Yo Ben Gibbard, Imma Let You Finish

Ben, my man, I’ll apologize for interrupting you later–I’m sure you’re busy doing whatever it is that indie rock frontmen do–but I gotta break in here and give you some props.  You’ve taken your bespeckled, slightly nerdy self and your compadres in Death Cab for Cutie to the top of the mountain, brother!  You hold the rock world in the palm of your hand and I, for one, am in awe of your…dudeness.

First off, Death Cab is nearly universally recognized as rock music royalty.  You guys worked your way from being an unknown group from Seattle in the late nineties to a major label deal with Atlantic Records.  Along the way, you’ve released some of the decade’s top albums, the best of which was 2003’s Transatlanticism.  To this day, I can’t listen to the title track of that album without getting cold chills.  Your 2005 Atlantic debut, Plans, was another masterpiece and although 2008’s Narrow Stairs didn’t quite hit the mark of the previous two records, it still was one of the best albums of the year.

In addition to your time in Death Cab, you managed to create a successful super-group earlier in the decade, the Postal Service.  Here is where you first displayed your uncanny ability to inspire all of us slightly-pudgy white guys by spending a significant amount of time basking in the glory that is Jenny Lewis.  I know, you guys weren’t an item, but just playing on an album that she sang on gives us hope, bro.

Then came the recent news of your engagement to that crazy girl from Weeds.  Dude, I’m starting to think you’ve got some reincarnated  Dalai Lama in you or something, because you are righteous!  Once again, you’ve brought a small sliver of hope to any overweight guy over thirty who spends a significant amount of time in front of a computer.  I owe ya one, man.

But you got other tricks in the bag, don’t you?  Looks like Death Cab is dropping the lead single from the New Moon soundtrack, which is destined to be one of the top-selling movie soundtracks of the year in spite of it’s November release.  I really appreciate you guys making this great music without selling out your sound, which would be easy to do.  The song, called “Meet Me On The Equinox”, sounds fresh but still has that elusive quality that marks it as a definite Death Cab song.

On another note, I am blown away by the news that you’re working with one of my all-time favorite artists, Jay Farrar, on a Jack Kerouac tribute album.  I don’t know all that much about Kerouac, but I like the way his name sounds and that’s all I need to buy this album.  Scheduled for an October 20 release, One Fast Move or I’m Gone will celebrate Kerouac’s life during the time he wrote Big Sur and will serve as the soundtrack to a documentary of the same name.  Not many artists could manage significant contributions to a mainstream Hollywood production and an independent documentary about a Beat writer in the same year.  Again…dude!

So I leave you now, before they kick me off the blog.  Check my personal website for the apology, or just head over to the Brown Tweed Last.fm page to hear some free samples of Death Cab, Jay Farrar, and Farrar’s band, Son Volt.  Keep carrying the standard for hipsters everywhere, my man.  One last thing, please don’t let Zooey sing on your next album, mmmkay?  Thanks.