Photo by Pooneh Ghana
Philadelphia rockers The Districts have today announced a new full-length album entitled, Popular Manipulations. The follow-up to their 2015 breakthrough effort, A Flourish and a Spoil, is due out August 11th via Fat Possum.
Four of the 11 tracks on the LP were recorded with producer John Congleton, who’d previously worked with the band on Flourish. The other songs were all self-recorded by The Districts themselves alongside Pine Barons member Keith Abrams. “Both sessions were great,” frontman Robby Grote told Noisey. “We just have fun working with John. There’s a dialogue between us when we are working with him where he has suggestions or we’ll just talk stuff out, but it was definitely refreshing recording just a neighborhood away from where we live and doing it all ourselves with Keith. We viewed it as more of a challenge.”
In addition to the album announcement, the band has shared the video for lead single “Ordinary Day”, which was debuted back in February and released as a Record Store Day 7-inch. Directed by Out of Town Films, the clip is a brooding visual that Grote said “deals with ideas of loneliness, alienation and going through the motions in life.” It tackles those concepts by having the black-garbed band deliver a lifeless performance for a bunch of people in creepy white masks drinking milk. Take a look below.
Pre-orders for Popular Manipulations are going on now. The tracklist and cover art are below.
Popular Manipulations Album Art:
Popular Manipulations Tracklist:
01. If Before I Wake
02. Violet
03. Ordinary Day
04. Salt
05. Why Would I Wanna Be
06. Point
07. Airplane
08. Fat Kiddo
09. Capable
10. Rattling Of The Heart
11. Will You Please Be Quiet Please
The Districts will support their new record on a stuffed spring and summer tour that includes dates with My Morning Jacket and appearances at Lollapalooza and Osheaga. Find their full schedule below.
The Districts 2017 Tour Dates:
04/25 – Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlies
04/26 – Cincinnati, OH @ Woodward Theater
04/28 – Lancaster, PA @ Chameleon Club
05/04 – Towson, MD @ WTMD First Monday
05/19 – Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape
05/20 – Birmingham, UK @ The Institute
05/22 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
05/23 – London, UK @ The Dome
05/25 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Szimpla
05/26 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling at Paradiso
06/21 – Charlotte, NC @ Visualite
06/22 – Charleston, SC @ Royal American
06/23 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
06/24 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
06/26 – Houston, TX @ Raven Tower
06/27 – Austin, TX @ Sidewinder
06/29 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
06/30 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
07/01 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
07/03 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
07/06 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
07/07 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
07/08 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt
07/10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
07/11 – Denver, CO @ Globe Music Hall
07/13 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
08/04 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/04-06 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
08/07 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
08/10 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live *
08/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
08/12 – North Adams, MA @ Mass MoCA *
08/16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
08/18 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
08/25 – Reading , UK @ Reading Festival
08/26 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/27 – Hull, UK @ Fruit
08/29 – Newcastle, UK @ Cluny
08/30 – Edinburgh, UK @ Caves
08/31 – Glasgow, UK @ King Tuts
09/02 – Bristol, UK @ The Downs
09/03 – Cambridge, UK @ Portland Arms
09/05 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
09/06 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
09/07 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach
09/11 – Brighton, UK @ Haunt
09/14 – Monthey, CH @ Pont Rouge
09/15 – Milan, IT @ Serraglio
09/17 – Darmstadt, DE @ Golden Leaves Festival
09/18 – Zurich, CH @ Werk 21
09/19 – Munich, DE @ Strom
09/20 – Vienna, AT @ Flex
* = w/ My Morning Jacket
