| | Full Review | Ratings (571) |
Give your Rating |
| 3.0 good | fr33convict | May 23rd 11 |
Adam does knott seem too sure of his opinion.
19 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Athom EMERITUS | May 23rd 11 |
I get it Ben, you're finally happy. Well, I'm not. I guess we don't have that much in common anymore. You're playing shows to tens of thousands of people a night and are fucking a movie star and I'm.... I'm... not.
12 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | conradtao EMERITUS | May 23rd 11 |
This is what I know about Death Cab For Cutie - they released a pretty good album in 2003, their lyrics have a tendency to induce vomit, and they occupy the "niche" of indie rock and pop that consists of cute flourishes like honky-tonk piano and playfully strumming guitar - which on paper reads like a parody of what indie pop means in this day and age. With all this in mind, Codes and Keys is a surprisingly enjoyable album - more of the same resolutely unremarkable stuff that you might hear in Urban Outfitters, sure, but at least this time, I don't need earplugs. Or, as Ben Gibbard might sing, "Boys like me write lyrics so rotten / that make you stuff your ears with cotton." Wow, that was so easy!
8 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Knott- EMERITUS | May 23rd 11 |
I need a bit more time to articulate clearly what I think of it, and I'm not sure on the rating yet, either, but on first impression, I think the most accurate way of phrasing it is: :/
5 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | thebhoy EMERITUS | May 23rd 11 |
It's a Death Cab for Cutie album, and at this point I'm not expecting anything else. In this very low standard I feel fairly comfortable in simply enjoying Codes and Keys as another nugget from a band who aren't going to top their best stuff. +.5 because Adam Thomas isn't fucking a movie star.
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | ciggy5102 | May 24th 11 |
what happened to death cab? this is passionless and lame
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Steoandnoodles | May 23rd 11 |
The sounds are ace, the song writing is grand and the vocals are bliss happiness. But where does that leave us? At the doorstep with no direction to go other than home. Let them have their fun, we weren't invited.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | thebat675 | May 23rd 11 |
That was a goodenough pun Alex.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | Lakes. | June 24th 11 |
For what it is, this is a really addicting and uplifting album. Sure, Death Cab has done it before, and better, but that doesn't take anything away from what Codes and Keys is; a great indie pop album, if nothing else.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | radianteclipse | May 27th 11 |
Pssh, this is so much better than Narrow Stairs, and moderately better than Plans. I played this album not expecting it to really grab my attention and was supposed to serve merely as some mundane but relaxing background music, and yet I found it actually making me take notice on numerous occasions. And now I've grown quite fond of it. It's a very solid album, even if doesn't really bring anything new to the table.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | literallyzach | March 16th 17 |
Warmer production and more accessible songwriting make this one of my favorite Death Cab releases and the one I find myself revisiting most. A lot of folks incorrectly described Codes and Keys as their happiest and most upbeat effort, but I feel as if it's displaying joy and pleasure moments before they collapse back into misery. It's a unique feeling and one I don't see as interestingly handled as it is here.
Bump |
| 0.0 | macadoolahicky | June 12th 12 |
Everybody knows that Death Cab For Cutie always has the capacity to release another indie record. And that's exactly what they've done here: they've released another indie record. Even though this isn't a terrible indie record, we all know that Death Cab is capable of so much more than this. So what happened here?rAlso, this sounds as though it'd sound better if it had been written and performed by a different band, if that makes any sense.
Bump |
| 2.0 poor | zillah | July 9th 11 |
Codes and Keys begins very well with "Home is a Fire" and ends very well with "Stay Young Go Dancing". The former is a deceptively off-kilter pop song with Tunng-like lyrics about melting fences and Ben Gibbard's fear of earthquakes. The latter is a perfect straight-up love song in which Gibbard explains Why He'd Want to Live Here, despite the tremors. Sadly, these tracks are bookends to what turns out to be a dismayingly lazy album, a set of sludgy synth washes replete with Coldplay-calibre lyrics, weak hooks and some of Gibbard's most intentionally irritating singing to date, albeit mercifully buried pretty deep in Chris Walla's mix. The album also features possibly the two worst Death Cab singles ever in "You Are a Tourist" and "Underneath the Sycamore". (The former is partially redeemed by a killer hook coming off the bridge, although this mostly serves as an unfortunate reminder of what Death Cab can serve up when they're actually trying.) There are some other nice moments here and there: "Some Boys" is warm and gutsy while "Monday Morning" is the most "classic Death Cab"-sounding thing here, and a terrific respite after "Unobstructed Views", a tuneless and ponderous mediation on Girbbard's very unexceptional atheism. Taken as a whole, Codes and Keys is pretty unappealing, an album by a band coasting on talent and empty Big Think while ignoring the details that make good pop albums tick. Then again, going by Death Cab's history, the next one should be excellent.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | patrickfannon | June 14th 11 |
Ben Gibbard has exchanged detail for universality; humanity and imperfection for a washed out, distant, synthy haze of distance and comfort. Death Cab, here, sound outright lazy and complacent--a word which I never, ever thought I would associate with a band that was once as special as Death Cab for Cutie were. Very sad, indeed, as this band is very dear to my heart, but every band is entitled to a few bumps along the road they traverse. Hopefully, Codes and Keys will remain an unfortunate sidestep, not blossom into Death Cab's new style, because when Ben sang, "When you need direction, then I'll be the guide," on "In The Passenger Seat," I took him at his word.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Irving STAFF | June 2nd 11 |
After threatening to do so for the better part of eight years, Death Cab For Cutie finally lose the plot.
