🥤 SIPSMAN COMMUNIQUE: August 2024

POP Montréal • Hopscotch • Pegg • Skylar Gudasz • Truth Club • Lily Seabird • Market

Yes I brought my stupid little banner to my friend’s flat in Walthamstow for the bit. Y’know, me and me banner, we’ve been everywhere…

Here’s what’s up:

PEGG
It’s release week for Pegg—the NYC project’s self-titled debut produced by acclaimed indie artist Bartees Strange and award-winning Irish composer Alex Dowling arrives tomorrow August 23 via IS NOT MUSIC. Today, the all-star cast of independent music luminaries (Standing on the Corner! TEEN! Buke and Gase! Van Dyke Parks!) shares one final preview ahead of their album release.

Like the album’s first single “Geronimo” (which Gold Flake Paint said had “a great whack of soulfulness… as well as unbridled exploration, a reaching for something glittering just out of reach, and it all swells together alongside a classic-NYC-indie-rock heartbeat.”), the combustible “Radiothon” features a back-and-forth lyrical exchange between the project’s Xander Duell and Blake Fusilier. Check it out, and press play on Pegg when it’s out tonight at midnight.

SKYLAR GUDASZ
COUNTRY was released earlier this month via Perseids Records in all its widescreen glory—Bandcamp really nailed when writing that Gudasz’s “greatest strength may lie in her sound’s sweeping, cinematic qualities coupled with its rich imagery of wildfires and vast seascapes, either to be feared or marveled.”

During release week, Gudasz shared a music video for COUNTRY highlight “Lovestorypastlife,” shot at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station on the Outer Banks of North Carolina where she used to live, and where the striking album art was shot as well. You can read more about that on Rolling Stone. Listen to COUNTRY, pick it up on vinyl and catch Gudasz in Nashville, London, and more this fall, including the Concert for Chicamacomico.

POP MONTREAL: Sep 25–29
So many new additions. Listen to the official playlist. Read how much fun Creem had last year. Plot your 5-day marathon in Quebec with me. C’mon, we’ll eat bagels!!

HOPSCOTCH: Sep 05–07
The daily schedules have arrived as of this afternoon. Day parties have been announced as of last week. There were approximately a million press applications and everyone should be notified as of now. Thank you for your interest in this excellent festival, I can’t wait to get back to Carolina in two weeks time.

LILY SEABIRD
Seabird’s first shows in Los Angeles and London felt so special to experience first-hand—thanks to Sid The Cat and Parallel Lines for their respective promotions, as well as everyone who came out to Permanent Records Roadhouse (where I got a great Cold Pumas 7-inch) and The Waiting Room. Seabird plays solo with Margaux at NYC’s Sleepwalk on Sep 03, then links up with her band for shows in Baltimore, Philly, and at Hopscotch. Tickets to all Lily Seabird shows and streaming options for Alas, can be found here.

TRUTH CLUB
L’équipe de vérité (sorry) plays with Wednesday at The Orange Peel out in Asheville next weekend, and is part of a killer Hopscotch day party the following weekend curated by Wednesday and MJ Lenderman featuring Lily Seabird and many more. After a quick trip to DC to open for Hippo Campus at The Atlantis, TC will play a handful of dates with Horse Jumper of Love in October before a headline show in Philadelphia. All dates can be found here; while you find the show nearest you, check out Travis and Kam’s 45-minute playlist of power for The Ugly Hug.

MARKET
Delighted to be working with Brooklyn’s Nate Mendelsohn, one half of the excellent production duo Shitty Hits with Katie von Schleicher. Market—his song-focused project—has released its first new music since the 2022 album The Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong. “Apple” is a recollection of his dad’s frustration at Mendelsohn’s twin sister arriving six-minutes late, spun out into a study of nature and nurture, and the magical meaning he assigns to being six-minutes her junior. Thanks to Pitchfork for including it on Selects last week. More news about Market will be announced soon so follow Nate on insta.