Flake Music - When You Land Here (2014) [FLAC] (The Shins)

Flake Music - When You Land Here (2014) [FLAC] (The Shins)

Album: When You Land Here, It's Time to Return
Original Release: 1997
Remastered: 2014
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie
Source: Sub Pop 2014 Remastered CD (log + cue)
Codec: FLAC
Bit rate: ~ 1,000 kbps
Bit depth: 16
Sample rate: 44.1 kHz

01 Spanway Hits
02 Blast Valve
03 Roziere
04 Structo
05 Candy Dish of Diamonds
06 Deluca
07 Mieke
08 On the Playground, In the Wind
09 The Shins
10 Faded Polaroids
11 Vantage

Original album review

When You Land Here, It's Time to Return is the ultimate definition of pop; following in the dual footsteps of jangling indie pop and '60s-inspired Elephant 6 rock (Apples in Stereo, Beulah), Flake Music churn out incredibly sunny, peaceful, and generally fun guitar pop that's pretty difficult not to like. The album's only flaw is its tendency to slip into almost emo-ish constructions (standard Braid and Boys Life moves) -- thankfully, though, this leaning is rare in comparison to the charming pop that makes When You Land Here so lovable. It's quite tempting to see the record as a promise of truly great things to come -- Flake Music could use a bit more focus and invention, and their work here leaves one hoping that future work will transform them from a charming but not incredibly inspired pop band into a truly brilliant project.

Review of the remastered version

First impressions aren't usually afforded a second chance, but somehow an obscure Albuquerque quartet called Flake Music found a loophole around the turn of the millennium—and now, 15 years after disbanding, they're at it again. The group that reinvented itself as The Shins and, in turn, became an archetype of literate, engaging indie-rock (or, as a Natalie Portman character once famously said, the band capable of writing a life-changing song), is giving the world another opportunity to appreciate its one and only album for the first time. On Nov. 24, Sub Pop, in conjunction with frontman James Mercer's Aural Apothecary imprint, is reissuing Flake Music's When You Land Here, It's Time To Return.

But don't be mistaken: This updated edition isn't just the same old album (originally released in 1997 by Omnibus Records) with revised artwork slapped on the front. Sure, the tracklist hasn't changed, but unlike a lot of “remixed and remastered” reissues that arrive relatively unaltered, sonically the new version of When You Land Here—remixed by Grammy winner Kennie Takahashi (who's worked with Mercer's Broken Bells) and remastered by JJ Golden—is light years removed from the original.