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“The past six months have been nothing but a colorful, brilliant blur,” Adam Young tells of his new success pg 3
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Death Cab for Cutie make big plans pg 6
OWL CITY
Two sisters, one story
The Biggest ‘Total Nobody’ with a Top 10 Single and Album By James Montgomery Adam Young has stocked freezers at HyVee, loaded packages for UPS, and built shipping containers for Coca-Cola. Somewhere along the way, he also became a rather unassuming musical sensation. See, Young is better known as Owl City, the one-man band behind "Fireflies," a gently burbling bit of electronic dream-pop that currently sits at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (and #2 on the Digital Songs chart), alongside the likes of Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and the Black Eyed Peas. Ocean Eyes,Owl City's third proper album (and the first he hasn't released on his own), makes its top-10 debut on the Billboard albums chart next week, landing at #8 with 28,000 sold. "Yeah, it's fairly unbelievable, not to mention breathtaking, dreamlike, surprising, mind-blowing, bizarre and phantasmagorical too. The past six months have been nothing but a colorful, brilliant blur," Young told MTV News via e-mail (he doesn't do on-camera inter-
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views). "I'm so thankful for being allowed to do what I do. I'm a silly shy boy from the middle of nowhere. I have the worst sense of direction imaginable. I was afraid to eat lunch with the other kids in high school. I can't even drive in big cities. I'm a totally nobody. I spill coffee all over myself. I am so undeserving." Young's ascent is even more amazing considering that six months ago, he was living in his parents' basement and working the late shift at a nearby CocaCola bottling plant. At the time, music was just a way to combat the monotony of his daily life — hazy, daydreamy stuff that mimicked the songs he heard in his head. Almost on a whim, he put a few demos — songs like "Hello Seattle" and "Rainbow Veins" — up on MySpace and somehow ended up with some 6 million plays. A deal with Universal followed soon after, and the rest, as they say, was history. "I began writing due to boredom, for something fun to do. ... Music became my best friend. I poured myself into it, and listening to the final results was something that was satisfying to me," he wrote. "I heard a quote once by
['Lord of the Rings' author J.R.R.] Tolkien that went something like, 'Nobody is writing the kinds of books I want to read ... so I have to.' The same went (and goes) for myself in terms of music. I write for my own ears. If people choose to listen, I'm thrilled and certainly honored, but there's a lot of music I imagine in my head that virtually nobody today is creating, so in a sense, I feel the need to take a stab at it for fear of never hearing it again. It's almost like a bizarre sense of duty. If I don't get it out of my head, it'll disappear and be lost forever." It's been pretty hectic throughout his meteoric rise, Young has tried very hard to remain nearly anonymous — hence the Owl City moniker and the lack of on-camera interviews. Even when pressed about the one sticking point nearly every journalist mentions about his music — the rather uncanny resemblance it bears to Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello's Postal Service — he doesn't get ruffled. Rather, he prefers to deflect, to make it a nonissue. After all, answering annoying questions sure beats working in a Hy-Vee
Sisters Tegan and Sara set to release sixth album By James Montgomery Two sisters, two guitars. On-stage banter about diarrhea, the ever-present possibility that friendly bickering may suddenly erupt into bloodshed, and rockin' pop songs that will blindside you as surely as a soccer Mom in an SUV yakking on her cell phone. Ladies and germs, please welcome Tegan and Sara. All joking aside, Tegan and Sara - who finally came of legal drinking age last year - were very serious when it came to making If It Was You, the followup to their 2000 U.S. debut This Business of Art. "It feels like the first thing we've done that we were ready to do, whereas before it was like, 'We've got ten days to make an album!,'" says Sara. "In the past, there's been some apprehension about recording. This time it was fun." The hard-edged yet hook-laden If It Was You is as different from This Business of Art as, well, Tegan is from Sara; the two are obviously related, yet distinct in character. "We went back to our roots: Punkier, poppier, and louder," says Tegan. It wasn't a huge stylistic leap, since the Vancouver residents, who started playing guitar at 15, cut their teeth in a high school punk band, and only became an acoustic duo after they tired of losing drummers and blowing amps. Tegan and Sara’s sixth studio album – Sainthood – addresses secular themes of devotion, delusion, and exemplary behavior in the pursuit of love and relationships. Inspired by emotional longing and the quiet actions we hope may be noticed by the objects of our affection, Sainthood is about obsession with romantic ideals. In the service of relationships we practice being perfect. We practice our sainthood in the hope that we will be rewarded with adoration. As we are driven to become anything for someone else, we sometimes become martyrs for our cause. Love, like faith, can never be held in an individual’s hands. But the story of a great love affair – especially one that is unrequited or has ended too soon – can be woven like scripture or a bedtime story.
