why does everyone like that song title?
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:18 (six years ago) link
sounds cool. evocative. slightly absurd
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 September 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link
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
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:21 (six years ago) link
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'
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:23 (six years ago) link
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
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:25 (six years ago) link
well yeah, it's silly. i like that. mitigates the MOR ennui of their music & image.
xxp
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 September 2017 18:25 (six years ago) link
it is a perfectly Nationalian song title/sentiment imo
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
never a good idea to talk to a DJ when they're performing imo
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 September 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
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.
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 8 September 2017 18:41 (six years ago) link
what is it a pun of?
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 September 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
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.
― akm, Friday, 8 September 2017 18:45 (six years ago) link
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).
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 8 September 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
They're nothing like U2.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 8 September 2017 20:08 (six years ago) link
i've never understood that comparison at all
― alpine static, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:13 (six years ago) link
Arcade Fire are a lot like U2. The National are not.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 8 September 2017 20:21 (six years ago) link
I never said they were; I said I fear for them becoming like U2. And am glad this is not the case.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:29 (six years ago) link
I'm faintly baffled that anyone would fear that.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 8 September 2017 20:30 (six years ago) link
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.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:34 (six years ago) link
Personally I fear them becoming Nickelback. Not saying they are Nickelback, just that I fear them becoming Nickelback
― Evan R, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:36 (six years ago) link
Ok...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:37 (six years ago) link
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
― Evan R, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:44 (six years ago) link
nickelback have some tracks
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:50 (six years ago) link
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.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 8 September 2017 20:55 (six years ago) link
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!"
― Evan R, Friday, 8 September 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
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.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 8 September 2017 21:22 (six years ago) link
and thus, even on an exclusive forum for music aficionados, misguided opinions on the National were widespread :P
― niels, Friday, 8 September 2017 23:40 (six years ago) link
forgot about this today, will play it next week.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 9 September 2017 02:24 (six years ago) link
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.
― Mordy, Saturday, 9 September 2017 02:32 (six years ago) link
HV tracks also amazing live
― you are juror number 144 and we will excuse you (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 9 September 2017 04:04 (six years ago) link
and otm
I might give this one a spin, but given that I can't remember a single thing about the album before this I'm not optimistic that I'll find much to enjoy about it. Alligator is okay in places, though.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 9 September 2017 10:47 (six years ago) link
listen its ok to give up on a band if <10% of their discography interests you.
― angelo irishagreementi (ledge), Saturday, 9 September 2017 12:17 (six years ago) link
Yeah this is a band that I think is very unrated and very prone to stereotyping and inaccurate generalizations. But that being said, they're also very much not everybody's thing. I kinda lost my will to keep saying "no really you should give this a try." It's like, if you listen to Pink Rabbits and it really does nothing for you, then you might as well move on
― Evan R, Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:17 (six years ago) link
For me this is a band that's become more valuable over time. Especially as so many indie rock acts (and especially white male indie rock acts) lost their touch over the last half decade, they're one of the few bands from that scene left standing that can still deliver that fix I used to get from these kinds of records. But if you can find that somehow in like a War on Drugs or LCD Soundsystem record, I understand how those would hold a lot more appeal
― Evan R, Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:23 (six years ago) link
it's weird, i think this is their most immediately accessible record since probably alligator but that's part of why i don't like it as much as their others, relistens are less rewarding than they've traditionally been, the album is just gets more flat and antisocial the more i engage with it. and i was sort of expecting the opposite as they really swaddle most of these songs in inviting electronic blinks but it oddly makes the songs sound more haphazardly arranged and unfinished
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:31 (six years ago) link
and the reason i like this band is because of the way they play together as a band, even their most fussily arranged arabesques usually have some good drumming, but the closest they come to sounding like a band on the new one is "turtleneck," which sucks, and the best songs seem the most liberated from their interplay ("i'll still destroy you")
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
the album is just gets more flat and antisocial the more i engage with it.
Yep -- like a cute guy you meet at a friend's apartment party who smiles at your jokes and talks to you about music but becomes obviously bored if not sullen
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link
Dang that sucks so much to hear. Most impressive thing about this band for me had been how replayable their records are.
― Evan R, Saturday, 9 September 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
I like what the National are and represent, but I don't find it bears repetition- not enough to listen to album after album. Which is to say, I get enough from tracks on Sad Songs, Alligator and Boxer to not need any more, because it's only going to be a variation on that Berninger/National theme. I'm now one of those people that go on the internet to talk about things they haven't seen or listened to.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 9 September 2017 18:57 (six years ago) link
wait, what do they represent?
― scott seward, Saturday, 9 September 2017 19:25 (six years ago) link
What I have to flesh out my undercooked ramblings now? Jeez.
Well, Berninger's arc has always seemed a relatively narrow one, tracking 'his' (people like him/me) neuroses as he staggers into middle-age. And for all their credentials, the band are pretty conservative, too. At their best their Robert Lowell in a haunted ballroom; at their most average they're just an empty apartment. And 'Dark Side of the Gym' just signals stuff like 'Bad Neighbours' to me - a movie title which makes watching the actual movie entirely unnecessary.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 9 September 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
i fear them turning into coldplay more than u2.
― akm, Saturday, 9 September 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
"High Violet is great and the production on the first song is great too, no idea what you are all talking about!"
are you listening to the same mix everyone else is? because it sounds like shit; it's all fuzzy and compressed and transistory and shit sounding. I'm not sure what the intention was but the result is just crappy for such a good song.
― akm, Saturday, 9 September 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
"i fear them turning into coldplay more than u2."
to be fair, the thinking dad bod's coldplay.
― scott seward, Saturday, 9 September 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link
I love the fact that the two complaints itt is "they're too boring" and "I don't like it when their production is raw"
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 9 September 2017 20:11 (six years ago) link
That song is not raw. It's fucking horrible. Rid Of Me is raw. And awesome sounding.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 9 September 2017 20:46 (six years ago) link
turtleneck is sick wtf
― flappy bird, Saturday, 9 September 2017 20:55 (six years ago) link
TBH I think that “Terrible Love” is a great song — in terms of songwriting and rhe actual performance and mood and emotions etc. — but it’s ruined by the mixing. The album version is just a brick of noise; when I heard the alternate one, I was like Yes, finally! It breathes, it’s alive.
I’m actually quite curious why they made these particular production choices for only one track on the album — the remaining High Violet songs are nowhere nearly as compressed; they sound nice and reverb-y. Have they addressed it in interviews?
And OTM with Rid of Me being an example of extremely raw music that doesn’t make your head hurt. But that’s Albini’s touch.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 9 September 2017 21:08 (six years ago) link
and Polly Jean Harvey's.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 September 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link
always thought "terrible love" was a demo they couldn't replicate the energy of so they just slapped the demo on the record
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Saturday, 9 September 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link