Interview with: Tegan Quin of Tegan & Sara, Pt. I

I recently got the [lucky] chance to chat with Tegan Quin of the Canadian pop duo, Tegan and Sara. As a long-time fan, the pressure was on NOT to a). come off as a total fan girl, and b). give the same, tired interview. This didn’t end up being much of a challenge at all, as Tegan and I cultivated a rapport straight off the bat. We talked about artists the twins have worked with, politics, and how to navigate the hurdles of being famous. In fact, we talked for so long that her publicist blew up both of our phones for the last fifteen minutes of our conversation, something neither of us realized was going on until after the fact because neither of us answered our beeps. Oops. Here’s part one:

Dese’Rae Stage, PopWreck(oning): The “Call It Off” video just came out. I like that the newer videos seem conceptually really simple, but they use a lot of colors and patterns.
Tegan Quin: Yeah. Sara really likes to do complicated videos and you get treatments from people and they give you these huge concept videos. Our songs are so short, it’s tough to stuff that in. I feel like it’s a waste to spend $100,000 on a video. The director who did this video, Angela Kendall, she also did The Making of ‘The Con’ and put together the It’s Not Fun. Don’t Do It! DVD we put together a couple of years ago. She’s amazing and a really good friend of mine. The whole day she kept spazzing about the smallest things and I kept being like, “Nobody’s gonna see it, it’s only gonna get played on YouTube. No one’s even seen a video on television in ten years.” I kind of think that is really how we feel. We still feel like videos are art and we make videos because they’re part of our catalog; they’re part of something we see as another way to explain and project what we were thinking and feeling when we were making the record. But, I mean, when it comes down to it, how much do we need to spend on that? The first video we did for this record was like $75,000, which is nearly as much as we spent on the record. And it’s like, for what? Does it really sell records? I don’t think it does. I think it’s cool. I think maybe it helps to create an image for a band, but I’m not sure for a band like us, it helps our record. So I love the “Call It Off” video because it was simple and inexpensive and it looks great and we got to help out Angela Kendall, who’s an amazing director and does great videos.

Photos: Autumn de Wilde

PW: You guys got to work with one of my heroes, Autumn de Wilde [a photographer known for her work with Elliott Smith, Rilo Kiley, Beck, and the Raconteurs, among others]. Tell me about that.
TQ: Autumn’s amazing. It’s very rarely we work with female photographers. They just hardly ever shoot us, for whatever reason. It’s like, female producers and engineers, there’s just not a lot of them–or at least, up in that world. It was amazing. When we found out about Autumn, I mean, obviously I recognized a million of her photos, but we met her probably like six or seven years ago the first time and a million times since then. Chris Walla [guitar, Death Cab for Cutie] is also friends with her, and when we were in Portland making the record, we were talking about, “Oh, we gotta do the art work soon. We gotta do photos.” Chris was like, “You should use Autumn,” and we were like, “Yeah, fuck, we’ve never had an opportunity to use her.”
He was like, “Oh, yeah I’ll call her and get her to fly up here and we can shoot photos at my house.” I was like, “That’d be great,” so we called her up and a week later she showed up and shot the photos and was amazing. She’s so tall and we’re like midgets, so she basically sat on the floor and shot us all day, which was hilarious. She’s amazing, her daughter’s amazing. They’re really tall and talented. I can’t wait to work with her again. I love that she only shoots with film, which is obviously an expensive way to shoot in this day and age, but she’s so good it’s not like it’s a waste. And we got so many photos—we got 20 times the photos we usually get from a photo shoot, so it was incredible.

