The National

npr: there are so many glipses of good things and then it's just kai ryssdal

I was under the impression that Brooklyn was some kind of artistic hotbed in the 00s, kind of a bummer that one of their most successful exports is a plain ole meat and potatoes moody rock band with bad singing

Sorry!

This is maybe gonna sound weird but my whole life I thought this band had both black and white members and I just looked at a picture of them for the first time ever and.... they're all white! OK I don't really know how I formed this misapprehension.

yeeaahhh me neither

pfffft, i a bet a bunch of people on this thread go into other threads and stan for fuckin' kanye

tfw u realize you've mixed up The National with TV on the Radio for 15 years

this band sounds like a glass of milk being poured

any tracks in particular?

The entirety of I Am Easy to Find, except it doesn't actually taste like milk.

this band sounds like a glass of milk being poured

― lumen (esby)

no, that sounds like something i'd actually want to listen to

for instance, here is the sound of an egg being fried for 12 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_7yhf1GiM

i certainly can't recommend the record on gustatory grounds

Why are they called The National? It's always rubbed me the wrong way.

National Front was taken haha

tfw u realize you've mixed up The National with TV on the Radio for 15 years

Oh I do think this is exactly what happened, it looks like both these bands came out around the same time and were from New York and made a bunch of indie-ish records I never heard, I did not exactly think they were the same band but maybe I thought one was a side project or offshoot of the other.

Amazon has an incorrect tracklist for the Belle & Sebastian album out Friday. I thought it was somebody's parody titles but googling tells me this is for the new album by The National (based on them playing two of these songs live). Have they announced a new album yet or should I start a new-album detective agency?

1 Once Upon A Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
2 Eucalyptus
3 New Order T-Shirt
4 This Isn't Helping (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
5 Tropic Morning News
6 Alien
7 The Alcott (With Taylor Swift)
8 Grease In Your Hair
9 Ice Machines
10 Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
11 Send For Me

Obviously Belle & Sebastian and the National have merged into one group, Belle & Sebastional.

The Boy With The Alligator Strap

looking forward to future dad rock staple, New Order T-Shirt

anyway, they are playing bottlerock in napa in May so I assume they have a new album on the way and that tracklist looks likely. glad to see Phoebe all over it.

glad that "weird goodbyes" apparently isn't on it because it wasn't very good

Phoebe seems to be everywhere.

There might still be other songs on the album (even "Weird Goodbyes"?). Somebody pointed out, given the way this leaked, that the 11 track limit might match the number of tracks on the B&S album this appeared under by mistake, not the full number on The National album.

1 Once Upon A Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
2 Eucalyptus
3 New Order T-Shirt

wtf

“once upon a poolside” has got to be the most national song title of all time

If you'd said "By the Poolside I Sat and Wept," maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdU0qwZKLfU

leaked tracklist was accurate. album is 47 minutes long (thank god) (even though i liked the last one's sprawl)

not as good as their past two lead singles but it's decent

why do you feat. Phoebe Bridgers but With Taylor Swift?

Maybe she co-wrote the song with them, and the others are just featured on songs that the band wrote?

yeah possible

https://shop.americanmary.com/products/new-order-t-shirt

this is so stupid i have to get it

that’s great, definitely buying for my partner

love the t-shirt

really wish I loved the song but it's so nothingy

can't hate, it's just got no melody, nothing to latch onto

Album out Friday. NME (lol) has said it's their best in a decade and given it five stars.

Have really liked the two more recent songs they've released from it though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSywJt3VlUM

Of all the bands I'd totally expect to just keep putting out good albums it's this one.

A nice note is that Matt sliding the SM7 down on the mic stand at the end of the video is just faintly, barely audible enough to confirm that the video you're watching is a factual document of the final vocal performance

Their last one was the best to my ears; having female harmonists and co-vocalists leavened the preppy male angst.

this is probably their most mellow, middle-of-the-road, unexciting album yet

which is a shame after the last two were a little more interesting and had some of their strongest material (there's definitely a case for i am easy to find as their best)

Yeah. Shame that all the guest vocalists are strictly on backing duties, especially after the last album. At least Taylor gets a few lines to sing on her own I suppose unlike Phoebe.

taylor's appearance is prominent enough but it's weird that the others get a feature credit for some backing vocals, especially compared to the last album where more prominent guest vocalists didn't

ppl describing the new national album as “mor” gets me excited about it, actually

it just feels like they're spinning their wheels here, there's nothing that comes close to "you had your soul with you" or "the system only dreams in total darkness" or anything

The System Dreams in MOR

Not every fan of the national is a divorced guy who owns an npr t shirt but every divorced guy who owns an npr t shirt is a fan of the national

— eve6 (@Eve6) April 28, 2023

I am so dead-center in the National’s supposed demographic (but married and no NPR t-shirt but I listen the shit out of NPR) but I just can’t get with the National. A little too close to home maybe.

