bartees strange
Bartees Strange Announces First North American Headlining Tour
Last Friday, Bartees Strange released Farm to Table, his first album with the venerable indie label 4AD [and second overall]. Unsurprisingly, the album is great. Now, on the heels of that and a show at Los Angeles’ Getty Museum, Strange announced the dates for his first-ever headlining North American tour. The dates, which kick off with a stop in Pittsburgh on November 3, will see him perform with Pom Pom Squad, Spring Silver and No They Hate Change. Before that, Strange is headed to Europe for a three-week run beginning on July 1. He’ll then open for The National, Spoon, Metric and Interpol in August. This past Friday, Strange made his in-studio late-night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing “Wretched.” [embedded content][embedded content] See the indie rocker’s full tour itin...
The 30 Best Songs of 2022 (So Far)
It’s almost absurd how much good music — universally acclaimed, big-ticket, year-end contender music — came out in 2022’s first five months. It’s hard to imagine the next seven matching that pace. We’ve heard soul-bearing rap songs (Kendrick Lamar), future windows-down rock classics (Momma), loads of elite-level Thom Yorke (The Smile) — the list, literally, goes on. Below, we gathered our 30 favorite tracks of 2022 so far. (In this case, we decided songs from any 2022 albums were on the table.) Let’s meet back here at year’s end and see how things shake out. 30. All Get Out – “Feeling Well” The first single from All Get Out’s new album, Kodak, smartly swirls folk-rock, emo, and a dash of country into a potent cocktail of paranoia, self-doubt, and hesitant nostalgia. This South Carolin...
Bartees Strange Announces New Album Farm to Table
Bartees Strange has a new album on the way. Titled Farm to Table, the album will be released on June 17 via 4AD. This will be his debut album with 4AD. To coincide with the announcement, Strange released a brand-new single, “Cosigns,” accompanied by a music video. While his debut record focuses on the experiences and places that shaped him, Farm to Table showcases the people in his life, specifically his family, and those who are closest to him. The album bears a steady and unforgettable ethos: don’t forget where you came from. As Strange continues to celebrate his past, he moves forwards into a promising future. “Cosigns,” is a swaggering alt-rock banger that combines elements of indie rock and trap. Strange cheekily name-drops the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Courtney Barnett, and...
Bartees Strange Pays Homage to Loved Ones With A ‘Heavy Heart’
Freshly signed to 4AD, Bartees Strange released his label debut, “Heavy Heart,” and its music video, today. [embedded content][embedded content] Strange pays tribute to his grandfather and father in his first new music in over two years. He sings about the years of guilt that have piled up on him – as Strange has been succeeding as a touring musician, his grandfather recently passed away, his partner stays at home without him, and the guilt even stems back to his father’s sacrifices to build a better future for Strange. The Missy Dabice-directed video follows Strange bearing his grandfather and father’s clothes. Strange had previously released Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy in 2020, and his proper debut Live Forever the same year. Alongside unveiling “Heavy Heart,” Strange detail...
The 30 Best Songs of 2021
A pair of rappers pulling off the best Tom Tom Club sample since Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (G Perico & Rucci), an iconic New Wave band trafficking in tongue-in-cheek nostalgia (Duran Duran), a blackgaze act embracing their love of vocal harmony (Deafheaven), and psych-rockers using the shopping mall as a metaphor for capitalist greed (My Morning Jacket) — SPIN‘s 30 Best Songs of 2021 offer something for everyone. For our latest year-end track recap, we kept our overall sorting process the same as 2020: For a cut to be eligible, it needed to be one of two things: 1) a stand-alone single released in 2021 or 2) part of an album issued in 2021. 30. Beatrice Deer – “The Storm” The sound is so simple that, at first, it feels almost formless: a primal drum groove, shards of metallic elect...
41 Artists Reflect on Nirvana’s Nevermind Turning 30
The world changed 30 years ago today. Though it took a few months before the proverbial train left the station, the rumblings from the underground completely blew up when college rock and punk blended to form alternative rock, with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl serving as the conductors. Nevermind’s legacy is firmly and safely entrenched in music history. It’s been discussed so many times before, but here’s the CliffsNotes version. All of these years later — even though Nirvana burned out instead of fading away — Nevermind continues to resonate. Cobain’s powerful lyrics are still influencing people of all generations (maybe not Boomers, but Gen X and beyond) and their musical tastes. It still serves as the gateway to rock for countless fans. When SPIN spoke with Nov...