Decemberists tour in support of newest album By Alex Sherman Since the release of prog-folk-metal rock opera "The Hazards of Love" this spring, the Portland, Ore. band has devotedly toured in its support, delighting audiences by performing the full album from start to finish. Last night (Oct. 19), the Decemberists played what was billed as the final "Hazards of Love" show to a reverential and packed house at UCLA's Royce Hall. And they did not let the final "Hazards" show go out with a whimper, premiering "Here Come The Waves," a stunning new "visualizer" of four seemlessly-sequenced psychedelic videos inspired by the album's different acts. The six-piece powered confidently through the story-songs as they kept
close time with the film's dramatic visual cues. Principal Decemberist Colin Meloy's vocals sounded crisp and commanding as our troubadour and the voices of the story's characters. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond channeled the insensity of Grace Slick during her renditions of "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" and "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing," both of which she sings on the original recording. Becky Stark, of the Los Angeles band Lavender Diamond, provided a sometimes necessary counterpart to their overwhelming vocals with her ethereal soprano. "The Rake's Song," nearly every member of the band walloped their own drum kit, giving the album's second half a powerful boost of emotion and energy. "The Wanting Comes In
Waves (Reprise)" brought the opera to a climactic end with a crowd-pleasing crescendo of intense noise. The films -- created individually by Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria -- are mostly suggestive, impressionistic, and non-literal impressions of the album's story. Instead of featuring the story's characters, the visuals function as impressionistic landscapes and atmospheres evocative of the unfolding drama like a richly imagined liquid lightshow. They feature, hyperrealistic floral animations that recall the imagery of Lewis Carroll, dancing heavenly bodies, and sublime experiments in lighting. The films were commissioned by Hornet, the digital studio, and Jonathan Wells of Flux and will be available on iTunes on December 1.
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Meet Alison Sudol of By Chelsea Harmen
A Fine Frenzy
Alison Sudol, age 24, is the leader of A Fine Frenzy, which she introduced to the world with the 2007 album ONE CELL IN THE SEA. The project established her as one of the most talented young singers and songwriters around; it received rave reviews, was widely exposed through songs being licensed to numerous television shows, and reached Number One on Billboard's "Heatseeker" charts. "On tour, I discovered that, while I love being behind the piano and having quiet moments with the audience, I also love rocking out and having a good time. I started expanding my tastes, listening to as much music as I could get my hands on. Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and the Talking Heads changed my life." A sweeping rock ballad, complete with bombastic drums-and-vocal break, the song became the pivot point for BOMB IN A BIRDCAGE. "It was the most unruly I'd ever been," says Sudol. "When I wrote it, I knew it had to be enormous- giant guitars, raucous drums. I was scared by it at first and wanted to put it aside. But the songs I tend to love the most in the end are often the ones that, initially, I wanted to do away with. They're overwhelming when they first come along. Change scares me—but I know that about myself. Usually when I'm scared, it's an indication that I ought to plow ahead. It's not particularly easy and I would love if it weren't the case, but it tends to work." On the other hand, Sudol is far from being some kind of romantic Luddite. In fact, she was active on Twitter long before it became a cultural phenomenon—to the point that she now has over half a million followers, making her one of the top ten artists on the service, alongside folks like Britney Spears and John Mayer. The cliché is that second albums are always the hardest—that an artist puts her whole life into her debut, and then has to crank out a follow-up while touring and feeling commercial pressure for the first time. "I felt like being daring," she says. "I wasn't interested in doing more of the same. That doesn't inspire me, so I just went with whatever was exciting me. And now, I can't wait to get on the road with this stuff! It's going to be quite an undertaking, but I'm up for it."
