Name: News of the Universe
Brand: La Luz

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SP1610X

Colour

Orange

Colour details

Neon Orange

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2024-05-24

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

098787161007

Total Cap

Orange LP

SPCD1610

Gatefold Altpack with Poster Insert

098787161021

Artist

La Luz

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Sub Pop

La Luz is a band based in Seattle, WA, formed in the summer of 2012. The band consists of Shana Cleveland on guitar, Marian Li Pino on drums, Lena Simon on bass, and Alice Sandahl on keyboard. All members contribute vocals to their music. La Luz's songs are primarily written by Shana and the band.
Their unique sound draws inspiration from various genres including surf rock, garage rock, and psychedelic pop. With catchy melodies and intricate harmonies, La Luz creates a captivating musical experience for their listeners.
If you enjoy artists such as PAINT, White Fence, or Shannon & The Clams, then La Luz is definitely worth checking out. Their music has also been compared to bands like Mystic Braves and Night Beats. So if you're a fan of these artists or simply looking for some fresh tunes to add to your collection, give La Luz a listen!

Short for "Subterranean Pop" 

The label was an outgrowth of [a=Bruce Pavitt]'s Olympia, WA based (print) fanzine, which became the well respected cassettezine of the same name. 

After his move to Seattle he ran a music column in the Seattle Rocket also called Sub Pop.

After initial forays into the record label world with a [a=Green River] 7" (not officially on Sub Pop) and the Sub Pop 100 LP, the label exploded onto the indie scene with four influential colored vinyl 7"s which included [a=Mudhoney]'s "Touch Me I'm Sick" which made the year-end top 10 playlist of nearly every music journalist in the world.

Subsequent hyping of the label in the English music press put them on the map, and grunge was born.

Label-Code is 03159; rarely found printed on releases (basically only on releases manufactured/licensed by Warner/WEA Germany)

Browse the bestsellers in vinyl records, CDs, box sets and books. Our handpicked selection features the coolest trends in music and reading.

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on&nbsp;News of the Universe, the new full-length from California rock band La Luz.

News of the Universe&nbsp;is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It’s also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one.

But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is&nbsp;News of the Universe&nbsp;all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of&nbsp;News of the Universe&nbsp;is nothing less than death itself. “There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth,” says Cleveland.

The powerful sense of openness that permeates&nbsp;News of the Universe&nbsp;is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress.

Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant,&nbsp;News of the Universe&nbsp;is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love&nbsp;and&nbsp;a great riff. Never is that more true than on&nbsp;News of the Universe, which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful.

News of the Universe

Music GB

Discover News of the Universe by La Luz on vinyl from Sub Pop. A dark, beautiful psychedelic album reflecting personal crisis with a cosmic road map to a new world.