Death Cab For Cutie follow up
Death Cab For Cutie- Plans
5.6
You know that part in the movie where the guy you're pulling for is driving away and he's crying, maybe punching the steering wheel and talking to himself, but then he has his moment of clarity and he realizes that maybe he's the one being the ass, so he turns around (usually with a near head-on collision, squealing tires, honking horns and some guy yelling "watch it jackass!"), only to get hom and find her in bed with the guy from her office whom he had accused her of cheating with? Every song on this record could be the background music in that part of the next 11 movies soon to be in a theatre near you. Not that the record is bas, it's just not that great. I'm so sick of this smooth pop, "The Bends" era Radiohead sound. I was about to just call it crap and be done with it...
Now don't get me wrong, like I said, it wasn't bad, it's just really samey (I know that's not a word). Every time I listened to it I found myself missing half the album. There's just nothing there to grab your attention. The lyrics are pretty good, the beats are fantastic, there's just nothing "rock n' roll" about the music...
I guess I find myself perplexed, I mean Death Cab is the big Indie Rock break through band and I just don't think they're that spectacular. Maybe it's my age? I saw what the industry did to "Alternative" in the early 90's when it went from Sonic Youth, Pavement and The Pixies to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Essentially weeding out anything that a football player wouldn't want to listen to on the way to the big game. It's just the opposite here, weeding out anything a cheerleader wouldn't want to listen to on her way to giver herself to the start quarterback. I'm not a purist, I've got no problem with progress. I liked "The Clouds Taste Metallic" and much as "Yoshimi". I just think the media blitz on Death Cab has more to do with cash than with sound. Go to iTunes and download (or find them for free, I don't really care) Marching Bands of Manhatten, I Will Follow You Into The Dark and What Sarah Said. These songs are good I think, really good, but I don't think you'll find your $.99 well spent on any of the rest of them.
I really did see Big Foot once...
Rob G.