MISTER NOBU (CHOIR! CHOIR! CHOIR!) SHARES FIRST SINGLE FROM UPCOMING LP

LISTEN AND SHARE “BEST OF ME” HERE

MISTER NOBU’S TAVIE OUT MARCH 27 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS

PRE-ORDER TAVIE HERE

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Photo Credit : Neil Rough // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Mister Nobu is the solo project of Nobu Adilman, co-founder/director of Toronto's Choir! Choir! Choir!. Today, he shares the first new single, “Best Of Me”, from his upcoming LP TAVIE, out March 27 via Arts & Crafts. “TAVIE is all about the highs, lows, and ultimate breakup of a 20-year marriage but, the record begins with ‘Best Of Me’, a song about my father who died over ten years ago,” says Adilman. “Working through the grief, I developed a stronger relationship with the dead, realizing that these bonds can continue to develop despite the absence of physical presence. That shift in perspective has made me feel less alone.”

LISTEN AND SHARE “BEST OF ME” HERE

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“Best Of Me” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

The twelve songs on TAVIE indelibly mark the emotional highs and lows of a perfect relationship running out of time. The range is unapologetically diverse but slides comfortably under Indie Pop, celebrating melody, harmony, and unironic emotionality. There are ballads, there are dancers, and, in one case, a popified cover of “Deep In A Dream”, the 1938 slow jam made famous by Chet + Sinatra.

The album is “mostly about connection,” says Adilman. “From my TV work to music stuff, I generally like to explore human interaction by throwing everyone into weird and collaborative creative environments. Music has a beautiful way of pulling people’s guards down, and cutting through lots of emotional red tape quickly. Music helps me process my emotions, my life, and, if I can get it down in a song, then I feel more resolved.”

Some have said they hear traces of Lennon, others McCartney, perhaps some Dennis Wilson, maybe some Judee Sill and Sibylle Baier, but here's hoping for .01% of Frank Ocean.

TAVIE was produced by Rob Benvie (Thrush Hermit/Bankruptcy), and mixed by Byron Kent Wong, mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering. Mister Nobu is joined by many friends including Benvie, Mike Belitsky (The Sadies), Matt Murphy (The Super Friendz/Flashing Lights/TUNS), Moshe Fisher Rozenberg (Absolutely Free), members of Choir! Choir! Choir!, and Danielle Duval, with string arrangements by Chris A. Cummings (Marker Starling) + Benvie.

Nobu Adilman is one of the two founding members of Choir! Choir! Choir!, the international phenomenon that has collaborated with David Byrne, Patti Smith (twice!), Stewart Copeland, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi Carlile, and more. They’ve wracked up millions of views on YouTube, sung for Lionel Richie on American Idol, been the subject of a half-hour PBS All Arts special for their 2019 performance at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and performed at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall. Even Rick Astley dropped by their Toronto weekly to RickRoll a sold-out crowd! And, most recently, held a gig at the border between Mexico and the US, with Nobu leading a group of singers from a stage in Tijuana, and his partner, on the other side of the wall, in San Diego.

WATCH AND THE SHARE THE ALBUM TEASER VIDEO HERE

Never one to sit idle, Nobu’s documentary film SHORT ROUND UP premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival earlier this summer. The film follows Nobu’s search for the Asian men who, like him, auditioned to be “Short Round” in Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom, their first shot at becoming Hollywood Stars. Nobu has also appeared as a series regular in the cult-hit TV show and films Trailer Park Boys, co-created and starred in forty episodes of the gonzo cooking/gadget creation show Food Jammers seen on the Food Network and Cooking Channel, and travelled in the US in a short-bus powered by vegetable oil meeting innovators of green science for Invention Nation on Discovery Science USA

Nobu started out as a writer on Canadian episodic television (Emily of New Moon, Cold Squad), and then co-hosted, with his brother, a couple of national Canadian TV shows (Smart Ask!, ZeD), and acted as a pop culture reporter (>Play). In the late 90s he co-founded and played in the Halifax rock band Rick Of The Skins (ROTS), and in the early 2000s he released his first solo album as Mister Nobu titled C’mon Wid Your C’mon.

