Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Just downloaded the new Death Cab for Cutie album “Narrow Stairs”*, the album from which they have chosen to release a new eight minute single (that is not a typo) “I Will Possess Your Heart”.

And they’ve done it again… sort of. It is a superb album. I know I’m prone to hyping songs, but this album just makes you smile as soon as you listen to it. Despite the lonely lyrics (”Your new twin size bed / with your single pillow / beneath your single head”) the music is generally fairly upbeat.

There seems to be a trend amongst “indie” bands to produce a stunning opening track. The Shins came up with “Caring is Creepy”, “Kissing the Lipless” and “Sleeping Lessons”. Meanwhile, Death Cab have opened their latest three albums with “The New Year”, “Marching Bands of Manhattan” and now “Bixby Canyon Bridge”. All of these are fantastic opening tracks, but “Bixby Canyon Bridge” is just superb, and sets the tone for the whole album.

Speaking of the term “indie”, Death Cab have just switched to their new mainstream label. Fortunately, they haven’t exactly sold out. The release of an eight minute single probably signaled their intentions, and although the album perhaps feels slightly more pop-esque than “Plans”, it works incredibly well.

*7digital, you are music gods. They have the whole album for £5, in high-quality DRM-free MP3 format (no excuse not to get it now), and I could download it at ten minutes past midnight on the day of release.

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Coldplay: Violet Hill

Coldplay have released their new single “Violet Hill” for free for a week (as a DRM-free MP3 file too).

I’ve never been an avid Coldplay fan, but I still quite like some of their music in moderation, particularly since Don’t Panic was used to brilliant effect in Garden State.

I’m just listening to it now, and I suspect it will follow the same formula as previous Coldplay songs: really good until it’s played to death on the radio. I have always maintained that the best Coldplay song is Moses, which was only ever played live. As soon as a Coldplay song becomes a single, it gets over-played and becomes boring.

The new single seems to be someting of a break from previous albums - much more bass and generally more plodding, which works reasonably well. The only problem is, I suspect this means it will become tedious very quickly. It’ll be interesting to see how well it’s received.

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The Hives at Rock City, Nottingham

First off, the opening act “Henry Fiat’s Open Sore”, was terrible. It says something when the lead “singer” declares “I know everything, ask me a question!” and throws the microphone into the audience, only for it to be grabbed by a bloke who immediately screams into it “You f***ing suck!”

It would be more offensive if he was wrong. Maybe in fairness it’s not my sort of music, but in my books playing everything (and I mean everything) at 180bpm really loudly isn’t talent.

Fortunately, then came the Hives. The phrase “stage presence” is thrown around a lot, but nothing compares with the Hives. It was only half way through the first song (Hey Little World) and the lead singer Pelle Almqvist was throwing himself into the crowd.

Speaking of the crowd, if I am able to walk to campus tomorrow it will be a miracle. I was worried at first because quite a few were a bit younger than me, and I thought I’d wandered into the wrong gig. I hadn’t, and 16 year olds can still push.

I’m afraid I have no photos, because while the crowd were destroying my skeleton I couldn’t actually reach my phone.

Aside from the awesome music, there’s one thing I can brag about.

I got a guitar pick! And no, I’m not selling it on eBay.

Update: Without meaning to be too critical, you may have seen this article on NME.com. There are a lot of errors I’m afraid. Firstly the Hives’ new album is called “The Black and White Album”, not “Black and White”. Also, they did not play “Here We Go Again”, “Automatic Schmuck” or “Stay Alive”, but they did play “Try It Again” and opened with “Hey Little World”. I don’t know the order I’m afraid, but suffice to say they ended with “Return the Favour”, so the order isn’t right either. Oh dear.

Also, although I’m pretty sure it was deliberate exaggeration by NME, the band held their poses for about 50 seconds (rather than 5 minutes!) in the middle of “You Dress Up for Armaggedon”. See this YouTube clip for reference. And yes, the pause was incredibly effective. The crowd really did go that berserk.

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Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart

YouTube - I Will Possess Your Heart OFFICIAL VIDEO

This was added a few days ago, and I should be working, but I thought I’d point you to the new Death Cab for Cutie single “I Will Possess Your Heart”. It’s an 8-and-a-half minute epic, but worth every second.

