Give Up

One of the greatest albums of all time. A perfect mix of electronic and indie made completely by sending burned CD-Rs in the mail across the west coast of the US between Dntel and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie). This album IS my college years and I probably listened to this album a few times per week for nearly 4 years. "Natural Anthem" is chaotic beauty. "Nothing Better" is a heart breaking break-up song between 2 people who used to love each other, but now unrequited by the female narrator. "Sleeping In" is my favorite song on the album; a song about dreaming and here in Texas, we can swim any day in November. "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and "Such Great Heights" are pop classics. If you like this, I recommend listening to the 10th Anniversary Edition from 2013; it has a great collection of extra songs like "Be Still My Heart", a cover of John Lennon's "Grow Old With Me" and "Suddenly Everything Has Changed". Just a masterpiece. Instant 5/5; 6 out of 5, really.

Even though I'm not especially enthusiastic about this album, I'd say it deserves a place on the list. It was an undeniable part of the indie landscape of the early 2000s.

Death Cab for Cutie meets Air. What could go wrong? Nothing indeed

This was all the rage in college for me. I suppose quite influential for indietronica but feels a bit hollow in retrospect.

Yeah, this feels like a snub honestly.

Heard about this one a lot and some of the songs but never actually sat and listened to through. It mostly lived up to the hype for me, musically engaging and lyrically interesting.

The Postal Service takes me to a very specific emotion at a very specific time in my life and for that I can never evaluate it fairly. If I try to peel back my psychological tendrils and peer at the thing with fresh ears I may say that it overstays its welcome and honestly sounds a bit silly with how mopey it is. But I was once silly for mopey I was.

Eh, not really my thing but I didn't hate it. The upbeat songs were alright. I don't mind mixing a bit of rock and electronica, but this didn't end up packing enough of a punch for me. 3/5.

5/10. I can't deny that great heights is a great song, but most of this album felt a bit lackluster to me. Which, I suppose, is sort of the point of the indie aesthetic, but I guess I just like my music lustrous.

One of my favorite albums of all time. It pops, it bleeds watercolor, it is a synthesized masterpiece. If you didn't already add this one I just might have.

This shouldn't have worked. Ben Gibbard, with his talent for catchy tunes and great vocal lines, doing his thing against a backtrack of bleeps and bloops and Super Mario style electronics. But it works. It really works! I remember the first time I head this album, shortly after it came out. I was immediately sucked into this nerdy-but-cool world. And I'm still there. Excellent record!

Such Great Heights is a banger that the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to. Probably would have picked a Death Cab for Cutie album over this but not a bad rec. 7/10

Hadn't listened to this album for a long time. Forgot how good it was. Thanks for suggesting.

VRaiment bon, un bon vibe et tout, CA merite des bien cote. 4

The Postal Service represent a simple brand of highly-competent collaboration. Gibbard's voice holds the thing together and gives each single commercial cutting edge, while the soundscapes consistently widen the record. Feels like the trimming of the tracklist could have resulted in a different ordering. The blueprint for a delicate, less-jangly indie was dearly needed.

DNTEL meets Ben Gibbard and good times ensue. This is a very nice album with some lovely electro-pop songs.

Oh yeah, The Postal Service

I've listened to this before, and I like it overall. The songs are good and interesting, but I really dislike the inorganic sounding electronic aspects of the album. It makes the whole thing sound kind of droning and monotonous. 3 stars.

Pretty straight-forward modern indie

Very gloomy music, and the sound of Death Cab is never far away. Although I found this album a little more longwinding. Not exactly boring, but it could be better

Who votes 5 stars for this whiney crap?

I loved this album when it first came out. Death Cab For Cutie was at their peak (in my opinion) at the time and this was just icing on the cake. All these years later (oh man, I'm getting old) I still really enjoy this album. I dont know if I like it quite as much now but it's quite enjoyable and I have such nice memories associated with it. It gets a 5. Yeah, I'm cool with that.

