News

Fleet Foxes' Portland in-store cancelled

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:35:55 -0700

As reported earlier today on Pitchfork, after their van broke down, Fleet Foxes were forced to cancel their Salt Lake City show scheduled for tonight, July 23rd. Luckily, they will be back in SLC on August 18th, opening for Wilco (details).

Not so luckily, this same non-functioning van will also cause the band to miss the in-store performance they have scheduled for 6:00 pm on Friday July 25th at Portland’s excellent Music Millennium . We are truly sorry to be the bearers of this piece of bad news: Friday’s Fleet Foxes in-store at Music Millennium is hereby canceled. We are trying to reschedule something at Music Millennium in September and will keep you posted on any progress on that front.

Wolf Parade and Foals TONIGHT

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:21:40 -0700

Did you miss Wolf Parade and the Foals at the festival yesterday? Even though I’d like to shame you for missing them, instead I’m here to tell you that you’re in luck. Both Foals and Wolf Parade will be reprising their sets tonight at Neumos.

Tickets are available here via TicketWeb

Also playing is The Listening Party, who will be opening for Wolf Parade on their upcoming US tour.

We're on the space needle!

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:45:48 -0700

From the roof of Sub Pop HQ, we just watched the most unlikely of events. At 12PM sharp a flag bearing the venerable Sub Pop logo was hoisted by man and beast up the flagpole on the Space Needle! Not a pewter replica, mind you, but the actual building!

Apparently, they’ve also painted the top of the needle like a 7-inch stamp (much like this). But I’ll believe that when I see it. Anyone have a helicopter?

I’m not going to get so distracted by our sweet flag that I forget to remind you to come out to the festival this weekend, though. While both the comedy show and Saturday at Marymoor are sold out, there are still tickets available for Sunday’s show in the park. Get ‘em while you can!

Follow this link for more info.

520 Bridge closed for SP20!

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:35:51 -0700

If you live in Seattle and are attending the SP20 Festival at Marymoor this weekend be aware that the 520 bridge will be closed ALL weekend. Plan accordingly!

Info from WSDOT

Alternate Routes:

Seattle to Marymoor via 90 directions are here.

Seattle to Marymoor via 522 directions are here.

JP Pitches

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:39:52 -0700

Jonathan Poneman cleared home plate on Sunday afternoon when he threw out the ceremonial first ball at the Mariners v Tigers game at Safeco Field. Contrary to the beliefs of his staff and friends, he neither fell down nor threw like a girl. Congratulations, JP!

Girl Trouble Plays Marymoor Park Anyway

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:59:31 -0700

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GIRL TROUBLE PLAYS MARYMOOR PARK ANYWAY

As you may know, the first Girl Trouble album, “Hit It or Quit It”, was released on K/SubPop in 1988. In fact, this was the first full-length record SubPop ever released. The record matrix number was K/SP-20.

This month Sub Pop is hosting a huge, two-day concert of Sub Pop bands in Marymoor Park on July 12/13 to celebrate their 20 year anniversary. It’s billed as the SP-20 event, one letter off from the old Hit It or Quit It matrix number. Coincidence? You be the judge. Of course, Girl Trouble awaited the invitation to join their old friends and label-mates on stage for this most festive occasion.

Unfortunately. the band now suspects that a mistake has been made. They have yet to be contacted by their old label! With only weeks to spare it was obvious there was some sort of unintentional oversight by Sub Pop.

Girl Trouble has never been a band to let a small detail like not being invited deter them from joining in on any celebration. That’s why they have decided to bring some instruments and play the show anyway, somewhere in Marymoor Park, as close to the venue as they can legally get. This will be the first all-acoustic Girl Trouble show, playing selections from their Sub Pop album, Hit It or Quit It, in order.

Feel free to look for Girl Trouble somewhere in the park (possibly by some picnic tables or a tree) starting at noon, where they promise to entertain anybody who happens by. Unlike the $30 ticket price for the bands inside the Marymoor Park venue – there will be no charge for this one-day-only performance. Please join us on Saturday, July 12 for this special event. Don’t forget your picnic lunch, blanket and sun screen. Complementary bag of chips to the first 40 K/SP-20 attendees.

Hope to see you there!

[Sub Pop is proud to share the park with Girl Trouble. We’ve got our eye on those chips. -ed.]

No Age at Good Records

richardl@subpop.com (Richard Laing) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:03:54 -0700

On Monday 6/30 at 6pm the fine folks at Good Records will be hosting a FREE instore performance by No Age. That’s right, Randy and Dean will take a short break from watching themselves be all over MTV , to play for the fine music loving folks of Dallas for the princely sum of “good vibes”.

They’ll also be playing later that night at the Palladium Ballroom in Dallas.

Have at it.

NO AGE ON TV!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:44:33 -0700

In a bizarre turn of events, MTV will diverge from their winning programming formula combining chronicles of booger-eating, testicle-smashing and the lifestyles of wealthy, indolent children, by reintroducing daytime music video programming this summer, as well as premiering brand new videos every Friday evening as part of the soon-to-be-launched show “F’N MTV.” L.A.-based art punk band No Age has been chosen as one of the network’s “most talked about” artists, and will debut the video for its new single, “Eraser,” on the June 27 episode of the show. In addition, No Age, whose Sub Pop debut, Nouns was released May 6th of this year, will be interviewed live on the episode by host, and tabloid favorite, Pete Wentz. Following the premiere, Eraser will go into regular rotation, including newly introduced daytime spots. Are you kidding me? This is HUGE!

Also, in other totally rad news, No Age will be playing “Eraser” and “Sleeper Hold” on Fuel TV’s Daily Habit on Monday the 16th!

Fleet Foxes iTunes Error

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:49:12 -0700

From the “Our Bad” Department:

Due to technical (and a little human) error, the version of “He Doesn’t Know Why” from the brand-new, self-titled Fleet Foxes album that was available from the iTunes Music Store had two audio drop-outs. This has now been fixed and all purchases henceforth will be correct and defect-free, as the good lord intended. We apologize profusely for this inconvenience and would like to hereby offer a free MP3 of that song to anyone who would like it. Please accept both this song and our apologies for the mistake.

