Death Cab FOr Cutie: C or D?

I say "objectively and scientifically" because, well, here's the thing: it's a run-of-the-mill indie rock/pop record. In almost every sense, from the standard arpeggiated guitar chime on down. Now, while there are arguments to be made about this being an inessential genre to be working in, or Death Cab's lack of stylistic innovation, or just any sort of general boringness you want to pin on them, pretty much anyone familiar with the conventions of that particular genre will have to admit to you that We Have the Facts... executes them perfectly -- more perfectly, in fact, than I even thought was possible in this moving-past-indie day and age. In other words, you may not like what they're doing, but they're doing it oh so incredibly right.

I do know that a few indiepop classics (or what I would call indiepop) are good all the way through: Wilco, Swag, New Pornographers, The Ladytron (whatever it is, I like it), Ice Cream Hands and maybe I can think of some others later.

Ooh, I much prefer the less lush, more jaunty, stripped down "Happy Secret," which is good all the way through. (Granted, it's, like, 25 minutes long or something.) Lots of "A Good Kind of Nervous" is excellent, too, but some of it is quite weedy.

O man, this is off topic, but the new Wilco really makes me moist.

I like tha toonz that make me get jiggy

Not pansy indie boys with pretty little songs

Who cares if it's done right if the genre's oh-so-wrong?

Each of their albums seem to jump around a little bit stylistically. Something About Airplanes was more abrasive and raw, yet somehow watered down with Ben Gibbard's vocals. We Have the Facts was just amazing in style. It retained a constant mood despite the dynamic changes throughout the album. Their EP Forbidden Love seemed to dabble in more poppy areas which has continued somewhat on their latest album The Photo Album. The songs seem more upbeat and melodic.

In my opinion, I think We Have the Facts is the true gem in their collection. Revolutionary and groundbreaking? No. Brilliant pop? YES.

Still, it oughta be a great hit with the emo kids.

I'm going to be in hell, I think.

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/CMSIcons/emoticons/basic2/sigh.gif

Death Cab for Cutie Signs to a Major Label
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/2004_11_01_archivenews.htm#110050425254590804

Hahahahahaha!!!

According to Billboard, lackluster indie-pop darlings Death Cab For Cutie have signed a deal with Atlantic Records. But enough about Death Cab For Cutie -- what does this mean to us, the record-buying public? Will DCFC's signing open the floodgates for a signing bonanza the likes of which haven't been seen since the Melvins, Butthole Surfers, and Boredoms inked deals with Atlantic, Capitol, and Reprise, respectively? Will Lightning Bolt be playing KROQ Weenie Roasts? Will Acid Mothers Temple be given a 6-figure signing bonus? Will mainstream radio and MTV begin catering more to so-called "independent music demographics" and less to Real World and Road Rules fans? Will I be able to buy out-of-print Man Is The Bastard records in Tower chains now? Of course not! This means absolutely nothing to anyone aside from Ben Gibbard's accountant. You can already find DCFC records in chain stores, the band has been playing to consistently sold-out theaters and recently arenas on a jaunt with Blink-182 this past summer, and pretty much everyone who's everyone knows or at least knows of the group. So, then, why make the jump from Barsuk to a major? Why not stay and fight the good fight with the rest of us?

Here's the official statement from Ben Gibbard:

"Hey there all! I'm here to say the rumors that have been dominating the message boards over the last few weeks are in fact true. We have signed to Atlantic Records.

Our decision to leave Barsuk was a difficult one, but thankfully it comes with the blessing of Josh Rosenfeld and everyone at Barsuk Records. Josh and the gang have been wonderful for us. If someone would have told me six years ago as Josh, Nick, Chris and I were sitting on a porch in Bellingham debating about how many records to press of the initial run of "Airplanes" (we though 500, Josh was convinced we could sell 1000) that Barsuk and DCFC would be in the positions we are today, I wouldn't have believed them. Thank you Josh, Christopher, Emily, Grant, and Wes for all your hard work on our behalf at Barsuk Records over the years.

I know some of you out there may have conflicting feelings about our decision. Some of you may be under the impression that signing with a major label involves making some drastic changes. Thus, in the spirit of full disclosure, here is a detailed list of the changes that will occur now that we are on Atlantic Records:
1) Next to the picture of Barsuk holding a 7", there will be the letter "A" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums. I hope all of you can deal with this list."

