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Iggy Pop has confirmed the title and release date of his new album: Free , the first new Iggy Pop album since 2016’s Post Pop Depression, will be released September 6 on Loma Vista Recordings.
While it follows the highest charting album of Iggy’s career, Free has virtually nothing in common sonically with its predecessor—or with any other Iggy Pop album.
On the process that led Iggy and principal players Leron Thomas and Noveller to create this uniquely somber and contemplative entry in the Iggy Pop canon, Iggy says:
“This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice…
By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long.
But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free.
So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen.”
Full tracklisting for Free:
1. Free
2. Loves Missing
3. Sonali
4. James Bond
5. Dirty Sanchez
6. Glow In The Dark
7. Page
8. We Are The People
9. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
10. The Dawn
For further information, stay tuned to Iggy’s site and socials.
Denzel Curry recently announced his new album and shared a new single, SPEEDBOAT. This album is called ZUU and arrives just 10 months after the release of his critically-acclaimed breakout album TA13OO in 2018. The new single, “SPEEDBOAT,” follows “RICKY” as the latest offering of new music from his forthcoming album, which finds Denzel returning to his South Florida roots both sonically and thematically. The track sees Denzel meditating on the consequences of living the fast life, masterfully bouncing between melodic moments and combative bars as he refuses to fall victim to the violence that plagued his childhood in Miami.
The new single coincides with Denzel also announcing a headlining European tour in December, with tickets going on sale this Friday. He recently played a homecoming set at Miami’s Rolling Loud to a raucous crowd, as he gets set to join Billie Eilish on tour across North America. Beginning May 29 in San Francisco and ending July 13 in San Diego, Denzel will be accompanying Billie across 18 dates with festival appearances at Lollapalooza, Osheaga and Outside Lands to follow in August. Denzel will then join the $uicideBoy$ on a North American tour run beginning July 27 in San Diego and concludes August 23 in Los Angeles.
Hear “SPEEDBOAT” above, find full tour routing and more album details below and stay tuned for more from Denzel Curry coming soon.
GRAMMY® Award- and Academy® Award-winning artist, rapper, actor, philanthropist, and New York Times best-selling author Common recently unveiled a new single and music video entitled “H.E.R. Love” [feat. Daniel Caesar with special guest Dwelle].
It heralds the arrival of his anxiously awaited debut for Loma Vista Recordings,
Let Love Have The Last Word, coming very soon.
In his lexicon, “H.E.R.” is short for “(Hip-Hop in its Essence is Real)” and would be
first introduced on 1994’s “I Used To Love H.E.R.” The tradition continued on his
verse from The Roots’ “Act Too (The Love Of My Life” off Things Fall Apart in
1999 and within his bars from Erykah Badu’s “Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip-Hop).” Now, the spiritual successor, “H.E.R. Love” doubles as his rap “State of the Union Address.”
Boasting an unheard beat by longtime collaborator the late and great J Dilla, the
soulful production underscores rhymes celebrating the culture from Jam Master
Jay all the way to Lil Uzi Vert, Nipsey Hussle, and Cardi B. It illuminates the
genre’s power to him as he claims, “You see a Malcolm X in a YG.” Of hip-hop,
Common admits, “You gave me a voice in the world, it’s been hard to choose
another girl.”
For the cinematic music video, he tapped the talents of director Savannah Leaf
[Gary Clark, Jr]. The clip intercuts intimate vignettes with impressionistic
explorations of urban culture, developing a captivating narrative befitting of the
song’s homage to hip-hop. It stands out as a thought-provoking visual statement
bearing the same heft, heart, and high art of the track and lyrics.
Show Me The Body is a hardcore trio from New York City. Their new album is called “Dog Whistle” and it will be in stores March 29, 2019.
Andrew Bird confirms the release of his forthcoming album, My Finest Work Yet, due March 22 on Loma Vista Recordings. Preorder the album here. The record features ten songs including the new single, “Sisyphus,” which debuts today—watch/share here, stream/purchase here.
My Finest Work Yet finds Bird grappling with themes of current day dichotomies and how to identify a moral compass amidst such divisive times. “I’m interested in the idea that our enemies are what make us whole—there’s an intimacy one shares with their opponent when locked in such a struggle. If we were to just walk away would our enemies miss us? How did we get to
this point and how can we, through awareness of it, maybe pull ourselves out of this death spiral,” says Bird.
