Pick Your Poison: Monday 2-11-13

Let’s talk for a minute about The Postal Service. Yes, I mean the band and not the letter delivery system. The band holds a very special place in my heart, as it does to millions of others I’m sure. For me personally, I was at the exact right age when their album Give Up came out. Everyone around the ages of 18-21 that heard that record in 2003 shares a very special bond as we hung onto every word to the extent it was absurd. I’m sorry I just wrote that. But anyways, I was a fan of Ben Gibbard and Death Cab for Cutie before Postal Service even happened, though for many Postal Service was their entry point into the DCFC world. Something about Gibbard’s voice paired with Jimmy Tamborello’s video game beats and noises just felt RIGHT. As a Rilo Kiley fan as well, having Jenny Lewis contribute some vocals was a major boost to the project too. It’s difficult for me to put into words exactly what that album meant to me, except to say that I know every lyric and like to put it on every now and then to reminisce and sing along. With a limited number of tour dates surrounding that single album release, I never got the chance to see Postal Service perform live, but always held out hope that someday there might be a new record and new tour. Well, there won’t be a new record, as both Gibbard and Tamborello have said and continue to say on a daily basis, but there WILL be a tour. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Give Up, Gibbard, Tamborello and Lewis will be playing songs as The Postal Service for a number of dates this spring and summer. There’s nothing really scheduled for the Midwest at this point in time (see: the unannounced lineup for a major Chicago music festival), but if you’re headed to Coachella they’ll definitely be there and a bunch of other places in the coming months. Go here to see all their current tour dates. There’s also a deluxe reissue of Give Up coming out on April 9th, complete with two unreleased songs and a bunch of other bonus material. Today one of those unreleased tracks made its way onto the internet. You can hear “A Tattered Line of String” by clicking here. So I think that covers everything Postal Service-related for the time being. I know I’ll be at whatever show they play in Chicago, which is all but guaranteed to happen, and I hope you’ll be there too. Now let’s do today’s Pick Your Poison. Featured tracks today come from BAMBARA, Bromheads, Die Kreuzen, Kurt Vile, Leonard Friend, LORDO and Modern Baseball. In the Soundcloud section (after the jump), you can stream tracks from Dawes, Everything Everything, Mark Lanegan and Mogwai, among others.