Grizzly Bear

This is the cover of our tour book that Gooze made.

Here’s a brand spanking new video for the SSION’s classic “Clown.” Peep it:

And then to boot, here’s an amazing dance track which reportedly Cody Critcheloe of SSION fame is recording with (!!!)

Listen up!

Bonus Azari & III rad song/video!

Old friends Efterklang are set to release their stunning new album Magic Chairs this February on their new label 4AD.

Check out their lovely first video here:

BONUS GREAT SONG/VIDEO
Cibelle’s rendition of “Lightworks”

Snazzy stuff.

(via nastynets)

Description says: Andrew is ‘playing’ along to ‘Two Weeks’. He taught himself ‘the lyrics’ and ‘the parts’ he’s playing … this really blows my mind since he just turned 3. I did not teach him anything, not directly, he’s only observed me (his dad) boppin’ to it in the car & stuff. Andrew is obsessed with Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear’s new album.

Can’t stop playing this track:

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[Download]

Artist: Bear in Heaven
Track: Lovesick Teenagers
Album: Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Out: Oct 13th on Hometapes

I want a T shirt of the album cover!

Simon Guzylack and Victoria Legrand embracing the free nipple caps!

It’s with a sad face I must report we were last-minute bumped from this evening’s Letterman performance. We had gone through all the motions, only to be alerted of the cut as we watched Dave mutter the “I’m sorry we ran out of time for Grizzly Bear” at the end of the show. Make up on, faces clearly bummed, we packed our bags and left disheartened. Being bumped for a car commercial was lame, especially since we’d been so attentive to the details and parameters that network television production always have.

That said, we were lucky enough to get to debut a song on Letterman last summer and get another chance to play again this year and are really happy we received the invitation again. The producers felt so bad they offered us tomorrow’s slot, but our string quartet was unavailable and we’d grown attached to the idea of doing something new and fun for a late night TV show. So the good news is we’ll be coming back in July to perform the song as it was meant to be seen tonight. May not be as “fresh” then, but it’ll still be lots of fun, and we really want to get a chance to perform with the lovely string quartet again, as they were so gracious and wonderful to us after all these mishaps!

All is still wonderful in GB land, though. We feel extremely lucky and blessed to have even been IN a situation like this and would like to thank all our fans for making this record release feel so exciting and anticipated. We couldn’t be more thrilled to hit the road and play for you all. I followed the disappointment of the last minute cancellation with a lovely taco and beer session with a few friends in the sun. All was forgotten; no hard feelings anywhere; just happy to be doing what I
am doing.

Onwards and upwards to Letterman, the string quartet, and you all! :)
XO

So this hasn’t leaked. I hope it won’t leak too soon, but it has been leaked to my ears, and I’ve been granted permission to share a track by the lovely men behind Foreign Born. I was pretty vocal about my love for their last album On the Wing Now, and this time around it’s even better. I gotta say, something about the production of this album is really doing it for me. Crisper sounds, and Matt’s voice sounds wonderful. This track “Vacationing People” is a lovely little pop gem, and it’s not even scraping the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the album. I hope that you all enjoy the song and check these guys out.

Download audio file (vacationingpeople.mp3)

Download Foreign Born – Vacationing People

(Note: This may seem like nepotism, but actually I became a fan of this band before ever meeting them, and then I asked them to open for two shows, and they were solidified in my mind as great guys and a great band, so my fanship is authentico.)

I’m sure they’ll be releasing information about the album Person to Person soon. It’s a keeper; already listened twenty times, and it hasn’t grown old yet.

BONUS!!!: Cutest little girl jamming out to “Two Weeks”! Adorable-ness.

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Hey all,

So yeah, we are kind of bummed this leaked so early. We know it’s not the 90’s anymore and times have changed, and we’re super grateful for all the support people have shown us on the blogs and internet, but we were kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon.

Ultimately we feel like we put out a great album and hope people enjoy it, and we really hope people take the time to pre-order and support the good one-and-a-half years it took to write and record it.

I promise you the album art for both CD and vinyl is going to be gorgeous. And a bonus: all vinyl people will get a high quality download coupon with their purchase.

Leaking is a tricky subject; as we all know, I’ve had my run ins with the law O__o (Hi, Mr. Sheriff!) I have conflicting opinions about it, as it’s really complicated, but ultimately it saddens me that a bummer-quality version of Veckatimest is going around. Please consider putting your energies into a pre-order or into waiting till May 26 for the album the way we intend it to be presented.

Not to get all mushy, but we definitely put a lot of love and work into this one and are just excited to hit the road and tour it again.

Ok, there! Got that off my chest.
Warm regards.

Pre-Order directly from the band:
- CD - or - Vinyl -

or from Insound:
- CD - or Vinyl

In the UK:
- CD - or - Vinyl –

So I just got back from the West Coast and while out there discovered via the always informative Gorilla vs Bear blog about a band called Here We Go Magic. Not only am I instantly in love with the song GvB posted, but I soon discovered Luke Temple, whom I’ve enjoyed in the past, was in the band. I look forward to getting a copy of this album when it comes out!

For fear of all things involving leaks, and seeing that this album doesn’t come out till February, I shall merely direct you to a link on the band’s website, where you can listen to the gorgeous and shimmering “Tunnelvision.”

Nothing better to start off a new year than a total surprise song and band that came out of nowhere to win you over!

Cheers!

This past fall we spend some time on Cape Cod recording the new album. A good friend of ours, Hisham Bharoocha, who is both an artist and musician, came up with some other friends for a weekend. Here are just a few pictures of his from hundreds. I think somewhere down the road we will find a good outlet to print these all up together. Also below is one of Hisham’s songs from his musical outfit Soft Circle, with whom we did one of our first ever tours with and who is amazing.

Download audio file (avalanche.mp3)

Download Soft Circle – Avalanche

Please enjoy his art; we sure do! More to come!

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Many people already are familiar with Mr. Muhly, who’s done arrangements for everyone from Björk to Bonnie Prince Billy. But for those of you who aren’t, here he is:

He’s a friend of ours and a genius musician and arranger, and we are very lucky to be working with him on the new album. As I mentioned in another interview, we will be working with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, a group of talented young individuals Nico has had the pleasure of working with before.

As Nico toils away in Iceland—it’s his second home—we can listen to this wonderful piece that he composed for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus to whet our appetites for the arrangements to come and perhaps use our imaginations a bit.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Download audio file (sweetsofevening.mp3)

Download Nico Muhly & the Brooklyn Youth Chorus – The Sweets of Evening

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This video is so amazing. (thanks to Videogum for bringing it to my attention)

I tried to get Dan to cover this song “Crush” by David Archuleta this year for my birthday, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

In what has become an overblown and rather silly manifestation of what I thought was an innocent and encouraging endorsement of Animal Collective’s song “Brother Sport,” I find that after numerous Web Sheriff emails and blog posts about this essential non-event, I must just explain the chain of events:

1. The song was played on a French podcast or radio program.
2. Someone (not me) ripped the song.
3. Many blogs posted the track.
4. I was one of those blogs.
5. The weekend hit, and the Web Sheriff went on patrol.
6. His email to us went into our Spam folder along with Penis Enlargement emails.
7. His email to others that work with us were in the process of being addressed, but most likely were going to wait until Monday morning, after the weekend.
8. Suddenly it was Sunday and note two made its way to us, and the tone had become more harsh.
9. Web Sheriff believed we were ignoring him, but it was an honest misunderstanding.
10. The song was taken down and the Web Sheriff’s pre-written apology letter was put up, along with his letter, which I found funny. The posting of his letter was a mistake and was the only reason the issue came to any else’s attention.
11. People took note and blogged about it.
12. I decided to take down Mr. Sheriff’s letter and do this quick-and-easy twelve-step explanation.

Again, we all value the work and effort that goes into an album, and we don’t condone “leaking” any album. We know first-hand how much work goes into it! We thought this song had made its way to radio and blogs and was being used to promote their album. If I’ve offended anyone in the Animal Collective family with my excited post, I apologize. It was meant to generate even more excitement for what will surely be a great album, and yes the Web Sheriff is just doing his job.

I hope this makes everyone happy! If Animal Collective would like to blog a song of ours in the future, I’d be more than happy to give it to them. In fact I’d be honored.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Cheers,
Ed

Listen to and download Refinery29’s new fall playlist “Autumn Passing.”

1. We Have Band
   “You Came Out”
2. Leila—Blood, Looms & Blooms
   “Little Acorns (featuring Khemal and Thaon Richardson)”
3. Flying Lotus—Los Angeles
   “Parisian Goldfish”
4. Morgan Geist —Double Night Time
   “Ruthless City”
5. Air France—No Way Down
   “Collapsing At Your Doorstep”
6. Palms—It’s Midnight In Honolulu
   “Der Koenig”
7. Matthew Dear—Asa Breed Black Edition
   “Deserter”
8. Deerhunter—Microcastle
   “Nothing Ever Happened”
9. Of Montreal—Skeletal Lamping
   “For Our Elegant Caste”
10. Department of Eagles —In Ear Park
    “No One Does It Like You”
11. Benoit Pioulard—Temper
    “Ragged Tint”
12. Chad VanGaalen—Soft Airplane
    “Molten Light”
13. Shugo Tokumaru—Exit
    “Parachute”
14. Final Fantasy—Spectrum, 14th Century
    “The Butcher”
15. Arthur Russell—Love Is Overtaking Me
    “Love Is Overtaking Me”
16. Fleetwood Mac—The Pious Bird of Good Omen
    “Albatross”

Been meaning to post some pictures from recording upstate, touring with Radiohead, visiting Feist in rural Ontario, a trip to Montana for Chad’s sister’s wedding, trips to Cape Cod both with friends and then later on to record. Just got back from recording yesterday, and here is a photo recap of the last 4 months! (and I turned 30! Yikes!)

:)

Especially the first four minutes.

There’s been some confusing press recently regarding the Dept of Eagles record. There are the inevitable comparisons between GB and DoE, which are sometimes annoying but ultimately who cares. Then there is the inevitable dorky wordplay that goes along with two interrelated animal-named bands (soaring with the eagles whilst nesting in the den of the grizzly bear!, etc.). It’s unfortunate, but mostly it just confuses my older relatives. So whatever. Problem is this: there have been some suggestions that there is a rift between me and Ed and some offhand comments I’ve made about the last few years with grizzly bear and my friendship with Ed have been printed out of context, fueling gossip and scaring friends of the band. It doesn’t look good, and I feel terrible about it. And I wouldn’t be surprised if those remarks are reprinted over and over again in reference to In Ear Park.

