August 7th, 2020

Big Search – Infinite Mirror

BIG SEARCH UNVEILS NEW SONG FEATURING CHRIS COHEN

“INFINITE MIRROR” IS OUT NOW ON 30TH CENTURY RECORDS

LISTEN | WATCH

Photo by Leanne Kaiser
Today, Los Angeles-based cosmic folk musician Matt Popieluch aka Big Search unveils a new song called “Infinite Mirror” with friend and fellow California musician Chris Cohen. The new collaboration materialized while Matt was working on new music at Jason Quever’s studio in Los Angeles last year.

The accompanying music video was shot on 16mm film by Leanna Kaiser and gives a reflective look at the band working out the song in the studio.

***
BIG SEARCH – “INFINITE MIRROR” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
“I’ve known Chris since the early 2000’s when we both played on the Cass McCombs record “A”, which was being recorded at my house in San Francisco by bandmate/roommate Jason Quever [of Papercuts],” says Popieluch. “I’ve been a huge fan of Chris’ music for a long time and I heard his voice for the harmony so I asked him to produce and play on it.”

The project seemed like a perfect fit as showcased in the duo’s plaintive harmonies that soar over a somber arrangement that features Carl Harders (bass), Amir Kennan (drums), Tim Ramsey (ambient guitar) and Jason Quever (singing, percussion, engineering).

“It was humbling to work with both him and Jason at the same time, two people I greatly admire and respect as artists and people.”

“The Infinite Mirror is what we see everything through, as our surroundings become reflections of ourselves,” says Popieluch. “The problems we’re experiencing, we’ve created. Everything is an extension. Every corner offers a new chance to tilt the mirror. Everywhere you look, there are pictures you can divide forever. You are always reflecting off of something. Every direction came out of the past.”

July 3rd, 2020

Baba Ali – All These Wires

BABA ALI SHARES “ALL THESE WIRES” MUSIC VIDEO
SINGLE MIXED BY ALEX EPTON (Arca, FKA Twigs, David Byrne)

LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE

“Abruptly greeted with abrasive sounds and distorted vocals that Iggy Pop would be proud of…” –EARMILK
July 1, 2020 — Today, the UK-via-NYC artist Baba Ali shares his new single “All These Wires” alongside a self-produced performance video.

Following his acclaimed 30th Century debut ‘House’, “All These Wires” echoes Scary Monsters-Era Bowie and Tubeway Army, the new wave funk track came out of home recording sessions following the cancellation of his spring touring. That period found Baba residing back in New Jersey alongside his guitarist Nik Balchin and led to the recording of his ‘Rethinking Sensual Pleasures’ mixtape that he placed online to support the Afrotecopia Organization on Juneteenth (6/19) last month. This version of ‘All These Wires’ was additionally mixed by Alex Epton (Arca, FKA Twigs, David Byrne)

The VHS-style video encapsulates the DIY nature of the mixtape project, complete with jittery visual blips and props from around Ali’s home, and further explores the themes of the mixtape as “an exploration of the human sensations of desire, escapism, angst, and disruption.”
Baba Ali – ‘Rethinking Sensual Pleasures’
June 12, 2020

1. Where’s the Hand? (Intro)
2. Black and Blue
3. Hooky
4. Door #9
5. Oh My
6. Bonsai!
7. All These Wires
8. 10-99 (feat. Ms.Sy)
9. Grim Chin (feat. TonyorTony)
10. Aluminum Kiss

Mixtape credits:
Written, recorded, mixed and mastered in Oakland, NJ
March – May 2020.
by Baba Ali “vocals, keys, drums”
+ Nik Balchin “guitars”
Artwork and Layout by Joseph Grahame

July 3rd, 2020

Big Search – Channel Islands EP

BIG SEARCH SHARES MEDITATIVE INSTRUMENTAL PROJECT ‘CHANNEL ISLANDS EP’
LISTEN HERE

June 26, 2020 — Today, Los Angeles-based cosmic folk musician Big Search shares Channel Islands, a collection of meditative instrumental explorations written over the past few years and completed during the quarantine. The seven-song composition follows up the acclaimed 2019 LP The Slow Fascination and it is out today via 30th Century Records.
***
Songwriter Matt Popieluch explains,

