Editor Reviews:

Album Description:
Soundtrack to eagerly anticipated 2004 film features music from Coldplay, The Shins, Zero 7, Colin Hay, Cary Brothers, Remy Zero, Nick Drake, Thievery Corporation, Simon & Garfunkel, Iron & Wine, Frou Frou, & Bonnie Somerville.

Amazon.com:
Writer and director Zach Braff does a masterful job matching the charming, heartfelt tone of films like The Graduate and Rushmore in his motion picture debut, Garden State, so it only makes sense that the music he personally compiled for the soundtrack plays just as of big a part here as it did in those films. Simon & Garfunkel's languorous "The Only Living Boy in New York" is an obvious thread, but aside from Nick Drake's "One of These Things First," Braff is able to carry the mood without getting tripped up in the past. Frou Frou's "Let Go" and Zero 7's "In the Waiting Line" supply soft techno touches, while Iron & Wine's "Such Great Heights" and former Men at Work singer Colin Hay's "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" offer understated angst. It's the pair of emotionally racked contributions from the Shins ("Caring Is Creepy," "New Slang"), however, that really make this compilation a must-have. --Aidin Vaziri

Rating : - The Most Presumptuous & Transparent Soundtrack this Decade
With the creation of Zach Braff's "Garden State" every kid in America decided they too could enjoy indie movies. The Garden State soundtrack affords the same benefits. With the album compiled of the latest cracker jack, so-called "indie" artists Zach Braff has certainly captivated an unassuming audience and tricked them into believing that they have truly found a secretive sect of music that no one else has ever heard, despite that most of the musicians found here have been around for quite some time. While the packaging and hype surrounding the album make it deliciously attractive, it's the bigger idea of the album that you should be repulsed by. If you're interested in buying good music, go do it. If you're interested in buying into an over-commercialized version of what "our generation" should be listening to, by all means, click the "Buy Now" button as soon as humanly possible.

In Braff's self-absorbed world I'm sure his compilation passes as brilliant, however, to those who are more well-adjusted to the "indie scene", this album is nothing to be impressed by. Simply put, the "Garden State" soundtrack is the most palatable combination of "indie" artists that can be distributed and consumed in today's mass culture.

Braff himself claims to be the voice of our (20-somethings) generation, while this is both presumptuous and false, it's even more offensive that he put a soundtrack to it. Take a snapshot of youth culture, water it way, way, way down, repackage it for popular consumption and--voila! You've got the "Garden State" soundtrack and the perfect CD you can buy all your friends to affirm their psyches.

Zach Braff is many things, but a novel thinker on our generation's issues? Certainly not. My advice: don't buy the album, let Braff stick to acting, and leave the revelations for Spielberg.