* * * * * * * * * *

Drive Well, Sleep Carefully: On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie

* * * * * * * * * *

In Stores July 26th

Over 2 Hours of Death Cab for Cutie live performances, interviews, outtakes, and extras on DVD.

Drive Well, Sleep Carefully joins the band Death Cab for Cutie on tour in the spring of 2004. Filmmaker Justin Mitchell captured dozens of shows across the country and interviewed band members at length in their hometown of Seattle. Shot entirely on 16mm film, the stunning live footage is mixed with candid conversations about the creative process and life on the road.

http://www.plexifilm.com/deathcab

(Justin was at the last Cat & Fiddle FAP - he also directed Songs for Cassavetes and the recent Ted Leo live DVD)

So how are things shaping up for Plans:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7242529/deathcabforcutie?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1113102715090&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

their new album has just leaked and is called Narrow Stairs and i'm listening now. :-)

Guess what? [nabisco] is spot on, again.

lolol

how is the new album

I haven't checked today, but the one that leaked 2 or 3 days ago was supposedly a fakearoo.

Huuuuuuuge dud, this band.

i had to let em get undermy skin before i liked em.

saw em live once and they were really boring.

can't get past his voice. if there's an aural equivalent to the argyle sweater and english riding cap indie fuckmeisters wear, it's this guy's voice.

How anybody can truly appreciate music and still say they hate death cab for cutie is beyond me. Their songs are so well crafted and so easy to listen to and so hard not to sway along with.
-- Mike Donaldson, Saturday, 10 November 2001 01:00 (6 years ago) Link

Classic. I like argyle sweaters.

"half of my female friends referring to Gibbard as "walking sex"

I feel like there may have been a bit of a paradigm shift in the past 7 years there.

yeah, it was a fake. i thought it was very average at best, glad this one is not real...

the one floating around these days is. Is it me or does this album sound like DCFC is trying to get dropped by their label? Second song is almost completely instrumental, there's one track where massively distorted guitar almost overtakes all the vocals during the chorus...there isn't one single pop hook on the entire album from my one listen this morning.

I like this band but get the impression that this admission blows one's (severely depleted) cooldom.

Saw their tour DVD - they came across as nice, dependable blokes.

Guess that makes me an emo wusswanker

Xpost this new album sounds worth checking

i really hated narrow stairs for like 6 months but somehow it's become my favorite album of theirs

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/09/new-music-video-for-new-moon/

so this has pretty effectively cooled my lingering "but I kind of like these guys' songs..." confusion re: this band

Death Cab for Cutie's Codes & Keys has leaked. it not sounding promising.

1 Home Is A Fire
2 Codes And Keys
3 Some Boys
4 Doors Unlocked And Open
5 You Are A Tourist
6 Unobstructed Views
7 Monday Morning
8 Portable Television
9 Underneath The Sycamore
10 St Peter’s Cathedral
11 Stay Young, Go Dancing

they are past their expire date. which is too bad because their first few albums are really good.

I really like the single, sounds a little more exciting than anything else they've done since jumping to a major, but I'm still not terribly enthused for this.

As a sidenote, what is being done differently to prevent leaks now? This one leaks only 8 days before release, the Gaga about the same timeframe, it seems to be increasingly common for albums to stay buried until a lot closer to release date.

i think one week ahead is kind of the standard "the physical copies are starting to get shipped out and it wouldn't hurt sales much at this point anyway" leak and anything before that is a more serious security breach (studio/media/label personnel deliberately sharing it with the outside world) that can be prevented to some extent or at least they can make sure someone loses their job over it

i'd fuckin quit my job if i worked at a studio/label that peddled death cab records

Its important to have ethics to stand behind, I suppose.

i'd fuckin quit my job if i worked at a studio/label that peddled death cab records

at least you would have a job to quit?

But, yeah, I suppose working for Atlantic Records would be really awful for you anyway.