He tackles these topics with a more direct songwriting approach than his previous releases, taking greater risks both lyrically and in recording. Bird and the band taped all the songs live without headphones or separation attempting to create a sound where all instruments bled into each other’s microphones. Of the new music, Bird reflects, “There is a certain optimism to this record…it’s pretty up musically though it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the lyrics.” Produced by Paul Butler, My Finest Work Yet was recorded at Barefoot Recordings in Los Angeles, CA.
The new single, “Sisyphus,” is titled after the Greek king punished by Zeus for trying to outsmart the gods and cheat death. Bird shares that the track, “is about being addicted to your own suffering and the moral consequences of letting the rock roll.” His previous single, “Bloodless,” which debuted in November along with the track’s official music video (directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin), also appears on the new album—watch/share here. Written after the 2016 election, Bird states, “‘Bloodless’ has always been the template for the rest of the album,” furthering, “it took me a while to step back and say, ‘What can I say that’s going to be helpful?’ I feel like if I’m going to contribute to anything, it should be coming from some perspective that we haven’t yet thought about.”
Andrew Bird is an internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, whistler and songwriter who picked up his first violin at the age of four and spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear.
MY FINEST WORK YET TRACK LIST
1. Sisyphus
2. Bloodless
3. Olympians
4. Cracking Codes
5. Fallorun
6. Archipelago
7. Proxy War
8. Manifest
9. Don the Struggle
10. Bellevue Bridge Club
Arizona rap trio Injury Reserve has announced their debut album Injury Reserve
for May 17th via Loma Vista Recordings. The group, consisting of MCs Ritchie
With a T, Stepa J. Groggs and producer Parker Corey are the rap game Talking
Heads with a Mystery Science Theater-like commentary on art and culture.
Through the depths of the internet, they’ve always been ahead of the curve
musically and aesthetically amassing a devout fan base whose only grown with
the release of the first two singles/videos for “Jawbreaker” ft. Rico Nasty and
Proteens and “Jailbreak The Tesla” ft. Amine. “Jawbreaker” stirred up needed
conversation calling out some of fashion’s problematic figureheads. Pitchfork
pointed out that “Injury Reserve’s creativity is on display in both the song and
video and the collective continuing to push the culture’s hand on an increasingly
bold Ian Connor and its blatant disregard of abusers, is an added bonus.” The
weekend after “Jailbreak The Tesla” dropped, someone literally hacked a Tesla
Model 3.
Injury Reserve is art scene shit stirrers and with the release of each new video
we’re witnessing it in real time; just one of the many reasons influential A&R
Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua signed them to their new label home. The new single
and video for “Koruna & Lime” directed by IR member Parker Corey, who directs
all the groups videos, might be their most impressive visuals to date. Taken in
one shot, the M.C. Escher-esque cinematography explores impressive camera
use and angles solidifying Corey’s excellence as a director on top of being an
already admired producer. The song itself features additional scratching from A-
Trak that Corey interestingly explores through the camera lens.
These are heavy times. You can feel a deep anxiety about the future seeping into every genre of music. For a while, drugs or dancing or escapism could keep it at bay. That’s not enough anymore.
HEALTH has always pushed the edges of that aggression. From its twitchy 2007 debut, through its groundbreaking 2012 score for Rockstar Games’ “Max Payne 3” and 2015’s landmark LP “DEATH MAGIC,” the L.A. band snuck beauty and rigor into blinding noise. They draped moody violence over trap beats and warehouse raves alike.
Few artists were better prepared to confront the confusion of life in 2019. With its new album “VOL4::SLAVES OF FEAR,” the trio has not only made the heaviest, most genre-obliterating album of its career. They’ve documented just how frightening it feels to be alive right now.
“VOL4::SLAVES OF FEAR” will be the most ferocious album of 2019 across every genre it touches.
Over the last year, the band hinted at a new range and ambitiousness. Shows with black-metallers Deafheaven and R&B-savvy rockers The Neighbourhood led to single collaborations with indie heroes Purity Ring and Soccer Mommy, French techno brutalist Perturbator and L.A. industrial fiends Youth Code (with plenty more to come).
Meanwhile, the band covered New Order’s “Blue Monday” for the Charlize Theron-starring action film “Atomic Blonde,” while honing its radical new approach to contemporary heavy music.
