The Shins

nope, this is the fourth.

IIRC, Garden State turns 8 this year.

search: "the shins" by flake music (their pre-shins name).

the best song these guys have ever done

the more i think about it, the more correct i think this is.

where is brandon now??

i liked the first two records by these guys, but couldn't stand the third one.

I liked a handful of songs on the first two, but thought the third was their first really good album. Then Mercer unceremoniously fired everyone else and kept the name. So, hmph.

Probably wouldn't even have any interest in this one at all if it weren't for Richard Swift's involvement.

saw them on SNL this weekend, how boring was that, nice they have some girls in the band though (well, one, and some backup singers?). would never have known that was the shins though.

if i think Side A of Chutes Too Narrow was their artistic peak by a reasonably enormous margin, will I enjoy any of the new stuff?

Listened to the stream of this the other day, thought it was pretty awful - and I love the first three albums. There's the occasional nice vocal melody but the songwriting seems to have taken a massive drop in quality. The production doesn't do them any favours either, it just kind of smothers the songs.

It was always just Mercer tbf

People paying $45 to see The Shins here in Cleveland in 2012, gtfo.

mercer and 'guy who dated the hot girl who lost on america's next top model'

actually thought the drumming on the first one was something that set the band apart a little bit. had kind of a nice bounce to it.

"dated" the shit out of her, iirc.

but yeah, no one goes to the shins for their bass lines.

Bass on "Know Your Onion!" is actually pretty hot.

dang i thought the fact that the dude in the shins had been in scared of chaka was like the most interesting thing abt that band

tho i like oh inverted world quite a bit

huh, the flake music stuff i heard seemed like sub-promise ring crapola. was i missing something?

heard the new song this morning. did not really like it.

I'm a huge fan of the first three albums but this is bland as hell, production's not flattering, only good song is September, and that just sounds like a bunch of their earlier songs sewn together.

It seems to be missing that rhythm section spark from their last album, which is what grabbed me. But Shins albums require a bit of time to unfold, so I'm witholding judgement for now.

I seem to be in the minority in enjoying the Cure/Mozzisms on the last one. Not sure if that sound got carried over to the new one

so this album is not bad at all, i can see playing it this spring quite a bit.

i feel like mercer's voice is getting too old to keep up the shtick of his younger days and he's still reaching for the melodies of his 20s but there ain't no going back any more (this goes for you too, wayne coyne).

mercer and 'guy who dated the hot girl who lost on america's next top model'

that was marty crandall, the most huggable shin. he quit or got fired from the band.

huh, the flake music stuff i heard seemed like sub-promise ring crapola. was i missing something?

can't speak to any of it except for that one "the shins" song. which more or less would've fit in on OIW

marty crandall, the most huggable shin. he quit or got fired from the band.

I couldn't STAND that guy both of the times I saw them live on their first couple of tours. He was the one who would handle 'wacky' crowd banter - during one of the shows I saw in Long Beach, CA, he spoke exclusively in an ultra-cringey 'hip hop' accent (as a tribute to Snoop Dogg, iirc). Made me murdery.

Pretty sure he plays on the new album, post-firing.

Anyway, mississippi sh@kedown OTM, and now when I think of the Shins it makes me take out Scared of Chaka's Tired of You LP, which I like better than any Shins album.

The new one is great, and sounds like the benefited from signing to a major. A much fuller and better sound, closer to pop perfection.

i just bought Shins/Spoon tickets to see them together in San Diego.

has anyone heard this new album? i will play it tomorrow.

It's not very good.

I like it a lot.

'oh, inverted world' and 'chutes too narrow' are essential albums of the 00's. i don't think anything else they've done really matters.

listened to the former today and was surprised at how good some of the melodies are. 'girl on the wing' in particular.

I’ve always loved flake music too but that’s squarely more of a 90s American lofi thing that I’m a sucker for.

i loved both 'oh, inverted world' and 'chutes too narrow', and agree that nothing else they've done really matters.

their third album has some good stuff!

It felt to me that they had great oblique lyrics and that James Mercer's voice and the music were really affecting in those first two albums

I'm a huge stan for "Oh, Inverted World". Insofar as Zombies-descendent music goes that first album is the best of its kind imo

When my ex-bf and I were first dating, he had a habit of sending me e-mails with cute song lyrics in all-lower case as the subject ("all the umbrellas in london", "to fall asleep to your tape last night") and one of the ones he used was "you're safe when you notice the stripes", which was what I always thought the lyric was, and thought it was about seeing the stripes on a snake and realizing it wasn't poisonous

Called to see if your back was still aligned

And your sheets were growing grass out of the corners of your bed

But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
That has too much to do with me

And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The gray remains of a friendship scarred

You tested your mettle, with doe skin and petals
And kissing the lipless, who bleed all the sweetness
away

"Pink Bullets" reliably destroys me if I let myself listen properly.

Since then it's been a book you read in reverse
So you understand less as the pages turn
Or a movie so crass and awkwardly cast
That even I could be the star

I don't look back much as a rule
And all this way before murder was cool
But your memory is here and I'd like it to stay
Warm light on a winter's day

all five albums matter to me, though I'm not too fond of the new single

I'm pleased that their best song is named after me

it’s funny to see everyone posting lyrics, cause i always felt they were evocative, but ultimately just there to adorn the melody, a.c. newman-style. mercer can definitely turn a memorable phrase, though.

and yeah, saint simon is one of their very best, along with gone for good, pink bullets, and young pilgrims

for me it's

When our kite lines first crossed
we tied 'em into knots
To finally fly apart
we had to cut them off

and later

The years have seemed short but the days go slowly by
Two loose kites falling from the sky
Drawn to the ground and an end to flight.

I agree the third album has lots of good stuff, though it obviously isn't on the same level as the first two.

I thought the most recent album - Heartworms, I had to go look it up - was better than expected (and better than the one before it). And the last show I saw was a blast after a couple that ... weren't.

James never really recovered from firing all the dudes he came up with, did he?

love that quite southwestern mishearing of New Slang, fgti

i always felt they were evocative, but ultimately just there to adorn the melody, a.c. newman-style. mercer can definitely turn a memorable phrase, though.

yeah - while I love the first two records this has prevented me from getting more into them tbh, newman/pornos too. the melodies are stunning, but after a certain point I get kind of exhausted keeping up with the lyrical phrasing, all those long breathless runs of syllables that cover every note of every melody, it can feel like speedreading with the TV on in the background.

'Turn A Square' is my choice for POO: The Shins. I'll never get tired of that one.

I didn't and don't care much for Chutes (or anything lacking the hazy mood of Inverted), but "Saint Simon" is totally gorgeous

And yeah, this band and AC Newman, same field but Carl outclasses The Shins always

And yeah, straight-facedly quoting Shins lyrics only makes me realize "the guy is not a writer"

first two albums are their best but "phantom limb" is their best song

Wincing up to and including "Turn On Me" is the Shins stuff I return to most these days

listening to Wincing for the first time in 10 years rn

this record is still very good. like there's nothing wrong with a B+ after two A+ albums.

Australia and Phantom Limb and Turn On Me are all-timer tunes

Wincing is the only one that really grabbed me but I’m a sucker for all the Cure/Smiths influences on that album.

Same here, and I had never been able to pinpoint exactly why that album felt so different. It also swings oddly in the rhythm section.

R.I.P. former Shins/Flake Music bassist Neal Langford.