You know, I've never really listened to this band, though generally like the singles when they come on the radio. But over the weekend I saw one of Gibbard's solo shows, and while the songs lose a lot played just on acoustic guitar, it really made me appreciate the rest of the band and in particular their arrangements. Like, the studio versions of "Soul Meets Body" or "Crooked Teeth" are pretty well put together songs, and hearing all the stuff that makes that so taken away was pretty striking.

what does ilm think of the new album? i kind of like "autumn love":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Hnl8inGPo

i still haven't gotten around to the new one but i've been in a real death cab mood for the first time in ten years. forgot how much i've always loved narrow stairs? they really pushed themselves musically on that one even though the rot in gibbard's lyrics had already set in

we have the facts is their inarguable masterpiece still imo

i really hated narrow stairs for like 6 months but somehow it's become my favorite album of theirs

― the insane Dr. Morbius and his HOOSical steens (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, May 12, 2009 1:27 AM (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

past hoos otm

Ben Gibbard lives in the same congressional district as me

After that last record, they completely lost me. At one point, I'd have called them my favorite band. I saw Amoeba advertising the new record was released this past Friday on my Instagram feed, and I just kind of had one of those, "Huh" type reactions. Good for them, for still being around, I guess. But I the amount of which I care about them anymore is starkly in disproportion to just how much I cared ten or twelve years ago. Absolutely no desire to hear this new one.

i'd love to love anything this band puts out at this point, but i just can't see it ever happening.

from Something About Airplanes thru Photo Album, they were probably my favorite band, too. i blindly played Airplanes on my college radio show (thanks to the Built to Spill mention on the little review someone had stuck on the jewelcase) and absolutely fell in love with it ... then when Facts finally showed up in the play box, i just played the whole thing on my show, front to back, totally blown away.

we have the facts is their inarguable masterpiece still imo

Yup. I have the LP and it's all the DCFC I really need (besides "Stability")

forced myself to do a death cab pox

405
company calls epilogue
your heart is an empty room
a movie script ending
stability
long division
song for kelly huckaby
cath...
styrofoam plates
no joy in mudville

transatlanticism was one of my favorite records of all time in high school and i don't like it at all anymore? i even like plans more, which at the v least has one of walla's best production jobs

little fury bugs!

oh yeah that one too hm

song for kelly huckaby is of a piece with it, really those are the only two songs I need from this band. but two for the ages.

Transatlaticism was the one that made me a fan, but after sitting with those records for many years, I have to agree that We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes is their best one.

Still love the Facts-era b-side 'Army Corps of Architects' more than anything else. That is such a flat out gorgeous tune.

Also, yeah: Stability EP is another favorite. I was way into Pygmalion and Sigur Rós at the time, so it was very much preaching to the choir with its clean toned delay trailing off into oblivion at a snail's pace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VK_jfL3r7o

this is a great late b-side that should've been on narrow stairs

i really love the lyrics of that one too, which is rare for me and post-photo album gibbard (the lyrics on plans are largely awful for example)

feel bad about it in a way though, in that "clearly my favorite death cab material after we have the facts is the stuff where ben gibbard was going through a major depressive episode"

also god "cath..." is so good

This band covered Waterfalls on their latest ep! Turns my stomach! Very wrong. I don't mind this band but this is awful!

okay, i didn't know about that and i'm a minute in and. . . fuck, this is bad. he wants to be coldplay and it's fucking irritating. stop, ben. or at least stop calling this death cab for cutie. ugh.

"ya'll don't hear me"

YA CUZ I'M CRINGING SO HARD MY EARDRUMS WINCED INTO MY BRAIN AND I'M TEMPORARILY DEAF FFS

i listened to whole thing.

now i'm angry.

This band covered Waterfalls on their latest ep! Turns my stomach! Very wrong. I don't mind this band but this is awful!

This is interesting! I had pretty much the diametric opposite reaction. I heard this cover for the first time a few minutes ago and thought it was an excellent reinterpretation of the song. But then, I love Death Cab and have no particular opinion either way regarding the work of TLC. I do remember the video of the original song being quite innovative.

Waterfalls came out in 1995. This is enough - heh! - water under the bridge for some people hearing Death Cab's version not to have heard the original. Like all covers, we need to ask - do you dislike it as you feel a classic has been messed up, sullied, or do you dislike it *on its own terms*? Maybe this is an impossible question to answer. Maybe we should ask someone below the age of 20 who is familiar with the modern output of Death Cab, but oblivious to the oeuvre of TLC.

