The Radio Dept Announce the release of “Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010”
out January 25th
on Labrador/Caroline
Tour dates announced for February 2011
EP “Never Follow Suit” Out Today
NYC exclusive shows November 30 & December 1
Free Mp3 Download as featured on Pitchfork:
“Never swallow fruit dub” by Pistol Disco
From the EP “Never Follow Suit”
(free to post)
THE RADIO DEPT.
PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE: SINGLES 2002-2010
“Indie as fuck”.
Those were the exact words I said to myself when I heard The Radio Dept.
for the first time. Very little did I know that they’d rapidly become Labrador’s best selling band; the first to reach the sales charts in Sweden, end up on NME’s albums-of-the-decade-list, enter the Billboard Heatseeker chart or serve as soundtrack to an odd costume drama by Sophia Coppola.¬† I never held any doubts about the music – it was unique, possibly even ground-breaking. Nor did I hold any uncertainty about the fact that they were fantastic song writers and almost geniously wayward producers. But I drew comparisons to bands like Metrotone and thought they’d sell roughly the same amount of records…. a couple of hundred spread evenly across the globe. Luckily, sales expectations have always been completely irrelevant on Labrador and naturally we decided to sign them in that point of time, almost nine years from now.
Working with The Radio Dept. from 2002 – 2010 has definitely been an interesting, occasionally even turbulent, time. There’s been fights and threats regarding contracts, they’ve cancelled more interviews than all the other bands I’ve worked with altogether, they are unworldly time optimists (they can miss a deadline by three years), they’ve demanded – and received – so much advances that we haven’t been able to pay our bills, I’ve had to bribe them with drugs to persuade them to talk to selected parts of the press, they’ve been soundly pissed off when a color of their artwork didn’t turn out exactly the shade they intended… etc…. the story goes on. But despite that our collaboration can take strange turns, be pretty verbose or even harsh I’ve always appreciated it a very much, I’ve never held any doubts. As soon as a new song is handed over it’s instantly worth it all. It’s always a surprise. Always. And, of course… somehow I can’t help both sympathizing with them and admiring them. The Radio Dept. are adamantly uncompromising, ridiculously self-critical, vastly independent and, not least importantly, constantly moving forwards. “Passive aggressive: Singles 2002-2010” is a voyage through the first eight years on Labrador.
Johan
Labrador Records
Radio Dept Tour dates
Nov 30 NYC Knitting Factory
Dec 01 NYC Bowery Ballroom
Feb 01 Washington D.C. Rock N Roll Hotel
Feb 02 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
Feb 03 New York, NY Webster Hall
Feb 04 Boston, MA Middle East Downstairs
Feb 05 Montreal, QC Petit Campus
Feb 07 Toronto, ONT Lee’s Palace
Feb 08 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
Feb 09 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
Feb 12 Seattle, WA Crocodile Café
Feb 13 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
Feb 15 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Feb 16 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
Feb 19 Mexico City, MX Teatro de la Ciudad
Track Listing:
Disc 1
1. Why won’t you talk about it?
2. Where damage isn’t already done
3. Annie laurie
4. Ewan
5. Pulling our weight
6. This past week
7. The worst taste in music
8. We made the team
9. Bachelor kisses
10. Freddie and the trojan horse
11. David
12. Heaven’s on fire
13. Never follow suit
14. The new improved hypocrisy
Disc 2
1. Liebling
2. We would fall against the tide
3. You and me then?
4. Peace of mind
5. Tåget
6. Slottet
7. What you sell
8. Mad about the boy
9. Closing scene
10. Messy enough
11. The idle urban contemporaries
12. All about our love
13. On your side
14. The one