Japanese Breakfast | photo by Ebru Yildiz | courtesy of the artist
Watch Japanese Breafkast get their Ellen Ripley on in new “Machinist” video
I think I caught something like four Japanese Breakfast gigs last year, and most of them ended with frontwoman Michelle Zauner diving offstage and dancing in the middle of the crowd to an incredibly infectious autotuned Europop jam that, before today, was not available anywhere. But as we heard last summer, the next Japanese Breakfast record is coming out on Dead Oceans records, and with today’s details about that release comes a new music video for my favorite song from those gigs — which we’re learning is called “Machinist.”
Zauner directed the video, working once again with her regular collaborator, director of photography Adam Kolodny. Visually, inspiration is drawn from the haunting sci fi palette of Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey, while Zauner says the concept echoes the lyrical story: “the song is a sci-fi narrative about a woman who falls in love with a robot. In the video she hallucinates on rocket fuel and tears apart her spaceship in an attempt to build a body for her robot lover.”
The album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, is out July 14th on Dead Oceans, and is available for pre-order now. Zauner has a busy slate of shows this spring and summer, including a run with dreampoppers Slowdive this month, followed by a summer run with Alex G and Cende that wraps up at Union Transfer on July 8th; tickets and more information on that gig can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar. Her summer itinerary wraps (for now) with a week’s worth of dates opening for Tegan and Sara; get the full roster below.
Tour Dates
5/5 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall ~
5/6 – Montreal, QC @ Olympia Theatre ~
5/7 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ~
5/8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel ~
5/9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel ~
6/2 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel *
6/3 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter *
6/4 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle (Back Room) *
6/6 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory) *
6/7 – Orlando, FL @ The Social *
6/9 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
6/10 – Austin, TX @ The Parish *
6/11 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
6/13 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge *
6/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex *
6/16 – San Diego, CA @ The Irenic *
6/17 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
6/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
6/20 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile *
6/21 – Vancouver, BC @ The Cobalt *
6/22 – Portland, OR @ Holocene *
6/24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
6/25 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge *
6/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry *
6/28 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge *
6/29 – Columbus, OH @ Double Happiness *
6/30 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s *
7/1 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
7/2 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground *
7/4 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB *
7/5 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
7/6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
7/7 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
7/8 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
7/27 – Halifax, NS @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium ^
7/28 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre ^
7/29 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom ^
7/31 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues ^
8/2 – Covington, KY @ Madison Theater ^
~ w/ Slowdive
* w/ (Sandy) Alex G & Cende
^ w/ Tegan & Sara