Bellingham, WA’s Death Cab For Cutie brought their current tour to the Williamsburg Waterfront on Tuesday night, where our pal Sunil was on hand to capture some of the show. He shot a number of clips throughout the evening including the jammy I Will Possess Your Heart…
Death Cab For Cutie – I Will Possess Your Heart
Odds are Death Cab For Cutie would probably like to downplay the significance of the role The O.C. played in the explosion of their popularity leading them to sign with a major label. But prior to the release of their 2003 album Transatlanticism,
On Thursday, Death Cab will return to their roots by playing a short string of intimate club gigs leading up to the May 31 released of their seventh studio album, Codes And Keys. Last week, the band released a music video for the album’s lead track Home Is A Fire, which was shot in Los Angeles and features the work of guerrilla street artist Shepard Fairey. Check it out…
DC4C will kick off their proper world tour on June 26 in Munich, Germany, and return to the states to play larger venues roughly a month later with HT faves Frightened Rabbit holding down the opening slot.
Back in 1969, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady originally started Hot Tuna as a side project to play some live dates during Jefferson Airplane’s hiatus, as Grace Slick recovered from throat surgery. The band, who mixed acoustic and electric rock and blues, quickly morphed into a full time outfit and have now been at it for over 40 years – with Jorma and Jack being the constants for a rotating cast of band members. On April 5, Hot Tuna will release Steady As She Goes
The band, who will appear at Mountain Jam this June, has announced four special “record release” shows that will feature Campbell and his wife Tersea Williams, who will be on hand to help re-create the album’s full sound.
If Jorma & Jack haven’t scheduled a stop near your town, then maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, on May 31, Death Cab For Cutie will release their seventh studio album Codes And Keys
This year has already gotten off to a good start where studio albums from our favorite artists are concerned, but as we enter the third month of 2011 samples from a number of releases we’ve had our eyes on are now available. We wanted to take this opportunity to point our readers in the direction of places to check out these new LPs.
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
Head to NPR’s First Look to listen to what the band and some reviewers consider a “return to form” for the seminal alt-rock band.
Robbie Robertson – How to Become Clairvoyant
I’ve had a chance to listen to the whole album and it’s by far my favorite of 2011 thus far. You can sample He Don’t Live Here No More and When The Night Was Young through Robertson’s Facebook Page.
READ ON for tastes of a few more new releases…
VH1′s Storytellers series debuted in 1996 with the concept of letting artists share the stories behind their greatest songs – and those songs themselves – in an intimate setting. Over the past 15 years, legendary performers such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Sting, Tom Petty and Steely Dan have all filmed episodes of Storytellers. The next season of the show, which kicks off in May, features more of the same as some of our favorite artists grace the Storytellers stage including My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, Death Cab For Cutie, Ray LaMontagne and Cee Lo Green.
Is there a more perfect band for Storytellers than My Morning Jacket? We can’t wait to hear Jim James wax poetic on the stories behind MMJ classics. We’re also hoping the Kings retell the “pigeon shitting” story. No word yet on air dates for the 15th anniversary season of Storytellers other than the May start, but we’ll let you know when the full schedule is revealed.
At a recent performance in New York City, LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy asked fans not to leak the group’s new album, This Is Happening, and as if on cue the album turned up on popular torrent sites the next day. For those of you who haven’t illegally downloaded the new LP, you can stream This Is Happening at lcdsoundsystem.com.
I’ve only had a chance to listen once, but This Is Happening immediately caught my ear more than any other album I’ve heard this year. Give it a spin and let us know what you think.
Here’s a quick tour of the internet for six stories of note…
Wrapping up, Death Cab For Cutie performed a couple of baseball-themed songs at Safeco Field on Monday during the home opener for their hometown ballclub – the Seattle Mariners. Ben Gibbard and the boys donned customized Mariners jerseys as they took the makeshift “stage” at home plate for unique versions of Take Me Out to the Ballpark and Centerfield…
Death Cab For Cutie – Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Centerfield
As usual, Superfly Productions will present a series of concerts at a number of New Orleans venues during Jazzfest. The cleverly titled 2009 Superfly during Jazzfest concert series has just been announced.
READ ON for more details and a full list of performances…
Today marks the frst work day of 2009 for the majority of Americans and while we’re as unhappy as you are to get back to biz, we’ve got a full slate of posts planned to keep you entertained. Let’s kick things off with some links…
Finally, Open Your Eyes Records has teamed up with private bit torrent tracker What.CD to exclusively distribute new releases. The deal allows the small label to tap into the tracker’s loyal audience with each new release getting promotion on the main page of What.CD’s website. Don’t expect any major players to embrace P2P anytime soon, but if this deal is successful it may lead to other small labels striking similar deals with trackers.
We hope that you rang in 2009 with style last night. I spent mine with My Morning Jacket as they ripped the roof off the Garden with a monster three and half hour show that included some fantastic covers. So, as you manage to shake off your first hangover of the year I figured we’d cut right to the chase and unload a batch of links to get you through the day…
We here at HT want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and are looking forward to big 2009. READ ON for the full setlist and some videos from MMJ’s Monumental New Year’s show at the Garden…
A couple weeks back, we mentioned that Neil Young had announced the dates for the 22nd installment of the Bridge School Benefit. Now, we’ve got a line-up to share. The all-acoustic shows, which will take place at the Shoreline Amphitheater on October 25 and 26, will feature appearances from ZZ Top, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, Smashing Pumpkins, Cat Power and Josh Groban – as well as sets from the event’s host on each night.
Young is also showing some love to two two openers on his upcoming arena tour inviting both Wilco and DC4C to perform.
