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Archive for the ‘Death Cab For Cutie’ Category

Derek Kirk Kim–Same Difference (2004) [reprinted 2011]

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, Derek Kirk Kim, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Guster, Humiliation, Mythomania, Pho, Real Estate, Short Books, The Smiths, Tiny Desk Concert on March 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REAL ESTATE-Tiny Desk Concert #202 (March 12, 2012).

I enjoyed some Real Estate songs, but i never listened to their whole albums.  I thought this Tiny Desk show would give me more sonic information about them.

This three song set is very pleasing.  The music is soft and nonabrasive, with a very smooth feel (as you can see they are dressed in sweaters and cardigans, so this is not really a shock).  It’s poppy without having any real hooks.  They remind me of a less catchy Guster or a less dramatic Smiths (“Green Aisles,” especially for the bass and guitar solo) or gentler Death Cab for Cutie (“Municipality”).

There’s nothing to radically distinguish these three songs (radical is not a word that would apply to Real Estate), although “Green Aisles” has a few more dynamic moments (mostly from the change in drum patterns).

This review sounds like I didn’t like the set, but that’s not true.  As I said, it’s very pleasant.  And sometimes pleasant is what you want.

You can hear it here.

[READ: March 11, 2012] Same Difference

First Second continues to publish some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking graphic novels around.  This is a republication of a story that first appeared in a collection (and proceeded to win an Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz Award).

The story is about Simon and his close friend Nancy.  It opens with them in a Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland, CA.  The first scene of the book is wonderfully drawn–we look in on the characters through a fish tank–fish are practically littering the panels–it’s very cool.

The two of them are with their friend Ian and they are shooting the breeze, talking nonsense.  And then Simon sees a woman that he knew from high school.  She is sitting at the bus stop and Simon wants to, but can’t, talk to her.  Her name is Irene, she seems sad, eyes downcast looking at the ground.  And then Simon reveals that she is blind.

In high school, he and Irene were very close.  He helped her out, described films to her in class, and “rescued” her from bullies.  And then she invited him to a Sadie Hawkins dance.  He doesn’t like her that way, so he lied to get out of it.  She never found out about the lies, but it has haunted him for the last seven years.

Later, Nancy figured out the truth of the matter, and even though we the readers probably guessed it as well, it still hit hard when it was spoken aloud. (more…)

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*Five Dials 18: Sybille Bedford: On the Centenary of Her Birth (16 March 2011)

Posted in Aliette Martin, Books about writers, Death Cab For Cutie, Drinking, Five Dials, Food, Jonathan Safran Foer, Richard Todd, Stars, Sybille Bedford on August 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Live at the 9:30 Club, Washington DC, October 20, 2007 (2007).

Thanks NPR for this unexpected concert.  Unexpected because Stars is a wonderful band but I think they’re largely unknown (I could be wrong about that, but it’s not like you hear them on the radio or anything). 

This show was during a tour for In Our Bedrooms After the War, which was one of the best albums of the year as far as I’m concerned.  

It’s an intimate album, with all kinds of styles in it: whispered confessions, dancey pop songs, synthy tracks and also some solid alternative rock.  The unifying theme for Stars is beautiful, often super catchy songs that are filled with melancholy and sadness (and occasionally, hope: “at least…the war is over”).  But the key to their beauty is the wonderful harmonies that the singers give us.

Musically the things that surprised me most during this show were the singers’ speaking voices.  Torquil Campbell’s speaking voice is quite a high register and yet his singing voice is low and soothing.  The opposite is true for the other singer, Amy Millan who has a kind of gruff peaking voice but whose singing voice soars to the heavens.  It’s fascinating.  Torquil is also a gushing frontman, thanking the audience so much for coming and even asking “Don’t your friends have bands that are playing whose shows you should be at right now?”  He also thanks Ben and the rest of Death Cab for Cutie for being so very nice to them.  A very nice chap it seems.

The bands sounds quite good live, but my only problem with the show is that as i mentioned, Stars’ music is very intimate, sometime whisper-quiet, and it doesn’t always translate very well in a live setting (even a relatively small club like the 9:30 Club).  Sometimes it feels like they’re singing too loudly to match the music.  Now, it’s entirely possibly that this doesn’t come across when you see them live, that this soundboard recording picks up every flaw. 

Despite that, there’s undeniable energy here and some really great moments where the bands switches direction at the drop of a hat.  And, overall, this is an excellent introduction to the wonder that is Stars’ music (or a big treat for established fans).

[READ: July 25, 2011] Five Dials 18

Five Dials 18 is unique in the history of the journal.  This entire issue is given over to the memory of SYBILLE BEDFORD.  It is written by ALIETTE MARTIN (there’s not even a Letter for the Editor).