Meet Nick Cocozzella and his different identities By Paul Fairchild
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Kill Paradise, reigning from Denver, Colorado, is the dancepop solo project of Nick Cocozzella. He created this project in October of 2003. He has released two albums independently. His first, Pictures, can be bought on iTunes. He released his second album, The Effect, on January 20 2008. Cocozzella was part of The Autobiography, but has parted ways with them for unknown reasons. Spending time away from his old band, he has created two other side projects besides Kill Paradise: The Midas Well and The Broadway. The Midas Well consists of Nick Cocozzella and Aaron Rothe, who has been good friends with Cocozzella for a long time. The sound of their side project can be considered similiar to that of Kill Paradise: dancepop. In Rothe’s time away from writing music for The Midas Well, he is also a key element in the post-hardcore band Drop Dead, Gorgeous, serving as keyboards and backing vocals. The Broadway is Cocozzella’s other project that he formed with a friend named Kyle. They have a hip-hop and R&B sound, which is very different from Cocozzella’s other side projects. Kill Paradise has a MySpace page and a Purevolume page, both of which occasionally have songs up for the fans to download. Tour dates are posted on both sites and are updated frequently. Currently, Kill Paradise is only performing shows in certain areas of his home state, Colorado.
Documenting:
Jack’s Mannequin
By Corey Moss
In the summer of 2006, a publicist friend called on a Sunday morning and invited me to a studio visit with one caveat: It had to be that day. A few hours later, after convincing my friend Josh Morrisroe to grab a camera and meet me there, we stood in an empty room watching Andrew McMahon, bald and weighing maybe a buck fifty, pouring everything he had into a song called "There, There Katie." He was on a deadline, but this wasn't an 11th hour addition to his new album (that was Dark Blue months before). In fact, it wasn't for release at all. A few months earlier, Andrew was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 20. He was in between rounds of chemotherapy and out of the hospital for the weekend. The song was a gift for his sister, Kate, who was donating her stem cells to him a few days later. Between the strength he showed behind that piano and the love captured in those words, "There, There Katie" moved me like no song had before. From that afternoon on, Josh and I became dedicated to sharing Andrew's
Meet K-os By Chelsea Harmen
story with the world. At that point, we had no idea how it would end, but as fans of Jack's Mannequin know, the stem cell transplant was a success and Andrew was back on stage exactly 100 days later. Somewhere in between that time, Andrew told me he had video taped every detail of his experience dating back to the fall before when he first started recording Everything In Transit, a coming-of-age break-up record released the same day as his transplant. All the needles, all the phone calls, all the ups and all the downs ..all captured along with straight-from-the-heart narration by a handheld DV cam. Eventually, those 40 tapes or so became the basis for the documentary Dear Jack, which Josh and I spent more than three years putting together. Narrated by Andrew's friend (and the drummer on Everything In Transit), Tommy Lee, the movie gives a raw look at cancer and shows how one (very young) man rode his determination to keep making music all the way to recovery. K-os, born Kevin Brereton, is a genuine neo-crossover rap n' roller who's music, much like your Ipod, might speak to hipster club kidz, pop chart gazers, Canadian indie rockers, dirty south electronic rap renegades, or reggae rude boys simultaneously. As it should - his rhyme and crooning skills took root in arguably the most polyglot and multi-cultural city on the planet, Toronto. And he's quite vocal about his not belonging to any one genre - he belongs to them all. Says K-os: "I'm a historical opportunist who’s grown up on everything from Dylan to Marley to KRS-One... I've never seen myself as just a hip hop artist". On Yes!, his 12 song deep fourth album, released in Canada on Nettwerk/ Universal, the now Vancouver-based upstart has consolidated everything he's done before, and chimed in where his head's at now, like a more musically seasoned audio auteur would, despite his past successes. He explained, "Strangely, three albums later, it feels like I'm starting new again, with a new label, manager, and agent. As a musician who’s staked his reputation on playing the Angel’s Advocate, and provoking reaction like most good art should do (“I was the first Canadian hip hopper to smash guitars on the Juno’s!”), this other part of his legend has grown with each CD: he’s publicly beefed with music critics, pseudo punk rockers, Hip Hop the genre itself, and rising world music rap stars. On Yes!, K-os raises the proverbial bar, starring as equal part fire-spitting MC, crooner and composer. K-os embraces such contradictions, and it’s probably what will make Yes! one of the year’s most hyped releases, destined to become a favorite of music bloggers, club DJs, pop charts and file-sharers.
