You can hear an acoustic version below of a beautiful track from the upcoming album entitled “Yesterday Has Gone Forever.” The melancholy lyrics and atypical pop song structure are just the type of soul-penetrating solipsistic poesy that make rainy days feel that much more lonesome. As Mick Jagger once said to John Lennon, “It’s a blues, John. It’s a blues.”

And if you can’t wait until June 29, 2010 to listen, you can hear a sample of the entire album right now on Amazon.com.

Superchunk – Majesty Shredding from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Get ready to pull up the calendar section on your iPhone/smartphone. On September 14, one of BlackSwanSongs’ favorite bands, Superchunk,  will release Majesty Shredding on CD, LP and digital download. The band have announced summer festival dates and September east coast dates with west coast dates to be announced soon. Superchunk will also perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, September 20, their first television appearance since 1994. (Let’s pray they announce an Austin show!)

The press release on the Merge Records site reveals:

Having cleared the deck of odds and sods with last year’s Leaves in the Gutter EP, Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan set about to write a batch of songs that would capture the spirit of the band’s live shows. From 1997’s Indoor Living through 2001’s Here’s to Shutting Up, Superchunk had written most of their records together, building their songs through collaborative writing and rehearsal. But, in an effort not to overthink their new material (and because drummer Jon Wurster lives a couple hundred miles away from the rest of the band), Superchunk approached Majesty Shredding the same way they approached their early records: McCaughan provided skeletal demos to his bandmates, who in turn fleshed out the songs during a brief period of rehearsal and recording.

This sense of purpose is enhanced by the presence of Scott Solter, an engineer and producer (The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent) known for coaxing exceptional performances out of the artists he works with. Majesty Shredding is a powerful document of Superchunk as a band, augmented as needed with well-placed harmonies, keyboards, and guitar overdubs (and some backing vocals courtesy of the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle).

Since releasing their first 7-inch in 1989, Superchunk has run the gamut of milestone albums: early punk rock stompers, polished mid-career masterpieces, and lush, adventurous curveballs. Conventional wisdom holds that a band two decades into its career can only rehash or reinvent, but with Majesty Shredding, Superchunk has done something entirely different. Neither a return nor a departure, Majesty Shredding telescopes two decades into 41 indelible, action-packed minutes. It is the sound of youthful exuberance fine-tuned with grown-up confidence. And it may very well be Superchunk’s best record yet.

Superchunk also recently drank the social media Kool-Aid too; check out their twitter.

Track Listing:
1. Digging for Something
2. My Gap Feels Weird
3. Rosemarie
4. Crossed Wires
5. Slow Drip
6. Fractures in Plaster
7. Learned to Surf
8. Winter Games
9. Rope Light
10. Hot Tubes
11. Everything at Once

Superchunk tour dates:
6/19  Denver, CO – Westword Music Festival
6/20  Chicago, IL – Taste of Randolph Street Festival w/The Love Language
7/24  Omaha, NE – MAHA Music Festival
9/17  Washington, DC- 930 Club
9/18  New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
9/19  Brooklyn, NY- Music Hall of Williamsburg
9/20  New York, NY – Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
9/21  Boston, MA- Royale
9/22  Philadelphia, PA- Trocadero

Yes!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Note: showcases in bold hold the highest probability of my attendance.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

8:00 Strange Boys – Emo’s Jr.
9:00 Here We Go Magic – Club de Ville
10:30 Motorhead – Austin Music Hall
12:00 Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
1:00 Sixteen Deluxe – Encore

Thursday, March 18, 2010

8:00 Ozomatli – Auditorium Shores (free show; no wristband or badge required)
9:00 Miles Kurosky – Emo’s Main Room
10:00 Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main Room
11:30 Band of Horses – Stubb’s
12:00 Centro-matic – Emo’s Annex
1:00 Evan Dando – The Ale House

Friday, March 19, 2010

8:55 Band of Horses – Central Presbyterian Church
9:30 Cruiserweight – Buffalo Billiards
10:00 Smokey Robinson – Austin Music Hall
11:00 Girl in a Coma – Buffalo Billiards
12:00 Broken Social Scene – The Parish
1:00 Dengue Fever – Encore Patio

Saturday, March 20, 2010

8:00 She & Him – Auditorium Shores (free show; no wristband or badge required)
9:30 Sarah Jarosz – Austin Music Hall
10:00 Margaret Cho – Esther’s Follies
11:20 Xzibit – Club de Ville
12:30 Big Star – Antone’s
1:00 Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody – The Tap Room at Six

There is something about vocalist Justin Vernon’s voice and songs that I identify with wholeheartedly. Knowing his story – how he wrote and recorded the album in isolation, hibernating away in upstate Wisconsin after breaking up with his girlfriend and his previous band – allows the songs to resonate in your soul that much more deeply.