PW: I was on a bus yesterday, on the way to shoot Melissa Ferrick in Philadelphia. I finished up A Wolf at the Table and I was sitting there sobbing.
TQ: It’s an incredible book.
PW: I wanted to know if you were a fan of Augusten’s [Burroughs] prior to doing the first Spin Liner Notes event with him.
TQ: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the reason why I had agreed to write the song—I mean, I would have probably done it anyway. I mean, I’m a slut, I’ll do anything, but I was a huge fan and Sara was like, “You should take this one,” so I got the e-mail before Christmas asking if I was interested in writing a song for his book. I was like, “Absolutely.” It was also a selfish thing because I got to read the book three months before it came out. So, I read it a couple times and wrote the song and it was really difficult because I’ve never really written about anything but myself. We started e-mailing afterwards. He was really moved by the song. He’s fascinating. His books are identical to the way he is in person and e-mail. He’s not emulating anything other than himself, so it was incredible to finally meet him after six months of communicating via e-mail and text–to actually be able to sit there and have a conversation with him and then to share a stage with him for an hour and a half. He was so funny and it was really amazing, so yeah, I was a huge fan. I owned all of his books and I’ve read them a million times. I think he’s so funny and an incredible visual writer. It was great to meet him. Yay!
PW: He’s totally one of my favorites. Love him.
TQ: Me too.

PW: I know you had a side project. Are you still doing that?
TQ: I am, yeah. I started sending songs that I hadn’t used that weren’t really Tegan and Sara-like to this guy, Hunter Bergen, who plays bass in AFI a couple years ago. Since then, we’ve collaborated on probably another ten or fifteen songs and we’ve talked a lot over the past year about what to do with them. You know, should we put them out? Should we tour? Should we sell them to other people? Should we give them away? Should we put them on MySpace? What do we do with them? We’re still deciding. We had some preliminary talks with some bands. We’re thinking about being more like a writing team, but eventually all the songs will see the light of day. I’m not sure in what form or who will be singing them. They’ll definitely get out there. It’s nice to work out songs and do stuff with someone else. I’ve been making music with Sara for 14 years, so it’s nice to vent in another form and I’m also emotionally less attached to the songs. I feel like I’m learning a lot while writing with someone else because I’m able to take feedback and criticism in a way that I can’t with my own music.

PW: That totally makes sense. So, I read something about a new album next year?
TQ: Yeah. Two or three times during the demo-ing process, we make a CD with lyrics and send it out to this collective of people whose opinions we really appreciate. They give great feedback and we try to eliminate excess [tracks] that we don’t think are gonna make it to the next stage and we kind of move forward ten songs or whatever and start writing again. So, we just did that last night–made the list and burned the CDs and sent them out. We’re gonna tour and get some feedback and start writing again. My goal is to make a record next spring. We’ll have the summer to get the video made and the press done and the pictures taken and put a record out right away in September. We’ll start touring and not do the long lead-up. I don’t think that’s necessary for a band our size anymore, you know? We’re not Mariah Carey. We don’t need six months to lead up to a record and get singles out there and try and get a million downloads on iTunes. We just need to get new music out there and keep trying, so hopefully everyone will be hearing new Tegan and Sara by next summer.
PW: That is awesome and fast and I love it.
TQ: Yeah. I mean, I’m projecting, but once you get past September, it’s really hard to release a record, so we’re gonna try to do it really quick and I think that’ll be possible because after this US tour, we’re pretty much done.

PW: Speaking of, I noticed that the second New York show is the Amnesty International ‘Small Places Tour’.
TQ: Yeah.
PW: I have no idea what that is.
TQ: I don’t know what it is either, but— (laughs)
PW: Hey, at least you’re honest.
TQ: …but obviously you know what Amnesty International does and the Small Places Tour–I mean, I’m not exactly sure if there’s some specific thing about it. We just approved it a couple days ago. Basically, they just take a cut of the money and put it towards Amnesty International. They take artists from all over the place. It’s not like a tour with two bands going out and touring the US. They’re gonna get tons and tons and tons of artists all over the world in different venues to contribute a percentage of their merchandise or the ticket from the show to Amnesty International. So the tour is kind of like a play on that. It’s not actually a tour, it’s just a whole bunch of artists on their own tours contributing. We’re gonna contribute our profits from the second night’s merchandise to the tour.
PW: Cool. Good deal.
TQ: Yeah, it’s gonna be great.

