turned this off after a few songs

man these guys r e a l l y fell off

Album Rating: 4.0

The stretch of Cherry Hearts, Fantasy Island, and Mildenhall is my favorite part. Title track, opening track, and closing track are all decent as well. Definitely overproduced and possesses some filler, but for me this is one of their better albums. I easily prefer it over Port of Morrow.

So many of these songs could be beautiful simple acoustic tracks, but as you say they are overproduced to the point of being often quite annoying. Port Of Morrow never clicked with me until relatively recently though so I'm sure this will be a grower. Wincing The Night Away I still consider a crushing disappointment.

"I'm under the impression that every artist Dangermouse rubs elbows with ends up going down the drain"

Sad, but true. In my personal opinion The Black Keys were never as good after Attack & Release, Portugal. The Man was actually worse starting from Evil Friends, Broken Bells' (I know, it's half Danger Mouse) second album was nowhere near as good as the first, and Gorillaz went downhill after Demon Days.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

I don't know that Danger Mouse is really to blame for the state of the Shins. Mercer has been on a downward spiral since day one pretty much. With the exception of Chutes Too Narrow, every album he has released, including Broken Bells, has been weaker than the previous.

Album Rating: 3.0

The horrible truth is The Shins/Mercer just aren't that great

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Basically yeah. Chutes and Inverted are quite great (though definitely a bit overrated overall) but aside from that they're just a pretty good indie pop band.

Album Rating: 3.0

'Chutes' is a great album, the rest is less than essential

They always have sublime cover art

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Mercer albums ranked/rated:

Chutes Too Narrow [4.0]

Oh, Inverted World [3.8]

Wincing the Night Away [3.5]

Broken Bells [3.3]

Port of Morrow [3.0]

After the Disco [2.8]

Heartworms [2.5]

You can usually rely on him for at least one really really great song per album, this seems to be the first exception to that.

Haven't heard Flake Music but I haven't heard particularly good things about it.

Album Rating: 3.0

Chutes [4.0]

Inverted [3.6]

Wincing [3.2]

Port [2.8]

Bells [2.7]

Album Rating: 2.5

@theBoneyKing When You Land is my Favorite "Shins" record

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Interesting, I may have to give it a go then.

I absolutely love When You Land, but I don't really care for The Shins.

Album Rating: 2.5

I'm sadly not a fan of this.

Album Rating: 3.7

On second listen, Name For You is coming across as a jam, and much of the second half of this is pretty good, but the first half is mostly a mess.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

2.5 is harsh, but yeah it's just so plastic compared to their earlier works



Edit: I do think this is better than Port of Morrow

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

I might bump this to a 3 after a couple more listens as there are a few good songs but I doubt it would grow above that.

I would say that Simple Song, Fall of 82, The Rifle's Spiral, and September off Port of Morrow are all better than anything on this though.

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Fall of 82 and September I'd agree yeah