Martin writes about Bedford’s love of wine and fine food.  It was pretty funny to read about her detailed love of meat after reading all of the vegetarianism promoted in the Five Dials news pages (Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals was just published by Hamish Hamilton). (more…)

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Gary Shteyngart–“Lenny Hearts Eunice” (New Yorker, June 14 & 21, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Death Cab For Cutie, Dystopia, Funny (ha ha), Gary Shteyngart, Humiliation, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Technology, The Cardigans, The Salteens on July 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE SALTEENS-“Frequency” (2010).

I immediately enjoyed the poppy sensibilities of The Salteens. And I knew I’d want to listen to them on CBC Radio 3 again.  There are quite a few tracks available online there.

This one comes from their new EP, Moths.  A little research shows that they’ve actually been around for quite awhile and even appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba! (early 21st century’s badge of coolness).  It is very poppy, features male/female duet vocals and is immensely catchy.

It’s so catchy, in fact that I played their CBC radio songs over and over.  While I liked some better than others (I wasn’t too keen on “Sunnyside Street”), their twee pop was so joyful that I found myself singing along.  They are definitely twee, but not treacly, and in that respect that are very indie sounding (like a less bummed out Death Cab for Cutie or an early Cardigans).

Their arrangements are always pretty simple, but they range from guitars to keyboard to horns (“Nice Day” is almost all drums with the simplest piano and occasional horns).  And it contains the humorous couplet: “I know you think that I’m gay, but I just play the part”

[READ: July 5, 2010] “Lenny Hearts Eunice”

I’ve really enjoyed Shteyngart’s novels, so I was pleased to see him included in 20 Under 40.  This short story is set in another of his future dystopia, complete with a shlubby main character.

It opens with the obvious (yet very satisfying in this case) technique of a diary entry.  This works really well because the narrator is so strong (not physically) and quirky.  Lenny begins this diary because he is in love with Eunice Park, a young Korean woman with whom he shared a moment (and later an intimacy).  And he intends to win her over.

Lenny is a Research Coordinator of the Post-Human Services Division of the Staatling-Wapachung Corporation, a corporation bent on making everyone (especially its employees) immortal.  Of course, since Lenny is an older, out of shape nebbish, who has just spent a year in Rome gorging on carbs, his future looks bleak.  Rome is where he met Eunice by the way. (more…)

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Michael Chabon–Maps and Legends (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Bon Iver, Book Reviews, Books about writers, Collecting, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Death, Death Cab For Cutie, Demons, Essays, Fantasy, Ghosts, Gods, Golems, Graphic Novel, Grizzly Bear, History, Illusion, McSweeney's, Michael Chabon, New Moon, Radiohead, Religion, Research, Supernatural, The New York Review of Books, Thom Yorke, Word usage on April 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2010).

Back in the 90s, it seemed like every week there was a new soundtrack featuring an unreleased song from some great alt rock band.  This meant huge sales for soundtracks, even if for the most part they weren’t solid start to finish.  In fact, mostly you got three great new songs, three pieces of rubbish, one great song by a band you’d never heard before and two or three okay tracks.

The inclusion of a new Death Cab for Cutie song was the big news about this soundtrack.  And overall, the reviews were positive.  And I’m pleased to say there aren’t really any horrible songs here.  (I have no idea how the soundtrack fits in with the movie as I haven’t seen it and probably never will).

But as with that old soundtrack formula: we get a few good songs by reasonably well-known bands: Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Bon Iver & St, Vincent, Muse, Grizzly Bear.  And then there’s a whole bunch of good rock songs.  The disc plays as something of a sampler of downcast, mellow alt rock. In fact, the back half of the disc sounds like a pretty decent alt rock radio station from the last decade or so.

Some of the tracks even sound like 90s alt tracks (Hurricane Bells, that song is 16 years old right?  And Sea Wolf, you’re channeling Peter Murphy, I know.)  The final two tracks are okay.  The Editors is kind of a Nick Cave via Joy Division sorta spoken word ballad.  And I admit I’m a little disappointed in the Lykke Li track–they got hyped beyond their ability.  The final track is a piano score, which is fine.

The biggest surprise to me is how much that Death Cab for Cutie songs sounds like a Rush song.  I’ve never considered that the bands sound anything alike before, and yet from the moment the song opens, that could be Geddy Lee singing, and that whole guitar structure is very Rush-like.  Maybe they should do a cover of it.

[READ: April 20, 2010] Maps and Legends

This is a collection of 17 non-fiction pieces by Michael Chabon.  The pieces cover everything from book reviews, essays about reading and writing, comic book and comic book artists and golems.

