Built To Spill vs. Modest Mouse vs. Death Cab For Cutie

Once upon a time I liked There's Nothing Wrong With Love, which is one album more than I like by either of the other bands.

there's nothing wrong with love was a good album. i think we have the facts and we're voting yes was pretty good too. modest mouse sucks though.

i only like bits and pieces of each band's discography, so for me it's Keep It Like A Secret vs. The Photo Album vs. i dunno, "Dramamine" i guess was not as annoying as MM's other stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjecIllOEio

this is one of my favorite songs, mostly because of the guitar parts during the bridge.

built to spill has always been a great band but i think modest mouse, at their best, was a greater one. death cab is fine i guess -- sort of prefer the postal service

BTS pretty easily, though MM's first 3 albums are pretty great.

at some point i've been really into all three bands but i don't think i could sit through a full song by any of them these days

probably BTS as their later work didn't ruin their earlier work for me

MM's later stuff isn't all bad. this was released in 09

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_pnlYYHO1g

MM's early records are way more exciting to me than anything BTS ever did. Hell, even Float On is not that bad a song -- a college springfest anthem to be sure, but people act like it's fucking Smash Mouth or something.

this shit was good you guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CR0in9asME

heavy fugazi influence there imo

It still amazes me the fanbase that Deathcab has carried through the years.I never would have thought they'd still be around today. I always put them in the same camp with late 90s/early 2000s emo bands. Not a huge fan, but it's impressive they've stuck around. I guess Postal Service has a lot to do with that as well.

heavy fugazi influence there imo

― walid foster dulles (man alive), Tuesday, February 24, 2015 10:23 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm not sure i hear this but you've got me intrigued tbh

BTS>MM>>DCFC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-f7zsW7EV4

most built to spill stuff just seems so dorky to me now, like even keep it like a secret is a great-sounding record but the lyrics and overall vibe are cringey

like i miss the band that did this, it's also lyrically dumb but at least it gets to the point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XY6JiZNzzM

Ben's voice just grates on me...so whiney

martsch not really any better tho

And Brock has just been barking through the last few albums.

modest mouse more like mannered mouse

given their idiosyncratic sound some sort of devolution into self-parody was almost inevitable. i don't really think that later work should diminish earlier work though. each mp3 is its own thing.

I really like a couple of BtS records. I've never felt motivated to listen to an entire album by one of the other two.

i think i like this crazy horsin' bts version best of all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBVoHOq3JRc&index=1&list=PLDC53F5CF67842FB0

it's funny, I always thought the similarities were overstated until I listened to Pinback, whose sound was like the mathematical average of all 3 of these bands

concentrating on 'best built to spill' cuz there's no other way to vote

it's too bad Idaho isn't Pacific NW (too bad for Idaho, I mean)

pinback really has nothing to do with bts imo

***CAUTION CHALLOPS AHEAD***

Death Cab Forbidden Love is as good as the best releases from either of the other band (Perfect From Now On & Building Nothing Out Of Something would be my pics) seriously 20 minutes of Death Cab is *juuuust* the right amount

xp to cad your opinion may be the correct one, idk, would have to relisten

I like pinback better than all 3

also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eIbPcSEog

I like pinback better than all 3

― calstars, Tuesday, February 24, 2015 11:00 PM (50 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh heck yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CH1Tu9-oSU

Pinback is good, but IDK, Modest Mouse somehow feels like more is at stake

that's fair they trade in punk rock aggression in a way that the others don't really (the pixies influence maybe?)

MM is probably the one I have the hardest time listening to today... Which is sad, cuz they meant the most to me as an adolescent.

isaac brock is a great lyricist and i love his guitar playing, so much personality and humor and expression just in his guitar than the other two. they never moved me like modest mouse

I think Death Cab was a great band, and that their first four albums range from great-to-classic, and that they're still a decent live band making mostly boring but not embarrassingly bad albums.

And yet they get run outta the gym in this poll.

not many bands on the planet can fuck w/ Long Drive > Lonesome Crowded > Moon + Antarctica OR TNWWL > PFNO > KILAS

and I can't pick between those two. srsly can't.

I do like the first DCFC album a lot

The fact that Isaac Brock never learned how to sing is the only thing that is keeping them listenable tbh, newer albums are mixed/mastered horribly

mm is pretty good fuckup loser alcoholic indie, hot guitar licks. Death cab has a really nice guitar sound and interesting hooks/song structures. Don't like bts at all, especially hate that fucking car song

built to spill easy

BTS is the only band in this list worth mentioning ever again

I had no idea that Death Cab was influenced by BTS, but I always get them mixed up with Decemberists and Dismemberment Plan. Are those guys influenced by Built to Spill too?

