Death Cab for Cutie

[raynor]

i think they put on a good show yeah

[theis]

http://www.nme.com/news/death-cab-for-cutie/30985

new album set to be released spring 2008.

that's great news.

[theis]

Guitarist discusses 'bloody and loose' follow-up to group's 2005 album.

It might be difficult to remember — what with all the international intrigue surrounding his hard drive — but there was a time, not so long ago, when Chris Walla was better known as the guitarist/producer for Death Cab for Cutie and not "the vaguely political guy in the beanie who took on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

And, not surprisingly, Walla would like things to go back to the way they used to be. So even though his (now) much-discussed solo album, Field Manual, hits stores in January, he's already hard at work on Death Cab's next album, the follow-up to their commercial smash, Plans, which has sold more than 920,000 copies (!) since being released in 2005 (see "Death Cab Blasé Over Big Chart Debut; Say Next LP Will Be 'Complicated' ").

"We have six songs in the can already. Not mixed, but basically done. And beyond all logic — and against everything I told myself after making Plans — I'm producing it," Walla laughed. "We're actually doing it at [DCFC drummer] Jason [McGerr's] studio. He built a place in Seattle called Two Sticks. It's a really cool studio, with this clubhouse vibe. We have a couple of those little handheld Nintendos in there."

Walla said the early vibe of the record is "bloody and loose," a reflection of where they chose to do the record and a reaction to the problems they — and many of Death Cab's fans — had with the shinier, more nuanced sound of Plans.

"So far, it's a crazy, weird, heavy-rock record. It's all on tape too. It's not going to leave the tape machine, which is pretty exciting in 2007. It's so much fun. The six songs we have now are just killing me," he said. "With the last album, there were a bit of nerves when we signed, and as a producer, I sort of felt [like,] 'Oh sh--, this is my first major-label record. I better do something sort of hi-fi and semi-industry-standard.' And I'm really proud of that record, but it was too studied and too concentrated in a few spots. And with this one, it's all bloody tape style. It's all-or-nothing."

Though he wouldn't go into detail about the songs the band has already completed, Walla did mention an epic, 10-minute jam that calls to mind the work of German kraut-rockers/ anarchists Can and was recorded live to tape. And he doesn't see things changing at all as Death Cab progress with the album.

"The experience I had working on [the Decemberists'] The Crane Wife — that was a record that didn't leave the tape machine, and I had forgotten how fun it is working with tape. You can't skip around. And when you get a song, it's a performance from a group of people. It's a complete thought, rather than little bits of a sentence you cut and arranged and made into a paragraph," he said. "And in a world where nothing's linear anymore, it's really nice to be able to commit to a performance. Like, the Can jam, it's live bass, guitars, drums, vocals — it all went down together. And I don't think that's going to change. I'm going to deliver tapes to Atlantic [Records], and see if they know what to do with those."

Death Cab plan to keep hammering away at the yet-untitled album until January (or until Atlantic fires up the helicopter and hightails it out to Seattle to put a stop to all the lo-fi madness), by which time Walla estimates there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 songs to whittle down to a final track list.

Then again, who knows? The whole plan might change ... after all, if Walla has learned one thing in the past week, it's that, truly, anything can happen at any time.

"The tape stuff is great, though I don't know. I often long for the '70s. Because I know that when something was 'pro' in 1978, it was f---ing pro. And, like, my band, we're still duct-taping microphones to chairs and stuff, and we sold, like, a million records," he laughed. "I mean, I guess if we wanted it, we could be recording at some big studio like Sunset Sound or in the Bahamas someplace. There are always problems. Every record is a journey. Or whatever."

sounds great...i'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to this.

[Zevaka]

Yes, it must be nice release
DCFC is the greatest pop band ever ;P

[theis]

eh, i wouldn't call them pop.

just great rock music.

[goldpony]

i hope they break out the casio keyboard!

[theis]

new album sneak peek!
http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/splash/

[theis]

Official title for upcoming album:

Narrow Stairs.

