MASS ROMANTIC

all right more hot takes: the first four new pornos records are basically all as good as each other, but electric version > mass romantic

the first four new pornos records are basically all as good as each other, but electric version > mass romantic

I agree w this take and love that it includes Challengers

i like-to-love all of bejar's songs on mass romantic but he suddenly becomes the best member of the band on electric version and i think this is what sends it over for me

i love every line on "ballad of a comeback kid" as if it were my own child

if we polled Bejar’s NP songs Myriad Harbor might take it for me

i think most of us would go for myriad harbor, it's kind of perfect

IT CAME OUT MAGICAL, OUT FROM BLOWN SPEAKERS
IT CAME OUT MAGICAL, OUT FROM BLOWN SPEAKERS

"from blown speakers" is maybe my favorite newman song ever

"Slow Descent"'s verses are A+ but the chorus/refrain fall flat (as illuminated in drunkposts above). Feel like AC could have spent a little more time on that one.

genuinely adore how much this band sucks at album covers

Lol, not quite Beautiful South level but yeah.

blown speakers is my fave by a wide margin, so good

sadly otm re album covers as well, really the worst

always kinda wish the New Pornos had done a remake of Superconductor's "There Goes Helen"

When I caught Superconductor live and they had 8 or 9 guitars iirc. I wonder if there's vids on the 'tube.

guitarists*

i think most of us would go for myriad harbor, it's kind of perfect

bottom three will be Breakin' the Law (zero votes), Execution Day (zero) and Mystery Hours (one)

i nearly voted for 'mystery hours', i love its OTT-ness

well now I wish I voted for execution day

As I suggested above, Game Theory's Big Shot Chronicles and Lolita Nation were a big melodic/harmonic influence on Newman, but Scott Miller could write similarly complex lyrics that were a lot more lucid than Newman was at this stage.

The New Pornographers' cover of "Breakin' The Law" is pretty underrated ITT. Not sure if many people ever heard the original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G_oTSGod60

"Mystery Hours" definitely my least-favorite. Not sure with what I'll go end up going with. "Letter" is still in the running, even for a notorious underdog booster like myself.

Kind of want to give The Mary Martin Show a vote - by the time it comes on I should be exhausted by this album but it's such a blast before the comedown of Breakin the Law.

Mystery Hours is underrated but i voted for wild homes

all right more hot takes: the first four new pornos records are basically all as good as each other, but electric version > mass romantic

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, November 23, 2020

I agree w this take and love that it includes Challengers

― it bangs for thee (Simon H.), Monday, November 23, 2020

+1 on both takes and on the inclusion of Challengers. even spicier take: Challengers is their strongest LP front-to-back.

idk if we're really even doing artist polls any more but NPs both deserves one and poses a toughie. like NPs+Newman solo kinda makes sense but throwing in Neko and Destroyer would be a mess

I'm finding this very difficult because this album feels - and I don't think this is a problem, just a quality - sort of undifferentiated to me, like all the songs are good in the same way and for the same reasons. Trying to pick one track out from the group is like staring at a picture that has a ton of color but all the color is at the same level of saturation. At a certain point, your eyes just can't focus anymore.

I found myself going through the songs minute by minute, trying to decide which cool bit was cooler than every other cool bit (like, do I want to vote for "To Wild Homes" because of the cool Fleetwood Mac-y Toooo-oooooo wiii-iiillld homes at the end, or do I prefer the chorus of "Letter from an Occupant?") Then I tried stepping back, letting my eyes go out of focus, and seeing what stood out from the background, and ended up with "The Fake Headlines."

But I still might vote for "Mass Romantic" because that feels somehow like voting for the album as a whole. Idk.

i jammed out to 'slow descent' earlier today because that song always sounded to me like a very fast descent into alcoholism, hence the joke and pleasure of the song, and i always related to it. that finishes my report on the new pornographers.

+1 on both takes and on the inclusion of Challengers. even spicier take: Challengers is their strongest LP front-to-back.

I would also say none of their albums are (quite) front-to-back killers.

None of their albums is perfect, but most of them are really, really good, is that what your after? Because that’s what I’ve come to think.

I'd say Electric Version, Twin Cinema and Newman's The Slow Wonder have no weak songs.

mass romantic is something like 10 killer songs in a row until it slows down at the end

Re: challengers, “my rights vs yours” is like the ur-new pornos song

I love both Electric Version and Twin Cinema but, as pointed out earlier, couldn't name every song on them so wouldn't be able to tell you if there was a weak one or not.

vc otm about "My Right Vs. Yours."

Electric Version has more songs that stand out in my mind. I really like "The Laws Have Changed."

That’s a good one. I was pretty into Whiteout Conditions when it came out. Seem to remember liking something on Brill Bruisers, couldn’t tell you anything specific, don’t think I even remember ever listening to Together, tried a few tracks on In the Morse Code of Brake Lights the other night but nothing stuck yet.

"War on the East Coast" is the last New Pornos song that struck me as essential

“you’ll need a new backseat driver” was an awesome neko-led song on their album from last year.

fits halfway between “my rights” and “bleeding heart show” (not as strong as either, but in a similar zip code)

Slow Wonder is a goddamn masterpiece and it doesn’t get nearly enough respect.

Listening now

I feel confident in saying that "The Laws have Changed" is the "Letter from an Occupant" of Electric Version.

i def. remember getting more attached to ev than mr.

just to throw another opinion on the fire, i'll take get guilty over the slow wonder in the newman solo record derby

Get Guilty is a solid album, more in the New Pornographers vein than Slow Wonder, but it has fewer great songs. Shut Down the Streets is his most pastoral record, and also fine.

Does anyone know where I might find a video of the NP's performing "Fake Headlines" live? I have some theories about a few things that happen in the song that I need to x-ref with some live footage.

somewhere in another NPs thread on ILM, i lamented / wondered about the dearth of footage of the band playing live in its early days.

i believe someone suggested that might be because of Neko's longtime "no cameras" rule at shows ... which seemed like as good a guess as any.

Also, many people I know who saw them in the early days said they were awful live? (Don't jump on me, these were all friends who were equally obsessed as I was at the time)

I had this experience as well

I remember being upset about missing their first show in Philly after Electric Version came out, and all my friends who went were like 'you didn't miss much.'

It's a minority position, but I know I'm not the only one who doesn't much care for Dan Bejar ("Jackie Dressed in Cobras" and "War on the East Coast" excepted).