DAYTROTTER

Holy cow, it's up. Our long-lost Daytrotter session. It was back on our last tour, last November, when we devoted a day to driving the 266 miles from Columbia, Missouri, to Davenport, Iowa, to record 4 songs for Daytrotter. Which we'd always wanted to do, because not only do you get that sharp illustration, but they record it all live to 1/4" tape. A few memories remain - it was frigid. We ate at a Chevron Subway for lunch. Speaking of gas stations, we witnessed, from the comfort of our hotel room, what we were pretty sure was a tweak'd-out armed robbery at the convenience store across the street the night before. Rob was targeted and embarrassed by a local with a loud vehicular public address system in the drive-thru line at Starbucks that morning ("You with the beard. That is a kickass beard."). They had a ton of great gear at the studio, a stone's throw from the Mississippi River. And we were in and out of there in 2 hours so we could make way for Delta Spirit's all-night session - subsequently, 9+ months elapsed during which the promotional value of the session evaporated. But if you were wondering what we sounded like on November 17, 2010 (not yesterday, despite what their page says), Hear It Is.

In particular, check out our pretty-hot reworking of "Immediate Undertaking" and our cover of the Scott Walker original "Rhymes of Goodbye".

we still want a hula hoop

Since we're driving/sledding through our first snow right now on our way out of Pittsburgh, now would be a good time to mention that you can now download and forever own our Instant Christmas Classic from Target.com. Yes, this is your Christmas present, and no you're not getting anything else.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

Yes, Virginia, we have a Christmas song. It's called "Snow Is Falling" and it's up at Target.com/HolidayAlbum, and sooner than later you'll be able to free-download it too.

p.s. You'll be hearing more about this.

the results are in

Behold the fruits of our labor on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday! If you stick around long enough, you'll hear a brand new song called "Rain Down South," and another song that's not quite new but which you've probably never heard before.

Set list:
1. Backseat
2. Split Minute
3. New America
4. Maple Day Getaway
5. Trail the Line
[interview]
6. Dear Author
7. Cry On Me Woman
8. Rain Down South
9. 'Tis a Great Art To Saunter
10. June Bloom

Seriously huge thanks to everyone there for having us in - they're so important to us, in fact, that they're the only broadcast entity to have their own keyword on this blog. It was a real joyous occasion for us, which we topped off with our first (!) trip to Canter's on Fairfax, which not only has Babe Ruth's favorite pickles, and is not only where Saul Hudson earned the nickname "Slash," but has the only reuben in town you can eat and not feel like a zeppelin after. Legend'ry.

And yes, Jason Bentley talks like that all the time.

split minute

we put another new song on our myspace. it's called "Split Minute" and it's on our new record and now you can hear it.

ALIVE AS YOU ARE

The new one. The one we've been promising for the last year. It's almost here. July 26 in the UK and Europe and August 17 in the U.S. It's called Alive As You Are and it looks like this:



1 Backseat
2 Split Minute
3 18th Street Shuffle
4 New America
5 Rain Party
6 Maple Day Getaway
7 Trail the Line
8 June Bloom
9 Dear Author
10 A Lovely Game
11 Cry on Me Woman

For something more immediately gratifying, go HERE (or click on the album cover) to download "Dear Author" for free! You'll be so happy. We are.

Our Dirty Laundry

Our longtime official band mother Malia James accompanied us to Texas last month, and this is what it looked like, apparently. Tim cussed a lot. And if you'll blink, you'll miss hearing a couple of never-before-heard snippets from our new record. Check it out on Dirty Laundry and win a copy of 2 on vinyl!

Dirty Laundry Presents: SXSW With Darker My Love from Dirty Laundry on Vimeo.

Rock! Live! Amerikaans! Shoegaze!

Forgot about this. This is what we sounded like in Europe back in April (the 10th, to be exact). Recorded in a hangar for Dutch Radio at the Motel Mozaique Festival in Rotterdam. Slow news day. Enjoy.