Channel Islands is a collection of instrumental and improvised recordings I’ve made over the past few years. They were mostly moments where I caught myself playing the guitar well. I need to sneak up on myself sometimes. These were probably recorded while I was working on something else and got distracted, but music is full of rabbit holes if you’re lucky. These performances are not perfect, but in the vast sea of my recorded noodling, I found myself listening back to these, often to calm myself down in LA traffic. I thought I would be releasing this into a quarantined universe, as a chance to catch some musical meditation amid the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic. Now in the wake of the George Floyd protests, it will be released into a different world, one that I hope is waking up to what’s been happening to people of color at the hands of police for far too long. I offer this music as a temporary escape pod to help balance the mind during this time of stress and struggle.

On my records, I usually gravitate toward more structured songs, so I wanted to share another side of what I’m up to. For me, this music provides both catharsis and meditation. While most of the tracks were self-recorded at home, “Someone Else I Know pt. II” was recorded in an art space I was renting that happened to be where Jackson Browne lived in the ’70s, so I’ve always felt it had an extra aura to it. And “Mercury Drive” was recorded during a stay at my friend’s house in the desert while on mushrooms. I thought I’ll go out there alone to finish some songs, but this ended up coming out instead, as I gazed out the window at a barren but beautiful landscape. “


Big Search – Channel Islands EP
June 26, 2020

1. Someone Else I Know Part. II
2. Eel River Blues
3. At the Mercy of Puppet Masters
4. Sea Surface Full of Clouds
5. Channel Islands
6. E
7. Mercury Drive

May 7th, 2020

Apache Sun – Broken Branches / Anima

STREAM “BROKEN BRANCHES” & “ANIMA” HERE

Today we are excited to share two unreleased tracks from Glasgow based Apache Sun. The duo traffic in sunburnt, desert psychedelia, a style further enhanced by the mixing choices of the late Richard Swift. A-Side “Broken Branches” is a reverb soaked, lasso spinning desert oasis of a track, buoyed by a steady snare drum and twangy guitar leads. “Anima” expands on the jammy inclinations hinted at in “Broken Branches” for a murky, dub infused groove.

Though the duo are now defunct, principle songwriter Kris Mitchell is carrying on their fuzz infused sound with his new project (The Lost Tapes), and taking it deeper into the cave.

 

CONNECT WITH APACHE SUN

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY 

 

March 6th, 2020

Adam Green – All Hell Breaks Loose (Misfits Cover)

AG_MisfitsCover_3000x3000_v01

LISTEN & SHARE: Adam Green – “All Hell Breaks Loose”

LISTEN & SHARE: Adam Green – Engine Of Paradise LP
Spotify | Apple Music

Today Adam Green has shared a cover of The Misfit’s “All Hell Breaks Loose.” The rendition was premiered exclusively with Brooklyn Vegan.

Green spoke on the cover, “In The Misfits and in his glorious solo work, Danzig bridged punk and metal with the blue-eyed soul music of the mid-1960’s like The Righteous Brothers and The Walker Brothers.  I’d had an idea for a while to do a Scott Walker/ John Franz style production at punk speeds, and the Misfits song “All Hell Breaks Loose” seemed like the perfect vessel for the experiment.

The recording features the talents of producer Loren Humphrey who also played drums, James Richardson of MGMT (guitar, bass, piano, brass arrangement, brass), and Jesse Kotansky (string arrangement, strings)”

The cover comes just in time as Adam Green begins his North American tour this Sunday. The tour is named after his latest LP Engine of Paradise along with companion-piece graphic novel “War and Paradise.” The tour will take place in thirteen dates across the United States and Canada. More information below.

When talking about the LP Adam says:

“Engine of Paradise’ is some soil to plant yourself in. It’s a place to relax, like being in a movie theater, where the players are jewelers of melodic time.  My graphic novel, War and Paradise, is a companion to the album and available for FREE to download from AdamGreen.info, and hard copies are available to order through PioneerWorks.Org!”

