Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Whatevs Death Cab for Cutie's Something About Airplanes Gets a Reissue, I Get Nostalgic. Tear.
Posted by Steve Haruch on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 11:43 AM
This summer, I was a guest on the WRVU show Out the Other, and managed--between playing records at the wrong speed and selecting the wrong songs on my iPod--to spin the Death Cab for Cutie song "Pictures From an Exhibition," off their first full-length album Something About Airplanes. (The vinyl is a nice marbled blue.)
Barsuk has just re-released the album, with a bonus disc including the band's first-ever show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle (now closed, sadly--one of the best and best-sounding clubs ever).
Cue harp glissandi and squiggly dissolve as we journey back in time and space--to 1998!
As chance would have it, I bought Airplanes not long after Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, an album that I was learning by heart. The "featuring members of Slint" era of indie rock had run its course, and a new crop of bands were showing their commitment to melody and songwriting, rather than complex dynamic arrangement, Converse shoes and rhythmic counterintuition. (Well, a lot of the new bands wore Converse, too, but usually Chucks over One Stars.)
At the time, I never imagined for a second that Death Cab would ever appear on Saturday Night Live, any more than I believed there would not be another Neutral Milk Hotel album for 10 years (and counting). Still, I liked Death Cab, though at the time I was probably more smitten by Cat Power's Moon Pix (never saw the diamond commercial coming for her, either) and Pedro the Lion's It's Hard to Find a Friend.
The funny thing about Death Cab, for me, is that they are one of those bands that I can identify, with pin-point accuracy, the exact moment at which we parted ways.
I was listening to The Photo Album. I was already beginning to lose interest in Death Cab, just as the band seemed to be blowing up. (No one said "blowing up" back then, as I recall, at least not to mean "becoming widely popular.") But I still liked them alright. The album wasn't making much of an impression on me either way--everything seemed tighter, more polished, functionally better, but wasn't really grabbing me by the sideburns or anything. Then I got to the song "Styrofoam Plates," and I knew something was amiss. The song felt plodding and self-indulgent, and when I heard Ben Gibbard deliver the line "13-years-old in the suburbs of Denver" like--well, like a whiny 13-year-old kid--an icky feeling shot over my scalp and through to my fingertips like a burst of awkward lightning. I was done with this band.
Not that they needed me as a fan then any more than they do now. They've done well for themselves. Guitarist/engineer/producer Chris Walla once approached a band I played in and asked to record us, so I had the good fortune of spending some time in the studio with him, back when the Hall of Justice (formerly John and Stu's) was in the Emerald City and A-Rod was still a Mariner. I can say he's a fun dude, a stand-up dude and a cool dude at that, as I'm sure his bandmates are as well. (The bass player goes to comics conventions and shit, right?)
I've already gone on longer than I planned. Something About Airplanes will always be a record that I enjoy going back to, and DCFC a band I'll always pull for, even if we haven't been on the same page for some time.
Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
like
dislike
I too remember the exact moment I parted with DCFC and I'm still waiting for another Neutral Milk album.
"Playing records at the wrong speed and selecting the wrong songs on my iPod" is how we roll on Out the Other. After nearly nine years as a DJ I STILL eject CDs while they're playing on the air.
Steve, I ought to smack yo mouf after hearing you talk some shit about some of my favorite Death Cab songs...but I'll let it slide because I'm way to happy about this re-release. It kills me when I hear kids say "Oh yeah..I have the first Deathcab record you know...Transatlanticism."
After DCFC and I parted ways, I sold all me records on ebay for around $350. I will be forever greatly for the money they put in my pocket!
what was the purpose for the post? Why do I care about your relationship with Death Cab as a fan? I feel like what was intended to be taken away from this post was, "This dude liked Death Cab, Neutral Milk Hotel and Pedro the Lion Before everyone else. He also got over them before they even got big. Not only that, but he was in a band that was good enough to be recorded by Christopher Walla!"
Well Airplanes is a shit record and Walla needs to stop producing their records. He ruined Plans but managed not to fuck up Narrow Stairs.
Vote here for best Band of the Week
Slideshows
Top Commenters