Here is my review, which also ran in the online version of today’s Austin American-Statesman:

Bon Iver — a.k.a. indie-folk musician Justin Vernon and band — turned in one of the most memorable performances from the entire ACL Festival weekend Sunday evening at a sold-out show at the Paramount Theatre.

The band’s final performance before their tour-ending Wisconsin homecoming show couldn’t have been scripted better. The sold-out audience was hyped, fueled by adrenaline, alcohol (and who knows what else) after three days of music, sun and rain. The Paramount Theatre’s acoustics sounded as if they had been fine-tuned especially for Vernon’s booming falsetto. The show was also the final night of Bon Iver’s tour with opening band Megafaun (a freak-folk group of stunning power featuring members of Vernon’s previous band DeYarmond Edison).

Vernon was very gracious the entire evening, whether he was calling up an old friend to start the show by reciting a poem, or whether repeatedly thanking the audience for taking part in an evening that was seemingly a poignant apex in his life.

“I can’t express enough gratitude for y’all showing up to fill this beautiful theater,” Vernon said.

Bon Iver began the show with the first three songs from debut album “For Emma, Forever Ago” played in sequence, a comforting start for those familiar with what’s turned out to be one of the strongest debuts of the decade. The band’s emphasis on tone and harmony was obvious from the detail in the arrangements of their four-part vocal harmonies to the intricacies of their instrumentation. On “Skinny Love,” bassist Matthew McCaughan and guitarist Michael Noyce both played drums, adding a primal, inescapable beat accompaniment. On other songs McCaughan simultaneously played bass and a kickdrum with his foot while drummer Sean Carey played a small electronic keyboard.

As strong as the songs on “For Emma, Forever Ago” are, the band’s tireless touring for the past two years has developed them into an impassioned unit. Whereas some artists become detached from songs after performing them again and again, Vernon slipped into the songs like an old comfortable vintage sweater, filling them out with his passionate voice. The crooks and crannies of each song were not dusty and dark, but were places where Vernon’s bright voice illuminated, revealing the artistry of his song craft.

Just past the set’s mid-point, Vernon played an unexpected, rousing cover of the Outfield’s “Your Love,” inciting screams and laughter from the audience. Vernon pulled back the rhythm and created a bouncing groove, emphasizing a backbeat pocket that doesn’t exist in the original song.

An ethereal and sublime version of “re: Stacks” followed where Vernon played solo for the first time of the evening. The instrumentation stripped away to just his voice and guitar emphasized the power of the lyric and Vernon’s immense songwriting talent, recalling everything that was inspiring in Nick Drake’s music while being wholly original.

Bon Iver closed the night with a two-song encore. The first was the elegiac “For Emma,” then he brought Megafaun and various friends up on stage to cover Megafaun’s “Worried Mind” (In the video above, you can see a version of the two bands performing “Worried Mind” in San Francisco a few days earlier). The group of musicians huddled along the edge of the proscenium and used only the theater’s acoustics as amplification, Asylum Street Spankers style. After a few verses, they called on the audience to sing-along to the chorus, a cathartic “Come ease your mind, come on ease your worried mind.” The collaboration received a standing ovation (as did the first set and Megafaun’s brilliant opening set), proving that sometimes the most powerful performances at a music festival are not merely the loudest and largest.

Setlist
Flume
Lump Sum
Skinny Love
Brackett, WI
Blood Bank
Beach Baby
Josie
Creature Fear
re: Stacks
The Wolves (Act I and II)

Encore
For Emma
Worried Mind

I like the Beach House mp3s I’ve heard, but whoa, was the bit I heard of their live show shaky.

Now Grizzly Bear on the other hand, were really amazing. I’m not surprised Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood called them his favorite band.

I wrote a review of their show which was published in the Austin American-Statesman here.

