The Postal Service

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This article is about the band. For the American letter service, see United States Postal Service.
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 produced the album and played the guitar and piano on several tracks.

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 & 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 22, 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 has confirmed that Postal Service has started work on the next album and, as is traditional, the duo are doing the work while being separated by great distance.[3] 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 Jimmy Tamborello dispelled rumors about the song having anything to do with Postal Service.[4]

[edit] Name dispute

The name "Postal Service" was chosen due to the way in which the band produced their songs. Jimmy would write the music then send DAT tapes to Ben, who would add his vocals and send them back to Jimmy via "Postal Service". In 2004, however, 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.[5] Additionally, the USPS website sells the band's CDs.[1]

Further to this, it was reported on Pitchforkmedia on 16 January 2007 that UPS is using a track from Give Up, "Such Great Heights," for their TV and online advertising. This has been confirmed, as the commercials began airing shortly after the report came out.

[edit] Apple advertisement controversy

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] Album

Give Up
(February 18, 2003)
#114 (US)

[edit] EPs

[edit] Other appearances

  • "Do You Realize? (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 (Postal Service Remix)" – 3:37
  • "I'm Free (Postal Service Remix)" - 2:27


[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)

[edit] Tracks used in popular culture

  • 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.
  • The song has been used for...
  • Such Great Heights has also been...
    • on the top 10 of the music site, Last.fm, ever since the site started logging its charts until the week of 11 March 2007 where 8 of the 10 slots were taken by tracks from The Arcade Fire's album Neon Bible.
  • Ben Folds performed a cover version of "Such Great Heights" on Australian television, on jtv's "Like a Version" segment.
  • Iron & Wine's version of the song "Such Great Heights" was part of of the movie Garden State. It was also used for a TV advertisement for M&M's candy, and a British TV advertisement for Ask.com. The original also served as a trailer for Garden State.
  • The song, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" was used for the trailer to the 2004 film, Imaginary Heroes.
  • In 2005, Jimmy Tamborello and Jenny Lewis both contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"
  • 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 "Such Great Heights" EP contained a cover of the title song by Iron & Wine and a cover of "We Will Become Shillouettes" by The Shins.
  • The song "Brand New Colony" is featured on the soundtrack to the videogame NHL 2K7.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Postal Service's Give Up Goes Gold, iTunes Exclusive, And More!. Sub Pop (2005-02-18). Retrieved on 2005-02-18.
  2. ^ Maher, Dave (2006-06-26). Postal Service Begin Work on New Album. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2006-06-27.
  3. ^ Montgomery, James (2006-06-22). Ben Gibbard's Postal Service Prepping Next Delivery: Second LP. MTV. Retrieved on 2006-06-22.
  4. ^ Montgomery, James (2006-09-19). 'Importance Of Being' Honest: Who Is Pretending To Be Postal Service?. MTV. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.
  5. ^ Locklear, Fred (2004-06-11). Postal Service delivers, and now rocks. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2004-06-11.
  6. ^ Whiteboard Advertising Campaign. United Parcel Service (2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-06.

[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 (re-release, 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 | Elsinor Records | Barsuk Records | Atlantic Records | Fierce Panda Records
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