where is brandon now??
― buzza, Thursday, 15 March 2012 04:21 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 15 March 2012 04:25 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― akm, Thursday, 15 March 2012 04:44 (twelve years ago) link
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?
― billstevejim, Thursday, 15 March 2012 06:09 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 15 March 2012 10:11 (twelve years ago) link
It was always just Mercer tbf
― Number None, Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:05 (twelve years ago) link
People paying $45 to see The Shins here in Cleveland in 2012, gtfo.
― butvi wouls (Phil D.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
mercer and 'guy who dated the hot girl who lost on america's next top model'
― akm, Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:16 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― tylerw, Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link
"dated" the shit out of her, iirc.
but yeah, no one goes to the shins for their bass lines.
― like a musical album. made by a band. (fucking in the streets), Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
Bass on "Know Your Onion!" is actually pretty hot.
― butvi wouls (Phil D.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
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
― konybrony (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 16 March 2012 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
huh, the flake music stuff i heard seemed like sub-promise ring crapola. was i missing something?
― tylerw, Friday, 16 March 2012 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
heard the new song this morning. did not really like it.
― tylerw, Friday, 16 March 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― B-Boy Bualadh Bos (ecuador_with_a_c), Sunday, 18 March 2012 13:53 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 18 March 2012 14:21 (twelve years ago) link
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
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 10:47 (twelve years ago) link
so this album is not bad at all, i can see playing it this spring quite a bit.
― good luck Peeta Mellark (Bee OK), Thursday, 22 March 2012 03:37 (twelve years ago) link
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).
― humba (NZA), Thursday, 22 March 2012 04:09 (twelve years ago) link
that was marty crandall, the most huggable shin. he quit or got fired from the band.
can't speak to any of it except for that one "the shins" song. which more or less would've fit in on OIW
― it's smdh time in America (will), Thursday, 22 March 2012 04:25 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Walter Galt, Thursday, 22 March 2012 12:14 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 22 March 2012 12:33 (twelve years ago) link
i just bought Shins/Spoon tickets to see them together in San Diego.
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 03:21 (six years ago) link
has anyone heard this new album? i will play it tomorrow.
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 03:22 (six years ago) link
It's not very good.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 12:07 (six years ago) link
I like it a lot.
― geoffreyess, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 13:11 (six years ago) link
'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.
― treeship., Sunday, 18 October 2020 19:27 (three years ago) link
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.
― Evan, Sunday, 18 October 2020 20:04 (three years ago) link
i loved both 'oh, inverted world' and 'chutes too narrow', and agree that nothing else they've done really matters.
― Dan S, Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:28 (three years ago) link
their third album has some good stuff!
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:29 (three years ago) link
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
― Dan S, Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:38 (three years ago) link
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
― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:50 (three years ago) link
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
― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:54 (three years ago) link
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 sleevesThat has too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yardThe gray remains of a friendship scarred
― Dan S, Monday, 19 October 2020 00:02 (three years ago) link
You tested your mettle, with doe skin and petalsAnd kissing the lipless, who bleed all the sweetness away
― Dan S, Monday, 19 October 2020 00:32 (three years ago) link
"Pink Bullets" reliably destroys me if I let myself listen properly.
― assert (MatthewK), Monday, 19 October 2020 00:47 (three years ago) link
Since then it's been a book you read in reverseSo you understand less as the pages turnOr a movie so crass and awkwardly castThat even I could be the star
I don't look back much as a ruleAnd all this way before murder was coolBut your memory is here and I'd like it to stayWarm light on a winter's day
― Dan S, Monday, 19 October 2020 01:04 (three years ago) link
all five albums matter to me, though I'm not too fond of the new single
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Monday, 19 October 2020 01:40 (three years ago) link
I'm pleased that their best song is named after me
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 19 October 2020 01:55 (three years ago) link
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
― glengarry gary beers (voodoo chili), Monday, 19 October 2020 02:27 (three years ago) link
for me it's
When our kite lines first crossedwe tied 'em into knotsTo finally fly apartwe had to cut them off
― assert (MatthewK), Monday, 19 October 2020 02:28 (three years ago) link
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.
― assert (MatthewK), Monday, 19 October 2020 02:29 (three years ago) link
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.
― alpine static, Monday, 19 October 2020 07:04 (three years ago) link
James never really recovered from firing all the dudes he came up with, did he?
― alpine static, Monday, 19 October 2020 07:06 (three years ago) link
love that quite southwestern mishearing of New Slang, fgti
― Mule, Monday, 19 October 2020 10:09 (three years ago) link
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 the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Monday, 19 October 2020 12:56 (three years ago) link
'Turn A Square' is my choice for POO: The Shins. I'll never get tired of that one.
― cajunsunday, Monday, 19 October 2020 13:04 (three years ago) link
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"
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 19 October 2020 15:49 (three years ago) link
first two albums are their best but "phantom limb" is their best song
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 19 October 2020 15:51 (three years ago) link
Wincing up to and including "Turn On Me" is the Shins stuff I return to most these days
― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, 19 October 2020 15:53 (three years ago) link
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
― alpine static, Monday, 19 October 2020 17:47 (three years ago) link
Wincing is the only one that really grabbed me but I’m a sucker for all the Cure/Smiths influences on that album.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 22 November 2020 19:37 (three years ago) link
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.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 23 November 2020 08:19 (three years ago) link
R.I.P. former Shins/Flake Music bassist Neal Langford.
― Nonhuman biologics enthusiast (morrisp), Friday, 28 July 2023 18:44 (nine months ago) link