Pitchfork: Barsuk to Release Travis Morrison Solo Debut

Barsuk to Release Travis Morrison Solo Debut
Closing track not *necessarily* a Master P cover

Travis Morrison, ex-frontman of ex-The Dismemberment Plan, has finally set a date for his solo debut. Travistan, which is either the most ridonkulous or most narcissistically titled album of the year, depending on who you ask, will be released on September 28th (well, he actually keeps saying September 29th, but that's a Wednesday, which would be odd) via Barsuk Records, a marked change of pace from the Plan's former label, DeSoto. Maybe the fact that Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/resident engineer Chris Walla produced the album had something to do with it. Or... you know, maybe they liked it. Anyway, the tracklist has also been finalized:

01 Get Me Off This Coin A
02 Change
03 Born in '72
04 My Two Front Teeth Parts II and III
05 Get Me Off This Coin B
06 People Die
07 Song for the Orca
08 Any Open Door
09 Get Me Off This Coin C
10 Che Guevara Poster
11 The Word Cop
12 Angry Angel
13 Get Me Off This Coin D
14 Represent

Which brings up some questions. Like, what's this "Get Me Off This Coin" business? What happened to "My Two Front Teeth Part I"? Why is there a song called "Change" (also the title of the D-Plan's final album)?

Well, he didn't answer those questions (actually, we didn't ask), but Pitchfork did speak to Morrison via email about the new album and the upcoming tour in support. Though he's happy with the end result, Morrison had previously suggested a wealth of guest spots on Travistan, which apparently didn't come to fruition. "[The guest spots] were all utter failures," he explained. "I can't put it any other way. They all did good stuff but we couldn't quite hit it. Well, you know, there is a guy from Aloha on 'Any Open Door', TJ Liffle. He plays drums. Not quite like having Trina deliver a scorching guest rap but what can a man do?" Indeed. The album does have guest spots from John Vanderslice and Death Cab drummer Jason McGerr, which were presumably more successful.

"I'll be touring with a full band starting early October, with a lineup of three keyboards, percussion and drums," said Morrison, adding that he'll actually be one of the keyboardists. "It's kind of like if Kraftwerk were Southern kids looking for a good time on a Saturday night. It isn't look-I-got-an-808-on-eBay honkie crap. We'll play everywhere in the lower 48 [states] at least once, probably twice. The album's material will be the focus, but we are learning a bunch of covers, too. There will be more covers than in the Plan shows, but since that total was zero, that ain't hard."

As far as his recent solo, cover-heavy jaunt around the U.S., Morrison said: "Those solo shows were indicative of nothing, except that I like to have a good time; I love and respect rap and R&B; songwriting even more than before; and I'm not the super-greatest guitarist in the world." Hence the switch to keyboards, perhaps?