Point is, there is nothing but love and respect between me and Ed. The last thing I want is for this DoE record to be seen as some kind of affront to him or the band. It absolutely isn’t. It’s a tangent from the band that happened while we took some time off. Ed has been incredibly supportive, and working with him on the new record has been amazing. It’s an honor and a joy. So let it be known!

Here’s a photo to demonstrate the depth of true friendship:

And here’s the only decent photo of us that I could find on my computer. We look drunk..

Ok, I’m done.

Love,
Daniel

Let’s do it again! We miss you!

Download audio file (ohhowimissyou.mp3)

Download Broadcast – Oh How I Miss You

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Download audio file (reckoner.mp3)

Download Radiohead – Reckoner

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We are having a great time upstate recording the new album. It’s gorgeous up here and very inspiring, and we are making good progress!

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer.

All photos by the lovely and amazingly talented Amelia Bauer

high places + kids=soothing summer time

This is my garden that I’m obsessed with.

And here are some songs I really like right now:

Download audio file (goldencage.mp3)

Download Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage [Fred Falke Remix]

Download audio file (ifeelforyou.mp3)

Download Chaka Khan – I Feel for You

Download audio file (infreezingwinternight.mp3)

Download Chorus Viennensis & Wiener Sängerknaben – In Freezing Winter Night
from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols

Download audio file (lesartistes.mp3)

Download Santogold – L.E.S. Artistes [XXXChange Remix]

Download audio file (re_stacks.mp3)

Download Bon Iver – Re_Stacks

Download audio file (rollingdownthehills.mp3)

Download Glass Candy – Rolling Down the Hills [Spring Demo]

Download audio file (someindulgence.mp3)

Download The Embassy – Some Indulgence

Download audio file (spectrumofvapor.mp3)

Download Lansing-Dreiden – Spectrum of Vapor

Download audio file (tomthemodel.mp3)

Download Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man – Tom the Model

Download audio file (tonightyoubelongtome.mp3)

Download Patience & Prudence – Tonight You Belong to Me

Download audio file (whenimwithyou.mp3)

Download Sparks – When I’m with You

Download audio file (whitewinterhymnal.mp3)

Download Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal

Download audio file (activation.mp3)

Download Atlas Sound – Activation

Download audio file (carloswalterwendystanley.mp3)

Download The Chap – Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley

Download audio file (gangsta.mp3)

Download Bell Biv Devoe – Gangsta

Download audio file (ahudsoncycle.mp3)

Download Nico Muhly – A Hudson Cycle

Download audio file (rightsforgays.mp3)

Download John Maus – Rights for Gays

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A Blessing from Sufjan.

Gillian Welch and a Roche can bless too…

Communal band Paul Simon Bless…

Josh Groban fans feel fairly blessed about Dan.

As does Josh himself…

Naturally Patrick Stewart wanted to be involved…

Unity.

The Roches have spirits that are in line with Dan.

From the upcoming stunning album by Beach House—Devotion, to be released in February 2008.

Download audio file (gila.mp3)

Download Beach House – Gila

“D.A.R.L.I.N.G.” removed by request of Carpark Records.

I’m sorry; I just can’t not post about one of my favorite bands. I get too excited, and I want the world to hear it and appreciate them.

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Hello, creatures of the fall. Our touring has ceased; we are taking a lovely break—each working on new material, which we are excited about. Touring with our favorites Beach House (download “Saltwater” mp3) this fall and playing Iceland Airwaves were both incredible experiences, topped off by what was definitely our favorite hometown show ever, at the Society For Ethical Culture. We were so honored and excited that Paul Simon came, so Dan and Chris Bear did their cover of “Graceland” (download) for him, which they normally don’t do live.

The Friend EP came out, and the response has been so amazing—surprisingly so, actually. Thanks to everyone who went out and got it. It’s a funny and strange EP, but we had a great time making it. Naturally NME hated it and said the only thing good about it was the CSS cover, but considering how little credibility they have these days, we took it as a compliment!

I (Ed) turned 29 in late October and had a bowling birthday party, which was tons of fun. I didn’t realize it until midway through the festivities, but I had a bowling birthday party when I was 11. I guess everything comes full circle. Just like plaid flannels, huh?

For a good year I’d been pestering my band-mate Daniel to do a cover of the ridiculously cheesy (but might I add very catchy) Jo Jo track “Too Little Too Late.” At first I was bribing him with an old iPod, but no dice. He wasn’t having it. Finally, actually over a year from when I first asked him to, he decided to surprise me and give me a cover of the song for my birthday. He had remembered I wanted him to sing it very seriously, as if he really meant all those lyrics (which, if you know the song, is really hilarious) and he did, and what happened? Well, everyone who has heard it can’t even believe it’s the same song. He turned something so auto-tuned and trite into a really great song. I’ve been listening on repeat. Hopefully you’ll enjoy! Here it is:

Download audio file (toolittle.mp3)

Download Daniel Rossen – Too Little Too Late [Jo Jo Cover]

I’m low on pictures on this post. In fact I’m not going to post any, but I’m going to keep the MP3 flow alive and healthy. We’ve been working on a track with Feist for a yet-to-be-announced compilation, and it’s gotten me into relistening to her albums, and I chanced upon this really great alternative version of her song (my favorite) “Intuition.” As I do with almost every song I love, I’ve been playing it on a repeat as well.

Download audio file (intuition.mp3)

Download Feist – Intuition

Thanksgiving was great. Chad cooked an enormous turkey. We had some friends over. I made brussel sprouts and pancetta, which is my favorite dish ever. I can’t even believe I ever used to hate brussel sprouts as a kid. Someone told me the reason kids don’t like strong flavors like blue cheese or brussel sprouts is because their taste buds are too sensitive and the flavor is its true strength and not tasty. As you grow older, your tastebuds die or become less sensitive (this is all hearsay, mind you) and so you can handle those flavors. I also used to hate tomatoes, too, and now I can eat an heirloom tomato like an apple. Thank god, my taste buds dulled. That’s all I have to say to that.

Bradford Cox from Deerhunter has been in town doing press for his new solo project Atlas Sound. A few nights ago, he played me tracks from the follow-up to this album, which he is already halfway done writing and recording (dude is prolific), and I was already swooning for this January /February release of Atlas Sound’s debut, but the new stuff takes it even further. Not to be a tease, but get excited even if you have to wait a year. It’s incredible stuff. Perfect fall/winter music.

A artist by the name of James Rutledge from the UK wrote us recently to let us know he did a remix of our DNTEL track “To a Fault,”  which is always fun to hear. To listen download the track here! Thanks, James.

Download audio file (toafault.mp3)

Download DNTEL – To a Fault [James Rutledge Remix]

Anyhow, I’m getting ready to go to a wedding of one of my best friends in California. I guess that’s life in the late 20s. Marriage first, babies next?

Hope everyone is having a lovely fall and winter and holiday season. We are excited about recording the new album. Promise no alternative takes or remixes. All. New. Stuff.

XOXO

P.S. Here is my year’s end list of my favorite fiften albums of 2007. Everyone is doing it, so I figure why not? Cheers!

1. Dirty Projectors – Rise Above
2. Radiohead – In Rainbows
3. Deerhunter – Florescent Grey EP/Cryptograms
4. Cass McCombs – Dropping the Writ
5. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
6. Foreign Born- On a Wing Now
7. Feist – The Reminder
8. Vampire Weekend – Blue CDR
9. Beirut – Flying Club Cup
10. Papercuts- Can’t Go Back
11. Justice – †
12. Sleeping States – There the Open Spaces
13. Róisín Murphy – Overpowered
14. PJ Harvey – White Chalk
15. Yeasayer – All Hours Cymbals

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I’ve been putting off updating the blog for ages for the stupidest reason! I just had too many pictures; I was overwhelmed. I’ve been dying to put up pictures from Roskilde and Pitchfork festivals, and my trip to Cape Cod and Iceland, both of which were equally amazing, beautiful and relaxing, and now I finally get to it. Things to get excited for in this post: a comparison of Roskilde vs. Pitchfork Festival, as that we them sort of back to back (and they couldn’t have been more different). Pictures of lovely landscapes. An MP3 of “hot buzz band” that I totally buy into—Vampire Weekend (I just can’t resist their songs and preppy New England attire; reminds me of carpooling in the late 80’s in Boston—in a good way that is). AND: THREE AMAZING DIGITAL CAMERA VIDEOS! Yup, it’s all that and more in this post, which will be largely image-based, but I’m trying. It’s just also demoralizing when everyone else is such a better blogger than you! We just got back from playing a few shows with our buddies (and supergroup) Deerhunter, and man does Bradford know how to blog. He knows his shit is the best, too. I mean who else does countless cover songs on request and update that often? I’m too busy hanging on Cape Cod (should have invited the Vampire Weekend boys, since they have such a fixation with the area, but I didn’t know their music until a few weeks ago). Anyhow, it’s September now, we recorded our EP during August and are really excited about it. It’s all meant to be a very “fun” and smörgåsbord-type collection of songs. My favorite is how the mellowest song ever—”Granndy Diner”—runs into CSS’s electro-pop version of “Knife”; somehow it works (I think?). Anyhow, mostly I’m really pleased with the four recordings we did in August, especially that of “Alligator,” which just sounds so insanely different it might as well be a new song. So enough random tangents; let’s start with pictures and videos.

So I begin with Roskilde vs. Pitchfork

I think this video really sums up Roskilde to me. You could NOT survive there without boots, and every band we saw kept arriving and asking us “Do you REALLY need them?” and I’d point them to the entrance and say “Just try to walk around for ten seconds without them and see for yourself.” The mud stank like piss and shit b/c the porta potties were overflowing into the goop. Backstage was nice. There were grills at each respective stage and a really pleasant, less wet sitting area. The only annoying thing about the festival which—CSS and Beirut and I struggled with all weekend—was trying to get from one stage to another that you weren’t playing at. All three of us were at different stages, and the festival allows access only to your stage on the day that you are playing, so when you want to visit other bands, you are just plain screwed unless you happen to run into them and they escort you. Luckily for us, we are good at sneaking in places, so we made it to CSS’s stage and got to enjoy their and Peter Bjorn and John’s sets; the latter I’d never seen before. Here’s a little shot of the girls getting pumped just seconds before they went on stage. Chris Taylor ate a steak on the side of the stage while watching. I have a picture of it, but I ‘m not sure he’d want me to post it, but you can imagine. No utencils, just a steak and Chris, and CSS’s rocking out. It was an amusing sight.

Here are Lovefoxxx and Simon from Klaxons with their his-and-hers tats. That was really cute, but I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What’s he going to turn those three X’s into once they break up?” I guess I’m jaded, but I’m rooting for them!

