MUSIC, Part I.
I was going to wait for Chris to post before I did it again, but SCREW CHRIS AND HIS NON-INTERNET-NESS (except for when he’s at work) I’M GONNA POST FIRST ANYWAY. Yeah, suck on that one, Chris! Ha ha…ha.
Anyway, I thought a lot about what I wanted to write about in my first official post, and I decided that I would write about everybody’s favorite modern “emo” band, Death Cab For Cutie. Specifically, I wanted to talk about how the new album Plans makes me feel inside. And, I guess it’s appropriate that I talk about my feelings with the new Death Cab record.
Four years ago, in 2001, I started my freshman year of college at the U of M, armed with the love of a handful of bands that I considered to be “my” bands. I was most obsessed with R.E.M. and Radiohead, but I came to college wanting to discover new music that could speak directly to me. Enter: Death Cab for Cutie. I had downloaded The Photo Album and was absolutely entranced by songs like “A Movie Script Ending” and “Debate Exposes Doubt” – how had I never heard this music? At that point, I became an obsessive for Death Cab – not only because I loved their music, but because I wanted it so badly to be “mine”. And for that entire year, they were mine.
Then, things changed.
I don’t know if the turning point for me was the numerous references to the band on The O.C. or if it was the show at First Avenue that was mobbed by 17-year-olds, but this small band that made music that spoke directly to me was suddenly speaking directly to everybody. When Death Cab signed to Atlantic records, I felt like I had been cheated on—what happened to the band that had spoken so directly to me? Now, the end result of this record deal is out. Frankly, Plans is not a horrible record. However, Plans is a painfully mediocre record. While I still admit that I enjoy some of the production value of the record, I just get a feeling deep down that I shouldn’t trust this new version of this band – after all, it was Ben Gibbard himself who had stated in an interview that he just wanted a song that was as big of a hit as Modest Mouse’s “Float On” – not exactly a ringing endorsement for continued art.
But the more I reflect on how a band that had such high standing in my personal preferences could have fallen so hard, the more I realize that maybe it’s not Death Cab who has changed – maybe it’s me. I could go on and on about how Gibbard is sounding more and more like Phil Collins, or how their song titles are more embarrassing than the lyrics I tried to write in high school, or how insincere it is of them to be milking the “indie” angle even while they are signed to Atlantic Freakin’ Records, or that they destroyed one of my favorite songs by them by making “Stability” from The Stability EP into “Stable Song”, but at some point, I just have to accept that maybe they weren’t all that great to begin with.
And although they aren’t “mine” anymore, there are plenty of other bands that are waiting to be made “mine” out there.
Anyway, I thought a lot about what I wanted to write about in my first official post, and I decided that I would write about everybody’s favorite modern “emo” band, Death Cab For Cutie. Specifically, I wanted to talk about how the new album Plans makes me feel inside. And, I guess it’s appropriate that I talk about my feelings with the new Death Cab record.
Four years ago, in 2001, I started my freshman year of college at the U of M, armed with the love of a handful of bands that I considered to be “my” bands. I was most obsessed with R.E.M. and Radiohead, but I came to college wanting to discover new music that could speak directly to me. Enter: Death Cab for Cutie. I had downloaded The Photo Album and was absolutely entranced by songs like “A Movie Script Ending” and “Debate Exposes Doubt” – how had I never heard this music? At that point, I became an obsessive for Death Cab – not only because I loved their music, but because I wanted it so badly to be “mine”. And for that entire year, they were mine.
Then, things changed.
I don’t know if the turning point for me was the numerous references to the band on The O.C. or if it was the show at First Avenue that was mobbed by 17-year-olds, but this small band that made music that spoke directly to me was suddenly speaking directly to everybody. When Death Cab signed to Atlantic records, I felt like I had been cheated on—what happened to the band that had spoken so directly to me? Now, the end result of this record deal is out. Frankly, Plans is not a horrible record. However, Plans is a painfully mediocre record. While I still admit that I enjoy some of the production value of the record, I just get a feeling deep down that I shouldn’t trust this new version of this band – after all, it was Ben Gibbard himself who had stated in an interview that he just wanted a song that was as big of a hit as Modest Mouse’s “Float On” – not exactly a ringing endorsement for continued art.
But the more I reflect on how a band that had such high standing in my personal preferences could have fallen so hard, the more I realize that maybe it’s not Death Cab who has changed – maybe it’s me. I could go on and on about how Gibbard is sounding more and more like Phil Collins, or how their song titles are more embarrassing than the lyrics I tried to write in high school, or how insincere it is of them to be milking the “indie” angle even while they are signed to Atlantic Freakin’ Records, or that they destroyed one of my favorite songs by them by making “Stability” from The Stability EP into “Stable Song”, but at some point, I just have to accept that maybe they weren’t all that great to begin with.
And although they aren’t “mine” anymore, there are plenty of other bands that are waiting to be made “mine” out there.
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Sunday, September 11, 2005.
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Plans is pretty boring, nothing will beat Title Track
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