Tag: Murder by Death

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2014: A Year In Pictures

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A year of rock n’ roll, in pictures, including two shows from late December 2013, which I shot after I posted last years’ Year in Pictures.

Tonight I’m headed out to dance the New Year in with Erasure (!); have fun and be safe, y’all, and I’ll see you on the other side.



The Districts, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013


The Felice Brothers, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013


Team Spirit, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013

Andrew W.K., Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, NGHBRS, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, States and Kingdoms, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, Frank Iero, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, The Gay Blades, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Fred Mascharino, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, States and Kingdoms, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Geoff Rickley, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Frank Iero, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, I Hate Our Freedom, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, The Gay Blades, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014


Deep Pockets, Santos Party House, New York, NY, Jan. 19, 2014


Patrick Kindlon with Loss Leader, Santos Party House, New York, NY, Jan. 19, 2014



Ovlov, Santos Party House, New York, NY, Jan. 19, 2014



Pity Sex, Santos Party House, New York, NY, Jan. 19, 2014



Patrick Kindlon with Self Defense Family, Santos Party House, New York, NY, Jan. 19, 2014


X Ambassadors, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, Feb. 4, 2014


The Colourist, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, Feb. 4, 2014




Panic! at the Disco, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, Feb. 4, 2014


Rob DiPietro, Subculture, New York, NY Feb. 7, 2014


The Grahams, Subculture, New York, NY, Feb. 7. 2014


Z Berg, The Deep End Club, New York, NY, Feb. 9, 2014


The Grahams, Chez Andre, Feb. 17, 2014


Phone Home, Shea Stadium BK, Feb. 20, 2014


Weird Womb, Shea Stadium BK, Brooklyn, NY, Feb. 20, 2014


The Dirty Nil, Shea Stadium BK, Brooklyn, NY, Feb. 20, 2014


Samantha Crain, Mercury Lounge, New York, NY, Feb. 27, 2014

Murder By Death, Mercury Lounge, New York, NY, Feb. 27, 2014



Sleepwave, Best Buy Theater, New York, NY, April 15, 2014


tonightalive., Best Buy Theater, New York, NY, April 15, 2014


Taking Back Sunday, Best Buy Theater, New York, NY, April 15, 2014


The Used, Best Buy Theater, New York, NY, April 15, 2014


Andrew W.K., Subculture, New York, NY, April 25, 2014


Kate Myers, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, May 3, 2014


Sean Van Vleet, empires, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, May 3, 2014


Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, May 3, 2014


Rhymin’ and Stealin’, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, May 6, 2014


LaToya Kennedy with Rhymin’ and Stealin’, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, May 6, 2014


Leroy Justice, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, May 6, 2014


Bottom Dollars, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, May 6, 2014


AF THE NAYSAYER, Trash Bar, Brooklyn, NY, May 26, 2014


Durazzo, Trash Bar, Brooklyn NY, May 26, 2014


Brendon Urie, Panic! at the Disco, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, August 5, 2014


Alice Cooper, Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, August 29, 2014


Mötley Crüe, Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, August 29, 2014


Slomile Swift, Spike Hill, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 11, 2014


SKYES, Spike Hill, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 11, 2014


AF THE NAYSAYER and friends, Spike Hill, Brooklyn, Sept. 11, 2014


Rosie Flores, Hill Country BBQ, New York, NY, Sept. 13, 2014


The Dirty Nil, Brooklyn Night Bazaar, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 20, 2014


Cory Branan, The Mercury Lounge, New York, NY, Oct. 1, 2014


Mumblr, Shea Stadium BK, Brooklyn, NY, Oct. 4, 2014


The Eeries, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Oct. 20, 2014


Gerard Way, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Oct. 20, 2014


The Eeries, Webster Hall, New York, NY, Oct. 23, 2014


Gerard Way, Webster Hall, New York, NY, Oct. 23, 2014


NGHBRS, Baby’s All Right, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 2014


Cold Fronts, Baby’s All Right, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 2014


Sean Van Vleet, empires, Baby’s All Right, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 2014


Tom Conrad, empires, Baby’s All Right, Brooklyn, NY, Nov. 14, 2014

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A Good Read A Good Listen and a Good Drink, Adam Turla, Murder by Death

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It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, the sixth record from Murder by Death, has pretty much everything I like: big roaring drums, delicate and occasionally super creepy string sections, and songs that double as good stories.

