[review] Divine Fits @ Deluxe (10-26-2012)

Divine Fits in Indy

Ever since uprooting from Seattle and relocating to SW Michigan, seeing good live shows has become a bit of a challenge. Not that Chicago or Indianapolis are extremely far away, but it requires a bit more planning when "must see" shows swing through the area. But when I learned that Divine Fits would be playing the Deluxe in Indy on a Friday night, purchasing tickets was a no-brainer.

It had been nearly 8 years since seeing a show in the Circle City. I was happy to experience one of Indy's newer venues: the Deluxe is a nice, intimate stage room which resides inside the Old National Centre (formerly the Murat Theatre). There was a decently-sized crowd in attendance, even with Sleigh Bells playing the Vogue on the same night. Cold Cave kicked off the night with a really great show. Their dark, new-wave sound paired well with the main act's synth-driven catalog.

Readers of this blog will know that my favorite bands tend to revolve around Brit Daniel (Spoon) and Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs). When Spoon covered "Modern World" during their set at The Moore in 2010, I remember saying "It can't get any better than this!" Friday night's show, however, would make me eat those words.

Seeing both Daniel and Boeckner walk out on stage together nearly invoked Worlds Collide Theory. It was so weird... but the feeling was short-lived once the band launched into a very powerful "Neopolitans". The first thing that popped into my mind was that these dudes are professionals. Having only finished recording their debut album a mere 3 months earlier, you would have sworn these guys had been practicing these songs for years. In fact, this was only the band's 23rd live performance! Another surprise was how great drummer Sam Brown's performance was all night. This dude was mesmerizing to watch, and his metronomic mechanics were both meticulous and masterful. Keyboardist Alex Fischel (dubbed by Daniel as "this generation’s Ansel Adams") rounded out the lineup.

Divine Fits played an extremely tight set (setlist posted below), covering nearly every song off their debut album A Thing Called Divine Fits. A few surprise covers were thrown in there, too. Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky", Rolling Stones' "Sway", and the Wipers' "Doom Town" all took on new life as the band added their own elements. Highlights of the night (apart from Tron in attendance) included the Daniel-Boecker duets during "Baby Get Worse" and "The Salton Sea", as well as the one-two encore punch of "Flaggin A Ride" and "For Your Heart".

All in all, this was a damn good show and totally worth the drive. The band has a handful of shows left on the US-leg of their tour before conquering Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia at the beginning of 2013. Be sure to catch them if you can!

Setlist: Divine Fits @ Deluxe (10-26-2012)
Neopolitans
Baby Get Worse
What Gets You Alone
The Salton Sea
Civilian Stripes
My Love Is Real
Doom Town (Wipers)
You Got Lucky (Tom Petty)
Like Ice Cream
What That Not Be Nice
Sway (Rolling Stones)
Shivers (Rowland S. Howard)
Encore:
Flaggin A Ride
For Your Heart

[news] Britt Daniel in New Band Spl:t S:ngle

Another band for Britt Daniel!?

It looks like Britt Daniel has been keeping busy lately. Right on the heels of the Divine Fits announcement, Daniel revealed that he has been recording with yet another band called Spl:t S:ngle. According to other reports, Daniel's primary musical vehicle Spoon is still alive in the background as well!

As for Spl:t S:ngle, you can see from the picture above that Daniel is only contributing his bass skills (and not his pipes), something he hasn't done for quite some time (Alien Beats, perhaps?). You can check out some of their songs here. It's quite a departure from Daniel's other works, and that's because Spl:t S:ngle was conceived by Jason Narducy (Telekinesis, Verbow), who wrote/sang all 13 tracks that were recorded last month. Rounding out the lineup is drummer Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Mountain Goats). Should be most interesting to hear what Daniel brings to the table.

[first listen] Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits

Hear Divine Fits' new album right now!

Head over to NPR's First Listen to hear Divine Fits' debut album A Thing Called Divine Fits in it's entirety!!! If you've been living under a rock for the past couple months, Divine Fits is a new musical outfit consisting of Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner, and Sam Brown.

The second track, "Flaggin A Ride", is sooo catchy. I still need to spin this album a few more times to truly form an opinion, but so far I'd say it's the excellent caliber of music that you'd expect from these very talented musicians.

Click here to visit NPR.

[video] Divine Fits - First Live Concert!

Divine Fits in concert!

Last night, Divine Fits surprised Austin with a secret show, performing under the pseudonym The Hot Skulls at the Continental Club. To the lucky few who either knew about the ruse, or just so happened to be looking for new jams, they were in for a treat. Above you can watch the Britt Daniel-sung "Flaggin A Ride", and if you follow this link (via Stereogum), you can watch two other songs: "My Love Is Real" and the Tom Petty cover "You Got Lucky". Sounds pretty great, can't wait to hear the whole album!

Pre-Order :: Divine Fits :: A Thing Called Divine Fits :: August 28

[cover art] Divine Fits - Divine Fits

Possibly new cover art?

It's definitely iconic.

[first listen] Divine Fits - "My Love Is Real"

Pre-order a copy today!

Divine Fits have just released the first single off their upcoming album, which features the vocals of Dan Boeckner over some synthesized beats and a static-laden drum machine. To be honest, it's definitely not the product I would have expected from the collaboration of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs Boeckner. At least from this song, you can really hear the Furs influence.

