japanese breakfast
Japanese Breakfast Covers Brandi Carlile for New North Face Campaign
Japanese Breakfast has recorded an acoustic take on Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” to soundtrack the fall 2022 brand campaign from the North Face. “It was a joy to take on the iconic ballad “The Story,’” Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner says. “I think the song captures the depths of human tenacity and the spirit of the journey so well. We wanted to keep our rendition sparse and acoustic. A beautiful string arrangement written by Craig Hendrix and performed by our violinist, Molly Germer, and Quartet 121 soars in to sweep you up to the mountains.” [embedded content][embedded content] Having DJ’d a special event for SPIN earlier this month at the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, Ky., Zauner and Japanese Breakfast have a busy touring schedule on tap through early December....
Japanese Breakfast DJs at SPIN’s Bourbon & Beyond After Party
Bourbon & Beyond kicked off its fourth non-consecutive edition on Thursday night (Sept. 15) in Louisville, Ky. Along with 1 Million Strong and the Phoenix, SPIN hosted an afterparty that featured a DJ set from Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. With hundreds of revelers in attendance, Zauner curated a set of songs from the era of indie sleaze (a fashion aesthetic popular in the U.S. and U.K. from the mid-2000s through 2012). Bourbon & Beyond features performances by Pearl Jam, Jack White, Kings of Leon, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile and many more over four days. Download the Phoenix app here. Check out highlights from Japanese Breakfast’s set and the party below. Also Read Hear Japanese Breakfast and SE SO NEON’s So!YoON! on Korean Version of ‘Be Sweet’ (Credit: Max Sharp) (C...
Hear Japanese Breakfast and SE SO NEON’s So!YoON! on Korean Version of ‘Be Sweet’
Japanese Breakfast is paying tribute to its leader Michelle Zauner’s Korean heritage with the release today (July 20) of a Korean-language version of its track “Be Sweet.” The new recording features vocal contributions from So!YoON!, the frontperson of eclectic Korean band SE SO NEON. “Be Sweet” is a key track from Japanese Breakfast’s latest Dead Oceans album, Jubilee, which garnered two Grammy nominations. The song has been played on Saturday Night Live, found its way into The Sims 4 video game and even had a beer named after it by Goose Island Brewery. “We thought it would be fun to put out a special Korean version of ‘Be Sweet’ preceding our upcoming performance in Seoul,” which will take place Aug. 6 at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival. “I’m very grateful Yaeji helped me with the t...
Madlib, Japanese Breakfast, Jungle Take Home 2022 Libera Awards: See the Full List of Winners
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has revealed the recipients of this year’s Libera Awards, which honors the successes of the independent music community. Held on June 16th, 2022, the ceremony celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Liberas with an in-person, ticketed gala at New York City’s iconic Webster Hall. EDM.com proudly presented this year’s Libera Award for Best Dance Record, nabbed by British electronic band jungle, whose Loving In Stereo album is a sultry rush of funk and soul. American Association of Independent Music Focusing on industry and advocacy awards, the night’s pièce de résistance was the Independent Icon Award, won by renowned DJ and record producer Madlib. Revered for his seminal collaborations with the late MF DOOM, among o...
Japanese Breakfast Breaks Down Her First Pitch Debut
In case you missed it, last week Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner celebrated a career milestone. No, we’re not talking about performing on Saturday Night Live, we’re talking about throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies vs. Mets game at Citi Field. On Saturday, we caught up with Zauner backstage at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival to learn more about her pitching technique and how she prepared for her Major League Baseball debut. (Credit: Elsa/Getty Images) SPIN: How did the pitch-throwing opportunity come about? Japanese Breakfast: My manager told me that we got asked to do it and I was like, “oh no.” But then I felt I had to do it. My drummer and our producer Craig Hendrix used to play baseball and he’s a big baseball fan, so I felt like it was something I had to do for the team. [L...
Watch Japanese Breakfast Play Two Jubilee Songs in SNL Debut
Tonight marked the Season 47 finale of Saturday Night Live. It also marked the debuts of host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast. Ahead of the episode, it was announced that longtime cast members Pete Davidson, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney and Kate McKinnon would not be returning next season. Michelle Zauner and company performed “Be Sweet” (which they played on The Tonight Show on Friday night) and “Paprika.” Both songs are off of 2021’s Jubilee [embedded content][embedded content] [embedded content][embedded content] Zauner is still riding the momentum of a fruitful year in 2021. Not only did Jubilee, her third album as Japanese Breakfast, break her into the mainstream (and score her a couple of Grammy nods), but she also published her first book Cry...
