New Pornographers

Fact: I could really do without Bejar's NP songs, even though they are quite good. To me, the appeal of the group is the Case/Newman collaboration.

And, yeah, maybe Carl Newman leans more towards later/poppier glam than Bowie -- in addition to the Sweet's "Action," I've heard them play Sparks's "Throw Her Away (And Get A New One)" as an encore. But it's hardly apples and oranges.

Which doesn't mean it isn't a weak argument: "Neko Case hardly appears on the NPs album, therefore she should stop performing her own material." Yeah, that's the traditional career path for the alt-country chanteuse: a few years of twang (y'know, just to get it out of her system), and then settle down into a serious career in glam-inflected power pop. Enough with the dawdling!

(Better? Worse?)

Didn't it come out last month?

Neko solo would blow them away, if only she wrote somewhat better songs. I still prefer her to them, though, 'cuz she sings lead on all the Neko Case stuff.

Carl looks more like Howdy Doody with each passing day.

Saw them in June, it was cool to hear Neko sing in so many of the songs. But I'm a sucker for her voice.

It just came on randomly and was surprised at how much it would fit in on Mass Romantic.

'mass romantic' is so fucking good.

Song or album? - in neither case would it be a revelatory insight, but I'm all for whimsicality.

i have no insights or whimsicality, i just pulled it out the other night and it was perfect.

any opinions on the new one that's out today, y'all?

new New Pornographers

thank u sir

i like the new disc a lot. i don't think there's a weak track, and as much as i love the new pornographers, that's an unusual feeling for me (even twin cinema had a weak patch IMO). teaming neko case/kathryn calder for vocal harmonies works wonders, in songs like if you can't see my mirrors; sweet talk; and my shepard. the interesting drum patterns and fills are back. the hooks are, too.

i guess i've said most of this before, and on the other thread. sorry for being a broken record about this record.

awesome review, Daniel. Twin Cinema was a record that i got on the day it came out, and i could listen to again and again, so i'm hoping this one is the same . . . i passed on the last one

Don't sleep on Challengers. It took me a full year to really warm to, but now it's indispensable.

really? i was turned off by the lukewarm response, but i really love Twin Cinema, so maybe i should go back to it

it's underrated. i mean, the songs do lay there more than you'd expect for this band's work, but they were following a different muse. the songs themselves were still very strong, and i liked the depth that was added when they slowed down the tempo and didn't try to cram enough hooks for five songs into one song.

having said all that, challengers is hardly my favorite new pornographers' disc.

Ooh this is a very vibey record. Most of the albums post-Twin Cinema have had more buried hooks than the first three, and take repeated listens (or distracted listening) to really sink in. This one's doing that too but in a fresh way.

lol why on earth is this thread marked NSFW

― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Thursday, March 30, 2023 11:16 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

naughty artist name

The name Old Pornographers was taken.

The Old Weird Cartographers.

Professor Clank and the Old Weird Cartographer Society

lol

“Pontus Pilate” could almost be a Radiohead tune circa amnesiac

This is slack -- the tempos, that is.

I have a kneejerk allergy to saxophones in rock music, and as much as I try to overcome that, I can already tell I’m just not going to come back to this album as much as I do their others.

The saxes are meh too. I prefer Goon Sax.

Believe we even have a thread about that
(xp)

New Pornographers Are Alright If You Like Saxophones

not normally one for horns in general when it comes to rock music – but i feel like it *really* works on the title track.

Really like the sax, it gives me a Psych Furs vibe, which is a very good thing.

Not as sleazy.

