album o' the day

Death Cab for Cutie
"You Can Play These Songs With Chords"
(Barsuk)

People tend to forget that before they were name-dropped on "The O.C.," Death Cab for Cutie had their collective feet planted firmly in D.I.Y. ground. The start of all that was a little cassette released on Elsinor Records titled "You Can Play These Songs With Chords," which featured many of the songs that would later appear on "Something About Airplanes." One of the cut tracks, "That's Incentive," is a fiery pop-punk jangle that smells of Jawbreaker. Although I've seen Death Cab play over 20 times between 1999 and 2003, I have only seen this song performed once. Anyway, before "Transatlanticism" was released, Barsuk rereleased Death Cab's tape debut on compact disc, with a bunch of old seven inch singles tacked on at the end (though "Underwater" is missing; what's the deal?).

I can't say that this is my favorite Death Cab album, as it is a compilation, but there's something about it (no pun) that makes it feel like home.