[goldpony]

i read in a recent interview (cant remember where) that the new album is going to be a really low-fi affair. mics taped to chairs and shit

[theis]

the first review of NARROW STAIRS:

"After hearing Narrow Stairs earlier this week, it turns out that everything I had known about Death Cab was wrong. They are actually a really great band, and Stairs is unquestionably the best thing they've ever done. It's a ballsy, brave effort, sonically every bit as dissonant and sanguine as you have heard, full of songs that thrash and rattle and bounce around echo chambers, tunes that display muscle and bravado and even brains. Lyrically, Ben Gibbard — who had always erred on the literal side a bit too much for my tastes — goes to places he's never visited before, documenting the harrowing (and often unspoken) truths that course through our brains when we're trapped in dying relationships or dead-end lives. It's terrifying and unsettling and liberating all at once — a record that sounds like a band throwing caution to the wind and just going for it, which makes it everything you could possibly ask for from a group of musicians, and an early contender for the best album of 2008."

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582775/20080304/death_cab_for_cutie.jhtml

fuuuck i'm excited!

this baby should leak anytime soon. you're on this like a hog, right Zevaka?

[13hourstoparadise]

Was it Conan, or SNL, something... The lead singer guitarist broke his guitar at the end... Somehow that made my day.

[whodunit?]

edit: whooops, not this thread

[snw777]

Death Cab For Cutie - Live in Eugene, Oregon, 19-4-08 - McDonald Theatre

6 songs from the new album 'Narrow Stairs'
Bixby Canyon Bridge
The New Year
Why You'd Want To Live Here
Photobooth
Crooked Teeth
Long Division
A Movie Script Ending
Talking Bird / Grapevine Fires
Soul Meets Body
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
I Will Possess Your Heart
No Sunlight
Company Calls
The Sound of Settling
Marching Bands of Manhattan
Encore Break
Title and Registration
Your New Twin Size Bed
405 / Your Heart Is An Empty Room
Transatlanticism

http://rapidshare.com/files/109393883/McDonald_Theatre.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/109395451/McDonald_Theatre.part2.rar

[black coffee]

still no leak out there ?

[The†Sorrow]

Yes, it must be nice release
DCFC is the greatest pop band ever ;P

Agreed they are a fascinating band.

at was introduced to DCFC with Plans. therefore, I believe that Plans is the best album!! There are some interesting stuff in the previous works but nothing that compares to Plans...

Am I wrong by saying there are two kinds of DCFC fans : those who came before and those who came after Plans??

Same here auctully, i listened to a few songs on Plans and got hooked on them, it was dark and soothing and thats what i really loved about Plans. It just blows my mind that some people do not agree with me, that Plans is one of Death Cabs best albums and it wasen't their best effort. I hope Narrow Stairs has some songs that are influenced by Plans.

It's also weird though, that you noticed that, because i was thinking the same exact thing when most people said they loved Transatlanticism.

If i had to rank top albums i would rank it as.
1. Plans
2. Transatlanticism
3. The Photo album
4. We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes


If anyone has not seen Death Cabs music video for I Will Possess Your Heart here it is.

There are two different Versions of the song "I Will Possess Your Heart. Which people do not realize theres an 8minute version and a reguler 4:03 version of the song. Because there was an official edited version of the song, that stripped down the minutes and made it shorter.
Short Version(4:03)

[youtube=425,350]jrcKjN3KQYs[/youtube]

Long Version(8:31)

[youtube=425,350]pq-yP7mb8UE[/youtube]

[theis]

thoughts on the new album?

personally, i'm pleasently surprised. i mean, i enjoyed "plans", but this album blows it out of the water.

it's no "transatlanticism", but i'm sure "narrow stairs" could be rated highly after a few more listens.

[phil for real]

Cath is such a beautiful fucking song.

[theis]

it's funny, i can't really listen to death cab anymore...

[lithium]

someone post a hq discography please?

[theis]

someone post a hq discography please?

not sure about the quality http://taringa.net/posts/musica/1989346/Death-Cab-For-Cutie-(discograf%C3%ADa).html