Only heard ‘Such Great Heights’ previously, so the full LP came as a little bit of a shock with how experimental and almost clubby it felt. Not sure Gibbard’s wandering and narrative lyricism gels 100% with the fully electronic tracks, but somehow it all makes an odd kind of sense. This feels like a breath of fresh air even today (despite a few dated instrumentals), so I can’t imagine how hard it hit back in the early 2000s.

Oh fuck yeah we are so back

Exceptional.

Awesome!

Chilled out electronic indie music. It's super dreamy and relaxing, but occasionally an intriguing lyric or piece of instrumentation pulls your consciousness in. I'd never heard this record before but have just listened on loop three times. A lovely vibe. I really like it. Rating: 4.5 Playlist track: Sleeping In Date listened: 10/09/24

I'm a big Death Cab fan, so Ben Gibbard's delivery is something that really works for me. I really like it in this setting, an electronic vibe that has a really simplistic approach but delivers surprising warmth in its style. Though it gets a little uneven by the end, the album as a whole is a great background sound that sets a cool mood.

Just an excellent album. Not sure why they decided to cover Phil Collins, but I guess Rivers and Ben like to cover other songs.

When I was writing my note for last night’s album selection (Death Cab for Cutie’s “Transatlanticism”) a big part of my review said that while that album was quite good, if I were to pick a Benjamin Gibbard contribution I’d have put The Postal Service’s Give Up album on the list first. I love its quirky, beepy boopy introspectiveness. It was one of the albums I considered contributing when I completed the project. I deleted the part of the Transatlanticism review that talked about this - it didn’t seem necessary to bring up after a day’s reflection - and submitted. Then look what pops up next! This is an album that helped me weather some challenging times back in the day. I guess the universe (and the person who picked this to add) gave me a little treat tonight. Thank you!

Another great relisten

This wasn't on the 1001? I'm shocked! It's an amazing album! Such Great Heights is a perfect song

A record drenched deeply in nostalgia for me. Memories of biking around my semi-barren hometown, near all the warehouses, not much care aside from the current moment. I still revisit this one, and while I don't think it's perfect, I think it holds up extremely well. You can understand why every broke Williamsburg resident was blown away by this. Nods to disco, krautrock, and the glitchy drums of Aphex Twin. The few dark spots here (literally, in the case of the slightly-plodding "This Place Is a Prison", and the overly twee "Clark Gable") don't take away from the fantastic work Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard accomplish here. There's a wistfulness, dreaming of end times while a pop song plays in the background. Call it a 4.5. Favorite tracks: "We Will Become Silhouettes", "Sleeping In"

Another album I’m very personally fond of. Inviting, bustling soundscapes by Jimmy Tamborello aka Dntel and vocals that fit like a glove from Ben Gibbard. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to give it a 5, but this is an album I play when I want to hear something I know is good. And that’s all you can ask for, really

A favourite of mine. Surprised it didn’t make the main list.

An idealism that struggles to survive in the harsh realities of this world--realities devoid of love and responsibility. Both the softly-delivered lyrics and the indietronic music contain this bittersweet idealism. Whenever I listen to this album, I just smile faintly, my heart simultaneously lifted and sunk by the hopeless fight. Faded Paper Figures released their first album five years after this was released. This has to be the inspiration for that band's sound. I mean, the band's even got two dudes and a chick.

5 4

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: The district sleeps alone tonight, We will become silhouettes

This is a super influential indie electronic album. There seems to me like a decent amount of influence was taken from video game soundtracks which was interesting to hear. There are some very strong moments on this album, but there were a few areas that didn’t land as well for me.

Interesting project using the postal service to collaborate on the songs. Too bad they gave up after one album. Such Great Heights is a highlight.

I remember hearing about The Postal Service when the album came out, but I am sure I never gave it a listen. Now I have.

I could have sworn this was on the list!

Recognized Ben Gibbard's voice immediately. Really like the production here, the electronic stuff is cool. Had heard of this band but never heard the music. Great pick!

This is the only album by this band and for some reason their name has rattled around my brain forever. Maybe it was just the idea of Going Postal...or maybe it was a band called Going Postal? Either way, here it is and it was a really good album! Reminded me a bit of like Sufjan Stevens or Owl City in the vocals and sounds.