If you prefer, iTunes customer service will issue a credit to those customers who report the problem. iTunes customer service can be contacted here

All heartfelt contrition aside, how great is this Fleet Foxes record??!

SP20 - Who gets the money

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:46:52 -0700

All of the bands/artists/comedians participating in our various 20th anniversary revelries have agreed to play for free in the hopes of raising a bunch of money to give to a bunch of worthwhile organizations. Basically, we’re pooling the money we make, dividing it amongst everyone playing and each band/artist/comedian picks a recipient.

Herewith the list of organizations to which these folks have elected to donate their share of the proceeds. And, sometimes, where possible, we’ve included a bit of info about why they picked who they did.

Todd Barry—The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a national voluntary health agency dedicated to curing leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and to improving the quality of life of patients and their families.

Beachwood Sparks—Farm Sanctuary

We are going to donate our portion to the Farm Sanctuary. It is a group that rescues factory farm animals. They educate communities and children on responsible humane farming practices. They help take a little bit of violence away.

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (feat. Tad Doyle)—National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

We are grateful and pleased to be a part of this event because we are donating the show revenue to help America’s homeless veterans. Far too many of our armed service men and women come back home from duty overseas to a place where people treat them like second-class citizens and give our faithful service men and women the cold shoulder. These people are to be honored and that is why we have chosen to make our donation for this show to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. This organization helps homeless veterans with shelters and social services. They also help drug and alcohol addicted veterans who want help finding an answer to their problems.

Comets on Fire—The 924 Gilman Street Project

David Cross—Knowmore.org

Death Vessel—The Children’s Garden Network

Eric’s Trip—Kiva – micro-lending

Everyone thinks it’s just such a great simple idea, and it works!!

Fleet Foxes—Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation

[from Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold…] I never learned a classical instrument in school or elsewhere and now I really regret it. I feel like I’m playing catch up now when I could’ve been learning all these things from an early age. Hopefully this money will buy some genius kids some stuff that’ll help them discover what they want to do in life!

Flight of the Conchords—Red Cross International Response Fund

The American Red Cross International Response Fund provides immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help victims of natural disasters and other crises around the world.

The Fluid—Radio 1190

Our local college station, because they support us!

Foals—The Katharine House Hospice

Katharine House is located 4 miles south of Banbury and lies on the borders of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire amidst beautiful gardens where peace and tranquility prevail. The Hospice building was completed in 1991 and today the specialist palliative care services offered include in-patient, day centre, out-patients (medical and lymphoedema), community nurse specialists (Macmillan), and bereavement support. No charge is made to patients or their families for any aspect of care.

Grand Archives—The Bridge School

Green River—The Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation

Our good friend and Seattle guitar god Tom Price (U-Men, Gas Huffer, Monkeywrench, The Tom Price Desert Classic) has early onset Parkinson’s Disease. We decided to donate Green River’s SP20 winnings to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation in his honor.

The Gutter Twins—Free the West Memphis Three

This is the Defense Fund for the West Memphis 3 – three teenagers convicted of a horrible crime because of the music they listened to and the way they dressed.

The Helio Sequence —The Darcy Davidson Cancer Fund

Darcy is a friend of ours here in Portland who has been diagnosed with type IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In 2007, she bravely went through chemotherapy and the cancer went into remission, but unfortunately it has recently relapsed. We are very concerned for Darcy and our hearts go out to her, her husband, and her family. If you would like to make a donation to help Darcy out you can go to any Washington Mutual branch and say that you would like to donate to the “Darcy Davidson Cancer Fund.”

Iron and Wine—Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery

Kinski—First Place

Kinski supports First Place, a Seattle-based agency devoted to educating and nurturing children whose families struggle with homelessness. First Place gives kids from grades K through 6 a safe, stable environment to learn and grow, and offers housing and support services that help their families achieve stability. Hope, home and education for every child, one family at a time.

Les Thugs—Northwest Film Forum

Northwest Film Forum is a Seattle-based, non-profit center for the film arts. Much like Sub Pop does for music, NWFF supports the production of independent film by local artists, and connects that community to its international constituency. NWFF also operates two cinemas on Capitol Hill, screening hundreds of programs year-round, often including music documentaries and commissioning live scores for classic films. Belmondo!!

Low—The Maasai Cultural Foundation

The Maasai Cultural Foundation is working to document the deeply rooted music of East Africa’s Maasai people, while focusing on health and education projects in the Maasai communities where music is recorded. One such example is our adult education program in Namuncha, Kenya, where over one-hundred rural Maasai men and women are learning to read, write and do arithmetic in a school building funded by the band Low. Visit us at www.maasaiculture.org to learn more about our projects, the Maasai people and hear samples of Maasai music!

Eugene Mirman—826 Boston

826Boston is a wonderful nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Writing is crucial to the survival of mankind and the propagation of knowledge and commerce. Without proper writing skills you wouldbkgi kallo fa fa wough. See? It’s important. To that end, 826Boston provides free drop-in tutoring, field trips, after-school workshops, in-schools tutoring, and much more —- because without the written word people would constantly forget the Bill of Rights and wipe out civilization.

Mudhoney—The Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation

Our good friend and Seattle guitar god Tom Price (U-Men, Gas Huffer, Monkeywrench, The Tom Price Desert Classic) has early onset Parkinson’s Disease. We decided to donate Mudhoney’s SP20 winnings to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation in his honor.

No Age—Lance Armstrong Foundation

Founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) unites people to fight cancer. This is a good war to fight.

Patton Oswalt—Hope for the Warriors

Hope for the Warriors is exactly that: Hope, funds and assistance to Army veterans who aren’t being given much of anything by the VA, the government, or the current administration.

Pissed Jeans—National Multiple Sclerosis Society

One of our biggest supporters and closest loved ones suffers from MS. We are proud to donate our charity cash towards a cure for MS, in honor of those with MS and the people who care about them.

Red Red Meat—Accelerated Cure Project

We have some friends and family members with Multiple Sclerosis and this foundation is actively seeking a cure.

