Death Cab on Conan

I accidentally forgot to watch this last Tuesday, but luckily I found the video on Prefix (picture also courtesy of Prefix). They, of course, sang Soul Meets Body, and did a pretty good job, although it seemed the vocals were off a bit, Chris Walla was really stretching to hit some high notes.

WMV Death Cab – Soul Meets Body (Conan O’Brien)

By the way, I’ve just recently been linked to on the front page of Stereogum, Prefix, and some Russian guys live journal (which accounts for me getting 420 visitors and 739 page views today alone). Thanks fellow bloggers!

The Good Life

The first band that I heard from Saddle Creek Records was The Good Life, which is actually a side project of Tim Kasher’s (the lead guitarist and singer from Cursive). I now love most of Saddle Creek’s bands (including Bright Eyes, The Faint, Azure Ray), but I still think The Good Life is my favorite.

The best album from the group is Black Out, it still has a slight folk influence that dominates Album of the Year but it features much more experimental aspects, most notable are the electronic sounds infused in the music. The album reads like a story of someone trying to escape from the world through drinking his problems away, it features a few high points and quite a few depressing low points for the subject.

Here’s a two-song sample:
MP3 Beaten Path
MP3 Off The Beaten Path

Minus The Bear

Minus the Bear is a very unique-sounding band from Seattle, there’s alot of dance aspects to their music and at times it rather complex, but the beat always moves in a linear, consistent manner. The drumming is outstanding and it gives songs an anxious/tense feeling that the music is constantly moving towards somewhere, the fact that there are no stops in the CD helps with the effect. Although it’s best to listen to the whole the CD as one, here’s a couple of my favorite songs:

MP3 Drilling
MP3 Hooray

Their latest album, Menos El Oso, is available here

The Caesars

The Caesar’s biggest claim to fame has been the song “Jerk It Out” which was featured on the ad for the iPod Shuffle. I like this song for what it is, but what really impressesd me was The Caesar’s version of classic Blue Oyster Cult song “Don’t Fear The Reaper” on the Six Feet Under Soundtrack (available here).
If only they had more cowbell…

You can download that song here –

MP3 (Don’t Fear) The Reaper

and here’s the iPod Shuffle song from their album Paper Tigers

MP3 Jerk It Out

Also…
There’s a fantastic article/interview from the Washington Post about Sufjan Stevens. There’s some great Sufjan quotes in it, like this one about his long titles.

“Maybe it’s because a lot of what I was reading about was from the turn of the century, and the media and newspapers that I was using as resources were informing the syntax in my language,” Stevens suggests. “Back then there was still this sort of Victorian obsession with high-mindedness and eloquence and rhetoric, and it took pages and pages to say the simplest thing. Now there’s an economy of language, and we don’t have the time or the resources for that.”

Read the article here – Sufjan Stevens’s Musical States of Mind

Sleeping At Last

Sleeping At Last are a great anthem-driven rock band out of Chicago. They were discovered by Bill Corgan at a Flogging Molly concert, and with his help were soon afterwards given a record deal. Words to describe them would be: lush, dreamy, passionate, stylish, etc…
Try to imagine Sunny Day Real Estate with Unforgettable Fire-Era U2 and Thom Yorke-channeling vocals, or just listen to the music and see for yourself. Sleeping At Last’s latest album, Ghosts, is available here.

Here’s two songs from Ghosts:
MP3 Night Must End
MP3 Skeleton of Something More

(sorry for the lack of updates in a while)

John Ringhofer Interview

So after the show was over, me and celeste (girlfriend-see pictures) were eating a bagel at this cafe’ and John Ringhofer walks by, I was hoping to talk to Sufjan but I figured this was the best I could do for now.

We started talking and our conversation went something along the lines of this:

me – Hey, my name is Taylor, I was wondering if Sufjan ever came out and chatted with the fans, did interviews, anything like that?
JR – No, he gets kindof freaked out by alot of people
(he then explains how to write to his company and request an interview), i love being here and getting to see some of the illinois people, and its moldy in there so i decided to take a walk around out here

me – how many instruments do you play?
JR – oh gosh, (gives a “too many too count” like expression), we all play a ton of instrumens
(i give a “should have asked how many instruments do you not play” expression)

me – did you play on the CD?
JR – no, i only played on Michigan, most of the people on the CD were people from New York City, but Shara, the girl with the electrical guitar, is a real important part to reproducing MIchigan and Illinois on stage. She played on the CD.

me – Wasn’t there a planned song about Champaign and the supercomputer on this CD?
JR – ya, and it was really good, James the drummer plays on it and its a great track, it was ono the CD till Sufjan went to master the CD and he left it off because it sounded to much like Stereolab, there’s probably about 50 minutes of unreleased material from the Illinois Cd

me – really, wow, so what happens to all that?
JR – he’ll probably change the lyrics around a bit and use it on another states CD.

