Death Cab for Cutie at the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards

Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — The Woodie Awards, mtvU’s annual celebration of college music and independent spirit, are often thought of as the raucous kid brother to the Video Music Awards. They feature artists on the fringes of various music scenes and bands who are only a radio hit or buzzworthy live show away from breaking into the big time. This year’s show was no different, featuring envelope-pushing weirdos like Matt and Kim and Passion Pit.

So what were Death Cab for Cutie — a band that has sold millions of records for a major label and whose recent hit is attached to the most hotly anticipated Hollywood movie of the season — doing there? They were teaching the kids how it’s done.

	Woodie Awards Show Highlights

Eschewing twitchy raucousness for the kind of stateliness usually reserved for the likes of bands like U2 and Coldplay, Ben Gibbard and his band filled Roseland Ballroom with the regal noise and big hooks of “Meet Me on the Equinox,” the new single from the soundtrack to “New Moon.”

But rather than appear as the tiny band that sold out, they were greeted as the local boys who made good in the outside world. Death Cab for Cutie spent the better part of a decade toiling on the margins, and they provided a glimpse into what is possible if you truly stick to your guns and carve out a niche for yourself. Indeed, Death Cab for Cutie simply became too good for the mainstream to ignore.

As far as “Meet Me on the Equinox” goes, the band absolutely killed it. Guitarist Chris Walla’s towering, atmospheric power chords hung over the room like a great cloud of goth energy, while Gibbard crooned the song’s melancholy refrain. “Everything/ Everything ends,” goes the chorus, but for any young bands — or rapt fans, for that matter — watching Death Cab on Wednesday evening (November 18), “Equinox” represented the beginning of a possibility. “Thanks,” Gibbard mumbled as the band left the stage, proving no amount of “Twilight” fandom or Hollywood spouses can take the indie out of certain people.

Don’t miss the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards, airing on December 4 at 10 p.m. on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU!

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Robert Pattinson at the London “New Moon” junket

Photo: MTV

Robert Pattinson might be one of the sexiest men on the face of the planet, but he doesn’t really understand what people see in him. In fact, the very idea of looking at his appearance in a positive way makes him want to cringe.

“Favorite feature? I’m, like, ‘Weird,’ ’cause I’m kind of self-obsessed and kind of only about negative stuff,” he told MTV at the London junket for “New Moon.” ” … In saying something positive, I’ll hate myself even more.”

Despite their onscreen rivalry, Pattinson promised Twilighters that there’s no heartthrob battle erupting between him and Taylor Lautner. “It’s funny, ’cause we’re quite opposite people in a lot of ways, but I get on with him really well,” he said. “It’s really funny how this rivalry thing happened. … For one thing, I can’t fight it out with Taylor. In the movie, yeah ,[I have abs]. That was awhile back.”

In fact, the co-stars are such good real-life friends that while shooting the film together, they became gym buddies. “He made me go to the gym for pretty much the first time in my life” he revealed. “And more consistently than I’ve ever done. But I think I went a little too late.”

Their friendship has inspired Pattinson to choose Team Werewolf over Team Vampire. “I think my mentality suits it more,” he said. “I’m always so annoyed with myself when I get really, really angry. … So it’d be much easier if I turned into this massive dog.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard

Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

The forecast for the 2009 mtvU Woodie Awards: dark, with a chance of nudity.

That’s because vampire aficionados Death Cab for Cutie, Jack White’s rough-and-tumble murk-rock outfit the Dead Weather and frequently nude indie duo Matt and Kim have been confirmed as performers at the sixth annual awards show, which showcases the best and brightest as chosen by college students across the country.

The 2009 Woodies will take place November 18 at New York’s Roseland Ballroom and will air on MTV, MTV2, mtvU and Palladia on Friday, December 4, at 10 p.m. ET.

All three acts also have clips — Death Cab’s “Grapevine Fires,” Matt and Kim’s “Lessons Learned” and the Dead Weather’s “Treat Me Like Your Mother” — up for Best Video at the show. Other nominees include the Kings of Leon, Drake, Kid Cudi and Green Day.

It’s not known what song the Weather will perform, but Matt and Kim will do “Lessons” (no word on whether or not they’ll do it in the buff) and Death Cab will be performing “Meet Me on the Equinox,” the much-discussed first single from the “New Moon” soundtrack. This also marks the second time Death Cab have performed at the Woodies; in 2005, they shared the stage with Matisyahu, Little Brother and Saul Williams.

