The Decemberists give us a bit of a history lesson on the menacing and eerie reworking of “Shankill Butchers” that was originally featured on 2006′s “The Crane Wife”. The Shankill Butcher’s were a Northern Ireland Loyalist gang during the 1970′s that were most infamous for their late night abduction, torture and murder of random Catholic Civilians. The Decemberists have turned this horrible recent history event into quite a beautiful song that sounds like something mothers in victorian times would sing to their children as a warning to be good. But similar to “innocent” children’s songs like “Ring around the Rosie” there is a real gruesome story behind the warnings in Colin Meloy’s chilling vocals. The Shankill Butchers tale would be a great creepy story to tell around a campfire that any good roadtrip most certainly would lead to.

Six of the 8 songs on the EP listeners will remember from the band’s 10 year discography, but two they will recall because they are covers. They rock out with the Fruit Bats “When U Love Somebody” and give it a really fast-paced blue-grassy tempo and I was bobbing my head to John Moen’s upbeat drumming. The other is Leonard Cohen’s, “Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye”. The sound is a little more country than the original, especially with the inclusion of Chris Funk’s slide guitar and Nate Query’s fiddle. The band put a bit of twang in it, but they did the adept poetry of Leonard Cohen justice, and I liked listening to the song. Any roadtrip playlist has got to have some twang to it right?

This EP is crisp, full, and well rehearsed, and sounds great as it was recorded live in their L.A. studio. I’ll definitely be playing this on my upcoming Californication roadtrip this September. Won’t you?

@TaCaGo

The Decemberists have announced the release of their exclusive iTunes Session on August 2 with pre-order available today. The 8-song set plays like an informal retrospective with new versions of songs that span The Decemberists’ entire 10 years, from their very first EP 5 Songs (“Shiny”) through their new chart-topping album The King Is Dead (“Calamity Song,” “June Hymn,” “This Is Why We Fight”). The set also includes songs from The Crane Wife (“Shankill Butchers”) and The Hazards Of Love (“The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)”), as well as covers of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” and Fruit Bats’ “When U Love Somebody.” The pre-order for the session launched today on the iTunes Store with “June Hymn” available instantly upon purchase.

The iTunes Session also serves as a potent reminder of the band’s strength in a live setting. Recorded live in a Los Angeles studio, singer/guitarist Colin Meloy, guitarist Chris Funk, keyboardist/accordionist Jenny Conlee, bassist Nate Query, and drummer John Moen were joined by touring band member Sara Watkins, who contributes background vocals, fiddle and guitar.

The track listing for the iTunes Session is as follows:

1. Calamity Song

2. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

3. Shankill Butchers

4. June Hymn

5. This Is Why We Fight

6. Shiny

7. The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)

8. When U Love Somebody

# # #

The Decemberists’ The King Is Dead debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 after its release in January. The album—a profoundly simple set of 10 concise country-inflected songs produced by Tucker Martine and featuring guests Gillian Welch and Peter Buck—was also recently selected by NPR Music listeners as the #1 album in a poll of the best music of the year (so far). See below for a full list of upcoming tour dates or visit The Decemberists’ website.

TOUR DATES:
July 19, Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, OR^
July 20, Idaho Botanical Gardens, Boise, ID^
July 21, Twilight Concert Series, Salt Lake City, UT^
July 22, Big Sky Brewery, Missoula, MT^
July 25, Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL~
July 26, Nautica Pavilion, Cleveland, OH~
July 27, Kresge Auditorium, Interlochen, MI~
July 29, Borgata Event Center, Atlantic City, NJ~
July 30, Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI
July 31, Mountain Park, Holyoke, MA+
August 1, Artpark, Lewiston, NY~
August 3, nTelos Wireless Pavilion, Charlottesville, VA~
August 4, PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music, Cincinnati, OH~
August 5, The Lawn @ White River State Park, Indianapolis, IN~
August 6, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN-
August 8, Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Austin, TX-
August 9, ACL Live at The Moody Theater, Austin, TX
August 11, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ=
August 12, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA*
August 13, Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
August 22, Marymoor Amphitheater, Redmond, WA#
August 23, Malkin Bowl, Vancouver, BC#
August 25, McMenamins Edgefield Winery, Troutdale, OR%
August 26, McMenamins Edgefield Winery, Troutdale, OR@

