iPod song of the week – The Shins
Oh God, it was painful just typing that header. I’m so not a Shins fan. I hated the movie Garden State and find them overhyped and I just don’t get them. Except this song! Here’s what happened, and as promised in a comment, it has to do with the Radiohead New Year’s special called “Scotch_Mist.” I tried to watch it online on their site at midnight British time, but it wasn’t happening. Bleah. But then I saw it was also being shown on something called Current TV which actually exists in my universe of cable channels. Score!
But enough about Radiohead (I think I’ve written quite a bit). After the special ended there were a bunch of commercials, one of which was a concert film made about the Shins. Now, as I mentioned, I don’t care much about the Shins but the film seemed innovative because it was made up of film taken by concert-goers with their cell phones and pocket cameras. Neat! And hard to watch. But never mind, I only saw the part in the commercial. And I was mesmerized by the song they were playing. Yowzah, it was good. It’s weird to say this, because I’m not a Beach Boys fan at all, but it sounded like the Beach Boys. The chord changes on the vocals were hypnotic, so wistful and beautiful.
So because I love The Record Store in My Computer, I Googled the one line I could understand, “and they could float above the grass,” found the song, and downloaded it from Amazon. Now it’s the only thing besides Radiohead I listen to! It’s just hypnotically beautiful and sounds a little like a modernized version of something the bands at Arnold’s Diner used to play on Happy Days.
Napster:
The Shins – Phantom Limb
Streaming audio available on the iPod Song of the Week page.
You hated Garden State? What kind of humorless crazy person are you?
It’s true! Anyone can tell you I have no sense of humor at all!
But it’s possible I was laughing in my sleep; I actually did fall asleep midway through. I just couldn’t bear it.
Yeah, I’m not a big fan of that movie either. I wanted to slap Natalie Portman throughout the entire thing, even when she wasn’t on screen. She redeemed herself in Closer though, so it’s all good.
I can’t believe you had never heard this song Bec. It’s delightful, and I always thought it was reminiscent of the Beach Boys as well.
And I can’t stop listening to Radiohead either.
Pay attention! I don’t listen to The Shins. 😛
I hear that song almost every day on the radio.
I actually already own this song! I feel so cool now.
You need a new station; it’s at least a year old. But seriously, I can’t remember whether XM’s Ethel played it or not (it’s the only station I listen to on Satellite/Internet that would, and I haven’t listened to terrestrial in years) but if they did, I probably switched the station when I saw the “Coming Soon: The Shins!” tag. Luckily they never have that tag on the All Radiohead station.
YaY, Soxy! But you were already cool.
I only listen to that station when I am bored between CDs. I have my Radiohead CD to keep me warm right now so it’s all good.