New Pornographers

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.

Yeah, it's not my favorite either, but I'd be sad if it didn't exist.

my goal here is for the "New Pornographers" and "New New Pornographers" threads to sit atop the SNA page.

symmetry.

mission accomplished.

:-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8-1EPeYn3A&feature=player_embedded

does anyone else LOVE the first song on each NP album, and everything else is just kinda meh with a few exceptions?

New album 'Whiteout Conditions' in April. First single today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuxVvtDt6ss

Cautious anticipation commence.

thrilled that their album covers are terrible again

Carl Newman took over handling the band's twitter feed today, and he's spending time re-tweeting his own personal tweets and big-upping them.

Todd Fancey (guitar for NP) has a new record out today, "Love Mirage"

I like the album cover. Don't care for how they incorporated it into the YouTube vid.

Interesting timing on the Fancey album cover.

http://www.albumkings.com/packages/anahkiasen/illuminage/eae355e430f9ab09db94469e65430503.jpg

is bejar not on the new album? they're touring w/out him apparently

haven't heard either way but at this point they've toured without him way more than they've toured with him.

When this tour was announced, I read a few articles which said he was going to be on the tour. Maybe it was just assumption? He certainly doesn't look to be on the album cover.

Bejar is indeed not on this album apparently

decent single

haven't heard either way but at this point they've toured without him way more than they've toured with him.

― call all destroyer, Saturday, January 28, 2017 11:55 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Here's one of my favorite "It's A Small World After All" stories. I saw the NPs on one of the Dan-less shows at the House of Blues in Cleveland. (I want to say it was on the "Challengers" tour.) Late in the show, they picked a guy out of the audience who came up on stage and they had him sing "Myriad Harbor." The guy was super-nervous, but did a great job.

Flash forward to last summer, when I went to Chicago to see the Belly reunion tour. I'm standing up near the stage chatting with some other people there, and we all get to talking about other bands we like. I mention the NPs, and one of the guys talking with me starts telling a story about when he was at a show in Cleveland and they pulled him out of the audience . . . I literally finished his sentence: "To sing 'Myriad Harbor?'" I asked if it was pre-arranged and he said, "No, I think they picked me because I'm tall, black and have a Mohawk, so I stood out." He said Carl put his hand on his shoulder and just said, "Don't worry, you're gonna do fine."

haha, what a great story

love 'myriad harbor'

have they said no Bejar on this or do you have inside info, Simon?

Perpetua just tweeted about there being zero Bejar on this one, and also more Neko than ever.

I am no pre-emptively considering it the great NPs album of all time.

otm, more Neko than ever???? <3<3<3 glad i already have my ticket

Wiki also says no Bejar and all the songs are solo Newman comps.

Newman talks

STEREOGUM: Dan Bejar wasn’t involved in this record. Was he just busy with Destroyer?

NEWMAN: I was talking to him about what I wanted to do [with this record], and I think I told him, “I see it as being a bubblegum krautrock record.” Talking about the songs being 160BPM. He was talking to me and saying that all the songs he was writing were weird, quiet songs, and he was right in the middle of doing a Destroyer record. Which was something we’d narrowly skirted for our whole career. I’m always amazed that we managed to. Sometimes we avoided Destroyer, sometimes Destroyer avoided us, but eventually we hit at the same time. It wasn’t anything weird. We were just in Vancouver rehearsing and I’d go up and hang out with Dan. It’s not like anything’s really changed between us. It’s always the way it’s been. When we made Mass Romantic, we really didn’t know we were going to make another record. If nobody had paid attention, it’s possible we wouldn’t have, because it was hard to get that one done. When nobody’s asking for it…it’s hard to do something when you’re just doing it for yourself as a labor of love. The economics kicked in. If people wanna hear it, we’ll make it.

On the plus side, I hope this means we get a new Destroyer album later this year.

new album is so amazing. this plus Brill Bruisers has just brought much-needed Newman-y joy back to my life after the (relative) lull (imo) of Together.

is the new one out? i think i get a free album download w/ my concert tics

Seeing them tonight, excited to hear them. It's a bummer that Bejar won't be around. You really feel his absence on this new record (which I enjoy), especially since he wrote the best songs on Brill Bruisers.

I'm kicking myself for getting into this band just in time for Bejar to be gone. It's like XTC without Colin Moulding or Guided by Voices without Tobin Sprout.

did he ever tour with them?

bejar toured with them several times. they were a lot of fun last night tho.

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.