Artist:
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
Label:
BARSUK RECORDS
Video:
“THE NEW YEAR”
Director:
Jay Martin
Add Date:
December 8, 2003

Hi everyone! It’s Andy Gesner and the staff from HIP Video Promo with another very high profile video for the holiday season! We are always searching for video promotions that we know will thrill and amaze you, and this one is certainly no exception. Thanks to our new ultra cool friends at Barsuk Records, we are finishing up 2003 very strong with the highly touted, much anticipated new video from Death Cab for Cutie.

1967 was a pretty good year for music. There was this guy named Jimi something that released an album about Experience, and Sergeant somebody’s band; but most importantly, there was Gorilla, a rare, hard to find album by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, at the heart of which was the song “Death Cab for Cutie”. Now, thirty-odd years later, four young men from Bellingham, Washington have chose the song title as the name of their band and picked up the torch of eclectic creativity and are carrying it forward fearlessly.

In 1998, Death Cab for Cutie hit the indie rock scene when Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla released a cassette only collection calledYou Can Play These Songs With Chords, recorded in Walla’s studio. When that generated a surprisingly strong buzz, they recruited two friends to form the live band. With their new found street cred firmly intact, they soon released their “official” debut, Something About Airplanes. Now, several albums and sold-out national tours later, Death Cab for Cutie have become indie rock icons. The new CD is Transatlanticism and was number one on the CMJ charts throughout late October and early November.

The video, “The New Year”, is stunningly well shot by director Jay Martin and cinematographer Max Goldman; a visually elegant combination of inspired artistry and meticulous craftsmanship. Early in the video we’re shown a swanky night spot where the “beautiful people” are gathered to ring in the new year. However, the perspective quickly shifts to give a glimpse of how the other half lives. The framing story features a young cyclist, who wanders like Ulysses through a late night December 31st in Los Angeles. Interwoven are the tales of the evenings of waitresses, dishwashers, and custodians, for whom this festive occasion is just another night on the job. The journey concludes in a diner that is eerily reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks”.

The song itself reflects a similar theme, somber and introspective. Ben Gibbard (also of The Postal Service) writes lyrics that are austere, evocative, and poetic; and delivers them with a plaintive sense of melancholia. Nicholas Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums) provide a rhythmic underpinning that is both sturdy and deceptively complex. The bright, more quickly paced bridge is a bitingly ironic counterpoint to the main melody.

HIP Video Promo and Barsuk Records are proud to present the ” ‘The New Year’ Celebration” contest! Any programmer that adds the brand new video from Death Cab for Cutie for the CVC add dates of December 5th and December 8th, enters a drawing to win the complete current Barsuk Records catalog (Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, etc) and a T-shirt prize package.  Barsuk Records has an impressive roster of bands that can be viewed at their website (link below) For more info contact Andy Gesner at HIP Video Promo at 732-613-1779 or e-mail info@HIPVideoPromo.com. The drawing will take place New Years Eve, December 31st.

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