I have a few more pictures from the festival of rows of porta potties, but I think I’m going to skip to Pitchfork. How does it compare? Like night and day. First off Roskilde is about 100K people, maybe more? Pitchfork is 15K (I think). That makes things a LOT chiller, and one thing I realized about festivals is the chiller the better, for the crowd and the artists. Pitchfork takes the cake for most enjoyable festival in my book. It had tons of bands I love and enjoyed meeting. They had free Chipotle and beer, which everyone ate all weekend long. You could go to any stage and check out a band without any hassle from security; on top of that, it was sunny! Something was in the air that weekend because everyone I ran into there was just completely having the time of their life and not worried about letting it all hang out. Alcohol was a good friend to everyone that weekend. Just look below! Three out of the five of them are double fisting!

Was the festival playing a joke by putting us with Clipse? We were highly amused by that pairing in the dressing room. Our sound engineer Matt did a photo op with their Alizé. Later we did a shot with them and Girl Talk, which was funny, but it’s already floating around all over the place, so no need for redundancy.

Ty and Bradford.

I’m hiding here because I look haggard from the night before. Jamie looks as dapper as ever and was as charming a man as he always is. Wish we hadn’t had to leave midday on Sunday and miss his set.

I had to include this shot b/c it’s really cute, but also super funny in a Hallmark sense. Angelic image of man with daughter who makes angelic music.

Ryan and Bradford before Girl Talk…

Moses from Deerhunter has the best t-shirt collection ever. This past weekend he was sporting another t-shirt that I was drooling over. I later found out it was made by the same guy who did this amazing dolphin bikini tee. I need to figure out who this guy is so I can spend all my money on his t-shirts.

So yeah, to summarize the Pitchfork Festival—it was a sunny blur of awesomeness. Sure some complained about sound issues, but we had a good time and as far as outdoor concerts go (it’s not exactly the best setting for us), this one was ace! So let’s switch gears. Festival mania is over. After that everyone in the band was about to pass out from exhaustion. We’d done Europe, then Feist tour, and about eight festivals criss-crossing the Atlantic, and at that point it seemed as though we just wanted to disappear for life. That’s when I took my cue and went to an island off Cape Cod with a bunch of friends for ten days and enjoyed total isolation. The house we were at had no electricity, just a bit of running water and a fireplace. Here’s a bunch of pictures. I don’t need to explain much, other than it was great fun.

Oh wait, I should add, my mom got married! Very casually as you can see—on a boat. So one day I left my friends and Chad, and I came to celebrate her second marriage. Here’s a shot of the vows. Very salty New England, no?

We love to take night walks to the beach. Here is a shot from one of those adventures.

Our good friend Piera made these delicious desserts for us one evening.

In the middle of the ten-day trip, most everyone had to leave on Monday to get back to work, but Chad and I remained and were met by the lovely Owen and Patrick. They, too, were taking a break from touring, so we were treated to their company for a few days and a lovely rendition of “Jesse” by Owen on the piano.

If you haven’t seen Final Fantasy live yet, please do. I think his show with Cadence Weapon at the Bowery in November is going to be incredible. What a double bill!

After Owen and Patrick left, Chad and the beast and I had one night alone in the old spooky house. We mellowed out waiting for the second weekend of people to arrive.

And arrive they did, in the middle of a huge cloud of fog. They brought Kadema paddles, too, which are always popular in the lawn area.

Here’s a final shot of the amazing lake we’d walk to to swim at. It was the most beautiful last day ever.

THEN CAME ICELAND. My Lord, I must say my camera and these pictures do NOT do justice to the intense beauty of this country. People always told me it’s incredible, but driving around the country doing the ring road was hands-down the most majestic, surreal, and intensely gorgeous thing I’ve ever done. It’s a shame everything is so expensive (a random bowl of tomato soup at a “cheap” cafe was 25 bucks) because visiting Iceland is something everyone should do if they can. Reykjavik is cool and all, but it’s really all about the nature there, as evidenced by these photos, which are about 1% as beautiful as it really was in person.

One bizarre total coincidence about our trip to Iceland was that Chad and I were there for Reykjavik’s Gay Pride parade, which we soon discovered was the biggest public gathering in Iceland every year. It was hilarious. Iceland itself I heard is only about 300,000 people—180,000 of which live in the capital—and the parade pretty much attracted everyone. It seemed like all the gay people of iceland were IN the parade and that thousands of families and kids were the spectators. It was so different from the sometimes lewd NYC parade. This was for everyone. Kids were everywhere with rainbow flags painted on their cheeks, etc., etc. It’s enough to make the religious right in America scream with terror, but it was really quite amazing. In the end it was more a time for everyone to have fun together and dress up, rather than a major political statement, which just says something about the liberal/progressive Icelandic people. I mean I caught tons of Euro bro-down, gel in hair, straight dudes at this parade with their girlfriends having as much fun as the dancing queens. Below is a video of a kid busting a move behind a float. I thought he was pretty rad, so I took a video

The whole reason we were able to afford staying in Reykjavik was because of the extreme hospitality of producer extraordinaire Valgeir Sigurðsson, with whom we were lucky to meet and befriend via Nico Muhly. Nico was there was well and did an amazing performance at the big church on the hill in Reyjkavik. This is the inside of it during the performance.

Here is the outside of it:

And here we have Nico, friend of Nico in middle, and Chad post-performance, getting ready to
enjoy a sunny night in town:

Below are just a ton of pictures from the trip. They speak for themselves. Thanks for reading. Here’s that vampire weekend track I’ve been enjoying so much lately!

Download audio file (bryn.mp3)

Download Vampire Weekend – Bryn

P.S. Oh yeah, Beast is tired from all the activities this summer, too.

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So before I talk/post some fun pictures from last night’s evening with CSS at Studio B (drinks are way too $$$!!!), I’d like to make note of what I’m prematurely going to say are my three bands of the year. I sort of know my listening habits, and I’m pretty positive that I can say nobody will top these three bands this year for me, unless something so fresh and so new unearths itself from under a blog and smacks me across the face.

It’s not a very surprising list, as I’ve been endlessly gushing about these bands, but what cemented my third pick was hearing the new Cass McCombs track, which just brings me back to my previous obsession with PreFection and a total realization that he might be one of my favorite songwriters ever—at the very least, in the past few years. You simply must download it (below) and enjoy it on repeat as I’ve been doing these past few days.

Then there is, of course, Deerhunter, who possess that glorious quality in music that I love the most. Longevity and subtlety. It took me AGES to really “get” Deerhunter, but now that I do, Jesus Christ! I will just remain a #1 fan for life, and I’m saying this despite being friends with them. I think at this point I can sort of separate friend from music, etc. The EP is a thing of magic and should definitely be purchased by ALL. Also live?—:LADHJGF:ldjas;fglkdjsa;glfkdjs;glkajds!!!!!!!!! Yes yes yes………….yes.

Which brings me to my last band of 2007—the Dirty Projectors. Again, friends; Chris Taylor recorded and produced it, but fuck it; I know music that I love regardless of nepotism. Rise Above is 100 percent the most original album I’ve heard in centuries. Not since 1402 have I heard something this amazing. And the best part is the live show totally lives up to the recordings and is that great kind of live show that changes every night, so you can see them ten times in a row and get a different amazing experience each time. If there is an indie rock god (Pitchfork?), please shine your love on this glorious album which curiously is released on Sept 11^th.

Here are three songs—one from each. Please buy these bands’ music. I happen to know nobody here is shifting hundreds of thousands of units, and every sale helps!

Download audio file (cmtt.mp3)

Download Cass McCombs – That’s That

Download audio file (fluorescent.mp3)

Download Deerhunter – Fluorescent Grey

Download audio file (nomore.mp3)

Download The Dirty Projectors – No More

OK… a few early-August observations.

1. It’s way too hot and sticky.
2. Gimme Coffee owns my soul. I get an iced midnight rider there every morning that I’m home.
3. There are a lot of people doing home improvements. I waited thirty minutes to check out at my local hardware store today.
4. I enjoyed the visuals from the movie Sunshine a lot.
5. I’m going to Iceland next week for a vacation, but I just looked at weather.com, and it’s very cold and rainy! :(
6. I just read the singer from Midlake’s “Guest List” feature on Pitchfork today and was struck by how strange it is that someone playing so many festivals and touring the world in the “indie” circuit is completely unaware of much new music around. He must be REALLY into his copy of Crime and Punishment!
7. I’ve never read Crime and Punishment.
8. CSS like alcohol almost as much as Grizzly Bear does!
9. Please try Hendricks gin, and muddle it with either a) cucumber and mint or b) cilantro. My new favorite.
10. More pictures from the summer coming up soon after this post.

So the CSS show was, per usual, a ton of fun. Had I forced myself into the beyond-crammed Studio B front audience section, I would have been treated to a shitload of crowd surfing. Funnily enough I was both amazed at the excitement and enthusiasm in the room and surprised at how sort of tepid the applause was. I suppose I’m used to seeing them in Europe, where they are super stars and everyone hangs on her every word and FREAKS THE FUCK OUT when they finish a song. That said, people were definitely having the time of their life. And it was late. And everyone was drunk. I was sad to hear about their airline troubles this morning. At first I was excited because they were talking about staying in New York and grilling, and I love grilling, but then they couldn’t find a hotel and had to drive to Baltimore, and my couch doesn’t fit five Brazilians.

So anyhow, here are some random pictures from last night. None from the show because I didn’t have a proper camera—just camera on the phone.

Happy summer, everyone.

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Post totally stolen from Brooklyn Vegan, but it’s too link-heavy and informative NOT to steal:

In today’s installment of ‘Indie Rock Orgy’….

The Gorge, early in the day.

Bear looking summery.

Bear just moments later looking less summery in long pants.

T setting up his pedals in the grass before the show.

There actually was a huge wooden grizzly bear rocking out. It was so fitting.

Richard Perry and I right before eating some ice cream.

T at the Xbox tent trying to figure out how to play a racing game.

Chilled-out Gorge times.

Filling up…

Right before our set.

Mr. Juice himself getting ready to do some sound, but then the comedian announcer guy announced us before we’d even line checked or Juice had gotten to the sound booth! So the first few songs were quite rough, thanks to Aziz jumping the gun.

Patrick Wolf double fisting.

Triple fisting…

Sarah Silverman and her man Jimmy Kimmel. Weirdly she didn’t do much MC-ing.

St. Vincent and Patrick Wolf.

Arcade Fire and thousands of fans. Damn, they have a complex lighting/stage set up. Were fantastic, as usual. Wanted to get some pictures of Björk’s performance, but there was so much flashing lights and movement that I couldn’t hold the camera straight.