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Top 4 things bands have put on their websites

1. Moby - Free music for free films

Haven’t tried this one, but a genius idea. Not everyone can compile something like the Garden State soundtrack, so it’s nice to see a well known artist providing something like this.

2. Foo Fighters - Tabs

It’s impossible to find decent accurate tabs on the internet, and I don’t remember the last time I saw sheet music in the shops. Not sure how official this is, but it’s linked to on their site so it counts.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Set lists

Why oh why don’t more artists do this?! People are forever looking for set lists on the internet, so compiling them on the artist website is a really handy reminder for the fans

4. Death Cab for Cutie - Band gear

Interesting to see what the band uses, even if it’s not especially useful (I would kill for a set of Ludwig drums with Paiste Series 20 cymbals, but a. I’m not good enough and b. I’d have to sell my family). Interpol’s list is floating around on Wikipedia, but isn’t on their site.

Any more favourites from band websites that you don’t tend to find elsewhere?

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RCRD LBL - Free MP3 Downloads

RCRD LBL could probably be described as the result of the artist rebellion against record labels. You can download free music from them legitimately from various artists, including well known ones such as Moby and Fink.

Moby posted on his Facebook page, along with a link to RCRD LBL:

I love the fact that as the old/traditional infrastructure of the music business is breaking down it’s being replaced by new and more compelling institutions like RCRD LBL.  The vice-grip hegemony of the corporate labels and corporate radio stations is loosening every day, which can only be seen as a good thing for music and listeners.

Too many times this has been said, but I’ll say it anyway: maybe this is the start of something.

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The Lady Sails

Some time ago I posted a link to the last.fm page of The Winter Revolution who had released all there music on last.fm for free.

Since then, as pointed out in the comments (thanks!) and on my last.fm shoutbox, they have renamed themselves The Lady Sails and released some more tracks.

I started playing the first track and thought it was quite good, having been slightly disappointed with their offerings in their previous incarnation as The Winter Revolution.  And then I realised what it was that I didn’t like.

I don’t know whether it’s the actual vocals or the production, but in my opinion there is something wrong with the vocals. Somehow they don’t seem to fit quite. The music is great, but something seems wrong as soon as the lyrics kick-in. As I said, it could be production, which is what it sounds like. It sounds as if the music calls for James Mercer, Colin Meloy, Ben Gibbard, or some other unusual vocalists.

Incidentally, they released an updated version of the album having redone the vocals on one of their songs, Autumn Grace.

All this is opinion as usual, so see what you think. It’s pleasant indie stuff, and worth a listen either way. Say what you think in the comments!

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Editors Playlist at Last.fm

Editors have done a playlist for Last.fm, which you can listen to here. There aren’t any full tracks (although I suspect for at least some of them if you look them up on last.fm you can find full versions).

Just listening to it now, and personally I’m not sure that there’s much that matches my taste (surprising considering I practically worship Editors). Still, anything like this is worth having a listen to.

Editors – Editors Playlist – Music at Last.fm

[EDIT] Just listened to it a bit more, and there are some full length Editors tracks in there as well, so definitely worth a listen!

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U2 manager ‘wants end to piracy’

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | U2 manager ‘wants end to piracy’
In particular, this manager is keen to see the ISP’s pay money to the artists.

If you were a magazine advertising stolen cars, handling the money for stolen cars and seeing to the delivery of stolen cars, the police would soon be at your door

Is it me, or is this completely the wrong analogy? Surely the correct analogy is a council which provide and build roads, or someone who builds a garage. The fact that roads and garages are used by stolen cars doesn’t mean you should sue or even prosecute the people responsible for the roads and garages.

Paul McGuinness has at least partly blamed the record companies. He blames them for the wrong thing, but at least he blames them. Further, he’s actually standing up for the artists, although he might want to start with the contracts that the artists get with the record labels in the first place.

Any thoughts on whether he’s got it right?

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Top 7 Albums of 2007 (So Far)

I know it’s only early November, but there isn’t much left to go on the album-releases front. So, here are the top releases from this year, in my opinion of course. To be honest though, if any of the artists listed below appeal to you and you haven’t got this year’s album, buy it. This year has been truly stunning for releases.

NB: These are in no particular order. (more…)

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