Due out March 27 via Arts & Crafts, TAVIE is available to pre-order today on vinyl and digital download. 

PRE-ORDER TAVIE HERE

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TAVIE TRACKLIST
01 Best Of Me
02 Falling Down
03 Ways
04 Take A Knee
05 All This Time
06 Etude
07 Either Way
08 Underneath
09 Do You Know Me
10 Deep In A Dream
11 All Of This
12 I Don’t Want To Lose You

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BRAIDS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM, SHADOW OFFERING, SHARE NEW VIDEO

SHADOW OFFERING OUT APRIL 24 VIA SECRET CITY RECORDS

WATCH AND SHARE “YOUNG BUCK” HERE

SHADOW OFFERING PRODUCED BY CHRIS WALLA (DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE)

PRE-ORDER SHADOW OFFERING HERE

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Photo Credit : Ariana Molly // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Montreal-based indie art rock band Braids announced today their new album Shadow Offering will be released on April 24 via Secret City Records. Produced by Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie), the new album finds the band at their most personal, unabashedly flexing a new sense of confidence through songs that reach a higher level of artistry and collaboration. Today they shared their lead single and video "Young Buck", an effervescent ode to impossible love that exudes an undeniable magnetism.

"We wrote this song to capture the nervous anticipation of desire, the delicate chase of seduction, the highs and lows of obsession, and the humour in between," stated singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston. "To want to possess someone, make them desire you, fall for you, only to learn that to lust is not to love."

WATCH AND SHARE “YOUNG BUCK” HERE

Braids began teasing their new album last fall with the release of "Eclipse (Ashley)", a song dedicated to Standell-Preston's best friend that sinks deep into a feeling of reverie for nature, the love found in friendship, and the vital essence of personal reflection. It was praised by Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, and The New York Times who stated "Raphaelle Standell-Preston sings with openhearted earnestness."

A luscious and expansive release, Shadow Offering leads us through a sonic tapestry of narrative. With heartbreaking honesty and precision, listeners traverse a nuanced and complicated world: one full of beautiful contradiction. Although the album directs itself at the failures of people to love and be loved, it also seeks to restore justice and attain blissful union. Its arc crests through the dark towards the light and learns how to dance with the dizzying rhythms of the heart. The songs bubble, sustain, dissolve, expand, and retract.

WATCH AND SHARE “ECLIPSE (ASHLEY)” HERE

The album recounts pain, heartbreak, anger, but also lifts the heart towards hope. "There's more hopefulness in this record than anything else I've written," said Standell-Preston. "I think the songs are more human, more tangible, more honest."

Braids is comprised of Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts, and Taylor Smith. Formed in 2007 in Alberta, they have solidified a decade-long reputation for their musical ingenuity and established themselves as one of Canada's most acclaimed art rock bands, garnering two Polaris Music Prize shortlists and winning the 2016 JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year. With Standell-Preston's vocals as the pillar of their sound, Braids weave organic and electronic elements together amidst a lyrical landscape that is intimate, explosive, and emotionally-immersive. Their albums have earned praise from Pitchfork, NPR, New York Times, T Magazine, NME, and The Guardian among many others. They have supported or toured with artists such as Toro Y Moi, The Antlers, Wye Oak, Purity Ring, and Friendly Fires along with festival appearances around the world including Glastonbury, Primavera, Osheaga, Hopscotch, and SXSW.

The band is also announcing today a UK and European tour this Spring culminating with a performance at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. North American dates will be announced shortly. See below for all tour dates, tickets will be on sale Friday January 31st at 5AM ET.

