photos by Samantha Marble, words by BBG

The walls of Littlefield were adorned with Conrad Keely's intricate pen/ink tributes to sci-fi, as his band ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead celebrated the release of their new LP Tao Of The Dead with Takka Takka on Tuesday (2/8). Trail of Dead stripped down to a four piece for the show, sans keyboards, and though the band hadn't gotten their "sea legs" (per Jason Reece), they ripped through faves like "Richter Scale Madness", "Caterwaul", "Fake Fake Eyes", "A Perfect Teenhood", new tracks like "Pure Radio Cosplay" and "Ebb Away" before closing with "Relative Ways" as an encore. Takka Takka's set consisted of mostly new material that they were trying out for the Littlefield crowd. Their new album is due spring 2011.

Trail of Dead will be back around when they tour with Surfer Blood in May.

More pictures and the setlist (which leaves out "Relative Ways", the encore) from the Brooklyn show, are below...

Continue reading "Trail of Dead played w/ Takka Takka (and showed art at) Littlefield (pics, setlist)"

Trail of Dead Generation Records (more by Tim Griffin)

RCRD LBL: So tell me about how you wrote [the song] "Bells Of Creation".

TOD's Conrad Keeley: Well, I wrote it after I saw a band, a friends band. We're friends with the guys from Secret Machines, we've toured with them before, and Ben from Secret Machines left to start his own band called School Of Seven Bells. And the show that I went to see them for the first time was really inspiring and [I was] really into what they were doing.

Where was the show?

I don't think that venue is around anymore, it closed. It was on Ludlow, just off Delancey on the Lower East Side. It was one of those clubs that just closed in the last year, you know a bunch of clubs were bought out by rent. So, I had that kind of sound in my head and I was inspired by that. The association of "Bells" being there, I named the song I was writing, inspired by that show, after a hymn, called "Bells Of Creation" that we used to sing when I was in school back in England. Every morning the school would have assembly, and all the kids would gather in the assembly hall and we'd all sing hymns. And that was one of my favorite hymns, "Bell Of Creation." It was just singular, "The bell of creation."

School of Seven Bells also have a bunch of shows coming up of their own.

On December 17th, Trail of Dead visited WNYC's Soundcheck. You can listen to that HERE. RCRD LBL has "Bells of Creation" for free download. All dates below...

Continue reading "Trail of Dead - updated 2009 tour dates, tickets & SOSB"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

Nick Diamonds/Thorburn of Islands put together a NY Cares benefit at Knitting Factory in NYC. It happened back on December 8th. The three floor event featured experimental music, art and someone on LSD in a cage on the bottom floor (Old Office), comedy (Eugene Mirman, Dave Hill, Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav, God's Pottery, Jessie Klein, etc...) followed by Street Carnage (Gavin McInnes showing funny pictures and telling really dirty stories about them) on the second flooor (Tap Bar), and music (Conrad Keely, Leona Naess, Marnie Stern, Despot and Nick Diamonds) and comedy (Eugene Mirman and Fred Armisen) on the main stage. More pictures below...

Continue reading "the rest of the NY Cares Benefit pics (David Cross, Nick Diamonds, Fred Armisen, Street Carnage...)"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

Major label expatriates and rogue rockers ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead announce a national US tour in support of their highly anticipated full-length - The Century of Self - out February 17th, 2009 on the band's Richter Scale Records imprint on Justice Records....produced and mixed by Chris Coady (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear) at his DNA Studio in NYC's East Village - The album was recorded Spring 2008 in Austin, TX with Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin) at The Mob House and Chris "Frenchie" Smith (Sixteen Deluxe, Smog, Jet) at The Bubble. Featuring vocal contributions from Yeasayer and Dragons of Zynth, Trail of Dead's sixth full-length is a return to their indie roots while showing the progression the band has made since its inception in 1994.

Continue reading "...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - new album, 2009 Tour Dates, NY Cares pics"

Islands @ Market Hotel (more by Leia Jospe)

Nick Diamonds of Islands Presents : a BENEFIT for NY Cares, December 8th @ Knitting Factory in NYC. Tickets are on sale. Flyer below...

Continue reading "NY Cares @ Knitting Factory w/ David Cross, Marnie Stern, Nick Islands, Conrad Trail of Dead, Dave Hill, more..."