IAN SWEET, the project of LA’s Jilian Medford, has shared a video for ”Spit,” the latest from her upcoming album Crush Crusher. You can watch the video below or via Noisey, who premiered the video and profiled Medford today. Last month IAN SWEET shared ”Hiding,” the lead single from Crush Crusher, which Pitchfork said “finds the singer/guitarist at her most dissonant, mutating the sound around her to feel like it’s traveled miles to get to her listener,” while The FADER called it “some of her most emotionally intimate creations to date.”

Today Lala Lala shares “Dove,” the third song off their new album The Lamb, out September 28th. “‘Dove’ is very plainly about the death of someone I loved a lot and the guilt I had and still have afterwards,” West explains of the plaintive and heartfelt track. “Dove” is out now at all DSPs and available to stream here. The Lamb is available for pre-order in our Mini Mart. 

The AV Club and PASTE recently highlighted The Lamb as one of their most anticipated September releases, with The AV Club praising Lala Lala’s Lillie West as she “mines all that uncomfortable energy to make a record of purposeful action.” Lala Lala’s extensive North American tour continues this month with shows supporting Mothers. Click here for a full itinerary. 

Lala Lala, the Chicago-based project of Lillie West, today premiered a new stop motion animated video for “Water Over Sex”. West says the second song off her forthcoming album The Lamb (out September 28th) is about a paranoid feeling “that any good fortune I encountered would be subsequently taken from me to ‘balance the scales.”
 
The video was co-directed by Matthew James-Wilson and Toronto-based illustrator Ginette Lapalme. James-Wilson explains how the video came about, commenting: “I know Ginette from the comics scene in Toronto and, since Lillie is a fan (with her stickers on her guitar case and a few tattoos of her drawings), I wanted to work on an animated music video with her for the new album. We spent a week straight shooting using fabric, photocopies, Ginette’s collection of miniatures and knick-knacks, and stuff we found at 99 cent stores in Chinatown. The video follows a lamb doll (which Ginette made) continually daydreaming about the objects around her while she tries to live a relaxing life. We wanted to sort of indirectly reference the conflict in the song about how your lifestyle changes after you quit drinking. Since we all live in three different cities and couldn’t film Lillie for it, I asked Lillie to send over webcam footage of her singing the song that we could animate over.”

Additionally, Lala Lala has expanded their fall touring plans with new dates opening for WHY? and a headlining show in their native Chicago for record release day. See below for a full list of upcoming performances. 

08/23 - Louisville, KY - Headliners &
08/24 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East &
08/25 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway &
08/26 - Indianapolis, IN - The Hi-Fi &
08/29 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison *
08/30 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s *
08/31 - Cincinnati, OH - Woodward Theater #
09/19 - Boston, MA - Great Scott %
09/20 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right %
09/21 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd %
09/22 - Raleigh, NC - Kings %
09/24 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt %
09/25 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight %
09/26 - Nashville, TN - The 5 Spot %
09/28 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (Album Release Show)
10/02 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa %
10/03 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall %
10/04 - Austin, TX - Barracuda %
10/05 - Dallas, TX - Curtain Club %
10/06 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger %
10/08 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace %
10/09 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole %
10/10 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar %
10/11 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room %
10/12 - Los Angeles, CA - Resident %
10/13 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord %
11/04 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center #^
11/05 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room #
11/06 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar #
11/08 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theater #
11/09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge #
11/10 - Boise, ID - Visual Arts Collective #
11/12 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s #
11/13 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall #
11/14 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall #
11/23 - Detroit, MI - Loving Touch #^
11/24 - Pittsburgh, PA - Sprit Hall #^
11/25 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom #
11/27 - Portsmouth, NH - 3S Artspace #
11/29 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer #
12/03 - Richmond, VA - The Broadberry #
12/05 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West #
12/08 - Lexington, KY - Cosmic Charlies #

& w/ Wolf Parade
# w/ WHY?
* w/ LVL UP
% w/ Mothers
^ w/ The Ophelias

Starting tonight in her former stomping grounds of Seattle, Jenn Champion brings her celebrated new album Single Rider on the road for a string of West Coast tour dates. Jenn’s also shared a new music video for “Time to Regulate” from director Rhea Bozzacchi, which premiered this morning via Brooklyn Vegan. Featuring Alicia McDaid aka McDazzler, Jazzy Vice, and members of F.L.O.W. (Future Ladies of Wrestling), the video takes you to the back alleys of Los Angeles for the queer turf war dance-off of your dreams.

