http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/03/stream-the-shins-port-of-morrow/

the next nine months have some pretty big shoes to fill if they wanna top this.

fuck hyperbole. this shit is great.


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because 'wincing the night away', this album and the broken bells side project are anything but.


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And besides, they harbor woman beating idiots.

Sorry. Discussion of vapid, status quo, "indie" bands —that were never that good in the first place— chaps me and whatnot.

~Austin

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Since you so desperately wanted it.

And again, you really need to stop stalking me. You're starting to embarrass yourself.

~Austin

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explain this woman beating thing tho.


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http://gawker.com/341622/shins-rocker-beats-up-only-person-he-can-his-skinny-girlfriend

~Austin

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yeah he's not in the band anymore.

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nm

. . .for not liking someone.

In the band anymore or not, what a waste of a person. I was merely cashing in on the fact that the lowlife was once aligned with a really contrived, overrated, boring band.

It's called wit. Learn about it. It might make you less of an uptight asshole.

Oh, sorry. I'm "stupid" to you because I don't see exactly your world view through your eyes. I forgot.

~Austin

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So I'm sure no musical artist you like has beaten their wife or girlfriend before.

Everyone from Miles Davis to Big Pun has been linked to such stories.

I don't give a fuck if you don't like The Shin but you can miss me with this selective ass 'Holier Than Thou' hypocritical bullshit.

Because I don't want to actually say anything.

I clearly don't give a fuck what you have to say.

But I will entertain this as long as you will.

Let's see how far we can take it.

~Austin

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Essentially that it is an inferior artform. I find perspectives like that quite intersting. Does anyone consider music an inferior artform? I know there are people who don't care for it but to actually consider it a waste of time? Hugh grant doesn't like music but that's the only one I know... Oh yeah, a fat girl I met on the tram a couple of years ago when going home drunk. She literally said "Don't discuss music, music sucks! Let's talk movies instead!". I still hit it but I can't lie, I found that statement somewhat off-putting...

Books>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>movies

And whathaveyou.

~Austin

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Movies, generally, are a waste of time.

Exceptions, of course.

But, you know, literature. Just. . . literature, my dude.

~Austin

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>Movies, generally, are a waste of time.
>
>Exceptions, of course.

http://theyesyesyalls.com
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>And besides, they harbor woman beating idiots.
>
>Sorry. Discussion of vapid, status quo, "indie" bands —that
>were never that good in the first place— chaps me and
>whatnot.
>
>~Austin
>
>Please donate.
>For Anthony: http://bit.ly/xIIjaE
>For Cris: http://bit.ly/whuzky
>
>

i actually agree with this cocksucker.

shins str8 elevator indie muzak.

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i'm definitely gonna give the album a good listen.

lol.


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this shit is like wilco meets the beach boys. it's pop perfection.


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im reviewing it and its due thursday, but I also want to buy it first and experience it that way.

Im really excited for this. I listened to the first single a couple of times (and liked it), but mostly wanted to hear it in one sitting.

>this shit is like wilco meets the beach boys. it's pop
>perfection.
>
>
>http://theyesyesyalls.com
>http://facebook.com/theyesyesyalls
>http://reverbnation.com/theyesyesyalls
>http://twitter.com/shamelessplug

lololol duke just compared the shins to the beach boys (an wilco)

u seem a good dude but i think u mite hav to call yr self after that comment.

str8 blasphemy my dude.

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And nobody will ever own up to them?

You lost me.

~Austin

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especially on a dreary day such as this....


lurkin since 1999. werd.

Maybe Howler too.

Thanks Al.

I first heard them on SNL and was blown away by one song they did....underwhelmed by the other. Checked out what I think was their debut album and thought there was a couple really well-written songs but mostly boring. Didn't like Broken Bells either but I can see that dude has great writing potential.

Initial thoughts while listening.....

His voice still grates on me.

Second song is great. (Simple Song)

All of the production 'colours' are unimpressive to me though. Wondering what these songs might sound like stripped down. Alot of the added sounds/sonics are kinda predictable and cliche to me. Perhaps distracting from the song-writing? Perhaps not focused or discriminating enough? Kinda sounds like a 'everything but the kitchen sink' thing. But it also sounds like the songs were written with only acoustic guitar/piano and then (over)produced.

Fourth song is pretty good. (Bait and Switch)

They could use a better rhythm section. The Fifth song (september) is mostly ruined by them for me.

Can't help but feel that he hasn't really found a proper sound for his writing. The production sounds wayward....all over the place. And the band isn't very good. Started losing my interest midway through but the songwriting kept me intrigued.

I'll also say it could be a slow-burner/creeper of a record. Gonna check it out again.

as far as their production goes, a lot of people differ on how they view what shins music "should" sound like to them.

most people would probably say that they'd be better off stripped-down and lo-fi like they used to be. i'm kinda in the minority where i like their more slickly produced stuff better. their last effort 'wincing the night away' especially.


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i can think of a few albums that are better, though.

you need to listen to the albums from

bear in heaven, white rabbits, trampled by turtles, trailer trash traceys, django django

I fully expect that to be an AOTY contender

just gave it my first listen, and it's really not likely to garner any more.

