the kings of expand-your-mind, religious-experience rock,” My Morning Jacket has undergone seismic transformations and restless explorations to grow from southern misfits to one of the most acclaimed and beloved bands of their generation. The band has released nine studio albums thus far, with 2008’s Evil Urges, 2011’s Circuital, and 2015’s The Waterfall receiving three consecutive GRAMMY® Award nominations for “Best Alternative Album.” 2020’s The Waterfall II made history with the hit single, “Feel You,” which reached #1 at Triple A radio outlets nationwide and on Billboard’s “Adult Alternative Songs” chart – My Morning Jacket’s first-ever #1 on a Billboard songs chart. Along the way, My Morning Jacket earned a reputation as a dynamic, life-altering live experience, building a devout worldwide fanbase through sold-out headline tours and top-billed festival sets. The band’s most recent release, 2021’s My Morning Jacket, saw them fusing their singular songcraft with the hypnotic intensity of their legendary live show more fully than ever before.
CONNECT WITH MY MORNING JACKET:
MYMORNINGJACKET.COM | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBE
# # #
ABOUT ABRAMORAMA
Abramorama is a preeminent global distribution, marketing and sales partner for nonfiction and music films. An innovator in creating and implementing personalized worldwide distribution, marketing, and live and event cinema, Abramorama provides customized strategic services to filmmakers, networks, record labels, artists, and IP owners, across all platforms and in all territories. In its over 20+ years of operation, Abramorama has collaborated with many of the most respected global brands in entertainment, including The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Melanie Martinez, Laurie Anderson, Jimi Hendrix, Green Day, National Geographic, AARP, Apple, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Universal Music Group, Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group, and Sony, among others. Through a powerful global network of cinemas, digital media outlets, and affinity marketing partners, Abramorama strategically implements a unified distribution and audience activation plan for each title. Abramorama is expert at maximizing reach, engagement, marketing spends, and Impact ROI for films created for target audiences. For more information, visit abramorama.com.
Grace Cummings Releases “A Precious Thing” From Forthcoming Album ‘Ramona’, Out April 5
EARLY PRAISE FOR GRACE CUMMINGS’ RAMONA:
“Blessed with a voice full of heart-tugging drama and piercing vibrato ache, Grace Cummings favoured ragged immediacy on her first two albums but takes a more lavish approach here. Recorded with producer Jonathan Wilson, Cummings embraces rich orchestral arrangements, sultry laments and bluesy torch songs, showcasing an impressive vocal and emotional range.” Uncut
“…a voice made of golden honey that will stop you in your tracks” – Ones to Watch
“She’s developed…a theatrical blend of powerhouse vocals and acid-Western instrumentals invoking dramatic Outback landscapes rather than urban panoramas.” – Flood
“Cummings’ gale-force vocals are paired with orchestral grandeur… Ambitious in scale and virtuosity, Ramona offers eleven acts of intense communion.” Rock’n’Reel
Rising Australian star Grace Cummings has released “A Precious Thing” the final single from her upcoming Jonathan Wilson-produced album Ramona – out this Friday, April 5th via ATO. On “A Precious Thing,” Cummings’ voice shapeshifts from delicate to furious to utterly shattered, channeling the sublime devastation at the heart of her lyrics (“Love is just a thing/That I’m trying to live without/And oh, what a precious thing/But it’s nothing I care about”). The beautiful track comes with an equally stunning music video that features Grace bathed in sunlight, trapezing through open fields.
WATCH “A PRECIOUS THING” VIDEO HERE
STREAM “A PRECIOUS THING” HERE
Of the song, Grace says, “I wrote this song on Christmas Eve in 2022. I think it’s pretty self explanatory. This song used to feature the screech of an eagle. We decided to take that part out and replace it with a Timpani.”
PRE-ORDER RAMONA HERE
This spring, Grace will be embarking on a U.S. tour that kicks off in May with stops in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Brooklyn and more along with her debut at Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta. Get tickets HERE.
In January Grace unveiled the first track from Ramona – “On And On”- along with a hauntingly beautiful video and, just last month, revealed a charming visualizer for the track “Common Man.” Just weeks ago Grace released the title track “Ramona.”
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.”
UPCOMING TOUR DATES
Wed May 1 – Gold Diggers – Los Angeles, CA
Sat May 4 – Shaky Knees Music Festival – Atlanta, GA
Sun May 5 – Cat’s Cradle Back Room – Carrboro, NC
Tue May 7 – DC9 – Washington, DC
Wed May 8 – Arden Gild Hall – Wilmington, DE
Thu May 9 – Public Records – Brooklyn, NY
Wed May 15 – Forest National – Brussels Belgium *
Thu May 16 – Stadthalle – Offenbach, Germany *
Sat May 18 – Forum Karlin – Prague, Czechia *
Sun May 19 – Arena Wien – Vienna, Austria *
Mon May 20 – Columbiahalle – Berlin, Germany *
Tue May 21 – Kantine am Berghain – Berlin, Germany
Thu May 23 – AFAS Live – Amsterdam, Netherlands *
Fri May 24 – The Lexington – London, United Kingdom
Sat May 25 – Wide Awake – London, United Kingdom
Sun May 26 – Olympia – Liverpool, United Kingdom *
Mon May 27 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh, United Kingdom *
Wed May 29 – Civic Halls – Wolverhampton, United Kingdom *
Thu May 30 – Bristol Beacon – Bristol, United Kingdom *
Fri May 31 – Brighton Dome – Brighton, United Kingdom *
Sun Jun 2 – Maifeld Derby – Mannheim, Germany
Mon Jun 3 – Import Export – Munich, Germany
Tue Jun 4 – Unaltrofestival @ Circolo Magnolia – Milan, Italy *
Fri Jun 7 – La Boule Noire – Paris, France
Sat Jun 8 – Best Kept Secret – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
Wed Jun 12 – Bergenfest – Bergen, Norway
*with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
KEEP UP WITH GRACE CUMMINGS:
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 15th 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 15th 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 – 9th – 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
- 24/7
- Bathtub
- I Need Help
- Would You Be My Man?
- The Sun Doesn’t Think
Follow Margaret Glaspy here: