Death Cab = Prefab
September 18th, 2005Two unfortunately named bands make eerily similar music.
Death Cab for Cutie’s new album (which has been on heavy rotation all weekend) sounds very much like selected songs from the Prefab Sprout ouvre, particularly their first, Swoon.
Heather often cites my love of Prefab as the demarcation line in our age difference. That and the Waterboys. I still hold Fisherman’s Blues up there as one of the top albums of the 80s.
However, it was I who brought The Postal Service into the house. Still, that doesn’t make up for the fact that I have, somewhere in the vault, either Journey or Loverboy on vinyl. This would be before I lived in England and learned better.
Heather gave me the Doves and I offered Catherine Wheel. She the New Pornographers and I Marumari. It’s a delicious dance, this love of music and sharing. I still think she tires of my electronic leanings; Amon Tobin, TRS-80, Shadow, Boards of Canada, Four Tet, The Dining Rooms, Aphex Twin, and others (although I did score points with u-ziq’s Royal Astronomy). We share a love for Ben Folds (I had seen him live before she had) and Soul Coughing (the most underrated band of the 90s). Music is also a dangerous addiction, worse than crack. And this is going into wanky Pitchforkmedia/indie snob territory, so I’ll stop now. o
September 19th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
Random fact: Death Cab For Cutie is the name of a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, featuring Neil Innes who also featured as one of The Rutles and acted in and composed for Monty Python films. Weird link, but there you go
September 19th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
I brought Wild Colonials, Stanley Jordan and everclear to the household, she brought Elton John. I should have known right then it would never last…
September 19th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Umm, Steely Dan? No?
Below, an interesting meditation on whether we are getting so much music that we are losing focus on what we do hear:
http://tinyurl.com/cjd82
September 19th, 2005 at 4:27 pm
I’ll second the KEXP suggestion. All you need is KEXP, KRCW’s music channel, and an Airport Express hooked up to your home stereo and you can die happy.
(Okay, at least I can die happy.)
September 19th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
DCFC is going on tour (w/ Stars) REALLY REALLY SOON. and it will be a grand time. yippee!
September 19th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
um, journey is a great band, jon. steve perry if fucking brilliant.
but, so you don’t think i’m a complete nutter i’ll also say that i’d agree that most of the other bands you listed are pretty fab too.
September 19th, 2005 at 6:24 pm
ah, prefab’s album “two wheels good”… heartbreaking. a perfect soundtrack for losing the love of your life sophomore year at ohio university, 1985. can you believe i’ve never listened to swoon? i’m off to amazon right after this post. another under rated blast from the past…
“ignite the seven cannons” by felt.
and yes, the waterboys. “i saw the whole of the moon….”
and the blue nile… the new album was wonderful, almost as good as the stuff from the 80’s.
can’t believe all that stuff is “retro” now.
i still feel 21.
September 19th, 2005 at 6:29 pm
oh yeah,
anyone seen this site?
http://www.music-map.com
it’s sooooo much fun.
try it!
September 19th, 2005 at 8:21 pm
I was wondering if you and Heather were Ben Folds fans due to Heather’s new tagline… you can’t imagine how much it made me smile to know that I like some of the same music as you two. God, I feel like such a lame dork for writing that, but it’s true.
September 19th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
I contend that The Poster Children give Soul Coughing a run for the money in the 90s. But that might just be the midwesterner in me. And you know part of you still doesn’t think Journey is a mistake. Loverboy, being from Canada, is actually British, by commonwealth law.
September 19th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
Are you a Tortoise fan?
http://www.trts.com
September 19th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
The Waterboys’ “Whole of the Moon” still rocks even when it’s been Muzaked.
Man, I have to quit showing my age.
September 19th, 2005 at 10:30 pm
Name dropping is for winners.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:52 am
Thanks to Marz who sent me here. I knew Dooce (Who in the blogsphere doesnt know here? I have been following her so that I know where to group when I am Dooced) but not you. I am here till I find out how true Marz is about you. Usually she is on the dot.
September 20th, 2005 at 7:05 am
I have one lingering question about Ben Gibbard’s songwriting that sticks in my mind the same way that I can’t eat in restaurants that deliberately misspell words (Kountry Kitchen, etc). In that duet love song on ìGive Up,î he says something about ìa goalie tending the net in the third quarter of a tie-game rivalry.î What sport is he talking about? Team handball? Hockey has goalies and nets but not quarters; same with soccer. Is it lacrosse? And if so (as in, if it’s not a ‘big’ sport), who cares? I wish I could just let it go.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Just curious…what is your opinion of Bright Eyes?
September 20th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
I’m with ds - “Two Wheels Good” is excellent. I need to listen to it more often — thanks for the reminder!
September 20th, 2005 at 2:54 pm
I’ve seen Deathcab several times.
Check out Death from Above 1979…they are nothing like deathcab at all, but totally rock.
Also, Bloc Party and The Arcade Fire
September 20th, 2005 at 7:15 pm
Soul Coughing trivia: about ten years ago, while living in boston, a friend called to say that I should drop everything and RUN to the Plough and Stars in Cambridge… because a certain couple of guys in a band named after an opiate were playing there. For those of you not familiar with the P&S, it’s about the size of a shoebox. G Love and (the original) Special Sauce used to play there Monday nights. Anyway, so I go… and the chalkboard in front of the door says, “The Yuval Gabay Trio.” At this moment of time I hadn’t heard of Soul Coughing so I had no idea who Yuval Gabay was. I go in, and it’s packed… because Mark Sandman and Dana Colley from Morphine are playing, well, Morphine songs, with Yuval Gabay on drums. Billy Conway, the regular Morphine drummer, had been in a bizarre snowmobiling accident with girlfriend Laurie Sargeant (both are now in the Twinemen) earlier that winter, and there was Yuval, banging away as best as he could. LATER, much later, after hearing /Ruby Vroom/ for the first time, did I realize I had been in the presence of greatness.
September 20th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
Wow, up til this point I’ve met one other person that was a waterboys fan. I’ve been wondering where you all were hiding out.
September 21st, 2005 at 7:24 am
i think i mentioned before that you and heather have the same age difference as me and my husband-to-be. my man loves prefab sprout and included them on a super schmoopy mix CD he made me. along with Propaganda, Frazier Chorus, and The Church. good stuff..
you and heather have great taste in music.
Pete: the Plough is still there, although it hasn’t been open in a year or so. they are in a perpetual renovation mode. things take forever to get back to normal in cambridge. ahhh…the People’s Republic of Cambridge. gotta love it.
September 21st, 2005 at 7:28 am
“Soul Coughing (the most underrated band of the 90s)”
I’ll totally second that! My wife and I so very much love them. Wish they were still arounf
September 21st, 2005 at 8:44 am
didn’t the waterboys cover “why look at the moon”? that song was on an unlabeled mix tape that i acquired back in high school (back when there was no internet to solve the many puzzles that sprung from the tape’s lack of a song list). never knew who sang that quirky little number until years later, when i googled the lyrics.
and soul coughing? super bon bon!
September 21st, 2005 at 11:38 am
Music IS an expensive habit and itunes makes it so easy to spend. We have found a solution. The library. Our city library has a kick-ass A/V section and we’ve downloaded no less than 100 cds to our itunes library so far. It is awesome.
September 21st, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Oh Waterboys! I read that and gasped aloud, “Oh!” And then was grateful no one saw me, because I am a dork. But, oh Waterboys, oh oh indeed.