Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys - May 31st

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u2popmofo

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Death Cab for Cutie

New album.

The BBC radio host Zane Lowe recently interviewed guitarist Chris Walla and learned that the first single will probably be called "You Are a Tourist". Walla told Lowe that legendary My Bloody Valentine producer Alan Moulder is mixing the record and that the band is experimenting with synths and reverb rather than relying as heavily on their usual strummy guitars. Check out the video of the interview below.

In a Spin interview last year, frontman Ben Gibbard claimed that the new album wouldn't be "guitar-based" and that the band had been picking up inspiration from Brian Eno's art-rock masterpiece Another Green World. But in a Stereogum interview from December, bassist Nick Harmer claims that the album will still sound more or less like a Death Cab for Cutie album, just one with less guitar: "There are definitely guitars on this record. There are just less of them than before, and we're using them in different ways this time. Ben was really inspired by writing on acoustic guitar and on a piano, so often those parts become voices or keyboard lines, rather than guitar parts. We really experimented with piecing the songs together in different ways and using the studio differently, so this a much less guitar-centric album than we've ever made before."

Pitchfork: Death Cab for Cutie Announce New Album

Neat, hopefully.
 
And possibly the most insane week for alternative music ever continues! At this rate, this week is going to have to result in the announcement of the second Avalanches album to top itself.
 
This is like a silent fart in the wake if the Radiohead album news. What a lament-timed announcement.

Nobody cares, Señor Deschanel.
 
Doesn't help that the last album had such a limited impact. I loved it, personally. Thought it was refreshingly engaging and not at all mopey, but OC viewers don't care for that.

Hope this new one has some creativity to it.
 
I'm excited as well. All Death Cab did was post a title and date on their website. It's still over 3 months away, it's not as if any of their fans remotely cares whether or not another band announced an album release this week.
 
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

I was going to the second day of Sasquatch where DCFC is headlining, but the tickets are already sold out. :( That they'd have a new album being released days later would have been awesome.
 
Yeah, this is good news, too.

Codes and Keys sounds very familiar. Like it's been a recent album title, for someone else, somewhere. I don't know, it just kind of sounds like a typical album title. That probably doesn't make any sense. I guess it's just not a very original or attention-grabbing album title.

That doesn't matter, though. It could be called Elfa Sings The Jonas Brothers' Catalogue, in Canadian and it wouldn't matter, as long as the tunes are good.
 
Yeah, this is good news, too.

Codes and Keys sounds very familiar. Like it's been a recent album title, for someone else, somewhere. I don't know, it just kind of sounds like a typical album title. That probably doesn't make any sense. I guess it's just not a very original or attention-grabbing album title.

That doesn't matter, though. It could be called Elfa Sings The Jonas Brothers' Catalogue, in Canadian and it wouldn't matter, as long as the tunes are good.
Source Tags & Codes?
 
Heard it on the radio this morning and I'm in agreement with Scumbo. Nice guitar work, but the lyrics are cheesy and KOLish. The quality storytelling of Cath and compelling imagery of The New Year are nowhere to be found here.
 
Death Cab + Frightened Rabbit? I think I'll be going to that.

Death Cab for Cutie:

05-18 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre #
05-20 Chicago, IL - Metro #
05-21 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue #
05-24 Edmonton, Alberta - Shaw Conference Center *
05-25 Calgary, Alberta - Stampede Corral *
05-27 Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphitheatre *!
05-28 George, WA - Sasquatch Music Festival
06-01 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom #
06-03 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
06-04 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero #
06-05 Boston, MA - The Paradise #
06-07 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre #
06-09 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore #
06-26 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle $
06-27 Berlin, Germany - Astra $
06-29 Hamburg, Germany - The Docks $
06-30 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg $
07-01 Kent, England - Hop Farm Festival
07-02 Milton Keynes, England - The National Bowl
07-04 Manchester, England - Manchester Academy $
07-05 Nottingham, England - Rock City $
07-07 London, England - Brixton Academy $
07-27 Columbus, OH - LC Outdoor Amphitheatre ^
07-28 Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre ^
07-29 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre ^
07-31 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Festival ^
08-01 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ^
08-02 Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Waterfront ^
08-05 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for Performing Arts ^
08-06 Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE ^
08-07 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion ^
08-08 Cary, NC - Koka Booth Ampitheatre ^
08-10 Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena ^
08-11 Alpharetta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre ^
08-12 New Orleans, LA - Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena ^
08-13 Grand Prairie, TX - Verizon Theater ^
08-15 Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre ^
08-16 La Jolla, CA - RIMAC Arena ^
08-18-19 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ^
08-20 Las Vegas, NV - The Cosmopolitan ^
08-22 West Valley City, UT - Maverik Center ^
08-23 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre ^

^ with Frightened Rabbit
# with the Lonely Forest
* with Bright Eyes
! with Jenny and Johnny
$ with the Head and the Heart
 
I think You Are A Tourist is a pretty good song. I love the guitar work for sure. But I'm not exactly thrilled by the song either though. It sounds sort of... oh I don't know, generic?

I think it's generic too. It sounds like a mix of several 80's bands. But, there's also something catchy about it that i really like. As u2popmofo said, definitely "radiotastic"
 
Heard it on the radio this morning and I'm in agreement with Scumbo. Nice guitar work, but the lyrics are cheesy and KOLish.
For half a second, I was wondering why you were comparing the lyrics to Radiohead.
Personally, I love the song, though I'll agree that it isn't exactly the most meaningful thing they've ever written.
 
I've semi-forgotten the song was released. Will have to give it a spin again.
 
I am utterly shocked by how much I like this album, even the single I previously thought sucked. Title track is money.
 
I voiced my thoughts on my first listen in another thread the other day, but this is a very listenable and coherent collection. It doesn't have the hooks that a lot of their previous efforts have had, but there are some great tracks, the title track, Home is a Fire, Unobstructed Views and especially Under the Sycamore. It manages to add some new textures to their established sound successfully, not a complete shift but a nice progression.
 
I gave it a listen over on NPR the other day and it's actually a lot better as a whole I'd say than individual tracks. It's not exactly their strongest effort. The songs that were most memorable for me were "Stay Young, Go Dancing", "You Are A Tourist", and "Codes and Keys". The rest were pretty decent. However, being a big DCFC fan I'll most likely end up getting a physical copy and give it several chances. But I can't express how much I love "Stay Young, Go Dancing". Overall 'Codes and Keys' is not bad. I'd like some of the songs to be a bit more catchy but I'm still pretty happy with the way it sounds. This will probably be that album that will take me back to this summer every time I listen to it in the future.
 
This is a weird record for me. It's very pretty, and there are a number of great melodies to be heard here. There aren't many weak tracks either. It's definitely a well-crafted record, but...I just really, really loathe the production. I realize it's detailed, but they overcooked this album. There's so much extraneous bullshit that goes on in the mix that I feel drowns out the songs, such as they are. This definitely isn't their best batch of songs, but the compensatory bells and whistles do it no favors.

Best: Underneath The Sycamore
Worst: Home Is A Fire
 
I've never actually heard Death Cab For Cutie, but Jason McGerr is my drummer...

in a way...

not really, though...

I use his drumming in many of my songs. They're available in a Reason Refill called "The Jason McGerr Sessions".
 
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