It's quaint to think of it now: Electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard named their project Postal Service because they used to send demos back and forth to each other – in the good old-fashioned U.S. Mail. In a way, that suits the glitchy, retro computer pop the duo made on Give Up, with help from Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis and Temper Trap’s Jen Wood. Songs like "Such Great Heights" – whose inclusion on the soundtrack to Garden State elevated the album's profile – and "Nothing Better" bubbled with sweet little blips and bloops and bright patches of synth-manipulated  strings whose crispness balanced Gibbard’s delicate warble.

Related:
• Rolling Stone's Original 2003 Review

• Death Cab for Cutie Grow Up On 'Codes and Keys'

• Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Aughts: Postal Service's "Such Great Heights"