Singer, songwriter, and producer James Mercer wrote “New Slang” when he was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It came out as a single and then he re-recorded it for The Shins debut album Oh, Inverted World, which came out 20 years ago, in 2001. After the movie Garden State came out, featuring the song “New Slang,” that album went gold. And the soundtrack for the movie won a Grammy. Nowadays, James Mercer lives in Portland. I spoke to him from his home studio, and he told me how The Shins actually first started as a recording project, a side project, while he was in another band called Flake Music. In this episode, James breaks down “New Slang” and looks back at how his songwriting and his early home recording skills came together to mkae this iconic song.

You can buy or stream “New Slang” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Clip from Garden State
“Blast Valve” – Flake Music
“Those Bold City Girls” – The Shins
Henry’s Dress
“Target Practice” – Henry’s Dress
Shure SM57 microphone
RØDE NT1 microphone

The song “Surrender” by Cheap Trick was released in 1978. Rolling Stone called it the ultimate 70s teen anthem, and included it in their list of the greatest songs of all time. It’s in a bunch of movies and tv shows—including South Park, Scrubs, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, New Girl, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Cheap Trick formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1973. They’ve released 20 studio albums, they’ve sold over 20 million records, and in 2016 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rick Nielsen is the guitarist in the band. He wrote “Surrender,” and for this episode, I talked to him about how the song was made.

You can buy or stream “Surrender” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Jack Douglas, producer
Heaven Tonight, third album
KISS, band
Rockford, Illinois

The story of how the song “Deep End” came into existence and became a hit is kind of wild. One person who really didn’t see it coming is the person who created it, Fousheé. She’s a singer and songwriter from New Jersey. You might have seen her competing on The Voice in 2018. Soon after that, she got asked to make a pack of vocal samples for the music platform Splice, where users can download samples and include them in their own songs, royalty-free. Coming up, Foushée tells the story of what happened with one of those samples, and how that led to her making “Deep End.” That song has now been streamed over 385 million times. Fousheé became the first Black female artist to hit the Top 10 Alternative Chart in over 30 years.

You can buy or stream “Deep End” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Itai Shapira, producer
Fousheé’s “Be Kind to Your Ears” sample pack on Splice
“Deep End Freestyle” by Sleepy Hallow
Fousheé’s “Deep End” TikTok video