In keeping with the spirit of the awards, fans will be picking the winners in each category. Voting is now open at Woodies.MTV.com and will run until November 16.

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“New Moon” soundtrack

Photo: Summit Entertainment

The “Twilight” soundtrack — featuring music from Paramore, Linkin Park and some guy named — has, to date, sold nearly 2.3 million copies in the U.S. alone and has been a rare bright spot for the music business in these dire times (well, it and Taylor Swift albums).

Compared with Taylor, the “New Moon” soundtrack — which was rush-released on Friday (October 16) to combat early leaks — boasts contributions from the likes of Thom Yorke, Lykke Li and Grizzly Bear (not to mention a first single from Death Cab For Cutie), is pretty dark. It is, as I wrote earlier this week “Music for the masses — or at least the masses who wear glasses and own record players and bought tickets to the Pavement reunion.”

Indeed, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas has compiled what many are calling the indie album of the year, and it’s hard to argue with that claim.

Opening with a pair of straightforward jangly/jittery indie tunes, Death Cab’s “Meet Me On the Equinox,” (which, if you are alive, you’ve heard by now) and Band of Skulls’ “My Friends,” the “New Moon” soundtrack quickly downshifts with Thom Yorke’s buzzing “Hearing Damage” and Lykke Li’s ethereal “Possibility,” two thoroughly angsty, artfully sparse standouts that would seem out of place, if not for the murky waters that follow.

The Killers channel Lou Reed on the somber “A White Demon Love Song,” which slowly builds to a minor crescendo (and one seriously slippery) guitar solo. Singer/songwriter Anna Marie gets all breathy on “Satellite Heart” and indie icons Bon Iver and St. Vincent do what they do best — churchly, ghostly stuff — on “Rosyln.”

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club do their dark and windswept best with “Done All Wrong,” Grizzly Bear’s “Slow Life” is hazy, dreamy atmospheric pop and the Editors’ “No Sound But the Wind” is a piano-laden ballad buoyed by frontman Tom Smith’s brooding baritone.

Of course, there are a few moments of light scattered throughout the darkness. “Twilight” faves Muse contribute a remixed version of “I Belong To You” (the original can be found on their just-released album The Resistance) and it’s very much a Muse tune, all stadium-sized vocals and fist-pumping guitars. The Hurricane Bells’ “Monster” surges along on a super-skuzzed guitar line, Sea Wolf’s “The Violet Hour” is classic swoony indie-pop and OK Go chime in with “Shooting the Moon,” which, with its timpani punch and oddball sound effects, is an unexpected highlight, sounding very much like a mid-decade Flaming Lips’ cast-off.

All in all, it’s a very fine soundtrack. But it’s also a decidedly left-of-center one, full of minor-key contributions from comparatively left-field artists. Here’s to hoping it introduces those artists to millions of new and rabid fans …

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Muse

Photo: MJ Kim/Getty Images

Muse are apparently fully embracing their status as the “Twilight” band. They’ve already had their track “Supermassive Black Hole” on the first film’s soundtrack, and come Friday, Twilighters can get their hands on the “New Moon” soundtrack, which features the group’s remixed track “I Belong to You.”

Now it looks like there’s a good chance the British rockers will be back for even more vampy fun on the “Eclipse” soundtrack. “It’s great to have the feeling of being a new band again in so many people’s eyes or minds … we might even do something for the third one,” drummer Dominic Howard told MTV News. “How about that for a scoop?”

Nothing is set in stone yet, but Howard noted that besides being a favorite of “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer, they also have an in with “Eclipse” director David Slade.

“[Slade is] kind of a friend of ours ’cause he directed about three or four of our videos for the second album, and he’s a really great video director,” Howard explained. “I know he did that really great kind of sick horror [film '30 Days of Night'] which was a bit of a vampire/zombie vibe, wasn’t it? So I think he’s a great director, and he’s quite a funny character as well. So, yeah, we might do something for him as well.”

Although Muse have no problems selling albums without the assistance of “Twilight,” Howard notes that they’re not going to pass up the chance to work on music for the hugely popular franchise. “That’s not the sole reason why people know about us, because this is now our fifth album,” he said. “But it’s a nice side project to be involved with.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Eclipse.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in “New Moon”

Photo: Summit Entertainment

You hear a lot about albums being pushed back for a bit of track tweaking or new recording, but unless a CD leaks early online, you rarely see release dates for major CDs pushed forward.

