Happy New Year!
This edition of Pump Up The Jam features an unprecedented amount of great new music, including TWRP, Pharmakon, Nova Materia, Slowdive, and much more.
It’s no secret that many of us thought 2016 was a shit show. Considering the way things are going on a political level, the news hasn’t made us feel too positive about 2017, either.
However, TWRP fans got some good news in the form of the band’s brand new album, Ladyworld, featuring seven tracks of the kind of uplifting, funktastic, 1980s-style jams the Toronto band is known for. You can listen to the album and purchase it via Bandcamp.
Pharmakon, a.k.a. Margaret Chardiet, has a new single out ahead of her upcoming release Contact, which will be available from Sacred Bones on March 31.
“Transmission” is a bracing, aggressive track, one that reflects the proposed spirit of the album. Notes Chardiet:
“We are each nothing but a single, short-lived cell in a vast organism which itself will one day die. If we accept that the only true claim sentience gives us is our tiny sliver of time, it opens us to revel in it, to make CONTACT. When we pick up on transmissions between the private rooms inside our heads and the flesh of our vessels, when thought escapes its isolation and is seen, heard and understood. When our mind uses the body in order to transcend and escape it!”
Listen to the album on Bandcamp.
Neo-psych band Temples also has a new single from their forthcoming Fat Possum release, Volcano, which will come out on March 3. “Strange or Be Forgotten” is a provocative title for an instantly addictive song. The band embarks on a world tour on January 22.
Temples Tour Dates:
Sun. Jan. 22 – Hebden Bridge, UK @ The Trades Club, Heavenly Weekend
Wed. Jan. 25 – Brussels, BE @ Beursschouwburg
Fri. Jan. 27 – Utrecht, NL @ EKKO
Wed. Feb. 22 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
Fri. Feb. 24 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
Sat. Feb. 25 — Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s *
Sun. Feb. 26 — Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre *
Tue. Feb. 28 — Felton, CA @ Don Quixote’s *
Wed. March 1 — Nevada City, CA @ Miners Foundry Cultural Center *
Thu. March 2 — Pomona, CA @ Glass House *
Fri. March 3 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s *
Sat. March 4 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent *
Sun. March 5 — Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern *
Thu. March 9 – Tijuana, BC @ Black Box *
Fri. March 10 – Las Vegas, NV @ Neon Reverb Music Festival @ Plaza Hotel & Casino *
Sat. March 11 — Phoenix, AZ @ Downtown Phoenix [VIVA PHX] *
Sun. March 12 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
Tue. March 14 – Thu. March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Fri. March 17 — Dallas, TX @ Trees *
Sat. March 18 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live *
Sun. March 19 – San Antonio, TX @ Burger Records Hangover Fest @ Paper Tiger *
Sun. Mar. 26 – Newcastle, UK @ Riverside
Mon. Mar. 27 – Sheffield, UK @ Leadmill
Tue. Mar. 28 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
Thu. Mar. 30 – London, UK @ Brixton Electric
Fri. Mar. 31 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
Sat. Apr. 1 – Derby, UK @ 2Q Festival
Sun. Apr. 2 – Birmingham, UK @ Institute 2
Tue. Apr. 7 – Cologne, DE @ Gebaude 9
Wed. Apr. 8 – Munich, DE @ Strom
Thu. Apr. 9 Prague, CS @ Palac Akropolis
Fri. Apr. 10 – Berlin, DE @ Festaal Kreuzberg
Sat. Apr. 11 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
Sun. Apr. 12 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
Sat. Apr. 18 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
Sun. Apr. 19 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Mon. Apr. 20 – Lausanne, CH @ Le Docks
Tue. Apr. 21 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza
Wed. Apr. 22 – Lyon, FR @ L’Epicerie Moderne
Fri. Apr. 24 – Paris, FR @ Elysee Montmartre
Mon. Apr. 27 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity Centre
Fri. May 19 – Sun. May 21 – Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas Festival
* = Desert Daze Caravan
Ty Segall’s new self-titled album will be released on January 27 by Drag City. In the meantime, he’s released a second track from the album, the totally Segall-esque “Break A Guitar.” Segall’s tour to support the album begins next week (I am still disappointed that no Toronto dates have yet been announced).
Ty Segall Tour Dates:
Fri. Jan. 27 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Thu. Feb. 2 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Feb. 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Mon. Feb. 27 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Wed. March 1 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Thu. March 2 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Fri. March 3 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Mon. May 8 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
Wed. May 10 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
Thu. May 11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Irving Theater
Sat. May 13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
Sun. May 14 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Wed. May 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Thu. May 18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Sat. May 20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero Theater
Sun. May 21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theater
Mon. May 22 – Louisville, KY @ Headliner’s Music Hall
Thu. May 25 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
Fri. May 26 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s
Sat. May 27 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Mon. May 29 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Thu. Aug. 3 – Sun. Aug. 6 – Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon
Fri. Aug. 18 – Biddinghuizen, NE @ Lowlands Festival
Thu. Aug. 24 – Berlin, DE @ Astra
Thu. Aug. 31 – Miranda De Ebro, ES @ Ebrovisión Festival
Nova Materia has a new song and video out, the fantastic, can’t-help-but-dance-to-it “ON/AV.” Their remix EP All The Way will be released on February 22 by BYM Records.
Another new video comes to us from Marching Church, whose Telling It Like It Is album was a favorite of 2016. In this cheeky video, singer and all-around badass Elias Bender Rønnenfelt does exactly what a lot of us have thought of: he literally sets the year on fire in calendar form. The band’s tour continues through the end of February.
Marching Church Tour Dates:
Fri. Jan. 20 — San Diego, CA @ Hideout #
Sat. Jan. 21 — Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge #
Sun. Jan. 22 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister #
Tue. Jan. 24 — Austin, TX @ The Mohawk #
Wed. Jan. 25 — San Antonio, TX @ The Monterey #
Thu. Jan. 26 – McAllen, TX @Yerberia Cultura #
Fri. Jan. 27 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall #
Sat. Jan. 28 — New Orleans, LA@ Siberia #
Sun. Jan. 29 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl #
Mon. Jan. 30 — Nashville, TN @ Third Man #
Tue. Jan. 31 — Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight #
Thu. Feb. 2 — Baltimore, MD @ Metro #
Fri. Feb. 3 — Philadelphia, PA @ Boot and Saddle #
Sat. Feb. 4 – Brooklyn, NY @ Sunnyvale #
Wed. Feb. 15 – Aarhus, DK @ Tape
Thu. Feb. 16 – Aalborg, DK @ Studenterhuset
Fri. Feb. 17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Frost Festival
# = with Bernardino Femminielli
If you’ve been wishing that Slowdive would release something new, take heart. The band just announced their first release in 22 years, “Star Roving.” Personally, I can never get enough of shoegaze music, so this is quite welcom. No concrete dates yet for a full-length release or a tour, but the band has signed to Dead Oceans and are working on new material.
Another unexpected new release comes from Kill Rock Stars and their release of Elliott Smith’s seminal 1997 release, Either/Or. This expanded edition reissue includes several as-yet-unreleased live and studio tracks including “I Figured You Out.” It’s a lovely tune which makes me realize how much I miss this man being an active part of the musical landscape.
Either/Or: Expanded Edition will be available on March 10. You can preorder it from Kill Rock Stars directly.
Today’s #FlashbackFriday is “Twilight,” from Smith’s posthumously released album, From A Basement On A Hill.