Vocalist Aaron Berhens and keyboardist Thomas Turner rock Trophy's.

I just uploaded some shots of Austin, TX electronica rockers Ghostland Observatory rocking Trophy’s Bar back in 2006 (back when they could still play small clubs in Austin.  I’ll upload the definitive interview I did with them quite soon. As soon as possible. You can check out the other Ghostland photos in the blackswansongs flickr photostream here.

The interview was conducted over three different sessions. The first with both members after a show. Then the second and third parts were conducted with each member seperately. Behrens and Turner have such unique backgrounds that them at first seem like unlikely partners, but so many things had to align just perfectly that their collaboration feels more like fate during the telling of their story.

More to come…

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Malkmus (in blue shirt) was making literate indie rock before it was cool

Less than 10 years after the 1990s’ melancholy sunset, critical consensus continues to build that Stephen Malkmus and his old band Pavement were one of the most influential rock bands of that entire decade, forging timeless indie-ethos rock from a crucible overflowing with high art/post modern aesthetics, sardonically poetic lyrics and a new genre pastiche wherein “Exile on Main Street” loose-feeling slack rock combined with the steely song craft of one of Malkmus’ favorite bands, The Fall.

Malkmus and his current band The Jicks are currently touring – at their leisure – behind their 2008 release “Real Emotional Trash,” his fourth – and best – post-Pavement solo album.

When I woke up Malkmus at his Portland home for this interview (first published in a super-abridged version in the Austin American-Statesman), he was initially groggy. After a few yawns, the lyrically hyper-literate, ever-ironic songwriter proved to be uncannily happy to expound on his early influences, whether or not Sesame Street’s Elmo inspired a song on “Real Emotional Trash” and how he considered becoming an Austinite after the release of Pavement’s “Terror Twilight.”

Black Swan : First of all I want to thank you for taking time out to do the interview cause I know you’re super-busy. I really appreciate it.

Malkmus: (He replies totally groggy as if he literally just woke up) Yeah. No big.

Black Swan : I got the tape recorder going; so I’m just gonna roll on through (the interview).

I’ve been listening to your music for years and I’ve probably seen a zillion Pavement shows – and your solo shows too – and have enjoyed them all. But some of your recent guitar playing on “Real Emotional Trash” is ridiculously smokin’. Did you start playing when you were five? Or did you come out of the womb playing?

Malkmus: Yeah. Ummm. Let me think. Not really. I played acoustic guitar and stuff before high school. And then I played bass in a punk band. But I always thought that I was going to be a guitar player.

Back in those days, there were people like Greg Ginn and Flipper, the Butthole Surfers and the Meat Puppets who were playing punk music but they were playing it differently. I got to see them in person. And I’d rather be those guys than just the bar chord guy in the Circle Jerks, you know?

So anyway, I was into that, and then over the course of 20 years I’ve just been listening to lots of different stuff. Now I can go ahead and be myself and have a voice on guitar instead of just have it be a backing instrument, you know? (He yawns. He’s still waking up.)

And so, that’s what I’ve been doing.

Black Swan: The way The Jicks do it live…is it a little bit different without a second guitar player?

Malkmus: Well, (Jicks’ multi-instrumentalist) Mike Clark plays guitar sometimes. Depends on the song. Sometimes he plays piano. But yeah, we’ve always had a rhythm guitarist in the live outfit – like Scott (Kannenberg) from Pavement and Mike to fill out the parts that are on the albums.

It sounds like the record, sort of, you know? Mike has room to go off on some of the guitar parts he plays. He doesn’t really play the solos (exactly the same), like (for instance on) “Hopscotch Willie” on the album. But, he’s got his choice to let it go where he wants.

Black Swan: I don’t want the interview to all be about guitar playing. But then again, almost everybody in Austin plays guitar, so I think people will enjoy hearing about it.

Malkmus: (He laughs) Yeah, they have a guitar legacy in Austin. People there love guitars for some reason.

(I spare him the litany of Austin guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Paul Leary, etc…because he obviously is already familiar with Austin’s most notorious guitar players.)

Black Swan: On “Dragonfly Pie,” kinda toward the end of the song, there is something that the guitar does where it almost starts to sound like a keyboard. Is that a pedal that you use live?

