Idolator
After Garden State, sensitive sitcom star Zach Braff got it in his head that he was something of a musical tastemaker. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with Braff as an actor (Scrubs = good stuff). Nor do we have anything against the Shins (even though we'd very much like to stop hearing their music in every bar in Brooklyn). What's scary to us is that Braff's yuppie-rock affections are slowly turning the alt-rock realm into one big tasteful dinner party—take, for example, the soundtrack to The Last Kiss, which hit theaters today.
After the jump, a brief look at three of the artists who are totally hoping to become the next Ben Gibbard and their score on Idolator's Braff-Lash Meter, which rates their potential for being included on the next Paste CD compilation.
Cary Brothers, "Ride"
Who: A Nashville-born singer who's sensitive (and he gets extra points in that category for covering Spandau Ballet's "True") and good-looking, which should prove irresistible to anyone feeling dissatisfied by the new John Mayer record.
Braff-Lash Meter: 7 out of 10. But this dude could take off like James Blunt if he uses his falsetto to maximum effect.
Rachael Yamagata, "Reason Why"
Who: Smoky-voiced ivory tickler who brings to mind a self-assured version of When the Pawn-era Fiona Apple.
Braff-Lash Meter: 5 out of 10.
Amos Lee, "Arms of a Woman"
Who: Philadelphia-born crooner who brings to mind Sam Cooke fronting a sleepy folk outfit.
Braff-Lash Meter: 9 out of 10. The honchos at this guy's label, Blue Note, probably look at this guy and hallucinate that he's their next Norah Jones. They might not be totally off-base.
"The Last Kiss (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" [iTunes Music Store link]
Comments
I couldn't get past the photo.
We need a blog out there called "The Shins Are Not Afraid of You And Will Beat Your Ass."
What????!!! If Braff lands himself the new Fletch movie he'd better not have any plans to screw around with the Faltermeyer synth and fairlight production. Seminal stuff. Braff. Jesus. I just keep shouting his name in disgust. Brrraaaaaaff!!!
josh radin should have been on this list, no? braff produced his video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06D_EFNGmOQ
Also tangentially related:
http://www.brianmpalmer.com/blog/2006/09/07/the-gardening/...
No complaining about your yuppie life whilst wearing a tux and looking wistful.
Thirtysomething redux.
Haven't we grown at all, people?
Ick.
A fan of the alt-rock dinner party myself, the power braff reveals this month is only the tip of the iceberg. he reunited remy zero of LA on 103.1 last weekend... btw, if thelastkiss=singles, does that mean we're in for a 10 year acoustic hippie dinner party?
Braff's life is hard. I mean, first he has to kiss Natalie Portman and now Rachel Bilson? And he has to plug his friends' bands on hugely selling soundtracks while he's doing it? Man, that's tough.
By "next Ben Gibbard" do you mean "the next marginally talented, unoriginal, white guy to shoot to fame in the blogosphere before signing to a major label and making some money by hitching his wagon to Jimmy Tamborello's star?"
Never deny someone their dreams.
Amos Lee is great, so anything that allows him to get more exposure is totally fine with me.
@Spulture: "by hitching his wagon to Jimmy Tamborello's star?"
I think that is a Boy Least Likely To song.
i got dragged to this movie by my wife. i wanted to vomit popcorn on braffs puffball haircut.
'the last kiss' happened to be awful by the way. but i do like amos lee. still, awful film. but i do like zach braff. and yet, this movie was simply terrible.
This falsetto thing has gotten completely out of hand. Pretty soon Italian Castratos will be going multiplatinum. Sing like a MAN, you wankers.
You mean like Michael Bolton? WHY?
The delicious Irony here is that on Scrubs they celebrate cheesy-ass 80's pop as much as they do stuff like The Shins- from memory there's an episode where J.D outs himself as 'sensy'(read:girly man who has a boner for Elliot Smith)
That episode where they airband 'more than a feeling'?
Priceless.
Yamagata, Cary Brothers and Amos Lee are all outstanding musicians. That being said, celebrity gossip blogwriter, why dont you stick to bashing celebrities and not music...you clearly have no taste for it.
Yeah, that airband episode was pretty priceless. Turk doing "Poison"? Sensational! I had to rewind and watch it again and again. And I vaguely remember a Toto reference last season.
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