After spending the better part of a decade in the musical minor leagues, Death Cab for Cutie went pro with 2005’s Plans, a record whose optimism and Technicolor sound gave the band enough leverage to finally enter the mainstream. “Soul Meets Body” became their biggest rock single to date, but it was Ben Gibbard’s delicate love song, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” that earned the quartet a Grammy nomination and legions of new fans. Some bands might have taken a cue from such success and resigned themselves to a career of acoustic ballads, not unlike the Goo Goo Dolls’ transformation in the mid-’90s. But Narrow Stairs roughs up Plans‘ bright palette with something starker, more harrowing, and altogether darkened by Gibbard’s blues.

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Joel Martin and Matt Edwards take their alias from Martin Denny’s exotica landmark, yet their approach can be likened — not just through the title but in its sound as well — to “Quiet Pillage,” the slack but unease-inducing interpretation of “Quiet Village” by experimentalist post-punks 23 Skidoo. Beneath the tracklist of Silent Movie, an album highlighted by material released in small runs on 12″ during 2005 and 2006, the duo thanks “everyone that’s been involved in making this album. You know who you are.” It’s probable that not everyone knows who they are, at least not in this case. The most creative and affecting sample-reliant album since the Avalanches’ Since I Left You, Silent Movie plucks from numerous forms of marginalia, whether obscure, loathed by the stereotypical record store clerk, or loved by legions of geeks who were dealt wedgies in high school by Van Halen-loving jocks: prog rock and yacht rock punchlines, new age pin cushions, unhip singer/songwriters, largely unknown Italian film-music composers, and several others. For the most part, these sources are not so uncool that they are cool. They are so uncool that they are… extremely uncool.

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Joseph Arthur’s fans can download free music from his latest project, Bag is Hot, at the songwriter’s Tumblr site. “Like fresh popcorn for all the kids to grab,” Arthur explains. “Digital hands eating the digital popcorn.” [Billboard.com]

Thom Yorke doesn’t approve of Radiohead’s upcoming Greatest Hits album, which will be issued by the group’s former label, EMI Records. [NME.com]

The recently reunited Gang of Four is now a gang of two, with bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham announcing their exit from the group. [CMJ.com]

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Today’s theme is a sad one. Goodbyes are hard but sometimes a sweet melody can help ease the pain. Sometimes, not so much. Still, we have to carry on and for that we turn to the Postmarks. Their self titled album from last year is littered with hushed heartbreak delivered in sugar sweet tones of sadness. The video for “Goodbye” is suitably charming and painfully autumnal. It looks like the most melancholy children’s book ever come to life (Madeline and the Bad Break-Up, perhaps) and also reminds us that it’s just about time for their next album! Hopefully the band can wipe away the tears soon and get it together in time to soundtrack the broken hearts of this autumn.

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Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Time was, Jason Castro was a refreshing contestant on American Idol as he didn’t fit in with the rest of the competition. As time wore on, his freshness faded, due entirely to the grind of the show and how it broke him down. For the last two weeks of the show he clearly hasn’t wanted to be here, and between the Ford commercials, phone Q&As, and trips to The Beatles: Love, who can blame him? As I said yesterday — the day when I called him Jason Cook, as the show has clearly worn me down, too — he’s done enough to have a career outside of the show and my money is that he will make an album about as good and true to himself (the ultimate Paula criteria) as David C.

To me, the real atrocity of last night was that group sing on “Reelin’ in the Years.” I have no problem with Steely Dan on the show, of course — if anything, the great Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would be my dream judges/mentors, rivaling that legendary episode with Quentin Tarantino as guest judge — but this was an outright embarrassment, with each line getting more ridiculous, culminating in David Archuleta botching lyrics once again. The only thing they can do to make up for this is to have a Becker/Fagen night next year, preferably early in the season when the show has enough contestants to be interesting to watch.

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The rumors are true: the next in what seems to be a trend of sneak release attacks, Beck is putting out a new album sometime soon, and Danger Mouse is producing it. [Billboard.com]

Heralding the inevitable decline of the festival, Vegoose has been canceled this year. [Pitchfork]

That hasn’t stopped the Siren Music Festival from announcing its initial line-up, however. [Village Voice]

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