Malkmus: That’s just that Ooh Wah pedal that Zvex makes. Yeah, when we did that song we were just thinking of a way to make it less Sabbath-y and (for a way it could) morph into something weirder. So I was adding some electronics on it. Like, there’s some Moog keyboard I played in the other parts of the song…just something to make it so it was not so Queens of the Stone Age, or a Sabbath-type song, you know? The chorus is never like that. But I think that’s what the goal was by treating the guitars and adding these crazy keyboards.

Black Swan: I also wanted to ask you about tunings, and then I promise this will be my last guitar question.

Malkmus: No problem.

Black Swan: I have a friend named Austin Miller that was sitting down trying to play some of your songs, and he was like, “Dude, I can’t, I can’t do it. I think there is some alternate tunings going on that I can’t figure out.”

Malkmus: (yawning) Yeah. On this record, there’s maybe…that first song, “Dragonfly Pie” is a standard one. But I’ve been doing more. I used to be doing a lot of varied (tunings). The “Drop D” is kind of the gateway on (alternate) tunings that most people begin with. I fiddled around with that in a lot of different ways. Tuning some of the lower strings to higher and lower tones. But, there was a lot of tuning the E string to C and the A string to G and variations on that. A lot of the songs are in that tuning this time. But I’ve had a couple of other tunings through the different eras. I’ve kind of settled on that G – playing things in sort of an open G basically – but with the first string tuned to C also, which is my own invention, slightly.

Black Swan: Cool!

Malkmus: That’s probably why (your friend Austin couldn’t figure out how to play some of the songs). I mean…(the alternate tunings) make the songs…you know…and I’m playing chords and some standard things where I’m not really going for a build up of dissonance of the Sonic Youth variety. We’re just going for a way to make things sound not exactly normal as we’ve been through this rock ‘n’ roll (thing) for quite a while.

Black Swan: Yeah the first time I saw you play was opening for Sonic Youth in Austin at Liberty Lunch on Wednesday, September 16, 1992.

Malkmus: Yeah…Isn’t that a restaurant now or something?

Black Swan: Yeah it’s a restaurant and an empty Intel building. So it’s really kind of sad that they paved it to put up an empty computer building where the company never even moved in.

Malkmus: Yeah, that’s bad. That was a nice place. That was like the classic Austin experience – the indoor/outdoor type place. They’ve still got those places, but that one was kind of the perfect size and stuff.

Black Swan: Yeah it had a great vibe.

Malkmus: Yeah. That was a long time ago. Good job.

(The interviewer laughs from the congratulatory compliment on being considered an old-schooler.)

Malkmus: How old were you then? Were you in college?

Black Swan: Yeah I was probably like, 23 or something. Definitely good times.

Malkmus: Yeah.

Black Swan: The song “Baltimore” on “Real Emotional Trash,” it kind sounds like the band is getting to open up, almost like the sections where you’re jamming could have been improvised in practice. Did those sections come about like that? Or were they created after more planned-out demos?

Malkmus: Yeah within reason, the “Baltimore” one, those are all parts. I just made a riff. For the end of the song, it has got a sort of generic riff. I would call it. Slightly generic, in that, I imagine it like a Who song or something. It doesn’t sound like it’s from their really rocking time. And it’s kind of rocking, but obviously not as good as them. But, towards the end we’re just going off in a crazy direction. But that one is (actually) organized.

I’d say that “Elmo Delmo” has some space in it. And the end of it – and some of the middle – wasn’t made up. Except on that take, I don’t think there was any plan on when the song was going to end. On that take (yawns) it just…it was kinda new, so…”

Black Swan: Did the song title “Elmo Delmo” off “Real Emotional Trash” come about from you being a dad now, and you probably having seen a couple of episodes of Sesame Street with “Tickle Me Elmo”?

Malkmus: (laughing) Yeah. I probably said (Elmo Delmo) cause I wouldn’t have said Elmo, but I was just looking for something slightly retarded, in a non-pejorative way, to rhyme there. Something like The Fall would do if they were kind of ganged up, but then unfortunately it was Elmo, you know?

Black Swan: It’s cool though.

Malkmus: Yeah. (Laughing) That’s the way it goes. It’s not that fun to sing anymore, I wish I had changed it. But…you know. I kind of feel dumb singing it now. But that’s what it was at the time.

