new New Pornographers

anyway, yeah, i love rubies.

The new NP is not really growing on me, unfortunately.

cast this record into the trash bin, trust me i had my reasons

Is any Canadian album in 2010 safe from ksh's trashbin????

haven't heard this yet, save maybe one song, but i do love Destroyer (at least his last two albums, which are the only ones I've really heard)

cast this record into the trash bin, trust me i had my reasons

I TRUST YOU HAD YOUR REASONS BUT WHY, KSH, WHY?

hahahaha

i have not heard it! i have not bought it! i was merely alluding to the first lines of Destroyer's Rubies!

btw wherever I shake out on this thing (at worst, it's merely another awesome NPs record), let me just go on the record that "Your Hands (Together)" is dope as fuck. love the hypercompressed string noise "solo"

on further reflection he may just be playing behind the bridge. still sounds great though.

i listened to this album on a two-hour plane flight today. the middle and end sections really sounded outstanding. it's funny, because i started by listening to the new disc from the nat'l, and from track nos. 1 -- 6, i thought "wow, i never cared about this band before, but this may be the best thing i've heard this year." then i hit track no. 7, and the album hit a wall for me. by contrast, i began in the middle of together -- maybe at sweet talk, sweet talk -- and concentrated on it through the end (we end up together) and was floored by how well the building orchestration worked, and how the case/calder harmonies gave me chills, and how different and interesting each song was from the next.

Kathryn has a new album imminent for release. This song is intriguing: http://stereogum.com/385921/kathryn-calder-slip-away/mp3s/

The iTunes Bonus Tracks for "Together" make up an EP of three Outrageous Cherry covers, and they are AWESOME!

oh nice. got a 7" of that when i bought the album but have not yet listened.

Just got back from their show. First half was excellent, everyone in fine form and jeez, Blaine's lost weight and I swear I saw him smile a few times! However, 2nd half was bogged by too many late-period Newman trudgers and (predictably) Bejar, who seriously looked like a homeless person who'd accidentally wandered onto stage.

oh no, a homeless person

Saw the show last night in Columbus, OH. Had a funny moment at the beginning: Before taking the stage, the band was letting Boston's "Foreplay" play over a dark stage. After about a minute, the iPhone email notification sound went off, to great laughter. (Neko said it was her mom emailing her before the show.) Opened with "Sing Me Spanish Techno" and did something from every album, including I think 4 from the new one. Dan came on and off stage as needed throughout the show, and towards the end had to be prompted the lyrics for "Jackie" by Kurt, because Dan was clearly plastered. Lots of energy, set list was almost like a greatest hits with a few oddities interspersed.

Similar show in Milwaukee, a few nights ago. Bejar also drunk as a skunk for "Jackie," and pretty much bleated the lyrics at an absurd volume. Saw plenty of attendees on the older end of the spectrum covering their ears and looking stunned. I felt their pain. The band played plenty from Together, though--"Moves," "Crash Years," "Your Hands (Together)," "Silver Jenny Dollar," "My Shepherd," "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk," and "Up in the Dark."

I'm seeing them on Saturday at Terminal 5. I hate the venue, but a lot of good bands play there unfortunately. Do they play some songs from Twin Cinema? That's my favorite of theirs.

They played "Sing Me Spanish Techno," "These Are The Fables," "Twin Cinema," "Use It" and "The Bleeding Heart Show" last night.

That's awesome, I love those songs. Hope they play "Streets of Fire."

I was hoping for a few more from "Challengers," but we got "Your Rights Vs Mine," "Myriad Harbour" and the title track. Two from Electric Version ("The Law Has Changed" and "A Testament To Youth In Verse") and three from Mass Romantic (title track, "Jackie" and "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism").

Is there some reason Dan Bejar acts like a sulky seven-year-old on stage or is it just part of the ambience?

yeah, it's called stage fright

I saw them tonight at the Shepherds Bush Empire (I think it was a one-off show warm up for their ATP performance tomorrow?). Neko Case was with them this time (Carl said she'd never sung with them in the UK before). Similar set-list to the ones mentioned above from a few months ago, give or take a couple of songs - they didn't play "Letter from an Occupant," but they did play that "Snow White" song from the 'Dark Was the Night' comp. They started with lots of fast classics and then got into a large chunk of midtempo ones. Carl apologized at the end saying they had at least 5 more in them but the curfew was cutting them off.

