Week in Pop: Bret Koontz, Rock Abruham, Shmu, Sour Notes

Post Author: Sjimon Gompers

Catering to the crafts beyond the short-sighted capitalist pale, Impose’s Week in Pop champions the arts & artists that create according to their own visions & volition. Delivering the latest breaking media exclusives, we first present some of the week’s biggest buzz & headlines with news that Portland pop institution Candace announced the new album New Ruins available March 2 plus an upcoming March tour with SXSW dates; Grimes revealed upcoming tour, new material, album, etc; Migos dropped “Superstars” & also dropped “Walk It Talk It” ft. Drake & then dropped the anticipated Culture II; Hinds announced the new album I Don’t Run available April 6 via Mom + Pop; Donald Glover signed to RCA Records with word of forthcoming Childish Gambino material on the way; Vic Mensa dropped the “We Could Be Free” video; Dabrye dropped “Lil Mufukuz” ft. DOOM; Tyler, the Creator talked to Jerrod Carmichael about Flower Boy & released the GOLF le FLEUR* line of shoes & also talked Grammy buzz & more; Remy Ma dropped “Melanin Magic”; Alice Glass dropped the Lindsey Nico Mann & Dan Streit video for “Cease and Desist” produced by Jupiter Keyes (formerly of HEALTH) & Dreamcrusher; Rad Horror dropped “Stay Out”; Lil Wayne dropped “Big Bad Wolf”; A$AP Rocky dropped “☆☆☆☆☆ 5IVE $TAR$” & “Above” & “Money Bags Freestyle (Dean Blunt Meditation)“; Unknown Mortal Orchestra dropped the track “American Guilt”; Kali Uchis dropped the Nadia Lee Cohen video for “After the Storm” ft. Tyler, The Creator & Bootsy Collins; Kendrick collaborator Bekon dropped Get With The Times; Robert Earl Thomas, of Widowspeak announced the debut solo album Another Age available February 16 on Captured Tracks & dropped the Otium video for “What Am I Gonna Do”; YBN Nahmir dropped the Cole Bennett video for “Bounce Out With That” ft. appearances from Fatboy SSE, PNB Rock & YBN Almighty Jay; James Blake dropped the Alexander Brown video for “If the Car Beside You Moves Ahead”; DJ Koze announced the new album Knock Knock available May 4 via Pampa & dropped “Seeing Aliens” & “Nein König Nein”; Loma dropped “Joy” off their self-titled debut album available February 16 via Sub Pop; Car Seat Headrest dropped a new version of “Cute Thing”; Hop Along announced their upcoming third album Bark Your Head Off, Dog available April 6 from Saddle Creek & dropped “How Simple” & spring tour dates; MIEN (members of The Horrors & The Black Angels) dropped the Elba Berganza Perez video for “Black Bahit”, debut album available in April; LA’s Luke Eisner and Gus Ross are VOILÀ who dropped “Lately” & “Hundredth Second Chance“; Kim Petras dropped the Nicholas Harwood video for “Faded” ft. Lil Aaron; Island dropped “Ride” off the upcoming debut album Feels Like Air available April 6 via Frenchkiss Records; Bruno Major dropped the Louis Bhose video for “Cold Blood”; NOËP dropped “New Heights”; The Wombats dropped the video for “Cheetah Tongue”; Alice Boman dropped the video for “End Of Time” via The Control Group; Charlotte Day Wilson dropped “Nothing New” from the upcoming Stone Woman EP available February 23; Omad Records announced the February 16 reissue of Le Rug’s 2007 album Bleenex, playing tonight in Brooklyn at Sunnyvale; Anohni covered the Cranberries’ “No Need to Argue”; Shaggy & Sting’s collaborative album 44/876 will be available April 20 & they dropped the single “Don’t Make Me Wait”; Lorde & Jack Antonoff covered Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Run Away With Me” & also covered Roy Orbison’s “You Got It” plus a Dolores O’ Riordan tribute; Waxahatchee & Kevin Morby covered Jason Molina’s “Farewell Transmission” & “The Dark Don’t Hide It” as a benefit for MusiCares; Pedro the Lion signed to Polyvinyl; Lady Gaga dropped a piano based rendering of “Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?)”; Doe Paoro dropped “Guilty”, touring with The Mynabirds; Adult Mom announced tour dates with Chris Farren in February & Lucy Dacus in March & April; Reptaliens dropped the video for “Ubik” & are currently on tour; The Spook School’s anticipated album Could It Be Different? is available now via Slumberland Records/Alcopop! with news of a tour; Modest Mouse announced tour dates; Kendrick Lamar announced tour; Zenizen announced tour dates; Gillian Welch announced tour dates with collaborator Dave Rawlings; Jay Electronica announced a tour; King Krule announced a
tour; Kristin Hersh dropped the video for “Wonderland” made by Hersh’s son Wyatt True with word of a stateside tour; LCD Soundsystem announced more tour dates; Phish announced a tour; Jade Bird announced tour with Colter Wall; Belle & Sebastian announced tour dates; Slayer announced their final tour; Elton John announced farewell tour; Marfa Myths buzz; Austin has declared January 22, Daniel Johnston’s birthday, to be Hi, How Are You? Day; Tyga’s Hajime Sorayama artwork for Kyoto; M.I.A. documentary scored by George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison; Rabit claimed that Drake’s Scary Hours artwork bears a striking similarity to a tour poster of theirs; Lil Uzi Vert responded to Fat Joe referring to him as a “bad version of Lil Wayne”; Erykah Badu’s recent controversial & surreal interview; Jack White banned the use of phones at his shows & dropped “Corporation”; Questlove sued over alleged discrimination; Matt Mondanile penned a lengthy statement regarding allegations of sexual misconduct; Neil Diamond retired from touring after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s; and we remember Mark E. Smith of The Fall & remember the legendary Hugh Masekela.
As our world continues to turn, it is once again our pleasure & privilege to present the following interviews, insights & exclusives from Bret Koontz, Rock Abruham, Shmu, The Sour Notes, Elbows, Flying Hair, Moon Baby, featuring guest selections by The Soft Moon & more—in no particular order.

Week in Pop Quick Links (Table of Contents):

1. Bret Koontz
2. Rock Abruham
3. Shmu
4. The Sour Notes
5. Elbows
6. Flying Hair
7. Moon Baby
8. Week in Pop media roundup
9. The Soft Moon’s Week in Pop guest selections