| IX (...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead album) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 10 November 2014 | |||
| Recorded | Sonic Ranch | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:37 (standard edition) 73:07 (deluxe edition) | |||
| Label | Richter Scale Superball Music | |||
| Producer | Chris "Frenchie" Smith | |||
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead chronology | ||||
| ||||
IX is the ninth studio album by the Austin, Texas alternative rock rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, released October 20, 2014, on Superball Music.
Jason Reece explained in an interview that the band was going for a record consisting of many instrumental tracks. Several instrumentals were written, but ended up writing songs that "had a more personal lyrical bent", departing from the last album's very aggressive and political lyrics. As for the sound, it was inspired by Slave Ambient and Lost in the Dream , both records by The War on Drugs: "This layered Krautrock kind of vibe. We were thinking of Echo And The Bunnymen, Ocean Rain. These dense and bigger sounding albums. We were kind of into some 80’s music, Psychedelic Furs. Which is funny cause we’re not really a band that’s into the new wave sound, I don’t think we’ve ever made an 80’s sounding record. That’s kind of what we were jamming out to, the early 80’s sounds. Going for more of a Peter Gabriel thing, where you don’t use any cymbals, heavy toms and stuff like that were sort of the things we were kind of touching upon." [1]
 | This section needs expansionwith: Summary of reviews. You can help by adding to it. (December 2014) |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 75/100 [2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Clash | 7/10 [4] |
| Consequence of Sound | B− [5] |
| DIY | [6] |
| Exclaim! | 7/10 [7] |
| NME | 8/10 [8] |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.2/10 [9] |
| PopMatters | 7/10 [10] |
| The Skinny | [11] |
| Sputnikmusic | 3/5 [12] |
Reviews for IX were mostly positive upon release, with an Metacritic average of 75/100, indicating generally favorable reviews.
A review in Pitchfork stated,
While the band may have struggled in the past to reconcile their post-hardcore roots with their art-rock ambitions*,* more often than not, "IX" marks the spot. [13]
In MXDWN , Elliot Greiner wrote,
For a band that started out in post-punk and somehow wandered into the feathery territory of art-rock, "IX" is a mediocre answer to a career’s worth of solid material. While not terrible, it is a far shot from all right, and an even farther shot from (some of) what they’ve put out in the past. [14]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Doomsday Book" | 3:32 |
| 2. | "Jaded Apostles" | 4:05 |
| 3. | "A Million Random Digits" | 3:08 |
| 4. | "The Lie Without a Liar" | 3:22 |
| 5. | "The Ghost Within" | 3:15 |
| 6. | "The Dragonfly Queen" | 2:57 |
| 7. | "How to Avoid Huge Ships" | 4:47 |
| 8. | "Bus Lines" | 6:09 |
| 9. | "Lost in the Grand Scheme" | 7:26 |
| 10. | "Like Summer Tempests Came His Tears" | 3:42 |
| 11. | "Sound of the Silk" | 5:18 |
| Total length: | 47:37 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Keep Warm Fire" | 2:27 |
| 13. | "Feelings and How to Destroy Them" | 3:30 |
| Total length: | 53:34 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tao of the Dead Part III" I. "Gods We Really Are" | 19:27 |
| Total length: | 1:13:07 | |
| Chart (2014) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [16] | 168 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [17] | 63 |
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, were an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's earliest stable lineup consisted of Conrad Keely, Jason Reece, Kevin Allen and Neil Busch, though for most of the band's history Keely and Reece were the core members with other musicians serving for varying lengths of time. Trail of Dead gathered a hardcore of fans and were well known for their energetic and protracted live performances. Between 1998 and 2023, the band released eleven studio albums and five EPs along with one live album and twenty-two singles. The artwork for all of the albums was created by Keely using various media. This artwork has strong and recurring mythical and historical themes.
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Conrad Keely is a musician, artist, and writer known primarily as the lead singer for the American rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.
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