me – so what is Sufjan like in the studio, is he like a Brian Wilson type where the track has to exactly perfect or is he more laid back and allows for improvisation?
JR – he definitely has a vision for his music, but he lets us play around a bit
(at this point a large security guard told some of the megafans that the band was sitting at the bar and that they would be a while, some of them left)

me – so do you know why Sufjan likes Peoria so much, he seems to mention his fondess of it every concert, I’m only asking because I’m from Peoria.
JR – Well, he loves every town really I don’t know why Peoria in particular, we do love performing that song though, i’m going to walk around a bit more, it’s been nice talking to you.
me – thanks, bye

thats all, the stuff about the unreleased material is quite interesting, keep in mind that this wasn’t an exact account of what happened because i wasn’t recording the conversation, but it’s what i remember and what i wrote down later. If bootlegs from the concert ever surface, i’ll try to make them available.
Taylor

Sufjan Pictures and Review

(before I begin my review here’s all my pictures from last night – Click Here)

Last night was awesome! Sufjan Stevens played a fantastic show, the energy in the place was indescribable, the crowd ate it all up (especially since it was on the U of I campus, the costumes went over well to say the least. Sufjan started off the show (after a few gymnastics) with the 50 states theme song, and then packed up his bags for Illinois.

The Tallest Man had a really cool drum solo in the middle where all the rest of the band reached their arms out at him and did the “happy fingers” thing that cheerleaders do during free throws… Awesome!!!

Peoria! was a real treat since that’s where I’m from, I made sure to yell real loud when he mentioned it was one of his favorite towns.

Jacksonville and the foregoing cheer was a real pleasure live and it kindof rocked, Sufjan had an electric guitar in this song.

Palisades has always been a huge favorite of mine and it has a really cool/different ending live, definitely a highlight

Casmir Pulaski Day seemed to be the emotional highlight of the night, I don’t if it was the sweat or his emotion or my imagination but Sufjan’s eyes looked a bit watery. Very solemn and pretty song.

John Wayne Gacy was just as chilling as it is on the CD, you could hear a feather drop in the audience during this song, it was so quiet.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find is one of my favorite Seven Swans tunes, so I was glad to see this one picked to play next, we all snapped our fingers during it, it was really cool

–Sufjan did a hilarious interlude here about how the last part of the set was like when you lose a big game/forget to do your homework/get dumped/sprain your ankle/etc… but theres a “quick fix” take a trip to Decatur (this brought enomorous cheers as Decatur is very close to where we were)–

Decatur was one i didn’t see on some early setlists and was dissappointed cuz i love it, i was very happy to see it played and for the banjo to come out again

Night Zombies was a fun song, Sufjan did little hand signals during the I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S

Metropolis started off with a cheer and a human pyramid, the band seemed really excited at this point lots of jumping etc…
The song rocked hard, and Shara can really play the electric guitar, she was like jumping around and stuff… awesome

Sufjan left the stage temporarily and then returned to shouts of Chicago… and played… Chicago!
-Chicago was a great performance, I knew they couldn’t forget the Windy City. Great ending to a great night!

After the show I was able to talk to John Ringhofer about some various stuff, I’ll post my interview with him tomorrow!

Less than 24 hours till Sufjan

That’s right… In less than a day I will be experiencing pure musical exuberance to the sounds of Sufjan Stevens and his Illinoisemakers, the excitment is in the air.

Here’s a couple of my favorite Sufjan live tracks, the first of which Sufjan famously proclaims “this one is for one of our favorite towns in Illinois called Peoria” (actually its not really famous, but I’m from Peoria so cut me some slack):
MP3 Prarie Fire That Wanders About (Live)
MP3 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us! (Live)

and a bonus track that perfectly describes my joy of seeing Sufjan tomorrow like only the man himself can do:

MP3 One Last Woo-Hoo For The Pullman

Death Cab B-Sides / Sufjan in Two Days

I’ve recently got a hold of all the Death Cab Plans B-Sides available out there, from either the Soul Meets Body Single or exclusive iTunes releases, Japanese Bonus Tracks, all that… Here’s a couple good ones (well they’re all good but I can’t be going around posting every Death Cab track ever can I?)

MP3 Start Again
MP3 Bad Reputation

Also, two days till Sufjan!!! WooHoo!!! Here’s a bonus track:

MP3 A Short Reprise For Mary Todd Who Went Insane But For Very Good Reasons

Matt Pond PA / Sufjan Countdown / Bowie = Lounge Singer?

My girlfriend and I are on a “The O.C.” watching binge right now (guilty pleasure, i know, but it’s actually pretty good), since we just bought the second season on DVD, and this band is played alot on that show. And like most other bands that play on “The O.C.” they are really good. That now-famous scene where Seth hangs from the ceiling dressed like spiderman and kisses Summer (I’ve probably lost all the indie cred i ever thought i had by now) they’re playing a Matt Pond PA song, this one as a matter of fact.

MP3 Champagne Supernova

You can get that song and some more good ones (including a Sufjan track) here.

Talking about Sufjan, the concert is on Thursday as in 4 days, ya I’m starting a countdown, right now.

Here’s another fun extra, a video David Bowie singing one of his best songs – Life On mars, with nothing but a suit, tie, and piano. (thanks to Banana Nutrament for hosting) – WMV David Bowie – Life On Mars?