The Postmarks
By-the-Numbers
Release Date: Nov 11, 2008
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Pop
Record label: Unfiltered
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Album Review: By-the-Numbers by The Postmarks
Fairly Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
This completely passed me by, but the Postmarks were offering up these humble but charming cover songs at a rate of one per month for the whole of 2008. They were originally free downloads through eMusic, a sort of less ambitious version of Bishop Allen’s EP-per-month from last year. So, yes, the gimmick is that each song is chosen because it features prominently the number of the month in which it was released – hence, By-the-Numbers.
Based on rating 6/10
In 2008, the Postmarks released a new song digitally every month, each song being a cover version of a tune featuring a number in the title that corresponded to the number of the month -- a pretty good idea to fight off the blahs of a tanking music industry and the rigors of recording an album all at once. The songs were all collected and released in November under the title By-the-Numbers. While many of the songs the group selected to cover are intriguing (Ride's "OX4" and the Ramones' "7-11"), inspired (the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Nine Million Rainy Days"), or totally left-field (the Ventures' "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue"), many are also somewhat obvious (the Bond theme "You Only Live Twice," Jobim's "One Note Samba"), ill-suited for the group (the Byrds' "Eight Miles High," David Bowie's "Five Years"), or just plain wrong (Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds").