Yes, that’s Jim from The Office

I’m a huge fan of The Shins, the earnest yet quirky indie rock outfit featured as the band that can change your life in the otherwise unwatchable “Garden State” by Zach Braff. I’m excited about their new album, “Wincing the Night Away” (which you can stream on Scenestars), out January 23 (my birthday) on Sub Pop, and their appearance this weekend with host Jake Gyllenhaal on Saturday Night Live. (Sub Pop is excited about that too.)

And then I realized that, as they would say on the local news, The Shins have a Sacramento connection. The boys from Albuquerque got their start on Omnibus Records, the late 90s indie rock outfit founded by Sacramento-based vinyl-only label Mt. St. Mtn. co-founder Mark Kaiser. Omnibus released a string of singles and ep’s by The Shins and their predecessor band, Flake Music, and even released a limited-edition vinyl version of The Shins’ phenomenal debut album, “Oh, Inverted World.”

They’ll be touring all spring, though not as of yet in Northern California. Bummer.