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OK, I'll admit it. I'm one of the few people I know who absolutely hates Death Cab for Cutie. I'm sorry, but I just think they're music is mediocre, their lyrics way too typically "alternative," and their lead singer annoying beyond belief. (Ditto that for Postal Service). And now, thanks to Wired News, I have yet another reason to hate them: Death Cab's Chris Walla is one of those idiots who thinks that digital production tools inhibit creativity.

Erm... no. Sorry. That's so ridiculously luddite I hardly know where to start. When the typewriter was first invented, did that impede writers' ability to write? What about the fountain pen? Did the choice of ink color or pen type give writers your so-called "option anxiety?" Or what about desktop publishing tools and graphic design? Or nonlinear editors and moviemaking? Or hell, for that matter, what about the addition of recorded sound to movies? Did that give filmmakers "option anxiety?"

Look, if you don't want to use digital tools, or if you don't understand how to use them, fine. No worries. But be honest about your reasons. Don't hide behind this nonsensical "The world of tape really rewards talent and it really rewards a work ethic, the digital world, at least in rock 'n' roll, tends to reward insecurity and a lack of drive" crap. Bad music doesn't come from bad tools. It comes from bad musicians.

From the beginning of time good musicians have been pushing their tools, using what they've been given to create things the world has never heard. There are, after all, only a limited number of notes one can play. What matter is how you put them together, and what tools you use to do that. That's it. That's all we've got. Sure thing, retro is cool, but remember... retro is only cool because its referencing something that was once out on the edge. Otherwise its not retro, its derivative. Or worse, nostalgic.

But don't take my word for it. When Rolling Stone Magazine named their top 500 albums of all time it was The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers that took home the prize. Why? Because unlike anyone ever in the history of music, they pushed their studio tools and their music to places that allowed them to create something totally new in the history of music. In Rolling Stone's words,

"Of the 700 hours the Beatles spent making Sgt. Pepper (engineer Geoff Emerick actually tallied them) from the end of 1966 until April 1967, the group needed only three days' worth to complete Lennon's lavish daydream "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." "A Day in the Life," the most complex song on the album, was done in just five days. (The oceanic piano chord was three pianos hit simultaneously by ten hands belonging to Lennon, McCartney, Starr, Martin and Beatles roadie Mal Evans.) No other Beatles appear with Harrison on his sitar-perfumed sermon on materialism and fidelity, "Within You Without You," but the band wisely placed the track at the halfway point of the original vinyl LP, at the beginning of Side Two: a vital meditation break in the middle of the jubilant indulgence. The Beatles' exploitation of multitracking on Sgt. Pepper transformed the very act of studio recording (the orchestral overdubs on "A Day in the Life" marked the debut of eight-track recording in Britain: two four-track machines used in sync). And Sgt. Pepper's visual extravagance officially elevated the rock album cover to a Work of Art. Michael Cooper's photo of the Beatles in satin marching-band outfits, in front of a cardboard-cutout audience of historical figures, created by artist Peter Blake, is the most enduring image of the psychedelic era. Sgt. Pepper was also the first rock album to incorporate complete lyrics to the songs in its design."

So yeah... you tell me, Mr. Walla... do you think The Beatles suffered from "option anxiety?" Sure, they spent 700 hours to produce one album, but did their work suffer from it in the end? Did their creative exploration of technology "reward insecurity and a lack of drive?" Is that what Sgt. Peppers' is indicative of? Cause if it is I missed the memo.

Good music is good music. What recording technology you choose to use is no excuse. I'm sorry, but methinks the Walla doth protest too much.

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