PW: This song has actually come up a couple of times with a couple of different artists I’ve interviewed. I’ve seen five or six bands cover it at this point, but I wanted to know why you decided to cover “Umbrella.” It seems like a lot of my friends are like, “Fuck that song, it sucks,” but honestly, it’s one of the only pop songs I can think of right now with a positive message.
TQ: It’s a great song. I love the production. I love that kind of music. It’s something we would never do, so I really appreciate it. You know, from a completely different perspective, just hearing it. Riri [Rihanna] is so hot and when we were covering it, no one had really covered it yet, so we weren’t doing it to be ironic or for any reason other than we thought it was great. It wasn’t a huge song yet. It was big, but not huge. It hadn’t taken over the world yet. I just thought it was a great song. First of all, I think she’s a really good role model. She’s smart and intelligent and has a huge part in what she does. I love that she plays with her sexuality and she’s not a a traditional hot pop star female with the long hair and big boobs and, you know, she kinda dresses like a tomboy from time to time. She really plays with this kind of lesbian look with the short pixie hair cut and the tattoos. I just think it’s really cute and fun and hot and I think it’s a great song, so that’s why we were doing it. Then it got to the point where people were calling for it before we’d even started playing and I was like, “We gotta stop playing that song.”

PW: So, do you guys write everyday as a practice?
TQ: I like to play music as much as possible. Some days, like today, I won’t get to and I definitely feel like it’s an addiction. Sometimes I forget that I’m not just writing songs to write songs, that I need to put a record together and they need to be the best songs I’ve ever written and I need to stop pushing them out so quickly and let them sit inside and gather speed and stuff.
But yeah, Sara really likes to write and blog and get out there and we definitely have a million different ways and forums to do that. When we go out this fall, we’re going to shoot another show like we did before when we were making the record and touring (Backstage Bilingual and Trailer Talk). We’re gonna do a political show while we’re out. We’ll shoot a backstage show about the elections in Canada and the US which are both coming up, obviously, and they’re huge, huge topics of conversation in our world and we’re both obsessed. So, we’re gonna do that. We’re always trying to do stuff to get ourselves out there. I think we’re more than just a band. We’re at this point where we’re personalities in our own little world—at least in our heads. We’re gonna work on a book for the new year and continue writing the record so there’s definitely a schedule of writing, working, talking, music-making.

