In a promotional poster for the film 'Garden State,' the cast demonstrates how to sing like Sam Beam

The 'Garden State' Soundtrack: Still Changing Lives After Ten Years

Soundcheck | Aug 18, 2014

Love it or hate it, Zach Braff's 2004 film Garden State had a killer cast and a soundtrack filled with indie royalty. So why hate it? Because the film tended to overstate its own capture of the quarter-life crisis zeitgeist, and the soundtrack introduced multitudes to many bands that were -- until Garden State -- niche favorites. And your general reaction pretty much hinges on what you think of this scene:

Still, there's no denying that Braff curated a mix-tape that became a totem for a certain kind of early-aughts indie sensibility. Reggie Ugwu certainly thinks so; the deputy music editor for Buzzfeed wrote an essay -- "Listening In The Abyss: The Lasting Legacy Of The Garden State Soundtrack" -- extolling the virtues of Braff's prescient music sensibility.

In a conversation with host John Schaefer, Ugwu talks about the Grammy-winning collection, and to explain why, in the age of Spotify, Soundcloud, and Tumblr, the success of the Garden State soundtrack probably can't be reproduced.

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