Going to see the New Pornographers tonight. Have been a fan since Twin Cinema. Very surprised that they’re playing an old theater right in my backyard in suburban CT. This place seems to mostly host tribute bands, but over the years one of my favorites shows up: X, Paul Westerberg, Conor Oberst, and now the New Pornos. Here are the top 20 songs I’m hoping to hear tonight:

1. Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile
2. The Bleeding Heart Show
3. Sing Me Spanish Techno
4. The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
5. Another Drug Deal of the Heart
6. Failsafe
7. All the Old Showstoppers
8. Challengers
9. Brill Bruisers
10. Born With a Sound

Only meant to list 10, but since I misstyped 20, I’ll continue:

11. Dancehall Domine
12. Myriad Harbour
13. Go Places
14. From Blown Speakers
15. Twin Cinema
16. Moves
17. High Ticket Attractions
18. We End Up Together
19. The Spirit of Giving
20. The Laws Have Changed

was discussing this in another online spot: they're going the wrong direction in terms of draw.

enjoy, though! still the best rock band of the past two decades.

Saw them last week, they were ... OK. But that happens to everyone.

lemme say that I am shooked! SHOOKED and STOONED, per Barry Wom, that there is another Ilxor living in Fairfield County! Mostly finance people into Dave Matthews, Dead & Co, Phish and so forth, so its nice to know there's another ILMnik lurking around.

In said county, I wanna support shit like this band doing a show at a venue 15 minutes from my house, because it is slim, geriatric pickings almost all of the time…you have to go to New Haven to see current acts, and I have very small children, so going to NYC is challenging… and in fact, that Nu Porns were booked at Wall St Theater at all indicates that they are more geriatric than not…when I saw this band in 2001, 2005 and 2015, they came out all guns blazing each time and would settle down for some subdued shit but were mostly there to throw down…even at Prospect Park Bandshell, in front of thousands of Slope-ites whom the band resembles, they TOE SHIT UP… but last night, it was gray and white hair, bald heads, seated in the venue…to me, seated audience = not enough energy. Josh and Alpine seem to be saying that the band is mostly listless no matter what, but it seems to me that even a late 40s/early 50s crowd on its feet can transmit sufficient energy back at the band…Carl (my wife, who doesn't follow music at all but admires Neko, called him "Ed Begley Jr.") and Neko barely kept up any of the sort of patter I remember them being quite good at…they did get going at the end, and so I wanna blame the crowd, who may rep for legacy indie rock but ultimately are uptight CT people too concerned with their own comfort. There is room at the back of the venue at the bar for people to stand and respond physically to the music, so that helped a bit. Do you remember what Carl said about Norwalk, Justineyukon?

Says it all, really, that me and my buddy from Sheffield, talked a bit, possibly too loudly, and were indignantly shushed by two sets of couples, one who exclaimed "WE'VE BEEN WAITING THREE YEARS FOR LIVE MUSIC!!!" My friend got his back up. pissed that american stick in the muds now come to rock shows and demand hushed, attentive respect…he doesn't know the band and this ruined the show for him, but they did "Mass Romantic," "Slow Descent," "bleeding Heart show" (a very very moving song")… I am happy the band came to my area, but do I have to be resigned that music designed to be kinetic will occasionally be subject to aging indie rock who want to sit down? Is this what National shows are like?

xpost: "aging indie rock fans"

Doesn't Neko live in New England?

My fave they played here was ... "July Jones"? I liked hearing that again. But yeah, I've seen them a bunch over the years, in increasingly big places (not huge, but bigger than where I used to see them), and they'd always put on a pretty good show. This one (one of two sold out shows in a maybe 1000 person venue) was relatively listless, or at least not particularly fun, compared to how I remembered them. That said, there were two rapt guys in front of us (I was in a balcony spot, so most people were sitting) that hung on every word. For comparison's sake, a couple of people I was with absolutely loved them, but one of them worships Neko. Another person I was with, a more casual fan though nonetheless one familiar with their whole catalog, thought the set was weighed down by the new stuff, not in an old fan likes older stuff sort of way, just that she thinks the new stuff is much more subdued.

I saw them on tour for their last album cycle and they were terrific. I have hard time believing their love show has fallen off that considerably, from just one cycle to the next. Granted, we had a whole pandemic in between so maybe some shit has happened.

They're playing Brooklyn Steel and tickets are pretty affordable - is Neko definitely with them the entire tour?