^ with Typhoon
~ with The Head and the Heart
- with Caitlin Rose
+ with Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside
= with Sara Watkins
* with Wye Oak
# with Okkervil River & Fruit Bats
% with Okkervil River & Point Juncture, WA
@ with Okkervil River & AgesandAges

Peter Björn and John’s sixth album, titled “Gimme Some” involves some hard-learned lessons about break ups and mistakes in love and moving on. That’s where “Tomorrow Has to Wait” and “Second Chance” come in. The two tracks need “Dig a Little Deeper,” to round out the trio of songs that have a distinct sound, more unique than the rest of the album. Imagine guitar backgrounds as light as cotton-candy. They are ear-pleasing, sing along kind of tracks that get inside of your head and live there because you’d know them anywhere. The songs of movie trailers (face it, they’re responsible for “Young Folks”) and television commercials.

You can get into “Gimme Some” and ride back in time. I couldn’t stop the ‘80s and ’90s movie montage from it’s progression in my head.  Scenes from the movie Footloose (when “Eyes” came on) and Sixteen Candles were most definitely included in the mental montage at some point.

Gimme’s songs have vibes are trained on the relationship world. There are tracks toting lyrics with some of the stuff that break ups should be made of and the same recipe people use for getting over someone they liked, loved or just got done with, without the whining.

PB&J just keep it real with the kind of songs one might adopt for their life anthem or personal theme song, lifted by the sound and dynamics, but strengthened by the message, “You can’t, can’t count a second chance; a second chance will never be found,” from “Second Chance.” Words to live by, that’s true about life, but here, you get to learn your lesson with some smooth vocals in the background. Even if you’re not bettering yourself, you’re still singing. What’s more, if you don’t pick up the lyrics perfectly, PB&J give you a little something (a call and response or an ooh-wee-ooh or two) to grab onto.

One of the Swedish band’s influences, Per Sunding of Eggstone is named as a producer on the album. Once you pass the third track, the songs pick up a drum tempo that sticks until the final track, but the sounds of the guitar won’t leave you lonely and neither will vocalist Peter Morén’s voice.

You want PB&J to give you some, something else, but you’re not completely upset that what you were waiting on was in the first three tracks. The dreamy vocals and guitar are an awesome pair (like, peanut butter and jelly, who would have thought) and drum the drums complete the package take care of you, especially at the tail end of some tracks that ride out sans-vocals, allowing  a deeper appreciation of the instrumental mix.

Put this on when you want to sing about love, life and filling in the blanks.

For three albums spanning five years the band maintained a reputation that ranked them among the highest or lowest (depending on how you look at it) in the race toward repugnance not solely due to their stage performance—which included a variety of bodily fluids—but for the generally scum-driven sound they made work so well.

All of that seemed to change with the release of 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil when the band suddenly garnished some form of terrainian recognition and for the first time pulled themselves from below ground to find an audience waiting for them, an audience who they would promptly alienate with the madness noise of their next release 200 Million Thousand.  Now with Arabia  Mountain the boys seem to be making an attempt at digging themselves from the dirt once again.

It’s not that the album lacks the Lips’ characteristic griminess.  The grime is still there, but it’s a digestible grime, the sort of grime you’d let your son play with but wouldn’t quite trust to take out your daughter.  It has something to do with the fact that the album was produced by Mark Ronson who has worked with such big names as Amy Winehouse (who you should just keep away from your kids altogether).  He gives the record a kind of dirty 60’s, beach dance-vibe complete with blaring saxes and tambourines accompanied hand-claps.  The whole thing feels like a Kinks or Beach Boys album on PCP.