Black Swan: Well, I know I seen a few shows in the past where you changed the entire words to a couple of songs. You can always do that.

Malkmus: That’s true. I could make up something else to chant there. It’s hard to make something phonetic in those parts. That came out, but I feel a little bit embarrassed sometimes singing “Elmo Delmo.” It is kind of dumb (he laughs again).

(Rallying) But it’s more about the music at that time. By song eight…by song eight you shouldn’t really be listening to the lyrics anymore (he says slightly facetiously). You should be doing your own thing. The music’s just in the background.

Black Swan: Yeah…by that point you should be…you should be inspired…doing your thing…

Malkmus: You’re there…painting, drawing, writing your great screenplay or whatever…inspired by the band (Both interviewer and Malkmus are laughing).

Black Swan: This next question – I tried to research it cause I didn’t want to ask you questions that a zillion people have already asked you – but how did Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, Elliott Smith’s touring band) become a Jick?

Malkmus: Well, you’re going to break this to all of Austin, and maybe the world, as the web is the world. She’s friends with (Jicks’ bassist) Joanna Bolme and me from the old, local rockers of Portland. She’s part of the establishment – and Austin obviously has one too, I’m sure. She’s been playing here in a lot of different bands.

I met her in the ‘90s. When Sleater-Kinney broke-up, I thought, “Well Janet’s free, and she’s a free player too,” so it wasn’t very hard. And Joanna plays in her band, Quasi – they took on a bass player about 2 years ago. So, it was like:  hop over here on to our stool.

It was pretty natural. And it was good timing and all that. I hadn’t started (playing) with somebody else. It just made sense.

Black Swan: How did you settle in Portland? Obviously a lot of your lyrics talk about California where you grew up. But what drew you to Portland?

Malkmus: I don’t know, you know? Probably you could ask a lot of people from Austin how they ended up there, the ones that aren’t from Texas. Or you could ask a lot of people here that are from Austin, but are moving here now (i.e. Brit Daniel of Spoon).

It just seemed like a nice place at the time. Not trampled over. It seemed kind of like an experimental city in a certain way. And also not a completely homogenized place, you know? Every place has a soul and everything. But from the outside, in Portland there is some variety in the architecture and the businesses and stuff.

And I’m from the West Coast.

(With a resolute sigh while changing gears in his mind) Why I stayed is more a matter of stasis.  And once you get up here in the corner, it’s hard to leave, you know?

Black Swan: Had you ever considered moving to Austin?

Malkmus: (enthusiastically) I have before.

Black Swan: Since the two towns have a similar vibe?

Malkmus: Yeah, totally! I have before. (He strikes his most enthusiastic tone of the interview. Now he finally sounds totally awake.)

At the time I moved (to Portland), I thought, “Well a lot of people have moved here.” When I was in my early 30s, I thought it was more collegiate or youthful there (in Austin) in a certain way. And a lot of my friends that have moved to Austin moved there straight out of college, like people are doing here now.

So I thought, “Well, I’m not looking for that right now. I’m looking for something…more mature.” (He says laughing). And I thought, “I’ll go here (to Portland).” And I found out, obviously there are all kinds of people that live in Austin and it’s not only 20 somethings…or “Slackers,” whatever that is. So that’s why I moved and that’s why I came here.

But, it could have been Austin.

And then I thought that maybe it’s too hot there in the summer.

Stephen Malkmus understands the importance of rock music and swimming at night.

Black Swan: No, you were right. It’s ridiculously hot here.

Malkmus: So I wasn’t sure. I know the winter is better (down in Austin). But here, if you like these medium-sized American cities that are kind of liberal, you could have it perfect if you lived in Austin in the winter and here (in Portland) in the summer. You could really work something out there.

Black Swan: Yeah…that’s something to consider doing.

Malkmus: But who really wants to invest that much of their soul in these perfect little cities? I don’t know. Maybe it’s better to live in New York and Hawaii or something for more intense changes, you know?

Black Swan: Well, but there’s that thing about New York. And you’ve lived there so you would know. But when you think about man and the state of nature, and how in a perfect world in the state of nature, you might not have so many people packed into so little space. And you get away from your natural inclinations because you are so disconnected from nature.