Bartees Strange Unveils ‘Weights’ From Live Forever Deluxe Edition
One of the brightest revelations of 2020 was Bartees Strange. In a year full of misery, Strange’s debut album, Live Forever, was one of our favorites and landed on our best albums and best songs list. Thus, it makes sense that a year after the album’s release, Strange has more in store. The singer-songwriter shared a new song, “Weights,” from an upcoming deluxe edition of Live Forever that’s out on October 1. The song was recorded earlier this year with Will Yip producing. “This is about the ones that got away,” Strange said of the song in a statement. “Going back and forth in my head about relationships that could have happened, missing that it didn’t, and finally realizing I gotta let the weight of it all go.” Listen to “Weights” below. Strange will be performing at Govern...
Bartees Strange on Independent Venue Week, Upcoming Music
“I’m ready to move on to the next thing,” Bartees Strange tells SPIN. It’s a logical impulse, especially since his debut LP, 2020’s Live Forever, restlessly shuffles through genres — indie-rock, folk, emo, hip-hop, soul — like playing cards. October also wasn’t the most optimal time for a life-changing career move: With COVID-19 grinding live music to a halt, Strange couldn’t organically advance the momentum of his late-night spots or year-end accolades. Not that he’s complaining. “I’m just grateful,” he says. “Going into the pandemic, I was working a full-time job and trying to figure out how to do music more. Now I look at my calendar and it’s just music stuff. It’s incredible.” But now, knee-deep into recording another album, and with an actual tour launching in September, he’s ready to...
Iceland Airwaves to Return This Fall With Arlo Parks, Bartees Strange
One of the most interesting festivals every year is Iceland Airwaves. This year, following an obvious year away physically (the fest still existed virtually), will see the event return to downtown Reykjavík on Nov. 3-6. As usual, the tastemaking festival features a nice blend of international and Icelandic artists, including two of our favorites with Arlo Parks and Bartees Strange, who featured very prominently on our best of 2020 albums and songs lists. Other artists include perennial Grammy favorites (and San Antonio Spurs fans) Black Pumas, British rockers Squid, Crack Cloud, Metronomy, Pale Moon, and many more. Check out the full lineup below. You can grab tickets for the in-person event here. ADHDAndavaldAndy SvartholAny OtherAragrúiArlo ParksAron CanÁstaAxel FlóventBalming ...
The 20 Most Interesting New Artists of 2020
With most indie venues closed due to the pandemic and many record stores altering their business methods, it was a challenging year for music discovery. Luckily, we live in the Internet age, where a glowing album review, trending social media post or intriguing Bandcamp tag can instantly connect fans to their next favorite band. As the music world remained stuck in quarantine limbo, upcoming songwriters had more time than usual to record, hype, network and livestream — and it’s safe to say we all needed the distraction. To cap off the year’s depressing madness with a glimmer of optimism, we gathered this list of our 20 Most Interesting New Artists of 2020 — from indie-pop to Afrobeat. Where there are fresh sounds, there’s hope. Anjimile The trendy comparison for Anjimile is Sufjan Stevens,...
The 30 Best Albums of 2020
After a deluge of canceled or delayed tours, drive-in experiments, Bandcamp Fridays and bedroom livestreams, we’re finally here. Yay? It’s hard to celebrate much of anything in 2020. But one encouraging sign from the music industry has been the number of artists innovating on the fly — figuring out ways to sustain their careers through the madness. And as fans, at least we’ve had new albums to help us process our continuing semi-apocalypse. Having (mercifully) reached the end of this awful year, we have even more perspective on the functionality of a great record. The 30 we’ve assembled here have prompted us to dance, helped us grieve, made us laugh, or even just allowed us to escape into a transportive riff or soundscape. We assume they did the same for the artists themselves. Let us reme...
Bartees Strange on Blurring Genres, Feeling Cursed, Crafting Debut LP
“If I died in a meadow, I don’t think they’d ever find me at all,” Bartees Strange belts on “Stone Meadows,” a cathartic indie-rock centerpiece from his debut LP, Live Forever. It’s a grim thought — but one that often crossed his mind as a young Black person in his native Oklahoma. “I knew people who died, and no one found them,” he tells SPIN. “I’m Black, and I grew up in the country. And I remember being afraid — if something happens to me, if this cop doesn’t like me, if these boys chasing me home don’t leave me alone, no one’s gonna find me. And it’s like a really dark way to live your life: knowing that, no matter what, no matter how successful you are, how much money you make, how many people know you, you can still literally be disappeared off the face of the Earth. That’s kind...
