Death Cab For Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge

Normally I would try and follow my format of “Why I like it, and why I don’t” when reviewing any album. Problem is, Death Cab For Cutie haven’t put out just any old album. After thinking they couldn’t get any better after ‘Transatlanticism’ they followed with ‘Plans” and within the first 30 seconds of Narrow Stairs, I am wrong. Completely wrong.

This record is good. Seriously good. Even though I’m only 4 songs into it as I write this, I would venture to say that it’s the best record DCFC has put out, ever. And I wasn’t a ‘Cutie’ fan always. I still can’t understand ‘The Photo Album’ or ‘You can learn to play these songs with chords.’ The vibe isn’t there for me in past records, even though Ben Gibbards most distinctive voice is.

The production is super simple, and the songs are well written. Where as previously within a Death Cab record, you might be searching for poetic meaning, and trying to figure out what Ben was getting at, now he seems a little more up front, and honest with his lyrics. If you are a Death Cab fan, you probably have this record, and if you don’t, go get it. You can also catch them on tour all over the country this summer with Rogue Wave, or Tegan and Sara. Can’t wait til they come to Berkley, CA in June. Yay!

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Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

I had the pleasure of seeing the Ben Gibbard ’sway’ first hand this weekend at the raging Coachella festival. I’ll tell you more about that later, as I must rinse my Coachella sins away for the time being. But, in more Death Cab News, Daytrotter, the source for really cool articles on unknowns and knowns alike is hosting 6 live downloads from DCFC. Two of the tracks are off the new ‘Narrow Stairs,’ and the rest are assorted from Transatlanticism and The Photo Album. Free Music Tuesdays are the bestest.

(click on the picture to go to daytrotter)

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the indie quartet from the northwest. About a year and a half ago, it was nearly impossible to keep Ben Gibbards name out of any sentence that concerned new music. DCFC had been around for awhile at that point, but the buzz was finally catching up. With the release of Plans, and the prior Transatlanticism, Cutie seemed to be out for our ears.

Not only was Soul Meets Body flooding the airwaves, but radio stations actually clued into the fact that The Postal Services ‘Give Up,’ was actually a good record. And now, Death Cab will be releasing a new disc, ‘Narrow Stairs’ sometime in the near future. It was Daytrotter that broke the news to me, with even more good news on the subject. They have exclusive tracks that are going to be available for download sometime in the next two weeks.

I think they’re slyly planning to release these mid-week before Coachella, where the quartet will be one of the near end acts on Saturday night. When the tracks are released, I’ll let you know, so you can head over to the trotter and load them up on your ipod for your trip. Til then, keep rockin socks.