----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Hutton" <bob_hutton@standardlife.com>
> Stewart M - you mentioned the Shins' album "Oh, Inverted World" 
> being
> recorded cheaply on a desktop computer.  I've not heard much other 
> Shins'
> stuff but am currently really enjoying "Wincing the Night Away" 
> which I
> borrowed from a friend.  I was discussing the album with him - I 
> told him
> it reminded me of The Boo Radleys - ultra-catchy pop tunes mixed 
> with more
> experimental stuff.
>
> I might need to investigate them further - have they released a lot 
> of
> material to date?  What is it about the album you mentioned that 
> makes it
> one of the key albums of the noughties, in your opinion?

As the Shins, they've only released three albums (the one in the 
middle is CHUTES TOO NARROW, which a lot of people consider their 
best), although in their earlier incarnation as Flake and later Flake 
Music, they released an album and a number of EPs and singles 
throughout the '90s.

As to why OH INVERTED WORLD is one of the key albums of the decade, I 
admit to a personal bias (when I was living in Albuquerque through the 
'90s, Flake were *the* band to watch on the surprisingly thriving 
local scene, and Flake bassist/Shins keyboardist Marty Crandall was a 
friend), but also, when this album came out in the summer of 2001, it 
really sounded like nothing else that was going on at the moment.  But 
now, six years on, it sounds like it fits in with a lot of other 
current bands, from the New Pornographers to the Postal Service to the 
Decemberists. It's an exemplar of a certain strain of contemporary 
indie rock is what I'm saying, the way that, say, the White Stripes' 
ELEPHANT or Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT are to other styles.  And also, 
I think "New Slang" is easily the first truly great pop single of the 
new millennium.

S