the current lineup of cursive. l-r: matt maginn, tim kasher, ted stevens.
cursive are an american rock band from omaha, NE. they record for saddle creek records.
cursive formed in 1995, after the breakup of slowdown virginia, a band that featured tim kasher, steve pedersen and matt maginn. they teamed up with drummer clint schnase and released two singles for saddle creek records, the disruption, and sucker and dry, in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
a disruption in the normal swing of things.
sucker and dry.
in 1997, the band also released their debut full-length LP, such blinding stars for starving eyes on portland, OR, based indie crank! records.
ceilings crack.
after the movies.
1998 saw the release of the icebreaker 7", again on saddle creek. cursive broke up in 1998, as pedersen was moving to north carolina to attend law school and kasher was planning a move to portland with his then-wife.
pivotal.
in 1999, cursive released their 'final' album, a posthumous release entitled the storms of early summer: semantics of song. fun fact: the back cover of this album is a shot of the old A terminal at mccarran int'l airport in las vegas, NV. i remember it fondly from various field trips to the airport (i think i went to the airport three times on school trips in elementary).
when summer's over, will we dream of spring?
a little song and dance.
kasher found portland miserable, as he was having a hard time getting a band together and his marriage was quickly dissolving. the breakup of this relationship would form the basis for the songs that became cursive's breakout LP, cursive's domestica. when he moved back to omaha, kasher got the band back together. pedersen was still at law school, so they enlisted ted stevens, formerly of omaha folk-weirdos lullaby for the working class, to handle second guitar and vocals. domestica was released in 2000 to almost universal acclaim.
the martyr.
the radiator hums.
the game of who needs who the worst.
the domestica lineup. l-r: kasher, schnase, stevens, maginn.
in 2001, cursive added cellist greta cohn to the lineup. touring that year had to be cut short due to kasher suffering a collapsed lung mere days from home. after he recuperated, cursive recorded the burst and bloom EP, which was released that year.
fairytales tell tales.
the great decay.
in 2002, cursive released a split EP with japanese noise-poppers eastern youth, that further showcased their developing sound, 8 teeth to eat you.
excerpts from various notes strewn around the bedroom of april connolly, april 24, 1997.
may flowers.
am i not yours?
cursive, c. 2003. l-r: clint schnase, ted stevens, greta cohn, tim kasher, matt maginn.
2003 saw the release of the ugly organ, a concept album about dicks, art, starting relationships to fail them and the many other hazards of being or knowing tim kasher. it was released to universal acclaim, and the following two years saw cursive on tour more or less nonstop, including dates on: the plea for peace tour, with mike park (founder of asian man records), slam poet saul williams and denver-by-way-of-chicago emocore thrashers planesmistakenforstars; a summer jaunt with the cure on their curiosa festival, headlining the second stage; as well as an appearance at coachella where a very day-drunk kasher ad-libbed the words to 'milkshake,' by kelis, between songs when they couldn't think of what else to play.
(sidenote: summer 2004, i saw cursive four times, at the vegas date of plea for peace, coachella, the phoenix curiosa show and a secret house show they played as a party for fader magazine at which my friend alex and i were the only people there who seemed to know who the band was, leading to us getting to call their setlist that night)
art is hard.
the recluse.
butcher the song.
staying alive.
'a gentleman caller,' live video from the enhanced-CD portion of the ugly organ.
in 2005, cursive released the difference between houses and homes, a collection of out-of-print tracks from their early singles, as well as one track with the (at the time) current lineup of the band, which had previously appeared on a split with michigan's small brown bike (who were a formidable band in their own right). cohn left the band that year to pursue other musical interests, and the band went on a brief hiatus. when they returned, they decided to stay a four piece, though they began bringing patrick newbery as an auxillary musician to play cello, horns and keys.
nostalgia.
2006 saw the return of the band with the album happy hollow, another concept album of sorts, this time touching on topics like religion and the wizard of oz.
dorothy at forty.
bad sects.
big bang.
schnase left the band before the release of 2009's mama, i'm swollen to focus on raising his family. he was replaced for the time being with session drummer matt 'cornbread' compton, who had just wrapped playing and touring with matt skiba of alkaline trio's side project, heavens, before being replaced permanently with cully symington, who also currently drums for afghan whigs.
the current lineup of cursive. l-r: stevens, kasher, cully symington, maginn.
from the hips.
i couldn't love you.
cursive's most recent album is 2012's i am gemini.
the sun and moon.
drunken birds.