PW: I wanted to know, because you guys do spend a lot of time in the US, how the current political climate affects you.
TQ: It’s terrifying. The idea of John McCain and Sarah Palin getting in makes me rethink my whole life. I’m just kind of like, “Can we really go down to the states and tour another four years with a government who’s fundamentally against who we are as people?” That’s really tough for me. It used to bother me, but now it’s actually affecting me.
Emotionally, I feel really upset—panicky, almost. We just dissolved Parliament in Canada and they’re calling a new election. It’s so confusing. The show, I swear, the political show we shoot this fall, should be called, “You Think Your System’s Confusing, Imagine What Ours is Like.” It’s so difficult, the way it’s set up. It’s just so confusing. I’ve lived here 28 years and I feel like I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m like, “You can dissolve Parliament?” Anyway, the US, comparatively–I feel like, no matter what happens, the way our government is set up is really different. In America, it’s a popularity contest and it’s literally left or right and it’s really hard for me to swallow. It’s hard for me to understand. I just can’t imagine over the last few years, how on earth you guys would collectively come together and allow them to run the country. It’s so horrifying to me, it makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t imagine why a gun loving, anti-gay, anti-choice—I just don’t understand how it’s happened. It seems like a nightmare to me. It just feels like time is going by so quickly. I just feel so upset and like I wanna go smack the Democrats around and be like, “Hurry up, get it together! What’s happening?” I just feel so upset about it, so I definitely feel like there’s gonna be a lot of venting on-stage. But who am I venting to? I’m preaching to the converted. I say that, but I was just in New York and I was venting on-stage and went off about how I wanted to sleep with Sarah Palin, like, you know, antagonizing. This girl came up afterwards and was giving me a piece of her mind, ripping me a new one about how she was a Repulican and how I didn’t understand and blah, blah, blah, and I was thinking–this is a 25 year old girl at a Tegan and Augusten Burroughs show in a book store raising money for an AIDS organization. It was like, “Who are you? Why are you at our show?” So I say that I’m preaching to the converted, but I’m not. And obviously, with the way that our fans are, after every show there are a million YouTube videos, so I’m hoping that we can make as much change as we possibly can with what power we have. We put the Rock the Vote widget up on our MySpace page and they were saying that, out of all the bands that did it, more people came from our page to register to vote than anywhere else. So I know we have a really progressive, alternative, excitable young audience, but I think that they actually do have a lot of power, so we’re definitely gonna try and use that voice as much as we can in the next couple of months to inspire people to wake up. I thought people were awake and then I was in New York when they announced Sarah Palin. I was just like, “Oh, God.” Like, “Oh no, this is going to be so stupid. ” This whole thing is awful.
PW: That woman is terrifying.
TQ: Terrifying, terrifying. The confidence and the patronizing attitude and the whole thing is so insane. My mind is blown. I’m having a hard time articulating what it is that bothers me more. So horrifying.
PW: I feel the same way. I’m a gay woman and I’m terrified to live in my own country.
TQ: Yeah, absolutely. You should be. Everyone should be. I was watching John McCain on The View when he was talking about how they were going to elect people to the Supreme Court who were going to follow the Constitution as it was written and Whoopi [Goldberg] was like, “Can you say that again? Should I be worried? We amended the constitution for a reason. Are we going to have slavery again? Am I gonna be a slave?” People should be that outraged that he’s saying that. It is unfathomable that we would be taking steps backwards at this point in America. We’re already so backwards, how can we go any further? We’re like, two steps away from going back to slavery, it’s true. I just don’t understand. At the same time, you have Barbara Walters being like, “How many houses do you really own?” And I’m like, “Yeah, Americans are stupid.” Barbara Walters is an example of the complacency and the obsession with fame and fortune, rather than someone’s actual belief system and what that actually means on the whole, in comparison to the way the rest of the world is run. What Americans claim to hate so much is exactly what they are. It’s incredible to me. So anyway, blah, blah, blah.
PW: I totally agree with you. I’m gonna change the subject, though.
TQ: Dear God, I could talk forever about it.

Stay tuned!

Note: The views expressed herein are those of the author and artist being interviewed and not necessarily those of the publication or record label which they represent.

Army Navy – Army Navy

Arguably the Andrew Ridgeley to Ben Gibbard’s better known George Michael in the mid-90s band Pinwheel, Army Navy front man Justin Kennedy has his work cut out for him if he hopes to make a name for himself solo. So far, judging from his new band’s self-titled debut, he sounds content to just play it safe, not so much following as driving parallel to the indie pop road paved by his former colleague’s Death Cab. The result is an amiable, but unremarkable effort that while ripe with potential to explore on future efforts, lacks distinctiveness in and of itself.

by Travis Schneider

Despite being produced by Adam Lasus — whose resume most notably includes albums by the likes of indie faves Yo La Tengo and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!– the album has an acute Britpop feel, evoking memories of groups from early Teenage Fanclub to early XTC to The Libertines. The sound of the former act is particularly prevalent in the opening trio of “Dark as Days,” “My Thin Sides” and “Saints.” All three songs rock with a breezy, Bandwagonesque propulsion that one hopes the rest of the album can deliver just as easily.

However, what follows slips not so much into a consistent groove as a comfortable rut. The songs are far from unappealing. In fact, many of them are catchy and downright enjoyable individually. The problem is that together, they are completely transposable, hence robbing the album of momentum. Perhaps tellingly, the only song that even mildly stands out from the rest of the pack is the song that most closely resembles Kennedy’s former Pinwheel partner: “Unresponsive Ears” has a undeniable jangly charm, laced with what sounds like glockenspiel and blossoming lovely layer after layer of guitar with each passing chorus. It would have sounded right at home on the last Death Cab for Cutie album, but it doesn’t help on a debut album struggling for a unique identity.

