The Shins - Chutes too Narrow

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defintely an album you need to put some time into. more time than casual fans or those simply curious about it (reviewers) will be willing to commit to it, so it likely won't get much attention, especially with no "new slang"-style standout. subtle to a fault maybe.

― shut up, Wednesday, 10 September 2003 10:33 (twenty years ago) link

this album is so so so good. especially "young pilgrims". i was actually listening to this for the first time on my iPod while flying from orlando to NYC along the coast on a perfectly clear day and when the line that goes "there's a part of me that wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just fly the whole mess into the sea" came on and i almost teared up at the whole perfectness of that moment.

― jason m. (jason m), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 13:29 (twenty years ago) link

I think the new record really breaks the mold set by the last one. inverted world was really subdued and melancholy. theres alot of melody and alot of exuberance on chutes that really sets it apart. i couldnt take it out of my discman for a week once i got my hot little hands on it.

standout tracks for me: so says i, fighting in a sack, a call to apathy.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link

huh, I saw them play half the songs live last week at Bumbershoot, and they were all excellent - all except one were better than anything they played off OH, INVERTED WORLD. Seeing them again tonight, we'll see if I was on crack or not.

― doug (doug), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 16:44 (twenty years ago) link

To my ears, it sounds better than Oh, Inverted World, and this is from someone who fell in love with the first album. But Bill is right, Chutes breaks the mold and really has a nice variety of great pop songs that don't sound derivative. I saw them in NYC last week and the new songs were more well-received than the older ones, interestingly.

And don't worry about it coming out in the Fall -- the sound is just perfect for the season. It's interesting you should mention summer with their last album. I think they are just a group whose music is very evocative of the outdoors and vistas suggested by changing seasons. Look forward to it!

― Troy, Wednesday, 10 September 2003 20:31 (twenty years ago) link

I got a hold of Oh Inverted World a couple Christamas' ago, so it sounds like winter to me. It was raining the whole 3 months or so it was stuck in my cd player.

This new album is going to take a few listens. The first track is definately a winner. I've always liked the old songs live because the vocals are more aggressive and his voice sounds great when he's losing control of it. This track captures that for sure.

"A Call To Apathy" is the fav right now though....

― Charles, Monday, 15 September 2003 22:56 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...

"Gone For Good" and "A Call To Apathy" are the same song, right?

― Kristin, Tuesday, 7 October 2003 01:33 (twenty years ago) link

I have heard most of the songs, don't ask me how!
Fighting in a sack and Saint Simon are excellent.

― John Simpson, Sunday, 12 October 2003 18:29 (twenty years ago) link

I thought the dinky production held the last record back -- how does this thing sound?

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 12 October 2003 20:23 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...

okay, anyone else in this bitch going to the show tommorrow at headliners in louisville? somehow i doubt it, but thought i would ask anyhow.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 08:08 (twenty years ago) link

Nickalicious was thinking about it, but I warned him against it! (My peeps tell me they're boring live. Never seen 'em myself.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 08:38 (twenty years ago) link

two weeks pass...

I'm strongly beginning to suspect that 'Saint Simon' may be one of the best songs released this year.

― webcrack (music=crack), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:11 (twenty years ago) link

should I get this album?

I loved the fist. I think I should.

― Debito (Debito), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:37 (twenty years ago) link

>>should I get this album?

Yes!
>>I loved the fist

Don't we all, but there are other forums for that

― kinski (kinski), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:48 (twenty years ago) link

Ummmm. . . I'm not sure I want interpret your post without assuming you meant to say 'first' as opposed to 'fist'. But, each to their own, I suppose.

Regardless, the album is quite nice and well worth the $$.

― webcrack (music=crack), Friday, 5 December 2003 06:49 (twenty years ago) link

I think it's better than their first. I love this album. It's short and sweet and perfect in every way.

― BrianB, Friday, 5 December 2003 15:11 (twenty years ago) link

This album is great! They put on a great show, too! I hugged Marty Crandall. I couldn't not hug him. "Young Pilgrims" is prob'ly my fav track at the moment. I love James' voice.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 5 December 2003 15:51 (twenty years ago) link

I have that pre-echo chorus to "Turn A Square" on repeat in my head today, "I can't just, I can't just, I can't just staaay the course, keep my hands on the wheel. Our charters were right, my head's like a kite!"

― BrianB, Friday, 5 December 2003 16:11 (twenty years ago) link

for the longest time i was completely on the fence about this album. i wanted to like it, but part of me kept saying how shit it was. luckily, my sister likes it a lot, so i had no choice but to listen to it many more times. after the 9th listen or so it really started to grow on me. i honestly don't know how i ever thought that this album lacked hooks because it beats inverted world by a landshot in the catchy department.

― Felcher (Felcher), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

somebody respond to the lukewarm neumu review. thanks.

