[STREAMING] The Decemberists | The King Is Dead

Stream The King is Dead at NPR.

The Decemberists sixth full-length album is set to be released 1/18/11 via Capitol Records.[PRE-ORDER]

*This is a contender for their best album. This one conjures up their folk sound of yore and with the help of some guy from that phenomenal band R.E.M., PETER BUCK. The King is Dead isn't a Colin Meloy and the Decemberists album. Meloy shares the limelight with the whole band fostering a wholesome sounding album, setting the bar high for established bands in 2011.

[ART] The King Is Dead

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
Out 1/18 [1/11 no more]

[MP3] The Decemberists | "Down By The Water"

Well, I mentioned it the other day, here's the first single from The Decemberists new album, The King Is Dead, out 1/11/11. [They couldn't wait another 10 months?]

The Decemberists Announce New Album Out 1/11/11

The Decemberists have announced a new album, The King Is Dead, to be released on January 11th, 2011. The whole date and just one's things is definitely a something you'd expect from the Decemberists.  The album will be released on Capitol Records. The album is said to be inspired by R.E.M. and feature R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on 3 of the 10 songs. I have a feeling that Colin Meloy may have been at work on this masterpiece while 3 of the bands five members were working on and touring with Black Prairie, so without building up the album too much I want to set the bar a little higher than 2009's The Hazards of Love. This is just around the corner, man am I already looking forward to next year, new Decemberists and Drive-By Truckers already announced and I'm sure that's just the beginning.




Tracklist for The King Is Dead:
1. Don't Carry It All
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise to Me
4. Rox in the Box
5. January Hymn
6. Down By the Water
7. All Arise!
8. June Hymn
9. This Is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery

Below is a video of Colin Meloy singing "Down By The Water" live from a KEXP set at CMJ festival earlier this month. I am definitely digging the harmonica and sound, it has their dark, creepy sound but an earlier sounding Decemberists catchy flow.

[VIDEOs] Colin Meloy Plays New Decemberists Songs

---

[SLOWLY APPROACHING] Black Prairie

|:| 3/5 of the Decemberists Prepping 4/9 Release  |:| 

Black Prairie - Red Rocking Chair

Here is an iPhone photo of a show they did this past weekend. If you are a Decemberists fan you might have to watch this curve ball go through the strike zone. The sound is like a true Appalachian bluegrass band and  not the nerdy alternative sound of their counterpart. Check out the song, see what you think. Like what you hear? Head over to their Myspace. The album is coming out on April 9th and will be titled, Feast Of The Hunter's Moon. Find out more about it on Sugar Hill Records Website.

Tracklist:

Across The Black Prairie

Red Rocking Chair
Back Alley
Ostinato Del Caminito
A Prairie Musette
Crooked Little Heart
Annie McGuire
Atrocity at Celilo Falls
Tango Oscuro
Single Mistake
Full Moon in June
Home Made Lemonade
The Blackest Crow

New Material from The Decemberists &/or Colin Meloy

Here is a YouTube video that looks pretty interesting. If you have even been to a Decemberists concert you will know that Colin Meloy likes to rant and ramble on, hear himself talk, for a better part of the show. I'm not complaining because he is pretty funny. Looks like he has really let himself go, no more flippy-odd-bang thing going on in the front and a full beard. This new tune sounds more like stuff off Picaresque or Her Majesty. It is a nice throwback tune, compared to the epic stories and more harder alternative sound than The Crane Wife or The Hazards of Love. (Not contradicting their latest releases) But this could easily be him prepping for a solo album, seeing as it is just him playing, while a better of the part is working on their side project Black Prairie. But it has that signature catchy sound that the Decemberists became famous for. We'll just have to see what this leads to!

[SCORE, finished the post before the premiere of Season 6 of LOST]