You can pre-order a 7" of "My Love Is Real" b/w "I Was Born In A Laundromat" (here), and you can stream the single below. Physical copies won't ship out until July 26, but purchasers of the pre-order will instantly receive a digital download of the songs. 

[news] Divine Fits Preview New Song Clip

Things just got a lot more interesting...

After a lot of speculation on my part, we now have our first glimpse at the new supergroup Divine Fits, who just released a little teaser video (above) that samples a small bit of their sound. Adding to the intrigue, there are no guitars to be heard - only piano, synth, and sparse drums. Not the punk-driven sound I was expecting, and it would seem that the trio is heading down paths that Spoon, Wolf Parade, and New Bomb Turks never ventured. I'm thoroughly captivated, to say the least.

[playlist] Hump Day Power Play (5-30-2012)

Divine Fits Mix

As mentioned last week, the unthinkable happened when Britt Daniel and Dan Boeckner (along with Sam Brown) announced that they'd been making music together under the moniker Divine Fits. They apparently have a record slated to drop this year (via Merge), and as of yet, there's no word as to what they sound like. I'm guessing something totally different than Spoon, and possibly more like Atlas Strategic? I really have no idea. Nevertheless, I've put together some of my favorite songs from Daniel and Boeckner, which seemed fitting for this week's HDPP.

Hear it by simply clicking here. Playlist is below.

:: Hump Day Power Play (5-30-2012) ::
01 :: "Stoke Their Brains" - Spoon
02 :: "Modern World" - Wolf Parade
03 :: "Paper Tiger" - Spoon
04 :: "Dumb Animals" - Handsome Furs
05 :: "Stay Don't Go" - Spoon
06 :: "Lousy Pictures" - Wolf Parade
07 :: "Change My Life" - Spoon
08 :: "Shine A Light" - Wolf Parade
09 :: "I Saw The Light" - Spoon
10 :: "Evangeline " - Handsome Furs
11 :: "Metal Detektor" - Spoon
12 :: "It's A Curse" - Wolf Parade
13 :: "30 Gallon Tank" - Spoon
14 :: "Thy Will Be Done" - Handsome Furs
15 :: "Finer Feelings" - Spoon

Get Spotify (if you don't already have it).

[news] Divine Fits - Britt Daniel + Dan Boeckner!!!

HOLY CRAP!

Could the stars have aligned any better? Is some divine power at work in an attempt to lift my spirits? Just when I was thinking how sad it was that Handsome Furs had dissolved (and it still is really sad), I couldn't possibly have believed that Dan Boeckner's new band (mentioned in this Times Colonist article) would involve joining forces with Britt Daniel (of Spoon) and Sam Brown (of New Bomb Turks). They apparently have a debut album in the works and are set to release it this year! The album was produced by Nick Launay (Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and will drop via Merge.

Now this isn't the first time Daniel and Boeckner have shared the stage, however. Back in 2010, Boeckner joined Spoon at Radio City for a rendition of "Modern World" and "I Saw the Light". Daniel has also covered "Modern World" at numerous Spoon shows. While these were extremely exciting events, I can't imagine combining these two creative minds for an entire album. Can't wait to hear their sound!

Check out Divine Fits' website and twitter for future updates.

[news] Bearded Britt Daniel

Music news must be slow

In response to the New York Times article in which Eric Harvey of Spoon was quoted say the following:

“When I joined the band, Britt would discourage anybody in the band from having a beard. He thought beards were not cool. Five years later everyone in a band has a beard. So, we can say Spoon is not beard rock.”

Someone with a lot of time on their hands and a good sense of humor has created a website that features photoshopped beard-shots of Britt Daniel. My personal favorites are "sea captain" and "the demling" (pictured above).

Check out more at Bearded Britt Daniel.

Britt Daniel / Drake Tungsten / Spoon Covers

A collection of my favorite Britt Daniel-related covers

Britt Daniel has a policy, or so I read somewhere in an interview, that he only likes to cover songs written by his friends. This is apparent if you look at Spoon's albums throughout the years. Usually hidden deep in the liner notes, you may notice that certain Spoon songs are actually not Spoon songs at all. For example, "Me and the Bean" a Spoon setlist staple is actually a John Clayton (of The Sidehackers) cover. More recently from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the song "Don't You Evah" is a cover from fellow tourmates and now-dissolved (sadly) The Natural History. For those of you who frequent Spoon shows, you may have heard a few treats throughout a set - ones that don't make it throught the studio recording process. Being a huge Britt Daniel fan (from his Skellington and Drake Tungsten days all the way to present-day Spoon), I've decided to share some wonderful covers that have come across my hands. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I will also give credit to the BayTaper for his excellent recordings of the San Fran show at the Fillmore West (September 22, 2008) that I've included in this post (the last four songs). He does amazing work.

MP3: Britt Daniel - "Modern World" (Wolf Parade cover)
MP3: Drake Tungsten - "Do the Manta Ray" (Pixies cover)
MP3: Drake Tungsten - "Secrets" (The Cure cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Decora" (Yo La Tengo cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Cut My Friend Down" (Julian Cope cover)
MP3: Spoon - "It's Gonna Take an Airplane" (Destroyer cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Don't You Evah" (The Natural History cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Me and the Bean" (The Sidehackers cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Peace Like a River" (Paul Simon cover)
MP3: Spoon - "Rocks Off" (Rolling Stones cover)