― arjun (arjun), Friday, 5 December 2003 20:14 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

this record is so wonderful, it's beautiful

i never use that word for indie rock lps

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:05 (twenty years ago) link

I think it sucks. And I love the first record. Contrary to the stance above that the dinky production held it back, I think the production on Inverted World let the prettiness of the songs shine through. This just sounds overproduced and even bombastic at times. Bleh.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:12 (twenty years ago) link

fie

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:27 (twenty years ago) link

Ams, I never would've guessed! I need to borrow this from my co-worker again; I listened to it once and liked it all right but it didn't quite sink in.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:31 (twenty years ago) link

At first, I didn't like it as much as Inverted World, but its' definitely a grower, if not as instantly catchy and lovable.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:33 (twenty years ago) link

well i dunno if the record is really that great, or if itll stay a favorite for very long, but its been the subject of a lot of thoughts about melody and arrangement and it also seems to fit my mood, or rather improve it mildly, recently

the lyrics are a BIG improvement over the first record

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 13 February 2004 18:34 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...

my ears perked as i listened to the cd then i came....oh boy it felt so good as i came and and came and came

― rooz mcgooz, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 17:21 (twenty years ago) link

ha ha good lord

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not clear on why anyone would settle for listening to the Shins when they could instead be listening to the New Pornographers.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:55 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe because they have better songs

― Sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:56 (twenty years ago) link

BECUASE NOT ALL PEPLE ARE INDY ELISTIS YUO SHIT (XPSOT)

― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 00:58 (twenty years ago) link

How many indie bands can dance on the head of a pin?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:09 (twenty years ago) link

I like both the New Pornographers and the Shins. I agree that the high points of the first one exceed anything on the new one...Weird Divide, Know Your Onion!

As a pop snob I do find the new one a bit bland in certain moods. Certainly more consistent than the Thrills' So Much for the City (which also contains two or three really great songs amidst some rather samey stuff).

And I don't like the production on the first one very much. They're nothing earth-shattering but nice pop. What/who sounds more like Nilsson, "Weird Divide" or Rufus Wainwright?

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:15 (twenty years ago) link

I met some dude out of that band on my birthday and he bought me a beer, even after I said I didn't like his band.

Nice guy.

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:18 (twenty years ago) link

The Shins are on Last Call tonight, for any who are interested.

The New Pornographers aren't on any shows tonight, because Dan Bejar is busy being better by himself.

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:27 (twenty years ago) link

pas/cal is better than both. or throth.

― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:12 (twenty years ago) link

OTM dean!

― subgenius (subgenius), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:50 (twenty years ago) link

the dumbening, the dumbening

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 03:57 (twenty years ago) link

indie bands can't dance Ned, you silly

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 04:25 (twenty years ago) link

What about when they screw in a lightbulb? That's dancing, right?

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 05:13 (twenty years ago) link

jess do you dislike the shins or just the assumed mentality that comes with liking them?

i don't know the new porns that well, but my first and second impressions were that while they were excellent, they hit the gas pedal really really hard a bit too much of the time; the shins are certainly no minimalists but they don't seem *quite* as eager to impress which makes them easier to swallow for me

― !!!! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 12:10 (twenty years ago) link

The weak link of the New Pornographers = Dan Bejar

Every song on the new Destroyer album sounds exactly the same! (But I guess if yr a Shins fan, that's a good thing.)

The New Pornographers = much more in common with Basement Jaxx than any of these crappy indie bands. Super pop maximalism.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 14:26 (twenty years ago) link

Nice in places, but there's something cumulatively and annoyingly ingratiating about it.

Although that does beg the question as to whether all music seeks to ingratiate itself by one route or another, some routes just being gnarlier and more flattering to the subcultural vanities of the listener than others ...

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 18:59 (twenty years ago) link

well to me it's just a matter of being invested in the song rather than having it tossed at me, but like i said, that was just a first or second impression of a few of their songs

― !!!! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 22:23 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

Just picked this up on recommendation from a friend, and it's lovely. I've been pretty bored with indie, recently, so it's especially good to find a record so charming and so likely to make me dance in my seat and air-drum on the bus. And 'turn a square'! Just so perfect and bouncing, that jigsaw guitar, the way the drum drives the final coda forward, and the 'just a glimpse of an ankle and / react like it's 1805' line. Makes me almost remember why I love indiepop.

Is it true that they're Sub Pop's biggest current band at the moment?

(I didn't think much of the last new Pornographers record, bar 'the laws have changed', so it kind of kept me from looking further into them - from this thread, I'm guessing it would be worth it?)

― cis (cis), Friday, 11 June 2004 12:36 (nineteen years ago) link

last year, i was so excited about the shins, and all of a sudden, for no reason whatsoever (even after seeing a really good show of theirs at CMJ), i just stopped caring. for whatever reason, my opinion of the new pornographers has stayed high and stable for much longer. i feel like theres more chemistry in the NP's sound than in the maybe slightly enervated pop of the shins. but yeah, electric version is great. the new ac newman record is good, too, but i think bejar and nekos voices are too essential to the NP's sound for me to like the ac newman as much as them... we'll see, though.

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 11 June 2004 12:55 (nineteen years ago) link

fifteen years pass...

is this about anal

― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Friday, 14 February 2020 21:46 (four years ago) link

it's about the struggle with anal suppositories when you have a tight catholic arse

― calzino, Friday, 14 February 2020 21:54 (four years ago) link

Shit's too narrow

― babby bitter (Noodle Vague), Friday, 14 February 2020 21:57 (four years ago) link

kissing the lipless, get it?

― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Friday, 14 February 2020 22:01 (four years ago) link

the shits - shoots poo arrows

― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 14 February 2020 22:23 (four years ago) link

The Shins will change your toilet habits

― babby bitter (Noodle Vague), Friday, 14 February 2020 22:29 (four years ago) link

is this really what this place is becoming? not even a fan of this band but this is just so unnecessary.

― Bee OK, Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:39 (four years ago) link

where have you Bee n for the last 18 years?

― calzino, Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:44 (four years ago) link

on here, i have been on this board since 2005.

― Bee OK, Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:47 (four years ago) link

time served eh?

― calzino, Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:50 (four years ago) link

early footage of Bee from 2005

https://blog.sonos.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Scene-02-Moview-Clip.gif

― babby bitter (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:50 (four years ago) link

Make to run a series of polls about it

― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Saturday, 15 February 2020 01:44 (four years ago) link

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