I think Conan O’Brien is the best talk show host ever and his show is tops. Why would I introduce a record review with a Conan O’Brien shout out?
     Well, the true method to my madness is that …And They Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (…ATWKUBTTOD because I don’t want to keep typing the whole thing out) was first introduced to me by Conan O’Brien as the musical guest.
     I have been introduced to a lot of bands because of that man. In any case, so they played their current single, “Relative Ways,” at least I think that it’s a single since a video was made for it. When I heard that song at 1:40 in the morning it was the most brilliant song I’d heard in a long time.
     It reminded me of the first time hearing “Drown” by the Smashing Pumpkins back in ’92.
     The song they played on Conan was an instant classic but I missed their name and so began a three-month search for that album.
     Finally I got to see a repeat of that episode at 3:50 on that morning and the next day I was on cdnow.com buying my first …ATWKUBTTOD album.
     The point of the story is that their Interscope debut, “Source Tags and Codes.” It is a great record that captures so many emotions while still being able to rock.
     While they do their best work live, this album is as close to the goodness of being live as could be, captured for home consumption. Some of their songs are lush, some rough; some are all that and more.
     They manage to have an emotional core while still being unpredictable. While it’s not a perfect record, it does well to show that the albums from now on can only get better and better.
     My one main complaint is that the vocal tracks are mixed too low on all the songs. But other than that, it is just a rich tapestry of music that all fans of “the rock music” should enjoy.
     This album is worth owning and good in ways that can’t be explained by my crappy album review.