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The New Pornographers C/D [answer: the former!]

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Just got the "Letter From an Occupant" single, and the cover of the Donner Party's "When I Was a Baby" on the B-side is kicking my ass all over New York City and reminding me why I loved _Mass Romantic_ so much...

― Douglas, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw the New Pornographers in Brooklyn and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Despite a crowd that didn't seem to know which way to face to see the stage, they were fantastic.

― newman, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hated them at first, but then hearing "LFAO" on a mix CD (one of yrs, actually, DW) converted me. the album's almost too much of a good thing, can't play it all that often, but boy....

― M Matos, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I still haven't heard it, but I can say Neko Case is a very very fine singer and songwriter. She's only on two songs though, right?

― Sean, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i disliked them too at first ... probably because i thought they would be more indie rock (and probably because their music would sound so good on the radio). they're so unbelievably pop -- but that crazy breakdown at the end of 'letter from an occupant' is SOOOOOOOO heavy.

what do they remind you of? i kind of thought paul mccartney.

― fields of salmon, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(Unfortunately someone British is going to answer that question with a sarcastic "the Wonder Stuff," causing me to cry: that record is phenomenal.)

― nabisco%%, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ewing to thread!

Neko Case on stage, wearing a Supercharger t-shirt, shaking a tambourine, looking wonderfully bored = AWESOME!

― Daver, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Letter From An Occupant I heard on a mixtape too and it's fun, slightly manic power-pop, perhaps a bit irritating if you listen to it too often and certainly nothing I'd rhapsodise about but yeah, catchy and well-done.

Everything else I've heard sounds like the Wonderstuff. Cry Nitsuh cry!

― Tom, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh god, classic. _Mass Romantic_ is *the* tape to blast when driving around, windows down, in the summer. The sequencing is perfect. Great hooks everywhere. Who can resist singing along to the falsetto "Wooo oooh oooh oooh oooh..." part of "Letter from an Occupant"? Not I. I even clap along to those two artificial hand claps in "The Body Says No" without fail. Neko - an excellent country singer on her own - is *phenomenal* when doing the rock/pop thing. I heart Neko. Her outstanding _Canadian Amp_ mini-album from last year was horribly overlooked. I saw them play in Atlanta a few months ago, and the audience was treated with the following banter (keep in mind that the band is Canadian):
Audience member: Did you bring ice skates?
Carl: Now that's kind of rude. We don't ask you if you fuck Ned Beatty.

― Ernest, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mass Romantic rules... personally prefer the title track to Letter, but hey...

― Mr Swygart, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Took me a fair few listens to really get into it, but now I'd say Mass Romantic is my favourite album of last year (there's a pattern here isn't there.) So classic. And they remind me of the Hollies.

― neil, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Neko's actually on a lot of the album--not all, but quite a bit. (And live she sings a lot of Dan Bejar's parts too.)

― Douglas, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Jackie" is far better than "Letter". Classic, anyway.

― Keiko, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, and on the Neko Case front, Maow are/were also classic.

― Mr Swygart, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, classic. My favorite album from last year, too. Although I guess it really came out the year before. I can't remember the last time I liked an album so much I went out and bought copies for my friends and family. But the big shocker is they all loved it! I Iove the fact that Neko was trying to sing like Mariska Veres from the Shocking Blue on the record.

Funny you should start this thread, Douglas, I first heard them on your radio show.

Anyone know if there'll be a second album anytime soon? Will Dan Bejar be involved?

― Arthur, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'Letter From An Occupant' makes me want to pull my hair out and run naked in the streets.... it is utterly Classic. It's so good that I haven't even really listened to the rest of the album. I guess I'm afraid of disappointment. LFAO also reminds me of an even more energetic Rentals - 'Friends of P'.

― Spencer Chow, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i like dan bejar's destroyer better.

??? m.

― msp, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Supposedly they're starting work on a second album, and Bejar's contributing a few songs, though he may or may not actually play on it.

In concert they actually cover Shocking Blue's "Send Me a Postcard." It sounds great. (Best cover of all, though, is Sparks' "Throw Her Away and Get a New One"...)

I love "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism," "Mystery Hours," "Centre for Holy Wars"...

― Douglas, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

dud, i miss zumpano, goin' through changes is only about 3000x's better than 'mass romantic'. i had the exact opposite reaction to fields', i thought it was too indie rock, and i wonder where is the pop because i can't hear it.

