Something About Airplanes
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CD Details
Performer: death cab for cutieEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 1998-08-18
Music Label: Barsuk
Soundtracks:
- bend to squares
- president of what?
- champagne from a paper cup
- your bruise
- pictures in an exhibition
- sleep spent
- the face that launched 1000 shits
- amputations
- fake frowns
- line of best fit.
Music reviews of Something About Airplanes
Music Review: Excellent debut for a great band
Rating: 5 Stars
Death Cab for Cutie's 1999 debut was simultaniously familiar and an expedition into brave new territory; in essence, a fuzzy lo-fi gem.A few of the tracks here are gleaned from singer/guitarist/primary songwriter Ben Gibbard's demo tapes (You Can Play These Songs With Chords, rereleased by Barsuk in 2002), and the great tunesmithing found there is even better this time around. While that might form the core of the tracks, the newer songs are just as good.
"Bend to Squares" starts Something About Airplanes off on a good note, a swirling mix of distorted (as well as acoustic) guitars and cello. The next track, "President of What?", sounds like the Zombies on speed, complete with an extremely memorable organ line.
Yeah, a few of the tracks do blend together, but several listens will cement certain parts of the album into your mind permenantly: the "I'm definitely shaking" section on the power-popish "Pictures in an Exhibition"; the chiming electric guitar channel on the almost twangy "Sleep Spent"; the entire song "Amputations," one of the finest songs Gibbard has written; and the shoegazing swell of album closer "Line of Best Fit," in which the harmonized male/female vocals are near hypnotic over the throbbing guitars.
On the downside...there really isn't one. The lo-fi quality of the recording might be hard to take for someone not accustom to it, but the songs themselves are what really counts.
As far as what the band sounds like, I'd say they are far far far away from the "emo" tag many have wrongly labeled them with. The Built to Spill references aren't dead on either, but I will say Death Cab for Cutie could be compared to a more fuzzed out There's Nothing Wrong With Love-era BTS, minus Doug Martsch's guitar heroics.
Something About Airplanes is a melodic, creative, and lush album that is a great starting point for a wonderful band. I highly recommend it.
Description of Something About Airplanes
Death Cab for Cutie originally formed in Bellingham, WA, in 1997 with their cassette-only Elsinor Records release, you can play these songs with chords. The group, which appropriated its name from a song title by '60s UK rock ensemble The Bonzo Dog Band, has consistently released outstanding albums over the years, gaining a wider audience and seeping into the consciousness of mainstream America with the growing success of their albums, the most recent of which were released by Atlantic Records.Something About Airplanes was the first official CD/LP release from Death Cab for Cutie (1998). This limited edition repressing will be the last from Sonic Boom Recordings, who licensed the vinyl rights from Barsuk back in 1998.
The first instrument you notice upon listening to Something About Airplanes is the cello on "Bend to Squares." It fades out, soon enough replaced by the familiar electric guitar, but it sets this album's offbeat mood. Experimentation and pop hooks strike a perfect balance on this debut from the Bellingham, Washington-based Death Cab for Cutie. The quartet follow in the fine tradition of area emo-pop bands like Modest Mouse, 764-HERO, and Built to Spill, but it's hard not to notice bits of Quasi and the Beatles popping up. Of course, the Death Cab formula is a bit different--"President of What?" is driven by Farfisa, not Fender; "Champagne from a Paper Cup" is a slow-burner--there's not much pop glee found in a song that begins "I think I'm Drunk Enough to Drive You Home Now"; and--every once in a while--the oddball vocal sample kicks in (presumably from a long-forgotten movie, a la vintage Jawbreaker). It all makes for a brilliant debut and a fine addition to the canon of Northwest emo-pop late-'90s style. --Jason Verlinde
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