Here’s a nice little blurb from The News Journal at DelawareOnline.com.

Nice!

It’s kind of funny how bands that are labeled “emo” by critics and music writers refuse to use the label themselves, almost as if it’s an insult.

And, in a way, it is. Like all bands smacked with this sticker, which is short for “emotional,” Dashboard Confessional takes a serious beatdown from fans of more “pure” rock. In fact, on a bad day, we might also take Chris Carrabba and his crew out to the woodshed for an insult-laced lashing.

But why? Because Dashboard Confessional is huge with the kids and sells zillions of albums? Because Carrabba is a good-looking guy who makes chicks melt? Because their music is well-played, well-produced and, while a little too whiny and over-dramatic, fairly well-written?

How many people who slam Dashboard Confessional have actually heard the band’s songs, including some of the pleasing tracks on the recent “Dusk and Summer”?

As Roger Daltry once said, the kids are all right, and, well, so is Dashboard Confessional.

LINK

I thought the article is going to be a negative… the title is misleading.

Here’s an article from the Boston Herald on how DC is essentially not emo plus other stuff.

Perceptions are hard to break in the world of pop music.

When people think of Chris Carrabba, the charismatic founder/ frontman of Dashboard Confessional, images of a lone man strumming away on an acoustic guitar, shredding his larynx with full-throated roars of heartbreak inevitably surface. With the recent release of the lush, densely produced and surprisingly hopeful ‘‘Dusk and Summer,” Carrabba - who leads Dashboard into the Opera House on Sunday - takes a mighty crack at shattering his reputation as the sad-sack poster boy of emo.

Beefing up his usually spare sound with a full band and intricate arrangements may raise the collective eyebrows of his fan base, but Carrabba isn’t interested in simply sticking with what works. He was ready to finally shake the acoustic pigeonhole and make music on a grander scale.

‘‘I felt like I had license to make a record that was sonically pleasing to me,” the West Hartford, Conn.-born Carrabba said by phone earlier this week. ‘‘(‘Dusk and Summer’) is the way I like records to sound. I mean, what other reason should you make a record?”

click here to read the rest of the article

Dashboard Confessional will be performing a special instore set this month in London.

The show will take place at Fopp in central London on August 21st at 1pm.
No tickets will be allocated in advance, so fans are advised to arrived early.

The show will be a free acoustic set where fans can also get signed copies of the new Don’t Wait single, which is released on the same day as a CD and two 7″ vinyl versions.

SoundGenerator
AngryApe
Drowned In Sound <– There are comments at the bottom if you want to defend the Dashboard Honor.. go ahead. Unless you have nothing witty to say stay away (ooh, those three words rhymed).

HotTopic and Dashboard Confessional is running a sweepstakes where you can win a T-Mobile Sidekick III loaded with DC tunes and images.

click on the images to enter.

speaking of contests… did anyone win that Converse contest (yet)?

University of Wisconsin, Madison’s newspaper, The Badger Herald, has written this postitive review of Dusk and Summer.

Is it just me or is the majority of music critics reviewing Dusk and Summer are females? It’s a fact look it up. I have no statistical figures, I just made it up. :) hehehe j/k.

Most people see Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional in one of two ways. With his heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics and distinct vocal stylings, he either annoys the hell out of listeners or solidifies his status as a genuine rock ‘n roll-poet sex god. Either way, Carrabba’s latest endeavor, the 11-track Dusk and Summer, can appeal to either camp, showing a more mature side of the emotional singer.

The album, released this past June, features sounds that are heavier than those of Dashboard albums past. While more in the vein of 2003’s A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar than his Swiss Army Romance days, Carrabba’s latest is a welcome advance for the group’s heartfelt sound. A departure from the expected subtlety of acoustic guitars, Dusk and Summer rocks with amped-up vocals, guitars and drums, but still manages to present the sweetly delicate feelings Dashboard Confessional fans have come to know and love.

click here to read the rest of the article