The Old Ceremony, the orchestral-pop quintet Django Haskins has led since 2004, just released its fifth album, Fairy Tales And Other Forms Of Suicide. The band’s first LP for Yep Roc is also its first to receive a vinyl pressing, as well as its first to be released in Europe. In other words, it’s the perfect time for a provocative album title. Like many of the reinvented and rejuvenated performers the band now calls label mates (such as Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Lowe, John Doe and Paul Weller), the Old Ceremony makes music unencumbered by the ever-shifting demands of new and now. Haskins will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Old Ceremony feature.
Haskins: I opened for this guy once. His fans put the “atic” back in fanatic, and rightfully so. Todd Snider manages to opine righteously, then make a hairpin turn into stoner humor and somehow make sense of the world, at least for as long as the song lasts. He’s a troubadour, not because he’s a singer/songwriter without a band, but because he actually stands comfortably in Woody Guthrie’s shoes, another guy with fierce beliefs who delivered hard truths without making it feel like preaching. In fact, Todd makes it feel pretty damn good.
Video after the jump.