Danielle (a.k.a. Rio En Medio), who was touring with us in Europe, outside our “Chalet” at ATP in Minehead, England.

There she is enjoying a small ride.

The waterfront in Minehead. Later that night we did a few songs on the beach, some of which are floating around YouTube.

Señor Gooze being a Gooze.

Dan, Danielle, Gooze, and I took a long walk up the hill in the town to the church. Here are a few pictures from our little afternoon in the sun in quaint England.

Friend?

I’m just going to do a series of festival updates in pictures since I didn’t really post much about them at the time. Here is Coachella in pictures.

Reading up on life at the airport en route.

At the Filter pre-Coachella party. Mildly confused.

Rick Nichols, the man with a plan.

Sitting on the back of a golf cart that carries you around festival grounds. That’s my foot.

Random snapshot of nothing very exciting.

THE Simon Halliday of Warp Records double fisting some festival fun.

Back at the pad.

So serene and pretty and groomed but so insanely hot.

Over at the CSS pad, Chad hangs.

Adriano from CSS got drunk and a piece of his chest shaved. It will take months for that to grow back. Oh to be hairy, Brazilian and in a rock band!

More CSS peeps.

Shannon from Paper Mag.

More CSS lovelies.

and again…

…and then Luiza to finish it off. Wish I had pictures of their performance with Paris Hilton dancing on the side of the stage. Was rather hilarious.

The grounds.

Girl Talk mania! Balloons! Scantily clad girls on stage dancing, Paris Hilton (again), and sweet tunes. He was great.

Josh from Tapes ‘n Tapes on the Tapes ‘n Tapes tour bus with a video game on the side of it. It was so comfy inside. We are so jealous of tour busses.

Back at Casa de CSS night two, Kevin Barnes from Of Montreal came by, and we all went swimming. Afterwards the police came, and we tried to get a picture of Kevin and the policeman, and the police man yelled at us; hence, Kevin was sad.

When I got home that night, this is what I found in my bed. It took us thirty minutes to get her out of there.

Lately i’ve been bad and blogging for others when I should be blogging myself, which is lame! But sometimes bigger better blogs invite me to blog and the inner dork in me thinks “Wow, now THAT’S A FUCKING BLOG!”

Point being I have a ton of pictures and mp3s to share soon. In the meantime all I want to say is that two things completely own me right now:

1. Barcelona
2. The new Deerhunter EP (jesus lord is it good)

Download audio file (washoff.mp3)

Download Deerhunter – Wash Off

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(just back from the “Do You Know Me Tour”)

DO YOU KNOW ME AT ATP:

• a song in french
• dancing with the locals
• a marriage proposal during the show
• the bollocks bros
• angels
• underage boys
• beach
• english country stroll
• dream sharing
• pep in leicester
• pep in paris
• pep in ATP
• pep in hamburg
• pep london
• pep in glasgow
• fake tattoos
• pep of the pep in dublin
• headbanging in leicester
• backing vocals in leicester
• sailing by night
• bumper cars
• vive le gay dwarf
• simon filming boys in the audience

I was busy blogging for Rolling Stone, so I totally slacked on Coachella for our site. Good thing the Hot Lisp has plenty of juicy pictures

1. My dog, especially when he’s squinting at the camera. Maybe he’s just in bliss listening to the Arcade Fire—who knows. For some reason this video is more amusing than it should be.

   Am I turning into crazy dog owner? Probably…

2. This new band “Magic Arm” out of the UK. Incredible music. Please download this song. I dare you to tell me it sucks.

   Download audio file (outdoor.mp3)

   Download Magic Arms – Outdoor Games

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Only twelve years old. Granted it wasn’t all her genius, but still, for a twelve-year-old girl in 1980, she’s pretty damn amazing.

Download audio file (kate.mp3)

Download Chandra – Kate

But Chandra isn’t the only child genius out there. Check out these Atlanta boys take “Knife” to the next level.

They were super nice when they came to the show, and one of them even made a t shirt for the evening! Check it out!

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Just kidding! He essentially had no clue who we were, but his music booker did and she was real nice. So to prep for our first ever late night TV appearance, I decided it was time to blog about it. Yeah, some are waiting for a tour-end recap in which I do the best/worst of, but I think that was a one-time deal only, plus this tour was too many bests and not a lot of worsts, it was truly on a whole a really great time. I do have a post about gas station food in the works, but I’ve yet to upload Chris Taylor’s imfamous video, which will come shortly.

So here we are playing our SECOND song for Carson, the first “Knife” went over pretty well, considering we were a last minute fill in for an Emo band I’d never heard of called “Say Anything”. Needless the say, Say Anything’s fans were slightly confused, if not shocked and bewildered by the time the middle of “Lullabye” kicked in. Of course they clapped and hooted because there are about 3 stage dudes telling the crowd to cheer and for how long, and how loud. We were inwardly dying of laughter. I couldn’t take my eyes off of two older looking women who appeared to be visiting from somewhere in this fair country, who had a “the devil has come!” looks on their faces. You can see the backs of their heads in this picture. Towards the right…Anyhow, how it worked for us was they taped these two songs back in February, and saved them for future dates so this THURSDAY, March 15th, it will appear we are playing live, when really it was 3 weeks or so earlier. The guest who was there the night we played was that guy who can jump around in time on Heroes from Japan. However, when we air, an actor named Oliver Hudson will appear…I should IMDB him and find out his story…

Anyhow to get a better picture of the vibe, here’s a picture of Dan and CT getting a brief handshake from our cordial host, and the confused crowd being ushered out.

Don’t forget to tune in at 1:30 am this thursday night! (friday early morning)

Jesus Christ, I’m a bad blogger. I keep saying that ever post too about how I’m gonna change and make good on our “blog” section of the website, but I’ve just been slacking. Chalk it up to good shows and Tylenol PM for the long rides.

I think we last left off somewhere far away. Was it Chicago? Did I even take pictures in Chicago? If I didn’t that’s a shame because all those Midwestern shows were tons o’ fun. Anyhow, I want to start off by mentioning Salt Lake City, which was a HUGE, wonderful surprise for us. Not only was it the most attentive crowd in the history of crowds, EVER, but we actually managed to sell out our little venue on that Valentine’s Day. Who knew? I bet you are asking “Did you meet lots of Mormons?” Well, I’m here to tell you Yes, we did. A friendly lot. Some even were “cool” with me being gay. Anyhow, we met some people were also cool with drinking, which is not super popular in SLC, but these people invited us to a dance party called TED DANC’N, which was pretty sweet. It was essentially everyone in the city who partied, all at one spot. You had just about every type of counter culture kid there, and needless to say, the experience charmed the pants off of us.  I have some party shots, but I have SO many pictures to share, I’m going to skip over those. However, here is our special outdoor separate merch area at the SLC venue, which I found intriguing. Plus there was a bonfire, and the whole space was very DIY but also very cute. I asked everyone in the audience who was there on dates, and nobody said anything then after the show four couples (maybe more) shyly mentioned they were there on dates. I asked why they didn’t speak up, and they said “We didn’t want to disturb you”. What an appreciative/obedient/shy and also sober crowd. Never had a show quite like it before, but we fully enjoyed the evening.

Well yeah, then we drove the most painfully long drive to Seattle and picked up one of our favorite creatures ever, MEELZY PR, aka Amelia Bauer, who is also in our links section and designed our tote bag. She is 100 percent sesh. Through and through. She toured with us to the Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland shows. Having her along kept spirits high, but there was no need for such a thing because the shows in all three towns were really, REALLY fun.

We loved Nuemos. So, so much. The crowd was the best Seattle crowd we’d ever had, and we were SO happy to have seen so many people come out! Over 700!! That’s crazy for us in Seattle. Big thanks to everyone who came. Neumos also was a really comfortable, great space to play, with super, super hilarious graffiti in the dressing rooms. Of course the centerpieces were the massive MAN MAN murals that were there (How on earth did they have time to construct such epic masterpieces on the night of the show? Who knows.), but it was this choice “Thas Wassup” drawing that really caught our attention. Check it out: dude machete cut through his mic because he’s so hardcore, and well, I guess thas just wassup.

So, as I breeze through these dates, I have to say every show (with the exception of the annonyingly loud crowd in Tucson) has been so amazing. This tour has made touring even more fun/worthwhile than we could have ever imagined. Another reason it’s been so cool has been in large part to being able to play with so many amazing bands. First it was the Dirty Projectors, then the Papercuts joined us, and then for SF/LA we were fortunate enough to have Foreign Born join the bill; they were so, so, so incredible. We were already arriving in SF high off of seeing the Papercuts play every night, and then to see FB—*sigh* I swoon for Matt (lead singer’s) voice. It’s just so amazing to me. Anyhow, if you haven’t seen them or the Papercuts play, please go do so. Here are Foreign Born sound checking in the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, which might just be my favorite show of the tour so far. Sold out show in a beautiful, grand space with amazing sound. If only every venue in the world could be so great.

Of course, San Francisco brings two of my favorite people in the world, Eve and Elizabeth. It was like I was home again, but in 2003, when they still lived in New York. Any chance I get to see these two makes me happy for days to follow.

It was also great to get a bit of remixer action in SF. I forgot to mention in Vancouver both Owen and Jeremy (Final Fantasy and Circlesquare) were there, which was, as usual, a blast, but I see those fools all the time. I don’t however, get to see Matthew (Safety Scissors) and Drew (Soft Pink Truth/Matmos) very often. So to have them at the show was an extra treat, particularly Drew’s super wild sweater, which I’ll take inspiration from for a long time. As for drunk girl, I don’t remember her name, but she asked to kiss me. I said no ,and then two seconds later, she was making out with the sound dude for Foreign Born. Nuff said.

L.A. was fun, fun, and more fun. Just like Seattle/SF were probably our best shows we’ve ever had in the city, I’d also have to say the same for the Troubadour in LA. I was pretty shocked actually how incredibly quiet and attentive the house was. I always equate big cities and big crowds with drunk/loud people, but I have been mostly wrong. The big cities are in some ways often the best, as was evidenced by the incredibly rowdy/loud crowd in Tucson. I liked the marquee name there, so I took a picture, but other than that, it was sort of our first semi-bummer show of the tour. It wasn’t bad, per se, but the crowd was so loud, our sound guy said he couldn’t even mix us properly because people were literally YELLING all over the place. Maybe it was just that Friday night, maybe it was too crowded for the space—dunno. Anyhow, let’s move on, shall we?

I miss my dog soooo much, and we stopped in El Paso, TX to go to the bank and eat, and the first thing I saw was a back yard with about five chihuahuas, and I just found it funny that the second we were just inches from the Mexican border, that suddenly chi’s were everywhere. Naturally it made me miss my chi-mutt-beast even more, but they were fun to hang with for a few minutes in the parking lot.

