Death Cab For Cutie

When the writing of Asphalt Meadows began in the early part of the pandemic, Death Cab for Cutie wasn't sure how to make a record. Singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard, bassist Nick Harmer, drummer Jason McGerr, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Depper, and keyboardist/guitarist Zac Rae lived in four different cities. Being in the studio together wasn't an option. Though Gibbard started writing songs at the end of their last tour, he felt like he was hitting a wall after being trapped in his home studio for months. So he hatched a plan to shake things up.

"A work week is Monday through Friday and there are five members of the band," Gibbard explains. "So on Monday, someone put together a piece of music and shared it. And then the next person took it, with the order decided randomly. On your day, you had complete editorial control."

At the end of each week, they finished a rough song mix. Sometimes, songs were transformed entirely, with a key change or altogether different tempo. "After we started, we had a lot of success," Gibbard says.

While not all of the songs on Asphalt Meadows came from these sessions, over half of them did. Songs Gibbard presented as demos also went through the process, allowing everyone to figure their parts out before going into the studio with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Explosions in the Sky).

Harmer calls the experience of writing this way incredibly inspiring. "Having exactly one day to work on each track allowed me to not overthink things," he says. "I had to come up with something compelling and get it completed or the whole process would break down."

"I believe everybody started finding ideas and performances that might not have happened if we'd been in the same room writing," McGerr adds.

The first track released off the album, "Roman Candles," was inspired by a drum part from the '70s Krautrock act Faust and Gibbard's desire to write something for the record that was short, loud, and thrashy. "The lyrics were cobbled from a couple of different songs dealing with my general sense of existential dread and anxiety, the feeling that the fabric that weaves a functioning society together was crumbling during the pandemic," he says.

"Here to Forever" was built on the idea of looking at the past without idealized nostalgia and evolves into a soul-searching song about wanting spiritual clarity. "Foxglove Through the Clearcut" finds Gibbard delivering spoken word verses and an ever-growing drum bridge by McGerr that pushes the music forward into a chorus of beautiful harmonies.

Friendship is the inspiration for "Wheat Like Waves." Spending time with Torquil Campbell of Stars at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada while listening to Prefab Sprout prompted Gibbard to write about an adult male friendship that has spanned years.

Rae recalls working collaboratively with McGerr on "Fragments From the Decade." "We had gone into a studio and played drums and keys duets for a few hours," Rae says. After editing and sharing, what came back from Gibbard in the next 24 hours was very nearly the final song. "Not everything was that fast or easy, but a lot of what made it on the record certainly was."

"Rand McNally" is a poignant track about building a legacy. "This is my life's work," Gibbard says. "When members leave bands, they're often seminal members. That fans continue to support them is a testament to how important the music is to them. I wanted to write something to and for everyone who has been in this band, who helped make it what it is, to say I'm not going to let the light fade." Depper was the second person to pick the track up and immediately knew it was special. "I felt drawn to playing acoustic piano on this track, something I'd normally never do because Zac is 4000X the piano player that I am. But given the space and solitude that this process allowed, I confidently contributed a piano track and melodic line that I'm really proud of." Depper felt “don’t let the light fade” had a hymnal quality and decided to use it as a reprise. “I didn't want the song to end yet,” Depper says. “So I was inspired to create a coda to the song based on that line, with layers of harmonies joining in with each refrain.”

The final track, "I'll Never Give Up on You," stands out in its round-robin writing style for Rae. "The song came to me as a groovy, single chord idea, and I added some fairly strange, almost jazzy piano voicings over it. I don't know that we would have settled on that if we had been all together in the room."

After 25 years as a band, going about the writing and recording process unconventionally pushed Death Cab for Cutie creatively in new and unexpected directions.

Yves Tumor

Yves Tumor is the solo moniker of Sean Bowie, the enigmatic multi-instrumentalist and producer based in Turin, Italy.

Die Spitz

Our debut album 'Something to Consume' is out now via Third Man Records.

Order + save album: https://ffm.to/somethingtoconsume

US Bookings: zachary@highroadtouring.com + sam@highroadtouring.com

MGMT:

diespitz@gmail.com

Blood Orange

Blood Orange (founded in 2009) is the indie-rock, R&B and new wave soul project of eccentric musician Devonte “Dev” Hynes, hailing from London, England.

Chase & Status

whatcamebefore.net

De La Soul

Erlendir tónlistarmenn frá Bandaríkjunum

No Name

Rapper

Japanese Breakfast

New album ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)’ out March 21

Turnstile

"NEVER ENOUGH"

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Forever Is A Feeling: The Archives out now

lucydacus.lnk.to/foreverisafeelingthearchives

Molchat Doma

Tokimonsta

Jennifer Lee, better known by her stage name TOKiMONSTA, is an American instrumental hip-hop/ electronica artist from Los Angeles, California.

