Listening Post

As is tradition around here on this day -- it's Death Cab for Cutie's New Year.

Hope everyone had a great night -- and not too painful a morning.

Good luck to all of us in the coming year.

By the way, it's 75 and gorgeous in Los Angeles this morning. Not a bad way to kick off 2012.

Listening Post

Not only is this a wonderfully evocative video -- a collaboration with street artist extraordinaire Shepard Fairey -- but it's the first Death Cab song since maybe I Will Possess Your Heart that just grabbed me right out of the box.

Here's the band's new single, Home Is a Fire.

Listening Post

If you're one of those people who's exhausted with the notion of sharing every single thing that happens in your life in real-time, with no opportunity to either a) enjoy an experience while it's happening without feeling like you're obligated to simultaneously relay it to others, or b) take a few minutes to process what you're experiencing before you fire it off to the world, then this probably isn't the video for you.

That said, you've gotta hand it to Death Cab for Cutie for breaking new ground in social media's ability to put you there in the middle of the action as an event happens. Last night at 7pm, the band shot the scripted video for their brand new single in one take -- and beamed it out live across the internet in real-time. The result is inarguably impressive.

Even the name of the track speaks volumes.

This is You Are a Tourist.

Listening Post

Back when I lived in Los Angeles during the mid-90s, my apartment was in the Hollywood Hills off Outpost Drive. This meant that during Hollywood Bowl season, I could sometimes drive up to Mulholland, park, and hike down the hill to the point where I'd be able to see the Hollywood Bowl and hear whatever band or artist happened to be playing there. There was always something kind of magical about the dry air, the electric L.A. night spread out in all directions, especially the traffic from the 101 below, and the music from the Bowl echoing off the canyon.

Suffice it to say, I'm really sorry I wasn't there for this particular show.

This could very well be my favorite Death Cab for Cutie song, the clips from every amateur fan video of it on YouTube edited together to create one really fantastic mega-bootleg. If this doesn't give you chills, we can't be friends.

Here's Transatlanticism, performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.



(via Cesca)

Listening Post

A very nice little DIY video for a simple, beautiful love song -- one of those that I keep going back to again and again, regardless of how jaded I've become.

Here's Death Cab for Cutie's Passenger's Seat.

Listening Post: 2010 Edition

Kind of a New Year's tradition around here: Death Cab for Cutie's The New Year.

Happy 2010, everyone. We made it.

Listening Post

Probably the best fan-made video you're likely to see for quite some time.

From Death Cab for Cutie's new release, The Open Door EP, here's Little Bribes.

"Those People Were Overjoyed"

How much have things changed now that Barack Obama's president?

There's actually a Death Cab for Cutie reference on the White House website.

www.WhiteHouse.gov: Transatlanticism/3.3.09

(h/t Cesca)

Listening Post: The Best Single of 2008

There was enough good music released in 2008 that it should be tough holding up one song above all others. Artists like Coldplay, the Black Keys, TV on the Radio, Portishead, Snow Patrol, Vampire Weekend, P!nk and the Kings of Leon all released terrific albums this year -- and each had at least one single that rose to the level of greatness.

But in the end, it's simply no contest.

The year's best song was one that surprised with the sheer audacity of its eight-and-a-half minute length, mesmerized with its powerful hooks and moody, atmospheric layers and just plain stayed in your head for days after hearing it.

Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Possess Your Heart was hands down the best single of 2008.

Listening Post

Good Sunday morning music, and a video starring the kid from Witness -- or "The Pin" from Brick, depending on your tastes.

Here's Death Cab for Cutie -- Cath.