OH MARFA! Now I know why everyone loves Marfa; it’s just so fun and the people SO incredible!!! Every single person we met was just awesome through and through. Great food, fun performance space, amazing hotel called the Thunderbird (pictures below). Here’s a live shot of the Papercuts performing in the Marfa Ballroom.

Both we and the Papercuts were all in the best mood in Marfa. Feeling rested, well-fed and just excited to be in such a fun small town in a beautiful setting we decided to party that Saturday evening with all the locals, as well as tons of people who had travelled really far from Santa Fe! El Paso! Lubbuck! Mexico! Austin! It was a great evening that started off with a rowdy crowd (in a GOOD way) and ended at a bonfire keg party just five minutes from the venue.

Here’s David from the Papercuts with Ginger, in her truck on the way from the party.

At the party, things got a little wild with pitcher dude, who was seriously wasted at the show and at the party and remarkably not hung over looking the following morning. This leads me to believe pitcher dude is used to being pitcher dude and can just drink a shitload of beer. It’s in his blood or something. After I went to sleep I heard he threw his picher on the roof.

Matt from the Papercuts likes to party, too, you know.

I like these cousin IT shrubs which no doubt some commenter will inform me of the name of, but here is Dana paying respect to them (Dana is our new sound girl that had to replace Matt, who ABANDONED US FOR TV ON THE RADIO AGAIN!!! DAMN YOU MATT!!! Just kidding; that’s life, I guess) It’s a good thing Dana is so great.

The hotel—trendy design hotel in a town of 2000. Gentrification is a wild thing.

Then we got arty in Marfa, which is why Marfa became a spot where trendy boutique hotels could open. All thanks to Mr. Donald Judd and his wondrous metal boxes, which ARE quite incredible to see.

Art turns Bear on.

Donald Judd also did concrete installations (in the distance). Here we are (note Dan’s spiffy new overalls) walking in the desert to the cement installations.

My favorite were the Dan Flavin neon installations, in old bunker after bunker. I have to say, for such a small town there is A LOT of great things to do in Marfa. I wish we could do a whole tour in small towns like Marfa; that’d be so much fun. Definitely goes down as one of the more memorable places we’ve been to on the road.

Coming up soon—our CARSON DALY SHOW PICTURES. Good times, TV STYLE

There is Love.

Hi, everybody. My name is Amelia, but the boys usually call me Tour or Meelzy PR or just PR because those are things I do well. Also, when you’re in a van for long hours together spanning years and nothing else is happening, one thing leads to another and nicknames are made, and then nicknames are made from those nicknames, and it goes on and on like that forever. Anyways. I took a ton of pictures and a funny video this most recent tour time I shared with them, and Ed asked me to do a blog post, which I’ve never done before, so woot! Here it goes!

When Grizzly Bear rolled into Seattle, where I met up with them, they kicked it off right with a really sweet live set at KEXP. You can hear that here, if you want. It’s a pretty sesh. Christopher Bear had me clapping on “He hit me,” which everyone said they could hear, but I listened really, really close and I think they’re patronizing liars.

The studio had some serious mood lighting and even a lava lamp. Kind of a college dorm room vibe, but sweeter.

MLJ looks very mystical in the sound booth.

After that, Dan filed a request for bloody marys and wholesome non-road food at the Coastal Kitchen where we had eaten during the first tour back in 2005. Old habits die hard. Their sign even says “Now Touring,” so we were really feeling the vibe.

Here Dan ponders the menu.

C+C got beers not bloody marys, but hey, you make your choices in life.

After dazed tour-style wanderings about town we loaded into Neumo’s, which looks pretty now that those red drapes are up and you can’t see that tripped out mirror ball mural with the scary clown face in it. That was really doomed.

The green rooms (there are many) are in this really vast basement with all kinds of random stuff lying around, which has spooky feeling. Dan is definitely Creebsin’ out here.

Everybody liked the part of the Mam Mam mural that says “Thas Wussup.” Pretty stoney vibes all around.

Next morning we headed up to Vancouver. This is Amanda, who wins because she smuggled the merch across the border. She’s got a revolutionary spirit.

While we were in Vancouver this really sweet girl named Pam bought one of practically everything we had to offer merch-wise. I think that was one of the main reasons that Vancouver was the record-breaking night for merch sales on the tour thus far. I wanted to give her something like a discount or a poster or something, but no one was around to ask so I promised her I’d email her a picture or someone in the band. She requested Ed. I am a woman of my word, so this was what she got:

Ed looks like some kind of refugee woman stranded in this strange Mexican restaurant in the middle of Tacoma. Pam loved it.

In Portland there was a cupcake shop across the street from the venue. The mini little cupcake really puts the Meebs back in Creebs. Precious.

Christopher had a run in with a few fans while picking out his cupcake. Soon after, CT found this note on the the door for Bear (names have been blocked to protect the lives—-and reputations—of the individuals):

Sensational!

The green room at the Mission Theater looked and felt like a church basement, which I thought was awesome, but the others (especially Bear) had fear. Ed’s photo best illustrates that fearfullness.

Then there was some jamming.

Also this part was funny:

Shout outs to Nicholas “Rick” Lorden on the other end of the line.

Then it was time to get down to business and sound check. The mission Theater is really pretty inside.

Chris Taylor has a this really nice feather in his gear. He is a man who values beauty.

Serious Ed photo:

Christy Hall came by, who’s an old tour supporter and friend who put us all up in her apartment on the aforementioned first tour ‘05. Now she has this precious baby named Eleanor, who’s fashion sense is as sharp as her mother’s. Christopher and Eleanor fell in love. She really scored for a first boyfriend.

Then Eleanor helped us sell merch.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Its so nice to see someone trained in the ways of tour from such a young age.

TOUR ON!!!!! xo Meelzy

There’s much to chronicle on this tour, but the drives have been so strenuous, my finger tips so cold, that I’ve rarely found the time to do what I need to do, i.e. blog. However, as we cross the rockies and enter into newly-thawed territory, I’ve stopped hoarding ski boot warmers and have resolved to retire my longjohns for not-really-sunnier weather, but rainier weather—Seattle ahoy! We are not the only ones having trouble with the cold, though (remind me why we tour in February again?), but Gelly (short for “Magellan”), our faithful GPS system has taken to slowly finding her bearings, particularly in the colder regions we’ve visited—Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, ONTARIO. We and Gelly are having some serious love/hate moments, to the point where we’ve begun talking to her daily, making futile attempts to coax her into navigating us, when in reality we just drive around in circles until she picks up a signal. However, while this frigid weather is a new touring experience for us, there are many tried-and-true tour activities still happening. The most significant would be, of course, T and his impromptu haircuts. Dave from the Dirty Projectors was not one to pass up such a stylish cut, and it’s here that we find him in the backstage area of our Ottawa show, basking in the glow of neon overhead lighting and posing for a “before” shot.

During the cut, Dave’s girlfriend and fellow Dirty Projector Amber watches closely as if to make sure T doesn’t do anything that she doesn’t approve of.

During the trim, Dan took to warming in the coats that hung above his head.

Meanwhile, other DP Angel and I discussed our “Middle Eastern eyes” (she’s the real deal, I’m just swarthy, my mother says).

And then voilà! A happy, freshly cut Dave. It’s sort of sad for me to blog these pictures retroactively, as that it’s now been two shows without the DPs (Denver and Salt Lake City), and we’ve really missed them. They truly put on one of the best live shows I’ve been witness to.

So Gelly isn’t the only one that gets cranky. We all do. Naturally I miss Chad, our apartment and the pooch, and while last night I had to spend Valentines Day alone, I can take comfort in seeing Chad wherever a T Mobile dealer can be found! That’s right, he did a shoot for T Mobile last summer to make some extra dough and when I went to a mall in Michigan to pick up a new charger for my phone, what should I see but a giant poster of Chad and some “friends.” Naturally I needed to document the photo. The ladies working the shop were quite confused. I decided NOT to explain myself to them and just take the picture and roll.

Between the T Mobile shop and the below picture of Daniel prancing in the snow in the Denver streets, we’ve had many wonderful shows. Consistently amazing us night after night. It’s been one of the best touring experiences we’ve had so far. It really does make a difference getting to headline a tour finally and have people come out to show and actually want to hear the softer stuff. Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa City, SLC—so many awesome cities and people. Makes any frostbite we’ve endured thus far beyond worth it. I suppose that’s why Dan is so joyous. As a parting gift, I leave you with the song we’ve been covering this tour by the Crystals, “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss).” Study those lyrics so you wont be too puzzled when we bust it out on the road.

Download audio file (hehitme.mp3)

Download The Crystals – He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)

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So it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I blogged, and the largest problem is that I don’t have pictures to show everyone, so what the blog is going to become is a mish mash of pictures, from the past two months of NON BLOGGING as well as new ones. Just so everyone knows, we are doing really great! So far the shows have been amazing—all sold out which for us is like a dream come true. We’ve done four so far, and each one was special in its own right, and we have to say the audiences have been incredible. It’s so nice having people come to the show and really listening to the set; means we can play some of the softer songs, which is always fun. So big thanks to everyone that has come out to the shows thus far (Philly, Boston, Northampton and Montreal).

Now I’d also like to say that having the Dirty Projectors on tour with us has been utterly amazing. I am sort of in awe of their musicianship and live show. If you didn’t catch them, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. I honestly, truly, truly never tire of their set, mostly because it just never is the same and you can’t quite figure out what to expect.

Now for my random photos. I’m on a super brussel sprouts kick lately. This picture is from when Chad and I  cooked Thanksgiving in Brooklyn; we used really thick amazing pancetta and cooked it with the sprouts and had some friends over. I just like food pictures, so that’s why I included it.

My only other shot is of Hisham (he did a remix for us) giving the food some thumbs up , and he’s got the gravy spout, which is quite obviously a very important element to any Thanksgiving.

Shortly after Thanksgiving BUTT magazine had the launch party for their book, which I have a both an interview in, as well as a piece I wrote on Owen (Final Fantasy). Here is Owen’s one and only Patrik with the page open to Owen’s butt. If you’ve ever wanted to see his lily white cheeks, you know where to look now.

