Liver&Onions

got my vinyl earlier this week - have yet to listen to it though. Maybe tonight...

Phuzbox

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=101397853

NPR has last night's SXSW performance of the full album.

macnorton

I will check this one out...loved the last one (and almost all of their previous works).

Sessa17

I dig it a lot, certainly not their best work & nothing close to "crane's wife" on it. I just don't get the every song sounds the same thing someone else complained about, I actually think a few songs have quite a new sound for them. I would definitely not call this album brilliant by any means, but I have a ton of respect for a concept album like this in today's modern music scene. Overall though, given the long wait & anticipation, I'm a little dissapointed, but still probably the best album of the year so far, given that this has been an epicly shitty year for new releases so far.

Aegean2007

Really? I have been thinking that this has been the best year for music in a while for me, even only in these first three months and with much more to come (PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, St. Vincent, Sonic Youth, Dirty Projectors, Doves, etc.). I guess that it's just a subjective thing.

Staying on topic: I listened to this album yesterday and I liked it a lot.

Sessa17

Huh? I posted "So far" this has been an extremely shitty year so far. You haven't named a single great release yet, you just posted a bunch of stuff that hasn't come out.

The only standouts IMO so far are Andrew Bird & William Elliot Whitmore. Even Neko Case was a let down. The new Hansome Furs has been a nice surprise, but nothing to get that excited about. 3+ months into the year, so far, rather dissapointing. I'm not goint ot post about albums that haven't come out yet & call it the "best year in a while" based on stuff I haven't even heard yet.

Aegean2007

I'm not trying to start an argument here. I didn't post those bands as an example of it being a great year so far, I posted them just as an example of things yet to come. This is just a matter of opinion; you think that Neko Case's album is a "let down," but I loved it. Neither of us are right, except in terms of our own tastes.

Here are the albums that I have liked from this year so far:


Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Elvis Perkins - Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Marissa Nadler - Little Hells
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Dan Deacon - Bromst
Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
Mirah - (a)spera
Dark Was the Night
Here We Go Magic - Here We Go Magic
Alela Diane - To Be Still
tUnE-YaRdS - BiRd-BrAiNs
Laura Gibson - Beasts of Seasons
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day
M. Ward - Hold Time
The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning
P.O.S. - Never Better
William Elliott Whitmore - Animals in the Dark
The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground
Beirut - March of the Zapotec / Holland EP
Anni Rossi - Rockwell
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band - Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Cut Off Your Hands - You and I
Lily Allen - It’s Not Me, It’s You
Lissy Trullie - Self-Taught Learner EP
Jenny Wilson - Hardships!
The Love Language - The Love Language
A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Death - ...For the Whole World to See
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Jason Isbell - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself
Vetiver - Tight Knit
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Telepathe - Dance Mother
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
The Whitest Boy Alive - Rules
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Matt & Kim - Grand
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
These Are Powers - All Aboard Future
Surf City - Surf City EP
War Child - Heroes
Coconut Records - Davy
Annie - Don’t Stop
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware
The Lonely Island - Incredibad

Is that better?

CRM114

After repeated listens, this album is FANTASTIC. Not The Crane Wife and yes, the songs sound the same for a REASON. It's a cohesive piece with recurring melodies. It's supposed to be that way. It's not supposed to be a collection of songs like the previous album.

I'm going to see them on Saturday and from I read, they do the entire album start to finish before a short intermission and then they play older material.

CRM114

If anyone likes this band and the new album, you have GOT to see this tour. It is unbelievable. And the woman from My Brightest Diamond and the woman from Lavender Diamond who play two of the characters are outstanding.

skiman

Loved The Crane Wife, not so much The Hazards of Love. Still looking forward to this one.

1. Don't Carry It All
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise to Me
4. Rox in the Box
5. January Hymn
6. Down by the Water
7. All Arise!
8. June Hymn
9. This is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery

Download Down by the Water from their website:

www.decemberists.com

Sessa17

Hope its a return to form and much better than their last album which was pretty awful (except one phenomenal song).

kefrank

Wait...am I the only Decemberists fan who liked the Hazards of Love?

cungar

Problem with this band is they have such an established sound when they try to branch out they sound like a different band. And not in a good way. Best to stick to the original sound and just write better songs.

I'm looking forward to Calamity Song. I like their gruesome songs.

starman9000

My wife loved it. I'm more like sessa in that I really only liked 1 (assuming that the Rakes song is what he meant). Granted I didn't think the rest was awful by any stretch.

I think I'm sort of just tired of their sound in general though, I haven't been listening to their old stuff much at all lately either. I hope this changes things.

theflicker

Just chiming in as another that dug The Hazards of Love.

CRM114

No, I loved it but it took seeing the live show of the complete album and appreciating the guest vocalists.

wmermine

I totally agree. I was blown away that they played the whole album non-stop and perfectly. And then they came out and played for another hour or more. A great show!

Mikael79

I really enjoy The Hazards of Love, and I'm not sure what the problem with the album would have been, other than it being a little long.

Sessa17

No, I think most fans liked it.

cungar

Colin Meloy Reveals Details of New Decemberists Album

Recorded in a barn, 'The King Is Dead' features an appearance by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck
Nov 04, 2010 8:14 AM EDT

Most of The King Is Dead—the Decemberists album that's due out Jan. 18—was made over the course of six weeks at Pendarvis Farm, an 80-acre site east of Portland, Ore. that also hosts the annual music festival Pickathon, at which the Decemberists' bluegrass side project Black Prairie played this summer. The Portland-based quintet and co-producer Tucker Martine didn't quite anticipate how wet the sessions were going to be, though. "The idea was to camp out a little bit more, which the weather has not necessarily permitted," singer/guitarist Colin Meloy observes. "A lot of rain on the roof will probably make it into the recording."

Indeed, this is the most pastoral, rustic record they've ever made, despite its flashes of the band's trademark rococo wordplay ("Calamity Song" features the phrase "queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab"). Meloy notes that his songs were inspired in part by the sound of early R.E.M. The track "Down by the Water," in particular, "started out as more of a paean to R.E.M. than I think any of us really wanted it to be." The band tinkered with it to make it sound a bit less like Reckoning—and then R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck joined them to play on it. "It was really cool," Meloy says. "Even playing those simple parts, he's a master."

CRM114

Looking forward to this even more if they are looking to Reckoning as inspiration.

CapRockBrewingCo.

I still like Picaresque the best. Will get this for sure.

Hiro11

I actively disliked this band before The Hazards of Love, but I really like that album. It also reminded me of one of my favorite books "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell"

I'm looking forward to the new one.

yodavigoda

Pitchfork has an article that shows the new album cover and details about the direction they took with this recording.(sorry can't post links yet).
I like what I'm hearing about the sound of this album. Will be checking them out on Conan on the 18th.

reubs82

Ah, this is really great news. I LOVED the Crane Wife, but I never took the time to get through Hazards of Love even though I've had it since release week.

I'll look forward to picking this up, and the Peter Buck/R.E.M. connection is cool, too.