Regardless of the album’s innocuous, interchangeable nature, the band displays a seasoned prowess in its execution. Kennedy’s lyrics are appropriate for the sound if a little generic in subject matter, and he often sings like a more nasal Britt Daniel(yet another American indie staple). Diverting but non-descript, these songs are the perfect fodder for teen movie soundtracks, which is fitting given how they’ve been tapped for the upcoming Michael Ceravehicle “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” That will no doubt give them a modest boost for passing recognition, but they’ll need to push a little harder next time (and there’s enough raw talent on display here to justify a next time) for real longevity.

Army Navy’s debut album is released Oct. 14, 2008 by the Fever Zone.

Tracklisting:
01. Dark As Days
02. Jail Is Fine
03. Saints
04. Silvey Sleds
05. My Thin Sides
06. Unresponsive Ears
07. Slight Of Hand
08. Pocket Boys
09. Ignite
10. Snakes of Hawaii
11. In the Lime
12. Golden Pony

Army Navy: myspace | interview with

Written by: Rob Huff

Choke Soundtrack Released September 23rd

ATO Records is proud to announce that the soundtrack to the subversively comedic film Choke, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel by the same name, will be released on September 23, 2008. The album, a digital-only release, will have the seven songs from the film and eight others that are significant to actor, director and screen writer Clark Gregg‘s vision while he was making it. Highlights include previously recorded songs by the likes of Radiohead, Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Fiery Furnaces, The Twilights Singers and Ben Kweller.

Most notable additions are the previously unreleased or rare tracks that appear on the record, among them “Orgasm Addict” by The Buzzcocks as sung by the band’s original singer Howard Devoto, a great version of The Doors‘ “Crystal Ship” by the incomparable Nicole Atkins and The Sea, and the original version by The Natural History of Spoon’s current hit single “Don’t You Ever.” In a very cool turn of events, the full tracklisting and comments on each song by Gregg are below.

Fox Searchlight Pictures and ATO Pictures present Choke, a Contrafilm/ATO Pictures Production. Actor-turned-director Gregg shows he is as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it with this wickedly comedic tale of Victor Mancini, con artist, sex addict, Colonial village re-enactor, angst-filled son, serial restaurant choke — and unsuspecting romantic antihero for our unsettling times.

Choke, which ran away with the Special Jury Prize for Best Work by an Ensemble Cast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is not only a cathartic and romantic satire about uncontrolled lust, lost faith, childhood trauma, mad addictions, bizarre fantasies and blockages both emotionally and literally, but also about second chances, redemptive moments and true love – that is, it’s about modern life.

The film will be in theatres on September 26th and features an ensemble cast including Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brad William Henke and Jonah Bobo. Nathan Larson composed the score.

Tracklisting w/ comments by Gregg:
01. Ben Kweller – “The Rules”

Ben Kweller kicks ass. These lyrics feel like Victor Mancini’s rowdy, pissed-off subtext. I love that it starts off the soundtrack with some slamming indie rock and that it comes in during the colonial village while we’re looking at all the puffy shirts and bonnets.

02. The Natural History – “Don’t You Ever” (rare)

I only found this band recently, but I listened to them all through post. Max Tepper’s vocals are superb. I actually prefer this version to the one by Spoon and I’m a huge Spoon fan. The band broke up a few years ago. I’m going to picket their houses until they get back together.

03. Fiery Furnaces – “Navy Nurse”

This groove just takes your breath away.

04. Radiohead – “Reckoner”

Like most people, I am a huge Radiohead fan. The adaptation took me years to write so I wrote it first to Kid A, then Amnesiac and then Hail to the Thief. Later, I learned from Chuck Palahniuk that he had written the novel while listening to their song, “Creep.” In Rainbows came out while we were editing and I used almost every track in my early temp cuts of the movie. They all fit really well, but I particularly loved “Reckoner.” The tension between Thom Yorke’s keening vocals and Phil Selway’s brilliant, driving drum track fit so perfectly that it worked almost like score. I was truly dreading the day when we’d have to take it out. Somehow ATO Pictures producer, Johnathan Dorfman persuaded their manager to show the band some footage and to our shock they were generous enough to let us use the song. It’s a monumental addition to the movie.

