Death Cab for Cutie "Transatlanticism" [2003]

Navel-gazing with whitebread blasts of guitar supporting weak, ball-less vocal inflections, Death Cab for Cutie gives everyone a new reason to hate Billy Corgan, who was the progenitor of this cringe-inducing style. That said, even Corgan didn't sound like such a pussy that he could be beaten up by a playground of first-graders as easily as lead singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard could. Interestingly but not surprisingly, the release of Death Cab for Cutie's "Transatlanticism" coincides to the very month of Elliott Smith's suicide in 2003, a singer/songwriter who might also partly take the blame for this modern version of mangina-rock. Barely above the production grade of a bedroom demo, "Transatlanticism" sounds for all the world like the sonic wallpaper at the lamest sorority on campus. I'd prefer riding in a real death cab to being bored to death by this album.