The Ruby Suns—PAWS

We seriously love animals! Big time! PAWS is awesome! They help out animals that have been abandoned, hurt, and basically screwed over by people – both intentionally and unintentionally. They also try to deal with the problem at its core – not just a band-aid – if you know what I mean. There is a big focus on education and general knowledge sharing. A big problem with a lot of other animal shelters is that they end up killing a lot of their “guests” because of capacity issues – but PAWS has a “no-kill” policy! They try to find homes for all domesticated animals and return wild ones back to whence they came. Those who work for this organisation are pretty aws in our opinion and deserve all the money help they can get.

Kristen Schaal—National Breast Cancer Foundation

Seaweed—Emergency Food Network

Seaweed supports the great work of the Emergency Food Network. Each charitable dollar is transformed into $12 worth of food for our hungry friends in Tacoma/Pierce County (low-income families, seniors, and the homeless). EFN also operates an organic farm and an orchard which serve as living laboratories for students to learn about sustainable farming practices. It is the only emergency food distribution center in the country to produce and distribute large quantities of organic produce (over 150,000 pound per year!). Seaweed thanks the Emergency Food Network for a job well done.

The Vaselines—The Bellur Trust

This charity was chosen because Bks Iyengar has spread the teaching of yoga throughout the world. He, as the chief patron of The Bellur Trust, is now working towards providing the basic amenities to improve the quality of life of the children of Bellur, his birth place.

Wolf Parade—Head & Hands*

Heads and Hands is a grassroots social work, mental and physical health youth outreach program based in the neighbourhood of NDG in Montreal.

You are an exceedingly awesome bunch of people and we are tremendously proud to work with you. Thanks!

Foals in-store May 25th at Lou's Records in San Diego

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:06:32 -0700

Attention San Diegoians! Oxford-bred and briefly educated post-minimal-afro -jazz-punkers Foals will be paying a FREE, all-ages in-store at Lou’s Records in Encinitas, CA on Sunday, May 25 at 3pm. They also play a 21+ show that night at Brick by Brick.

Store Manager Tony Davis says: ”I got lots of posters, stickers & buttons so I’ll work that like a five dollar whore.”

Don’t forget to pace yourself Tony!

David Cross and Kristen Schaal added to the SP20 Comedy Show!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:31:00 -0700

As part of the series of events that we keep going on and on about surrounding our 20th anniversary this summer, we are having a comedy show at The Moore Theatre on Friday, July 11th. Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, and Todd Barry are all scheduled to perform, and it will undoubtedly be a whole hell of a lot of fun.

But, you know all that already.

What you didn’t know, at least not until you read the headline/title of this particular newspiece/blog posting, is the following:

David Cross has been added to the line-up for the evening!

AND

Kristen Schaal (who plays Mel on the Flight of the Conchords cable television program) will be hosting!

We are terribly excited about the both of these things and hope that you will be too.

Lucky for you, tickets for the SP20 Comedy show are still available…

Buy tickets to the SP20 Comedy show through the Sub Pop website Buy tickets to the SP20 Comedy Show through TicketMaster

Celebrate Mudhoney Day Tonight at Easy Street Records!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:41:59 -0700

Although the national press coverage for this holiday has been a little light, you visitors here at the Sub Pop Interweb Concern are already well aware that today, May 20th, 2008, is MUDHONEY DAY! We declared it so a little while back.

And, in celebration of MUDHONEY DAY, we are hereby inviting you to come out to Easy Street Records in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood for a FREE IN-STORE PERFORMANCE TONIGHT AT 7PM! Even better: this free in-store performance at 7pm will be performed by the actual Mudhoney!

What’s more, if you are unable to attend this evening’s FREE Mudhoney in-store performance because you live in some other city, or have plans or family members you cannot neglect, or have been committed of and incarcerated for a crime you did/did not commit, or have discovered far too late that those pot cookies are way, WAY stronger than you anticipated, you can watch this FREE Mudhoney in-store performance on your computer! The fine people at Easy Street have set up a live webcast of this evening’s FREE Mudhoney in-store performance which you can access here at 7pm PST.

We are, of course, also celebrating MUDHONEY DAY with the release of two record albums by the actual Mudhoney:

Their brand-new album The Lucky Ones And, the totally deluxed-up 2-disc reissue of Superfuzz Bigmuff

Happy Mudhoney Day, everyone! See you at Easy Street at 7pm!

SP20 Festival - Just Added!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:43:02 -0700

As you may have read already elsewhere (here and here, say), we’ve announced a couple of additions to the line-up for our 20th anniversary festival out at Marymoor. Like so:

The Vaselines and Eric’s Trip have been added to Saturday. And Les Thugs have been added to Sunday.

We’re pretty excited about all three.

Gentle reminder: tickets for SP20 through TicketMaster go up to $35 per day and $60 for a 2-day pass tomorrow, Saturday May 10th. And we’re nearly out of the 2-day passes we have for sale here on the Sub Pop site.

Also! The Gutter Twins and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth (feat. Tad “Tad” Doyle) will be playing at The Showbox on Saturday, July 12th. This is a separate (though related) event and you will need to buy tickets for this show on its own, apart from the festival at Marymoor.

FOALS + JIMMY KIMMEL = YOUR GOLDEN TICKET

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:34:02 -0700

If you love the new Foals record as much we do, tend to think you can outdo most studio audiences, are 18 or over, AND will be in the LA area on Friday, May 23rd, then you’ll be excited to know that your golden opportunity may just be around the corner.

That Friday evening, the Foals will be performing on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! and we’d love to see you whoop it with the band and Mr. Kimmel on national television.

Tickets and information are available here.

If you’re not going to be around for Kimmel, worry not—you catch a breeze with the band elsewhere on their upcoming tour.

Grand Archives are on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Wed. April 30!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:07:49 -0700

Earlier this month, the remarkably talented and genial men of Grand Archives recorded their very first television performance, playing the song Torn Blue Foam Couch on the CBS program, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” of course, appears on Grand Archives’ recently released debut album, The Grand Archives And, this episode, the Grand Archives episode of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, will be airing this Wednesday night, April 30th!