FWIW, I saw that Prospect Park show in 2015 - I thought it was okay, but by then I was kind of losing interest in them. I managed to see them in 2006 and Neko was part of the band - a nice surprise as IIRC she wasn't actually touring with them. I think it happened because she was living around Chicago at the time and didn't have a tour going on herself. That was an excellent show and it was probably the peak of my fandom - Twin Cinema had come out and it's probably still my favorite album of theirs.

First of all, I didn't say they were listless this time, I said their draw is shrinking. No worries, just wanted to clarify.

HOWEVER ... I do think they're generally a little bit listless, at least in recent years. I've seen them three times: First in 2003 and they were great, then in 2010 and they were listless (but also touring on what I think is their worst album, Together), and again in 2017, and they were great, but they were great because of the *songs* not because they gave a great performance. (There were other tangential circumstances that made me love them that time, too.)

The real fuel for the listlessness is just the lack of personality that comes through anymore ... if Carl and Neko were once great at banter, they really aren't these days. (Neko is definitely still better at it than Carl.) They mostly look like they're going through the motions, *especially* Blaine Thurier (who is no longer with the band, but was a vibe-killer when he was). Carl's affect looks more like a mix of "a little nervous + lots to do and trying not to mess up + going through the motions" ... I think he enjoys what he does, mostly, but he just doesn't really act like it.

I haven't seen them on this tour, but if they seem listless this time, I would suggest that it's because the setlists are heavy with songs from an album that's just OK. I'm not sure they have the show to carry dreary songs anymore.

Maybe the next album will be a Brill Bruisers-style return to form and I'll pounce on the chance to see them again, but otherwise, it might be time - for me, at least - to prioritize anniversary shows focused on the albums I really love. (I missed the Mass Romantic / Electric Version tour and it still bums me out.)

Yeah, I should stress, it wasn't a bad show, as such. Just ... fine. Rarely exultant.

I thought it was a pretty good concert, despite the subdued, elderly audience. They played 5 of the 10 songs I most wanted to hear. Seven songs from the new album was a bit much, though. Hearing Neko Case sing just about anything was worth the price of admission.

Veronica, sorry to hear the uptight Connecticuters dampened your enjoyment. What Carl said about Norwalk was something along the lines of “I think I am correct in the assumption that we have never played Norwalk before.” I doubt they’ll ever be back, but I’ll hold out hope that they’ll return someday with Dan Bejar in tow.

sad to hear the pit at new pornographers shows back in the day got pretty violent

welcome to the thread!

They haven't quite been the same since they dropped the growling and blast beats.

Just got out of the Vancouver show. You could tell, every time, when they were playing a song from the new album. Lack of dynamics, a turgid kinda vibe, it’s just not good. The Neko replacement, when she was singing in unison with Kathryn, sounded eerily lifelike — but of course none of the stage presence and just plain old charisma and star power of Neko.

First half of the show was kinda tentative and very heavy on the new stuff. They picked up a lot toward the end, leaning more on hits (including a surprise visit from “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”) and ofc ending with “The Bleeding Heart Show” which ejected us from the venue in the right mood.

I don’t think they played anything from Brill Bruisers or Morse Codeat all.

Bejar showed up and sang a few — “Myriad Harbour” and “A Testament To Youth In Verse” were great — I’m really inclined to dislike him but the song choices were spot on.

There’s a new touring member, whom we dubbed “Band Camp”, didn’t catch her name, playing saxophone & keys & flute. She looked like she was terrified of making a mistake.

Overall it was a careful and well constructed show, with flashes of glory — mostly concentrated in the songs from the first 4 albums. Not sad I went at all, but a very different thing than it was 20 years ago (obv to be expected).

Still the best power pop band ever, fite me about it.

no need to fite, you are correct

if you didn't, scroll up and see the convo from May about them. i think this is just the NPs experience now.

I saw them live in Baltimore in… 2001, I think? Still one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. But not sure if I would go today, haven’t really kept up.