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Death Cab make “Plans” Vodka, ponies and medieval knights color Seattle foursome’s new record By Alex Mar Seattle-based Death Cab for Cutie have been snowed in at Long View's farmhouse studio in rural Massachusetts for a solid month to record Plans, the follow-up to their breakthrough album Transatlanticism, due in September. "We are virtually in the middle of nowhere," sighs singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard, who has been living with his bandmates in a converted barn. "I think this is the kind of place a label sends a band if the singer's a junkie and they need to get him away from the bad things in the city. But being able to spread out while recording has been really nice." The workday begins around 10 a.m., with drums, bass and some guitar being laid down at Long View, and vocals and mixing to be done back in Seattle. But in spite of what Gibbard dubs the band's "boy scout" work ethic, the isolation can be intense, driving him and bassist Nick Harmer to take frequent excursions to the liquor store (the only local attraction) and take up gambling. "We've been playing a dice game called, unfortunately, 'Nazi,'" he confesses. The only bandmate without the luxury to slack off, it seems, is guitarist/ producer Chris Walla. "I'm the one working for twelve hours a day," he says. "I haven't left the property since we got here." But Walla, who once nearly gave up touring altogether, thrives behind the tracking board. "Oh, I get really happy in the studio. Four years ago, I would have
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“Ben’s always so nervous when he gives us songs, but this is probably his best bunch ever. Chris Walla Guitarist/Producer been totally happy to never play another show," he admits. "But now I think they both feed one another: Rock shows are like primary colors, big and bold, and then you can get away from that and come in and put things under the microscope." Even though Walla finds himself producing his own band (as he did with Transatlanticism), things seem to run smoothly. "He's gotten good at switching hats without it being too controversial," says Gibbard. "I can definitely see how in other bands it could get nasty: 'Why don't you change that?' 'Why don't you go fuck yourself!' But it's not like that. Basically, he works all day, and we feel guilty." Wall a says of his process, "I've always approached each song like it's its own little thing -- like the foundation and the frame are already there, and it's my job to put the walls on, and paint and decorate each little piece." Plans is named for Gibbard's favorite joke, "How
do you make God laugh? Make a plan." In keeping with its black title, the record brings more melancholy tracks about love. The song "Soul Meets Body," also written for his girlfriend and possibly a single, features the lyric, "And brown eyes, I'll hold you near/'Cause you're the only song I want to hear/A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere." Other tracks include "Brothers on a Hotel Bed," "Someday You Will Be Loved," "Your Heart Is an Empty Room" and the potential opener, "Marching Bands of Manhattan." Unable to write while on the road, Gibbard penned the songs for Plans on short breaks during nearly two years of touring. "I took a cue from Nick Cave and rented a little apartment and moved the piano there, a couple guitars and my laptop," says Gibbard, who lately has been listening incessantly to German electronica and the new (bootlegged) Fiona Apple record. One of his boldest experiments since
Death Cab's last album may not even make it onto the new record. The track "Walking the Ghost" refers to Gibbard's frustrations with President Bush's reelection -- especially considering the band toured with Pearl Jam for months as part of the activist Vote for Change Tour. November 2nd was crushing: "We had to play Vegas that night, in a fucking casino! The next morning, on the bus, our sound guy cracked open a bottle of Jack." "Ghost," however, remains a subject of debate, as Gibbard is self-conscious about bringing national affairs into his work. "Ben's always so nervous when he gives us songs," says Walla, "but this is probably his best bunch ever. They're more linear, and the language is more direct." The many differences between the two, close friends for ten years, feed into their collaboration. "Ben balances his check book and knows where his pencil is all the time," Walla says. "I can record a full record without a piece of paper in front of me -- but that's because I can never find a piece of paper! Sometimes I have no idea where he's coming from -- but I like that. There's always that little bit of mystery when we go in to record." With Plans, Death Cab's major-label debut on Atlantic (after four albums on
indie Barsuk), the question remains whether the record will keep up the momentum the band gained with Transatlanticism -- and through a series of plugs from Fox's The OC. Given a big boost by the popular teen drama, Death Cab are set to appear on the April 21st episode, performing live at the show's fictional music venue, the Bait Shop. "Radio, for the most part, is not so helpful to bands," says Gibbard. "And, frankly, I don't see much difference between performing on Letterman and on The OC -- you're just playing your songs. I'm sure it's not cool to some people who've liked us in the past, but I could really give a fuck." The band insists that working with a major has changed little. "A couple people from the label came to the studio last night," says Gibbard, "and they're not fucking around with the controller. They're just hanging out." And maybe it is about time for these indie darlings to start racking up the perks. "I guess we're recovering from indie-rockitis," Gibbard adds. "You know, Atlantic works with Fat Joe, and his Cristal budget is, like, $300,000. Then we walk in like, 'Oh, wow, they gave us a bottle of vodka!'"