Allow me to boldly reiterate…

Grand Archives will be appearing on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this Wednesday, April 30th!

As an added bonus, and for those of you who don’t already know this, Craig Ferguson is actually a really funny, manic host! And, the other guests on this particular episode are great as well – Jeff Bridges and Sophia Myles!

Please tune in!

SP20 Festival - Details

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:24:20 -0700

As you have hopefully already read elsewhere here on the Sub Pop Interweb Tendency, we’re 20 this year. And, we plan to make kind of a nuisance of ourselves about it. More so than usual, even.

To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which, like their brand new album The Lucky Ones , comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club (more on that soon-ish), and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

Herewith the scoop on these birthday parties:

SP20 Comedy Show – Friday, July 11th at The Moore Theatre with…

David Cross Patton Oswalt Eugene Mirman Todd Barry And Kristen Schaal will be hosting!

Tickets to the SP20 Comedy Show are still available through TicketMaster here.

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Moore Theatre FAQs

Single-day tickets and 2-day passes for SP20 are still available through TicketMaster here!

SP20 Festival – Saturday, July 12th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

Eric’s Trip Seaweed The Helio Sequence Pissed Jeans Fleet Foxes The Fluid Low Mudhoney The Vaselines Iron and Wine Flight of the Conchords

SP20 Festival – Sunday, July 13th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

The Ruby Suns Grand Archives Kinski Foals Les Thugs No Age Red Red Meat Comets on Fire Beachwood Sparks Green River Wolf Parade

Single-day tickets and 2-day passes for SP20 are still available through TicketMaster here!

You can also buy tickets for SP20 in person at the Marymoor Park Office between 9am and 4pm, Monday-Friday. You can also phone them at 206-205-3661 or email them at marymoorpark@kingcounty.gov to buy tickets and have them mailed to you. A fee of $8 per ticket supports maintenance and operations of King County Parks. There’s more info about all of this on the Concerts at Marymoor site. There is also, at this same link info for those interested in carpooling to SP20!

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Marymoor Park FAQs

Getting to SP20 Festival

SP20 at The Showbox – Saturday. July 12th, with…

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth The Gutter Twins (show starts at 10pm)

Tickets for SP20 at The Showbox are available through TicketMaster here!

It’s worth noting that all of the SP20-related events are benefits. Information on SP20 Beneficiaries is available here!

Record Store Day is Saturday, April 19, 2008

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:41:35 -0700

In a more perfect world, every day would be Record Store Day (and every week would include No Pants Friday). But, until that time comes, until each and every delicious day includes (as most of Dean’s do) a lunch-time trip to one of our nation’s many wonderful record/tape/compact disc/water-pipe emporiums, let’s all be thankful that a rogue consortium of independent record store owners have banded together and mustered the AUDACITY TO INVENT A HOLIDAY! Rejoice, for Saturday April 19, is Record Store Day, people! And on this day, this Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate, with special performances and giveaways and all sorts of cool shit!

Seriously! If you value record stores (as you should) for the culture they help to foster and create, and the community that surrounds and permeates them, you should spend some time in one (or several!) of these stores on Saturday. You’ll be glad you did!

And, if you do, you’ll be able to pick up, free of charge, the new 2008 Sub Pop Records sampler, Terminal Sales Vol. 3: Happy Birthday to Me! The new sampler has 18 tracks in all, many of them as-yet-unreleased, and is handsomely/expensively packaged (yes, we are pretty pleased with ourselves).

Here’s the full list of stores participating in Record Store Day!

Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:17:22 -0700

In unabashedly conspicuous celebration of 20 years of not going out of business (sometimes only barely), Seattle’s Sub Pop Records will gather past and present label-mates for a series of events, including a two-day festival at Marymoor Park on July 12 & 13 and a comedy show on July 11 at Seattle’s Moore Theatre. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to support beneficiaries of each participating act’s choosing. Tickets go on sale April 26 at 12 PM Pacific at SubPop.com and all Ticketmaster locations. More ticket information provided below.

Though Bruce Pavitt had been using the title SUBTERRANEAN POP since sometime in ’79 for fanzines, cassette compilations, radio shows, and the like, somewhere along the line he and co-founder Jonathan Poneman decided that April 1, 1988—the day they quit their jobs and rented a tiny office in the Terminal Sales Building in Seattle—was the day Sub Pop Records was born. To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club, and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

The SP20 Festival is happening July 12 & 13 at Marymoor Park just outside of Seattle in Redmond, WA. In addition to reunited bands, acts currently on the label’s roster, and everything in between, the festival will also host a half-pipe featuring both Nike and Girl + Chocolate sponsored skaters. While the full day-by-day line-up will be announced in the coming months, the festival will include:

Beachwood Sparks / Comets on Fire / Fleet Foxes / Flight of the Conchords / The Fluid / Foals / Grand Archives / Green River / The Helio Sequence / Iron & Wine / Kinski / Low / Mudhoney / No Age / Pissed Jeans / Red Red Meat / The Ruby Suns / Seaweed / Wolf Parade, and more to be announced.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit a variety of charities chosen by both Sub Pop and each act performing. Ticket information provided below.

The SP20 activities will commence with a comedy show on July 11 at The Moore Theatre. Among the performing comedians are Sub Pop artists Eugene Mirman and Patton Oswalt, label friend and fan Todd Barry, and special guests.

Discounted $30 single-day or $50 two-day passes to the SP20 Festival go on sale Saturday April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Marymoor box office Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with all service charges going to benefit the parks department. Ticket prices will increase to $35 single-day or $60 two-day passes on May 10.

Tickets for SP20 Comedy Show are $20 and go on sale April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Moore Theatre box office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm and again from 3:15 pm to 6:00 pm.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit a variety of beneficiaries, chosen by both Sub Pop and participating bands.