Bump |
| 3.5 great | afghanwhigger | May 27th 11 |
I went into this thinking I'd be bored and end up turning it off halfway through... I was wrong. It's one of my all time favorites from them.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | ebay | May 24th 11 |
When "You are a Tourist" came out I got extremely excited for the release of this album... then when it was released I got extremely disappointed. Let's hope to god it's a grower.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Intheayer | May 23rd 11 |
With Narrow Stairs, Death Cab took an experimental direction on their first major label debut by having a more guitar-based approach than usual. In this case, what Codes and Keys gives us is the opposite, by putting in a more piano-based approached. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however.To specify further, what the band has done is written something closer to work of The Postal Service without losing the Death Cab feel to it. For the most part, its nice and refreshing. It will be a summer album for many.rWARNING: This album is not for the musically close-minded. Its for the fan of ALL Death Cab Albums.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | iGuter | May 23rd 11 |
It's a softer and more subtle approach that respectively works, but may mellow out new listeners.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | vidence | December 11th 18 |
| 1.5 very poor | Rowhaus | November 11th 18 |
| 2.5 average | Keira | June 27th 18 |
| 2.0 poor | emmny | April 18th 18 |
| 3.5 great | jimbo | October 21st 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Crawl | September 23rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Arkadin | September 2nd 17 |
| 1.5 very poor | adamsee | July 24th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Rmazer | March 9th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Divaman | August 19th 16 |
| 3.0 good | dcon4L | October 24th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | JayKb | October 4th 15 |
| 2.5 average | Skoj | May 23rd 15 |
| 3.5 great | quorf | April 27th 15 |
| 1.5 very poor | | April 21st 15 |
| 3.5 great | JWT155 | March 28th 15 |
| 3.0 good | Xhoven | February 12th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | Arave | January 28th 15 |
| 4.5 superb | Nylg | January 21st 15 |
| 3.0 good | NoSons | January 13th 15 |
| 3.0 good | Walt | November 8th 14 |
| 2.5 average | CamiloG | October 26th 14 |
| 2.5 average | vineh | October 17th 14 |
| 3.5 great | tsubaki | September 26th 14 |
| 2.5 average | oahmed | August 31st 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | BMD212 | July 21st 14 |
| 4.5 superb | DoReMe | March 10th 14 |
| 3.5 great | krka | March 5th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Amry | February 9th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Nrap | November 28th 13 |
| 2.5 average | brizkit | October 9th 13 |
| 2.5 average | kivanto | August 29th 13 |
| 2.0 poor | DBrown | August 21st 13 |
| 4.0 excellent | Katara | February 16th 13 |
| 3.5 great | tnd | February 16th 13 |
| 2.5 average | BrentV | December 26th 12 |
| 4.5 superb | KeiRei | December 22nd 12 |
| 2.5 average | CK | December 12th 12 |
| 3.5 great | axc1080 | November 20th 12 |
| 2.5 average | rien333 | November 19th 12 |
| 3.0 good | eeule | October 29th 12 |
| 3.0 good | Point1 | October 6th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | CJandM | September 19th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | teahead | September 10th 12 |
| 3.0 good | hnled | July 18th 12 |
| 2.5 average | tincat | June 16th 12 |
| 2.0 poor | Viales | April 30th 12 |
| 4.0 excellent | Spasm01 | April 30th 12 |
| 2.0 poor | sharmz | March 25th 12 |
| 2.5 average | Gapwick | February 23rd 12 |
| 3.0 good | sidjmt | February 18th 12 |
| 3.5 great | mttgry | January 18th 12 |
| 2.5 average | Vyndax | January 1st 12 |
| 3.0 good | gvogel | December 31st 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | JPaller | December 27th 11 |
| 2.5 average | Dean M. CONTRIBUTOR | December 12th 11 |
| 1.5 very poor | KILL | November 27th 11 |
| 3.5 great | 32left | November 21st 11 |
| 2.0 poor | toxin. | September 28th 11 |
| 2.5 average | outline | August 23rd 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | goss19 | August 23rd 11 |
| 3.0 good | ILJ | August 1st 11 |
| 2.5 average | zermie | July 23rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | tables | July 20th 11 |
| 3.0 good | Prae | June 30th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | DrThodt | June 27th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | mx STAFF | June 27th 11 |
| 2.5 average | HHD87 | June 27th 11 |
| 3.5 great | zlor | June 24th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | jgorrie | June 17th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | Texture | June 15th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | Shinji | June 12th 11 |
| 3.0 good | bc013 | June 9th 11 |
| 2.5 average | Esky | June 8th 11 |
| 2.0 poor | Zo0lz | June 7th 11 |
| 3.0 good | SC04 | June 4th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | NoXoR | June 4th 11 |
| 3.0 good | lucho | June 3rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | Thef | June 2nd 11 |
| 3.5 great | Aids | June 2nd 11 |
| 3.0 good | Isola | May 27th 11 |
| 3.0 good | Rudy K. STAFF | May 26th 11 |
| 3.5 great | MRxT | May 24th 11 |
| 3.5 great | HBFS | May 24th 11 |
| 4.0 excellent | NateT | May 23rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | Eko | May 23rd 11 |
| 3.5 great | roofi | May 23rd 11 |
| 3.0 good | ti0n | May 23rd 11 |
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