PO: LVL UP - Return to Love [Subpop]

[parkinglot]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

We’re thrilled to announce the signing of Nor’Eastern upstarts LVL UP to what has been best described as a seemingly endless and punishing recording contract. Welcome to the family, fellas! 

 

Lead-off track ”Pain” is a lo-fi indie rock jammer from their forthcoming Sub Pop debut (LVL UP’s third album), Return To Love. The Mike Ditrio-produced record showcases LVL UP’s ability to write incredibly understated indie-pop classics. Pitchfork says of LVL UP: “Homespun, 1990s-indebted indie pop… A uniquely vulnerable songwriting voice makes LVL UP distinct.” 

 

The band is based out of New York, and members’ roots run deep into the DIY scene.  (Their Evie Nagy-penned bio is below for your perusal.)

 

Return To Love is available for pre-order now, and LP pre-orders through Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent retailers near you will receive the limited Loser Edition on orange creamsicle swirl vinyl (while supplies last).

 

LVL UP have also announced a Fall tour, that includes dates with Bear vs Shark, Alex G and Eskimeaux. Details below.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by parkinglot

[goodmemory]

had 2 cop. record rocks

[dantheriver]

I've spent so much money this week. Guess sub pop is getting some too.

[tacosupremekohl]

Would never have guessed they'd end up on Sub Pop, but that's tight. i'll probably PO this through a local store. Stoked to finally see them in Madison! 

[bluesnoopy]

so happy for them! might just wait to get this in store though.

[Shelby]

Beautiful.

[drewberinger]

Yasssss

[boops_popmarket]

Maybe I need more time with this new track.  Their last record was my one of my favorite of the last few years and I really liked the messier feel of it.  I hope things don't get too linear and streamlined on the new one.

[dkrtz]

Can't believe they just went sub pop that's crazy. So cool! Gonna catch them and this on the Alex G tour.

[dvv]

holy shit what a label to land on, stoked for this

[Shelby]

2 hours ago, rds said:

Maybe I need more time with this new track.  Their last record was my one of my favorite of the last few years and I really liked the messier feel of it.  I hope things don't get too linear and streamlined on the new one.

Do they still have three different songwriters/vocalists? I would never judge any single from these guys because every track feels so different. That being said I haven't listened yet...

[downisthenewup87]

Their last album was criminally overlooked.  Love, love, love that Sub-Pop is the one that signed them.  About time that they begun to rebuild their roster with young talent, and they are the perfect label for this band. 

[LIGMA_BALLZ]

Never heard of these dudes before but the single is tight...would like to find the hoodwinked lp

[parkinglot]

I've always thought of LVL UP as basically being two different bands, even within one album.  Songs like Black Honey/DBTS falling under the sloppy/fuzzed out pop/rock, and songs like Bro Chillers falling under beachy rock.  

 

I guess they also have super lofi stuff like the extra worlds ep.

 

Either way, they are the best band and I doubt this will disappoint.

Edited July 13, 2016 by parkinglot

[boops_popmarket]

Anyone remember if SubPop charges immediately upon checkout or when the record ships?

[boops_popmarket]

22 minutes ago, rds said:

Anyone remember if SubPop charges immediately upon checkout or when the record ships?

The answer is "immediately upon checkout".

[bluesnoopy]

Not sure if anyone has posted about this but Dave Benton created a new label called the "Figure 2" Recording Company. He put Buttery Sprouts & Other Songs up on his bandcamp and tapes are still available (only a 100). Pretty good stuff.

[boops_popmarket]

Another new song.  

 

It sounds like they're going in a different direction as a band than the one they were going down with Hoodwink'd and the 7" releases.  I'm a bit bummed as it was nice to hear a fun, raw pop/grunge band that wasn't too concerned with sounding refined or streamlined.  In the world of Matador/Merge/Sub Pop, that would have been a unique take on indie music, in my opinion.

[parkinglot]

new song.  really cool article, especially the interview at the end when they touch on lyrics.  

 

http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/16/lvl-up-interview-sub-pop-return-to-love

[parkinglot]

3 minutes ago, rds said:

Another new song.  

