SOUNDTRACK: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE-Something About Airplanes (1999) & We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes (2000) & The Photo Album(2001) & Transatlanticism (2003) & Plans (2005).
I first heard about Death Cab for Cutie on a Believer Magazine’s free CD. The song was “Title and Registration” from Transatlanticism. At the time, I was enjoying the
collection, but not really planning on delving into any of the artists. And yet, this song just kept coming back to haunt me. The lyrics were great. And the melody was superb. There’s a part where the voices all sing “colli-i-i-ide” that is really just sublime. So, I bought the record and immediately fell in love with it. There’s really not a bad song on it. From the beautiful opening of “The New Year” to the ba-bah’s of “The Sound of Settling,” to the vivid description of teenagers skipping their classes and seeing how their bodies work. The whole thing made me go back and get the rest of their records. And I wasn’t disappointed.
My theory about Steely Dan is that they are the definition of Adult music. No one under the age of 25 should listen to them. I hated Steely Dan all through high school and college, and then sometime around the age of 30, I suddenly liked them. So, it’s something about the style, and the sound, and Donald Fagan’s voice, and Walter Becker’s whatever, that should be utterly anathema to anyone under 25. 
I Just Read About That... 