Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
I keep hearing about this Gossip Girl. There's this one picture of her with her and her hot friends, spread out like margarine all over a Lincoln Town Car. Are they going to dinner? What's on the stereo while they drive? Is it our band? What world could I possibly be living in?
That guy sitting in the back seat of the town car -- he's the one I don't trust. I think he should go.
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
There's no shortage of articles about this so-called credit crunch we're in, how shitty the economy is, how gas is four bucks a gallon, how your neighbors' houses are going on the block sooner than later, all that. "Genevieve & Me" is a song I wrote and recorded in about three hours last month, after a close friend was suddenly sucked under: It seemed, for a few days, like he was going to lose his home, even though all conventional logic would suggest he's in great shape financially. It all got sorted out, but I got the guest room all cleaned out nonetheless. And I recorded this, on a cassette.
Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week, Death Cab For Cutie are filling in.
By Ben Gibbard
"Regulate"
Warren G (Feat. Nate Dogg), 1994
My girlfriend and I were running errands around Seattle a couple weeks ago when this came on the radio during KUBE 93's "old school lunch hour" (it's kinda weird to think of 1994 as being "old school" but I guess it was almost 15 years ago). It quickly became brutally apparent that "Regulate" has fallen into that unfortunate category of hip hop songs that have not aged well at all. Here are some conversation snippets from the three and half minutes that followed:
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
It feels, of late, like more has been written about "The Radiohead Model" than about the music Radiohead actually makes. It's a fascinating game those guys play, all the ways they tell their story; the little corners they choose to lift to show off their flashy lights and old effects boxes. And, of course, their genuinely well-intentioned and sometimes peerless music.
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
There's a lot of b-roll in our world: Everyone wants the 'behind the scenes scoop', or something like it. When we first started with Atlantic it seemed harmless and silly and novel, but as we went on, it began to seem harmful and annoying and intrusive (as in, it's not a green room anymore if there's a camera crew in it).
The post-modern thing to do would be to shut it all down. The post-post-modern approach, though, is the one we've now adopted: We bought cameras. When someone wants b-roll now, it's understood that Nick shoots b-roll on their b-roll, resulting in... Well, a lot of ridiculous shit. It's gonna be a good movie.
Sadly, our cameras didn't capture all the magical, unconscious, intimate in-between moments during the making of "The Making Of Narrow Stairs." It's really a shame. I mean, Ben made this totally average joke... It was awesome. And I farted. But you'd never know, because we weren't rolling. It's such a travesty, but one we're working desperately to move forward from.
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
Rumor has it you are quite the geek. What summer blockbusters are you looking forward to? Any new comics we should be checking out? Have you seen "Being Human" yet? It's a BBC drama about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who live together. Supernatural hijinks ensue. Seek it out via Youtube.
I'm freaking out for The Dark Knight. Batman and I have a long history and I have been a fan of the bat since I was a little kid. I absolutely loved Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man and I have to admit I'm looking forward to seeing him in Tropic Thunder too, not really a blockbuster per se, but looks like a hilarious summer comedy.
I haven't been reading any new superhero comics as of late, just the standards. But I recently picked up the graphic memoir by Jeffery Brown called Little Things and have been overwhelmed with joy. It is full of such perfect bittersweet moments, you should definitely track that down, one of the best "comics" I've read in awhile.
And I'm headed over to youtube to investigate Being Human immediately. With a premise like that how can you go wrong?
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
There's not a lot to say when you get knocked out. When I was four, the neighbor kid got mad at me in his dad's workshop, and clobbered me with the nearest hammer. I was pretty much speechless.
So here's these songs by Telekinesis!. It's one fellow, a guy called Michael Lerner, and his is pretty much my favorite record right now, even though it's not a record yet. He plays and writes and records everything. I think I'll be recording with him in September, on the 8 track, all '70s style. That's the idea anyway.
Today your regular bloggers have been replaced by Ben, Chris, Nick, and Jason of Death Cab For Cutie. The band's new album Narrow Stairs is out now. DCFC are not professional bloggers, so please send them tips.
By Chris Walla
Thanks for the e-mails everyone. I'm getting to as many as I can. Y'all rawk, and et cetera. This question came in from Chelsea, from a land I know not.
From: Chelsea Byrd
Date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Subject: A question
To: dcfc@stereogum.com
Soooo....
First of all, I must say that I am rather excited that all of you are taking over stereogum for the day! Secondly, congratulations on a KICK ASS album; I bought it May 13, and I cannot stop listening to it {I really love "Grapevine Fires" and the rawness of "Talking Bird"--good production call, Chris!}
On to my question: I was watching the studio video recording of "Long Division" and I noticed that on the keyboard Chris kept two polaroid pictures... What are the of? What is their significance?
Holla back! ;o)
Peace n' love,
Chelsea
Happy you're enjoying the album Chelsea - thank you.
Our photographer friend Ryan Russell came up from Birmingham, Alabama to shoot that in-studio thing we did. Those are two Polaroids from his town. We haven't spent all that much time down there, but I'd like to go back. Sticky heat.
Post more questions in the comments. I can answer them.
UPDATE: Another question:
From: bionic bigfoot
Date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Subject: Questions for the band
To: dcfc@stereogum.com
Ben- Will "Casino Blues" or the so-called "Lovely Affair" song about death ever see the light of day
Chris-Not so much a question, but a comment--you have the best hair in rock
Nick-Rumor has it you are quite the geek. What summer blockbusters are you looking forward to? Any new comics we should be checking out? Have you seen "Being Human" yet? It's a BBC drama about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who live together. Supernatural hijinks ensue. Seek it out via Youtube.
Jason-Who is your favorite drummer, and why
Embarrasing bonus question (for Nick and Jason) - We all know you like the ladies, but how does it feel to be sex symbols in the gay bear community?
Keep up the amazing work guys!
Chris
Thanks again for all the questions. Short answers:
As we pass saturation point for press coverage of Montreal, Portland, Brooklyn and et cetera, it seems Lawrence, Kansas is poised for its coming turn in the music media trend piece carousel. At least from what we're hearing; this marks...
The Bergen trio Ungdomskulen play proggy post punk, mixing chops and hooks with a sense of humor. But they don't sound like Primus. When I was in Norway a couple years ago, "Ungdomskulen" seemed to be on everybody's lips (or...
It's been some time since we learned Modern Guilt, Beck Hansen's eighth album, would be some sort of psych rock minimalist '60s trip with Danger Mouse. Since then, we've gotten a look at the old-school jazz/Blue Note-style cover art and...
Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks 'em down for you. This week: Papa Roach lands an uppercut on the glass jaw of big oil.
Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to look like. For the cover story, Bob Guccione Jr. himself gets in the ring with...
Not all of Stereogum's favorite sounds conform to what folks expect us to cover. In this space, resident Bananafish fetishist Brandon Stosuy usually focuses on bands, albums, singles, and villages in Sweden that may otherwise pass by unnoticed. This time...
After hearing "Gillian Was A Horse" from Damien Jurado's forthcoming Caught In The Trees, we contacted the Seattle singer-songwriter and asked if he'd want to premiere a track at Stereogum. Lucky for us (and you), it turned out he had...