From the sample-triggered thrash metal of “THE MESSAGE” and “GOD BOTHERER,” to the bone-scraping sub-bass of “FEEL NOTHING” and “BLACK STATIC,” this is HEALTH at its most lacerating yet. With longtime producer Lars Stalfors (Lil Peep, St. Vincent, Bob Moses), they’ve upended their sound palette for our post-everything era: “NC-17” feels like Arabic bass music dragged through hell; “RAT WARS” groans with derelict, slow-rolling L.A. funk.
“VOL4::SLAVES OF FEAR” uses every tool in contemporary production to make a terrifying, exhilarating LP. But beneath all of that, “VOL4::SLAVES OF FEAR” also has some of the most vulnerable and evocative songwriting of HEALTH’s career.
In the lyrics, singer Jake Duzsik confronts death, isolation and hopelessness with an uncommon candor and intimacy. Album closer “DECIMATION” is the most radical move in the band’s catalog to date: a gorgeous guitar ballad, a plea for purpose and meaning in a time that makes both feel impossible.
“VOL4::SLAVES OF FEAR” is out on Loma Vista Recordings on February 1,2019.
LINKÖPING, SWEDEN – APRIL 13, 2018 – Grammy® Award-winning band Ghost today announced their fourth sacred psalm Prequelle (pronounced prē-KWELL) will be released on June 1, 2018 via Loma Vista Recordings. Prequelle is available for pre-order starting today HERE. Limited edition bundles featuring Colored Vinyl with 3D Lenticular Cover Art, 8-Track Cartridge, Cassette Tape, “Rats” die cut picturedisc, plague mask, musical eucharist case, pins, and more available exclusively in the Ghost Shop here HERE.
Fans have come along for the ride for years, not knowing for certain who was behind the anonymous band… that is, until Tobias Forge recently revealed himself as the man behind Ghost. Each album is more like a film release than a record release. In addition to serving as director, Forge conceives the role of every character, and oversees everything from the screenplay to video to wardrobe design to artwork to cinematography to soundtrack.
In an interesting twist in Ghost’s saga, Cardinal Copia has been appointed to take over vocal duties for the forthcoming psalm. Meet him HERE. Lyrically, Prequelle delves into the plague, the apocalypse, and dark ages. The entire body of work is also a snapshot of the world in which we live in on a daily basis, brought to life through an emotive, enlightening, and riveting body of songs.
Ghost today also shared Prequelle’s lead single “Rats” with an accompanying music video directed by Roboshobo. Watch the video HERE. “Rats” is available to stream and download now via iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and Google Play. Fans who pre-order Prequelle will receive an instant download of the track.
Prequelle follows Ghost’s third studio album, Meliora, and its accompanying EP Popestar, which elevated the Swedish rock band into the pantheon of the greatest rock bands on earth and resulted in a Grammy® Award for ‘Best Metal Performance’. Meliora debuted at No. 1 at Independent Retail, No. 2 at Rock, and in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart, selling over a quarter million copies globally. The band made their network television debut performing the album’s lead single “Cirice” on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Popestar debuted at the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums chart and produced an Active Rock chart topper with “Square Hammer”.
Marilyn Manson confirms his new album, Heaven Upside Down. The new single “WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE” trolls the dark frenetic territory that made Manson a God-like figure to so many. The ten tracks on Heaven Upside Down were recorded in Los Angeles and create a cinematic sonic palate that harkens back to the ferocity of seminal Manson albums Portrait of an American Family and Holy Wood. On the new album, he reunites with producer and film composer Tyler Bates following an epic collaboration on Manson’s critically acclaimed 2015 release The Pale Emperor.
Themes of violence, sex, politics and romance slice through Heaven Upside Down. Manson asks his fans to brutally pledge their devotion on “KILL4ME” and delves into new genres with a trap beat on the track “SAY10” as he proclaims “I’m a legend, I’m not a fable.”
Manson’s sensationalist music and art that rejects conservative values created an icon who has infiltrated fashion, television, film and music, and whose fingerprints coat modern culture. 20 years into his career, Manson is still a lightning rod of controversy and the pageantry and debauchery of his life are perfectly intact.