Oh well. I've always found this indietronica album overrated, but I have to admit that listening to some of its details with a greater focus today has mellowed my initial harsh assessment. The first three tracks, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", "Such Great Heights", "Sleeping In", are actually pretty cool. The next three cuts are admittedly underwhelming (it's where Ben Gibbard's sickly-sweet and gentle vocals display their potential flaws), but everything after -- starting with "We Will Become Silhouettes" -- returns to nicely-done tones and moods. The last two tracks involve some jungle / drum'n'bass rhythms that already sounded quite dated in 2003, but from today's vantage point, this doesn't matter at all -- fads come and go, but they shouldn't be that relevant decades after the fact: when the music's good, it's good. So Ben Gibbard (from Death Cab For Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello probably deserved their huge, long-standing indie success here. Of course, there is something to be said about the clean-sounding noughts aesthetics (generally streamlined to a fault) at the heart of the album's mostly homemade production values. But maybe the record sounding of its day and age brings it some charm today? Can't bring myself to immediately select both *Give Up* and Death Cab For Cutie's *Transatlanticism* for my own dangerously ever-expanding, potential 1001 albums list. I will have to make a choice at some point. But I'm still leaving the door open to both. At least as of now. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 11 Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 13 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 21

I was about to be very annoyed about these 00s indie singer guys all sounding the fucking same, but then I looked it up and it is literally the actual Death Cab guy. Forgiven. I'm liking way more than Death Cab, it's got good beeps & boops

Much better than I anticipated. Such Great Heights is a tremendous song.

I’m honestly surprised that there were no Death Cab For Cutie selections on the list. This DCFC-adjacent selection make me pleased if only such that I get to hear Ben Gibbard’s glorious tenor. Such Great Heights is an Aughts masterpiece as well.

Funny that a few days ago I got the Death Cab for Cutie record and it didn't really click with me. This one did but not as much as maybe it did for others. Another one where you had to be there I think. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes.

June 6, 2025 HL: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", "Such Great Heights", "Recycled Air", "Natural Anthem" First Ben Gibbard/Death Cab-adjacent album. Certainly knew "Such Great Heights" before today, but the rest is pretty fresh to me. Bittersweet (emphasis on “sweet”) electronica from the early 2000s that hasn't aged too much. Molto bene

4.5

I really enjoyed that one. They have been on my radar but I haven’t sat down to a full album before this. It seems to push forward in all the right places. Not too out there but somehow different.

This album is really cool and different for the time it came out. I remember people being really excited about this band when they came out, and it's easy to see why it felt so fresh 4/5

This album certainly takes me back. Really good "indietronica" album that should probably be on the main list. Just a tad too sparse for my taste.

Takes notes from Radiohead's Kid A and blending it with a more soft pop-oriented approach a la the Flaming Lips, the Postal Service helped bridge electronic and pop music in a way that would influence a whole new host of indie artists in the 21st century. Additionally, the duo (Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello) would develop these songs long-distance by mailing tapes back and forth, effectively predating the bloghouse trend of emailing mp3s as a way of making music over the internet. To that end, the Postal Service deserves more than a meek recommendation. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Yes, I think their influence and innovation deserves recognition for that much alone. The songs are pretty good to boot.

I'm a big fan of Death Cab and the voice of Ben Gibbard. That's why I found it comfortable to listen to this album. Despite of this, the musical accompaniment is not really to my liking. Bu it is still Ben 😉

Good synth dance music reminding a little 9f Hot Chip. Good.

Really lovely. I'm not fond of the vocals, but this definitely should have made the original list. Fave Songs: Such Great Heights, We Will Become Silhouettes, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

If you’re only gonna make one album as a band it helps when the album is as good as this one. With the soft emo style of singing mixed with the electronic indie this album is pretty solid. Such great heights is a classic and has plenty of replay value. The Phil collins cover on this was also pretty well done. Overall this was a fun modern album that should’ve had another one to follow it. 7.1/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_6KTZgayxg

Pretty nocey

Long, but quite charming.

