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Underground > Radio & Music >

The Postal Service - Give Up

06:57 / 06.05.04

I've only been listening to this for half a week, but it's already become one of my favourites from last year. I'm blown away.

It's so hard to describe in a way that will convey exactly how wonderful it is. It's pure pop music, a little sad sounding, quite 80's, but the music is total Warp/Rephlex (without the losing an ounce of poppiness).

I don't know much about them, apart from that they share a singer with Death Cab for Cutie (another band I know hardly anything about). Download it now!

10:56 / 06.05.04

hmm.. interesting. I wouldn't really have thought The Postal Service would be your cup of tea Seth, but hey, you live and learn..

Basically, I've only got an ep by them, but: I like it.

You see, I love the slightly older Deathcab for Cutie stuff, wherein they mix slightly psychedelic sounding guitars with echoey drums and little bits of electronics, creating a sound that's wonderfully.. floaty. That's the perfect word: floaty. And it gels perfectly with the singer's instantly recognisable voice and lyrics (which are pretty much interchangable between both bands, btw) to create lovely, summery indie-boy bliss.

But I went off them a bit following an unwise purchase of their album "The Photo Album", where they play in more of a standard guitar/guitar/bass/drums line-up, and the results are mostly quite horrid: there are a couple of good tracks, but mostly the music sounds really slovenly and grumpy, and the lyrics are cynical and whiny - they sound like a band on the verge of breaking up. (I haven't heard their subsequent album - "Transatlanticism"? - yet, although I hear it's better).

And then along comes the Postal Service who, thanks to the poppy electronic nature of the music, sound a lot more like the good Death Cab.. stuff - so hurrah! I've been meaning to check out their album some time, but haven't had the oppurtunity.

Spring turning into summer = perfect time to dig this sort of thing.

13:57 / 06.05.04

I've been listening to the record for a while now and really like it. At first I couldn't swallow the whole thing in one go, a bit too sugary for me, but it really grew on me. As mentioned, it's a great spring time record. 'We Will Become Silhouettes' must be the most uplifting song that could be written about a nuclear holocaust.

I came to the album from the DNTEL side rather than the 'death cab...' side and i was pleasantly surprised to see the rougher edges of Jimmy Tamborello solo stuff smoothed out a bit.

07:59 / 07.05.04

God, I'm totally hooked now. When I'm not listening to it I'm in pain.

Keith, like a scientist

12:45 / 07.05.04

i like the album...it's a bit throwaway pop to me, but I like Dntel and Ben Gibbard, so it's still very good.

However, it fails to live up to the utter brilliance of the first song Dntel (producer) and Gibbard (Deathcab singer) did on Dntel's last album (which I can't remember the name of). But the song is called "(This is) the Dream of Evan and Chan" and it's one of the best songs I've ever heard. That song was so popular and good that they decided to do an entire album...it's quite different.

00:23 / 08.05.04

I wouldn't really have thought The Postal Service would be your cup of tea Seth

I would, definitely. They have that magical feel to them.

I like them so far. The vocals are a bit too New Order for my liking, but it's musically strong. Maybe more later.

08:45 / 10.05.04

Nothing Better is my favourite song on here, and probably the best I've ever heard about a relationship break up. It's like Eternal Sunshine... condensed into a four-and-a-half minute pop tune.