For the companion piecer graphic novel, War and Paradise is a psychedelic war epic set in the colorful universe of his film “Adam Green’s Aladdin.” The graphic novel spins a satirical tale about the clash of humans with machines, the meeting of spirituality with singularity, and the bidirectional relationship between life and the afterlife.

U.S. Tour Dates

Sun, Mar 8 – Boston MA – Great Scott w/ Heart Bones
Mon, Mar 9 – Montreal QC – Bar Le Ritz 
Tue, Mar 10 – Toronto ON – The Horseshoe Tavern
Thu, Mar 12 – Cleveland OH – Mahall’s 
Fri, Mar 13 – Chicago IL – Schubas Tavern 
Sat, Mar 14 – St Paul MN – Turf Club 
Sun, Mar 15 – Moline IL – Rust Belt
Mon, Mar 16 – Detroit MI – Deluxx Fluxx 
Wed, Mar 25 – Los Angeles CA – Bootleg Theater
Thu, Mar 26 – San Diego CA – Soda Bar
Fri, Mar 27 – San Francisco CA – The Chapel 
Sat, Mar 28 – Portland OR – Star Theater
Sun, Mar 29 – Seattle WA – The Sunset 

Adam Green is an artistic polymath — a songwriter, filmmaker, visual artist, and poet. As part of New York’s downtown antifolk scene at the end of the nineties, Green made up one half of The Moldy Peaches, who later enjoyed mainstream success via the 2007 Grammy-winning Juno soundtrack. As a solo artist, Green has recorded 10 albums, many of which have become cult hits. His songs have been performed by artists as diverse as The Libertines, Carla Bruni, Kelly Willis, Dean & Britta, and Will Oldham. His 2005 record Gemstones went Gold in Europe.

Green’s paintings and sculptures have been the subject of exhibitions in America, Asia and Europe, including a 2016 solo-show at the prestigious Fondation Beyeler Museum in Basel, Switzerland. Green first combined his visual aesthetic, psychedelic writings and musical compositions in the The Wrong Ferarri (2010), the first feature film shot entirely on an iPhone. The “screwball tragedy” was described by Rolling Stone magazine as “Fellini on Ketamine” and went on to feature in the curriculum of NYU’s Tisch Film School.

His second feature film, Adam Green’s Aladdin (2016) — an immersive fantasy film starring Macaulay Culkin, Natasha Lyonne, Alia Shawkat, Jack Dishel and Francesco Clemente and shot entirely on papier-mache sets — was described by Buzzfeed.com as “the trippiest movie ever made,” while RogerEbert.com called Aladdin “a movie that belongs inside a museum.”  An instant cult hit, the movie was screened theatrically in a midnight movie context, at over a hundred of Green’s concerts around the world, as well as the Andy Warhol Museum in Philadelphia.

After first publishing a bilingual volume of his poetry with Suhrkamp Verlag, Green’s newest book War and Paradise is a graphic novel that combines his lyrical and visual vocabulary. The satirical war epic is about the clash of humans with machines, the meeting of spirituality with singularity, and the bidirectional relationship between life and the afterlife.  Green’s 10th solo album, Engine of Paradise, is a musical exploration of these same themes. Recorded in Brooklyn, New York, by Loren Humphrey, the forthcoming album reimagines the baroque orchestral style of his early 2000s era records and features performances by James Richardson (MGMT), Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) and Jonathan Rado (Foxygen).

 

February 14th, 2020

Baba Ali – This House EP

BABA ALI RELEASES NEW EP THIS HOUSELISTEN

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE ‘SHAME BLUES’ OUT NOW

EP Cover Front

 

 

UK-via-NYC artist Baba Ali makes his debut on 30th Century Records with the release of his genre-bending new EP This House, available to stream and download now. 

‘Shame Blues’ is the first song Baba Ali wrote for the EP and his playful mediation on the concept of shame; it is the follow up to his breakout track ‘House’ which saw him A-listed on BBC 6Music and added to a slew of summer festivals.

Watch Shame Blues

“This House marks a point of evolution in my songwriting”, says Baba Ali. “There’s more grit and attitude to the sound, which reflects my recent experiences and what I’ve observed out in the world. What’s remained is the perspective I write from, and I’ve toyed with the balance between playing the journalist and being the jester.”