Tuned out for no partic reason after Boxer, which I loved. Thinking of dipping back in but no sure where to start

trouble will find me!

yeah that's the only really good post boxer album for me

go backwards imo, alligator as good as boxer, sometimes better

two first have some jams

I wonder if the title "Laugh Track" is ironic?

i liked frankenstein more than most but *this* is the national record i've been waiting for

the song with rosanne cash is out of this world

These guys are not only a great example of dad rock, they are its apotheosis.

specifically a hip aging urban dad though?

An aging suburban dad who is so unhip he's come back around to being hip again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5YkmjalDg

Yeah, that Rosanne Cash song is the sort of thing I was hoping for more of on Frankenstein when they announced all the guest vocalists xps

I'm just glad Phoebe Bridgers is getting some work.

finally got around to the new one and it's actually pretty decent, though still maybe a little long .pleasantly surprised after how much of a bore first two pages was. there's a nice looser, jammy quality to it but the songs are stronger too so they don't just meander away into nothing like they're very capable of doing

I've liked everything this band has done, outright love at least four of their records, and thought they were as good as they've ever been when I saw them play a few months ago, and yet ... I haven't gotten around to either this new one or its predecessor.

very similar to my trajectory with other dad rock staple Wilco (and YLT to extent).

Heh, re: Wilco, there are at least four records I haven't heard. I also haven't heard any of Tweedy's solo records, or the Tweedy "Sukierae" album! Yo La ... I'm not sure I've spent much time with anything from "Summer Sun" on, but I have given each album a couple of listens and don't recall any of them being particularly bad.

This is actually part of a broader philosophical discussion I've had with myself re: prolific or consistent bands: how much time *should* I spend with them? There are 17 or so Yo La Tengo albums. That's a lot! There are as many Wilco and related albums. That's a lot, too! The National only have 10, and that includes the first couple that no one really counts, but 10 is a lot, too! So right there we have three bands I like that between them have released no less than 13 albums I absolutely love, and even then I don't know how often I get around to listening to those 13 albums, despite being longtime favorites of mine. It's honestly kind of frustrating, especially when you factor in the steady drip of new releases, or podcast episodes, or John Zorn dropping 900 albums onto Spotify.

and that includes the first couple that no one really counts

Sad Songs... is a great album. Have spent a lot of time listening to that one.

It is good! But it's kind of overshadowed, imo.

finally ilm will be about the music we aren't listening to

I'm not listening to over 99.99% of music right now.

I like both of these two national albums fine, but they are a little dull compared to Boxer, Alligator, and High Violet. But there's nothing bad on them at all, definitely. That's def where Wilco landed to me sometime around Ghost...I listen to the records, they're good, they don't stick with me, whether that's the fault of the album or just my jaded ears, I don't know. At least they aren't making albums I think suck.

and like, I'm still going to go see the National live on this tour, even though they are playing a place I hate. Because they are phenomenal live, even when they play things I don't love.

yo la tengo and wilco are definitely much more interesting bands with much higher highs and yo la tengo put out one of their very best albums just this year

the national are kinda frustrating because they seem capable of making something really compelling and great but never quite get there beyond the occasional track here and there. very good at being fine, decent enough, etc. though

yeah I was going to say I was actually surprised by that YLT album, it kind of somehow regained all that magic that I'd loved and felt kind of disappeared with Summer Sun. I also think the National might still again make another album as strong as High Violet. But they also might turn into U2.

Just heard the track they did with Taylor Swift ("Alcott"), I kinda dug it.

still can't say I love the last two albums (or even three or four) as much as anything prior but I saw them last night in SF and they remain one of my favorite live acts. 29 song set, even things I didn't love or wasn't super familiar with were great.