Vh1 Does Us a Solid on our Birthday

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:54:44 -0700

The fine folks over at vh1.com and vh1classic.com went above and beyond and have provided us with our best birthday present yet—a Sub Pop Turns 20 celebration with over 50 Sub Pop videos from the dawn of time til now. Check it out—there’s Tad, SDRE, Mudhoney, Band of Horses, The Shins, CSS, and more!

James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus are playing a benefit together in Portland April 11th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:33:37 -0700

To help raise money for Portland’s Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School, The Shins’ James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus will be playing the 18th annual Buckman Art Show & Sell at The Jupiter Hotel on Friday April 11th! You should go!

Full details, including a link to buy tickets, can be found here

The Medium Give

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:57:22 -0700

As close to quarterly as we’re able to manage, we here at Sub Pop have the very great privilege of discreetly siphoning money from the company coffers to far more deserving, industrious and admirable organizations. In light of the fact that we’re here crowing about it, “discreet” may be the wrong word. But, the point here is somewhat less a matter of patting ourselves on the back (although, yes, we enjoy that as well), and more a matter of maybe bringing some of these organizations to your attention. They are all likely more deserving, industrious and admirable than you too.

Here’s where you can read all of the details on this stuff, including info on previous recipients, etc.

And then, proudly, here are the most recent additions:

The return of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship for 2008

Children’s Hospital

FareStart

First Place School

Hollow Earth Radio

Nature Consortium

Northwest Film Forum

Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls

Summer Search

The Art of Sub Pop, Straight from the Horses' Mouths

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:33:39 -0700

Come see, live and in person, the living legends that are Jeff Kleinsmith and Dusty Summers—Sub Pop’s Art Directors and Regional Comedy Duo Champs—as they share the inside creative story behind Sub Pop Records. You’ll discover that a steady diet of designing posters, apparel, and packaging for some of Seattle’s top musicians (such as The Shins, Mudhoney, and The Postal Service) is every bit as good as it sounds.

Tuesday March 25 6:30-8:00pm School of Visual Concepts Seattle. Register online at SVC Jeff Kleinsmith is also having his very own retrospective at Seattle SVC for the month of April. The opening party will be April 11 5-9pm and there will be BEER!

And finally, Jeff and Dusty will be tag teaming co-eds with their art knowledge in their very own class at the SVC. Check out the website for details.

Gutter Twins Play/Slay Letterman!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:46:11 -0700

Make sure to tune your TV knobs to CBS on Wednesday night so that you don’t miss the magic that is The Gutter Twins doing it to it on The Late Show with David Letterman. Lanegan and Dulli will be performing “Idle Hands” and it will be amazing.

We need a new Andrew

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:13:09 -0700

UPDATE (3/31/08): This position is now filled! Thanks!

Sadly, we need to replace this guy. Here are the details…

Sub Pop Records is currently seeking a new part-time IT/Help Desk professional at our world headquarters. Based in Seattle, WA the beacon of grunge has become a leading force in the increasingly self-important and intolerable world of indie rock and/or pop. The duties for this position include, but are not limited to:

Support of the Microsoft office suite, mainly Outlook/Exchange.
Software upgrades, repair and support for a variety of programs including Quickbooks, iTunes, Photoshop, Firefox, antivirus, Filemaker, and more.
All desktop support questions for a 30 user network.
Print queue management.
Computer hardware building, upgrading, and repair.
Proactive upgrading of network hardware and software.
Basic level server support for Active Directory, DNS, Domain Controllers and Exchange.
Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking principals and network hardware.
Ability to diagnose, organize and solve problems on the fly.
Knowledge of relevant media types and their various uses, IE: .wav, .mp3, .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mpeg, .zip, .rar, .tiff, .jpeg, etc.
Hardware/Software purchasing and implementation of hardware devices such as printers, phones, scanners, BlackBerries, monitors, etc.
Must be an independent thinking troubleshooter who can self-start all projects.
Ability to organize and execute a plan from beginning to end with little supervision.
Ability to learn and use new technology related skills and theories to solve network issues.
This person will also coordinate IT support and planning with our contracted technology services partner (All Covered).

Our ideal candidate will work 20-30 hours a week on site in our Seattle office 5 days a week for 3-6 hours a day supporting all office desktop support needs.

This position will be paid hourly, depending on experience, and will include opportunities for ongoing professional technical education, paid for by Sub Pop.

~~Please send resumes to: andrews@subpop.com~~

Official SXSW Sub Pop Showcase

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:36:58 -0800

The mighty Sub Pop is having a HUGE showcase at 2008’s SXSW in Austin this year. How huge is it? Two stages huge!

Our showcase will be on Friday March 14th at Bourbon Rocks and Bourbon Rocks Patio which are both connected, but not really connected. Bourbon Rocks is located at 508 E. 6th St. (6th and Neches) and doors are at 7:15pm.

Here’s how the whole shebang will go down:

BOURBON ROCKS STAGE (inside) Love As Laughter – 8pm Sera Cahoone – 9pm Grand Archives – 10pm Kelley Stoltz – 11pm Fleet Foxes – 12am Blitzen Trapper – 1am

BOURBON ROCKS PATIO STAGE (outside) The Ruby Suns – 8:30pm Pissed Jeans – 9:30pm Handsome Furs – 10:30pm The Helio Sequence – 11:30pm No Age – 12:30pm

Also, click HERE for day party info.

VOTE BRUNETTES ON MTVU

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:15:29 -0800

MTVU is trying their darndest to get some Sub Pop music to the people, what with Pissed Jeans and Foals appearing on the Freshman. Now it’s time for the Brunettes to get their shot at fame and glory so c’mon and VOTE!

SXSW Day Parties. Free Booze + Bands

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:23:50 -0800

Hoping to see all that Sub Pop has to offer but you can’t make it to our sure to be sold out showcase? No problem! Here’s a list of parties where you might be able to catch some Sub Pop bands:

The Ruby Suns will be playing 3/12 at the Fader Party (4:30), 3/13 at Waterloo Records (3pm), 3/14 Home Slice Pizza (4:45), 3/15 Outside Music/Exclaim! Party (2:30).

Grand Archives will be playing 3/13 at the Noise Pop/Little Radio Party (1:30), 3/14 at the Other Music Party (2pm), 3/15 at the Filter Magazine Showdown (4pm).

