Wednesday, May. 07, 2008

No time like now to start thinking about summer festivals

By Jeremy Dutton

While scouring the music blogs this week, I saw on Pitchforkmedia.com that Death Cab for Cutie recently announced the title for their new album, Narrow Stairs.

It’s set to come out in May. But more importantly, while skating around Death Cab’s website, I saw that the Seattle group along with a few other Northwest faves will be taking off to Southern California for the Coachella Festival on April 25-27.

Death Cab, along with Stephen Malkmus and Minus the Bear, will play with headliners Roger Waters, the Raconteurs, Portishead, Jack Johnson, My Morning Jacket and something like 100 other bands. Tickets went on sale last Friday. To get yours, go to coachella.com/tickets.

That also got me to thinking that now is the perfect time to start planning for the summer festival circuit. You’ve got Florida’s Langerado Music Festival in March; in June there’s the Telluride (Colorado) Bluegrass Festival and Bonnaroo in Tennessee; July brings the Pitchfork Music Festival; then to close it all out, there’s the Austin City Limits festival in Texas in September.

Better start saving.

You didn’t think I’d leave Sasquatch out, did you? So far the only thing that’s been released is that the Cure could be headlining. This is purely circumstantial though. On the Gorge’s website, the Cure is listed as playing May 25, which is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, when the festival usually takes place.

Come on organizers, let us in on the secret. Some of us work weekends. R.E.M.

On another tour note, R.E.M. recently released tour dates to support an upcoming album, Accelerate. About as close as they’re coming to us is Vancouver at the end of May. The band has said that they crank up the amp on Accelerate. If you need proof, just go to remhq.com and listen to Supernatural Superserious.

Drive-By Truckers

I picked up the new Drive-By Truckers album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark last week. After guitarist/singer Jason Isbell left DBT last year and subsequently released an amazing solo album, I was worried the band might not recover. Turns out my fears were right.

DBT’s latest lacks what a good DBT album should have. The band always has taken hard-luck stories and coated most of them with a silver, or at least humorous, lining.

Now without Isbell, DBT sinks into the depths right along with the suicidal, drunken, meth-addicted, womanizing characters they create.

And without Isbell to counter Mike Cooley’s gruff voice and Shonna Tucker’s subpar Neko Case impressions, it just doesn’t cut it.

The songwriting hasn’t left. I just miss the balance Isbell gave. It’s a sad event because DBT was the only band that could make redneck stories the stuff of literary folklore. Looks like the memory of Lynyrd Skynyrd may be all Southern rock has left in the tank.

- Jeremy Dutton: jdutton@tricityherald. com; 582-1525.