At the party we met John Cameron Mitchell, and Owen decided to wear a ’stache. I’m pretty amazed actually he was able to play at this party as it was really hectic and insane and not the best place for a boy and his violin to play a show, but naturally he pulled it off with his suave demeanor and wonderful music. (On a side note: JCM’s latest movie Shortbus is amazing, go see it if you haven’t)

On to Xmas. This year I went west to Orange County to visit Chad’s family, and we both got a crazy 24-hour bug that happened on Xmas Eve and resulted in some violent illness. A few days later we headed to LA and had a 24-hour wildfest at the Park’s household with Elizabeth, Sally and Van Dyke, not to mention Elizabeth’s beau Ian, who is quite the filmmaker. I’m sort of looking haggard in a post-pukefest sort of way, but I mustered up some Xmas spirit but sadly missed out on their annual stone-crab feast they had just hours after we left. Curses. I LOVE STONE CRAB. That should be known.

So the only picture from this tour I’ve taken was of this frozen tundra between Montreal and Ottawa. Damn, touring in February up north is pretty brutal. Plus our van’s heat is sorta weird and only heats the front of van, so anyone sitting behind the driver gets frostbite, and it’s not uncommon to see everyone sitting cross legged in hopes of their ass warming up their frozen toes. We have quite some time in this environs, and it looks like we’ll be playing footsie for the next two weeks until we hit California. If anyone has those feet warmers you use in your ski boots, please bring them to the shows! I’ll pay top dollar for them!!!

Goodness, I’m a loser. If it wasn’t dorky enough to have my boyfriend of three years off Friendster back in the days pre-MySpace, I used to do all sorts of sites, but it appears so do lots of people.

Case in point: CSS.

These Brazilians have BLOWN THE FUCK UP in the UK, like crazy styles— selling out massive shows (kinda reminds me of my post about We Are Scientists; different things seem to *stick* there)!

Anyhow, that’s beside the point, but kudos to them on the success.

The story is—I used to use a site called Fotolog, which was kinda fun. You uploaded pictures, commented on them, etc., and one thing that was really random to me about the site was how insanely dominated by Brazilians it was. Anyhow, I used to be Fotolog friends three years ago or so (pre-Horn of Plenty and pre-CSS) with a girl who back then actually called herself Lovefoxxx.

Well CSS arrived, and I kept thinking to myself, That girl, that name… it seems SO familiar. I then caught a Flickr account user with the same name leaving notes on our blog photos, and I kept thinking, Where the hell do I know this person from?

First I made the connection to CSS because I wasn’t up-to-date on my Sub Pop happenings and wasn’t entirely aware of the band/all their names, etc., but it was after some sleuthing that I discovered: Goodness! It was my old Fotolog friend!!!

Naturally I had a five-minute moment of “Wow, the world is small” and forgot all about it.

UNTIL… a friend of the band wrote us on MySpace saying how Adriano from CSS was his best friend and loved our album so much and that the whole band was all about Yellow House.

Now some of you might think “What’s a hot , dance punk band from Brazil doing giving a shit about a record like Yellow House?” and I say, “Why is Hot Chip my #1 album of the year?”

Peeps like all sorts, of course. But still I was a touch surprised. Then we got in contact, and the next thing you know, I’ve started receiving drunken IMs (instant messages, further proof of my lame
internet dorkiness) from Lovefoxxx and Adriano quite a few times when they were drunk after big UK shows.

Blah blah blah, to make a long story short, they wanted to cover “Knife,” and I wanted to do a song of theirs, but I can’t decide which one.

Any suggestions? I was thinking “Alala,” but how the hell would I do that? I might just totally add all sorts of melodies and reinvent it. Anyhow, here’s the video for “Alala,” which has got to be one of the best videos of the year.

The end of a funny story. I can’t wait to see them live; maybe I’ll even dance!

Owen is sitting in my living room, getting ready to play the BUTT book party this weekend in New York, and he mentioned that nobody had asked him for his year end list, so I decided what better place to publish it, but our 10million hits-per-day blog? So without further ado, Owen Pallett’s top 20!

1. Xiu Xiu – The Air Force
2. Rozasia – Rozasia EP
3. Ratface Dream Angel – Mix CD-Rs
4. Sparks – Hello Young Lovers
5. Grizzly Bear – Yellow House [Yay! I smell nepotism.]
6. Sandro Perri – Sings Polmo Polpo
7. Scott Walker – The Drift
8. Simon Bookish – Trainwreck/Raincheck
9. Kevin Blechdom – Eat My Heart Out
10. Wyrd Visions – Half Eaten Guitar
11. Lullabye Arkestra – Ampgrave
12. Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming
13. Destroyer – Rubies
14. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
15. Daiquiri – Babies Making Babies
16. Alex Lukashevsky – Connexions
17. Castlemusic – Live at the Music Gallery
18. Glissandro 70 – Glissandro 70
19. Joannna Newsom – Ys
20. Planningtorock – Have It All

Well, it’s been almost a week since we were robbed. We are back in New York, sifting through receipts in order to try and get some of the loss back via my insurance—and the whole thing still seems like a dream. However, rather than dwell on the bad, I’d like to highlight the last bits of the tour because up until we discovered the van, we had a really lovely time.

This is a picture of the Foundation Cartier in Paris. Probably one of the most magical and special places we’ve gotten to play. It was our first sold-out show in Paris, and the crowd was so lovely. We got to play a longer set and played a few songs we don’t normally do live because of the extra-attentive crowd. We had our usual gaggle of Parisian friends there, and after the show we enjoyed some champagne with the venue (that’s a first to be given champagne from a venue. Well, it’s a gallery/museum, so I guess it makes sense, cough cough, CARTIER!). We observed the view of Paris at night from the top floor and then ate a long, delicious meal till the wee hours of the evening.

Belgium was no different, really. We saw our friends and had a great crowd and dinner, but the wonderful surprise of the evening was having TV on the Radio in Brussels with a night off!

Naturally, after the show we all went out to a bar and made merry. Very merry, as sinister things happened just under two miles away (sniff sniff). Here are Dave and I imitating each other. He’s feigning I guess a “Whatever, I’m Gay” face, and I’m doing some serious shredding, Dave-Sitek-style. Have you seen him shred on stage? My face there isn’t even beginning to do his shredding vibe justice; you just need to watch the man shred. We talked romance, and I had five cosmopolitans because a Belgian lady told me they were very good there, and they were!

Here’s our own special T with another special man named Kyp. To boot, let’s throw in the most special Belgian man out there—Didier, who has always been the best host ever.

Because what does a good Belgian host do other than walk you to top notch frites that you can eat after having one too many Cosmos? Meanwhile, on a street corner not too far away…

The terrible events unfolded, and glass was shattered. Tour suddenly ended and we found ourselves all without clothing.

So what does one do when one has no more clean underwear and no more shirts? One wears a towel and a Grizzly Bear merch t-shirt, of course! This was my outfit for the last day in Brussels as I stayed in the hotel room, called various people, and let them know of the sad news.

But all is not sad. If anything this picture is pretty hilarious. The whole band just started pillaging our merch t-shirts to have clean clothing, and suddenly we were one of those horrible bands that wear their own merchandise! Had we been busted, I think we’d have had a proper excuse for it, but damn if those American Apparel jersey knit shirts aren’t the most comfortable thing ever! It’s like just the thinness you always are hoping after years of washing your t-shirt will get to, but without the wait!!! I highly recommend them. Softness to the max.

So to backtrack: the day we discovered the van, we spent all daylight hours at police stations, embassies, on the internet and phone, contacting various people around the world to put the sudden brakes on what was shaping up to be a lovely tour.

As luck would have it, TVotR was still in town doing their show with We Are Scientists, with opening acts from Mates of State and Au Revoir Simone. Fun times were still to be had, and of course we were all desperate to just forget the whole event, so we headed back to the same venue we were at the night before, but to the BIG space. We missed Au Revoir Simone and Mates of State, but we made it in time for both TVotR’s set and We Are Scientists.

Let me start out by saying it’s crazy how quickly word spread. The internet is surely a powerful tool. Everyone knew everything. I first ran into Heather from Au Revoir Simone, and we hugged and chatted about how it’s been forever and the theft, etc. Then one by one all the ARS girls appeared, and we watched TVotR from side stage and drank canned Stellas. They told me all about their touring adventures with We Are Scientists and how much fun it had been, but also difficult to be the first of three bands (I think Mates were with them for UK dates, too, but not sure) and to win people over with mellow keyboard jams. ARS are wonderful; if you haven’t heard them, check out this song:

Download audio file (Backyards%20of%20Our%20Neighbors.mp3)

Download Au Revoir Simone – Backyards of Our Neighborhoods

So, much to my surprise I found out We Are Scientists were essentially mega huge, crazy massive pop stars in the UK, thanks to the NME and of course, catchy pop songs. I was rather baffled at first, because (no offense to the WAS boys) I’d only remember suddenly hearing about them when their Kitty poster was plastered all over NYC the year before, but then I’d not heard it again. Well, knowingly, at least.

The first guy I met was Mike, who’s holding the tabby on the left and who offered me a beer, apparently having heard the news. These guys were seriously nice. I’ve met big bands before and been really bummed to be confronted with bloated egos and attitude, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t met a bunch of nicer “pop stars” then these three. Well, two; I didn’t meet the guy with the Erlend Oye glasses, but I enjoyed his stage banter; I was impressed. So then the lead singer (who is center and apparently whom Chris Bear has been mistaken for in Williamsburg several times) came over and started chatting with Erica of ARS and me, and he revealed that he was a Grizzly Bear fan (which was somehow surprising) and that he had BOTH albums. Awww, shucks. Best way to a musician’s heart. Haha. Anyhow,they put on a lively, fun show. Like one I don’t think I’d ever seen before. The first 20 or so rows of people were below the age of 18 and knew all the words, had posters, and it essentially looked like what I’d seen in music videos for Bon Jovi back in 80’s. Not to mention how effortless and tight they were.

I must admit to having been a bit jealous. A double decker tour bus (nobody gonna steal your shit from that tank!), a crew that set everything up for you and packed it all away. Just walk on stage, rock, and leave. It all looked so enticing and easy and fun and carefree. It made me momentarily want to drop everything and just write the poppiest stuff I could think of. The stage was clean and empty from too many pedals, which afforded them a lot of space to jump around and run and jump on top of the kick drum and jump down, not to mention the bass player was wireless, so he really could just do whatever the hell he wanted, although he wasn’t as active as Keith, the lead singer, was. Anyhow, I guess I was just a bit awestruck and intrigued by their whole existence and the world which they were in and in which suddenly you can be plastered all over NYC and make it big somewhere like the UK and sell out two 5,000-person capacity venues left and right.

Which is not to say they didn’t earn it. I mean their tour they billed “The Longest Tour in the History of the World,” and to be completely real, it fucking was. Mind bogglingly long. I mean, you’d HAVE to have a crew and double decker bus to tour that much.

Anyhow, the moral of the story was they were really fucking nice, and it was very interesting/fun to meet and see them play.