But when you’re dealing with anything “Twilight”-related, the old rules don’t apply. According to a press release issued on Tuesday (October 13), due to “overwhelming and unprecedented” demand, the release date for the soundtrack to “New Moon” is being pushed up by four days from its original October 20 release to this Friday, October 16.

That means the disc will be in stores more than a full month before “New Moon” hits screens on November 20. The heat on the soundtrack has carefully been stoked by a series of slow reveals of the goods, beginning with the unveiling of the Death Cab for Cutie contribution, “Meet Me on the Equinox,” during last month’s VMAs, followed by the song’s video premiere last week.

The full lineup of the soundtrack was released last month, boasting such household names as Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Muse, the Killers, OK Go, Grizzly Bear and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and lesser-known acts such as Band of Skulls, Lykke Li, Anya Marina, Bon Iver with St. Vincent, Hurricane Bells, Sea Wolf and the Editors. And then, just this last week, 30-second clips of all of the songs appeared online on the UK Amazon.com site.

Read our interviews with Lykke Li and OK Go about their connection to the “Twilight” saga, and check back with MTV News all week long for more stories about the “New Moon” soundtrack.

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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“New Moon” soundtrack cover

Photo: Summit Entertainment

It’s not a leak, but the site British Amazon.com has given fans an unexpected preview of the hotly anticipated “New Moon” soundtrack (which hits stores on October 20) by posting a 30-second snippet of each song on the album.

Which means that, if you were wondering what Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage” or the Killers‘ “A White Demon Love Song” sounds like, you’re in luck! (BTW, the answers are “An outtake from The Eraser” and “Lou Reed,” respectively.)

Based on these clips, Lykke Li’s “Possibility” evokes a hazy fever dream, Muse’s “New Moon” remix of “I Belong to You” (the original version of which appears on their just-released album The Resistance) is a stately minuet, Bon Iver and St. Vincent’s “Rosyln” is hushed and churchly, and OK Go’s “Shooting the Moon” — with its weird sound effects — reminds us a whole lot of a Flaming Lips track.

The Friday unveiling of snippets from the “New Moon” soundtrack is a fitting way to cap off what’s already been a pretty huge week for members of Twilight Nation. On Wednesday, after months of hype, the video for the first single off the album — Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox” — premiered on MTV, and fans of the series responded with gusto (though they would’ve preferred more shirtless Robert Pattinson, to be honest). And MTV News will have lots more about the soundtrack in a series of articles that begin publishing on Monday!

The Amazon preview only appears on the United Kingdom version of the site; at press time, the U.S. site did not contain any snippets of songs from the soundtrack.

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Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard in the “Meet Me On The Equinox” music video

Photo: Atlantic Records

After nearly two months of talking about it and teasing us with it, on Wednesday night, Death Cab for Cutie finally premiered the video for “Meet Me on the Equinox,” the much-anticipated first single from the “New Moon” soundtrack.

Of course, it didn’t take too long for Twilight Nation to render their verdict on the clip. Yes, within minutes of premiering “Equinox,” MTV.com was flooded with comments from rabid Twilighters, most of whom were positively in love with the video (though there seemed to be one common complaint: “Not enough RPattz”), and they didn’t think Death Cab’s song was too bad, either.

The reaction was so overwhelming that we decided to publish the best of those comments here. Oh, and if you still want your voice heard, weigh in below!

“Perfection! Beautiful song, and such an evocative interpretation.” — Jet3000

“This is a great video and I love this song!!! Every time it comes on the radio, I blast it and it takes me away to ‘New Moon.’ And this vid is really good and there are a couple new shots in the beginning. I can’t wait 2 get the soundtrack! And the movie is gonna be awesome. I can’t wait. It’s so close I can taste it ” — Melissa

“I’m only a million times more excited for ‘New Moon’ after watching this.” — Shiloshizznits

“I LOVE this. It interprets Edward and Bella’s relationship in ‘New Moon’ perfectly. I love the new footage from the movie.” – Keltwilightcravings

“It’s so perfect for the movie! And the scenes from the movie look great! Can’t wait!” — Yesy21

“This just makes the wait harder! I got my tickets for the first showing, do u?” — McTree

