Yeah, I did know that. Seems to be a unanimous conclusion that the band has never been the same.
The big discovery for me over the past few months has been The Decemberists. Picaresque is just an awesome CD, as is Castaways and Cutouts.
Colin Meloy can give Dylan a run for his money as a lyricist.
Morningwood – Bouncy dance-pop rhythms with a hard rock edge. The lead singer sounds like a cross between Courtney Love and Belinda Carlisle.
Those of you who like the 80s (to early 90s) sound, especially R.E.M. and The Cure would probably like Death Cab for Cutie’s sound in the song I mentioned above. I can hear influences from both bands in the song.
No offense to you and your musical tastes, but that sounds ghastly. I may be the only person alive who loves 80s music and hates REM (except my husband - we’re so perfect for each other 
), and I’m no fan of The Cure, either. In spite of DCFC sounding like bands I don’t care for, I will probably give them a go next time I’m in a music store.
You can hear the influences, but they definitely have their own sound. You might be able to check them out on MTV.com’s videos section. I found them by doing a search. I seem to recall you had some trouble being able to see videos with Launch? You might find you like the video. It’s not exactly a happy cheery video, it’s yearning and a bit sad, but ends with hope. When I first saw it, I called it “trippy”. Here are the lyrics to the song. (I’m linked that page, even though it has spelling errors, because I didn’t get popups with it at least.)
Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
Perfect set for a midnight drive. Lanegan was the singer for the Screaming Trees.
Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
somewhere between Radiohead and Coldplay, 3rd good set in a row for Elbow.
Calla - Collisions
The National - Alligator
same type of sound as Arcade Fire, but imo better, no idea why they are not popular given what is given a lot of play on indie rock today.