Malkmus: That’s true. (He says earnestly) I think it’s weird there. And people do get a little crazy. But they also seem pretty happy, you know? There are people that I know that live in NYC and there is just something…

There’s a lot of cool people and because of all the people, there’s a lot of great people there. Maybe they’re forced to live there, or they like it. I like that about it.

(Changing mental gears again) But I feel cramped, very often, with the kids there (in NYC). We spend some time there and I feel…I get mad at inconvenience and I feel cramped in crappy supermarkets. My bourgeois body can’t take it anymore, my 42-year-old bourgeois body. Once you’ve lived in these places (like Austin and Portland) where you just go down to the local supermarket, where it’s just more casual, you know? I don’t know.

Black Swan: Yeah, I know what you’re saying.

Malkmus: Yeah, but…if you’re loaded with cash, you get your groceries delivered and you take car services everywhere and then your bourgeois body is fine. (Laughs)

Black Swan: “Bourgeois Body.” That is a good prospective title, I think.

Malkmus: (laughs) Yeah.

Black Swan: Hey, I read that you studied History. And I know that History classes and English classes will sometimes overlap. Like you could sign up for an English class, but you could sign up for the same class in the history department.

Malkmus: Um, hmmm.

Black Swan: So I guess what I’m getting at is this: did you also take a lot of English classes?

Malkmus: Not really. No, I didn’t. I just thought I could read on the side. Personally, I didn’t like classic stuff, just from going to high school (and reading it). You know, when they would start doing John Dunne – that’s really boring – or Chaucer. I don’t want to read that. So I thought, “Well I can just read my own fiction books on the side and get my own free education there. I don’t need to go to class for that.”

Black Swan: What about creative writing classes?

Malkmus: Ummmm…no. I never took any of those. I applied for one once and they didn’t accept me because it was kind of limited to get in there. And you had to give a sample. And I think I wrote a sample, but it was really stupid I’m sure, you know? Like it was some conceptual, 2 page, really dumb thing. I can see it now. It wasn’t like…real at all.

Back then in the ‘80s, you were supposed to be real, like maybe you are now. But there wasn’t any George Sanders or anybody like that yet. (He sighs.) You just had to write about what you know…or whatever (laughing).

Black Swan: Yeah…I was an English major at UT here in Austin. And anything that was unique or different, a lot of times they’d just want to squash that creativity right out of people. Well, not every time but sometimes.

Malkmus: Not always, I’m sure. But yeah, if you were at Virginia (back then), it was really a conservative writing department.

Black Swan: Yep. UT Austin was the same.

Malkmus: And you know it was also Raymond Carver time. And Tobias Wolf. And real writers of great prose. And I appreciate that stuff. But at that time I was probably writing something more imaginative and not, you know, it probably wasn’t that good also (laughing).

So I got rejected. I never did that.

There were also plenty of young guys that thought they were writers back then. They were trying to get laid by being writers or whatever.

Black Swan: And where are they now…

Malkmus: And it would work (though). Yeah, this one friend of mine, he went to writers’ school. He was a chef and he could cook Cornish Game Hens. And he was really trying to get the chicks that way. And it was workin’ for him.

(We both laugh.)

They caught on eventually, I’m sure.

Black Swan: He was all like, “Yeah…let me write you some poesy and cook you some Cornish Game Hens.” (I jest through my laughing.)

Malkmus: Yeah…exactly.

Black Swan: OK…I think that’s the last question. Although I should probably ask you – because people are going to be curious – are you going to play any Bob Dylan or Pavement songs?

Malkmus: Ummmm, I don’t think so. (But) if that is going to make more people come to the show…? It’s probably going to be close to sold-out, although Cat Power is playing that same night. So you can ask her. She did a song for that (Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan biography I’M NOT THERE) too.

I don’t think we’re going to play any of those songs. But, you know, it’s going to be a really phantasmagoric event regardless.

Black Swan: You know, if you played the whole new album start to finish I think people would be happy.

Malkmus: That would be good.

We’ll play a selection of songs. But we don’t do any Pavement jams. And we don’t do any Dylan. We have some other covers we’ve been working up, so…we’ll see if we bring those out. Some of those are screamers and I probably don’t want to lose my voice on the first show of the second leg.

Black Swan: I guess that’s it. But one more aside: “Gangsters and Pranksters.” I don’t know how in the world you came up with that song?

