The National - Sleep Well Beast (Sept. 8th, 2017) Anticipation Thread

yeah, those and "dark side..."

the electronic flourishes don't feel very well-integrated to me

The System Dreams in Total Darkness is one of the best things they've done and it made me hopeful the album might be a bit better than usual

v happy to see hate for the "terrible love" mix. that is the worst recording of music that exists.

yeah and the fact that it fucks up such a great song too... dunno how anybody involved can feel good about that

my god i am listening to the alternate version for the first time, and i am so happy that i can listen to this song now

so i guess that confirms it's not the worst recording but the worst mix

sheesh such delicate ears around here

still can't believe laura palmer whispered the album mix of 'terrible love' into his ear

“Goodbyes always take us half an hour,” complains the narrator of Nobody Else Will Be There on leaving a party. “Can’t we just go home?”

narrator otm

If Conversation 16 wasn't on HV I would easily think of that as the best National record.

that's one of their best songs wtf!

those lyrics.

most hilarious chorus definitely.

it's like a Berninger caricature of his lyrics, which I suppose may be some sort of meta joke that I missed.

Its a bit National-by-numbers but I really like Carin At The Liquor Store off the new one too

(Xpost) I'd drop both Conversation 16 and the awful Lemonworld and then I think HV is up there with Boxer.

Lemonworld is probably my favorite national song lol

is there anything as good as "Pink Rabbits" on this one?

no

ok thanks, i'll check out the tracks y'all like. "Dark Side of the Gym" is a dope song title

why does everyone like that song title?

sounds cool. evocative. slightly absurd

it seems like a very bad song title to me. I'd feel v stupid saying something like, "hey, please play that hit The National song 'Dark Side of the Gym' for me next, my man" to the rock 'n' bowl dj

song titles should be a unique stream of numbers that take on the song's meaning if the song is good enough. naming your song 'Dark Side of the Gym' is like naming your new car design 'Toyota Matrix'

England, Vanderlyle, the one about bees, though - they're right up there as my favourite National tracks.

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, September 8, 2017

OTM

well yeah, it's silly. i like that. mitigates the MOR ennui of their music & image.

xxp

it is a perfectly Nationalian song title/sentiment imo

never a good idea to talk to a DJ when they're performing imo

to a rock 'n' bowl dj, spoken song titles are the keys to the hash table containing all playable songs. but the hash function has been given to the artist, and it is plain irresponsible to title your song with a pun on another title. collisions are inevitable. especially when ginuwine - pony is playing so loudly.

what is it a pun of?

yeah I don't know what's up with the production on that first song on High Violet, it's aggressively, intentionally shitty. Anyway, new album, ok, whatever, it's fine so far.

High Violet is great and the production on the first song is great too, no idea what you are all talking about!

Not listened to the new album yet. Been a National fan since the first album, their early shows were fucking intense. With every new album I dread they inch closer to being U2.0. Please assure me this is not the case (yet).

They're nothing like U2.

i've never understood that comparison at all

Arcade Fire are a lot like U2. The National are not.

I never said they were; I said I fear for them becoming like U2. And am glad this is not the case.

I'm faintly baffled that anyone would fear that.

They went from obscuro indie-outfit to stadium-sized band; their songs got 'big audience friendly' over the years, too. I like it all the same (though I def prefer the early works). It's not that much of a stretch, surely? In any case I'm glad they aren't U2, 's all.

Personally I fear them becoming Nickelback. Not saying they are Nickelback, just that I fear them becoming Nickelback

Ok...

lol sorry about that, that was mean. Just weird logic though. I'm not sure I even buy their songs have become bigger and more audience friendly. In a lot of ways their albums have become more hermetic over time—lots of moments that seem almost purposefully devoid of showmanship in the interest of setting a mood

nickelback have some tracks

No offense taken Evan, all good. But:

I'm not sure I even buy their songs have become bigger and more audience friendly.

For real? The s/t and 'Sad Songs' had both very quiet and 'screamo' songs. Alligator and consequent albums after that showed a way more polished sound imo.

Alligator is the one with their big arena tune. But that was 2005. The last album in particular, and what I've heard of this one (which I'm really enjoying so far), both feel like inward retreats.

Not that the band can't sell the shit out of even their buzzkill songs live, but I haven't heard anything from them lately that would make a radio programmer go "Yes! Yes! That's the one!"

I almost forgot about the original version of “Terrible Love.” I just replaced the file with the alternate one in my music library a few years ago and never looked back. But gee, that original mix was indeed horrendous and headache-inducing.

and thus, even on an exclusive forum for music aficionados, misguided opinions on the National were widespread :P

forgot about this today, will play it next week.

it's lovely but whoever said above that it's mostly unmemorable is otm. High Violet was the epitome of what i desired from them (distilled pure middle aged somber angst) and everything else feels like variations on the theme. it sounds of a piece w/ some other albums i've been loving recently (man orch, brand new) at least in terms of a dreary aesthetic but far less dynamic.

HV tracks also amazing live

and otm