PRE-ORDER SHADOW OFFERING HERE

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SHADOW OFFERING TRACKLIST
01 Here 4 U
02 Young Buck
03 Eclipse (Ashley)
04 Just Let Me
05 Upheaval ii
06 Fear Of Men
07 Snow Angel
08 Ocean
09 Note To Self

TOUR DATES
April 22, 2020 - Leicester, UK - The Cookie
April 23, 2020 - Guildford, UK - Boileroom
April 24, 2020 - London, UK - Moth Club
April 25, 2020 - Ramsgate, UK - Music Hall
April 27, 2020 - Manchester, UK - YES Pink Room
April 28, 2020 - Liverpool, UK - Phase One
April 29, 2020 - Glasgow, UK - CAA
May 1, 2020 - Leeds, UK - Headrow House
May 2, 2020 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb for Bach
May 3, 2020 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange
May 4, 2020 - Cambridge, UK - Portland Arms
May 6, 2020 - Brussels, BE - Beursschouwburg
May 7, 2020 - Berlin, DE - Musik & Frieden 
May 8, 2020 - Schorndorf, DE - Manufaktur 
May 9, 2020 - Winterthur, CH - Albani Club 
May 11, 2020 - Rotterdam, NL - V11
May 12, 2020 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso (Small Hall)
May 13, 2020 - Paris, FR - Pop Up Paris 
May 14-16, 2020 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape 

BRAIDS ONLINE
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SECRET CITY RECORDS ONLINE
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AUSTRA SHARES NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO FOR “RISK IT”

 
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“When you know the one you’re with is bad for you but you’re too scared to quit.

You say: ‘I love you, I don’t want to lose you…’

And they wear their crown of shit, upon their liar's chair, while leeching off your devotion.”

(Austra, 2020)

WATCH AND SHARE “RISK IT” HERE

BUY / STREAM “RISK IT” HERE

TOUR DATES BEGIN MAY 5 IN TORONTO

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Photo Credit : Virginie Khateeb // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Austra announces her return with the blistering new single “Risk It”; her first new music since 2017’s Future Politics. On “Risk It”, she pitches her voice up over a chorus of brass instruments to capture the desperation in feeling scared to leave a relationship. Austra sings, ‘I feel ashamed / It feels insane to seek you endlessly / Late night Remedy / But girl, I just can’t let you go.’

Jasmin Mozzafari, director of the video who won Best Director at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, says “I wanted to construct a narrative piece that takes place over the course of one night, focusing on a protagonist caught at the inevitable crossroads that exist when love falls apart. Ultimately, I saw ‘Risk It’ as a song about the fear of being vulnerable. At the beginning, the protagonist tries to do anything to evade this feeling; by the end, they are forced to face it."

On “Risk It”, Austra worked with external producers for the first time, bringing in Rodaidh McDonald and Joseph Shabason to assist on production duties. “Risk It” additionally features kamanche (Kurdish violin) and cello from Canadian duo Kamancello and percussion from noise artists c_RL

WATCH AND SHARE “RISK IT” HERE

BUY / STREAM “RISK IT” HERE

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“Risk It” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Katie Austra Stelmanis has been better known by her middle name for three albums, ten years, and countless tours. She wrote, produced, and performed all her own records, occasionally sharing the spotlight with a band to tour live. From the outside, things were going really well for a while: she built a devoted fan base and sold out shows all around the world. However, on the inside, Stelmanis was beginning to feel stagnant and uninspired. “I was losing faith in my own ideas,” she explains. Without realising it, she’d got caught up in a toxic relationship that was tearing her apart. Austra felt the need to cut ties, personally and professionally, and start all over again. New single “Risk It” is her first new music since 2017 and marks a new chapter for Austra. 

TOUR DATES
May 5 - Longboat Hall - Toronto, ON
May 7 - The Sultan Room - New York, NY
May 12 - Hoxton Hall - London, UK
May 13 - Le Badaboum - Paris, FR
May 14 - Mil.Leni Festival - Barcelona, ES
May 16 - Mallorca Live Festival - Palma de Mallorca, ES
May 18 - Theater Im Delphi - Berlin, DE
May 20 - Niebo - Warsaw, PL
May 21 - WUK - Vienna, AU
May 22 - Tomavistas Festival - Madrid, ES

AUSTRA ONLINE
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