Great Minds Think Alike: Bill Ricchini and The Shins

Sweet Talk

From the brain flow of Paste's Editor At Large:

Some nefarious music hounds from Decatur twisted my outsized ego into creating a dialogue littered with opinionated recommendations and myopic rants. Therefore, to put a smidgen of decency back into nepotism, I have stolen the title "Sweet Talk" in homage of my father who had a weekly sports and leisure column of the same in the early 70's that was syndicated in several small town newspapers in the land the gods made great, New England (sans Connecticut of course). Luckily this space will focus more on sporting leisure, my favorite kind.

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Bill Ricchini, ever heard of him? What about The Shins? Why do I ask? Because I am a big fan of both of them, and because I am curious as to how two great minds come up with the same idea at pretty much the same time but one goes on to stardom and critical acclaim while the other keeps on plugging away.

William Dawes, ever heard of him? What about Paul Revere?. Both delivered the same message at the same time but once old Henry Wadsworth Longfellow chose Revere over Dawes for his poem 40 years later, one went onto historical acclaim, while the other was a favorite of the hard core History buffs.

When you listen to Bill Ricchini’s "A Mountain, A Peak" and The Shins’ "New Slang" both released in the summer of 2001, I think you will hear why the historical comparison is apt.

*Bill Ricchini, “A Mountain, A Peak”

The Shins, “New Slang”

Like Longfellow, Zach Braff’s Garden State propelled the Shins to indie glory in 2004, (even though the best synchronization beside in commercials for McDonalds, and Guinness, was as the final credit song in 2001’s soulful surf film Shelter. In other words Braff caught on to the "song that will change your life" three years down the road which in our technological modern time frame is at least equal to 40 years.

Meanwhile Ricchini has released another batch of great songs that hardcore fans think is aces while the cultural mainstream is slowly starting to learn more and more about him . To wit, he even had his "Cold Wind" on current cultural touchstone, Grey’s Anatomy, last fall.

So do your part and let the world know that Dawes and Ricchini both deserves just your admiration and respect.

*Editor’s Note: Whenever possible, Sweettalk will link its musical choices to eMusic for your downloading and listening pleasure. Paste has had the good fortune of working with these guys, and think what they are doing is great (especially since you can listen on all platforms, iPod included).