No Age will be playing 3/13 at the Rhapsody Party (TBA) & the Jelly NYC/My Open Bar Party (10pm), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (TBA), 3/15 at the Stereogum Party (3pm) & the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm).

Fleet Foxes will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (1:35), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (3:30).

The Helio Sequence will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (3:15), 3/14 at the Noise Pop Party (TBA).

Blitzen Trapper will be playing 3/13 at the Schubas Day Party (2-4pm), 3/14 at Hot Freaks Party (3pm), 3/15 at Stereogum/Paste Party (2pm) & Current Day Party (5pm)

Handsome Furs will be playing 3/14 at KEXP at ACL mainstage at KLRU (3:30).

Kelley Stoltz will be playing 3/14 at WFMU Showcase (8pm).

Pissed Jeans will be playing 3/15 at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm) & the Chunklet Party (9pm).

Eugene Mirman will be doing comedy all over the place at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party on 3/15.

PLEASE DO VOTE FOR FOALS ON MTVu FRESHMAN

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:20:27 -0800

Lo and behold, we have another musical act on the chopping block at ol’ mtvU, purveyors of music videos direct to your dorm. This week we need your vote for ”Balloons” by Foals and you can get down to business right HERE REMEMBER—VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, AND VOTE BY FRIDAY!

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live airs Monday, February 25th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:21 -0800

As we mentioned just the other day, our very close, personal, close friends in The Helio Sequence are recording a performance of their song Keep Your Eyes Ahead on The Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night TV talk/variety program this very evening in Los Angeles. And, this just in…

This performance will air this coming Monday, February 25th. So, naturally, you should watch!

False Alarm on Grand Archives Radio Appearance

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:29:52 -0800

If you saw an item in this space earlier about Grand Archives playing on The END today at 6pm, please disregard. They are not playing on the radio on 2/21.

They will be on The END February 29. It will still be at 6pm, just 8 days later.

We’ll remind you as it gets closer. Thank you for your patience.

This part from earlier still applies:

If you couldn’t be there, the Triple Door shows Grand Archives did last night were fantastic. Be sure to check their tours page and go see them if they’re playing near you!

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:38:00 -0800

On Friday, February 22nd, our close personal friends in The Helio Sequence will be in Los Angeles, recording a performance of the song Keep Your Eyes Ahead from their almost unbelievably amazing new album of the very same name (Keep Your Eyes Ahead) on the Jimmy Kimmel Live TELEVISION PROGRAM! This episode will be airing at some later date in the next week or so (ON TV!), but if you happen to live in the Los Angeles area (or will be there this Friday), you might be able to go see The Helio Sequence on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Here’s the shinola on how to do that:

Guests must be at least 18 with a valid ID. They will need to be available form 5:30PM to 8:00PM on Friday, Feb. 22nd. They can get tickets at www.1iota.com or by calling 866-JIMMYTIX.

Seems easy enough! DO IT! Plus, Sarah Silverman might be there!

Grand Archives Record Now Out! Live Appearances!

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:38:11 -0800

Grand Archives record The Grand Archives is OUT NOW. It is even available in MP3 format! (As usual the vinyl version comes with a coupon to download MP3s of the entire album.)

And not only but also! They are playing today (that’s 2/19/08) on KEXP at 3pm AND playing an in store at Sonic Boom Ballard tonight at 7pm. That is a free in store performance.

And as if that weren’t enough, they are playing two shows tomorrow night (that is Wednesday 2/20/08) at The Triple Door. Both shows are with Sera Cahoone and a band called S. Early show doors at 6:00 (early, right?), late show doors at 10:30.

If you don’t happen to live in Seattle, check Grand Archives tour page as they are playing a bunch of other cities soon.

Flight of the Conchords won a damn Grammy!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:32:18 -0800

Somewhat unbelievably, though no less deservedly, Flight of the Conchords won an actual Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album the other night! For a record (The Distant Future) that we, here at Sub Pop, released!

Whoa!

Ever since David Cross’s Shut Up, You Fucking Baby lost to Weird Al’s Poodle Hat album back in ‘04, we kinda figured we’d never win one. But, maybe David just shouldn’t have used the word “Fucking” in the title of his album?

Anyhoo, congratulations on your Grammy Bret and Jemaine! We’re surpassingly proud to bask in your reflected glory.

And, congratulations also to The Shins on their Best Alternative Album Grammy nomination! Though they didn’t win (The White Stripes did), it’s an enormous honor just to be nominated. And their album Wincing the Fucking Night Away is no less amazing for not winning.

Helio Sequence: The Hardest Working Band In Showbiz

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:55:04 -0800

Brandon and Benjamin are not the type to sit around and wait for opportunity to come knocing on their door. No, they are the type of guys that go out there and seize the day and play instores and make videos and do interviews, and not just because we make them! It’s because they want to!

The Helio Sequence are at the tail end of making their video for “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”, directed by Portland’s own Whitey McConnaughey. Our pals at MTV’s Subterranean will bringing you the behind the scenes photos from the video shoot so be sure to check it out here.

Also, the Helios were here last week to play an amazing instore at Easy Street Records and these photos prove it. Read more about the instore here.

Oh geez, and if you haven’t already you should BUY the record!

Celebrate Two Dudes Day With Sub Pop

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:46:09 -0800

Today is the release date for the surpassingly excellent Keep Your Eyes Ahead by The Helio Sequence. Those two dudes played on KEXP this morning at 9:30 AM (I know, right!), and will be playing at the Easy Street Records on Queen Anne this evening at 7pm. If you live in Seattle you should attend. It is free and will be sweet. Easy Street is having a huge sale so you probably need to get over there anyway.

And then, in further two-dude news, No Age play The Showbox tonight before the Liars and after Past Lives. If you’re lucky enough to live in Seattle you should also attend that.

In other words, Happy Two-Dudes Tuesday.

Pissed Jeans on MTVu?

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:13:43 -0800

The excellent video for Pissed Jeans also very excellent song I’ve Still Got You (Ice Cream) has, a little bizarrely, we’ll admit, been nominated as a “Freshmen” contender to be added into rotation on MTVu.