AFS take on a new challenge By Brian Betisoni Armor for Sleep’s emotionally charged lyrics, energetic live shows, and D.I.Y. work ethic have won the New Jersey-based quartet a loyal fan base. Singer/ songwriter/guitar player Ben Jorgensen began writing songs the summer before his freshman year at college, and recorded two of them at a local studio. Weary of playing all of the instruments himself, the self-admitted recluse found kindred spirits in bassist Anthony Dilonno and cousins Nash Breen (drums) and P.J. DeCicco (guitar). Buzz for the newly minted band grew quickly, and by the summer of 2002, Armor for Sleep found themselves in California recording their debut, Dream to Make Believe. Released on Equal Vision Records in June 2003, the record secured the band a solid spot in the growing emo-pop scene, leading to some choice shows with bands like Taking Back Sunday, Piebald, and Thursday. In 2005, after successfully headlining its own U.S. tour, the band released What to Do When You Are Dead, a loosely related conceptual album dealing with life and death that showcased the group’s growth into a heavier and darker machine. The DVD =A Comprehensive Guide to Touring was issued near the year’s end, and Armor for Sleep next signed on to the Sire roster in April 2006. The following year, “End of the World” was included on the soundtrack for Transformers: The Movie, and the group released a new album, Smile for Them. James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide Every band waits for their moment. They wait for that one moment where all of their talent and hard work suddenly pays off and they stand on the brink of something huge...at the precipice of great opportunity. This is where New Jersey foursome Armor For Sleep stands now, clutching in their collective possession a dynamic, compelling third addition to their ever-evolving catalogue of music. The record, Smile For Them, a vastly diverse assortment of 12 tracks, is the impetus
propelling the group to take full advantage of the enormous possibility that lies ahead. Sweat makes everything taste sweeter. After forming in the suburban utopia of northern NJ in 2002, catalyzed by singer/guitarist Ben Jorgensen's songwriting and desire to form a band centered around it, Armor For Sleep began slowly building the massive, supportive fanbase that they have today. The release of the group's debut, Dream To Make Believe, in 2003 on independent label Equal Vision Records, thrust them on tour where receptive listeners were attracted to the genuine, personable sensibility of the band and their music. But 2005's critically acclaimed concept-based follow-up, What To Do When You Are Dead, set them far apart from the other bands swimming in the deep sea of "emo" bands, and put them distinctly on the top of the bubbling genre. Selling over 220,000 records to date, the album solidified the
bond between band and fan, and eventually peaked the interest of Warner Bros., and drew them to add Armor For Sleep to their roster in 2006. The band signed to Sire, home to many legendary bands including The Ramones, The Smiths, Depeche Mode The Pretenders, as well as Against Me! Tegan & Sara and Regina Spektor. Now backed by a heavyweight record label and driven by a sincere motivation to create something truly meaningful, the foursome set their sights on their major label debut- a memorable, layered disc that defies expectations and shatters generic barriers. Armed with what Jorgensen calls a "junkyard of ideas" compiled since the recording of What To Do, Armor For Sleep penned a record that grapples with the current state of reality and strives to ascend the band's sound to new levels, by, as Jorgensen says, "challenging ourselves more than we ever had."
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