The opening essay is about the modern short story and it sets the tone for the entire book.  Interestingly, this essay talks about the state of entertainment and how “Entertainment has a bad name.  Serious people learn to mistrust and revile it.  The word wears spandex, pasties, a leisure suit studded with blinking lights. (13).  This very topic is at the heart of the David Lipsky/David Foster Wallace book (and in fact Chabon is mentioned in that book as well.)  Ah, serendipity. (more…)

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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men [film]

Posted in David Foster Wallace, Death Cab For Cutie, Demons, Infinite Summer, John Krasinski, NPR/PRI/PBS, Research, Smarty Pants on March 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: March 17, 2010] Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

This film is based on the short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace.  The book is a collection of short stories.   The majority of the stories are indeed, brief interviews (although some are unrelated). And the film is an adaptation of these interviews.  It did pretty poorly at the box office and has met with largely negative reviews.  And I think for the most part that’s understandable.  If ever a film was made for a select audience, it was this.  And it’s very easy to see why a vast number of people either didn’t like it, or didn’t get what he was trying to do.

The interviews in the book are designed so that you only hear the responses of the “subject.”  You never hear the initial o follow-up questions, and you don’t learn anything about the questioner.  In an NPR interview, John Krasinski reveals that DFW told him that he felt that the stories were a “failed experiment.”  He wanted to create a character without actually writing anything about her specifically.  He wanted the reader to insinuate who the interviewer was based upon the answers and reactions of the subjects.  He felt that he was not successful in doing so.

When Krasinski read (and re-read) the stories, he pictured who the interviewer was.  And so in his script, he created an interviewer (because a movie without the interviewer would have done even worse at the box office!).  His interviewer is a young woman who is working on a post-doctorate in feminist studies.   When Krasinski told DFW this, DFW told him that that is exactly who he had in mind.  This great interview reveals how excited Krasinski was at getting DFW’s blessing. (more…)

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Ian McEwan–“The Use of Poetry” (New Yorker, December 7, 2009)

Posted in Colin Meloy, Constantines, Death Cab For Cutie, Ian McEwan, New Yorker, Romance, Sex, Short Story, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, The Believer, The Mountain Goats, The Walkmen, TV on the Radio, Universities, War on December 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2004 Music Issue CD (2004).

Every year since 2004, The Believer magazine has published a Music Issue which comes with a CD.

I recently received the 2009 CD, but I thought it might be fun to go back through the previous ones and see what kind of music they put on them since the beginning.  I was delighted to see how many bands I like now that I was either introduced to or SHOULD have been introduced to by these discs.

The inaugural issue was a fantastic collection of then-underground alt-rock (the issue also featured interviews with a few of the artists–you can see the Colin Meloy interview here).

The collection contains all previously released songs (I think).  But for me it was a great introduction to a number of bands that I didn’t know: The Walkmen, The Mountain Goats, Ted Leo + Pharmacists.  It also contained a new release by a band I did know, The Constantines.   And, this was my introduction to a band that turned out to be one of my new favorites: Death Cab for Cutie.

There’s a lot of great songs on here, and it would make a great hanging-out-at-a-party-with-friends soundtrack.  There’s not a lot of diversity on the disc which is a bit of  a bummer (although it’s good for a mellow party).  However, the 19 second blast of “You Got the Right” by the Tiny Hawks does break things up a bit.

But with a great collection of songs it would be wrong to complain.  For a complete listing (and another review) check out this page.

[READ: December 9, 2009] “The Use of Poetry”

Ian McEwan writes fantastically engaging stories about relatively simple things, oftentimes relationships.  And he has these relationships so well sussed out that a simple six-page story like this can pack in a ton of humanity.

In a post some time ago I wrote about how World War II affected Britain much more than it affected the U.S.  And, how artists of a certain age have found great drama from the war.  This story is no exception.  Except that the war veteran is not the main character.  But I loved this summary of the main character’s dad, the typical “stoic British man.”

Like many men of his generation, he did not speak of his experiences and he relished the ordinariness of postwar life, its tranquil routines, its tidiness and rising material well-being, and above all, its lack of danger–everything that would later appear stifling to those born in the first years of the peace.

That’s an amazing encapsulation of a generation of men.  And it rings very true to me.  But what’s more amazing is that that description is not even about the main character Michael, it’s about his dad, Henry. (more…)

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Helen Humphries–“On the Plains of Abraham” (The Walrus, September 2009)

Posted in 18th Century, Death Cab For Cutie, Helen Humphries, History, Military, Research, The Walrus, Violence, War on September 1, 2009| 1 Comment »

walrus 99 SOUNDTRACK: DEATH CAB FOR CUTE: Narrow Stairs EP (2009).

