Death Cab For Cutie Plot Spring Tours; New Single In February
Ever-versatile boy-band flogging "Transatlanticism" with a little transpacificism

[Posted Friday, January 9th, 2004 03:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Death Cab for Cutie recently appeared on MTV's Advance Warning, a show dedicated to slathering the rarified balm of commercial exposure onto up-and-coming bands. The festivities included a video for "The New Year," live footage from a recent Seattle performance, and a brief chat with the band. It was so introductory in tone that one almost expected montage including scenes of Death Cab chasing pigeons in the park and throwing a medicine ball with the host, while "Getting to Know You" played in the background. Nonetheless, Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard seemed to have a heightened awareness of the band's newfound cachet, if only in an offhand way, when he remarked about having to get an unlisted number recently.

But can a band who's been name-dropped on high-profile shows such as The O.C. really be called up-and-coming? What about a band whose fourth LP, Transatlanticism, sold 60,000 copies in its first two months (and this in an age of rampant downloading)? Or a band whose recently completed fall tour sold out up to three consecutive nights at large venues in the major markets in NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Seattle? Poor little guys, toiling away in obscurity-- I sure hope they catch a break soon.

Continuing their campaign for world dominance, on January 19th Death Cab will be rocking out of your TV in undulating, soft blue waves yet again, this time on The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn. At present, it's unclear whether they'll be working "The Sound of Settling" (which hits U.S. radio this month) or "The New Year" (which will be released as a single in the UK next month).

The "New Year" single, set to drop February 16th, will be backed by older material from Barsuk's deluxe-issue You Can Play These Songs With Chords and a previously unreleased Photo Album demo. The seven-inch format will also be limited to 1,000 copies. Tracklists: CD:

01 The New Year
02 Blacking Out the Friction [demo]
03 Flustered / Hey Tomcat!

Seven-inch:

01 The New Year
02 TV Trays

Finally, Death Cab will be touring near-constantly well into summer. Their latest sally will take them through Europe (February 5th - March 4th), Japan (March 16th - 18th), the U.S. (with Ben Kweller opening, March 22nd - May 20th), and Australia (May 25th - June 5th). They will also be performing at the Coachella festival in Indio, CA-- although the date and stage on which they'll appear is still up in the air. Listed below are the few tour dates that are already firm; watch this column for the rest as they solidify. Dates so far:

01-19 Los Angeles, CA - Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn
02-07 Oxford, England - Oxford Zodiac
02-08 Bristol, England - The Fleece
02-09 Manchester, England - Manchester University
02-10 Edinburgh, England - TBA
02-11 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
02-12 London, England - University of London Union
02-13 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club / Ancienne Belgique

.: Pitchfork Review: http://www.barsuk.com
.: Coachella: http://www.coachella.com