Japanese Breakfast Covers Bon Iver for Spotify Singles
For the Spotify Singles series that’s highlighting the work of the Grammy nominees for Best New Artist, Japanese Breakfast re-imagined “Be Sweet” from their 2021 album Jubilee as a funky disco tune complete with call-and-response vocals and a cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” The cover features a folk-rock twist accompanied by an orchestral instrumental. “We decided to record Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’ because it felt like a very surprising cover for Japanese Breakfast,” said Michelle Zauner, Japanese Breakfast frontman. “It’s so moving and sparse. We felt we could add some interesting instrumentation to the track and celebrate our fellow label mate Bon Iver.” Listen to the song below. Japanese Breakfast’s 2021 album Jubilee is nominated for Best Alternative Album at the upcoming GRAMMY Awa...
Artist x Artist: Ben Gibbard and Japanese Breakfast Discuss Their Appreciation of Yoko Ono
For the past year and change, Ben Gibbard has been busy working on his passion project: a Yoko Ono tribute album. Paying respect to one of the most misunderstood artists of the past half-century, Gibbard enlisted high-profile artists like David Byrne, Yo La Tengo, his bandmates in Death Cab for Cutie and Japanese Breakfast to record Ono covers. Japanese Breakfast’s tender piano-driven take on Ono’s “Nobody Sees Me Like You Do” showcases a depth of knowledge for her catalog. Ahead of that album’s release, Gibbard and Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast sat down to chat about all things Yoko Ono. The duo discussed the project’s formation, their mutual respect for Ono and digging in to her vast catalog. They spoke about their takeaways of Ono as an artist and what they appreciate about her ...
Staff Picks: The Albums and Songs We Loved in 2021
The late, great Lester Bangs once wrote that we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. And he was basically right until Lil Nas X came sliding down the stripper-pole to Hell. Oh, 2021. You rocked us like a damn sociopath. What an insanely exciting, emotional, and reinvigorating year for music. President Biden took office and made Olivia Rodrigo an ambassador. We had Hot Vax Summer and Sad Girl Fall (Taylor’s Version.) Live music came back and Dave Grohl never left. Noobs ruled songwriting. Doja Cat ruled the planet. We brought back the electric guitar (all the rumors are true, baby), 2000s pop-punk, and Adele. We freed Britney. Halsey freed the nipple. And we all somehow found out about a Baltimore rock quintet called Turnstile. It’s all in SPIN‘s lists for Best Songs of...
Exit Interview: Japanese Breakfast Reflects on a Best Selling Book, Her Grammy Nomination and the Activity That Kept Her Calm
If you told Michelle Zauner in early 2021 that she’d dominate the year-end lists — both in music and books — she would’ve thought you were nuts. But here we are. And she had a perfect spot to soak it all in: Onstage in early December during a warm Mexico City evening, her confident stage presence seemed to neatly encapsulate that trajectory as Japanese Breakfast. Performing on opening night at House of Vans in the Mexican capital city, the singer-songwriter let loose with the controlled intensity built up from a year in lockdown. Zauner led the sold-out crowd in the concert-venue-turned-skatepark in singalongs and anthems, even managing to slide in a cover of the Cranberries’ beloved 1993 alt-rock hit “Dreams.” Earlier in the day, before dazzling those thousand-plus fans, Zauner calmly too...
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...
The 30 Best Albums of 2021
Back in June, SPIN published The 30 Best Albums of 2021 (So Far), rounding up everything from mainstream rock to experimental hip-hop. Six months later, we’re back with our year-end recap — and it’s interesting how, even though the stylistic balance has stayed consistent, the picks themselves haven’t. While this list also covers a lot of ground, only six of those earlier records wound up in our final tally. Below, you’ll find massive R&B collaborations (Silk Sonic), trendy pop breakouts (Olivia Rodrigo), big-ticket indie-rock (The War on Drugs), prog-metal giants (Mastodon), and acclaimed indie-rap (Benny the Butcher & Harry Fraud). Looking back at Pandemic Year Number Two, when the music industry forecast seemed to shift on a daily basis, perhaps these changes are only fittin...
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