HEAVEN UPSIDE DOWN TRACKLIST:
1. Revelation #12
2. Tattooed In Reverse
3. WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE
4. SAY10
5. KILL4ME
6. Saturnalia
7. JE$U$ CRI$I$
8. Blood Honey
9. Heaven Upside Down
10. Threats of Romance
St. Vincent – aka Annie Clark – has announced her new album, ‘MASSEDUCTION,’ to be released October 13on Loma Vista Recordings. Themes of power and sex, imperiled relationships and death slice through the album, Clark’s first since her 2014 breakout ‘St. Vincent.’ The thirteen tracks on ‘MASSEDUCTION’ swirl with guitar and piano, synths and strings, and drum beats that punch with purpose. The album was co-produced bySt. Vincent and Jack Antonoff at Electric Lady Studios in Manhattan, with additional recording at Rough Consumer Studio in Brooklyn, and Compound Fracture in Los Angeles.
“Every record I make has an archetype,” says Clark. “‘Strange Mercy’ was Housewives on Pills. ‘St. Vincent’ was Near-Future Cult Leader. ‘MASSEDUCTION’ is different, it’s pretty first person. You can’t fact-check it, but if you want to know about my life, listen to this record.”
‘MASSEDUCTION’ is the culmination of years of writing, with songs crafted from voice memos, text messages, and snippets of melodies that came to Clark while traveling the globe. Special guests on the album include Thomas Bartlett on piano, Kamasi Washington on saxophone, Jenny Lewis on vocals, and beat production from Sounwave. Greg Leisz and Rich Hinman add pedal steel, and Tuck and Patti Andress contribute guitar and vocals respectively on select tracks.
St. Vincent’s 2014 self-titled album was her best-reviewed and best-selling to date, topping many year-end lists and culminating in her first GRAMMY® nomination and win for Best Alternative Music Album in 2015. Shortly after the album’s release Clark performed with a re-formed Nirvana at the 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and on the 2014 season finale of Saturday Night Live. In 2015 Clark won the ASCAP Vanguard Award and she was 2017’s Record Store Day Ambassador.
‘MASSEDUCTION’ TRACK LIST:
1. Hang On Me
2. Pills
3. Masseduction
4. Sugarboy
5. Los Ageless
6. Happy Birthday, Johnny
7. Savior
8. New York
9. Fear The Future
10. Young Lover
11. Dancing with a Ghost
12. Slow Disco
13. Smoking Section
Sam and Jerome work in a converted medical clinic near the intersection of Wilshire and Bonnie Brae. In the former examination room, drum machines and samplers rest on sawhorse tables. A black-and-white American flag hangs over a mixing desk made from gray block and plywood. Outside their window, the green concrete stairs are coated with scars. An immense stump supports a pile of deceased fronds and deserted wet mops. The pulse of MacArthur Park pushes through a tangle of bushes and barbed wire.
In January, 2015, the duo learned by phone that the building was being sold. A reaction was hammered out on keyboard. Simple chords, frustrated but motivated. Nothing was settled, nothing certain. Within two days, the piano loop became a complete demo for “You Don’t Have To Be Alone.” It set the tone for nine more. Together, those songs became Stand Up And Speak.
Inspired or not, they convened in the room five days each week. Locals nourished the music. The man who sings the title track works as a doorman at a downtown hotel. Live drums were recorded in the living room of a Filipinotown mansion. The city’s sounds were sewn into songs. A Korean church’s morning din.
Nighttime traffic headed west on the 10 Freeway. Sidewalkers passing the Body High studio without awareness of anything inside.
Stand Up And Speak was completed in September. Beneath Sam and Jerome’s studio, a team of seamstresses makes dresses through the night. Next door, a community organizer counsels Salvadoran immigrants. To not disturb the religious services he holds in his cramped office, DJDS breaks on Sundays. The building has been sold, but no one has left. Together they wait for whatever change comes next.