Malkmus: (He laughs) It’s pretty funny.

Black Swan:  …Sometimes I’ll be on the floor laughing while I’m listening to it because it’s so sincerely funny.

Malkmus: That one came out good. It was very spur of the moment. Sometimes spur of the moment things are good, and sometimes, you know, they’re “Elmo Delmo,” which is all right…but thanks a lot.

Black Swan: Oh yeah. Thanks again. And thanks for taking time out.

Malkmus: Nice talking to you. And way to be a survivor. Still crazy after all these years. That’s what I say to the people that keep going to shows like I would (if I weren’t touring all the time).

I met some people in Western Massachusetts, a really cute couple. They were older than me and they were like, “We’re here to see the show!” And I’d been running into teenager kids that are just like, “I never saw Pavement” and “You’re my hero!”-type kids, you know?

Black Swan: Yeah…

Malkmus: And then there are (occasionally) these older couples (that come out to shows). I was like, “All right.” These Western-Mass.-kind-of-liberal-people.

Black Swan: Yeah, yeah.

Malkmus: They were almost kind of working class looking people, you know? Or just…normal. Cause people are normal out there.

And I was like, “This is great. You’re real music fans.” You know, I don’t see them very often (he says sighing slightly). (Occasionally) we have these people that you can tell, they like to rock or whatever…still. (laughs)

Black Swan: But that’s cool to have kids coming out that are actually getting into for the first time.

Malkmus: Yeah that’s kind of weird though when something (like Pavement) has a life of its own. Obviously it’s weirder for these baby-boomer icons…when it happens forever…like Jim Morrison or Hendrix or something. I’d never put myself in those categories. But you kind of almost feel like the Velvet Underground or something…when something becomes iconic. That’s kind of funny.

But we need new things for that. And I guess it’s gonna happen for every decade. (Although) you know the ‘80s was hard I guess (since they don’t have an iconic genre defining underground rock band).

Black Swan: I don’t know what’s coming next. But it does seem like the Pavement’s records and legacy have taken on a life of its own. But it’s cool now that you are on the fourth solo records. The Jicks records are getting a life of there own too.

Malkmus: Yeah…well, this time at least. It’s gone hand-in-hand with people wanting to know about Pavement a little bit, and a canonization of Pavement and me – and then about this new album. There seems to be some sort of…whatever its called…where…not synchronicity…but that thing where things are going together. It’s that dumb business term people try for. They bring some guy in and pay him $2000 to come up with the word.

Black Swan: Synergy?

Malkmus: (laughing) Yeah. They pay him $2,000 to say that word, you know…some business coach.

I want to be one of those guys. “We need more synergy.” (he says in mocking jest) “I’m a futurist and we need synergy.”

(After realizing the time) I gotta roll.

Black Swan: Hey good talking to you.

Malkmus: Hey, likewise. I’ll see ya’ in a couple of days.

Black Swan: Cool.

Malkmus: Later man.

Ben Gibbard rocks his Telecaster at the Austin Music Hall during "The New Year."

If you are familiar with Death Cab for Cutie’s music, then you will understand how ironic and poetically, pathetically apropos it would have been for me to attend their Friday evening concert by myself.

But gentle reader, check the backwards-in-time rub: I’ve seen Death Cab play so many times over the years that I’ve lost count, and the majority of those times I’ve seen them play, I did go by myself. I seem to have a hard time finding a date to go see perhaps  the greatest indie pop date band of the late 20th/early 21st century.

It’s always weird watching a band, a band that you really love, go from playing to a handful of people in a dingy indie rock club to playing before 70,000 people at an outdoor festival. You reach a point where you admit to yourself that the band is not yours anymore…and just like the old adage goes, you set them free. Every band wants to be super-popular, so you have to be happy for your favorite band when they win the rock ‘n’ roll lottery.

I’m still trying to recall all the times I’ve seen them…not for you gentle reader, but for my own self…just so I’ll know:

• Lawrence, Kansas at the Bottleneck (Shiner opened)
• Austin at Emo’s (during a SXSW day party…I videotaped this one)
• Ben Gibbard solo at what is now called The Mohawk
• Two nights at Stubb’s during Transatlanticism tour
• A very hot (temperature-wise) show at ACL Fest
• A show at the Backyard (went with my ex-girl)
• Austin Music Hall show on May 1, 2009

My review of their Friday evening concert ran in today’s Austin American-Statesman. It’s very hard for me to write a comprehensive review within a 150 words capsule review. My review today was almost twice as long. I stoped counting at 400 words.