*leaves thread*

and then explain how the the shins' last two albums classify as it.


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http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16390-port-of-morrow/

The Shins
Port Of Morrow
8.4 (Best New Music)

The Sopranos ended. The United States elected an African-American president. The global financial system more or less keeled over. The U.S. stopped sending people into space and "got" Osama Bin Laden, both in the same year. Harry Potter peaced out-- twice. Zach Braff's career shit the bed. Martin Scorcese won an Oscar, finally. Jeff Mangum returned. R.E.M., LCD Soundsystem, the White Stripes-- called it quits, all of 'em. Michael Jackson died, and so did Whitney Houston. Pop music headed out to the club, mainstream hip-hop more or less went bust, people started buying more vinyl (and, to a lesser extent, cassettes), and "indie" culture traded its guitars for turntables (or, at the very least, pirated audio software and synthesizers that didn't take up too much space in the bedroom).

A lot can happen in five years, the amount of time since the Shins released their last album, the eclectic and overlooked Wincing the Night Away. During that stretch, the band's primary songwriter and sole constant member, James Mercer, also went digital. In 2010, he teamed up with Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton to form Broken Bells, a collaboration that has led to an album and an EP, both of which were light on things like "songs" and "choruses." The problem with Broken Bells is that it took up so much of Mercer's time and didn't provide a proper outlet for one of big-tent indie pop's strongest songwriters. For a few years, the idea of a new (never mind good) Shins album seemed unlikely. Mercer sounded hopelessly adrift.

A deep breath, then: James Mercer has returned to Earth. Port of Morrow, the Shins' fourth studio album in 11 years, is a triumphant return from a project that once risked being reduced to an indie-went-mainstream tagline. It's the perfect distillation of the Shins' back catalog-- the jangly, wistful airs of Oh, Inverted World, Chutes Too Narrow's genre-resistant playfulness, Wincing the Night Away's expansively detailed production. But in other ways, its colorful, detail-oriented approach sets it apart from anything Mercer's done before.

Mercer invited a cast of characters both new (Janet Weiss, production wiz Greg Kurstin, singer/songwriter Nik Freitas) and old (Modest Mouse's Joe Plummer, Fruit Bats' Eric D. Johnson, on-and-off supporting players Marty Crandall and Dave Hernandez) to realize his ornate pop-rock creations. All contributions are felt-- you don't need liner notes to tell how many people worked on this thing-- but none more so than Kurstin's. His multi-instrumental arrangements and behind-the-boards know-how are what make Port of Morrow one of 2012's best-sounding records thus far. Every element here is tricked out for maximum emotional effect-- experience total power-pop pleasure overload from "Simple Song"'s acrobatic pile of guitars, get the chills from the drifting sea breeze-echo of "September", and wrap yourself in "For a Fool"'s string-laden lushness. Needless to say, these songs would sound great on Natalie Portman's humongous headphones.

Of course, Kurstin wouldn't matter if the raw materials weren't so strong: Mercer (who also co-produced) delivers the goods, mostly by being himself. He's either missed out on the last few years of indie's ever-shifting microtrends or simply doesn't care about "the conversation." And thank fucking god for that. More so than any other Shins album, Port of Morrow doesn't sound like it belongs to any particular decade or style, instead hopping around like some fully loaded AM radio dial that cranks out gem after gem. There's the sugary new-wave "Bait and Switch", "No Way Down"'s meat-and-potatoes American pop-rock (right down to the "Jack & Diane"-biting guitar hook), the title track's creeping psych-soul bombast. Most surprisingly, there's "Fall of '82", a Steve Miller Band-meets-Chicago lite-rock hybrid-- muted trumpet solo!-- that also works as a "Summer of '69" update. (These are all good things.)

Lyrically, I've always thought of James Mercer as a cousin of A.C. Newman, another songwriter with a gift for spinning gold from the sounds from the past. Newman's never been shy about writing kinda-nonsensical lyrics that simply sound good accompanying a solid melody (think "Sing Me Spanish Techno", or "Submarines of Stockholm"). Although Wincing the Night Away had dark undertones drawn from Mercer's personal life, he's got a similar knack for writing beautiful words that don't need to mean anything in particular. Along with its other strong points, Port of Morrow proves he hasn't lost that talent, especially when rhapsodizing on matters of the heart. "Simple Song" and "Fall of '82" score points for sharp, nostalgic description, but "September" is the real winner, a straightforward stunner of stumbling affection with a shining pearl of a couplet buried within: "Love is the ink in the well/ When her body writes."

Despite all the hullabaloo about band members getting "fired," the fact is that Mercer isn't a member of the Shins-- he is the Shins, and he always has been. In a recent interview, he expressed his frustration over how to represent that specificity: "Bands I really loved were these auteurs who presented themselves as bands-- Neutral Milk Hotel, the Lilys-- and I just felt, 'Why am I not allowed to do that?'" Consider Port of Morrow, then, the results of an auteur's accepting that role while having a load of fun with his friends in order to realize it. Comeback stories don't get much better than that.


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