This EP follows the release of Narrow Stairs and is sort of a collection of outtakes from that session.  And the impressive thing is that these are the outtakes. There are four original songs and one demo version of a track from Narrow Stairs.

All of the originals are what you’ve come to expect from recent Death Cab: catchy, somewhat somber and yet strangely uplifting tunes. The demo track is “Talking Bird” with just Ben Gibbard and a ukulele, although frankly it is the most well produced, “biggest” sounding ukulele I have ever heard.  If you’re a fan of DCFC, you won’t be disappointed by this disc.  If you’re not too familiar, this is a pretty good place to start as it is a cheaper EP (although really, the full-lengths are the place to go).  

Basically, you can’t go wrong with this disc.

[READ: August 21, 2009] “On the Plains of Abraham”

If I had a bit more Canadian history knowledge, I would know this battle (one of Canada’s Greatest), well, at all.

This piece is a historical recreation of The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (or the Battle of Québec) from one soldier’s point of view.  The Canadian Encyclopedia states:

A powerful British force under Major-General James WOLFE and Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders was sent up the St Lawrence to capture Québec. The French, commanded by Lieutenant-General the Marquis de MONTCALM, at first held the British at bay….  Québec surrendered on September 18. A French attack early in 1760 failed to recover the city, and later in the year the British captured Montréal and NEW FRANCE fell.

The fascinating thing about this “story” is that Humphries chooses a soldier from the losing side.  (more…)

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David Sedaris–“Laugh Kookaburra” (New Yorker, August 24, 2009)

Posted in David Sedaris, Death Cab For Cutie, Essays, Funny (ha ha), New Yorker, Short Story, Tokyo Police Club on August 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

nyorkerSOUNDTRACK:TOKYO POLICE CLUB-“Smith” EP (2007).

tpcThe Smith EP contains 4 songs.  The first two tracks are bouncy energy filled tracks, like on A Lesson in Crime.  But the third track “A Lesson in Crime” sounds very distinctly mellow-Death Cab for Cutie-like.  And it gives the whole EP a slightly more mellow feel.

Track 4, the remix (of “Be Good”) doesn’t change it too much, but makes it more dancey.

Not an essential addition to the TPC fan club, but it’s certainly a good collection of songs.  It’s also got some video content (“Cheer It On,” “Citizens of Tomorrow” and “Nature of the Experiment”) which does increase its value to fans.

[READ: August 19, 2009]  “Laugh Kookaburra”

This David Sedaris piece didn’t make me laugh as much as some of his other ones.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  There are scenes with his sister where they are singing in bed together and their father comes up and yells at them.  Quite funny.  Especially David’s  reaction:

If I had children and they stayed up late, singing a song about a bird, I believe I would find it charming. “I knew I had those two for a reason,” I think I’d say to myself. I might go so far as to secretly record them, and submit the tape in a My Kids Are Cuter Than Yours competition. (more…)

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The 12 Discs of Christmas

Posted in Barenaked Ladies, Death Cab For Cutie, It's a Wonderful Life, Nada Surf, The Alarm on January 9, 2008| Leave a Comment »

This Christmas, I decided to list my 12 favorite Christmas albums. I have a rocky past with Christmas songs. Like every good Christian kid, I grew up singing Christmas songs. Then, as I grew a distaste for organized everything, for the commercialization of Christmas, and frankly, the astonishing disregard of Thanksgiving, I really started to rebel against them.

Plus, as everyone knows, you start to hear Christmas songs in November for crying out loud. I also worked a job where the only music we were allowed to play during the holiday was Christmas music. It was actually during this fallow period that I found out that there were some great alternatives to the standards.

Since that time, I have gotten married and I have two kids, and I really enjoy the feelings of hearth and home, and I want to share the joy of Christmas (and hopefully avoid the icky parts).

More back story: I grew up listening to big band music. My parents were just old enough that they didn’t really like rock n roll, so I got to listen to swing and big band and horns, horns, horns. I never really rebelled against that because it was pretty innocuous, but I did really start to miss it as I got older. And, what I found is that the Christmas songs that I like are the traditional ones sung by big band leaders. It was the “rock n roll” Christmas songs and some of the novelty songs that I really didn’t like. So, I try to avoid those as best I can, and I stick with the classics and some of these fun alternatives. (more…)

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[Finished] Zadie Smith–On Beauty (2005)

Posted in Big Books, Boston, MA, Death Cab For Cutie, E.M. Forster, Marriage Trouble, Zadie Smith on August 1, 2007| 2 Comments »

onbeauty.jpgSOUNDTRACK: 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 thetrans.jpg 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.

(more…)

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