Such as Lost River – in which a husband begs a wife to drown herself to join him in the afterlife – for which they have made the dark and lovely animated video below:

Murder By Death - Lost River

They are, as we speak (type?), taking their show on the road, with sold out shows at the Mercury Lounge in New York next week, followed by stops in Baltimore and Cleveland. They’ll also be at the Wakarusa Festival in Arkansas in June.

Meanwhile, here is Adam Turla (vocals) to tell us about his current favorite book, record and drink:

Murder By Death, l-r: Matt Armstrong, Scott Brackett, Adam Turla, Sarah Balliet, Dagan Thogerson. Photo by Greg Whitaker

Murder By Death, l-r: Matt Armstrong, Scott Brackett, Adam Turla, Sarah Balliet, Dagan Thogerson.
Photo by Greg Whitaker

A Good Read

Last year I read Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History [by Robert Edsel] – a great book that turned into a pretty weak movie. The book is the true story of the World War II division of the US Military that was assigned to protect, locate and retrieve art stolen by the Nazis. I’m not usually a WWII buff, and I was shocked and horrified by the idea that Hitler was not only trying to eliminate a race of people, but also wanted to erase their culture and history.

And what was so fascinating and nightmarish (like the movie Brazil or something), he did it all by creating legislation that revoked the Jews’ right to own art, then had the Nazi state forcibly seize their property for “safekeeping” as part of a fever-dream vision of a massive museum full of looted masterpieces to be built in his hometown. What they deemed “too Jewish” or grotesque/modern (for example, Picasso) they would burn. An incredible read for both the terror and the triumph of crushing Hitler’s dreams of a shitty future.

A Good Listen

Lately I have revisited Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. It’s a wintery album that really gets you in a mood. The song that’s always knocked me out was Teardrop – kind of an obvious choice but I love it. Great record for sexy times.

Massive Attack - Teardrop

 
A Good Drink

Funny, I’m taking it easy on drinking this month. But lately I have enjoyed a Boulevardier, which is basically a Negroni with bourbon instead of gin. I love gin, but our drummer left a bottle of Ancient Age at my house and I’m happy to relieve him of it. It’s 1 1/2 oz bourbon, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz Sweet Vermouth, stirred in a tall glass with ice, then pour into a tumbler on or off rocks. Garnish with orange slice if you’re feeling like a fancy lad.

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A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: Murder by Death

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Murder by Death's Dagan Thogerson

 

It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Murder by Death’s latest album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, is a product of one of the most successful Kickstarter music campaigns to date, and the endearingly silly video for the campaign helpfully categorizes the band’s sound as “dark whiskey devil music”. But before you go off thinking this is another cheesed-up act pining for a time that never was, littering their lyrics with talk of crossroads and rotgut and deals with the devil, know that the music of Murder by Death is much more complex and elegant than that.

And on Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, Murder by Death have once again stood at the crash site of Americana and indie rock and swept the debris into a new, cohesive whole, honing the finished product into a rich, captivating journey through stories gritty and haunting. Lost girls, boozy wakes, rambling death, and fated (and perhaps fatal) romance, fill the 13 tracks, picking you up where you stand and setting you down somewhere very different, somewhere misty and full of shadows.

In anticipation of their upcoming appearance at the Grog Shop in Cleveland (February 22, co-headlining with Man Man), Murder by Death drummer Dagan Thogerson (who went so far as to offer his skin as canvas to a flush contributor in the aforementioned Kickstarter campaign) shares with us some space-centric recommendations.

“Hard World” – Murder by Death

 

Good Read: John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I really got in to reading science fiction about three years ago. I’d never heard of the John Carter stories until Disney made a movie out of them that I heard was bad. A friend lent me the first volume containing three novels and I ripped right through all 900 pages. The stories were published in the early 1900’s, so the actual science is all weird and wrong, lending more charm to an already charming lead character. John Carter is a Virginia fighting man who is the noblest of all. When he unintentionally teleports to Mars (what?), he quickly fights his way to fame and glory, falls in love, and unites all of the planet’s races of Martians. All the while refusing to compromise his strict gentleman’s sensibilities. All of the ingredients of the story add up to something that is at once super cool and totally ridiculous, which is sort of the reason that I love sci-fi in the first place.

