FoK wrote:

I fucking loved them at age 14. That was one of my "learn to play guitar!" albums (along with Nevermind and Facelift.) We can't be held responsible for what we liked when we were young and more hormonally-influenced. If it makes you feel better, there's a nice Sublime-esque tragic edge to the Gin Blossoms in that they fired the guy that wrote all the good songs (Doug Hopkins) for being a drunk. When they got popular he killed himself. Nice!

Barbie: Here's a couple of recommendations... I would have assumed that you already knew these albums, but I know how it is. My wife hasn't heard them either, because I played them to death before I got married and now I don't listen to them anymore, so Veronica may have done the same.

YOU MUST OWN THE PIXIES' Surfer Rosa and Doolittle. Any greatest hits package is not enough... those two albums are absolutely required of anyone that likes edgy indie rock.

Where's Sonic Youth? No Daydream Nation?

At least one Tom Waits album is required as well, I think you'd like Bone Machine. (Small Change is my next favorite, but in a radically different style.)

Anyone that thinks that Trail of Dead is good needs to go check out the great bands that they allegedly sound like. Specifically, Jawbox's For Your Own Special Sweetheart and more especially Burning Airlines Mission: Control! which is the most kickass rock album of the past ten years and is probably my favorite rock album of all time. (It jousts guitars with Doolittle and they come back from the Renaissance Festival with Black Francis wrapped in guitar string but J. Robbins covered in half-digested refried beans and rice - I guess it's a draw.)

Also, Death Cab's evil twin is Dismemberment Plan... for some reason these bands are linked in my head. They use a similar aesthetic to reverse effect - they like to get crazy with the wacky effects, but unlike Death Cab there's no calmness, it's all hysteria. Their best song unfortunately, is only available on pirated mp3 ("Since You Died"), and I don't think anyone would care if you stole it since it's an out-of-print song by an indie band.

GYBE reminds me of Glenn Branca, but it's probably better than him, so that's a possible recommendation if you run out of GYBE to listen to but it can wait.

If you're only going to check out one, get Mission: Control!. I'm so serious.

Fullofkittens

P.S. I'll bet you still haven't checked out Velvet Teen yet, have you? They sound like a more rockified Death Cab - so much so that they got Death Cab's guitarist/producer Chris Walla to produce their album, and they've toured with them.