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Sunset Rubdown announce 2009 tour (dates), Spencer's friend Destroyer releasing EP & played Bowery Ballroom

DOWNLOAD: Sunset Rubdown – Idiot Heart (MP3)

‘This is the best band retreat yet…’
Sunset Rubdown

“By no means am I a poet or a great lyricist, I just like to include some sort of beauty in the lyrics,” [Sunset Rubdown‘s Spencer Krug] says. “Sometimes I’m trying to make them more straight-forward, but it’s still in me to return to the metaphor and I’m not very good at it. My friend Dan [Bejar – aka Canadian solo artist Destroyer] is one of the few people who can pull off poetry and music at the same time. The imagery isn’t anything complex. I’d like to get to the point where I could create something like that, without hiding behind metaphors. I’m my own worst critic, right?”

“[With the new record] it’s turned very much into a collaborative band – they’re not just hired guns,” explains Krug with a hint of relief. “I’m still the principal songwriter. I bring my ideas to them and then they add their own colours and flavours to them and it becomes Sunset Rubdown. If I was to sit down and record with just a piano and a guitar it sounds all right but it makes me miss the band.”
[Spins and Needles]

Spencer and Sunset Rubdown kick off a month-long tour of Europe on September 2nd. When they return, they’ll be playing shows across North America through October. That tour comes to NYC for an October 16th show at Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Saturday, August 8th at noon. After missing the show at Studio B during the Northside Festival (which apparently was a disaster anyway), I can’t wait for this one.

The group’s great new record, Dragonslayer, came out on June 23rd on Jagjaguwar. “Idiot Heart” from that album is above.

Dan Bejar, Krug’s Swan Lake collaborator shouted out above, just finished a short solo Destroyer tour. He played XX Merge in North Carolina, and a July 30th NYC show at Bowery Ballroom

“Last night I had the privilege to see my favorite band/singer Destroyer at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. I’ve been to countless shows over the past 18yrs or so and I’ve even seen Destroyer a number of times, but last night was special. He played material off of each of his EIGHT albums and even a song from a side project called Swan Lake, AND he did it all solo with an acoustic guitar. I’ve always been partial to a sripped down lo-fi sound anyway, so in my opinion, it was best like that. Not to take away from what the band contributes, but it really was amazing this way. So luckily I brought a pad to do a few quick drawings (in the dark) as I always think it would be great to reportage these events and then some how I never seem to. Glad I did last night.” [Greg Betza]

Destroyer is releasing a new 12-inch vinyl EP, titled Bay of Pigs, on August 18th via Merge. Bejar will be back in the fall for a Wordless Music show at the Miller Theatre on September 12th, as well as an appearance at Pop Montreal. All tour dates below.

EP art, tracklist, the setlist from Destroyer’s XX Merge show, and Sunset Rubdown live videos and tour dates, are below…

Destroyer
Destroyer – Bay of Pigs tracklist
Side A:
Bay Of Pigs – 13:37
Side B:
Ravers – 7:50

Destroyer XX Merge set list: (via)
Helena
What Road
European Oils
Goddess of Drought
To The Heart Of The Sun On The Back Of The Vulture, I’ll Go
Streets of Fire
Foam Hands
The Chosen Few
Painter in Your Pocket

Sunset Rubdown – Nightingdale/December Song – 2009/20/06 @ Mohawk

Sunset Rubdown – Dragon’s Lair – 2009/20/06 @ Mohawk

Sunset Rubdown – Coming to at Dawn, live at Logan Square Auditorium (7/7/09)

Sunset Rubdown – 2009 Tour Dates
09/02/09 Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
09/03/09 Malmo, Sweden – Debaser
09/04/09 Goteborg, Sweden – Parken
09/05/09 Stockholm, Sweden – Strand
09/06/09 Copenhagen, Denmark – Loppen
09/07/09 Hamburg, Germany – Knust
09/08/09 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
09/10/09 Glasgow, UK – Stereo
09/11/09 Belfast, UK – Spring and Airbrake
09/12/09 Dublin, Ireland – Crawdaddy
09/13/09 Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
09/14/09 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute
09/15/09 London, UK – Garage
09/16/09 Cardiff, UK – The Glode
09/18/09 Leffinge, Belgium – Leffingeleuren
09/19/09 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique
09/20/09 Berlin, Germany – Magnet Club
09/21/09 Leipzig, Germany – Ut Connewitz
09/22/09 Munchen, Germany – 59:1
09/23/09 Vienna, Austria – B72
09/24/09 Zagreb, Croatia – KSET
09/25/09 Ljublijana, Slovenia – Menza Pri Koritu
09/26/09 Pisa, Italy – Caracol
09/27/09 Carpi, Italy – Mattatoio
09/30/09 Lille, France – L’Aeronef
10/01/09 Paris, France – Point FMR
10/16/09 New York, NY – Manhattan Center Grand Ballrom
10/17/09 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
10/18/09 Columbus, OH – The Summit
10/19/09 Chicago, IL – Logan Square Auditorium
10/20/09 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
10/21/09 St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway Nightclub
10/23/09 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
10/24/09 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
10/26/09 San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
10/27/09 West Hollywood, CA – The Troubadour

Destroyer – 2009 Tour Dates
09.12.2009 New York, NY – Columbia’s Miller Theatre
10.02.2009 Montreal, Canada – Ukrainian Federation Pop Montreal
10.03.2009 Toronto, Canada – Horseshoe Tavern