Good Listen: “Another Space Song” by Failure
My band mates give me shit for my love of nineties music, but I stand by this tune. It’s a song that I can get lost in. The drum beat is really cool and never changes for the entire four plus minutes of the song, and lyrics are a beautiful profession of the singer’s romantic love of space. It’s just a beautiful song.

“Another Space Song” – Failure

 

Good Drink: Manhattan on the rocks
Dash of bitters, tiny bit of sweet vermouth, and two ounces (at least) of bourbon. Splash of water, swirl it, don’t shake.

 

“Ghost Fields” – Murder by Death

Murder By Death - Ghost Fields

 

Murder by Death Official Website

Murder by Death @ Twitter

Murder by Death @ Facebook

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Murder by Death Is Coming to Cleveland

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Murder by Death

 

The best voices in modern music are not those that are technically proficient but those that are dented and torn, so full of character that they could tell a whole story just by humming a few notes. Tom Waits, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen… as their careers continued their lives seeped into their voices, expanding, contracting, cracking, causing deep crevices. Adam Turla of Murder by Death is well on his way to becoming a member of this camp. In the early days of MbD, Turla’s voice was like a flower bud, green and simple. Now, a decade on, his voice has a timbre closer to another one of those vocal icons, Johnny Cash.

 

 

And like those other singular singers, Turla is not relying merely on his battered vocal chords to carry him forward. He integrates it with A) a great band, and B) great stories. While this is clearly a band with a sense of humor – not only are they named after the 1976 murder spoof starring Peter Falk, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, and more, but titles in their catalogue include “Spring Break 1899”, “Intergalactic Menopause”, and “Killbot 2000” – their strongest suit is balancing this voice, this music, and these stories to create transportive moods. This craft is at its most whole on their latest album – their sixth full-length album and their first for Bloodshot Records – Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon.

 

“Foxglove” – Murder by Death (Violitionist Sessions)

 

Murder by Death will be bringing it all to the Grog Shop in Cleveland on February 22 when they co-headline with the quite different, but also great Man Man. Damion Suomi will open. To get more of a live taste of these exciting bands, check out this Murder by Death concert at NPR and this Man Man performance at Amoeba Music.

Bonus: Enjoy Adam Turla navigating an interview with a couple of kids.

 

Grog Shop Official Website

Murder by Death Official Website

Murder by Death @ Twitter

Murder by Death @ Facebook

Man Man Official Website

Man Man @ Twitter

Man Man @ Facebook

Damion Suomi @ Facebook

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Bits: Strand of Oaks, Murder by Death/The Builders and the Butchers, Rome, The Due Diligence, Hell and Half of Georgia

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  • Strand of Oaks has made the demos to Pope Killdragon available as a free download on Bandcamp.
  • Murder by Death and the Builders and the Butchers are releasing a split 7″ on which MBD will cover TBATB and vice versa (and Ray Rude will cover both with his Mission Operation project). Murder by Death is having a contest wherein two artists can win all 5 MBD albums on vinyl, all 3 TBATB albums on vinyl, and 5 copies of the split 7″ for producing cover art for the split 7″. Details at Murder by Death’s website.
  • Tracks from Rome, the project by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi – which also features Jack White and Norah Jones – have been made available. You can hear “Two Against One” at Pitchfork, and “The Rose with the Broken Neck” is streaming at NPR.
  • The Due Diligence have made the mp3 version of their album I Will Wreck Your Life available if you just can’t wait for the record release on May 29.
  • If you’re in Long Beach, California, this Thursday, April 21, check out NTSIB friends Hell and Half of Georgia at Alex’s Bar.
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Bits: This Is Jim Jones, Sleigh Bells, Trent’s new joint, Liquid Swords II, Murder by Death & whiskey, litrock, Frank the Funkasaurus Rex wrecks ya

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If you have somehow missed the puppet dinosaur craze, please meet Frank the Funkasaurus Rex. Frank loves him some tits ‘n’ tubs, and we love Frank.

Addendum: So, that scroll across the bottom? Not a joke. TBK was seriously pissed about this video. Sorry, guys. Wish I had known before.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_PrT25o8Vs]