Will Toledo on Car Seat Headrest’s new album, recovering from long COVID, the state of Bandcamp, and what’s next for one of Indie Rock’s greatest bands
–Michael Tedder on Stereogum, December 4, 2023
Tag: music
One year ago today…
On April 2, 2022, my son’s band Car Seat Headrest performed at the Anthem in Washington, DC. Will wasn’t feeling well, so he sat for a portion of a set he described as “more acoustic-y” than usual.
I recorded the ending of his song “Sober to Death,” which features Will singing lead and guitarist Ethan Ives singing the high harmonies.
The next day, Will tested positive for Covid-19, and the band had to suspend its tour.
Car Seat Headrest in the news – Feb. 2019
“Almost no one in indie rock right now shoots the horizon with as much horsepower and ragged exuberance as Car Seat Headrest.”
–Bao Le-Huu in Orlando Weekly, Feb. 25, 2019
“Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo is ready to meet Tampa Bay”
–Ray Roa on Creative Loafing, Feb. 22, 2019
“Toledo connects the fragility of young love to the delicacy of the human body, the vessels that allow us to experience life fully.”
–Ellen Johnson in The Village Voice, Feb. 13, 2019
“Car Seat Headrest have announced a few new headlining U.S. tour dates for this year.”
–Jackson Pacheco on Paste, Feb. 11, 2019
“The band will play concerts in Buffalo, Nashville, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, in addition to their previously announced shows kicking off on Valentine’s Day in Boston.”
–Madison Bloom on Pitchfork, Feb. 11, 2019
“The band are on a break right now, but are set to kick off the next leg of the tour in Boston on Valentine’s Day.”
–Will Gottsegen on Spin, Feb. 11, 2019
“Toledo’s refurbished blast from the past joined a host of records last year that promised hope while granting space to the sinking feeling around this country’s uncertain future.”
–Sasha Geffen in The Village Voice, Feb. 8, 2019
“Pazz & Jop: The Top 100 Albums of 2018”
Uncertain future for Round Hill jam sessions
On the last Friday of every month, musicians converge on the Old Furniture Factory in Round Hill, toting stringed instruments of all sizes, from mandolins to upright basses. Before long, they are standing in small clusters, picking and singing, filling the room with strains of bluegrass and old-time country music.
For 14 years, the informal sessions have attracted singers, instrumentalists and fans from the Washington area and beyond. But the future of the jams is uncertain. The Old Furniture Factory is for sale, and bluegrass enthusiasts fear the music will end when the building changes hands.
The Washington Post, June 4, 2017
Mixed-arts celebration in Sterling
Local painters, poets and musicians will celebrate the transition from winter to spring in a presentation of original works Saturday on the Sterling campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
The event is the culmination of a months-long collaborative process, in which eight pairs of poets and artists created poems and paintings around the theme “Springtime in Winter.”
The Washington Post, March 19, 2017
Drugs with Friends Video
In which I make an appearance (at 3:00) as a paper bag puppet…
Car Seat Headrest – Drugs With Friends (Unofficial Music Video) from Astrid Cardenas on Vimeo.
Car Seat Headrest in the news – Feb. 2017
“In less than a year, the album Teens of Denial made it to the top of countless best-of-2016 playlists, the band have been booked by high-profile mainstream TV shows such as The Tonight Show and the 24-year-old Toledo regularly faces huge crowds who roar his lyrics back at him in packed venues.”
–James Belfield in The Listener (New Zealand), Feb. 16, 2017
“Even without checking production credits, the imprint that Car Seat Headrest and lead singer Will Toledo has on Gold Connections is unmistakable.”
–Jared McNett in Paste Magazine, Feb. 13, 2017
“Gold Connections is something like the Silver Jews to Car Seat’s Pavement: rich and wandering, hazy and pensive with the sort of thoughtful lyrics and explosive choruses we’ve come to expect from a Toledo production.”
–Rob Arcand in Spin, Feb. 13, 2017
Review of “Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales”
–Erika Kooda in Atwood Magazine, Feb. 2, 2017
“It was certainly an experience we all needed.”
–Danielle Hansen on Howl & Echoes, Feb. 2, 2017
Inauguration blues
Yesterday, Inauguration Day, I sat down at the piano and tried to open myself up to what I was feeling. I began to play, not knowing what notes would come next.
This pretty well sums it up. (Apologies for the big face.)