The crowd was dead, dead, dead... hardly any movement at all. The balcony was open but the place seemed less than 2/3rds full. Strangely (to me), people seemed to respond most enthusiastically to the "Together" songs. The stage is frustratingly low in that place. The drummer is still a monster! They are so much fun to see live.

"Hey, Snow White" is a Destroyer song, but I'm guessing Bejar wasn't there to participate. Sounds good, though.

Huh, I didn't know that. Carl Newman and Neko sing it on the 'Dark Was the Night' comp.
Bejar was indeed absent. Newman offered some faux-angry banter, saying 'that guy's a prick' when someone shouted a question about him.
I think the only Bejar song they played was "Testament to Youth in Verse."

I think the setlist was something like this:

Moves
The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
It's Only Divine Right
The Laws Have Changed
We End Up Together
All the Old Showstoppers
Adventures in Solitude
These Are the Fables
Twin Cinema
Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Crash Years
Hey, Snow White
Your Hands (Together)
Up in the Dark
My Rights Versus Yours
Mass Romantic
Testament to Youth in Verse
Use It
The Bleeding Heart Show

Encore:
Challengers
Sing Me Spanish Techno

I have some of that out of order but I think that's the bulk of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYyu5vbwvbA&feature=youtu.be

lol, love it

Seems unlikely that the Newps will ever release another album. Is there any interest in a Tracks poll? ILM's chance to set their canon in stone.

why unlikely?

i think there's a new album coming out in 2014

Ah, so it seems: http://thefourohfive.com/news/article/the-new-pornographers-have-almost-finished-their-sixth-studio-album

Yeah, AC Newman's been Tweeting about making it for the last year or so (sometimes back and forth with Neko, which is often entertaining)

The question is will it be good?
The answer is probably no.
They (and Newman) didn't release anything good in ages.

idk what counts as "in ages" (let's assume last 5 years?) but i rate Together, Get Guilty, and Middle Cyclone (i like Shut Down the Streets + new Case but not quite as much), and tho i'm not a huge fan i'm pretty sure ilx rates kaputt

Kaputt is good. i agree on that.
but Destroyer had only 3 songs on a NP record, and he isn't responsible of the production..

in ages means since Twin Cinema (2005).

i think in this case, i agree with the silent majority about the rating of their albums:

http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/the_new_pornographers

Mordy otm. Plenty of great material over last few years. Put it on the list of polls now we won't vote before 2016 anyway.

whatever. half of twin cinema is just okay, plenty of great tracks on Together, title track on shut down the streets is booming.

ok, but i miss the more adventurous production, and the strong melodies..

clearly only a poll can settle this

Clearly! Alright, I'll set it up.

I'm thinking: Rank the albums and are ten songs enough? Fifteen maybe? Tempted to include the 2 Newman solo records in this, as they seem so much a piece with the Newps' output (unlike the rest of the band's excursions) but am leaning against it atm.

"Tempted to include the 2 Newman solo records in this"

don't resist the temptation!

I'd vote for putting it into the full-on poll coordination thread. Minimum 20 tracks, solo Newman okay.

Slow Wonder is in league with their best records so, of course - out him in

really? always felt like those songs were strong up until the chorus, where they sputtered on the launch-pad instead of taking-off.

and i was a huge fan of this band not long ago (felt like i loved challengers at the time, but now can easily see why people say twin cinema was their high-point, with a somewhat uneven decline following it).

Don't know much about the New Pornographers beyond a couple of well known songs, but this is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mU99Hv77S8

I heard it for the first time very late in 2012--too late for my year-end, but I was able to get it onto my ILM ballot.

I dunno. Twin Cinema was a big step forward and "The Bleeding Heart Show" may be their pinnacle but my the highs on Challengers are pretty damn high.

"The Bleeding Heart Show" may be their pinnacle

can't overstate how great a song this is. i've played it enough for a lifetime, but the band deserves like a "lifetime achievement" award for that song alone.