As you read – if you read it – know that I wanted to write twice as much more. I had twice as much more outlined in my head.

Here is a link to my original American-Statesman article; it appears in an altered version below.

(Note: The versions of my articles that appear in this blog are different than versions published in the newspaper as I prefer to avoid copyright issues, even though I would think that my re-publishing of my own articles on my blog would fall under “fair use.” I also sometimes add things that might have been edited out by my editor…or additional words and thoughts that I wish I had added…a la Walt Whitman’s life-long editing of “Leaves of Grass.”)

By V.M. Black | Monday, May 4, 2009, 12:01 PM

Being engaged fits Gibbard like a tailored suit as he appears more svelte than ever.

Seattle, Wash.’s venerable indie-ethos rock band Death Cab for Cutie messed around and busted out their best Austin show in years Friday night at Austin Music Hall.

Between South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Festival and regular album support tour stops, Death Cab has always put on perfunctory performances, but rarely have they been “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life.” Seemed it always took them at least half their set to get warmed up. Once during a two-night-stand at Stubb’s on their “Transatlanticism” tour, they didn’t really begin to gel until their final song.

This time it appeared Death Cab had stepped up all elements of their tour production into a multi-bus, multi-semi-trailer truck affair. The PA’s sound engineering was on point (except in the far back) and the stage lighting was choreographed to accentuate the mood and tenor of the songs, creating displays that highlighted crescendos and emotions.

Another noticeable difference in the band’s performance was the depth of their catalog, allowing them to perform a crushingly emotional song-cycle. Frontman Ben Gibbard has always been a songwriter’s songwriter, and more than 10 years of crafting some of the most beloved melancholy indie-pop in the genre has built the band’s song collection into something deep and overwhelmingly powerful. All those years of touring (with basically the same lineup) has also allowed the band to become tighter than many of their peers. The members of Death Cab for Cutie have matured into consummate rock ‘n’ roll professionals.

Gibbard appeared more svelte than in past shows, performing with a relaxed air of assuredness. Highlights included the Los Angeles send-up “Why’d You Want to Live Here” and the dusted-off gem “Photobooth.” The coup de grace encore was delivered with two of their best songs, “A Movie Script Ending” and “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard’s mellifluous voice pulling at heartstrings like a blustery winter break-up.

Ben Gibbard gets a "Boss" sound out of Fender Telecasters, a unique choice of guitars (a few people will get the pun in here).

Setlist:
The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why’d You Want to Live Here
President of What?
Crooked Teeth
Photobooth
Company Calls
Grapevine Fires
I Will Possess Your Heart
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Title and Registration
Cath
Long Division
The Sound of Settling
Soul Meets Body
Scientist Studies

Encore:
A Diamond and A Tether
A Movie Script Ending
Transatlanticism

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J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph circa 2007. Is it me, or is J. beginning to look an awful lot like Gandolf?

I can remember where I was the first time I heard Dinosaur Jr. Around 1992, a friend of mine named Caroline and I drove from Austin to Chicago – non-stop – listening to great music and staying awake with rocket fuel that may or may not be legal in the United States. Caroline brought a copy of Dino’s Your Living All Over Me and those monster riffs still ring out in the recesses of my soul.

Later during the heyday of mid-1990s  indie-ethos rock, I had just as much love for Lou Barlow’s Sebadoh as I did for Pavement and Guided by Voices. Barlow became a hero of mine, and I tried desperately to emulate his finess when I played bass guitar.

Thankfully, a few years ago J. Mascis and Lou Barlow put aside their many differences, recruited Murph back into the fold to kill the drums, and reunited long enough to realize that the world was ready for Dinosaur Jr. version 2.0, new material and all!

I got an email from the band today announcing a new album called Farm that comes out on June 23. And the guys were even nice enough to provide a link to a free download of the first single,  “I Want You to Know.” I already gave the song a spin and it lives up to their catalog: loud, noisy guitars, bass and drums that inspire instrospection and a vocal melody both melancholy and mellifluous.