“Never liked Death Cab, but this song is great … it’s beautiful. And I don’t like it just because it’s for ‘New Moon.’ It’s a genuinely good song.” — Agirlcalledhero

“OMG Rob can’t Get Any HOTTER”!! He’s INSANELY GORGEOUS IN THIS VIDEO!!!” — Twihard

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard in the “Meet Me on the Equinox” music video

Photo: Atlantic Records

Death Cab for Cutie are very pale. And from the Pacific Northwest. That’s seemingly where the similarities between them and Edward Cullen or Bella Swan (or anyone else in the “Twilight” series) end. So when it was announced back in August that their “Meet Me on the Equinox” had been tapped as the first single from the “New Moon” soundtrack, you could almost feel the collective “huh?!?” that arose from Stephenie Meyer’s loyal subjects. Death Cab just weren’t a “Twilight” band, no matter how translucent Ben Gibbard is.

Of course, all the hand-wringing was premature. Because, as it turns out, Death Cab really are a “Twilight” band (and not just because bassist Nick Harmer has been to Forks, Washington, a bunch of times). They just haven’t read any of the books … or seen any of the films. No, their connection to the series is purely sentimental. Much like Meyer’s books, Death Cab are, at their very core, about the ins and outs of love and loss, of the lights and darks of the heart.

And “Equinox” is a perfect primer to Death Cab’s entire oeuvre. It’s about the unspoken truth of love (and life): that, as Gibbard sings, “Everything ends,” and how, despite that fact, we still push onward, we sacrifice, we give of ourselves … and ultimately, we end up alone. Or dead. Or both. It’s a pretty beautiful concept when you think about it. Of course, it’s also an incredibly depressing one.

Gibbard gives a nod to that duality by using the metaphor of the equinox, a celestial phenomenon that occurs when the Earth’s axis is perfectly aligned with the sun, causing day and night to be exactly the same length. And the video, directed by the team known as Walter Robot (who did DCFC’s excellent “Grapevine Fires” video), does it by using the interplay between light and darkness. The clip is a moody time warp, full of shadows that alternately grow and shrink, of sunlight that fills windows, then disappears behind corners. The message — again, like Gibbard says — is that, while time is relative, the end result is the same: Everything ends.

It’s as dark and dreary as Forks at midnight, an arty clip about love and death and weighty topics like that. But let’s not get too deep here — there’s also plenty of shots of shirtless Robert Pattinson, not to mention enough “New Moon” footage to quicken the pulse of even the most moribund of Twilighters. Everything may, in fact, end, but the image of Pattinson’s chiseled abs? Well, that’s forever. Take that to your grave. And beyond.

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The Killers

Photo: Island Records

On Monday morning (September 21), MTV News reported that “Twilight” fave band Muse would be contributing a remixed version of the song “I Belong to You,” from their new album, The Resistance, for the upcoming “New Moon” soundtrack. Just hours later, “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer released the album’s full track list on her Web site.

The soundtrack will include 15 songs, most from artists new to this vampire universe. Paramore, who contributed two songs to the film’s first soundtrack, will not appear this time around. Thom Yorke of Radiohead, who had a song in the “Twilight” movie but not on the soundtrack, will have one song on the new disc. And while star Robert Pattinson recorded a song for “Twilight,” he does not have a song on the “New Moon” album. All the music is original and exclusive to the “New Moon” soundtrack, which was not the case with the first album.

While Grizzly Bear are the only band to appear on the soundtrack from a list of artists Meyer recently blogged that she’s been listening to, the album certainly seems in line with her tastes.

	The ‘New Moon’ Soundtrack Bands And Artists

Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me on the Equinox” — premiered exclusively on MTV.com
over VMA weekend — leads off the soundtrack, and is followed by Band of Skulls (”Friends”), Thom Yorke (”Hearing Damage”), Lykke Li (”Possibility”), the Killers (”A White Demon Love Song”), Anya Marina (”Satellite Heart”), Muse (”I Belong to You [New Moon]“), Bon Iver with St. Vincent (”Rosyln”), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (”Done All Wrong”), Hurricane Bells (”Monsters”), Sea Wolf (”The Violet Hour”), OK Go (”Shooting the Moon”), Grizzly Bear (”Slow Life”), Editors “No Sound but the Wind” and Alexandre Desplat (”New Moon [The Meadow]“).

The soundtrack will be available on October 20 on Atlantic Records, exactly one month before “New Moon” opens in theaters on November 20.

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