Piano Company is thriving downtown
Transporting more than 100 pianos across town last spring, from Battlefield Shopping Center to Market Street in downtown Leesburg, was no easy task. In fact, Robert Purdon, general manager of the Piano Company, described the move as “a logistical nightmare.”
But after 16 years at the store’s previous site, Purdon is happy with the shift to the current location, near the Loudoun County Government Center.
Washington Post, Jan. 1, 2017
Car Seat Headrest makes ‘Best of 2016’ lists
Car Seat Headrest
- #6 in Paste Magazine’s “25 Best Live Acts of 2016”
“Teens of Denial”
- #1 (Album of the Year) in NPR host Bob Boilen’s “Top 10 Albums of 2016”
- #1 in Steven Hyden’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #1 in On Pirate Satellite’s “Best Albums of 2016”
- #1 in 107.7 The End’s “Best Seattle Albums in 2016”
- #2 in ABC News’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #2 in CEG’s “Top 16 Albums of 2016”
- #2 in the (San Jose) Mercury News’s “Top 10 Albums of 2016”
- #3 in Paste’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #3 in The Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Best Pop Music of 2016”
- #3 in KEXP Listeners’ “Top 90.3 Albums of 2016”
- #3 in BestNewBands.com’s “10 Albums You Might Have Missed in 2016”
- #4 in Rolling Stone’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #5 in USA Today’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #5 in NPR’s “Listeners’ Favorite 100 Albums of 2016”
- #5 in Uproxxx’s “20 Best Albums of 2016”
- #6 in the Arizona Republic’s “Best Albums of 2016”
- #6 in GIGsoup’s “Top 13 Albums of 2016”
- #7 in Magnet’s “Best of 2016”
- #7 in Under the Radar’s “Top 100 Albums of 2016”
- #7 in The Key’s (Philadelphia) “Top 15 Albums of 2016”
- #8 in NPR Music’s “Best Albums of 2016”
- #8 in BBC Radio 6’s “Albums of the Year 2016”
- #8 in Rob Sheffield’s “Top 20 Albums of 2016” in Rolling Stone
- #9 in Pitchfork Readers’ Poll, “Top 50 Albums of 2016”
- #9 in StGA’s “Top 20 Albums of 2016”
- #10 in Rough Trade’s “Albums of the Year”
- #11 in Stereogum’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #12 in The Skinny’s “Top 50 Albums of 2016”
- #14 in Bitter Southerner’s “Best Southern Records of 2016”
- #18 in Consequence of Sound’s “Top 50 Albums of 2016”
- #18 in Noisey’s “100 Best Albums of 2016”
- #19 in The A.V. Club’s “20 Best Albums of 2016”
- #21 in Entertainment Weekly’s “Best Albums of 2016”
- #24 in Pitchfork’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #24 in The Record Shop’s “Top 30 Albums of 2016”
- #25 on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s “Top Albums of 2016”
- #35 in Spin’s “50 Best Albums of 2016”
- #36 in American Songwriter’s “Top 50 Albums of 2016”
- #45 in NME’s “Albums of the Year 2016”
- #69 in Bandcamp’s “Best Albums of 2016”
“Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales”
- #1 in Northern Transmission’s “Top 10 Singles of 2016”
- #3 in Consequence of Sound’s “Top 50 Songs of 2016”
- #3 in WXPN-FM’s (Philadelphia) “Top 100 Songs of 2016”
- #3 in Farce the Music’s “Top 10 Songs of 2016”
- #6 in Kalporz’s (Italy) “Top 7 Songs of 2016”
- #17 in Spectrum Culture’s “Top 25 Songs of 2016”
- #36 in The 405’s “Top 38 Songs of 2016” (single version)
- #45 in Rolling Stone’s “50 Best Songs of 2016”
- #54 in Spin’s “101 Best Songs of 2016”
“Vincent”
- #13 in New York Times critic Jon Pareles’s “The Best Songs of 2016”
- #16 in NPR Music’s “Top 100 Songs of 2016”
- #40 in Pitchfork Readers’ Poll, “Top 50 Songs of 2016”
“Fill in the Blank”
- #1 in Sirius XMU’s “Top 41 Songs of 2016”
- #1 (Song of the Year) in Twin Sheep’s “Songs of 2016”
- #11 in Spectrum Culture’s “Top 25 Songs of 2016”
- #18 in Pitchfork Readers’ Poll, “Top 50 Songs of 2016”
“Cosmic Hero”
“Destroyed by Hippie Powers”
“The Ballad of the Costa Concordia”