Would someone below the age of 20 be familiar with the modern output of Death Cab(??)

I would have thought so, yes, why ever not?

I was thinking of polling all their albums but have held off because ILM never talks about them so not sure if it's a good idea? Even this thread is under 100 posts.

in college circa 2002 loved them. i was listening to the Photo Album in my dorm. i had no friends, just like now. "a movie script ending" touched me one evening, i was listening to it on headphones, mouthing to it with only the noise of lips softly smacking and breath pushing through holes but without resonance. my roommate walked in and heavily made fun of me. he smoked the cheapest cigarettes in Missouri by the carton, and was from Springfield. His name was Josh. He didn't give me too hard of a time, he just raised his eyebrows and closed the door. I was left alone with Death Cab, embarrassed and wondering what to do

i wouldn't mind if they all fukken shit their pants now, me too

i love early dcfc. we have the facts and we're voting yes and the stability ep are things i can still revisit with much appreciation. i thought transatlanticism was stellar at the time and saw them on that tour. they were great! album has not aged as well. diminishing returns with plans and narrow stairs (though the opening two or three track sequence on that is still one of their best moments on record). couple really good tracks here and there. then they lost me. chris and ben made meh solo records, then chris quit, then ben covered "waterfalls" and here we are.

would vote in an albums poll.

we have the facts is maybe the greatest indie rock album of all time

transatlanticism was my entry point. Loved the album when I first heard it and still do. I would definitely vote in an album poll or indeed a singles poll. Making a decision on a favourite single would be tricky.

if/when there's a poll, everyone owes me a beer for each whiney complaint/shitpost

weirdly, on my downtime learning early DCFC guitar parts for no real reason. “405” is an earworm.

This is probably more my age, but everything through Transatlanticism was fine for the most part and then Plans hit and i went into that “I’ll hold back on giving this band money for a bit mode and see how it plays out.”

sidebar - the second twilight soundtrack is a who’s who that deserves a poll

Haha, great timing for this bump. DCFC have a new album Asphalt Meadows coming out in 21 days.

This gets even crazier, tonight in DC...Monday in New York and the opening band is Low. In a month from now when they play Los Angeles the opening band is going to be Yo La Tengo.

Low have opened for Death Cab before. At least a decade back I think?

I haven't seen Death Cab live since Transatlanticism (I saw Gibbard solo once) but I am going to go to their show here to see Low open up and maybe I will stick around for a bit of the main event.

i just looked at the lineup because i assumed that it was ben having at it with a bunch of new guys, but no — jason and nick are still there!

Tix resale only $150 + fees

We Have the Cash But We’re Voting “Nah”

I think the show is sold out here. $150 (these days) seems about right for resale in that situation. I mean, Gaslight Anthem is sold out here, too, and resale prices for that are about the same. For sure I'm not paying that, I have an "in," but Death Cab is a reasonably popular band for people of a certain age (probably because they're pretty MOR indie, though as I wrote on this thread or some other I'm surprised how many single songs of theirs I enjoy when they come on).

Remember when landing a spot on the soundtrack to "The O.C." was considered a big deal?

Outstanding sub-head!! 🎩 https://t.co/ql5B2NcbcZ pic.twitter.com/lKNxqXWteg

— Toby Nangle (@toby_n) September 8, 2022

Still not really my thing, but they were good last night, really slick, bunch of good songs. I don't think I'd seen them in 20 years (!), but I don't remember Gibbard going full-frontman like he does now. Lots of dancing and moving around and stuff like that.

i haven't listened to the whole new album but the singles were the best they've sounded in years, i thought

ok, a month later i'm back to say this album is actually really good. their best since ... Narrow Stairs, maybe? (i have to admit, i've barely heard Kintsugi and Thank You For Today)

they were my favorite band '99-'03ish and i didn't think i would ever even enjoy listening to anything new by them ever again. but i am enjoying this one.

Yeah, it's really good. I was surprised by how much I really liked it.

yeah I like this album, I haven't liked anything by them in some time (probably Narrow Stairs). We won tickets to go see them last week and it was really enjoyable as well; I haven't seen them since Transatlaticism or Photo Book era, and most of the shows I saw them play were at tiny clubs 20+ years ago.