Maud mentions Kalefa Sanneh's article on the Shins in today's Times. [I had gotten halfway through a post myself when Explorer decided to take a destructive little nap.]
I learned about the Shins from my pal Tommy in December 2001, when he sent me this challenge:
Test your indie creds: the sub pop web page has this video for The Shins' song NEW SLANG (and you figure with a name like THE SHINS there would be at least one korean guy but nope). It's a great concept video in which they re-enact famous indie rock album covers.
He's right. It's a great video.
But while I was searching for the link today, I came across this terrifying manifestation of the many-fingered Coppola Smart Mob. It's like waking up with a horse's head in your bed; there's no escaping them.
I'm particularly chagrined because it was listening to the Shins' album Oh, Inverted World that gave me the idea of assembling a fake Wes Anderson soundtrack in the first place. Now I learn that in 2002, Roman was directing Scarlett, Zooey, Ashton, and Jay in a Gap ad with music by Mr. Mercer of the Shins. Between the Coppolas and the McSweeneys crowd, there'll soon be no room left for independent cultural production.
If you need me, I'll be down on khaki street, only I'll be wearing my bike helmet to ride my cruiser.
