The Shins

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indie, indie rock, indie pop, alternative, rock… see all

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States (1997 – present)

The Shins is an American indie band consisting of singer and guitarist James Mercer, keyboardist/guitarist/bassist Martin Crandall, bassist/guitarist Dave Hernandez, drummer Jesse Sandoval, and, as of 2007, keyboardist/singer Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats. They formed in 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States as a side project of Mercer (previously of Blue Roof Dinner) and Sandoval, who were both members of the lo-fi musical group Flake Music (formed as Flake 1992). The band was signed to Sub Pop following a successful tour in 2000 with fellow college-rockers Modest Mouse.

Their 2001 debut album, Oh, Inverted World received near-universal critical acclaim, causing many critics to predict a mass wave of The Beach Boys-inspired bands. That wave never truly came, but the Shins enjoyed a rapidly expanding fanbase, and even saw their music featured on a McDonalds advertisement. That may have been artistic suicide for them, had it not been that the song featured (“

New Slang”), included the lines “New slang/when you notice the stripes/the dirt in your fries,” as well as “God speed all the bakers at dawn/may they all cut their thumbs/And bleed into their buns/’till they melt away.”

The band moved from New Mexico to the “indie rock capitol” of portland in 2002. Their much-anticipated followup, Chutes Too Narrow, was released in October of ‘03 in the U.S. and a half-year later across the pond to gushing reviews that matched if not exceeded their debut effort.

Wincing the Night Away
The Shins
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Oh, Inverted World
The Shins
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Chutes Too Narrow
The Shins
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Garden State
Various Artists
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Top Tracks

1	New Slang full track	10,684
2	Caring Is Creepy	6,662
3	Australia	6,056
4	Kissing the Lipless	5,632
5	Phantom Limb	5,461
6	So Says I full track	4,756
7	Saint Simon	4,353
8	Pink Bullets	4,340
9	Sleeping Lessons	4,192
10	Turn On Me	3,637
11	Black Wave full track	3,595
12	Mine's Not a High Horse	3,385
13	Fighting in a Sack	3,362
14	Sea Legs	3,242
15	Turn a Square	3,066

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anto3 wrote:
8 hours ago

yeah it's about time they release a new album ¬¬

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affray wrote:
yesterday afternoon

JOIN Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club!

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aureusx wrote:
yesterday afternoon

They have potential to become my favourite band. I’ve not listened to them for quite a while really and realised that it wasn’t too wise after all. They are very, very good.

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Shih-Tzu wrote:
yesterday afternoon

Hi there! Listen to this good alternative band from Sweden. http://www.last.fm/music/Sad+Monkeys You might like it.

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outsidein82 wrote:
yesterday evening

Amazing Band. when can we get a new album??

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oozabooman wrote:
Saturday afternoon

I ONLY LISTEN TO BANDS WITH BODYPARTS IN THEIR NAME.

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hndsomedevil wrote:
Thursday morning

http://www.last.fm/group/V+neck%21

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luisroberto13 wrote:
Thursday morning

We´ll Find a Handsome Young Mate for you to love Ah the Shins los mejores

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Contrid wrote:
Wednesday evening

The best

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BrilliBi wrote:
Wednesday evening

New Album needed.

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stuck_in_line wrote:
Wednesday morning

Mc Cain is an idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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xn____nx wrote:
Tuesday afternoon

sure, i thought this was a band from the 60's. theyre awesome. vengan a MEXICO :)!

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dupontflames wrote:
Tuesday morning

These guys know how to properly start a song off.

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jeenyus05 wrote:
Tuesday morning

http://www.last.fm/group/Tay+Zonday+is+a+scary+ass+motherfucker

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SPACEFACTORYREC wrote:
7 days ago

music is good http://www.lastfm.fr/label/SPACE+FACTORY

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luisroberto13 wrote:
7 days ago

Asi es los Shins son excelentes en su género ojala y vengan un día a México tocan con madre

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teringnering wrote:
7 days ago

Definitely the best Indie band at the moment

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lulumiami wrote:
7 days ago

Check it out !! SECRET MACHINES ANNOUNCE GARAGE BAND REMIX CONTEST featuring "Atomic Heels" !! Get a sneak peak of Brandon Curtis at Electric Lady Studios as he prepared the track last month. Complete details of the contest and exclusive video footage to follow next week !! www.thesecretmachines.com

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Polytechnic wrote:
8 days ago

There's now a Shins google theme! http://awesomestart.com/shins It's just like google.com, but it's got The Shins on it and you can customize all the links and stuff.

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lgby wrote:
8 days ago

Am I the only one who finds that the more you listen to the Shins, the better their older music gets. At first I couldn't stop listening to Wincing the Night Away, but now I've started listening to When You Land Here, It's Time To Return, which is from before they were known as the Shins.

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