The idea is to go one level deeper. Instead of having the members of
Record Club pick the Album of the Week, let's find people who were
merely mentioned in a previous Record Club album review, and let's have them pick the Album of the Week.
I answer to no master but myself. I am bound in no chains but those of my own making.
Feel free to check out the archives and the playlist, but otherwise, read on to find out where this very, very dumb journey goes next.
WEEK 133 — August 15-21, 2021
What we're listening to this week:
ALBUM: Transatlanticism
ARTIST: Death Cab for Cutie
WHO "PICKED" THE ALBUM: Seth Cohen... yes, that Seth Cohen
THE REVIEW HE WAS FEATURED IN: Jenn's This Is Not the End review
HOW WE GOT HERE: You're yelling at your computer or smart phone screen right now, saying "But how can Joe ask a fictional character what his favorite album of all time is?!" The answer is simple: I didn't ask him, but he told me anyway. In the first season of The O.C., episode 13, Seth is making "Seth Cohen Starter Packs" for two women whom he is crushing on (one is Summer, his forever girl, and the other I'm not familiar with), all to celebrate Chrismukkah. He tells Ryan (also mentioned in Jenn's review) that he is including "Death Cab, Bright Eyes, the Shins, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and The Goonies."
The episode aired in December 2003, so I double-checked which albums had been most recently released by the named artists at that time. I then made a decision based on which album would work best for Record Club (plus, I kinda already wrote about Lifted, as fun as that album would be to review during a week in which I'm vacationing with RC member Laura, a noted fan of Conor Oberst's deadpan emo tone).
I should note here—because I refuse to mention Seth Cohen in my review of this Death Cab album—that Cohen's place in the indie rock pantheon has risen considerably in recent years, so much so that some individuals deign to decry him "the godfather of indie rock teenagers." This is insane, but also, my own opinion of The O.C. improved substantially between 2008 and 2018, so who the fuck knows? Maybe in 2021, Puke on Your Birthday could conceivably worship at the altar of Cohen.
WILL SETH COHEN WRITE A REVIEW: I seriously doubt it. Adam Brody is somewhat active on Twitter (mostly retweets liberal bullshit, as far as I can tell), but I feel like it would be a little pathetic if I even attempted to involve him in this nonsense.
ALBUM RELEASED: October 7, 2003
WHAT GENRE IS THIS: Indie rock / emo / post-punk revival
TRACKLIST:
- The New Year
- Lightness
- Title and Registration
- Expo '86
- The Sound of Settling
- Tiny Vessels
- Transatlanticism
- Passenger Seat
- Death of an Interior Decorator
- We Looked like Giants
- A Lack of Color
LENGTH: 45:38
WHERE TO LISTEN FOR FREE: YouTube
READING SOME SHIT: This one is probably good: a 2019 interview with the members of Death Cab about, ostensibly, the noxious qualities of nostalgia.
PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: Nothing directly, but it's been already made clear that Death Cab is somewhat of a touchstone in people's music listening history, as such disparate reviewers as Nate and Mike have name-dropped the band in respective RC reviews.
Happy listening, Seth Cohen! Have a great week!
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