Listen to This House EP

Born in New York, Baba Ali was previously part of the future-soul duo Voices of Black, before moving to the UK to undertake a masters degree in fine art at Goldsmiths. He released his debut solo Nomad EP in 2017 and tours with the likes of Gold Panda, Shigeto, Kele Okereke and Jonny Greenwood’s Junun project followed.

A new set of music, recorded with The Kills’ Jamie Hince in LA, found their way to acclaimed artist-producer Brian Burton, AKA Danger Mouse, who made Baba the latest signing to his 30th Century Records label.

Those songs became the four-track This House EP – a perfect entry point to what Baba Ali has to offer. Opening track and previous single ‘House’ provides the launching point for Ali and Hince’s collaboration – the spiky, swaggering single broke down all the walls and allowed the floodgates to open for the remainder of the project. ‘Cirque de Bizarre’ elaborates on a melody that was locked inside Ali’s head since he was a teenager. With the help of Hince, he was finally able to crack the code and unleash the hook-laden track. ‘El Dorado’ ties together the bluesy tones within the EP while adding in more experimental elements. It is, as Ali puts it, “an apt way to close out the EP with an eye on the future.”

Baba Ali – ‘This House’

Baba Ali on tour

March 10th @ Mercury Lounge, New York, NY (tickets)

March 16-21th @ SXSW, Austin, TX

April 25th @ Are You Listening Festival, Reading, UK

March 25th @ The Echo w/ Algiers, Los Angeles, CA (tickets)

May 2nd @ Live at Leeds Festival, Leeds, UK

May 3rd @ Stag & Dagger Festival, Glasgow, UK

May 6th @ FluxFM Bergfest, Berlin, DE

May 12th @ Peckham Audio, London UK (tickets)

May 13-15 @ The Great Escape Festival, Brighton, UK

May 24th @ Sonic Wave Festival, Birmingham, UK

Instagram // Facebook // 30th Century Records

 

January 17th, 2020

St Francis Hotel Feat. Portugal. The Man – Milkshake

ST FRANCIS HOTEL
‘MILKSHAKE’
FEAT. PORTUGAL. THE MAN

LISTEN / DOWNLOAD HERE

SFH LP ARTWORK

‘Milkshake’ follows the duo’s latest single ‘The Truth Is Dead’, which was featured across BBC Radio 6 Music,
NME, The Line Of Best Fit and more. The track is the latest to be taken from their upcoming debut
album We Fall Together, out on the 27th January 2020, which includes collaborations with Gaz
Coombes, Warpaint’s Theresa Wayman, Max Rad, and Waterstrider, and more.

The song was written with Portugal. The Man, who perform the vocals, and The Clash’s Mick Jones, who plays lead guitar.

Inspired by old school Hip-Hop and Soul, the track’s delicate groove, intricate piano and guitar melodies combine
to create a lo-fi jam reminiscent of 70s Shuggie Otis. The track is highlighted by Portugal. The Man’s recognizable vocals, whose cynical lyrics are inspired by the rise of ‘milkshaking’ right-wing politicians in recent times.

“When Danger Mouse called me up and introduced me to the St Francis Hotel guys, I was excited because I rarely get a song from someone else that I feel like I can easily sing on” says Portugal. The Man’s John Gourley. “I had been seeing a lot of news stories about big tough dudes in black shirts being terrified of milkshakes so I thought it would be a good subject to sing about”

As producers, St Francis Hotel recent production / collaborations include Michael Kiwanuka, Arcade Fire’s Regine Chassagne, and Art School Girlfriend.

For more:

https://www.instagram.com/stfrancishotel/

January 9th, 2020

Alexandra Savior – The Archer

ALEXANDRA SAVIOR
SHARES NEW ALBUM
THE ARCHER
LISTEN TO THE ARCHER HERE
archer cover
Artwork credit: Dana Trippe
“Portland’s mystery girl (VICE)” may no longer be a kept secret, but Alexandra Savior can never be fully figured out. However, she’s down a lot of growing up in the past few years and this shines through as she shares her sophomore album, The Archer, today, January 10, via 30th Century Records.
Billboard, who exclusively premiered her album, says she is “more empowered and focused than she was before,” and also that “she acknowledges there’s an intentional #MeToo aspect to many of the new songs… Savior also struggled through an abusive personal relationship that she says many of The Archer’s songs are about.”
In her own words, Savior explains, saying:
“I think I went through a period of time where I was very innocent and I was being taken advantage of by a lot of manipulative forces in my life… I was very young and naive when I first left home and came into the music industry. I think I was prey for a lot of those sort of characters to come in and control what I was doing. I never felt I was being seen for who I was; I was being seen for what they could push me into and what was most sellable.
It was only when I was rejected by those forces when I began to have a voice… I wrote from a place of being rejected and confused, insecure and angry and depressed. But I was writing about me, and I think creatively there was a weight lifted off of me and I feel like so much has opened up to me. I think I have a lot less anxiety in general now.”
The Archer, which was produced by Sam Cohen, often known as a fan of collaboration, most recently teaming up with Kevin Morby for his Oh My God album. On working with Savior, Cohen says, “It’s really a joy to work with someone who’s got such a strong sense of melody and also such a strong sense of what she wants stylistically.”
Ladygunn says, “Savior has a unique voice that veers away from the cookie cutter pop that is dominating the mainstream right now.” The new album showcases that standout vocality Savior is now known for, and also weaves a bittersweet story together with clever wordplay and broodingly beautiful layers of melody.
Savior’s debut record, Belladonna of Sadness, was written in collaboration with Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and NME says, “Savior continues to build on that bold arrival and is becoming a star in her own right.” Her new album shows that not only does her voice stand alone, but that her musicality stands alone, too.
Savior recently announced her 2020 North American tour dates, which will bring her mesmerizing live show to Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, San Diego, CA and New York, NY in February. Fans can hear the “striking and smoky vocals [that] belong solely to Savior (NME)” and these new picturesque melodies live. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, head to Alexandra Savior’s website: alexandrasavior.com.
ALEXANDRA SAVIOR’S 2020 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
02/11 – Barboza, Seattle, WA
02/12 – Lola’s Room, Portland, OR
02/14 – Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, CA
02/15 – Pico Union, Los Angeles, CA
02/16 – San Diego, CA Soda Bar
02/18 – Mercury Lounge, New York, NY

November 26th, 2019

St Francis Hotel feat. TT – The Truth is Dead

LISTEN HERE

St Francis Hotel are an Irish duo based in London. Their new single ’The Truth Is Dead’ is being released on 26th November 2019 via 30th Century Records. The band wrote the song with Carla Azar (Autolux), with vocals from Theresa Wayman (WarpaintTT).

The track appears on the Danger Mouse curated 30th Century Records Volume 2, to be released on December 6th. An unreleased Danger Mouse / Sparklehorse collaboration featuring MF Doom was released from the compilation last week.

’The Truth Is Dead‘ follows the duo’s critically acclaimed single ‘Liar, Liar, Liar (feat. Gaz Coombes)’ and is the latest to be taken from their upcoming debut album We Fall Together (Jan 2020), which includes collaborations with Portugal. The ManMax Rad, and Waterstrider, with more names to be announced.

The track’s title is probably pretty self-explanatory as to what it’s about. It feels like the kind of song that could only be written now. If you put the four of us in a room together four years ago, we probably couldn’t have conceived this song. Hopefully in a year’s time people won’t need to write songs with titles like ’The Truth Is Dead’”.

As producers, St Francis Hotel recent production / collaborations include Michael KiwanukaArcade Fire’s Regine Chassagne, and Art School Girlfriend.

30th Century Volume 2 features highlights from the label’s 2019 releases including Adam Green, The Babe Rainbow, Sam Cohen, Big Search and Husky Loops, plus music by new signings 20-year-old Los Angeles native Poppy Jean Crawford, New Yorker Baba Ali and Portland’s Alexandra Savior.

