The Underrated Role of the Producer: Christopher Walla

People that know me well are likely to have heard me lecture about the great importance of a music producer and how they are very responsible for a great song, but this usually applies to when I discuss hip-hop (where the producer is the one who creates that catchy beat for the artist to just jump on and throw some lyrics over). More recently though, I have been earning a greater respect for the producer when it comes to rock music.

In rock music (or any instrument driven type of music, rather than electronically produced beats), the producer's job can vary. From what I know, the producer essentially just coordinates the project, so this can simply mean just sitting back and watching the band and engineers record away, or it can be a job position that is very involved in the music-creating process. They typically will make suggestions on how something can sound better and what will help to make the individual tracks come together as an album as a whole.

Christopher Walla is one music producer that has really stood out to me. If you don't recognize the name, you probably know at the very least one project of his. For one thing, he's a guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie, and has a very solid solo album of his own. On the production side, the credits get much larger. In addition to producing of course his own album, and all of Death Cab's cds, some of his production credits include the following albums:

(You can click the album titles for a YouTube link to a song from each album)
The Postal Service- Give Up (possibly my favorite album of all time)
The Decemberists- Picaresque and The Crane Wife (in my opinion the Decemberists' best two albums)
Nada Surf- The Weight Is a Gift (edges away Lucky for their best album)
Tegan and Sara- The Con and Sainthood (I haven't listened to their older stuff enough to necessarily declare these latest two their best albums, but they're certainly very strong albums and I think is at the least tied with their best work)
Telekinesis- Telekinesis! (I only just started listening to this album, but I love it)
Other big band names he's produced albums for include The Thermals and Hot Hot Heat; both of which Walla produced two albums a piece for (but I don't listen to them so I can't give my opinion).

This list includes some of indie rock's finest albums, and with all of the aforementioned albums (don't forget all of the Death Cab discography!) being products of Chris Walla's production, I simply think that it would be ignorant to believe that Walla's role as the producer doesn't play a vital role in maximizing the potential out of each band and getting them to perform at their best for each of their respective, distinct sounds.

It is also for this reason that I am very pleased that the band "The Lonely Forest" who is from my small hometown of Anacortes, WA and features members that were only 2 years ahead of me in high school have been the first band signed to Chris Walla's new label called "Trans". The Lonely Forest will be performing at Sasquatch Music Festival for the second straight year, and you can check their music out here or find it on iTunes. I am certainly looking forward to a Christopher Walla produced album by them to come soon!