Watch: “Young & Realistic” video at SPIN or YouTube
Stream: “ESP” at Consequence Of Sound or Soundcloud
Watch: “Skylab1979” official video at Pitchfork or YouTube
Stream: “Skylab1979” at Noisey or YouTube
Stream: “Young & Realistic” at Streaming Services
The Faint’s new album CAPSULE:1999-2016 is out today on CD and digitally with the 2xLP due October 28 via Saddle Creek. CAPSULE:1999-2016 is available to order now in the Saddle Creek online store. The 2xLP is pressed on silver vinyl and the first pressing of the album will include a bonus 7″ featuring “Skylab1979” and “ESP”.
This week the band shared the official video for “Young & Realistic” with SPIN. The video was directed by Nik Fackler (Icky Blossoms, Sick Birds Die Easy, Lovely, Still) and The Faint’s Todd Fink. About the video SPIN says, “The song, which debuted back in May, is a soaring electro-disco anthem; now it has a jolting video that loops arresting and bizarre visuals—including close-ups of eyeballs, colorful stalagmite caves, and a man dousing a tree on fire.” The “Young & Realistic” video is available to post and share via YouTube.
CAPSULE:1999-2016 is a retrospective collection that represents a golden era for The Faint. The album includes 16 of their most beloved songs from five albums and is an excellent primer for new fans or a classic collection for those who’ve been nodding along since the Blank-Wave Arcade days. Consequence Of Sound premiered a stream of “ESP,” one of three new tracks appearing on the album in addition to the recently released “Young & Realistic and “Skylab1979”. Todd Fink told Consequence Of Sound, “We all have crazy amazing dreams from time to time but I’ve come to realize that some people’s dream lives are even stranger.” He adds, “This song is about being married to someone who has dreams about the future that come true. I used to think that all facts could be explained somehow, but I’m stumped on this. All I can do is sing about how I’d like to meet up with her inside this impossible realm.”
The Faint’s is currently on tour with Gang Of Four and Brooklyn-based electronic artist Pictureplane. The tour will make stops in major cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles. The tour will conclude with a hometown show in Omaha on Halloween at Sokol Auditorium. The Faint will also be performing at The Growlers’ Beach Goth V festival taking place in Orange County, California. The festival will also include sets from Bon Iver, James Blake, Justice, Future Islands, Devendra Banhart, The Drums, Cold Cave, Wild Nothing, Hinds and HEALTH. Advance tickets and the full line up can be found HERE. All upcoming shows are listed below.
The Omaha-based band had been kicking around for four years prior to that period, but had a hard time hitting their stride. “We didn’t make anything we really liked until 1999,” frontman Todd Fink laughs. The Faint released some initial material that fit in with the times—reminiscent of the post-punk sounds of Fugazi and other Dischord Records bands—but wasn’t anything spectacular, lacking the distinct personality that would eventually come to define them.
It was in writing “Worked Up So Sexual,” the hit single from 1999’s Blank-Wave Arcade, that the band struck their jackpot moment. They discovered an entirely original fusion of synth sounds over a blaring rock background, one that was as catchy as it was danceable. Just like that, the Faint captured lightning in a bottle.
“I felt lucky… like, blessed or something,” Fink remembers. “By the time we’d actually recorded those songs, we were like, ‘Yeah, this is where it’s at.’ We were excited to go play basement shows and little bars and halls and just bring the music that we hunted down, that felt like us.”
Still reveling in the success of their newfound identity, the band added death metal guitarist Dapose and released their masterpiece, Danse Macabre, in 2001, one of Saddle Creek’s all-time “big three” albums, right up there with Cursive’s The Ugly Organ and Bright Eyes’ Lifted. It was a dark and sinister work that could still be enjoyed on the dance floor. Songs like “Agenda Suicide” and “Glass Danse” forced blasts of disorienting techno beats into aggressive, almost industrial noise that leaned heavily on filthy bass lines. The album exploded, and their weirdo melange of genres brought them a sizeable audience dancing along.
Armed with their new, dynamic sound, the band released an onslaught onto unsuspecting crowds around the country—a bombastic audio/visual assault of strobe lights, keyboards, and dance-punk. At times, they were convinced that their esoteric style of punk with a fun twist was bound to turn people off, but to their surprise, the Faint began to catch on. Over the next few years, they continued to evolve on Wet from Birth in 2004 and Fasciinatiion in 2008, before taking a hiatus prior to returning for their anticipated 2014 album, Doom Abuse.
CAPSULE:1999-2016 serves to bookend this remarkable 17-year period for the Omaha vets, a time which saw them as imitable pioneers of electro-punk. In addition to highlighting songs from five of The Faint’s most popular albums, CAPSULE:1999-2016 features three new songs. The recently released single, “Young & Realistic,” and two bonus unreleased songs: “Skylab1979” and “ESP,” all of which feature latest member Graham Ulicny (Reptar) on synth duties. The new songs give a glimpse of what’s to come for The Faint, as they embark on a new chapter in their long, influential career.
The Faint Tour Dates
09.30 – Chicago, IL @ Metro *
10.01 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall *
10.02 – Toronto, ON, Canada @ Velvet Underground *
10.05 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *
10.06 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
10.07 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero Theatre *
10.08 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
10.10 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge *
10.11 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage *
10.13 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues *
10.14 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Music Hall *
10.15 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
10.17 – Scottsdale, AZ @ LiveWire *
10.18 – San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park *
10.20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Mayan Theater *
10.21 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl *
10.22 – 10.23 – Santa Ana, CA @ Beach Goth V
10.23 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom *
10.25 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox *
10.26 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
10.28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue *
10.29 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre *
10.31 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium *
* with Gang Of Four & Pictureplane
CAPSULE:1999-2016 Track List:
1. Glass Danse
2. Paranoiattack
3. Agenda Suicide
4. Mirror Error
5. Evil Voices
6. The Conductor
7. Desperate Guys
8. Worked Up So Sexual
9. Posed to Death
10. I Disappear
11. Take Me to the Hospital
12. The Geeks Were Right
13. Dropkick the Punks
14. Damage Control
15. Call Call
16. Southern Belles in London Sing
17. Young & Realistic
18. Skylab1979 (Bonus Track)
19. ESP (Bonus Track)