05. Alap Momin – “Sin Terror”

I love this jam. We needed music for the strip-club scenes and music supervisors Lyle Hysen and Ken Weinstein knew Alap Momin from the band Dälek and he was kind enough to cook this up just for the movie. He even tailored the tracks to the scenes. The driving discordant build they layered into this piece feels like it’s feeding the tension between Denny and Victor.

06. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – “Satan Said Dance”

I loved their first album and we needed something dark but not too heavy for Victor’s sudden rollercoaster ride back to the dark side. Hysen and Weinstein pitched this song and when we saw it over the scene it was just right.

07. Buzzcocks – “Orgasm Addict” (rare)

This is the anthem. I sort of grew up loving The Buzzcocks, moshing my way through their songs in the East Village. I must have played it every day I was writing “Choke.” I always thought we’d open the movie with it, but it didn’t work out. In any case here is a cool alternate version with a more deadpan feel and at least it made it on to our soundtrack.

08. Death Cab For Cutie – “No Sunlight”

What can you say, they’re just really, really good.

09. Blitzen Trapper – “Wicked” (unreleased)

We listened to a lot of Blitzen Trapper during the crazed five-week summer shoot. It just seemed to fit with spending your 18-hour days in a sweltering mental hospital. They’ve got some excellent chaos going on.

10. Ms. Tyree Sugar Jones – “If You Feel It”

This plays in another tricky scene where everything we tried felt wrong. And then I got turned on to the soulful sexy stylings of Ms. Tyree “Sugar” Jones. You put this on and you know some clothes are coming off.

11. My Morning Jacket – “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt 1″

We’re all big Jacket fans. Listened to them constantly during the shoot. Very proud to have them on here.

12. Shout Out Louds – “Bicycle” (rare)

Nothing like a little kick ass Swedish indie rock. They’re like The Shins’ attitudinal Scandinavian cousins.

13. Twilight Singers – “There’s Been An Accident”

One of the producers, Contrafilm’s Beau Flynn, and I have been Greg Dulli fans for years. I listened to The Twilight Singers a lot when I was writing the script. The song is really moving in a haunting, portentous way that really works for the movie.

14. Nicole Atkins – “Crystal Ship” (unreleased)

Brilliant. She’s got a great torchy, Peggy Lee sound with just enough tongue in cheek to feel like a perfect citizen of the Palahniuk world.

Buzz Under The Stars – Kansas City

Transforming Kansas City’s 150 year old City Market, into a downtown amphitheater is not always as good of an idea as one would assume. In the past, these events have run into problems: several bands simply didn’t have the pull to sell tickets. Other events, such as Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright saw struggling numbers due to rain the night of the show. This night however, could not have been a better night to open the “2008 Buzz Under the Stars Concert Series.” And, as a reward Kansas City came out in droves.

The evening’s first band, The Morning Benders found its way to Kansas City by way of the Kooks‘ current national tour, serving as the latter’s support. Nonetheless, they couldn’t have fit into the show’s lineup more flawlessly. Their performance, driven by the flow of dark yet dance pop songs, like “Waiting on a War,” set the tone for what would be an energy fueled event. With a sound as infectious and catchy as The Shins and the ability to grab exposure from such great tour mates, I look for big things to happen to this band. The Kansas City crowd of almost 20,000 who seemed glue to the group’s set seemed to agree. They cheered and supported this band in a manner that would almost seem as if they had come to see only them. That was honestly really nice to see.

