There are a lot of reasons this should be bizarre news, but the more bizarre part is that maybe this is perfectly natural. The two had a particularly worthwhile collaboration on Mouse’s Dark Night of the Soul track “Insane Lullaby”, and apparently got along just famously (which we hear is the best way to get along). The duo already have a release planned for early 2010, and claim to have another projects in the works already to follow. Also, they might or might not be called Broken Bells. That is all for now. (Via: P4K)

A little over a month ago, indie rock veterans The Shins announced the contract between their label, Sub Pop, and themselves had expired and the band was taking a “writing hiatus.” Now, Shins’ frontman James Mercer has revealed that the band has had some major line-up changes, as well as some news of a new Shins album coming out on Mercer’s own label.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Mercer gave up the details about the new switches within the band. Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse will now be replacing Jesse Sandoval as the drummer for the Shins, and Ron Lewis of Fruit Bats, will be joining the band on bass, while keyboardist Marty Crandall has also left the Shins behind.

The new line-up was revealed at Western Washington University this past Saturday night, when the crowd saw the band sans Crandall and Sandoval. Mercer told Pitchfork that he, Crandall and Sandoval had all been playing together since the mid-90s, originally with Flake Music, and it was time to shuffle the line-up around a bit.

“I started to have production ideas that I wanted to do that basically required some other people,” he said. “It’s mainly about that. It’s an aesthetic decision. It’s kind of hard to talk about stuff like that, isn’t it? Because I don’t want to bum anybody out. I’m on good terms with those guys, I hope to maintain that.”

Now, Mercer and his new band mates are touring together as well as recording the new Shins album, which has an estimated release date for early next year. The album will be released on Mercer’s own label, Aural Apothecary, instead of the band’s forever-long label partner, Sub Pop.

Alongside the new switch up within the Shins, Mercer has been focusing his energy on other various projects as well, including a co-starring role with Carrie Brownstein in Some Days Are Better Than Others, collaborating with Modest Mouse on a soundtrack for the film 180 Degrees South, and appearing on the forthcoming Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse album.

Danger Mouse and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse announced almost three years ago that they would be working together on a new collaborative project, but as of yesterday, when a poster for the project was delivered to our offices, it looks like the duo of “Dangerhorse” are engaging a wide spectrum of talent to help out on the new record.

Dark Night of the Soul is set to come out this summer, and though no further information on the album has been offered, the list of special guests — released only via the poster — makes the new project look like it could be one of the most eclectic collaborations we’ve seen in a long while.

Featuring Black Francis, Julian Casablancas, The Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop, David Lynch, and James Mercer, among a bunch of others, Dark Night of the Soul is bound to offer us an immense amount of ear-candy come the summer. And lets face it, who needs supergroups like Chickenfoot when you’ve got the likes of Dangerhorse giving you all of this and more on one awesome album?

Full list of guests on Dark Night of the Soul
Black Francis (Frank Black)

Julian Casablancas (The Strokes)

Vic Chestnutt

The Flaming Lips

David Lynch

Jason Lytle (Grandaddy)
James Mercer (The Shins)

Nina Persson (The Cardigans/A Camp)

Iggy Pop
Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals/Neon Neon)
Suzanne Vega

Since we just told you about The Shins parting ways with their long time record label Sub Pop… possibly forever, we deemed it only necessary to bring you back to the fresh young days of The Shins’ success when Oh, Inverted World was just a newly released record from a few New Mexico-born Indie-rock hopefuls, and “New Slang” was just some song Natalie Portman made Zach Braff listen to in that movie Garden State.

James Mercer started the Shins as a side-project while he was working with Flake Music. Flake dissembled, and Mercer began putting greater focus on The Shins, taking influences from the likes of The Smiths and The Cure and integrating their stylings into his song writing. The end product of Mercer’s skilled songwriting chops mixed with the talent of the rest of the band’s members led to the creation of The Shins’ trademark sound, which eventually got the band signed on to Sub Pop records in 2001. 

The Shins released their first album, Oh, Inverted World, off of Sub Pop in 2001. The album was critically acclaimed upon release, but took some time to catch up to the success of what it is now known for. It wasn’t until three years later, in 2004, that The Shins began gaining exposure when the now-cult-classic film Garden State used their music on the soundtrack. The film marketed The Shins to a wider audience, causing the band to gain prominence; inevitably giving The Shins the momentum they needed to be considered the indie rock veterans we see them them now. 

We’re not sure why the Shins would want to separate themselves from Sub Pop, but what we do know is that the pair have put out some signature records in the past eight years, and we’ll be curious to see if the band will be able to produce another classic like “New Slang” on this writing hiatus of theirs. For now, the video will just have to do.

The Shins – “New Slang”