If you can’t make it out West for the shows, then maybe you can make it to one these recently announced tours…
Finally, we’ve got some unfortunate news for those of you who we’re hoping to head to Amsterdam for the 2009 installment of Jam In The Dam. Due to the current health condition of event founder Armand Sadlier – who is in need of a double lung transplant – organizers posted a message on their website announcing that there won’t be a Jam In The Dam next year. The message went on to say that the event will be back in 2010 for their 5th anniversary. We send our best wishes to Mr. Sadlier for a full recovery.
Let’s mark down today as the official Day of the Mind-Blowing Double Bill. Not only was the Drive-By Truckers / The Hold Steady tour announced this afternoon, but we’ve also got official confirmation of the Wilco/Neil Young tour we mentioned earlier. Arcade Fire and Bruce Springsteen – you’re on the clock!
Last year, Neil Young performed at intimate venues throughout the country including churches and theaters with his wife Pegi opening each show. This time around Neil aims to fill arenas and has enlisted big draws Wilco and Death Cab For Cutie for support. Death Cab and Everest will open all the shows from October 14 until November 5, while Wilco and Everest open the rest of the tour with the exception of Chicago.
The prospect of touring with Neil Young must be very exciting for both bands. Jeff Tweedy and Ben Gibbard have each been professing their love for Neil Young since they started their careers. For more on the Wilco/Neil Young connection read this fascinating article. And be sure to check out this video of Ben Gibbard singing Young’s Harvest Moon and this clip of Jeff Tweedy joining The Bottle Rockets for Neil’s Walk On.
For those of us who like to actually stand at concerts, the floor will be general admission at every venue. Neil’s backing band features Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young.
READ ON for the full list of Neil Young North American Fall Tour Dates…
If you’re a regular reader of Brooklyn Vegan or Prefix then odds are you’ve admired the stunning photography of Lori Baily. We’re sad to report that Lori’s parents were murdered in their Nebraska home this past Sunday during a completely random act of violence by a suspected psychopath who is now in custody.
As you can imagine Lori’s been hit with a ton of unexpected expenses such as travel, the funeral, lawyers etc. You can help a valued member of our community, who has a history of helping others, by sending a monetary donation of any amount to the address listed in this post. Our thoughts are with you, Lori.
Hot on the heels of a successful summer tour, Bellingham’s Death Cab For Cutie returns to the road in early October for a string of shows that includes their first appearance at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on October 6.
For those of us who aren’t going to be attending Bonnaroo in person, we’ve still got some options to check out the action live from Manchester. As usual, the AT&T Blue Room will offer a webcast, while the folks at XM will be broadcasting performances all weekend on XMX (Channel 2).
Let’s not forget Fuse, who will be airing an hour special live from the festival on Saturday and three hours worth of footage on Sunday night.
Okay, that’s enough about Bonnaroo for an hour or so. Here’s a buncha links to help you get over that dreaded Wednesday hump…
Finally, NYCTaper was on hand last night at the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn where Death Cab For Cutie’s set ended abruptly when a major storm quickly enveloped the venue during The Sound of Settling. Apparently it was quite a scene when the organizers of the event jumped on stage to rush the performers to safety, and told the audience to essentially get the fuck out of there. Can’t wait to hear the tapes!
Not many bands get to play at The Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millenium Park. The feat of architecture, designed by National Medal of Art winner Frank Gehry, is equipped with a state of the art sound system and shoots 120 feet high into the Chicago sky. Death Cab For Cutie joins other names such as Tortoise and Wilco as some of the only rock acts to play the prestigious stage. The stainless steel canopy would find little color from the sun to illuminate it tonight, but rather, take a cue from the band’s hometown of Seattle, and project the grey clouds hovering over the venue for the crowd to see. The mood was set.
[All photos graciously provided by Amanda Chavi Edwards]
Rogue Wave started the evening coated in reverb and dressed up in cheap ties, as if they were courting Death Cab and in a few shows, would finally meet their parents for approval. The band was tight, but eerily reminiscent to My Morning Jacket sans any balls at all. The set was pretty much a wide body guitar and Fender amp fest, but a great choice for an opener for DCFC.
The skies remained calm as the masked sun began to set over Millennium Park, though you would never be able to tell, sort of like the transformation of Ben Gibbard’s stage presence. Years ago, Ben would have emerged from behind a graffited club wall disguised as your everyday melancholy strummer with black glasses that would have you guessing him a librarian or sarcastic record store clerk. On this evening, a confident, contact-wearing rock star took the stage in Downtown Chicago and stood tall very much stage right of the rest of the ensemble, putting him at a noticeable distance from the rest of the band, signaling the leader was certainly in place. It is very hard to take that step between worlds as a performer without looking like an asshole somewhere along the way, but Ben seems to have mastered the art of transformation with no harm done to his demeanor and hasn’t looked back.
READ ON for more of Wade’s thoughts on Death Cab in Chicago…
A few weeks ago we told you about Carrie Brownstein’s Monitor Mix post calling out the Grateful Dead for asking NPR to write a piece on them in exchange for allowing Brownstein to use Friend of the Devil in one of her online mixtapes. It turns out Rhino Records were the guilty party that made the ridiculous request of Brownstein, which makes us feel better about the situation. We already knew record companies are shady, and certainly Rhino is no exception.
Let’s see what else is goin’ down this week:
Are we about to witness the death of the paper ticket? If Ticketmaster’s latest scheme for world domination works, we just might.
Ticketmaster recently announced the launch of a new paperless ticketing service that will start on Tom Waits’ upcoming tour. Under the new program, which will be installed at major venues over the next few years, ticketholders will present their credit card and Photo ID instead of printouts to gain entry to events. I’m sure they’ll still offer souvenir old school paper tickets… for a steep premium.
