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20 posts tagged Ben Gibbard
Video: Frightened Rabbit Cover Death Cab for Cutie
As a show of gratitude to Frightened Rabbit fans and tourmates Death Cab for Cutie for supporting Invisible Children, a charity organization that works toward bringing peace to Northern Uganda, FR frontman Scott Hutchison has shared a touching cover of his favorite Death Cab tune: 2005 Plans cut “Different Names for the Same Thing.”
“I almost tried to ‘countrify’ the song, as it has such a strong beautiful melody,” he said. “It’s a very simple song at its core, so I just stuck with that basic structure and let it be plaintive and sad.” Watch Hutchison’s riverside performance above.
Death Cab for Cutie - “Home Is a Fire” (Official Video)
Famed illustrator/street artist Shepard Fairey teamed up with Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer to direct the band’s latest official video off their forthcoming LP, Codes and Keys. “Nick sent me the lyrics… and they evoked the duality of ‘home’ both as a place you inhabit, and also as a place that inhabits or traps you,” Fairey said in an explanation of the video’s concept at Boing Boing. “One’s relationship with home might be complicated, but ultimately it can be a two-way dialogue, of which we can at least affect one-way.”
As this video seeks to demonstrate, street art can be used to react against — and interact with — the city as an “impersonal, imposing, simultaneously anonymous and claustrophobic” place. Fairey adds, “I would say that a street art call to action is ‘if you don’t like your home… reshape it.’”
Death Cab for Cutie - “Some Boys”
Our third official taste (following single/video “You Are A Tourist” and opening track “Home Is A Fire”) of Death Cab’s forthcoming LP, Codes and Keys, arrived this morning via Atlantic Records: “Some Boys,” a 3-minute, pulsing heartbeat/kickdrum-backed prime piece of ambient indie-rock. “Some boys are singing, some boys are singing the blues,” Ben Gibbard declares before calling out a few Blues Hammer types: “joylessly flinging with the girls that their bringing to their rooms, and then leave when they’re through.” (One wonders if this tune was inspired at all by the Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls.”) Above, you can stream the promising cut.
Death Cab’s “You Are a Tourist” Video
In which the first live, scripted, one-take, music video shoot ever actually became an excellent visual treatment to the first single off Death Cab for Cutie’s first Codes and Keys single, “You Are a Tourist.” Between the choreography, light-up suits, and laudable direction by Tim Nackashi, DCfC turned the moment into a rewarding clip upon multiple viewings.
(Award for Best Bass-Sync-Strut in recent memory goes to Nick Harmer at 0:47.)
Ben Gibbard’s ‘Arthur’ Song - “When the Sun Goes Down” (Studio Version)
Back in March, we heard Ben Gibbard preview a few new tunes live in San Francisco, including the new Death Cab for Cutie title track, “Codes and Keys,” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” an original song he wrote for the forthcoming Russell Brand-starring Arthur remake. Now you can hear an official stream of the studio version — complete with a subdued, shuffling rhythm section, breezy acoustic guitar strumming, and a reverb-drenched solo that likely soundtracks one of the less comedic moments of the rom-com — above (via SKoA, via WB’s Water Tower Music).
We’ve heard a Ben Gibbard solo version of the title track off Death Cab for Cutie’s 7th studio LP, Codes and Keys (alongside a Buck Owens cover, duet with Bob Mould, and Arthur theme song), but 10 tracks remain a mystery, including forthcoming single “You Are a Tourist.” Now the pound sign and/or hashtag-donning album art is here to pique your interest further, as well as the intriguing tracklist, which includes opening cut “Home Is a Fire” and the fun-sounding farewell tune “Stay Young, Go Dancing.”
Preview the album art above, full tracklist below, and revisit Gibbard’s piano rendition of “Codes and Keys” after the jump.
We’ve been waiting for a recording from Ben Gibbard’s Sunday show at San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival to surface — as the Death Cab for Cutie frontman unveiled solo versions of a couple songs off their forthcoming album — and now the Codes and Keys sneak preview has arrived… FYDCFC (via CoS) pointed to two surprisingly great-sounding bootlegged recordings from the show of Gibbard playing the title track on piano and new solo song “When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street” backed by acoustic guitar. Per recent interviews with the band, these stripped-down live versions are likely not similar to the synth-heavy studio takes. The album isn’t due until May 31, though, so in the meantime, you can hear “Codes and Keys” here, the latter tune here, or both streaming below.
*Update: Gibbard clarified that “When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street” is actually a solo song he wrote for the forthcoming Russell Brand-starring film Arthur. Only the first tune below is off the new Death Cab LP.
Wow. Between singing at an MLB playoff game recently and now this, I can’t imagine a better collection of footage from Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard as of late…
Performing at a benefit gig for Teen Feed in Seattle last night, Gibbard not only played a solo piano cover of Radiohead’s In Rainbows track “All I Need,” and brought his wife, She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel, onstage for a duet version of the Seekers’ 1964 hit “I’ll Never Find Another You,” but he previewed a brand new — possibly Death Cab for Cutie — song, as well. Let’s get psyched for the next Death Cab album while watching videos from the show at the links above or embedded below.
Watch: Zooey Deschanel Sings “God Bless America” at MLB Playoff Game
Both She and Him’s Zooey Deschanel and her husband, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, performed in San Francisco today at Game 3 of the NLCS between the hometown Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. While Gibbard boldly took on the National Anthem (aided, thankfully, by Blue Angels planes flying overhead for some much-needed dramatic effect), 7 innings later, Deschanel sang an impressive rendition of “God Bless America” for the crowd of over 40,000.
One of my all-time favorite musical SNL moments was Neil Young’s performance of “Harvest Moon” back in 1992, which promptly turned my then-electric guitar solo obsession into an acoustic guitar (and Neil Young) addiction. As it turns out, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes share my love for “Harvest Moon,” as they have both chosen to cover the song for two separate charity projects of late.
We previously mentioned that Gibbard was reportedly contributing a studio version of the song (it was already a live favorite) to the GIVE Seattle compilation, but his song choice was listed as “to be recorded” at the time, so we weren’t 100% ready to run the “Gibbard Covers Neil Young” headline just yet. Their site has since been updated, however, with confirmation that Gibbard’s rendition of “Harvest Moon” is in the can and ready to benefit Arts Corp, as well as various Seattle-based food banks. Purchase it thataway.
Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes has also covered Young’s song live before, but now he too has recorded a studio version of the tune, though for Paste’s Songs For Haiti: 2010 Earthquake Relief. Paste’s project consists of over 200 MP3s (and counting!) available on a pretty awesome stream/download/donate page to raise money for victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Contributors include Barnes, Ludacris, [TFB favorite] Josh Ritter, Andrew Bird, and a slew of other notable artists.
Donate, stream and download Barnes’ “Harvest Moon” cover, plus at least 349 more tracks for charity here.