*
p.s. Hey. We're back, or, rather, I'm just back, I guess. In any case, the general newness is celebrated and marked by the first of two-day post shaped paean to the beloved earlier era band Cursive by the multi-talented d.l. about town Rewritedept. Please give his words and the band's input a thorough going over, thank you. And thanks, big R! Last thing: tomorrow there will be no p.s. other than a "hi" due to my being needed at the shooting of the final part of the film scene that I just spent the weekend away working on. But after Tuesday, everything should run normally here for the next while. Also, I need to be kind of very quick today because Zac and I have all-day audition starting very shortly, so my apologies for my brevity. ** Thursday ** Josh feola, Hi, Josh! Always great to see you, man! Thank you so much for the suggestions. I don't know most of those, and I will find out what's going on behind those links asap. I hope you're doing great. ** Jonathan, Hi, buddy! Excellent, excellent stuff entering your brain there. I'll seek out the ones I don't know. Definitely hope to see pix of that group show, and awesome that it went so well. A talk thing? Very cool. Everyone, amazing artist and d.l. Jonathan (Mayhew) did a talk recently about art, his and generally, and it was recorded, and you can hear it courtesy of him and Soundcloud incredibly easily, so please do that. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. Thank you. I peeked at that Agnes Varda house sculpture when I was in LA and when it was being installed. It was wonderful. Interesting about the new YSL film. I've read very mixed things over here. ** Keaton, Hey, man. Got your email. Thank you! I'll set it up for later this week, and I'll let you know the exact coordinates pronto. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Understandable that school has been occupying your fingers and brain tentacles, but of course it's super happy news to hear about 'A Task'! ** HyeMin Kim, Hi. Thank you! And thank you much for the books list! And for your thoughts in general! Sorry to be in such a rush today. I kind of can't wait for Wednesday when I can think and type at the same speed again. ** Daniel Portland, Hi, Daniel! Cool, cool, cool, thank you! ** Kier, Hi, K. That seems really good news about the new psych. Yeah, I mean, of course it's scary, but almost everything important is, you know? Not that that thought is much help, sorry. It just sounds like a great step and victory at last to me, yeah, Lots of love. ** Steevee, Thanks very much, Steve. Sorry that my rush today is curtailing my ability to respond in typing form. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. Oh, jeez, where else would your website be other than everywhere? I've been very curious about Trans ever since I read about it, and yours is first actual report I've seen. Great! I'll go get it, thanks! ** Sypha, Thanks, James! ** Kevin Killian, Hi, Kevin! My presence is so graced! I hope you guys had a really great time in LA. I saw some photos and little reports on FB this morning when I woke up. That was sweet at least. Tons of love to you! ** ASH, Hi, Ash! Glad you liked the Alex G. He's really something. Yes, Diggerland is on Zac's and my agenda for asap. I like 'Cool Planet' a bunch. I'm too forced-speedy today to say much about it. I think I like 'Motivational Jumpsuit' better if I have to choose between this year's GBV output. I'm not sure why. The production? Thanks a lot for your lists! ** Mikel Motorcycle, My pleasure, sir. Consider my fingers very, very crossed for you for sure! Oh, yeah, that Temples album is real nice. And great that you got to see AMT. I know, right? ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. Oh, yeah, the Wild Beasts record is very good. I can see you maybe liking it a lot. ** Rewritedept, I'm still absorbing the Swans album. No doubt it'll be on my year-end list. Oh, and thanks a lot for today and tomorrow! Oh, shit, I'm glad you caught yourself before your relapse got too deep. Definitely best to nip that shit in the bud while it's still just a shortish period of annoyance to do so. Hugs, man. ** Friday ** David Ehrenstein, Howdy. ** Bill, Hi, B. They have colleges for every writer/artist weirdo you can think of here. It's amazing. Thanks a lot for the list. I'll do a copy and paste and use it as a shopping list as soon as I'm not simultaneously exhausted and on the run. Wednesday maybe. ** Unknown, Hi, Pascal! Really, really nice to see you! Thanks! Wishing you the best too! ** Keaton, Thanks, big K. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Thank you a lot for the lists! ** Steevee, Wow, good luck with that. ** Toniok, Hi, man! I love your lists too! I'll check out everything on yours that I don't know. Thanks about the film thing. It's going really well, and I'll be able to think about it and say more when the next break comes along. ** Saturday ** HyeMin Kim, Hi. No, I've never been there unfortunately. I've never even been south of Baja in Mexico, which is really strange. Cool, I'll go try to find that book, thank you. And, again, to you, to everyone, I apologize for my severe rush today. I'm just kind of a high-speed haze of a person today. ** Kier, Hi, K. I have to say that's so sad about Fabeldyrene. Zac and I are in mourning. We're going to try to find out what happened to it. Zac has the park owner's email address. But I'm glad you had so much fun there! Oh, I'll have to tell you what we loved about that ride once I get through the next couple of days, if that's okay. I'm fried at the moment. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, sir. Oh, uh, I'll try to see that show. My schedule is a bit insane right now, but I'll look into it, thank you! ** Keaton, Thanks, bud. It reminds of Les Halles? Ha ha, that's hilarious. Watching Lars von Trier, eh? Oh, lucky you, ha ha. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. No. No WC time yet. Well, I saw the last fifteen minutes of the Ghana/Germany match this weekend when were eating in a restaurant that was blasting it. Thanks for posting the photos. I'll have to look at them later on, but I look forward to it. ** Rewritedept, Keep at it. Stay strong, man. ** Schlix, Hi, Uli! My eyes only have time to skim everything this morning, but even so, your lists definitely are fun, and I'll get to have that fun very soon, lucky me. ** Steevee, No, I haven't hear the White Lung album yet. I'll try it. Thanks! Hope your conversation with the neighbor was plenty. ** Okay, I really, really apologize for that terrible p.s. I'll be much more relaxed soon. Please be with the band Cursive and with your host today and tomorrow. I will talk to you again come Wednesday. Take care.