Pitchfork

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have bunkered themselves up in "hippie heart land" this summer to record their Interscope Records debut. On the band's official website, the boys in black blog: "This has certainly been a recording experience unlike any other so far. In this very country, thirty five years ago, the first hirsute flower child stepped upon San Francisco soil and declared a nation of pure love, based on the principals of peace, a disdain for authority, and for personal hygiene, and a love of all things groovy. It is into this land, thirty five years later, that we meat-eating, coffee worshipping Texans have stumbled, knocked our spurs against their bead-adorned sidewalks, spat our chewing tobacco upon sandal-worn streets, with the intentions of leaving with a completed album."

Prairie Sun studios served as a chicken farm at some point in the past, but now will hatch the major label hopes of the anarchist sonic youths. The band claims the isolation has elevated their performance to new levels, and the songs reflect the pastoral feel of the Northern California surroundings.

Back in spring, the Trail recorded songs at Brooklyn Bridge studios for a Summer EP on Merge/Domino, but nothing has surfaced yet. To those who cry sell-out to the Dead for signing under Fred Durst's name, remember: it costs a lot of money to destroy your gear each night.