See below for a full list of upcoming Jenn Champion performances.

08.09.18 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey

08.12.18 - Seattle, WA - Free in-store at Sonic Boom Records

08.10.18 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios

08.16.18 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater

10.25.18 - Vancouver, BC - Imperial *

10.28.18 - Victoria, Canada - Capital Ballroom *

* - w/ SYML

Recently, Seattle trio Dude York surprised fans with a new digital single, “Moon.” Today, we are sharing another track from their Springtime recording session at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco. Guitarist Peter Richards handles vocal duties on “What Would You Do If You Had Some Money Now?” which you can stream below. 

Dude York’s next performance is Friday, July 20th on the main stage at the Capitol Hill Block Party. 

Today sees the release of Single Rider, the latest full-length from Jenn Champion (née S), a spellbinding collection of pop gems produced in collaboration with Brian Fennell aka SYML. The album is available now worldwide on LP, CD, digital, and cassette. Streaming versions of the record and LP download codes include both a stripped down version of Champion’s “No One” and a remix of “Time to Regulate” by Fennell’s other alias, Gold Brother. 

Hot pink limited edition vinyl LPs of the album are available now in our webstore. See below for upcoming Jenn Champion tour dates and what critics are saying about Single Rider. 

“A strong set of moody, ’80s-steeped electro-pop combining sparkling synths, atmospheric guitars and propulsive beats with her plaintive vocals and confessional lyrics of love, desire and connection.” – KEXP
 
“A careful and artful kind of pop with an immense sense of emotion within.” – LA Record
 
“Champion embraces dance-oriented electro-pop and its capacity for liberation through connection.” – City Arts, Album of the Month

TOUR DATES

08.09.18 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
08.10.18 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
08.16.18 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater

Lala Lala–the Chicago-based project of Lillie West–has signed to Hardly Art, and we will release her  new album The Lamb on LP, CD, digital, and cassette on Friday, September 28th. Today, Stereogum named Lala Lala an “Band to Watch” and premiered the video for lead single “Destroyer.” Stereogum also interviewed Lillie about the record, and you can read the feature here. Lillie says the song “is about retroactively realizing your feelings and trying to figure out what happened to get you where you are. Feeling out of control and like you’re stuck in a feedback loop.”  

The Lamb is now available for pre-order now in our mini mart. Initial LP pressings available exclusively through hardlyart.com come with clear vinyl with blue swirl. 

Lala Lala have announced August dates supporting WHY? and LVL UP. A current itinerary is below and more dates will be announced soon.

08.29.18 - Toronto, ON  - The Garrison *
08.30.18 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall’s *
08.31.18 - Cincinnati, OH - Woodward Theater #

* w/ LVL UP

# w/ WHY?

Hardly Art is pleased to announce that Seattle riffers Versing have officially joined the roster. The four-piece has been turning heads in the city for the past two years with their taut and brainy take on Northwest rock, and today they’ve shared “Silver Dollar,” a digital single that constructs a narrative around the social injustice of so-called “affluenza.” Revolver premiered a music video for the track this morning, which you can watch via the links above. 

Versing will be on tour next month across the West Coast, see blow for a full list of upcoming  dates. 

07.11.18 -  Vancouver, BC - Red Gate
07.12.18 - Victoria, BC - Centennial Square
07.13.18 - Seattle, WA - West Seattle Fest
07.15.18 - Boise, ID - TBA
07.16.18 - Reno, NV - The Holland Project
07.17.18 - Las Vegas, NV - Starboard Tack
07.19.18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echoplex
07.20.18 - San Francisco, CA - Thee Parkside
07.21.18 - Seattle, WA - Kame House