But if Arabia Mountain seems more mature, it is not the work of the producer alone.  The songs are characteristically playful and raunchy, but they lack some of the broad-swinging emotions prevalent throughout the band’s previous releases which alternated back and forth from extreme joy to bellicose, nihilistic posturing.  “Time is moving on,” the band tells us in the upbeat and almost hand-jiving track “Time”.  The Black Lips are feeling it, and it seems like they’re moving on with it.  But will they move toward this new acceptance or recoil from it?  One thing is sure; whatever they do it will be unpredictable and layered with distortion.

Following a successful West Coast run, Animal Collective is pleased to announce additional US tour dates. The band will be playing a new set and all four members – Panda Bear, Deakin, Geologist, and Avey Tare – will be touring. In addition to playing the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago and making a return to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, they will be playing Merriweather Post Pavilion, the namesake venue of their critically-acclaimed 2009 full-length.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE TOUR DATES
Jul 07 Orlando FL – The Beacham Theatre
Jul 08 Alpharetta GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Jul 09 Columbia MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Jul 12 Brooklyn NY – Prospect Park
Jul 13 Millvale PA – Mr Smalls Theatre
Jul 15 Chicago IL – Pitchfork Music Festival

The Decemberists – This Is Why We Fight video

Like an eccentric Cobain without the need for any blatant and vulnerable conviction, each song seems to cling to it’s story as if it were first and foremost written for the writer him/her self.  Had they survived long enough to experience the current onslaught of high end anti depressants, perhaps the grateful dead might have steered the tail end of their jams towards similar fog induced sneers and break downs.

War in heaven reminded me of a show a while back by six pence none the richer (back when their music really did represent a healthy vision of C.S. Lewis). Whereas while listening to Apparitions I thought of Joy electric, but thankfully most of it stayed deceptive and out of reach unless you wished to join and  lash out within its upper level type sound. and although The guitar storm is brief, it is  perhaps in the same ranks as down boy.

As for the darkness of let’s say, Evil Seeds I find that its type more resembles a spiritual darkness that you might find while listening to Timber Timbre (Who is coming to seek revenge?) Truly his best song.

Summer moon I imagine was written long ago and left on a bed side following some all night dinner party which lasted until dawn, and as lovers parted summer moon was left behind, when the band awoke they quickly put it to music.

The sounds stay suspended while never seeming to drift into diametric opposition to it’s overall purpose. It’s a hard break down from song to song because it’s more of an instillation piece, but even with the very atmospheric scene all ready present in much of the current musicology, the fuzz remains unique and the distortion gentile and well placed. There is a true elegance to these tracks, one to be appreciated as it is taken out and put away, taken out and put away…

NEW BRIAN BUTLER-DIRECTED “MODERN ART” VIDEO PREMIERED YESTERDAY, TOUR BEGINS TODAY IN CARRBORO

Gearing up for what amounts to nearly three solid months of touring (full dates below), Atlanta’s “flower punk” progenitors Black Lips yesterday released a mind warping new video for Arabia Mountain track “Modern Art” via Pitchfork. The song marks the first publicly available taste of the nine album cuts (of 16 total) produced by top 40 pop mastermind Mark Ronson, and features some of the long murmured-about new instrumentation that resulted from the collaboration, including a rare pitch-perfect performance on singing saw. The 2 minute blast of visual psychedelia comes courtesy of Brian Butler, friend and protégé of celebrated arthouse director and Manson family documentarian Kenneth Anger. Butler’s clip offers a solid nod to his primary field of expertise, the occult, transpiring in the dark, other-worldly interior of New Orleans’s Saturn Bar, lined with the anachronistic paintings of Michael Frolich, and featuring a co-starring cast that includes a human skull, a squid, and a rooster. Click the link below to take a trip to the other side.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
(all April dates w/ Vivian Girls)
4/6/11 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
4/7/11 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
4/8/11 Washington, DC Black Cat
4/9/11 Philadelphia, PA The Trocadero
4/12/11 New York, NY Webster
4/13/11 Pawtucket, RI The Met
4/14/11 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
4/15/11 Montreal, QC Le National
4/16/11 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre
4/17/11 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
4/19/11 Columbus, OH Outland Live
4/20/11 Newport, KY Southgate House
4/21/11 St. Louis, MO The Firebird
4/22/11 Chicago, IL Logan Square Auditorium
4/23/11 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
4/25/11 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
4/26/11 Kansas City, MO The Beaumont Club
4/27/11 Dallas, TX The Loft
4/28/11 Austin, TX Emo’s
4/29/11 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s
4/30/11 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon

