THE POSTAL SERVICE

'The Postal Service' is an American 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, as well as vocals from Jen Wood, an indie rock musician. Chris Walla produced the album and played the guitar and piano on several tracks.

Contents

Overview

Second Album

False demo

Best Cover

Controversies & disputes

Discography

Studio Albums

EPs

Other appearances

Videography

Tracks used in popular culture

References

External links

Overview

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.
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 edit the song as he saw fit, adding his vocals along the way, and send them back to Jimmy via "Postal Service".
Though both artists' main bands are still active, The Postal Service supported their full-length album ''Give Up'' with a successful concert tour and has stated its intention to tour more in the future. The album's most notable single was "Such Great Heights." The song has been featured in various television commercials as well as movie trailers; likweise, Iron and Wine's cover version of "Such Great Heights" was used on the Garden State soundtrack, and in an M & M's commercial. The album also became the most successful album for the Sub Pop label since Nirvana's debut album ''Bleach''.^[1]

Second Album

On June 22, 2006 it was revealed that The Postal Service had begun work on a new album, though the specifics of the release date are ambiguous: Gibbard stated ''"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."'' The album is set to be released on Christmas Day. As of mid 2007, they are said to be about 6 songs in to their new album. However, they say that with that progress, they are not even half way done with the album, and things are still moving quite slowly.

False demo

In September of 2006, a new song started showing up around the internet, "The Importance Of Being", which is supposedly a demo from the new PS album. Jimmy Tamborello dispelled rumors about the song having anything to do with Postal Service.^[2] One of the latest issues of Spin has an article on album leaks, and it mentions the new Postal Service album will be released on December 25, 2007.

Best Cover

In July of 2007 NYPost named their hit single "Against All Odds" as one of the best cover songs of all time. "Against All Odds", originally a Phil Collins song, featured as #8 in the chart though is often misquoted as being chosen as the 8th best cover, the article in fact stated that their choices were numbered "in no particular order"[1]

Controversies & disputes

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.^[3] Additionally, the USPS website sells the band's CDs.[2]
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 (Now Apple, Inc.) and Intel using similar footage. While strikingly 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, Inc. However 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."

Discography

Studio Albums

EPs

Other appearances

★ ''Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP'' (2003) - The Flaming Lips
:
★ "Do You Realize? (Postal Service Cover)" – 4:00

★ ''Wicker Park: Soundtrack Album'' (2004)
:
★ "Against All Odds" – 3:50

★ ''New Resolution'' - Single (2004) - Azure Ray
:
★ "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

★ ''Make Some Noise EP'' (2005) [3] released to MP3 by Make Some Noise, Amnesty International
:
★ "Grow Old With Me" – 2:35 (John Lennon cover)

★ ''Open Season'' (2006) - Feist
:
★ "Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix)" – 3:37

★ ''I'm Free (Remixes) EP'' (2006) - The Rolling Stones
:
★ "I'm Free (Postal Service Remix)" - 2:27

★ '' (2007)
:
★ "Grow Old With Me" – 2:35 (John Lennon cover)

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)

Tracks used in popular culture

★ "Such Great Heights" has been used for...

★
★ the UPN drama ''Veronica Mars''.

★
★ the ''Grey's Anatomy'' original soundtrack.

★
★ the trailer of the show '' Season 1.

★
★ a featured part of UPS's "Whiteboard" ad campaign, which launched January 6, 2007.^[4]

★ 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''.

★ In 2005, Jimmy Tamborello and Jenny Lewis both contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?"

References

1. Postal Service's Give Up Goes Gold, iTunes Exclusive, And More!
2. 'Importance Of Being' Honest: Who Is Pretending To Be Postal Service? Montgomery, James
3. Postal Service delivers, and now rocks Locklear, Fred
4. Whiteboard Advertising Campaign

External links

★ Postal Service's official website

★ Sub Pop Records for Postal Service

★

★ Ben Gibbard's personal blog and music collection at MOG.com

★ Lazy-i Interview: April 2003

★ Side-by-side comparison of Apple's Intel-iMac ad and Postal Service's "Such Great Heights"