Go figure!

You should also go vote! The voting begins Monday, January 21st at 11am EST HERE and will run for a week.

Don’t let us down. Don’t let Pissed Jeans down. And, most of all, don’t let yourself down. Demand Pissed Jeans on MTVu!!

Eugene Mirman on Comedy Central and the campaign trail!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:36:58 -0800

We have news from our esteemed colleague Eugene Mirman!

This news:

COMEDY CENTRAL PRESENTS EUGENE MIRMAN 2/1/08 You can watch my Comedy Central Presents Friday night February 1st. Like a campaign rally, you can get together with your friends and watch my inspiring words. But unlike a campaign rally, I won’t be revealing my plan for America. Instead, I will be telling jokes for a half hour.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY COVERAGE WITH EUGENE MIRMAN I went to New Hampshire this last week and covered the primaries for 236.com. Here’s the video again, but on youtube. The video holds many treats, including Chuck Norris. Don’t forget to blog about it.

Plus, we have some new tour dates for Eugene! Those are here

Did you ever buy Eugene’s wonderful CD+DVD that we put out? If not, you should! It’s called En Garde, Society!. If you already did buy it, thank you! Seriously!

Ex-Rogue Wave member Evan Farrell

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:19:44 -0800

In decidedly terrible and sad news, former Rogue Wave bass player Evan Farrell died December 23rd as a result of injuries he suffered in an apartment fire in Oakland, CA. There’s a news piece on Billboard.com with more details here.

To make an already awful situation worse, Evan leaves behind a wife and two kids. A memorial fund has been set up through PayPal to help his family get through this time. You’ll find that here. Please donate if you’re able.

Some remembrances of Evan can be found at the links following:

From his friends at Secretly Canadian From Jonathan Cohen at Billboard From Whitney Pastorek at Entertainment Weekly From Zach on the Rogue Wave blog

Our hearts go out to Evan’s family and his many friends.

Remembering a Fellow Music Nerd

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:37:31 -0800

I’ve met many of the Sub Pop Megamart customers in this crazy virtual world through e-mail, but I’ve only developed a friendship with one of them. His name was Kenny. Kenny had been a long-time customer at subpop.com when he had an issue with one of his orders and he sent me an email; that’s how we met. After we got to talking, we found out that we had a lot in common and we kept emailing for the past year and a half.

I regularly check Patagonia’s blog, The Cleanest Line. Yesterday, while making my routine blog rounds, I got some really bad news, Kenny passed away. It was the first time I had ever seen a picture of him and it hit me much harder than I expected it would.

Though Kenny and I never actually met face-to-face, I really felt like we were friends, it seems like he had that affect on everyone he met. He had such a positive energy about him that came through in all of his emails. He’d tease me with stories about the surf sessions or the bike rides they’d have during lunch at the Patagonia headquarters or the BMX races he and his son would have. Kenny was a big fan of Kelly Stoltz, The Shins, Handsome Furs and many other non-Sub Pop bands as well. We’d often trade emails with reviews of new records or shows I should check out.

Kenny had a young son and daughter who were really big fans of The Shins and The Postal Service. When very young children are into great music, it generally means that they have really great parents; that definitely seems to be the case here. Some of Kenny’s friends and co-workers have set up a fund for Kenny’s family that you can read about here.

When I told my co-workers about Kenny, one of them said that it just goes to show you how many people one person can affect in their life. I was really lucky to have met Kenny, even if it was only via the internet.

Kinski is doing a live score for this incredibly cool-looking dance performance in NY Dec 5-8

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:33:38 -0800

Our friends in Kinski will be performing an original score with the choreography team robbinschilds for their new live performance installation C.L.U.E. (color location ultimate experience), Dec. 5th-8th at New York’s Performance Space 122.

Here’s a description from the PS122 website:

Choreography team robbinschilds are known for creating acutely visual works that explore the intersection of human movement and architecture, be it natural or man-made. C.L.U.E. (color location ultimate experience) seamlessly combines a movement-based video with an acutely visual live dance performance and an original score performed live by Seattle rock band Kinski.

“The performance as a whole is a kind of choreographed rainbow, with each band dancing its own dance. And they are wonderful dances.” – Holland Cotter, The New York Times “Art in Review” March 30, 2007 (C.L.U.E. – the video)

And, here’s some further information about robbinschilds, lifted from their website:

robbinschilds, founded in 2003 on the choreographers’ (Sonya Robbins and Layla Childs) shared interest in performance and installation, is focused on presenting highly visual dance works which explore the intersection between architecture and human movement. With a particular attraction to empty places, public spaces, geological formations, time travel and psychedelic filigree, the choreographers’ intricately structured movement vocabulary traverses through the inanimate, human and extra-pedestrian states. In a style that is obsessive, persistent and often humorous, robbinschilds’ observations of the human imprint on the world are revealed.

All of which makes this sound like an incredibly and uniquely cool event. The dates are listed here, along with Kinski’s other upcoming tour dates.

Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street.

The photos we’ve used here are by A.L. Steiner.

The Go! Team on MTV's TRL?

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:04:12 -0800

Somewhat inexplicably but also completely excellently, The Go! Team’s video for the song Doing It Right will be featured tomorrow, Tuesday November 20th, as a “First Look” on MTV’s TRL!

Yes, it’s weird.

Yes, you should watch.

And yes, above all, you really should vote for The Go! Team. The world being in the state it is, we have a hunch they’re going to have a bit of an uphill battle.

So, vote!

You can also see the video for Doing It Right, right here

No Age profile in The New Yorker

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:08:02 -0800

Though they are undeniably Angelenos, our new friends No Age are the subject of a profile in the Nov. 19th issue of The New Yorker magazine, by Sasha Frere-Jones.

We are excited about No Age and we are excited about this New Yorker article. You should really read it!

(We helped ourselves to the photo here, from the No Age photo blog.)