Following The Morning Benders, we found The Kooks, fresh off the release of their major label release, Konk. We also found our evening’s most energetic act. Vocalist Luke Pritchard‘s interactions with the crowd, ranging anywhere from intense eye contact all the way to hopping on the amps, were second to none. But, not to be pegged as all show and no sound, The Kooks orchestration was tight. Their set, which was a perfect mix of older tunes and new, was constructed and presented in a concise and efficient manner, supplying Kansas City with a showcase of why The Kooks are quickly climbing to the top of the indie scene’s biggest cult bands. This band does not disappoint. If you haven’t already, you certainly need to check them out.

It is my opinion that Rogue Wave, the lineup’s third performer, had the weakest set of the evening, but that might not be their fault. Based on the extreme showmanship of the bands they were following, and the acoustic setting in which they were playing, I feel that this show was not a great fit for them. I honestly think Rogue Wave would be an amazing band to see in a more intimate setting, like an indoor music theater, something that would enhance their somewhat detailed and atmospheric sound. While I was not impressed with their City Market performance, I really do look forward to catching this band again in a different venue. I’m sure they won’t let me down.

Death Cab for Cutie, the evening’s headlining act, certainly made an effort to not let anyone down. Their set included as many old favorites, like “The Facts Are In and We’re Voting Yes” and “Styrofoam Plates” as well as new radio tracks from Plans and Narrow Stairs. Ben Gibbard‘s uncanny ability to create an environment of happiness and enjoyment through detailed and documented songs of sadness and disappointment is almost amusing. It’s as though the catchy nature of the group’s music overshadows the depressing content of their lyrics. Nonetheless, the set was beautiful and catching, capturing the attention of an audience and generating a unified buzz throughout the Market. Few left following the short intermission, waiting for what would become a fairly long and impressive encore. I was very pleased with the selection of the set and came away from the City Market happy with Death Cab for Cutie’s attention to both its old fans and new.

Overall, I must confess that the night was a success.

The Morning Benders: website | myspace
The Kooks: website | myspace | KONK review
Rogue Wave: website | myspace |
Death Cab for Cutie: website | myspace | Narrow Stairs review

*Photos by Nick Davis and Joshua Hammond

Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs

There is one thing that I am still sure of after listening to Death Cab for Cutie‘s latest album, Narrow Stairs: the band can still put together and record some really beautiful music.

I was immediately wrapped up in the elegant and open first track, “Bixby Canyon Bridge.” That’s a great thing about Death Cab: the openness of their songs. There are, however, many spots on the album, most notably “I Will Possess Your Heart,” which I really just don’t like. It feels, just as on Plans, like they are taking themselves too seriously. It was songs with simple and romantic messages like “I Will Follow You into the Dark” that propelled Death Cab into the hearts of so many self-obsessed teenagers (read: all teenagers), and they shouldn’t forget that.

Otherwise, this is really a pleasant album to have around. And as someone who fell in love with them during my own self-obsessed teenagerdom, it’s nice to see that they don’t make me feel like a dick for still listening to them. Death Cab won’t make you feel guilty for listening to music from which teenagers pull lyrics for their MySpace pages.

I recommend listening to “Talking Bird,” which may be my favorite song on Narrow Stairs. It is ideal for contemplating anything and everything with some friends and some beer around sunset. Listen to any of these songs while you’re alone (I recommend during the commute to work or while you clean your room) and you’ll feel a little more whole than you did before.

The best thing about the album is they’ve kept the invitingly introspective feel of their previous work alive and well. However, I can’t say that I don’t long for the days of really well put-together but less produced songs that could be found on The Photo Album or We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes. But the boys of DCFC have chosen the direction they’d like to go in, and that’s heavy sounds to match their yearning, heartfelt lyrics, although some more upbeat melodies for the chronic head-bopper can be found in “Long Division” and “No Sunlight.”

There’s a comfort in Death Cab for Cutie’s work that I haven’t found in many other bands and it’s something in which I place a lot of value. This album certainly has its downs as well as its ups, but it’s worth picking up at your local independent record store (support them, folks!), as I personally have done with all of my Death Cab albums. Narrow Stairs will be great to pick up and listen to, after having nearly forgotten about it , every few months. It’s definitely a satisfying listen that you’ll want to have around.

