4Play

Nov. 30, 2005

Death Cab for Cutie - Plans - Atlantic/WEA
Fanboys and fangirls everywhere will swoon over the latest offering from indie-rockers-gone-major-label Death Cab For Cutie, who manage to hold on to their indie sensibilities even though they’ve “sold over” to the higher-money side, so to speak. It might be a tad restrained and a little over-polished, but those songs are still there - the ones that listeners everywhere can identify with to the point of either feeling like they are singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard, or they’re dating him. Emotional, introspective tunes like “Soul Meets Body,” “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” “Your Heart is an Empty Room,” and “Crooked Teeth” meld Gibbard’s detailed wordplay with his usual strummy guitar work and unobtrusive drumbeats, and there are enough left-field touches here to keep even the most jaded Death Cab fan happy - so you know what we’re gonna say next, don’t you? Yep.

My Morning Jacket - Z - ATO Records
Veering away from the more country-esque sound they started with, and moving more towards - gasp! - pop - a change, as Sheryl Crow might sing, is doing My Morning Jacket good, as the new pop focus is bringing out more of the lonesome, haunting sounds that they are becoming so good at, and leaving the majority of the backwoods-influenced ‘pickin’ behind. Speaking of lonely, haunting sounds, songs like “Dedonte” and “Into the Forest” are particularly good for this genre of My Morning Jacket music, and these songs are complemented by the likes of the catchy “Wordless Chorus,” the nearly-ska “Off the Record,” and the chunky but spare “Gideon.” This might actually be My Morning Jacket’s best effort to date - a collection of songs that just shows what you can do when you allow yourselves to grow as a band.

Various Artists - Elizabethtown - Music from the Motion Picture - RCA
Speaking of My Morning Jacket, they make an appearance on this disc, too - “this” being director Cameron Crowe’s latest collection of hand-picked songs to accompany his latest movie. Crowe is a master at The Soundtrack, having put together top-notch collections for the likes of Almost Famous and Say Anything, and he does it again with this set. In addition to the My Morning Jacket appearance (“Where To Begin”), the tracklist here - which is almost as important to Elizabethtown’s storyline as the characters themselves - also include songs from Ryan Adams (“Come Pick Me Up”), Lindsey Buckingham (“Shut Us Down”), Wheat (“Don’t I Hold You”), and, of course, one from Crowe’s wife, ex-Heart band member Nancy Wilson, who contributes “60B,” the Elizabethtown theme. Whether or not you see the movie, it’s a great album, but it’s made even more effective when you see the visuals that go with the songs.

Nickelback - All the Right Reasons - Roadrunner Records
Nickelback’s latest is, unfortunately, more of the same straightforward arena rock that they started with. Why unfortunately, you say? Well, because you could probably pick up their first album and get it easily confused with this one - nothing seems to change for this band. Much like watching your friend do the only card trick he knows, listening to the same straightforward rock vibe over and over again gets a little - no, a lot - boring after a while. It’s a shame, but there’s nothing profound here, although singer Chad has a capable heavy-rock voice, so you kind of wish that there would be. But instead, you get banal, immature lyrics and over-the-top corporate arena rock. C’mon guys - unless you’re planning to sell out to supply music for car commercials, let’s see you get on the stick and get out of the middle of the road.