liveblog: the shins - wincing the night away

Stealing an idea from almost a year ago, herewith is a conversation between Stan and I as we listened to the upcoming record Wincing The Night Away by the Shins, aka The Band Most Ruined Via Association With A Terrible Movie.

Continue reading only if you can stomach ill-advised quips and sui generis references:

Stan: does the title make you think of chumbawamba
me: omg i was just about to say that
Stan: lolz
  we're off to a good start
  wiiiincing the niiiiiiiight awaaaaaaaaaaay
me: totes
Stan: TRACK ONE - SLEEPING LESSONS
me: this starts like a fucking postal service song
Stan: obvs.
me: and they're both on subpop
Stan: also this strumming in the background
  i swear they've used this before
  something off of chutes
me: oh i just noticed that
Stan: you know you introduced me to the shins
  you put gone for good on a mix
  you're my zach braff
me: so i am the natalie portman to your zach braff
Stan: MAN
  o/
me: o/
Stan: okay stop it.
me: in the aeroplane over the sea
Stan: oh wait here comes the rock and roll
me: oh hey it's rocking
  stop
  at upcoming shins shows this is where people will be swaying
Stan: "put yourself in my new shoes"
  someone's looking forward to signing with a big label
me: if interpol can do it
Stan: how is this song over already?
me: srsly, this is a lame way to end a song
  2. australia
  what is that dialogue
Stan: plz list your favorite studio banter
me: studio banter? i can only think of "you fuckin die!"
Stan: yeah at the moment i can only think of ryan adams
oh unless you count bright eyes' stupid coffee sipping while he's telling that godawful story at the beginning of i'm wide awake it's morning
me: at the end of live through this courtney goes "no, we're not done"
Stan: man i look like a total homo right now
me: and then a maelstrom of lousy guitar
  yes
  even more than me!
Stan: this song is way chutes too narrow
me: it's jaunty
  i bet there are a lot of handclaps when they play this
  this solo is pretty faux spaghetti western
Stan: it would be awful in guitar hero
  TOO EASY, ASSHOLES
me: shins: not shredders!
  "give me your hand and let's jump out the window"
Stan: what the fuck is landrum's conundrum
me: wikipedia it
  give me your hand and let's jump out the window = myspace-ready
Stan: haha
me: 3. pam berry
Stan: no result from wikipedia, btw
me: oh james mercer, you imp
  this song is way atonal
Stan: agood, too.
me: 4. phantom lib
  limb
Stan: FIRST SINGLE
me: is it/
Stan: i think so
  we're terrible music bloggers
me: you're only as good as your subjects
Stan: "cheap shots from the tribe"
  is james mercer jewish?
me: i dunno, he sounds british
Stan: maybe he's one of sasha baron cohen's characters
me: but i guess anything to not sound like you're from albuquerque
Stan: "zombie-walk" is kinda cheating
me: this little vocal "oh-oh" thing is nice
Stan: you think?
me: when words fail you, just make noise
  i mean, it works for the new pornographers
Stan: no neko no deal
me: mercer kinda sounds like carl newman
Stan: i can kinda see that
me: every band would benefit from having neko though
  maybe not sun o)))
Stan: that song kinda bored me
me: 5. sea legs
  yeah this is a boring record
  ooh, violins
Stan: this song is a poor man's beck
  a poor retarded man's beck
  the intro, anyway.
me: yeah, it's off of that heartbroken scientology record
Stan: jesus this is really bad.
  i'm beginning to wonder if i just didn't really invest myself in listening to the lyrics from the last two shins albums
me: it's kind of like they're trying to regain cred after their backlash when in fact, no, the reason people like you is that you have zippy melodies
  the shins don't need to be moody
Stan: yeah my favorite shins songs are the really uptempo ones
me: new slang isn't uptempo
Stan: you belong to a simpler time / i'm a victim to the impact of these words / and this rhyme
me: that's kind of obnoxious
Stan: is the rest of this song just JAMMING?
me: oh god, i hope so
Stan: god i'm gonna get a beer while this shit is going on
me: they don't want to just play lollapalooza
  next stop: bonaroo!
  6. red rabbits
Stan: magnetic fields?
me: i think every band is trying to do a mag fields song
  jesus
  this would sound better with better rhymes and a baritone
Stan: and maybe a band
  backing him up
me: did he say "we've pissed on far too many sprites"
Stan: yes
  he absolutely did
me: there should be more songs about golden showers
Stan: lolz "with the wan and dreaming eyes of an oprhan"
me: ew, what a bad vocal dissolve
  somehow this has turned into cher's "believe"
Stan: haha
me: this is officially the gayest shins song ever
Stan: except you can dance to "believe"
me: stiff competition
  uh, what are you trying to say
  how many gay bathhouses have you been in
Stan: it has a beat, alright
  god
  when i was in korea, we went to this one pool hall