TVotR of course played an excellent set to adoring Belgian fans and were ridiculously supportive to us. Everyone is gearing up for their album to sweep the year-end lists and probably take many of the top spots. It surely deserves to and if you haven’t picked up your copy, do it now!

On to other nice musicians: Man Man. When we got home we had a message from our booking agent about how sorry Man Man was about the robbery and how they wanted to do a benefit show with us in Philly to raise money for the lost gear. Jesus, how fucking nice are people! Man Man not only have a reputation for putting on the best live show going on right now, but they also have to be some of the friendliest chaps around. I’m not sure we’ll do the show—ot because we didn’t fully appreciate the offer, but rather we all just feel weird about accepting donations or doing benefits for the cause. Hopefully insurance will cover it, but if not we can earn it back, and if you want to donate money there are millions of charities out there that I’m sure could use some extra cash for their cause.

And so tomorrow I will see Man Man again play with other Warp peeps Battles and Jamie Lidell and Clark, which should probably be one of the best lineups the year has seen. Despite being soured from tour and seeing shows and being in venues, I will go and I will have a fucking great time because, as I said, musicians are so nice (lately, at least)!

End of story. I’d like to leave you with three musical things that are blowing my mind. The first is this Knife video which I’d never seen before but I’m now convinced is the most brilliant video ever.

The next is a song by a London singer songwriter called “Sleeping States” and this is a song I’ve been playing on constant repeat the past couple of days. So gorgeous and beautiful. Check out his amazing video as well on his MySpace account.

Download audio file (Rivers.mp3)

Download Sleeping States – Rivers

And the last is something Dan played for me the day after the robbery to cheer me up. What is it you ask? It’s an isolated vocal track from a Smash Mouth song that was from a shelved album that never saw the light of day. I don’t think I need to say much more about it other than listen to it now and if you don’t laugh I’ll buy a drink. Promise.

Download audio file (Days%20Like%20These%20(Lead%20Vocal).mp3)

Download Smash Mouth – Days Like These [Vocal Track]

What’s your favorite line? Mine is “Make the holidays last.”

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I’ve been thinking lately about turning this into a food blog because as of late, that’s where all the band’s enjoyment has been coming. Namely French and Italian food, since we’ve just about finished a slew of shows in France and Italy. Here we have pictures from Lake Como, where we were able to take three days off, and I actually bumped into someone I met once four years ago and then somedelicious French food Guillaume cooked for us. Guillaume saw how much we loved our grub so much, he gave CT an amazing French cook book that we trade off staring at as we drive through the increasingly cold European landscape. Of course we could do a whole other blog post about Italian food and French landscapes, but I only have these pictures to work with, so for now enjoy these and know that, no matter what, Chris Bear will always be a vegetarian.

At the moment we are in Strasbourg, France, at a venue where there is a BIG stage and a small stage. Naturally we are on the small one, which is fine by us, but it’s funny to see how big White Man rasta music is in France! These dudes have a full-on double decker tour bus, and the show looks pretty insanely full with French people and LOTS OF WHITE DREADS. It’s pretty hilarious. I had no idea what a market there was here for that, but I guess that’s how it is world wide, or maybe it’s a french thing. Anyhow…we can vaguely hear their beats through the walls separating the two shows.

Ok, so the title of this was about Italy and France, but I should give Switzerland some serious props for having the friendliest venues and crowds. I mean, for real it’s insane how wonderfully we were treated in Switzerland. All three of the venues run and owned by amazing people. If you ever have a chance to check out the Palace in St. Gallen (an amazing old movie-theater-turned-venue), El Lokal in Zurich ( a great restaurant/venue on an island in Zurich), or Das Schiff in Basel (incredible venue that’s actually a boat), you must. It seems the boat venue was struggling a bit in Basel, but we assured the owners: it’s an amazing space and venue and if they can’t make it in Basel (maybe it’s not a big town for live music), then they should just sail off to other cities, where they would surely be loved.

So yes, with all this Swiss love comes two Swiss mountain pictures.

After all is said, we are having a lovely time and looking forward to some of the bigger shows in bigger cities. London! Copenhagen! Paris! Berlin! Dublin!

It’s all too much to handle. I hope to see you all out because as it looks now, we most likely won’t be back to Europe for some time.

All the best!

By the way, this poll is really silly and doesn’t mean much. When I say a crowd wasn’t the loudest for TV on the Radio at a certain space, I CLEARLY could be wrong. Also, the crowd EVERY night was great for TV on the Radio. It was their tour and they were met with excited people across the nation. I’m just making a list because lists are fun. No complaining here; just taking notes for the hell of it.

Inspired by the annual “Best Of” issue of the Village Voice, I found myself making mental notes to myself throughout our just finished support tour with TV on the Radio, of places I liked, crowds who were great, bathrooms that were hell, etc.

To say that ANYTHING was bad about this tour is really false to begin with because, in all honesty, it was one of the most pleasurable touring experiences we’ve ever had. TV on the Radio, aside from being a relentlessly brilliant band live and on record, are also, as it turned out, some of the most genuine, down-to-earth, friendly people I’ve ever had the luck to meet. This isn’t just some brown-nosing post where I stoke off each member of the band, but honestly as a small band, supporting a big band, it can sometimes be hard, and well, I guess I’m just extremely appreciative of not only their support and kindness, but their entire team of people traveling with them. Now with that said, I’d like to give the awards. Feel free to debate, disagree or whatever with the rundown of the tour in the comments sections.

Also, this is mostly my opinion, but I know on many of these the rest of the band would agree with me, but I can’t speak for them.

Biggest Show: First Avenue Club in Minneapolis
When we took the stage, I was in shock at the size of the crowd. I heard it was close to 1800 people which was EASILY the biggest crowd, by a few hundred, which when I think of all the major cities we played seems a bit strange, but then again everyone is always talking about the music scene in , I guess now I see what a great place it is to play, especially if you are TV on the Radio.

Smallest Show: The Playmakers in Fargo
This was one of the only shows we played with TV that, along with Detroit, wasn’t sold out. However, the crowd was really great here. They were unusually attentive and excited. Many of them had driven from Winnipeg, some even from *gulp* Kansas. Kudos to all the people that drove so far to see these shows; it’s pretty impressive.

Most Attentive Crowd: The Metro in Chicago
We knew going into this that many of our songs would be just too slow for TV on the Radio’s fans, so generally we’d only play our more upbeat songs to sort of fit the bill a bit more than perhaps we would normally. I must admit, it can be hard to open for a massively popular rock band because everyone is jazzed to pump their fists in the air, and jump up and down and no matter how you shake it, we aren’t that type of band. Which can be frustrating when people just want that, and you can’t provide it, and then you get faulted for not being energetic enough or dancey enough, even though that’s not what your goal is. That said, I was surprised how kind the audiences were. Granted, there was always a good 30 percent of the crowd (sometimes more or less, but on average) chatting rather loudly in the background or at the bar just waiting for TV to take the stage, but Chicago was different. Bizarrely quiet for us, in a surprising way. It was really quite nice–not necessarily one of our best performed shows, but certainly the most attentive crowd, and for that I was quite happy.

Least Attentive Crowd: St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit
I’ve never, ever, ever had to play in front of such a loud crowd. Not only was barely anyone paying attention but to boot there was a cluster of EXTREMELY drunk girls near the front who wouldn’t shut up. Can’t really say much positive about this show, I’m glad those that enjoyed it and came up to us after the show did so, because after we got off stage all I wanted to do was hide and get to Canada , quick. We of course put on a straight face and soldiered through our set, but it’s very difficult to do so when people are practically yelling during the whole show. Thankfully this experience was specific to just Detroit, and while we definitely had some other chatty crowds (Philly comes in second, I’d say)–nobody came even close to touching the level of noise that Detroit was making.

Favorite Show: (Tie)
First Avenue in Minneapolis & Le National in Montréal
Part of what makes us play better is having great on stage sound, so not only were these our favorite shows, but they were also easily the best monitor sound, so firstly let me start by thanking the monitor guys at both venues. The crowds at these shows were also amazing, and so were the spaces and the sound in the room. This made for two really memorable shows, both quite different from the other. Minneapolis, much more a rock club, rowdy crowd, (also quite loud, but in this setting it didn’t phase us)… and Montreal, a very still and appreciative crowd in a wonderful old theater with incredible lighting as well. There were other shows that were awesome too; in fact, generally speaking, we felt pretty good about each night, but these two stood out the most!

Least Favorite Show: The Opera House in Toronto
The sound at this venue was pretty poor, even MORE so for TV on the Radio–which is pretty rare, actually. The people that worked at the venue were pretty rude to our tour manager, the backstage LITERALLY smelled like shit, and there was essentially nothing there for us. However, it wasn’t all those things that made this night the worst, but mostly because we had our first and only heckler at this show, who decided to park himself up REAL close to the stage and yell at us during our entire set. It was pretty rough to get through because he was so relentless. I mean, it’s more than obvious we aren’t going to be up everyone’s alley. This is a given, and most people just talk loudly or hang in the back if they aren’t feeling it, but does one really need to taunt the opening band for their entire set? Ugh… anyhow, the crowds on a whole were nice, and it was weird what happened in Toronto because we’ve always had SUCH amazing experiences there with Final Fantasy and in other venues, and it’s sort of a city we’ve grown to love a lot, so it was a shame that the evening was sort of tainted by that. But we’ve moved on, and now we know what being heckled is like. Not fun.

Best Backstage: The Commodore in Vancouver
This place had it all, which I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about because it’s a super corporate “House of Blues’ run operation, but you know what? Super corporate=super nice venue, both in sound system and backstage with shower, good food and drink. Video game systems, which of course nobody used, but needless to say it was an impressive set up there. Also was our first time in Vancouver, and it was just as pretty as everyone has always told me it was. I can’t wait to go back there and spend some more time.

Worst Backstage: First Avenue Minneapolis
It was the size of a closet for us. However the show was awesome, so it didn’t matter.

Loudest Applause for TV on the Radio: Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, in my opinion, was deafeningly loud for TV on the Radio. Sounded like Michael Jackson was making his first appearance in the Ukraine or something. It was INSANE.

Weakest Crowd for TV on the Radio: The Showbox, Seattle and Irving
Plaza (1st Night), NYC
I heard actually that DC was the weakest, least responsive crowd but we missed that show because our car broke down. I could be wrong, and this is where my memory may fail me, but I sort of remember the reaction being surprisingly weak in Seattle, and considering that NYC is TV’s hometown show, the first night was a bit meh.