Death Cab For Cutie: website | myspace

by: Jimmy

New Music Tuesday!

Out Today!

Death Cab For Cutie Narrow Stairs
We Are Scientists Brain Thrust Mastery
The Presets APOCALYPSO
Foxy Brown Brooklyn’s Don Diva
The Black Angels, Directions to See a Ghost
Duffy Rockferry
Pomegranates Everything Is Alive (enter to win!)
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Have Another Ball
Memorial The Creative Process/Berlin

Balustrade Ensemble Capsules

Botticellis Old Home Movies
Dosh Wolves and Wishes
Hospital Bombers Footnotes
The Instruments Dark Smaland
Joe Cocker Hymn for My Soul
Kassin +2 Futurismo
Lau Nau Nukkuu
Moomaw 26
Nick Jaina The 7 Stations (reissue)
Teitur: The Singer
The Woods The Woods
Young and Sexy The Arc

A Fine Frenzy covers Death Cab

Jessica mentioned it in her review, but we cannot get enough of A Fine Frenzy covering “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” by Death Cab For Cutie. Check out the video from A Fine Frenzy’s show at The Parish Room in Austin, Tx. It’s gorgeous!

A Fine Frenzy: website | myspace | show review

Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than The Last: 2008 in Music

January 29th marks the first decisive stop on Popwreck(oning)’s 2008 “Dying To Have” list. That’s the date Barsuk Record’s Chris Walla, of Death Cab for Cutie fame, will drop his album Field Manual. A little controversy surrounds the album, which received a small amount of press in when Homeland Security officials on the USA-Canada border confiscated a hard drive containing the master copies of Field Manual, for reasons never entirely clear. That alone makes this album worth a look. Well, that and the fact that Walla is nothing short of a genius who can make anything he touches beautiful. Either way, look for Field Manual to shine.

Speaking of Walla, his counterpart Ben Gibbard appears on the Febuary 8th release of Nada Surf‘s new album Lucky. Other cameos on Nada Surf’s fifth album include Ed Harcourt, Martin Wenk of Calexico, and John Roderick of Long Winters. I’d pay for a ticket to that show, let’s just hope it works on an album.

In other Death Cab of Cutie news, look for the follow up to Plans to be released in May 2008. According to Walla it’s “in full swing; we’re six songs in. Thus far it’s pretty weird and pretty spectacular; lots of blood. It’s creepy and heavy… we’ve got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, I’d have eaten your puppy’s brain with a spoon.” I personally don’t really know what that means, but I’m all for a new Death Cab album.

In news that has nothing to do with Death Cab, look for 2008 to be a very productive year for Aftermath Records, with new albums from both Dr. Dre and Eminem scheduled for release.

Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, The Postal Service and Gnarles Barkley are all lined up to help Indie-friendly radio stations out. However, in the “holy shit they’re still a band” genre, 2008 will make way for releases from Aerosmith, The Cure, Def Leppard, Garbage, Guns N Roses, Michael Jackson, Lemonheads, Queen, U2 and REM. There have also be rumbling of a new David Bowie album being in the works.

2008 will also be the year of the pop-star country albums, starring both Jessica Simpson and Beyoncé. Hell, if Mandy Moore can pull it off with Wild Hope, and Michelle Branch can make it in The Wreckers, why not let everyone have a try.

Final Fantasy’s Heartland should be worth a listen. At least, that’s what all the indie kids say.
This indie kid is overjoyed at the news that Rachael Yamagata will finally be releasing her follow up to the 2004 Happenstance. Four years is a long time to wait for such a breath taking voice.

Other confirmed albums that I’m looking forward to be released: Nine Inch Nails, N.E.R.D, Moby, Mates of State, Fugees, The New Frontiers, The Faint, Counting Crows, Blur, Built to Spill, David Bazan, Anti-Flag, Flogging Molly, and Alkaline Trio.

Rumored project that could be released in 2008, that I would really like to own: Kevin Devine, Imogen Heap, and a Get Up Kids album? I sure miss those boys. Please let the rumors be true.