and the dude was so happy to have our business, he put the only american CD he had on every time we were in there
  and it was that cher album
  no joke
me: that's a good song
  it's way better than this song
  is this a laugh track?
Stan: i have no idea what he's trying to say
me: cos i'm laughing
Stan: no, it's cheering
me: they will be sorely disappointed in many reactions then
  7. turn on me
Stan: they can't hear you, they're busy wincing
me: this riff is ok
  or ducking from your stream of urine
Stan: lolololol
  fond of you
  fond of Y-O-U
me: i love songs that spell out words
i mean, you love hollaback girl so don't even front
Stan: well i mean
  i hate that shit
  but b-a-n-a-n-a-s
me: the shangri-las have gwen beat
  "when i say i'm not love, you better believe i'm in LUV, L-U-V"
  i mean, in love
  where did that "not" come from
  slip!
  i like this churning guitar thing in the background, actually
Stan: there's something faux-anthemic about this song
  like they're trying
  but it's not really working
  the syncopated last lines
  of verses
me: it's not working because there's no pep to it
  it's not like they're bon jovi
Stan: NOW-GET-BACK-ON-THAT-HORSE-AND-RIDE
me: they have the worst most non-descript endings to songs in the world
Stan: i think they've done three fade-outs on this album already
  what is this, 90s R&B
me: 8. black wave
how does this sound like r&b
Stan: no, i meant
  with the fade-outs
me: unless you count late 90s janet jackson
  oh
Stan: this song is boring
  this song is B-O-R-I-N-G
me: the beginning of this song sounds like a thom yorke b-side
Stan: yeah a little bit.
me: the shins really shouldn't try to stretch their sound when what they were doing was ok as it was
  hello, strokes!
  third album doldrums from early 2000s indie rock heroes!
Stan: yeah i'd be okay if the shins just kept making poppy albums
  then again, i got bored with cake after they made the same album five times
  THEN AGAIN, i stopped being 16 at some point
me: "looking on the brighter side," with this record you can write them off completely
  9. split needles
Stan: a polymorphing opinion?
  do you think maybe when he was writing songs he called colin meloy up for help
and colin would give him a word and then hang up and laugh to himself?
me: i like that woody allen used "polymorphously" in two of his best films
  colin meloy, joanna newsom, and fiona apple should have a word-off
  and mercer can take notes
Stan: WHAT ABOUT JAMES MERCER
  oh okay
me: mercer is clearly second-tier
Stan: where are the melodies on this album
me: melodies up my ass, gump
Stan: hahaha
  man, you suck. i've been wanting to use that in context for forever.i never remember though
me: man, keep on your toes
  10. girl sailor
Stan: fiona apple cover?
me: i hope this is a sequel to o sailor
  jesus
Stan: but for vaginas
me: the response song
  like in hip-hop
  man there should be pussy indie rock battles
Stan: no scrubs / no pigeons
me: exactlyu
Stan: "and does anything i say seem relevant at all?"
me: ...
  this arpeggio sounds very r.e.m.
  does that sound douchey
Stan: "oh girl, sail her, don't sink her"
  that's the equivalent of poker in the back, liquor in the front
me: oh i thought that line was vaguely lesbian
  wordplay!
Stan: yes, very clever
me: what other frat boy phrases can you teach me
Stan: be fair, i was never in a frat
me: 11. a comet appears
  LAST SONG
Stan: oh i kinda like this
me: true, you just were pals with them
  it sounds like a neko case song
Stan: "uberman"
  seriously
james mercer is a cutter!
me: is he a fat dude
Stan: no
me: or am i thinking of martsch
Stan: you're thinking of the annual subpop bbq
me: so every shins song has to end with their quiet lilting pretty song
  album i mean
Stan: yeah
  it's like weezer's butterfly
me: i kind of don't know what to say to that one
Stan: good thing the album is about to end
  pitchfork prediction plz
me: this record doesn't earn a weezer's butterfly comparison as it has nothing on the level of good life
  6.4
Stan: i'd be surprised if it that was high
me: well, look at what happened with cat power
Stan: the greatest >>> wincing the night away
me: that's true, but the greatest also got like a high 7 or low 8
  i can't believe i know this
Stan: nerd
me: wince

Comments

[Stuart]

Awesome.

[Glennis]

Nerds!!

[sixfootsideburns]

you guys have a lot of trash to talk about the shins huh?
i personally like the album a lot...

[stan]

I like the Shins, actually. This new album bores me to tears, though. But like I said, I really like their uptempo stuff.

[will]

i'd just like to point out that i was only .6 off the p4k prediction

[Clayer]

i adore the shins. (their best work is off of Oh inverted world) i guess this is yalls opinion.. though i laughed my ass off at this. if you dislike them, dont waste your time being so critical. peace.