It seems so quaint in hindsight, but the Postal Service's Give Up -- the one and only collaboration between Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and electronic producer Jimmy "Dntel" Tamborello -- was created between Seattle and Los Angeles through the gradual exchange of burned CD-Rs in the mail over 2001 and 2002. 

For a record created on a lark by two friends messing around during downtime from their "day jobs," it has since done rather well. Give Up is, in fact, the second best-selling album ever released on Sub Pop Records, right behind Nirvana's Bleach, with close to 1.5 million copies now in circulation since the record's very quiet release in February of 2003. Gibbard and Tamborello reunited for anniversary tours at the 10- and 20-year marks in 2013 and 2023, respectively, but they've left their one collection of dreamy emo-electro ditties entirely alone. Perhaps they know they'll never recapture the magic of "Such Great Heights" and "We Will Become Silhouettes" in an age where digital files can be exchanged on a second's notice. Why mess with a good thing?

TRACKLISTING:

1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. Such Great Heights
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. We Will Become Silhouettes
8. This Place Is A Prison
9. Brand New Colony
10. Natural Anthem