I had no idea that Death Cab was influenced by BTS, but I always get them mixed up with Decemberists and Dismemberment Plan. Are those guys influenced by Built to Spill too?

I confuse Death Cab and the Dismemberment Plan mostly because they were both staples on the hardcore/emo festival circuit in the late-90s/early-00s.

Nonetheless, I think all three are fantastic bands. Built to Spill is probably the best band, but Modest Mouse is my favorite band of the three.

I guess I’m the only person who liked Good News For People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. I don’t think they are anywhere near the quality of first four albums, but I enjoyed them.

I'm listening to Death Cab for Cutie for the first time on youtube right now. I should have gotten into them when they were bigger in the early 2000s. It would have been right up my alley. Think I was just put off by the Transatlanticism album cover. Late pass request.

BtS >

I guess I’m the only person who liked Good News For People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. I don’t think they are anywhere near the quality of first four albums, but I enjoyed them.

It's not just you, I thought both those were fine discs. "Satellite Skin" is one of my favorite songs they ever did, for what that's worth. Their LCW/Building/M&A period is just so good it casts a negative shadow on everything else.

I think a lot of the frustration maybe comes from the fact that they did so much incredible work in a four-year span and here it's been eight since their last full-length album

BtS was I think the model for a lot of my friends' shitty bands, so I kind of associate their sounds with having to listen to my friends' shitty bands. Not really BtS's fault.

there's nothing wrong with love > first 3 modest mouse albums > everything else by any of these bands

modest mouse wins on averages or w/e

all 3 are great tho

BtS was I think the model for a lot of my friends' shitty bands
think i've been in one or two of these kinds of shitty bands

my stepfather looks just like david bowie
but he hates david bowie

BtS is definitely the best of these bands, really liked modest mouse up until about 2000. death cab is garbage.

I love Modest Mouse, and Death Cab have their moments but this is Built To Spill easily. Perfect From Now On is unstoppable.

i dunno if death cab is garbage, but they're def way less interesting than the other two.

i've always strongly associated BTS and MM and at points I like one better than the other, but they switch pretty frequently.

my gut says i should go with built to spill but i dunno. their consistency and longevity is just about equal. both were at their peak right around the same time (94-2001). both started getting spottier around the same time (2004-2006). a really boring tie-breaker might be to compare the new built to spill song from a couple days ago with that new modest mouse song from a few weeks back.

"Goin' Against Your Mind" vs "The Whale Song"

all three have one album i go to when i'm in the mood for them - Perfect From Now On, Ship Sank and Narrow Stairs - Built To Spill's being my favorite. And of my favorite tracks from their other decent albums EPs and whatnot, Built To Spill's again are my favorite. But it still feels weird to vote for Built To Spill because - as my picks for go-to albums suggest - my enthusiasm for the other two bands came way later.

we were dead > good news

bts made the best records of all these dudes. have a real soft spot for some death cab singles though

bts records also home to some of my favorite guitar tones ever

absolutely hate DCFC, indifferent to Modest Mouse, own one BTS 45 = BTS it is

my stepfather looks just like david bowie

lol this is the one 7" of theirs I own

my shitty bts-inspired band covered that song

i gotta vote for BTS, it's just funny that in college i thought they were the bees knees and that MM/DC were indie i couldn't connect with, and then a decade later MM and DC were alt-radio highlights (whose earlier work i doubled back to and now rate) while BTS was this static, overly familiar thing that stuck its head out every five years

just checked to see exactly when their albums came out and i don't think i ever got around to hearing bts' last (though oddly enough never heard death cab's latest either, damn i'm bad at keeping up with indie guys this decade)

amazon review for Perfect From Now On:

2.0 out of 5 stars ok, once, December 9, 2004
By music lover "music lover" (il) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Perfect From Now on (Audio CD)
I recently purchased this cd because of reviews on amazon and I'am really glad that I got it for 5 dollars because I would be very upset if I would have spent anymore it is worth one listen for something different but I won't be reaching for it anytime soon nothing at all like modest mouse like the one reveiew said the one reveiew got it really good just boring and just drags it isn't so bad that you take it out just not worth a second listen.

MM > wheatus > BTS > silversun pickups > DCFC

BTS > MM > DCFC

(tbh tho i don't know if i actually know any DCFC songs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR2L143xNYI

pre BTS Dug with no beard.

Voted BTS

it's too bad Idaho isn't Pacific NW (too bad for Idaho, I mean)

Maybe not all of Idaho but I see tons of "PNW" in various places around north Idaho.

