I’m gearing up for the Band of Horses acoustic show this Thursday at Carnegie Hall by listening to some of my favorite Sub Pop acts.  There’s BOH of course, Fleet Foxes, Grand Archives, Iron & Wine, my favorite band, The Shins.  Before I get into all the news surrounding The Shins, check out this unreleased James Mercer acoustic set, live from The Moonshine Festival back in 2004.  It’s a pretty amazing set.  He plays all my favorites off the first two albums, a cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest”, and some rarities like “When I Goosestep” and “Sphagnum Esplanade”.  Link below…

James Mercer of The Shins- Live at the Moonshine Festival

In terms of recent news surrounding The Shins, well…First of all, Mercer let two longtime members go (keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval) and brought in a new drummer (Joe Plummer via Modest Mouse) and bassist (Ron Lewis via labelmates Grand Archives).  The Shins have 30 songs done for their new album, and they are recently debuted two of them on tour.  Here’s live video clips of them from a recent show in Hollywood, California….”Double Bubble” and “The Rifle’s Spiral”..

Sounds like none of the new songs are ballads.  Mercer says they’re all uptempo and happy.  I don’t know though.  As happy as I am as a person, I always like slower, sad sounding songs the best.  Especially from these guys.  Still, I can’t wait to hear their new stuff.  I also read Mercer worked on something with Danger Mouse, and is appearing in an upcoming movie called 180 Degrees South.  Stay tuned, I’ll keep you updated…peace.