CRM114

Thanks for the Of Montreal tip. Downloaded it from emusic.com.

CRM114

I think you nailed exactly why I don't like the new album. It seems Mercer's voice is mixed too far out front. Everything is too polished. And there just is no match to thr quality of songs on the first album (New Slang, Know Your Onion, Weird Divide, The Celibate Life in particular is just utter perfection). Oh well, to each their own.

Brain Stew

I liked their second album best.

magman

I think the new CD is great, but I still prefer the previous one. The new seems just a little too over produced.

J-Dubya

just saw them 2 nights ago at First Ave in Minneapolis, great show once again! This was the 3rd time I've seen them at that venue. I wish I had made a set list but I was having too much fun. They opened the show with Sleeping Lessons which is my favorite off the new album. Funny they didn't play New Slang, maybe they are tired of it, just jokin', they played it. Can't wait to see them again.

fliggil

They just added a bunch of March dates to their tour in the US, anyone know when they'll go on sale? I cant seem to find that info...

J-Dubya

The Shins are pleased to announce more tour dates! A limited number of
tickets have been held for The Shins fans and will be available through
A special presale. By buying tickets through our presale, you'll be able
To get your tickets before anyone else AND save some money on service
charges.Presale tickets on sale this Saturday, February 10th at 1:00 PM
local time.

To BUY TICKETS go to http://theshins.ducatking.com

Mar 05: Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
Mar 06: Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Mar 07: Austin, TX @ Backyard
Mar 09: Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
Mar 10: Winston-Salem, NC @ The Millennium Center
Mar 12: Washington DC @ DAR Constitution Hall
Mar 13: Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
Mar 16: Montreal, PQ @ Metropolis
Mar 17: Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus

Presales for the Boston and New York coming soon!

To hear about the latest Shins news and updates:
http://theshins.com

KV12482

Set List:
Sleeping Lessons
Australia
Pam Berry->Phantom Limb
Kissing the Lipless
Mine’s Not a High Horse
Girl Inform Me
Girl on the Wing
New Slang
Saint Simon
Girl Sailor
Turn a Square
Gone for Good
A Comet Appears
Turn on Me
Caring Is Creepy

Encore:

Pressed in a Book
So Says I

Great Show!!!

DrRingDing

This is definitely a grower.

I was sort of unimpressed before, but I came back from the gym just now with a song in my head. I knew the song was the Shins, but I had no clue what song it actually was. I tried every track off the new album by skipping to the middle to no avail. I then previewed the first two albums. No luck.

I knew 100% it was the Shins though. So, frustrated, I started playing Wincing again but without skipping or anything, certain that it would come up at some point.

Indeed, as the second track, "Australia", began, I knew it was the song that had been in my head. And all of a sudden, the album clicked in place. (For what it's worth, the song's intro is different from the middle of the song, to where I had skipped before.)

I'm going to have to update my best of the year list so far in the Rank 'em thread.

Anyway, I "get" this album now. Excellent album. Not perfect, but definitely a grower and excellent after some exposure.
-ringding-

cungar

They played the exact songs on the album I would have wanted to hear. The other 3 are the worst.

DrRingDing

You got short-changed on the album if that list is only missing 3. I count 4:

Sea Legs
Red Rabbits
Black Wave
Split Needles

-ringding-

cungar

Oh you're right. They didn't play Red Rabbits. I like that one.

reubs82

I'm excited to say that a friend of mine was given 4 tickets to the show at the DAR Constitution Hall here in DC, and he's offered me one of them. I'm excited to see this band live, but I also feel bad b/c I haven't been a fan of them for years like many folks have. I'm always up for a good show b/c I don't get to see to many, so hopefully this one will deliver.

I'm not sure who is opening for them, but it's generally fun to see the opening bands and watch out for them in later years...

reubs82

So this is the first chance I've gotten to post back about the Shins show I saw, but at the DAR Constitution Hall I think the venue was too big for the sound and style of the concert.

That said, I was really bummed that they didn't play Sea Legs, which may be one of my favorite songs this year, if not of the past few years. I can't get enough of it. I'm still getting into the album as a whole, and I'm on the lookout for a cheap copy of their first two.

zerotl

Saw them at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden, and I thought they were awesome, acoustics sounded great and they played all the songs I wanted to hear, and my friend who's not really a fan dug them as well....

And I agree with people posting it's a grower, anyone else feeling the new wavey vibe from the new album? Hint of The Cure perhaps?

DrRingDing

I'm on the fence with this one, in a very good way:

Right now I'm about equally torn between Wincing, Modest Mouse's We Were Dead and Kings of Leon's Because of the Times for being my fave of the year so far.

I have high expectations for the Radiohead album to take that spot, as they've only ever let me down once (Amnesiac), but that's assuming they actually get a new album out this year.

Anyway, this album is SO good it's definitely in my top three right now.
-ringding-

wendersfan

I am starting to become obsessed with this album. I'm really enjoying the added production, vis a vis their previous releases.

Buttmunker

Phantom Limb came on my iPod one morning, and I was like: who's this?? I have the shuffle, so I can't see what's playing, and I was nowhere near a computer. I'm like, this sounds familiar, must be alternative 80's...wow! this is wonderful!!

By the time I returned to work to check what song it could have been, I was floored when the only title I was unfamiliar with on my shuffle was this song by The Shins.

I had put it on my iPod just to put it there and see how it mixed with my other songs. I had never heard it before. It was one of those rare songs that I fell in love with instantly.

The Bus

Man, this album is a grower. I liked it the first time I've heard it a few months ago but I haven't played since. A few weeks ago I played it again, then about a week ago. Then a few days ago and slowly I'm starting to listen to it a few times a day. wenders, care to make a logarithmic graph?

The album seems like it's all one song: it's not that the songs sound alike, I think it has to do with the production and the general cohesiveness of the whole thing. Every single one of these songs has an earworm in it.

Funny that Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer? is also mentioned. That's the other album I've been playing a lot.

reubs82

This album hasn't been on repeat for me as much as almost all of the Shins stuff. I really hope this band can stay together. I think they have some huge potential to be a pretty big band and continue making some great music. Chutes Too Narrow has to be one of my favorite albums ever.