The Shins C/D?

anyway, cant call em dud. wont call em classic. more time required.

They are one of the only indie bands that don't piss me off.

Still, judging from my current impression of the album, it will be a classic. Certainly great stuff.

oh inverted world, isn't classic, but it's super fun.

New Slang is hard to top, but for other amazing tracks, see Girl Inform Me from Oh Inverted World. I also echo the sentiment for Kissing The Lipless and Gone For Good from Chutes.

Just great pop.

I see they changed your life.

Admirable restraint, all.

Xpost: DAMN YOU RAGGETT!

Which song did Of Montreal cover? I'd like to hear that.

Aw, I'm a sucker for a chorus that teases and teases and then finally comes in with a big satisfying bang. So I love that part. I think Bagman's Gambit by The Decemberists does the same thing quite well.

Which song did Of Montreal cover? I'd like to hear that.

They covered "Know Your Onion." It was ok, I thought. Sounded like The Shins. Here it is: http://www.ofmontreal.net/mp3s/shinscover.mp3

I was listening to the Sub Pop retrospective that comes with the latest MOJO and "New Slang" was on it. It'd been a few years since I'd actually listened to it in full and (after mentally putting aside that the song has become the indie-pop equivalent of "Stairway to Heaven" since then) I was pleasantly surprised! You forget just how winsome of a song it is. Some of the fey, hippie lyrics reminded me of something Donovan would've sung too.

Oh, and the specific line that's oddly reminiscent of Donovan is "And if you'd 'a took to me like/A gull takes to the wind/"

The new disc has held its value far longer than I expected. It's lightweight and inconsequential, but also catchy and tuneful.

first one is way, way classic. 2nd one is good song-writing, if a bit forgettable after a couple of years. never heard the third.

Sleeping Lessons and Australia are phenomenal on the newest album, especially at the end of Australia when the singer moans exactly like Morrissey. Phantom Limb is pretty good too but other than that yikes! Totally bland melodies and lyrics, watered-down and formulaic, songs that sound like weaker versions of their previous tunes. The last song is like a third-rate New Slang.

Actually, my favorite song on the disc is Sea Legs. It's jaunty and the synth line is surprisingly sexy and something about the overall song (the guitar strumming, maybe) reminds me of 80s acts like The Cure.

First one is classic, second album quite good, third is pleasant.

I have never, ever heard The Shins consciously.

It's weird. I live in Portland. I see a hundred shows a year (or more).

I have never seen the Shins, the Thermals, or the Decemberists (or Everclear for that matter).

I have seen partial sets from Sleater-Kinney and Dandy Warhols. Both made me feel angry.

I wish more people knew about the real greats from here (past and present). Hitting Birth, Umberhulk, Rabbits, Rollerball, Magick Daggers, Silentist, Fist Fite, Gern Blanston, Iommi Stubbs, Nice Nice, etc.

At least Danava is getting some love on MT2.

Nick: if you like Fleet Foxes, then should take a chance with the first Shins album.

Not like after I posted above, I listened to Chutes Too Narrow and another one. I found it to be horrific.

Would you feel the same way if they were totally unknown, carrying none of the baggage about them being a band that will "change your life"? I think they've got a great sense of melody and good vocal harmonies. They're just horribly overhyped.

Horrific? Were you in the midst of a bad acid trip or something? That seems like a pretty weird reaction to have to The Shins.

Yeah, I can imagine, that someone finds the Shins boring or average or so, but 'horrific'? And that's from someone who loves Midlake and the Fleet Foxes... strange.

"New Slang" has a great tune, but the lyrics are atrocious. There are a couple of other very good songs on Inverted World, but they're ultimately disposable.

His lyrics can be a little too vague and obscure for my tastes. I think it's common for indie dudes these days to fall back on throwing together a bunch of scattered imagery in lieu of actually saying something (i.e. New Pornographers). But I think James Mercer is better than average. What do you find atrocious about New Slang's lyrics? I think it's got some good lines.

Band of Horses have atrocious lyrics though. They'd be better off pulling a Sigur Ros and dropping the charade of singing words.

^ These last two posts got it. They're solid for what they are. Enjoyable mellow indie, far from dipping into vanilla Jack Johnson and Ed Harcourt. They're not doing anything new, but I'll take them over any other acoustic/electric group that's come out recently. I'm not their biggest fan, but I'm glad they have a nice little following. I also try hard not to think of Garden State when listening to them.

* I meant "this last post's got it."

uh new pornographers lyrics say things, you're just too dumb to get them?