Peaches

An iconic feminist musician, producer, director, and performance artist, Peaches has spent more than two decades pushing boundaries and breaking barriers, dramatically altering the landscape of popular culture as she forged a bold, sexually progressive path that’s opened the doors for countless others to follow.

Joey Valence & Brae

Bikini Kill

Bikini Kill was a punk rock band of the riot grrrl movement, formed in Olympia, Washington, USA in October of 1990. Often considered the godmothers of riot grrrl, Bikini Kill's incendiary lyrics, calling for "Revolution Girl Style Now" helped inspire countless female punk bands of the 1990s and later.

The band was formed at The Evergreen State College by Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail. They began working together on a fanzine called Bikini Kill, and with the addition of Billy Karren, formerly of The Go Team (not to be confused with the current band The Go! Team) on guitar, formed a band of the same name. Hanna, a former stripper, wrote most of the band's songs and encouraged a female-centered environment at their shows, urging girls to come to the front of the stage and handing out lyric sheets to them.

After an independent demo cassette, Revolution Girl Style Now, Bikini Kill released The Bikini Kill EP on the indie label Kill Rock Stars. Produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi, the album began to establish the band's audience. In 1993, Bikini Kill went to England and began working with Huggy Bear, releasing a joint recording together and touring the UK. The tour was the subject of a documentary film by Lucy Thane entitled It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The U.K..

By the following year, riot grrl was receiving constant attention in the media and Bikini Kill were seen as leaders of the movement. At this time the group called for a "media blackout" to be executed by all riot grrrls, since they felt the band and the movement were being misrepresented and commodified.

On their return to the United States, they began working with Joan Jett, formerly of The Runaways, a rock musician whom Hanna described as an early example of riot grrl's aesthetics. Jett produced the single "New Radio/Rebel Girl" for the band. Vail and Wilcox began songwriting in 1994 with the release of Pussy Whipped. Their last album was Reject All American (1996), and the band broke up in 1998. Shortly before the breakup, a collection of singles released between 1996-1998, aptly titled The Singles was released.

After the Tobi Vail and Billy Karren began to perform and record together as The Frumpies. Kathleen Hanna worked with various artists, including Rachel Carns of The Need, in a band called The Fakes, putting out one LP, and then released her solo project, Julie Ruin. Kathleen Hanna now sings for Le Tigre.

Sudan Archives

As Sudan Archives, Brittney Parks first emerged onto the scene as a self taught avant-garde violinist, channelling sounds through loop pedals. She has combined left-field strains of R&B, hip-hop, and experimental electronic music with hypnotic string loops and the fiddling style of West Africa.

After bursting onto the scene in 2017 with "Come Meh Way”, she masterfully bridged the gap between her early glitchy, avant-garde compositions and timeless songwriting for her debut album Athena. The album drew inspiration from divine Black feminine power, being described as a “boundary-defying R&B innovator” by The New York Times.

Now, she’s at the top of her game. She’s released three singles so far this year, each one stronger than the last, off of her upcoming sophomore LP Natural Brown Prom Queen. Due out September 9, the album is by no means a straight forward pop project, but it contains some of her catchiest, lushest, most joyful songs to date — surprising, given the fact that she recorded, arranged, and edited them in her basement during deep lockdown. This is also her most personal project, taking in race, womanhood, and the fiercely loyal, loving relationships at the heart of her life with her family, friends, and partner. On Natural Brown Prom Queen, Sudan Archives invites you to join in and embrace shared joy.

PawPaw Rod

Much Love To You And Yours 🌞

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Atarashii Gakko!

Whatever you do, don’t call them cute. SUZUKA, MIZYU, RIN, and KANON build their show on the raw energy of a young generation, but they refuse to be idols. They are, as they say themselves, honest. The school uniforms they wear are not costumes, but symbols of pressure they openly push back against. They’re loud, bold, and sometimes deliberately over the line. Their world blends Japanese tradition, street culture, meme aesthetics, and TikTok chaos. ATARASHII GAKKO! have built a reputation as a band you need to experience live. This won’t be a classic pop concert – this will be a wild ride. They create all their choreography themselves and operate on stage as a single organism. In 2025, they celebrated 10 years together with their biggest headline show to date and an anniversary world tour across Japan, Asia, and Australia. The Czech Republic hasn’t seen anything like this yet. That changes this summer.

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54 Ultra

In the kaleidoscopic world of music, 54 Ultra emerges as a beacon of sonic fusion, weaving synthy indie rock with a Latin soul heartbeat. Based out of New Jersey, 54 Ultra is the musical project of songwriter and producer Johnny Rodriguez. Offering music that is honest and melodic with a charismatic stage presence, 54 Ultra is carving out a space uniquely his own, a garage pop and soul sound.
54 Ultra’s smooth vocals and tasteful production create a feeling of instant nostalgia that has quickly charmed fans around the world. His debut EP “First Works” was released this May to overwhelmingly positive reception, accompanied by four sold out shows in Los Angeles and New York City. 54 Ultra has more music on the way and will set out on his first headline tour this fall 2025.