5/6/11 Barcelona, SP Bikini Venue
5/7/11 Santiago de Compostela Sala Capitol
5/8/11 Madrid, SP Sala Heineken
5/9/11 Montpellier, FR Rockstore
5/11/11 Strasbourg, FR La Laterie
5/12/11 Hamburg, DE Grunspan
5/13/11 Berlin, DE Festsaal Kreuzberg
5/14/11 Munich, DE Garge Fest (Feierwerk)
5/16/11 Amsterdam, NL Trouw Amsterdam
5/17/11 Paris, FR 104
5/18/11 Brussels, BE Les Nuits Botanique
5/19/11 London, UK The Garage
5/20/11 Liverpool, UK Sound City Fetival (The Masque)
5/21/11 Cheshire, UK Friends Of Mine Festival
5/22/11 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club
5/24/11 Glasgow, UK Stereo
5/25/11 Dublin, IRL The Button Factory
5/26/11 Cork, IRL Cypress Avenue
5/27/11 Galway, IRL Roisin Dubh
5/31/11 Zurich, CH Exil

(all June dates w/ Cerebal Ballzy)
6/9/11 San Diego, CA The Casbah
6/10/11 Santa Barbara, CA Velvet Jones
6/11 & 12 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
6/14/11 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
6/15/11 Vancouver,BC Commodore Ballroom
6/16/11 Seattle, WA Neumos
6/17/11 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House
6/18/11 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
6/19/11 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
6/21/11 Tucson, AZ Plush
6/22/11 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
6/23/11 Costa Mesa, CA The Detroit Bar
6/24/11 Los Angeles, CA The Music Box
6/25/11 Pomona, CA The Glass House

The Black Lips – Modern Arts video

The Newport Folk Festival has announced that The Decemberists will headline the first night of their 2011 festival on Saturday, July 30. General public tickets will go on-sale March 31 at 10:00am ET. The band’s outdoor stage performance on ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! will air on April 5. They have also added an August 12 date at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles to their summer touring schedule. See below for a full list of tour dates or visit The Decemberists’ website.

Following the #1 Billboard debut of their album The King Is Dead on Capitol Records, The Decemberists have notched another career first #1 as the album’s lead single “Down By The Water” ascends this week to the top spot on the Mediabase AAA radio charts. The band also continues to enjoy their biggest Modern Rock radio success to date with “This Is Why We Fight” climbing into the Top 20 at the format.

On April 16, The Decemberists will release Live At Bull Moose, a limited edition EP in conjunction with Record Store Day. The seven-track CD—which will be available exclusively through participating independent record stores—was recorded live at Bull Moose in Scarborough, Maine, and includes songs from The King Is Dead, as well as a cover of the country ballad “If I Could Only Win Your Love” by The Louvin Brothers.

TOUR DATES:
April 16, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO+
April 17, Holland Performing Arts Center, Omaha, NE+
April 18, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA+
April 19, Overture Hall, Madison, WI+
April 21, Benedum Center, Pittsburgh, PA+
April 22, Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI
April 23, The LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH+
April 25, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI+
April 26, Iroquois Amphitheater, Louisville, KY+
April 27, The Pageant, St. Louis, MO+
April 29, House of Blues, Dallas, TX=
April 30, Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Austin, TX=
May 1, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans, LA
May 2, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta, GA+
May 29, Les Schwab Amphitheater, Bend, OR*
May 30, Sasquatch! Music Festival, Quincy, WA
June 10, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Manchester, TN
June 11, Raleigh Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC#
June 13, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD#
June 14, Celebrate Brooklyn @ Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn, NY#
June 15, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA#
June 16-19, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO
July 30, Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI
August 5, The Lawn @ White River State Park, Indianapolis, IN
August 12, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

+ with Justin Townes Earle
= with Other Lives
* with Rodrigo Y Gabriela
# with Best Coast