Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
CONTEST – The Decemberists' The Hazards Of Love giveaway
Kathryn RathkeMuch as I’d like to be able to comment on The Decemberists’ latest album The Hazards Of Love, I can’t. ‘Cause I haven’t heard it. Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoyed their last record The Crane Wife – it even made my 2006 year-end list – but for whatever reason I haven’t gotten around to the new one. It could be because I fear that this album, with its grand narrative thread and musical theatre origins, may be the one that upsets the delicate balance of pop smarts and prog excess that has kept the Decemberists with “most favoured band” status in my musical firmament. Those of you who have the record – what say you?
But while I dither, I know there’s those of you out there would follow Colin Meloy and his merry musical troupe wherever they might go and this is for you. Courtesy of Sneak Attack Media, I’ve got two super-sweet prize packs to give away, each consisting of a copy of The Hazards Of Love on 180-gram, gatefold double-LP and a poster by Kathryn Rathke, winner of the Imeem poster contest, commemorating their SxSW showcase from last month wherin they performed the album in its entirety. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to experience the Hazards Of Love” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. And hooray, this contest is open to residents of North America. It’ll run for a week, closing at midnight, May 6.
And while you’re waiting to find out if you’ve won, you can go shopping for more swag at the Decemberists online store, sign up for their newsletter. Also read this Paste interview with Decemberists visual artist Carson Ellis.
The Decemberists are touring through the Summer and that includes an August 3 date at the Kool Haus here in Toronto.
MySpace: The Decemberists
Tags: Decemberists
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4/29/09 5:53 pm
I’ve been listening to The Hazards Of Love quite a bit, and like it more each time. I think it has the potential to end up in lots of Top lists for 2009.
If you’re interested, I wrote a little blurb on it:
http://www.petenema.com/article.php/quick_shots-8
4/29/09 6:05 pm
I adore the album and I think it’s an absolute masterpiece and a shoo-in to be one of my favourites of the year.
(Disclaimer: I’m an unabashed prog-fan that actually owns albums by both Steve Hackett and Peter Hammill and even listens to them from time to time. (If you don’t know who they are, it means that, unlike me, you’re cool and have a measure of indie-cred.)
4/29/09 10:56 pm
The record is a sonic tour de force. Very well recorded. Overall, the band seems to have accomplished the rock opera thing in a new way. Colin’s unique vocal tones fit this work quite well. Not much in the pop tune category, except may ‘The Rake’s Song’ — which kind of doesn’t sound like it fits the rest of the album. But, the repetition of the Hazards of Love phrase really gets in your head throughout the album. And any record using “irascible” in a lyric has to get an extra point. But, it’s definitely not for everyone.
4/30/09 9:32 am
I was of the same mind. As much as I have loved their output to this point, I just couldn’t get excited for the new album based on all of the descriptions I had been reading for months leading up to its release.
Then, a funny thing happened. Record Store Day 2009. I was in my local shop and Hazards of Love was playing as I browsed the stacks. It sounded great in that context (but then, what doesn’t). I’ll be grabbing a copy this weekend.
4/30/09 11:21 am
I wrote a review for The Hazards of Love on my blog. I didn’t appreciate it the same way those above did. Certainly gets high marks for ambition, but the songwriting honestly isn’t there. It isn’t as catchy, memorable, or meaningful as The Crane Wife. Shandra Worden is very impressive, however. Here’s a link:
http://solamusic.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-decemberists-hazards-of-love.html