Words by Sam Sweet
A Black Mile to the Surface out July 21, 2017 via Loma Vista Recordings
Manchester Orchestra had always prided themselves on their approach. The Atlanta-based band, led by singer/lyricist Andy Hull with Robert McDowell (who is also Hull’s brother-in-law and lifelong friend), had spent their career challenging each other to build a poignant, exhilarating narrative with each new album and EP. The band had worked relentlessly to cultivate a passionate fan base the old-fashioned way: releasing music, making music videos, and touring (most recently with drummer Tim Very and bassist Andy Prince). Their previous long-player, 2014’s Cope, had even spawned a cover album of itself by its creators, an acoustic-reworking and reimagining of its songs with a heavily emotional bent that they called Hope. But now — thirty years old, stable, and a first-time father — Hull found himself facing a crisis of inspiration. Since the beginning, each subsequent Manchester Orchestra album had been a grand statement for that specific moment in their career, originated in a desire to push themselves forward creatively. The desire to achieve greatness is often followed by a need for that same desire to evolve. So, for a musician used to writing out of self-reflection, what do you sing about when life is good? For a band on record number five and seeking innovation, how do you untangle yourself from the past? How do you write songs about being happy?
It was becoming clear that they required a completely new approach from an entirely different sphere and set of faculties — and, lo and behold, just such a moment arrived when Hull and McDowell were offered the chance to score a movie.
In the midst of the Cope/Hope LP release cycle, the directing duo The Daniels — who had created a dense, theatrical music video for Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math” in 2011, winning Vimeo’s “Music Video of the Year” in the process — countered Hull and McDowell’s request for them to work on another video with the idea of scoring the directors’ in-the-works feature film debut, Swiss Army Man. They had never written a film score before, but the pair of musicians happily rose to the challenge. The Daniels’ immediate guideline was: “Cool, don’t use any instruments.” In the project, Hull and McDowell recognized an opportunity to leave their comfort zone and to push emotion to new heights.
“Cope was very much a record where we knew what we wanted and it was a goal in our heads we could chase; that was followed by the polar opposite in Hope. But once we started work on the soundtrack, we threw the textbook out and started approaching music against our instincts,” says McDowell. “I think the score kind of was like going back and getting a doctorate. Once we finished it, there was this whole new realm of situations and sounds that we could go down.”
Swiss Army Man was a weird — albeit cult — Sundance hit, and the film’s New York Times-lauded “marvelously melancholic music” earned rave reviews around the world. Riding that excitement, Hull and McDowell decamped to a cabin near Asheville, North Carolina, with bandmates Very and Prince to write a new record. Inspired by their experience creating the score, they seized the chance to rethink Manchester Orchestra’s typical methods of working.
“We’re a band that loves to use heavy, crunchy guitars,” says Hull. “We wondered how we could limit the use of that, so that when the guitars come in they can be creative and impactful. For Swiss Army Man we had to make seventy minutes of music with our hands tied behind our backs. When you’re creating all the sounds you need just from the human voice, it allows you to rethink what is possible, and determine what is really needed. We wanted to make an album in a ‘non-Manchester’ way if there is such a thing. So we started looking for people to help us do that.”
This process gave them new ideas of how to think about writing, how songs could flow, and how to layer melodies on top of one another to propel the tune into a new emotional arena. To manifest this vision, the band turned to producer Catherine Marks (Foals, PJ Harvey, The Killers, Interpol) and began working with her at Echo Mountain studio in Asheville. “She just got it immediately. Catherine looked at us and said, ‘I hear Twin Peaks: The Album here,’” says Hull. The band instantly connected to her unique sonic outlook for the record: Marks wanted each song to sound like a different room. “Like you could understand where you were in the room and identify where each particular sound was coming from, pick it out with your hands and pull it out,” Marks explains, adding, “Being able to utilize the sound of the rooms we recorded it in, whether it was at Echo Mountain, or literally standing in a bath and engaging with the reverberation and reflections that those rooms provided — as opposed to manufactured reverbs — was super exciting to me.”
In addition to mixing with Marks at her Assault & Battery studio in London, Manchester Orchestra also worked with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, Angel Olsen, Cloud Nothings) in Los Angeles — gathering new sounds, adding to and widening the songs’ dimensions — as well as their longtime producer Dan Hannon, who offered an invaluable perspective that only an old friend could give. Encouraged to go against first instinct, each collaborator added their own touch to the music, pushing it to places no Manchester Orchestra record had ever gone before. As Marks says, “Throughout the entire process, the band fought for the unknown and the unquantifiable.” In thoughtfully deconstructing and rebuilding their songwriting process, the band pushed themselves to create their best album yet.
“It was a test—personally, emotionally, creatively—to see how far we could push ourselves without breaking,” says McDowell. “This record was intentionally un-compromised on every level. We made sure to explore all the options and that we were moving forward with the strongest approach for each song—strongest part, strongest melody, strongest lyric.”