Best Front Row of Teenagers: Sonar, Baltimore
All-ages shows are so so so great for bands to play to, mostly because the teenagers can’t get drunk and rowdy and loud, but also teenagers and are FAR more appreciative of a live show then say your average twenty-something. At all ages shows, the teens would be first to arrive and press up against the front and throughout the whole show the first five rows or so would be just teenagers who were so VERY attentive and watching your every move, smiling. Cheering loudly, just generally being really supportive and great. The Baltimore teens were particularly supportive and great, but on a whole the first five or ten rows at any show (except Detroit) were always filled with awesome excited and respectful people, but in their teens and older.

Worst Men’s Room: Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia
Holy mother fucking shit. The Men’s bathroom at this place seriously, SERIOUSLY looked like it was in a war torn, abandoned apartment building. There were broken toilet seats, plaster on the floor, puddles of piss and toilet paper and shit, and to boot within 1 hour, all three functioning toilets had overflowed and there was a good inch of crap water all over the floor. The promoter there told a very scandalous and funny story explaining how the lead singer of the Annuals had been there the night before with Art Brut and the Spinto Band and he drank a whole bottle of whiskey, kept falling over on stage, claimed the sound guy attacked him and then broke all the toilets and stuffed them with towels before having to be dragged out. Wow, blog buzz band dude is already acting like Pete Doherty.

Worst Sound: (Tie)
Wonder Ballroom in Portland Oregon & Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia
Kinda a bummer to both start our tour with TV and end it with the two worst sounding rooms, but such is life and that’s what happened. Feedback on stage, generally undefined sound in the main room, and depending on where you are standing, it could either sound like one long bass drone, or harsh highs. Bizarre spaces, with sub-par sound systems.

Best Promoter: Irving Plaza, NYC
Must to our surprise and happiness, the guys that promoted both shows for TV on the Radio at Irving Plaza loved our set so much so that each night, they kept sending back top shelf liquor to us as gifts. That was really nice. Thanks again!

Most Bizarre Evening: Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia
Overflowing toilets, bad sound, limp-wristed crowd (for us), RIOTOUS APPLAUSE for TV and yet we sold the most amount of merch that night in Philly. And, we had barely any sizes left in our t-shirts and still sold the most. Very, very perplexing, yet encouraging.

Biggest Difference in Crowd in Same City/Venue: Irving Plaza Night 1 vs. Irving Plaza Night 2
Granted, this was also the only city we played two nights in a row, but I was really struck at how different the crowds were. The first night was really off, it seemed; the crowd was loud-ish for our set, and rather so-so for TV’s set, and then night 2 was the opposite. Way more excited crowd, louder cheers, more hand waving, jumping up and down. I have no idea why this was, just the luck of the Ticketmaster draw. Go figure.

Longest and Slowest Line to get into the Club: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
No idea why this was the case, but it took sooooo long for people to be allowed into the venue, which was a bit of a bummer because each night, every night our set time was very strict, and this was a particularly early show, and essentially we had tons of people come up to us after the show saying how they missed our whole set because they were stuck in the long line.

Most Random Follow-up Act: Playmakers in Fargo
Many of these clubs like to have their cake and eat it too and book both the TV show and then have a club night, or another concert after (or before) to maximize the bang for their buck. Nothing was more humorous (although not in the way the performers were hoping) than the stand-up comedians who came on after TV in Fargo–lots of “white track” Jeff Foxworthy-type jokes. Yuk yuk yuk…

Biggest Disappointment: Having to Cancel our DC show at the 9:30 Club
We had auto troubles, (brakes were shot) and were thusly stranded in Boston. Lucky for us I’m from Boston, so my mom grilled for us and we all were able to relax a day, but we were very sad about missing the show. We hate canceling shows and have only had to do it once when I lost my voice before a Boston gig about a year ago.

The Only Venue without Wireless Internet: Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia
Worst Position for a Merch Table: Metro in Chicago
Prettiest Venue: Le National in Montréal
Earliest Show: Playmakers in Fargo (7:30 PM showtime on a Saturday
night!)
Sketchiest Neighborhood a Venue was in: Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia
Slowest Monitor Guy: Sonar in Baltimore
Best Lighting: Le National in Montréal
Sassiest Monitor Guy (in a good way): Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia
Shortest Sound Check for us: Commodore in Vancouver and Sonar in Baltimore
Best Poster Art: First Avenue, Minneapolis
Sweatiest Room: Showbox in Seattle
Coolest (Temp) Room: Playmakers in Fargo
Smallest Stage: Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR
Biggest Stage: Commodore in Vancouver
Smallest Venue (Capacity): Paradise in Boston
Biggest Venue (Capacity): First Ave in Minneapolis

Best Band to Tour with: TV on the Radio
To conclude…these guys deserve every magazine cover you see them on, every mountain of praise they receive, because what they do is so wonderful and genuine and exciting musically. If you haven’t had the chance to see them live yet, do so as soon as you can. Big thanks to them, Timmy, Luisa, Carmen and especially Matt Littlejohn who did not only their sound, but ours for the entire tour and made our sound checks go so smoothly. We definitely couldn’t have had such good shows without his help.

Ok, so it’s been too long since I’ve blogged, and well I didn’t realize that people even bothered to read it until recently where every interviewer asks about things from the blog. For example, sarcasm does not translate well on the internet, which means maybe I have to tone down my blog sass, because everyone too my PPS joke about doing a collaboration with Feist, very seriously—so, to clarify. There is no Feist collaboration, we’ve not met, I think she’s probably busy collaborating with someone else anyhow. It was Owen’s idea that part, he said, “to make your jose gonzalez post complete, you need to then say ‘collaboration with feist coming soon’, which was in reference to other powerhouse fingerpickers Kings of Convenience work with her. Ok! Phew, now that we’ve gotten that over with, and speaking of Owen, here’s a picture from the Bowery Ballroom show, where Owen joined us on stage, which was so a great evening. We were all so excited the evening sold out in our hometown and that owen could be there. Overall, a great night.

I’ve not seen Desperate Housewives yet, and I’m beginning to think maybe I should check out some back issues thanks to Itunes tv shows on demand (catching up on project runway). This lawn looks like some desperate housewives, LA utopia. These are again Guzy’s pictures because I left my camera in New York, so Guzy was excited to see LA and sprinkler systems and manicured lawns.

The LA show was also amazing–so much fun coming back to California after having not played there for ages. I only wish we’d had more time there to chillax.

I have a weird fear of Hamburger’s which comes from when my mother used to cook big fat ones and the insides would still be cold! Puke. Anyhow, steaks are better. Here’s a match made in heaven, our resident midwestern vegetarian pin-up Chris Bear with the all american burger.

Guzy looks like he’s some boy for rent, hanging at a crappy motel. But trust me, you can’t buy Guzy, no no no. And if you could, it would cost you a billion Euros. That’s how pricey and fancy this piece of Frenchness is. He’s just being contemplative by the pool, thinking about how he wants to be an extra in a Gus Van Sant movie.

I wasn’t here for this picture of Bear climbing the hill so I don’t know what’s going on. Something amazing is probably happening, like a hike or something.
(SIMON SAYS: here is the GUS VAN SANT picture… not the previous one! WATCH GERRY… we didnt get lost though)

Dan is from LA. Look at baby Dan with little Guitar. Dan says this was from his serious Elvis obsession period, when he was little. I definitely seem some creebs elements at work here.

We had to tell Spaceland that in fact, we were weird and used the alternative spelling of “Grizzley” and dropped the E, which is totally an understandable mix up because there is no such thing as a “Grizzly Bear”, only “Grizzley Bear” , kind of like naming your child Taelour. Alternative spellings rule! (there’s that sarcasm again, is it working? sigh….)

I bought a shirt from Holy Shit at the Spaceland show and it revolutionized my life. Then someone stole it from me. How WTF is that? If you are reading this, I want my HOLY SHIT SHIRT BACK. Anyhow, Matt Fishbeck gave me another shirt which was different (they were all customs) and I made do with it. Here I am at the log cabin we stayed at in upstate Cali after the SF show , which weirdly we have no pictures of, but it was fun. We grilled like crazy that night.

Here’s the lovely Laura who accompanied us for most of the west coast dates, by the river, by the previously mentioned log cabin. We were insanely excited about this log cabin motel, b/c usually we have to stay in rank, side of highway blandness and this place was so cool.

Yes, like I said we grilled. And drank.

And then after grilling and drinking, sat by the river at night. Simon Halliday from Warp NYC came along for a lot of the dates too. A real moment with nature.

and from that nature session came good times with Guzy and Dan on guitar

It was then on to Eugene where we played with MAN MAN, who owned it. Yeah everyone says how great they are and everyone is right. Really nice/great guys too. I should post a track of theirs on here, but I don’t know how to code the MP3s and our web guy is taking a break from updating our blog, so we are learning ourselves.

Right now we are in the car in Montana. More pictures from Vancouver/Seattle/Portland soon.

the show in paris and the chandelier from nouveau casino.
blogotheque was in the crowd and singing during knife

2 young men with stripes incognito in brighton.
(nothing to do with jitset www.myspace.com/jitset)

last haircut of the tour in grizzly bear backstage area of bestival

recording the radio 1 radio session with martina listening in the stairs

… and ended up like that

Hey, everyone. So what started out as Dan and I after a few drinks wanting to do a finger picking, à la José González cover of our own song, actually turned into something that really isn’t very José-ish. Although, it’s an open invitation to him. I mean you’ve covered the band “The Knife” why don’t you cover our song “Knife”? Thematically it makes sense, no? Anyhow, just saying if you cover Kylie . . .

But after the fact, we sort of took it a little further and realized
we are really just some weird variety show, 1960’s married couple that
sing together. I think I’m going to get a blonde wig and Dan is
going to get a moustache, and we are just going to do various finger
picking, slightly cheery, Christian folk-sounding covers in various
locations and call ourselves Cassie & Gene. I’m Cassie, naturally.

Anyhow, we are trying to hone our skills and exhibit just the right
about of wistfulness and contemplation. Maybe we can actually get a
Sony Bravia TV commercial with one of the songs!!!

You know how iChat has that weird emoticon that has cash symbols in
its eyes? Well, last night someone asked me over iChat, When the hell
would you use that money eyes face, and I couldn’t figure it out, but
now I know! When discussing potentially getting your song on a Sony
Bravia TV commercial and making the UK Top 10 Singles chart!!! $ $ $$$

Sony? José?

Cassie and Gene are here for you.

P.S. Seriously, I’m not trying to be all Switzerland and diplomatic and
neutral in the indie world (well, I guess he’s no longer indie), but I
do love José a lot, and this was done out of fun, laughing with you not at you. And if you saw my iTunes, you’d see I’ve listened to your album close to fifty times. Just a little FYI.