Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
Pitchfork Media Rating: 8.6
A question I got a lot of last year was, "Hey, Jason, see any good grunge bands?" Having spent a little
over a year in Seattle and spending more than one night at a club, the answer is a resounding no. I've
seen the sultry 70s revived in Huge Spacebird, been entertained by Smokelahoma's mix of Grateful Dead and
George Jones, swooned under the tragic ballads of Joel R.L. Phelps, and gotten down with the funky
groovemeisters who pack the Art Bar. But grunge? Nope. Saw a shitty punk band at the Off Ramp by
accident. That's as close as I got.
To answer that question, I throw back a short version of the above paragraph, which inevitably leads to,
"So, what are the bands like?" A glance above should give you an idea of what I've been liking, but Death
Cab for Cutie is something different. These guys came out of nowhere (Bellingham, Washington) and
immediately, tongues were wagging. Their debut album disappeared from record shelves. The audience grew.
Children were born and old people died. Life was good again.
As Beatles fans might surmise from the name (lifted from a Bonzo Dog song that appeared in Magical Mystery
Tour), there's a little Liverpool going on here. There's also a serious Built to Spill vibe soaking up
the spilled beer on the bar. The result is terrifically catchy power-pop. After the opening acoustic guitar
and cello-laced "Bend to Squares", the band kicks into high gear with the super infectious "President of
What?". Deceptively simple at first, the hook digs a lot deeper than you'd think. I've been humming this
song every day for six weeks, and that's six weeks I'd spent without the CD. (Pitchfork procedural
bureaucracy. I could make a joke, but Ryan would edit it out.)
Almost as catchy is...
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