Brainy 'geek rock' is posting smart sales numbers They're not glamorous, groomed or buff.
In fact, some seem more like junior-college professors than pop stars.
But lately, a rash of unkempt â?? and decidedly intellectual â?? bands have been making enough sales headway to constitute a whole new commercial wave of alterna-rock.
Call it "geek-rock" or "dweeb-core," but its adherents include Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, the Postal Service, the Shins, Bright Eyes and Iron & Wine.
All have seen major sales spikes in the last two years.
Modest Mouse kicked off this commercial ascent last summer with the platinum breakthrough of their fourth album, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." The group's previous CD, 2001's "Sad Sappy Sucker," sold just 66,000 copies. Its 2004 work moved more than 1.4 million.
The dreamily poetic "band" Bright Eyes (essentially an alias for the singer-songwriter Conor Oberst) has more than doubled its sales of late. Bright Eyes' album from 2002 moved 242,000 units; a simultaneous release of two CDs last January has so far pushed more than 500,000 copies combined.
Last month, the soundtrack to the movie "Garden State" (which includes prominent tracks from Iron & Wine and the Shins) passed the platinum mark. Just before that, the Postal Service's album delivered gold (500,000 units).
And last week, Death Cab saw a huge sales uptick. While their previous CD, on the indie Barsuk label, opened with just 13,000 copies sold (earning a total figure of 326,000 after more than two years on the market), the group's major-label debut, "Plans," moved more than 90,000 copies in its first week. "Plans" opened on Billboard's latest Top 200 Album chart at a lofty No. 4.
The way Death Cab leader Ben Gibbard sees it, "People from our generation â?? in their late 20s to early 30s â?? are now getting into positions where they can bring their own likes and dislikes to the masses. They're ad executives and music supervisors and magazine editors. They're taking the indie rock they grew up with and bringing it to all of pop culture."
That's been most obvious on shows like "The Gilmore Girls" or "The "O.C.," the soundtracks of which regularly push songs by "dweeb-core" bands. Death Cab even made a guest appearance on "The O.C.," and they're the subject of frequent fawnings by one of the show's major characters.
"These bands are filling the void from R.E.M.," opines Spin executive editor Doug Brod. "R.E.M. still make records, but they're not good ones."
Yet Brod believes there's a ceiling to how far these dorks can climb. "They don't have the superstar charisma the grunge stars had," he explains. "Guys like [Soundgarden's] Chris Cornell or Kurt Cobain were almost larger-than-life figures with real sex appeal.
"Frankly," Brod sums up, "these guys are nerds in sweaters and polyester pants who sing sensitive songs. That can only take you so far."