 

It sounds like they're going in a different direction as a band than the one they were going down with Hoodwink'd and the 7" releases.  I'm a bit bummed as it was nice to hear a fun, raw pop/grunge band that wasn't too concerned with sounding refined or streamlined.  In the world of Matador/Merge/Sub Pop, that would have been a unique take on indie music, in my opinion.

did you listen to the song?  it sounds like a wonderful mess.

[parkinglot]

7 minutes ago, rds said:

Another new song.  

 

It sounds like they're going in a different direction as a band than the one they were going down with Hoodwink'd and the 7" releases.  I'm a bit bummed as it was nice to hear a fun, raw pop/grunge band that wasn't too concerned with sounding refined or streamlined.  In the world of Matador/Merge/Sub Pop, that would have been a unique take on indie music, in my opinion.

did you listen to the song?  it sounds like a wonderful, sloppy mess.

Edited August 16, 2016 by parkinglot

[boops_popmarket]

It sounds pretty measured to me.  The structure of the song maintains its steady build and the volume on all the instruments fit very nicely, even when things get Messy™.  The way the 'noisy' section sounds reminds me of some of the SubPop No Age records where you know things are going haywire but somehow it sounds controlled.  

I'm not a musician or sound engineer so I don't know the proper terminology but my analogy would be watching a war battlefield scene in a blockbuster movie where you can see close ups of the actors' grease makeup that is supposed to suggest dirt and then you see, very clearly in a static shot, a grenade explode and, once the explosion is done, you hear one of the actors yell a clear line of dialogue.  It's depicting a 'messy' and 'chaotic' scene but it's not messy or chaotic.  Hoodwink'd and the 7" releases would be closer to watching a war battlefield scene in a smaller movie where the camera is shaking, multiple explosions overlap, lines of dialogue are cut off, and the execution/method matches the messiness of the content.  I never knew if a song would abruptly end or change course and some instruments would flare up or over-power others like if I was at a live show.

All that said, I'm not arguing that the songs are bad.  I'm just bummed that the parts of the band that I thought made them stand out overlap with the parts of the band that they want to shore up and move past.  I bet this will be a solid SubPop album and that they are a better band than if they just kept cranking out the same stuff.  I always grouped these guys with Happy Diving in my head since I found both of them around the same time a few years ago and they both announced new albums this year around the same time.  I really like the minor tune-up Happy Diving did on their new album.

[parkinglot]

8 minutes ago, rds said:

It sounds pretty measured to me.  The structure of the song maintains its steady build and the volume on all the instruments fit very nicely, even when things get Messy™.  The way the 'noisy' section sounds reminds me of some of the SubPop No Age records where you know things are going haywire but somehow it sounds controlled.  

I'm not a musician or sound engineer so I don't know the proper terminology but my analogy would be watching a war battlefield scene in a blockbuster movie where you can see close ups of the actors' grease makeup that is supposed to suggest dirt and then you see, very clearly in a static shot, a grenade explode and, once the explosion is done, you hear one of the actors yell a clear line of dialogue.  It's depicting a 'messy' and 'chaotic' scene but it's not messy or chaotic.  Hoodwink'd and the 7" releases would be closer to watching a war battlefield scene in a smaller movie where the camera is shaking, multiple explosions overlap, lines of dialogue are cut off, and the execution/method matches the messiness of the content.  I never knew if a song would abruptly end or change course and some instruments would flare up or over-power others like if I was at a live show.

All that said, I'm not arguing that the songs are bad.  I'm just bummed that the parts of the band that I thought made them stand out overlap with the parts of the band that they want to shore up and move past.  I bet this will be a solid SubPop album and that they are a better band than if they just kept cranking out the same stuff.  I always grouped these guys with Happy Diving in my head since I found both of them around the same time a few years ago and they both announced new albums this year around the same time.  I really like the minor tune-up Happy Diving did on their new album.

theres a good chance there will be those super fuzzed out haywire songs on the album still.  hoodwink'd and space brothers had more controlled acoustic based songs as well.  i just don't completely understand where you're coming from because they've always been writing structured ant controlled songs like bro chillers and ski vacation.  they have 3 separate song writers.

Edited August 16, 2016 by parkinglot

[parkinglot]

this is going to leak in the next few days

[parkinglot]

Is anyone else listening to this?  It's amazing, as expected.  The only thing I am kind of bummed about is that they reused two songs from the 3 Songs 7".