Lots of MP3 Albums Added

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:20:40 -0800

We just finished a pretty massive import of MP3 albums into our store, giving us close to 200 full-length albums in the digital format! In case you haven’t noticed yet, we think this is pretty great. We’ll be working to add singles and EPs and fill the holes in the catalog in the coming weeks and months, and we have every intention of making rare and out-of-print titles available exclusively through our shop.

So take a look around and let us know how it works for you. For more details on the downloads and how the sales work, take a look at this longer and more detailed post.

UPDATE: You can now see all the mp3 downloads we have for sale in one place. Click me

CSS is what we are trying to show you about

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:55:48 -0700

Have you seen this new iPod Touch commercial?? We’re pretty sure a couple of you have, since it aired during last night’s broadcast of something people have been referring to as “The World Series.”

Anyway, the real big news here is that this new iPod commercial features the song ”Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” by none other than our weird Brazilian friends CSS! I know, right?!

And, the story behind this whole thing is a little crazy.

Apparently, a guy in the UK by the name of Nick Haley, inspired by the line “Music is where I want you to touch,” in the aforementioned CSS song ”Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex,” from their excellent album Cansei de Ser Sexy, made his own advertisement for this new iPod Touch gizmo and posted it on YouTube. The people at Apple (or, presumably, the people at Apple’s people) caught wind of this and emailed young Nick, who is a first-year student at the University of Leeds, with some variation on, “We know what you’ve done and want to speak with you about it.” We like to imagine Nick’s reaction to this email as being something like when George Burns first starts talking to John Denver in the 1977 blockbuster Oh, God! Long story arguably somewhat shorter: Nick and Apple worked it out, tightened up the ad, and, viola, CSS is in an iPod Touch commercial.

CSS is our king-sized bed, MF’ers.

Nick Haley’s original video is here The final iPod Touch ad is here.

Note to other potential advertisers: the CSS track “Fuckoff Is Not the Only Thing You Have to Show” is still available!

Sub Pop Invents the "mp3"

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:16:06 -0700

R Buckminster Fuller once said, “I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I’ve invented,” and this would be wholly unremarkable but for the fact that Harry D. Hudson, Sub Pop’s Master of Technolo-something, said nearly this same thing to me about a new product that he is now prepared to offer for sale exclusively on this very website. What is this mysterious invention that will revolutionize the world as we know it? What ungodly creation has Dr. Hudson and the somewhat evil-seeming Professor Fletcher brought to life in their old-timey laboratory? They’re called mp3s! “Mp3” apparently stands for “music product 3”: a mysterious, invisible computer thingy which can be made to produce sounds not unlike music. It is just this sort of devotion to innovative, cutting edge technology that has made Sub Pop Records the unwitting industry leader it is today. Take that, everyone else—Sub Pop has invented the mp3! And now, we’d like to sell some of these things to you.

Since this program is in its infancy we have only a very limited number of mp3s available at this time, and we’re only offering full album downloads. We’re no dummies so we went ahead and mp3’d the big guns—all the Shins albums, the Postal Service, Flight of the Conchords, the new Band of Horses and new Iron and Wine albums are all available as downloadable zip files containing 192k mp3s and high quality cover art for $9.90 per album, except for the FOC ep which is a mere $5.94. We will be adding to this list just as soon as we’re able. This is the future—bask in its glory before someone steals our idea. Oh also, please email Dean at webmaster@subpop.com with questions, concerns, or failures.

mtvU premieres the new Band of Horses video today

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:20:21 -0700

Go visit our friends at MTVu and see the new Band of Horses video for “Is There a Ghost”, directed by Brian Savelson. CLICK ME

Sub Pop at CMJ '07

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:29:38 -0700

On Saturday, October 20th, at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, we at Sub Pop will be celebrating the annual CMJ Music Marathon with a live musical performance! And, we’ve somehow convinced both The Brunettes and Band of Horses to take part! This already star-studded bill will also feature the considerable talents of Le Loup (courtesy of our friends over at Hardly Art) and the UK band Foals (courtesy of our far more geographically distant friends at Transgressive Records).

Here’s the line-up:

Saturday, October 20, 2007 at The Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey Street Doors at 7pm 8pm – someone going by the name of DJ 9pm – Le Loup 10pm – Foals 11pm – The Brunettes 12am – Band of Horses

Also! Playing on other days, at other times, and in some cases at other venues during this same CMJ Music Marathon, the incomparable No Age!

Like this:

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 6pm – free in-store at Other Music 10pm – at The Bowery Ballroom (as part of the Windish Agency showcase)

Plus! Our friends at De Stijl are teaming up with Force Field PR and having a showcase from 2pm to 7pm at Cake Shop on Thursday, October 18th! Ed Askew will be playing!

Full details on the De Stijl show can be found here.

Get a free Band of Horses song at Starbucks tomorrow (10/9)!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:17:57 -0700

Last week Starbucks kicked off the Song of the Day promotion through which they’re giving away a free song download every day for 37 days at more than 10,000 of their stores. And, the Band of Horses song “No One’s Gonna Love You” will be featured as the “Song of the Day” on Tuesday, October 9th! That’s tomorrow!

So, tomorrow, October 9th, you can go into a Starbucks, get one of these “Song of the Day” cards and use the code on the back for a free iTunes download of “No One’s Gonna Love You.” They are giving away over a million of these things! Tomorrow (October 9th) is also, not at all coincidentally, the release date for the new Band of Horses’ album Cease to Begin, which we are not giving away for free and are in fact, in an adorably anachronistic sort of a way, attempting to sell for money.

To recap: Tomorrow, October 9th, go to Starbucks to get the Band of Horses “Song of the Day” free download card, and then buy their not-free-but-attractively-priced album Cease to Begin.

The Shins will be on the Tonight Show on Monday, October 8th!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:41:25 -0700

After yesterday’s news about Iron & Wine the following is the sort of thing that, as recently as 2002, would have been akin to us proclaiming that Beachwood Sparks were scheduled to play a unicorn rodeo in Narnia. But, it’s true!

On Monday, October 8th, The Shins will be performing the song “Sealegs” from this year’s Wincing the Night Away on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Seriously!

You should watch!