Dark Was The Night

2009
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  • Knotty Pine Dirty Projectors and David Byrne
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  • Cello Song The Books featuring José González
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  • Train Song Feist and Ben Gibbard
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  • Brackett, W9 Bon Iver
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  • Deep Blue Sea
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  • So Far Around The Bend The National
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  • Tightrope Yeasayer
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  • Feeling Good My Brightest Diamond
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  • Dark Was The Night Kronos Quartet
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  • I Was Young When I Left Home Antony with Bryce Dessner
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  • Big Red Machine Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner
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  • Sleepless The Decemberists
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  • Die Iron & Wine
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  • Service Bell Grizzly Bear and Feist
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  • You Are The Blood Sufjan Stevens
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  • Well Alright Spoon
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  • Lenin Arcade Fire
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  • Mimizan Beirut
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  • El Caporal My Morning Jacket
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  • Inspiration Information Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
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  • With A Girl Like You Dave Sitek
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  • Blood Pt.2 Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens & Serengeti)
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  • Hey Snow White The New Pornographers
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  • Gentle Hours Yo La Tengo
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  • Another Saturday Stuart Murdoch
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  • Happiness Riceboy Sleeps (Jónsi & Alex)
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  • Amazing Grace Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
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  • The Giant Of Illinois Andrew Bird
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  • Lua Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch
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  • When The Road Runs Out Blonde Redhead & Devastations
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  • Love Vs. Porn Kevin Drew
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OVERVIEW

Red Hot considered closing its doors after Red Hot + Riot. The album was well regarded, and focused on the issue of AIDS in Africa directly for the first time; but selling music to raise money and awareness had diminished radically with the rise of the Internet and file sharing.

But during this time Aaron Dessner (and to a lesser degree his brother Bryce) was working a ‘day job’ at Funny Garbage (a successful pioneer digital design company co-founded and run by Red Hot’s co-founder) while their band The National was incubating. When the band became a worldwide success, Aaron left the company; but wanted to work with Red Hot to do a indie rock compilation album that would be his generation’s No Alternative.

dwtn_swirlcover_red_wht-copy

The spectacular result was Dark Was the Night, two hours of the best 21st century rock music including exclusive tracks by Arcade Fire, Beirut, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Cat Power, The Decemberists, Feist, Ben Gibbard, Grizzly Bear, Spoon, Sufjan Steven and of course The National. The title came from a classic Blind Willie Johnson song covered by The Kronos Quartet.

The album went on to be successful around the world, raising over a million and a half dollars for AIDS relief, including money dedicated to the people of Haiti through Partners in Health immediately after the Earthquake in 2010.

Dark Was the Night Live!

There was also a live event celebrating the album at Radio City Music Hall, featuring performances and collaboration from many of the artists including Feist, Bon Iver, The National, David Byrne and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

FACTS /
Oral History

    • This is Red Hot’s 20th compilation release, including companion records.
    • Before Dark Was The Night was Dark Was The Night, it was titled New Blood. The name was changed after the imagery used on the cover design was considered too religious.
    • As of May 2012, Dark Was the Night had raised over $1.6 million.


  • A misprint in the tracklisting on the CD case lists Cat Power’s “Amazing Grace” as track 10, and Stuart Murdoch’s “Another Saturday” as track 12. The booklet has the correct order.
  • A cover version of Queen’s “Play the Game” by Beach House was additionally released as an iTunes only bonus track.
  • Dark was the Night peaked at #3 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums of 2009


PRESS

PITCHFORK

8.6 – Best New Music

Charity albums all start wonderfully– with good intentions and noble causes. Alas, they frequently end poorly, entering the world as collections of outtakes, abandoned ideas, and uninspired covers.

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NPR MUSIC

In a year of great music, the Dark Was the Night compilation ranks near the top, with 31 songs by artists writing and performing original works, including Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Yeasayer, Cat Power, Andrew Bird and many more.

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EW.COM

The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Red Hot Organization’s John Carlin have plenty to be proud of. Their years of hard work not only produced Dark Was the Night, a 31-track double album featuring brand-new songs from some of the biggest names in indie rock…

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NY TIMES

During the final moments of Dark Was the Night Live, a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday night, more than a dozen singers — members of most of the indie-rock acts on hand, including Bon Iver and Feist — huddled at one end of the stage to warble “This Land Is Your Land.”

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drowned in sound

Dark Was the Night’s raft of exclusive covers, collaborations and new material, then, is as fantastic as its roll-call suggests. The only real problem from a writing perspective (and a listening one too, I suppose) is simply where to begin.

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Doa

Everything from covers to originals is featured on here and it’s hard deciding on a place to start because this is all high-quality music. There are folk touches abound and they all sound affectingly personal.

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CREDITS

Executive Producer:
John Carlin
Produced By:
Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner