anybody loves Death Cab for Cutie?

i honestly think despite any "emo" hype that surrounded them a couple of years ago that they are bigger and better than ever. maybe they even deserve a little more respect than they're getting?

It's weird, the record store I'm currently working in has a promo copy of the recent Death Cab album, and I play it sometimes in the store when I'm too busy with customers to find anything else to listen to. They definitely are "good songwriters" in some pseudo- objective sense-- the songs all have effective hooks, the dynamic buildups make a lot of sense, etc. But yeah the songs do sound pretty similar to each other and the vocals only really convey a generic sort of sadness. And the lyrics seem so self-conscious, like "listen to this crafty lyric I just wrote." If Death Cab turned their stuff for a songwriting course at GIT or something, they would definitely deserve an A. But it still all winds up sounding like an exercise in songwriting or "being in a band" or something.

My point about bandnames (and I think the Sisters of Mercy are shit too, FYI), is that if a given band can't muster the creativity to make up a name of their own - can't even conceive of a musical identity apart from a direct reference to someone else's music - then that's a pretty clear sign that they probably don't have much creativity to invest in the music itself, either.

So far people have only suggested the Sisters of Mercy (I assume this was a joke) and the Rolling Stones (who don't really qualify) as being good bands named after other people's songs. I stick by my original thesis.

I am in a band that shares it's name with a song title by another band. I think it's somewhat of a stretch to assume that just because this is the case, that in any way is a reflection on the creativity or the quality of the music the band produces. For all I know you may well hate it, but without hearing it it's quite a foolish and very insulting assumption to make.

As for Jim, I guess our creative standards are obviously different. Whatcha gonna do.

After an early Simple Minds song, which in turn is a filmmaker reference.

But no matter what we say, yer gonna tell us the band sucks, sigh...

OTM! Also, check this out:

" Jimmy and Ben are working together again on something called Postal Service, as in Jimmy sends tracks by mail and Ben does vocals on top and mails them back. It's supposedly going to be more poppy... "

Radiohead

mick? who's mick?

Jawbox >>>>> Burning Airlines.

I'm trying to remember who named themselves for a Pavement song, but whoever it was I'm sure they wouldn't threaten this theory.

The Sea and Cake for "The C in 'Cake'" by Gastr del Sol.
Did someone mention The Rolling Stones yet?
Maybe the exceptions prove the rule.

As loathe as I am to inflict Ben Gibbard on people, some ilxors may be interested in this: http://music.minneapolisfuckingrocks.com/post/4168729252/mp3-death-cab-for-cutie-you-are-a-tourist

urgh this thread

I like these guys. I like the interplay, the guitar sounds. Their records always sound really nice.

I think they're hollow and pleasant (in a bad way) and Ben Gibbard's voice makes me want to hit him and/or myself...but ymmv

Maybe precious would be a better word than pleasant.

Leslie Harpold once told me that indie rock was ruined when it became unflinchingly precious. Twee is one thing (it's a movement), but preciousness just takes rock music and gives it back to you like you're in elementary school so as not to offend your delicate sensibilities. Rilo Kiley and Death Cab for Cutie sort of spearheaded the worst of this turn, but it's so widespread now that it's impossible to lay blame on any one band.

preciousness just takes rock music and gives it back to you like you're in elementary school

running with the elementary school thing, almost all indie bands today look, dress, and carry themselves like the teacher's aides i remember from elementary school back in the '70s...

contenderizer kinda did the all-time epic post about that on this thread: So who ARE that insufferable indie couple in the new Hyundai TV ads?

The Photo Album was the one Death Cab record i kinda connected with, partly because they had a good drummer on that record and were kind of a rock band, everything before or since just goes past my wimpiness threshold

Wow, that encapsulates every thought I've ever had about the subject.

i liked the first album and I loved the second one and after that they registered less and less with me. I still think the second record has a great built to spill crossed with elliot smith feel to it. but gibbard seems to have almost deliberately become a worse lyric writer with each subsequent album (although I did like that kelly huckabee song, and their all is full of love cover).

I just added contenderizer's post to the "Favorite Quotations" section of my FB profile.

I think Death Cab gets around the preciousness factor by having a decent band. Also, at least on the songs I dig, the lyrical content offsets the annoying signifiers.

seems like a lot of projecting going on in that contenderizer post, idk. is (what i assume to be) their big song "i will possess your heart" really that precious? lyrically creepy. and musically it sounds tentative, unresolved, and uh... it definitely doesn't sound like a single. maybe i'm giving it more credit than it deserves, but i really was pleasantly surprised by this development after not listening to them much for a few years.

^^^ that song is exactly what comes to mind when I think of Death Cab

I still can't get past the name, tho

to me, these guys have always sounded like built to spill if built to spill was a horrible band.

yeah i don't get that. built to spill are loose, ragged, like crazy horse. death cab have no rough edges and no big cathartic moments.

well, yeah, that's kinda what i mean, they just make that 90s indie rock thing that bts pioneered totally boring. i think just the combo of gibb's voice + some of the songwriting make me think of built to spill.

ah ok i see. yeah now that i think about it, i remember when i moved to seattle in '01 being confronted with this stuff (built to spill, modest mouse, death cab, elliott smith) that was being called indie rock but definitely had a different slant to it than the sebadoh, pavement, etc stuff i was familiar with at the time. different vocally as well as musically (although musically it was hard to put a finger on; narccisism of small differences etc)

Man, "You Are A Tourist" is a pretty good song. Best thing they've done in awhile now.

I've never been a fan, in that I've never owned or listened to an album or even wanted to, but I've really enjoyed most of what I've heard from the band on the radio each promo cycle. "Northern Lights" and "I Dreamt We Spoke Again Last Night" (which I think are new) sound like the Cure. I really liked the singles (as such) off of "Plans," "Narrow Stairs" and "Codes and Keys," too.

I only know The Dream Of Evan and Chan and the Postal Service stuff. It’s good stuff but my tolerance is about 1.75 songs before I want him to shut up.

they *do* have a really good sense of what songs to release as singles, cf. "cath..."