The Postal Service

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This article is about the band. For the letter service, see mail.
The Postal Service

Background information
Origin Washington, USA
Genre(s) Indie electronic
Indie pop
IDM
Years active 2001–present
Label(s) Sub Pop
Associated
acts		 Dntel
Death Cab for Cutie
Website Official website
Members
Jimmy Tamborello
Ben Gibbard

The Postal Service is an electronic indie pop band featuring singer Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and producer Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, Headset and Figurine. Several songs on their first LP, Give Up, feature guest vocals from Jenny Lewis, solo artist and the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, a band which was once on the same label as Death Cab (Barsuk Records) and vocals from Jen Wood, an indie rock musician. Chris Walla recorded some of the songs and played the piano on "Nothing Better."

Contents

[edit] Overview

The way the group combines mechanical beats with backing tracks with poppy hooks is somewhat reminiscent of 1980s new wave music as revived by Stephin Merritt on The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs. The group formed after Gibbard contributed vocals for a song on Dntel's album Life Is Full of Possibilities called "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan". This song sparked an EP of remixes by other artists, such as Lali Puna, the Flaming Lips, Safety Scissors, Barbara Morgenstern and Superpitcher, and was so well received that the two artists decided that further collaboration was in order.

Despite the fact that their main bands are still active, The Postal Service supported their full-length album Give Up with a successful concert tour and has stated intentions to tour more in the future. The album's most notable single was "Such Great Heights", which has been featured in various television commercials and movie trailers. "Such Great Heights" was covered by Iron and Wine on the Garden State soundtrack. This cover received success, and featured in its own television commercials as well. The album also became the most successful album for the Sub Pop label since Nirvana's debut album Bleach. [1]

On June 26, 2006 it was revealed that The Postal Service has begun work on a new album, though the specifics of the release date are ambiguous with Gibbard stating "We're slowly starting. We're crawling right now, and whether that crawl turns into a walk remains to be seen. But we'll know more towards the end of the year. I've just been touring so much and trying to find time to make it happen and make our schedules line up." Tamborello also added "We're talking about wanting to finish an album by sometime next year, because we have to work with Death Cab's schedule and stuff. I definitely want to do another one." Two songs have been recorded, and the band has speculated that the album will be released in late 2007 or in 2008. [2] Sub Pop Records has confirmed that The Postal Service has started work on the next album and are doing so in tradition, the duo are doing the work while being separated by great distance. [3] On August 15, 2006 it was announced that The Postal Service has brought several new members into the band, including an Arianna Kills member and a member from General Sherman, a Myspace Project Band, very similar to Dntel. [4]. In September, a new song started showing up around the internet, "The Importance Of Being", which is supposedly a demo from the new PS album. Recently James Taborrelo dispelled rumors about the song having anything to do with The Postal Service. He stated that PS has started work on their new album. He also mentioned that the new members of PS would remain "anonymous" until further notice. Taborello did also state, that The Postal Service might possibly release a new album next year. This album is said to contain the remixes and B sides of Give Up. [5] A user comment left on Last.fm, stated that the album official name is to be "Give In".

[edit] Controversy

In 2004, the United States Postal Service sent the band a cease and desist letter citing their trademark on the phrase "postal service". After negotiations, the USPS relented, allowing the band use of the trademark in exchange for promotional efforts on behalf of the USPS and a performance at their annual National Executive Conference. [6] Additionally, the USPS website sells the band's CDs. [7]

A copyright disagreement occurred in January 2006, when directors Josh Melnick and Xander Charity, producers of the "Such Great Heights" music video, created a TV spot for Apple Computer and Intel using almost identical footage. On January 19, 2006, Ben Gibbard stated on the band's website: "It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers' new television commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for 'Such Great Heights' made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent." While similar to the music video, the TV spot did not contain imagery of the band or their music. The band has not taken any legal action against the filmmakers or Apple Computer.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Other appearances

  • "Do You Realize? (The Postal Service Remix)" – 4:00
  • Wicker Park: Soundtrack Album (2004)
  • "Against All Odds" – 3:50
  • "New Resolution (TPS Mix)" - 3:02
  • Verve Remixed, Vol. 3 (2005)
  • "Little Girl Blue (Postal Service Mix)" – 5:20
  • Be Still My Heart (Nobody Remix) - Single (2005)
  • "Be Still My Heart (Nobody Remix)" – 3:53
  • "Mushaboom (The Postal Service Remix)" – 3:37
  • I'm Free (Remixes) EP (2006)
  • "I'm Free (The Postal Service Remix)" - 2:27

[edit] Promos

The Ben And Randall Projects

[edit] Videography

  • The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (2003)
  • Such Great Heights (2004, directed by Josh Melnick and Xander Charity)
  • Against All Odds (2004)
  • We Will Become Silhouettes (2005, directed by Jared Hess)
  • The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (2006), directed by ?

[edit] Trivia

  • The song, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" was used for the trailer to the 2004 film, Imaginary Heroes.
  • Another song used for a trailer was "Such Great Heights" in the Garden State trailer. A cover of this song, performed by Iron & Wine, also appeared on the movie's soundtrack.
  • The song "Such Great Heights" was written by Ben Gibbard with friend Aaron Kaplan in 2003, according to an interview with Gibbard in Spin magazine.
  • In 2005, Jimmy Tamborello and Jenny Lewis both contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"
  • The song "Such Great Heights" was used on the UPN drama Veronica Mars.
  • The song "Such Great Heights" was also used for the trailer of the show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County Season 1.
  • The song "Such Great Heights" has been on the top 10 of the music site, Last.fm, ever since the site started logging its charts.
  • The song "Such Great Heights" was used on the Grey's Anatomy original soundtrack.
  • The song "Such Great Heights" was used for a TV advertisement for FUSE's show The Dive.
  • Iron & Wine's version of the song "Such Great Heights" was used for a TV advertisement for M&M's candy. It was also used for a British TV advertisement for Ask.com.
  • The song "We Will Become Silhouettes" was used in a commercial for the 2006 Honda Civic.
  • The song "We Will Become Silhouettes" was also used in a commercial for Wal-Mart.
  • "Brand New Colony" has been covered numerous times. Teddy Geiger is most notably covering it on his live shows.
  • The Shins covered the song "We Will Become Silhouettes" for the Such Great Heights EP

[edit] External links

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Death Cab for Cutie
Ben Gibbard | Chris Walla | Nick Harmer | Jason McGerr
Nathan Good | Michael Schorr
Discography
Albums: You Can Play These Songs with Chords (cassette) (1997) | Something about Airplanes (1998) | We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes (2000) | The Photo Album (2001) | You Can Play These Songs with Chords (+10 re-issue) (2002) | Transatlanticism (2003) | Plans (2005) 
EPs: The Forbidden Love E.P. (2000) | The Stability E.P. (2002) | Studio X Sessions E.P. (2004) | The John Byrd E.P. (2005) 
Singles: "A Movie Script Ending" (2002) | "Stability" (2002) | "I Was a Kaleidoscope" (2002) | "We Laugh Indoors" (2002) | "The New Year" (2003) | "The Sound of Settling" (2004) | "Title and Registration" (2004) | "Soul Meets Body" (2005) | "Crooked Teeth" (2006) | "I Will Follow You into the Dark" (2006) 
Other releases: ITunes Originals - Death Cab for Cutie (2005) 
Filmography
Drive Well, Sleep Carefully (2005) | Directions (2006)
Related articles
All-Time Quarterback | The Postal Service | Barsuk Records | Atlantic Records | Fierce Panda Records
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