🥤 SIPSMAN COMMUNIQUE: November 2024
Vote • Market • Lily Seabird • $20 LPs • POP Montréal
Hey, fuck it, how’s about I turn on the The Second Annual Sipsman Holiday Store? Seeing as I didn’t release any records as a label in 2024, I’m going to keep this very simple: all Sipsman-released LPs are $20 for the rest of the year. Want to spend more than $20? If you do, I will match up to $10 from every purchase exceeding $20 and donate equally to flood relief efforts in North Carolina and Florida. Buy em thru the Bandcamp link below or sipsman.bandcamp.com
Krill’s Alam No Hris [10-year anniversary reissue], released Nov 2022
Katie von Schleicher’s A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night, released Oct 2023
Animal Hospital’s Shelf Life, released Nov 2023
MARKET
Well I Asked You A Question is out today via Western Vinyl, and the world is better for it. Popmatters already designated it a #PMPick, writing that "Listening to the album, one gets the idea of a loner genius on par with Brian Wilson or Todd Rundgren." In their review, Rosy Overdrive proclaims “Well I Asked You a Question is a relaxed but intricate art pop album, with Mendelsohn and his collaborators consistently meeting each other in just the right places to best serve these tracks." I recommend the skronky solo in “Rachel’s Getting Married,” the trap beats section of the folksy “Around,” and the Pitchfork Selected “Apple” and its counterpointy coda. Market celebrates at Brooklyn’s Public Records on November 14.
LILY SEABIRD
Big news last month: Lily is a proud member of the Lame-O Records family. The Vermonter’s critically adored album Alas, is being reissued on vinyl for the first time on November 15, accompanied by Alas, (acoustic versions). Listen to the previously unreleased “Fuckhead” from that EP today, adored by The Fader and Paste, the latter describing as “the kind of bare-boned singer-songwriter composition that you’ve probably heard a thousand times before, but with Lily Seabird holding the pen, it’s a piece of a still-growing canon that becomes as crucial as anything that’s come before it.” Pick up Alas, on vinyl when Lily Seabird tours the northeast with Margaux this month and the west coast with Trace Mountains in December.
POP MONTREAL
Another fantastic year. Thanks to Paper Magazine ("Now in its 23rd year, the festival has a long history of honoring legends and newcomers alike.") and marg.mp3 for making it up north. Creem describes POP so well: “As festivals worldwide become more and more homogenized, with every mega-fest announcement in a death race with the others to see who can book the greatest number of reunited ‘90s detritus, contemporary Oasis cosplayers, and obliquely spelled EDM DJj/pantomimes, POP Montreal decidedly ain’t that. The fest’s founders and organizers have constantly put forth lineups which balance forward thinking pop and anti-pop, the truly out-there artists of the last half century, and enough skewed-but-accessible guitar acts to ensure that any noble-hearted nerd with even the slightest bit of curiosity can bliss the fuck out.”
A reminder to keep these 2024 releases in mind as you compile your end-of-year best-of what-have-yous. I’m grateful to run this little operation, working with artists and labels creating art that surprises and inspires me. I hope they have a similar effect on you.
Lily Seabird’s Alas,, self-released Jan 12, to be reissued Nov 15 via Lame-O Records
Dana Gavanski’s LATE SLAP, released Apr 05 via Full Time Hobby
Hour’s Ease the Work, released Apr 12 via Dear Life Records
Kaya Hoax’s Baby Gear EP, self-released May 17
Nathaniel Russell’s Songs Of, released May 24 via Psychic Hotline
Skylar Gudasz’s COUNTRY, released Aug 09 via Perseids Records
The Convenience’s Routiner / Postcard, released Sep 24 via Winspear
Market’s Well I Asked You A Question, released Nov 01 via Western Vinyl
Lastly: live in America? You should vote for the least fascist candidate on Tuesday. xo