― keith, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

despite being canadian i'm totally ignorant to zumpano ... please enlighten.

― fields of salmon, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Zumpano was Carl Newman's band before the New Porns. Good, if a little too precious, chamber pop arrangements from around the time of Cardinal/Eric Matthews. I don't think their songs can begin to compare with the songs on Mass Romantic.

― Curt, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Last Superconductor album bastardsong ushered in Newman's jump into the pop puddle. That said, I think Bejar's songs are the best ones on the New Pornographers' album. bastardsong, though, is a great record.

― Jack Cole, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nine months pass...
time to resurrect this thread: i've been playing the advance of The Electric Version all weekend and it's, if anything, better than Mass Romantic.

it just got warm again in nyc, and this is windows-open, dance around the room, jump up and down music. Tthere's lots of whi-who-whos, all of which are good things: anything that makes me think of the Hollies and Big Star at the same time is a rare treat.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Monday, 24 March 2003 16:21 (twenty-three years ago)

plus, anything involving Dan Bejar is going to be awesome.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 24 March 2003 16:50 (twenty-three years ago)

wait, is dan bejar on the new one? for some reason i'd be surprised if he was.

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 24 March 2003 17:01 (twenty-three years ago)

according to press notes, he is. the vox are all mixed up, so it's hard to tell who sings what.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Monday, 24 March 2003 19:27 (twenty-three years ago)

that's great - i came to bejar after hearing the new pornos, and i have now grown to love destroyer far more than the pornos.

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 24 March 2003 19:31 (twenty-three years ago)

The album is much catchier, but there's no "Letter From an Occupant" blockbuster...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 March 2003 19:34 (twenty-three years ago)

the matador mp3 is blockbusterly! :-D

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 24 March 2003 20:37 (twenty-three years ago)

am off to interview them hooray!

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 24 March 2003 20:46 (twenty-three years ago)

tell them sparks would like their career back.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 24 March 2003 20:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Laws Have Changed is brillex.

Am I the only one that thought Mass Romantic was a bit more blockbusterly than Letter From An Occupant, tho?

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Monday, 24 March 2003 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Bejar's definitely singing lead on three songs. "The Laws Have Changed" is awesome (deeply sarcastic reaction of my officemate after I played it for him: "You know what their problem is? No hooks"), but the one that's doing it most for me so far is "It's Only Divine Right"...

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 24 March 2003 21:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Am I the only one that thought Mass Romantic was a bit more blockbusterly than Letter From An Occupant, tho?

I think that "Letter From An Occupant" is generally regarded as so catchy it hurts in general, let alone vs. any other track on 'Mass Romantic'.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 24 March 2003 22:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't see the Sparks thing too much (and I love both bands)

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:24 (twenty-three years ago)

from what i understand, bejar participated on some of it, but doesnt really want to tour with the band since it took on a life of its own (it was supposed to be a one off project). He's on 3 songs huh? also, i have to say, i really didnt like neko case's singing at all on the first album. really generic. i prefered the stuff with carl and dan.

― jack cole (jackcole), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:54 (twenty-three years ago)

well it's a damn sight better than Limblifter, that's for sure. i do like... but give me my Age Of Electric back.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 02:59 (twenty-three years ago)


am off to interview them hooray!

Ask Neko to marry me!

― jm (jtm), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 03:22 (twenty-three years ago)

no Neko, just Carl, Kurt and Blaine. really nice guys, even though my questions were probably rub

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 03:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Am I the only one that thought Mass Romantic was a bit more blockbusterly than Letter From An Occupant, tho?

Me too. Certainly catchier, anyhow.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 03:46 (twenty-three years ago)

My other favorite tune off that album is "Slow Descent into Alcoholism". "LFAO" would probably be third.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 25 March 2003 03:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I love this album. I was about to say some wiseass comment about being really late, but I saw the date of the original post and then I realized that only an asshole would make a comment like that, anyway. There's no time limit on good music, especially if you happen to be born a decade later and are just discovering it... but, I think it's pretty cool that the New Pornographers' album is still a valid piece of work a year later. So many new albums are great for, like, a month or two and then you realize they just suck. This album is a really good one!

― Scaredy Cat, Tuesday, 25 March 2003 03:52 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

FALSE GRAILS

― gabbneb, Friday, 28 December 2007 19:13 (eighteen years ago)


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