But TNP lyrics are hardly their best asset (unlike, say, The Hold Steady). And I love TNP, so I'm not trying to insult them.

The New Pornos aren't the worst offenders out there. But I tend to hear their songs as nice melodies that someone threw words on top of, as opposed to a song where neither lyrics nor melody seems more primary than the other. Still I think the Shins are better lyrically. But I agree with Daniel that neither are really "lyrics bands" like the aforementioned Hold Steady or The Mountain Goats or something.

i always dug kissing the lipless but the rest of CTN i found a bit dull, certainly quite a lot duller than inverted

never heard the album that came after

The Shins are a great band that have unfortunately been tarred by association with yon emo man-child Zach Braff. To me they've been one of the most consistent bands, song-for-song, of the last few years. Lyrically, Mercer's failings are standard shy guy indie rock stuff: being a bit scared to come out and say something directly plus occasional unnecessary wordiness. I'm a sucker though, for the "I don't get it" -> "Ah now I do, having listened closer" thing that the indirectness creates. Also, saying that a band isn't a "lyrics band" in comparison to The Mountain Goats seems a bit like saying they're not a guitar band next to Jimi hendrix or Television. Anyway, classic, for having tune after tune after tune, even if Chutes Too Narrow felt a bit unfinished and demo-ey.

On the other hand, I saw them in Dublin last year, and the keyboardist really needs to STFU in between songs.

Also, saying that a band isn't a "lyrics band" in comparison to The Mountain Goats seems a bit like saying they're not a guitar band next to Jimi hendrix or Television.

Ha, that's a good point, but I was reaching for something indisuputable that wouldn't start some kind of tangential argument. Like if I said they're not a lyrics band like The Decemberists I felt like I'd be setting up some kind of zing.

Anyway, classic, for having tune after tune after tune, even if Chutes Too Narrow felt a bit unfinished and demo-ey.

Really, how do you figure? It sounds a lot more polished than OIW, doesn't it? Which isn't to say I prefer it. I think they're both solid records.

CTN is a higher fidelity recording, with better mics etc., but OIW seems to have more little details - the trumpet in The Past and Pending, the synths at the end of One By One All Day etc., and to be the product of more obsessive bedroom tweaking. I dunno, maybe my ears are being fooled by the extra reverb.

OIW sounds better, don't really have any use for CTN after the first track. It's weird, I totally stopped listening to this band one day about 4 years ago and have never wanted to return. They're a little too cute with their songs and Mercer's voice does not agree with me.

I understand what the above posts are saying about the Shins not being a lyrics band. I like their style of lyrics, though. The lyrics always seem to relate to very deeply felt personal experiences. They tell stories, but make them abstract enough that you can project your own experiences/feelings on to them. Some of the lyrical phrases are astoundingly beautiful.

I think "Chutes Too Narrow" was their peak. The melodies are slightly better than on "Oh Inverted World", and the lyrics are a perfect mix of concrete and abstract, affecting without being too literal or maudlin. It was the harmonies on that album that really got me, though. I was a little disappointed that "Wincing The Night Away", for all of the beauty of it's sound, seemed to do away with the vocal harmonies for the most part. I also still haven't warmed up to the lyrics on the new one, which seem to be a little too abstract, although it could be that I just haven't given it enough listens.

All of their recordings have beautiful sonic details, and I'm amazed that they keep coming up with new ones. I also like James Mercer's voice.

I can see some people not liking this type of music, but I don't understand where all the hate for this band comes from. Is it really because of the Garden State soundtrack? It's hard for me to understand how it's so difficult to separate the music from the hype. Maybe not seeing them live and not knowing anything about the scene or about their personal lives makes it easier to just appreciate the music.

I did a search and found that this is the most populous Shins thread?

I am wrong aren't I?

Just seen the 'New Slang' video for the first time. About three decades after its release

It is a great tune but I am so impressed with the following references

Huskers zen arcade junkyard
Replacements let it be roof top
Slint's lake
Minutemen's Nickel dash
and to take the biscuit, a blatant reference to Squirell Baits's fist album cover

I love the Shins

I heard Shins a while ago fwiw.

Passed them off as indie landfill

To whom?

dud. two good songs, rest is girlish wooings.

man i have much love for oh! inverted world. it's ethereal, vaguely retro without being obnoxious about it, all-around perfect imo. chutes is tight songwriting, catchy, the whole package, but i can't say i *love* it. never heard a note from the other one.

Well, for obvious reasons, it's classic

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00039/frontpage200708_39064s.jpg