The double vinyl version (February, 2020), is the exclusive vinyl home for Granddaddy’s “Bison on the Plains” and Broken Bells’ “Good Luck.” The track listing for the compilation is as follows:

  1. Broken Bells – Good Luck
  2. Big Search – Stillness in the Air
  3. Babe Rainbow – Something New
  4. Alexandra Savior – Howl
  5. Grandaddy – Bison on the Plains
  6. Poppy Jean Craword – Jonsies Gonesies
  7. St. Francis Hotel feat. TT – The Truth is Dead
  8. Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse feat. MF Doom – Ninjarous
  9. Sam Cohen – Something’s Got a Hold of Me
  10. Husky Loops – Reasonable Thing
  11. Waterstrider – Way Out
  12. Maybird – Don’t Keep Me Around
  13. Adam Green – Reasonable Man
  14. Baba Ali – House
  15. Faux Ferocious – Good Times Ahead

 

November 22nd, 2019

Alexandra Savior – Howl

archer cover

“Portland’s mystery girl (VICE)” may no longer be a kept secret, but Alexandra Savior can never be fully figured out. Today, she shares “HOWL,” the last single from her forthcoming album, The Archer, which will be released via 30th Century Records and announces the LP’s release date: January 10, 2020. Speaking about the new single, Alexandra Savior says: “I originally wrote “HOWL” as a simple piece of poetry featured on an experimental sound tape that I created on my four-track recorder a few years ago. I never had any intention of releasing “HOWL” or any of the other pieces from that tape. But over time, I kept revisiting “HOWL” naturally, and continued to build a narrative. Consequence of Sound, who debuted the single and video, said: “If new single “Howl” represents that reclaimed autonomy, Savior has really hit the mark with The Archer. Dubious synthesizers creep along a slinking bass line, instilling the track with an eerie sense of steely caution. “Handsome dictator of my crimes/ I can’t tell if they’re yours/ I can’t tell if they’re mine,” sings Savior, slowly picking apart a manipulative relationship. Despite the sensual insecurity of the track, there’s a supreme confidence in its execution, a winning example of the Portland-based musician’s talent.” Nina Ljeti, who fronts the LA-based band Kills Birds, directed the music video for “HOWL,” which was shot in LA. Savior and Ljeti spoke to Consequence of Sound about the song and video, citing their inspirations. Savior noted that her Tascam 4-track recorder played a major role, as did Humbert, Humbert, the narrator of “Lolita” — especially in the context of psychological manipulation. Savior says: Humbert, Humbert, the narrator of “Lolita” is a reference for me because of his ability to characterize Lolita in a way that rationalizes his own desire for a child. In a manipulative relationship, it is oftentimes difficult to see whom the perpetrator is and who the victim is, I wanted to relay that confusion from the perspective of the young woman. Ljeti channeled influences such as Harold and Maude (“particularly the sequences where Harold stages these elaborate death scenes as a way of coping with the world around him. There is obviously a dark humor to that, which we applied to the video,” says Ljeti), Laurel Nakadate, “Suspiria,” every Paul Thomas Anderson movie ever. Ladygunn says, “Savior has a unique voice that veers away from the cookie cutter pop that is dominating the mainstream right now.” The new album showcases that standout vocality Savior is now known for, and also weaves a bittersweet story together with clever wordplay and broodingly beautiful layers of melody. Savior’s forthcoming, sophomore album, The Archer, which was produced by Sam Cohen, often known as a fan of collaboration, most recently teaming up with Kevin Morby for his Oh My God album. On working with Savior, Cohen says, “It’s really a joy to work with someone who’s got such a strong sense of melody and also such a strong sense of what she wants stylistically.” Savior’s debut record, Belladonna of Sadness, was written in collaboration with Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and NME says, “Savior continues to build on that bold arrival and is becoming a star in her own right.” Her new album shows that not only does her voice stand alone, but that her musicality stands alone, too. Savior recently announced her 2020 North American tour dates, which will bring her mesmerizing live show to Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA, San Diego, CA and New York, NY in February. Fans can hear the “striking and smoky vocals [that] belong solely to Savior (NME)” and these new picturesque melodies live. Tickets are on-sale now. For more information, head to Alexandra Savior’s website: alexandrasavior.com.
ALEXANDRA SAVIOR’S 2020 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
02/11 – Barboza, Seattle, WA
02/12 – Lola’s Room, Portland, OR
02/14 – Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, CA
02/15 – Pico Union, Los Angeles, CA
02/16 – San Diego, CA Soda Bar