(click on the picture)

some things, Tuesday edition

Good morning. I'm assuming it's morning when you're reading this. If it's not, come back when it is.

Just a couple updates:

Just noticed that we somehow never got around to mentioning this... We recorded a cover of Lee Hazelwood’s (via the voice of Sanford Clark) “The Fool” back in February for this neat lil promotion by shoe-people PF Flyers. The concept was a buncha Dangerbird artists record songs from 1956 to commemorate the reissue of those sweet-ass ’56 Bob Cousy kicks. So we did this song, knocked it out in a day, and got one Bob Mustachio (of The Warlocks) to pitch in too, since it was a Sunday and, y’know, it was an excuse to get out of the house. Also, FYI, BTW, CMYK: “The Fool” is the first song Lee Hazelwood ever wrote, or something like that. And, of course, the last song was “Claws & Paws.” Alright alright, go get it here.

Here’s Rob at Tim’s birthday soiree, reflecting the too-prevalent misconception that Rob is Tim. This outta confuse things even more.

photo by W.P. Canzoneri

You may have noticed our ¡¡¡NEW VIDEO!!! over there on the right in our patent-pending Blogspot Video Bar™. Assuming it hasn't been removed. It's called "This Song's History, Dude."

Finally... go pre-order our new record from Insound!
Get the CD here... or...
Get the vinyl here!
AND either way, if ya pre-order it, you’re ALSO gon’ get a free limited-edition mystery 7”! Don't delay! Supplies are limited! Act now!

The MP3 Challenge

So It's killing me waiting for this record to come out, so I've decided to challenge myself to writing and recording a song each day. The rules are I must write and record said song in one hour. I've been thinking too much when writing songs lately so this is a way to shut down the brain and work. The songs might not be that good or catchy, but that's not the point. So check back to see what's new.

kind regards,
Rob Barbato


P.S. this has nothing to do with the new record

Song: Hey Paul

Shows added with JAMC/Download DML debut for free!!!

So we are very excited to tell you that we've added two shows with The Jesus and Mary Chain. We would also like to let you know that you can download our debut album for free at Dangerbird. The new record is almost done and will be out sometime next year......

w/ The Jesus and Mary Chain

Oct 26 2007 8:00p Fillmore, San Francisco, California
Oct 27 2007 8:00p Fillmore, San Francisco, California
Oct 28 2007 8:00p Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, Colorado


w/ The Warlocks

Oct 30 2007 8:00p Ray’s Bar, Marfa, Texas
Oct 31 2007 8:00p The Mohawk, Austin, Texas
Nov 2 2007 8:00p The Nick, Birmingham, Alabama
Nov 3 2007 8:00p Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, Georgia
Nov 4 2007 8:00p Local 506, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Nov 5 2007 8:00p Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
Nov 6 2007 8:00p The Knitting Factory, New York, New York
Nov 7 2007 8:00p Johnny Brenda’s, Philladelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov 9 2007 8:00p Logan Square, Chicago, Illinois
Nov 10 2007 8:00p 400 Bar, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nov 13 2007 8:00p Chop suey, Seattle, Washington
Nov 14 2007 8:00p Doug Fir, Portland, Oregon
Nov 16 2007 8:00p Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, California
Nov 17 2007 8:00p Troubadour, Los Angeles, California

split open and melt

so our dear friend Matzah is putting out a split 12 inch with us and denver's mocassin (who recently signed with buddyhead) on his i hate rock n roll imprint. we recorded it last october up in san francisco at the soon to be decommissioned hyde street studios . john webster johns produced it, and and played some trumpet and bass, as well as backing vocals. the song is called "hair decisions" and is our most experimental to date. It was created with a tape collage that was done over two 18 hour sessions. you can pre-order the record or listen to "hair desicions" by clicking on the i hate rock n roll link.