The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Dynamite Steps needs its own thread. Like previous albums Blackberry Belle and Powder Burns, it's fantastic. Likely gonna be hard to beat in the alt-rock best of 2011 department. Lovely, enthralling stuff, if a bit harrowing at times. Can't wait to pick up the "official" release and listen on decent speakers.

Full album streaming at SPIN here.

Village Voice write-up here.

Europe & US tour dates up on Pfork here. Dulli & Co unfailingly put on one of the best live shows on the planet -- this should be mandatory attendance for anyone needing a bit of How To Play An Entertaining Rock Show 101. If you go and don't enjoy yrself, I'll reimburse yr ticket:

02-15 Los Angeles, CA - Amoeba Music
02-17 San Francisco, CA - Amoeba Music
03-18 London, England - Electric Ballroom
03-19 Glasgow, Scotland - Arches
03-20 Manchester, England - Moho Live
03-21 Brighton, England - Komedia Theatre
03-23 Cologne, Germany - Luxor
03-25 Oslo, Norway - Parkteatret
03-26 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
03-27 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega Jr
03-28 Berlin, Germany - Festsaal Kreuzberg
03-30 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
03-31 Paris, France - La Fleche D'Or
04-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
04-02 Lucerne, Switzerland – Schuur
04-03 Bologna, Italy - Locomotiv
04-05 Rome, Italy - Circolo degli Artisti
04-06 Milan, Italy - Magnolia
04-07 Vienna, Austria – Arena
04-09 Prague, Czech Republic - The Meet Factory
04-10 Warsaw, Poland - Stodola
04-12 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
04-14 Thessaloniki, Greece - Principal Theatre
04-15 Athens, Greece - Gagarin Club
04-16-17 Tel Aviv, Israel - Reading3
05-04 Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s *
05-05 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *
05-06 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge *
05-07 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
05-09 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club *
05-10 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero *
05-11 Boston, MA - Paradise *
05-13 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
05-14 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small's Theatre *
05-15 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall *
05-16 Newport, KY - Southgate House *
05-17 Chicago, IL - Metro *
05-18 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
05-21 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom *
05-22 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
05-24 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
05-25 Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box *
05-27 San Diego, CA - Belly Up *
05-28 Phoenix, AZ - The Clubhouse *
05-30 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre *
05-31 Austin, TX - The Parish *
06-01 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live Studio *
06-03 New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's *

* with Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

Bits of convo from the general Twilight Singers thread:

new record is completely fucking massive.

― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Saturday, January 22, 2011 5:13 PM (2 weeks ago)

it's sort of paced like blackberry belle, by which i mean: excellently. i think a lot of effort was put into the sound of this thing, which, dulli knows how to carry a mood, definitely, but sonically this record is a terrifying dark current. don't really know what i'm trying to say. still in awe.

― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Saturday, January 22, 2011 5:17 PM (2 weeks ago)

This is some good shit, liking it more and more with each listen.

― thirdalternative, Monday, January 24, 2011 6:59 PM (2 weeks ago)

holy hell that is the most irritating voice write-up i've read in a while

Uptown again: riding shotgun in some dealer's Chrysler, peeling out of a motel parking lot with the darkness at the edge of town nipping at your bumper.

Woah, I didn't know Bono was a Greg Dulli fan!

Cincinnati man, soul man, gentleman.

Congregation, man -- we ripped him off.

holy hell that is the most irritating voice write-up i've read in a while

― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Saturday, February 12, 2011 6:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

seriously...

That 2000 album, co-produced by Fila Brazilia­—a down-tempo duo whose name rings out in cafés and clothing boutiques across parts of London (10 years ago) . . . (actually, they're not bad)­—

please stfu.

I know this guy can more or less churn out records like this at will, but this is still a pretty thrilling album.

you guys i am listening to Blackberry Belle and hooooly shit full-body chills over and over... i feel like a seventh grader discovering pink floyd for the first time. what an unbelievably great album!

anyway. new one's out today (or yesterday). gonna pick up a physical copy soon

He's been doing smoldering old man thing for so long that i'm really psyched to see him when he's actually 70. In the meantime this album rocks me. Wish it had more falsetto tho.

twilight singers on kimmel... dulli alarmingly off-key throughout the whole thing O_O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1yJekmjZMA

Great album. Wish they were playing somewhere other than the Showbox in Seattle (going anyway).

so i ended up not liking Dynamite Steps as much as, say, Blackberry Belle or maybe even Powder Burns (need to pull that one out for a relisten...) -- a bit hit & miss, i think, but it's still pretty solid: my full thoughts here

Sick Mouthy would get rather uncomfortable looking at the squashed mastering, btw -_-

Nice performance on Letterman last night, looking forward to seeing them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIN3iWmrhiI

Glad I was wrong about which Showbox location in Seattle they're playing.

totally tmi, but when I watching the Letterman performance the other night, I was looking at Dulli and realized "omg I've gotten as fat as Greg Dulli! Time to diet."

b-side free download here:

http://www.thetwilightsingers.com/

"Don't Call," look to the right corner of the home page.