I love Keep it Like a Secret, indifferent about the rest for the most part. I know I'm supposed to like Perfect from Now On but just don't.

I love one MM album and even moreso the singles collection. Love about 75% of Moon and Antarctica and Long Drive, 50% of Good News, don't really remember much about the last one. Love the guitar and sad fuckup depressed driving in the middle of nowhere vibe, don't like samey/barking/not as depressed Isaac Brock very much.

I just can't see DFFC as anything other than like some sort of joke for some reason and know I've heard at least a couple of their records but have no memory of them at all.

also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8whmIaeftQ#t=03m02s

funny what a burst of creativity those first few years were for modest mouse and then ... not so much. they've put out fewer records than sleater kinney in the last 10 years now.

TS: "Neverending Math Equation" vs "Carry The Zero" vs "Long Divison"

haha, feel like those titles actually sum up the vibe of the bands
neverending math equation = fuck it, no matter what you do nothing matters
carry the zero = come on, you can get through this
long division = holy shit this is so boring

amazing^

death cab make more sense if you think of them as post-slowcore

nothing is more boring than built to spill "jamming" like that interminable cortez the killer cover

your post is more boring

(but the margin is small)

i like that cortez cover, but i am pretty into boring guitar jams

i am too.. come to think of it i think i'm just still reeling from dave matthews band jamming with neil on a 30 minute cortez cover at a bridge school benefit concert 15 years ago. can't even hear that song without getting flashbacks

death cab make more sense if you think of them as post-slowcore

this is a great point imo

if you want a good slowcore album called Long Division ilxmail me

/cif

Not death cab

this is surprising, i thought ILM had a dislike for Death Cab for Cutie and they very will might get the least amount of votes. i really loved listening to We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes (best thing the did), The Forbidden Love EP, The Photo Album, Transatlanticism and most of Plans.

have a couple of Modest Mouse records and love both of them but haven't spent that much time.

voted Built to Spill because they can hardly be beat. ran the PFNO poll, it wasn't very popular.

"long division" low key one of the best later death cab tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfE4WPFnLbE

Do these bands actually have anything in common besides geography?

MM and DCFC have openly confessed to being influenced by BTS. there are a few Death Cab songs where it's downright uncanny.

lonesome crowded west >> moon & antarctica > perfect from now on > keep it like a secret > this is a long drive > good news > there's nothing wrong with love > anything else by mm/bts >>>>>> anything ben gibbard has been involved with

mm for sure, found them at a transitional phase in early adulthood and they made an impact. probably can't be impartial about this despite a solid appreciation for bts and to a lesser extent dcfc

Man I can't stand BTS.
DCFC>MM>BTS.

I'm a BTS with many greater than carrots afterwards, but I do agree with this (Modest Mouse being greater too though):

i really loved listening to We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes (best thing the did)

There are good songs on that and 1st and 3rd records.

My favorite thing about all three is how there's this weird personal attraction most fans get in sometimes weird weird two-fer combinations, or vehement dedication to one or none. My buddy that loves Modest Mouse dissing on BTS is just so puzzling to me.

idk there are plenty of things about built to spill that don't really show up in modest mouse and could put someone off.

yeah yeah sure sure ... but I'm listening to Ultimate Alternative Wavers now, and there's just so much about that record and Long Way To Drive ... that just sorta sync up as answer songs to each other sometimes ...

Do Modest Mouse or Death Cab for Cutie ever get into a solo-happy Neil Young-ish vibe?

I totally hear plenty a dollop of Crazy Horse in LCW.

DCfC def have scheduled solos. They mostly stuck close to the recorded versions when I saw them live. It was good, but BtS show in Chicago was top 5 ever for me.

wheatus > BTS
ok...

i didn't like this song until i heard this version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME25DY2q4I0

same goes with their "freebird" cover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oR2L143xNYI

pre BTS Dug with no beard.

Voted BTS

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, February 25, 2015 1:32 PM (Yesterday)

welp just watched this again and forgot to mention if you guys don't know the guy playing bass in the above video, he has 3 BTS songs written about him: "Three Years Ago Today" (1993), "Carry The Zero" (1999) and finally "Pat" (2009). His name is/was Pat Schmaljohn and he was literally the big brother to Scott (other singer/guitarist of Treepeople) and figuratively a big brother to Dug ie Pat convinced Dug to take his music ideas from his bedroom to the Boise clubs and onward. Pat killed himself in 1999. Dug invited Scott to play lead guitar on the recording of "Pat".

just feeling the heavy vibes from this old video, carry on!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Voted MM, mostly off the strength of their lyrics.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

seems about right