Describing a rock record as “cinematic” usually implies a double-length, sprawling album with a full orchestra on every song; A Black Mile to the Surface is cinematic in that it conjures worlds. There’s magical surrealism at work, with songs about a boy with no ears (“The Alien”) and the father/sleeping child callback of “The Sunshine.” There’s a story to parse here — three brothers, an abandoned wife and child, a mysterious journey through the depths of a miles-deep mine, a narrative of twists and turns, recurring characters, alternating timelines — but the songs and melodies stand on their own.
The initial creative spark for Hull’s lyrics came from a photograph. “While we were writing the album in Asheville it was snowing heavily at the cabin. I was reminded of what it feels like to live in a place that is cyclically cold. No matter what happens you can’t escape it,” says Hull. “I had written a song with a character in South Dakota, so I started looking up pictures of ‘winter in South Dakota,’ and there it was.” What he found was a picture of a road with snow piled high forming walls on either side, maze-like; cars were frozen in time, the sky a white-nothing blur.
Hull began to write songs from the perspectives of different characters who might live in the scene, and found that as he was creating these fictional stories, it became much easier for him to talk about the things that were happening in his own life. In “The Gold,” a song about a woman missing her husband as he descends into the blackness of the mines, Hull saw his own wife left alone with their young child after yet another months-long tour. As he sang these characters’ concerns, he realized he was really singing his own.
A Black Mile to the Surface is a bold record of vision and purpose, inspired by and dwelling in a sensory and imaginative experience. It’s a reinvention of sorts, both musically and personally—a sort of cosmic worldview shift. But in the end, the record’s themes are universal. On the stunning final track, Hull sings, “Let me watch you as close as a memory/ Let me hold you above all the misery / Let me open my eyes and be glad that I got here.” Certainly, that’s a father speaking hope to his daughter, but it’s also a message to listeners. How do you write songs about being happy? With your eyes wide open, your loved ones in front of you, and the misery of the world waiting just outside the door.
Some people say ‘luck is the intersection of hard work and opportunity’. On their fourth full-length album and first for Loma Vista Recordings, The Revivalists chronicle, catalog, and capture an unbelievable ride where ten years of tireless hard work would be unexpectedly revved up by the wrongly dubbed “overnight success” of the gold-selling number one single “Wish I Knew You.” Like any enduring band worth its salt, they reacted the best way possible to newfound popularity – by buckling down and turning up with an album chock full of tunes worthy of even greater success. It’s the result of a trip that unassumingly commenced in 2008 with hundreds of underground shows yearly and culminated 10 years later with not only “Wish I Knew You,” but three years of back-to-back sold out headline tours. In life, like rock ‘n’ roll, some questions get answered while others stay unanswered. Our personal backroads tuck, twist, and turn through ups, downs, and everything in between at light speed, sometimes without explanation or a moment for reflection. Mirroring the push-and-pull of the past few years, the boys—David Shaw [lead vocals, guitar], Zack Feinberg [guitar], Andrew Campanelli [drums], George Gekas [bass], Ed Williams [pedal steel guitar], Rob Ingraham [saxophone], Michael Giradot [keyboard, trumpet], and PJ Howard [drums, percussion]—deliver a bevy of anthems marked by moments of sonic complexity, celebration, and catharsis.
“As far as the music goes, sometimes I just have a feeling, and it comes through in a song,” says David. “I don’t know what it is, but it makes me feel something. I wanted this album to be simply about that. Making the new music has been a bit of a cathartic process for me—just to get some of these feelings out, lose myself in the art, and become someone else. Songwriting is the great escape. It’s where I can be who I want to be. It’s been three years of touring our asses off, writing in between, and honing our craft. Then, ‘Wish I Knew You’ happened. Everything got even crazier. This album basically came together the way we always make records though. It’s simply a collection of songs from where we were at that point in our lives. We didn’t want to divert too much from what we’ve always been, but we wanted to take it to the next level and continue that trajectory of our artistry and creativity.”
Simultaneously, life was rapidly changing around the band, and the music spoke to that.
“Everything going on these past few years certainly informed the direction,” David continues. “I don’t know if I was ready for some of what transpired emotionally. I got personal on some of the songs. I said some things I might not have otherwise. Thankfully, I have a good family network and amazing girlfriend to balance all of the changes.”