Nice one

Yeah enjoyed this, not a massive Death Cab for a Cutie fan, so the vocals are not my favourite, but this is enjoyable enough I think it deserves to be on the list.

If you’re a millennial I feel like you’ve heard this album even if you’ve never heard of the postal service. This is just the default sound I hear in my head when I think of early 2000s indie rock and I’m not even a huge fan of this. Actually it might just be the death cab for cutie vocals, I think that voice is the defining sound of 2000s indie rock

Enjoyed a lot of this

Diverting for a bit but not a save in the library album.

Don't really care for Death Cab For Cutie, but this is pretty good. Opening and closing tracks especially. So many people ripped this sound off. Not this album's fault or anything, but I can't get that fucking "You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies.." song out of my head while listening to this.

Give Up is an album of two halves for me; the first half is nice, enjoyable, atmospheric sounds with a retrospective feel to them, the first two tracks are excellent, Recycled Air is good too, feels like quite a bit of this has been an influence across a few other genres since then too. Back half isn't quite as strong, We Will Become Silhouettes has its moment but it sort of feels like it runs out of steam or ideas. Still, a good listen, 3/5.

I quite like the music - though I'm not entirely convinced by the Death Cab for Cutie vocals and the interaction between the two.

This sounds so dated to me now. I never really liked it at the time and always found this band really wet. But I can see why people like them and they are certainly talented song writers but it's just not for me.

Wow this reminded me of mid teens. Not that I liked Postal Service in particular but this was so the vibe! Will Hardy era. I have no idea what I make of this now! I think it might be bad...

Very retro- I like it. A bit poppy but then that's the name of the game I guess.

Kudos to them for pulling this off and I see a lot of people really love the result. I'm kind of meh about it. The overall impression is that the album is quite pretty; I really like the music, but the lyrics and vocals let the music down somewhat. They don't completely meld in the end and blandify the whole experience (to my ears). I have no objection to having been given it to listen and I could be convinced the album deserves to be on the main list.

Just listened to Death Cab For Cutie and I, to my own surprise, found this way more enjoyable! It sounds a bit dated today, and I unfortunately wasn’t riding this way back when it was released - but if I had been, this would easily have been a 4.

This was an odd electronica/synth pop album, that I would probably appreciate more, if I was already a fan of Ben Gibbard and Death Can For Cutie.

The Postal Service's Give Up is undeniably a landmark record. It was at the start of the early 2000s indietronica movement and the backstory of this album is as charming as it was forward-thinking. The idea of Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello building these songs through mailed files perfectly captures a very specific, pre-streaming 2003 ethos. For its cultural impact and the blueprint it laid down, it absolutely belongs on the 1001 essential list. Yet, for all its historical importance, I’ve always been a bit indifferent to the album itself. One of my main hurdle remains Gibbard’s voice; it’s just a personal taste I’ve never been able to get past. That said, Tamborello’s production is the consistent win. His drum programming, those sharp bass punches, and all the little textured details are what truly keep it interesting for me. It’s less an electro record and more a pop one, powered by an energy that’s both endearing and now feels quintessentially of its time. That early-2000s indie shimmer that is equal parts nostalgic and slightly dated. So, while this isn't an album I'll be spinning often, I absolutely get the reverence for it. It’s not totally my alley, but its influence on the wave of indie-electronic crossovers that followed is undeniable. 3.5*

Enjoyed the one without the really fucking annoying vocals on it.

Indietronica, indie pop, synth-pop. Qué dolor... Un 2.

I gave it a chance but this kind of music is just not for me. Obviously I’ve heard “such great heights” and I think it’s a fine song. But I’m not a fan of the vocal style, or the indie/electronic mashup.

Pleasant but dull.

Theres enough electronica on the original list, sure as shit don’t need more added

Eh. It was indie music and it was annoying. I made it through.

As one of my former coworkers used to say "Tomm'd up kid singing about being tomm'd up about some dumb shit." This sucked.

Never start a sentence with "I."