“We were fortunate enough to have this ‘hit’ on the last record, and things have changed,” adds Andrew. “We had to keep pushing forward.”
For the first time, The Revivalists recorded and co-wrote with multiple producers and writers, enlisting the talents of Dave Cobb [Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton], Andrew Dawson [Kanye West, Fun., Sleigh Bells], and Dave Bassett [Elle King, Vance Joy] for sessions in New Orleans and Nashville, which became a hub for the band. They spent three weeks recording at the iconic RCA Studio B, soaking up the aura of one of the most storied studios in music and the city’s rich musical history. Additionally, it would be the first record with drummer/percussionist PJ joining the band in the studio.
Bringing sixty songs to the table, the guys whittled the batch down to the best fourteen of the bunch.
Andrew continues, “On the first few records, we were figuring out what our identity is, so we were really involved in the minutia of recording. After all this time, we have an identity, and it’s more based in our songs. We were able to let go and allow these producers to take us into a direction that we wouldn’t go on our own. We got to explore a little more. Being ten years in empowered us to do that.”
“We had the opportunity to work with more people, which was amazing,” David goes on. “The main difference was having this team and the chance to co-write. It really elevated our craft in a way that I don’t think we ever thought about previously. We were all working together in the studio, while keeping the true heart and soul of the band intact through the whole process.”
The first single “All My Friends” speaks to that spirit. Driven by swaggering piano, boisterous horns, and bluesy leads, the track swings towards an unshakable chant, “All my friends take good care of me.” Striking, sharp, and soulful, it introduces this chapter with confidence and charisma.
“I actually wrote those verses when I was 27,” says David. “I met up with Dave Bassett in Malibu where I did some writing sessions, and I brought the lyrics to the table. It’s a bit of a retrospective look back. You’re in your twenties, staying out for three days, not contacting your significant other, and getting into some bad shit. Looking back, I realized, I had an amazing group of friends who stuck by my side.”
“Musically, it bridges the gap between what we’ve been doing and what you’re about to hear,” explains Andrew.
Representing a vast swath of the country and defying regional pigeonholes, David’s roots are in the Rust Belt, while Zack, Ed, and George hail from the Tri-States and Michael and Rob from the Southwest. Andrew cut his teeth bashing the drums in the DC scene and newcomer PJ made his bones in Chicago. However, The Crescent City would ultimately bring them together. Since forming in New Orleans, the group quietly grinded towards international ubiquity one gig, song, and album at a time. Seven years in, 2015’s Men Amongst Mountains represented a high watermark. Its lead single “Wish I Knew You” became a slow-burning hit, racking up more than 200 million streams and ascending to #1 on Adult Alternative and Alternative radio. On the latter, it clocked a record for “most single-week spins ever at the format” before eventually receiving a gold certification from the RIAA. A mainstream phenomenon, the song found traction at Hot AC and Top 40 and bubbled up on to the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks as the band made the rounds on television with performances on Today, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, Ellen, and Conan. Acclaim came from USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Flaunt, Buzzfeed, Uproxx, Billboard, and more with Rolling Stone touting them among “10 Artists You Need To Know.” Along the way, they garnered a Billboard Music Awards nomination and two nods at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Between countless gigs, the musicians also ignited festival stages at Bonnaroo, Governor’s Ball, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Outside Lands, and Pilgrimage, to name a few.
Looking back, the frontman smiles, “It’s been quite the ride.”
In the end, The Revivalists welcome listeners on this journey with them as they set out with a newfound depth and ambition.
“As we went along, we found there are more questions than answers, and we’re all sort of figuring it out,” concludes Andrew. “We’re all doing the same thing. We hope people listen to the record and maybe can go out and keep making connections. That’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s the human experience.”
“We’re in this together,” David leaves off. “We love to take people on an emotional rollercoaster with us. That’s what this record is. It’s who we are. There’s some real magic in that.”
Acclaimed duo Sylvan Esso – comprised of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn – have released their first new music since their celebrated self-titled debut came out in 2014. The new single, “Radio,” is bold and boundary-pushing, turning the band’s signature sounds in brilliant new directions.
The 12” pairs “Radio” with “Kick Jump Twist,” a fan favorite featured prominently in the band’s live set. The vinyl comes out November 18th and is currently available for pre-order from the band’s website.
Sylvan Esso will release their highly-anticipated sophomore album in 2017.
