new New Pornographers

Still hard for me to differentiate between Neko and Kathryn when they're in the background.

i like kathryn's voice a lot.

Loving the sorta title track! Already much better overall than Challengers, their worst. Vocals more out front. Quirkier structurally than anything previous. A touch too stately (though not as sleepy as Challengers). But still a good show so far. Mr. says it sounds like Liz Phair (which means late Liz Phair)...

OMG! You heard it here first: "Your Hands (Together)" is the power pop "Paranoid."

i like kathryn's voice a lot.

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, April 22, 2010 1:35 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Have you heard her other band, Immaculate Machine?

no. i mean, i knew she was in another band, but i've never heard them. are they good?

they're not that great.

i like her overall contribution to the band, btw. she seems so happy to be there. newman seems that way, too. their enthusiasm is infectious.

kathryn is awesome and v. cute obv

man, i love me some Twin Cinema

LOLz at you punks discussing the subtle production differences of their albums. This band is all about the songwriting, man! The best album = the one with the best songs.

do not do not deny me, tonight i lost the deaaaaallllllll
do not do not deny me, my achilles' heeeeeeeeeeeeel

emusic's early review has me excited for this disc:

Together, the fifth record from interstate pop consortium the New Pornographers, is a masterpiece of construction, each little filigree, each rush of guitar, each organ speck perfectly placed. It’s drum-tight, and as effortless in its expertise as an Olympian.

Which is another way of saying that all A.C. Newman really wants is to be our Jeff Lynne, and Together makes the strongest case in years that he’s up to the task. Waking up after the long nap that was 2007’s Challengers, Together finds Newman & Co. muscling up and catapulting hooks over the high walls of the heart with more volume and determination than ever. Challengers had a boxer on the cover — Together has one in the songs. Like Lynne, who once lamented that his paradise was fading “like the Beatles in ‘Hey Jude,’” Newman understands the world in terms of pop music, and all energies are focused toward the artful — and, at times, elaborate — construction of the same. His songs are like ships in a bottle: You stand back and admire the craftsmanship and accept the fact that you’re never going to get close to them. If there’s any emotional resonance, it’s been walled up behind obtuse phrase-turns like “Valkyrie, don’t go home/ It’s not right, leave with the lights up.” He even manages to get Neko Case and Dan Bejar, two of the most beguiling and inventive lyricists working today, to shelve their predilections and indulge in a game of hide-the-gravitas. The unexpected upside is that when the players do drop their guard, the results are genuinely startling. Hearing Case sadly refer to an ex-lover as “a tall glass of blast from the past” or lament “What’s love, but what turns up in the dark” is deep-down moving — the rare moment where the clown starts sweating off his makeup and you can see the patch of actual flesh beneath.

But let’s not get too carried away: Looking for meaning is beside the point. The playing’s the thing, and Together is crammed with masterful performances. On the whole, it’s gutsier than the group has sounded in eons, brimming with confidence and swagger. To further cement those ELO comparisons, it also finds the band betraying a greater fondness for ornate string arrangements. Most of the songs are gussied up with pirouetting violins and divebombing cellos, giving them a kind of butter cream elegance. “The Crash Years,” which takes its place near the top of the list of Best New Pornographers Songs of All Time, pits low strings against Case’s stratospheric red-orange wail, working up to a wide-open chorus. The Bejar-belted “Silver Jenny Dollar” sounds like sudden realization, its exclamation-point guitars pogo-sticking around the foreground as Bejar coos the obtuse lyric “they holler Silver Jenny Dollar” with cool detachment. “Someone Took a Bite Out of My Bed” is nothing but blazing sun, and “Daughters of Sorrow” turns Bejar and Case into a bizarro world Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, trading plasticine R&B verses as Kathryn Calder bongs like a bell behind them. As if the group wasn’t already star-studded, Newman has rounded out the ensemble with a supporting cast of indie rock all-stars: Okkervil River’s Will Sheff lends vocals to the churning opener “The Moves,” Annie Clark’s guitar chug-a-chugs on the chorus of the wistful “My Shepherd,” Zach Condon of Beirut blasts a bright trumpet on “A Bite Out of my Bed” and the Dap-Kings act as the group’s own personal JB’s throughout. Unsurprisingly, the guests never upstage — everyone here is acting in service of the song.

The record’s title may or may not be a reference to the group’s ostensibly troubled internal dynamics — the reportage of which is the kind of thing that passes for salacious gossip in indie rockdom — but it also serves as a signpost of what’s in store. The Pornographers sound more focused and unified and impenetrable than ever, and the record is a testament to the sheer brute force they’re capable of when all cylinders are firing at once. To quote Newman himself, “I must have brought the weather back with me/ soaked us till we’re see-through and dripping.”

Whatever it is that means.

This one is a grower, my impression. I almost feel like BUYING this record.

NPR is now streaming the disc.

this album brings the goods. it is not the sleepier -- albeit still greatly underrated -- challengers. it's much closer to "rock" than "power-pop." as mentioned upthread, the attention-grabbing drum patterns and fills are back. the harmonies sour much higher than on the last disc. the hooks are sharper. it sags a little after a very strong four-song opening, but then again -- at least for me -- all the band's discs have a weak stretch in them. but it doesn't do much to dim the overall strength of the disc. this is a very, very good disc.

excited!

i'm not usually a fan of the bejar songs on the new pornographers' discs, but i love love love his if you can't see my mirrors from the new disc.

On initial listens, this album sounds superb. The first six songs at least - yowza!

Album is typically, if kinda soullessly, fantastic. Consistent, diligent, and immaculate.

okay, but no more or less soulless than their other discs, right?

i don't think i'd ever describe the band as soulful. just not that kind of act.

(i wouldn't describe, say, elo as soulful either, and i love elo (and the new pornographers' new disc reminds me of elo in some ways)).

okay, but no more or less soulless than their other discs, right?

i don't think i'd ever describe the band as soulful. just not that kind of act.

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, April 27, 2010 11:10 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, same old. Typical TNP album. I'm not at all complaining.

This record sounds good, just like all of their releases do. By this point, they have enough to fill an absolutely killer greatest hits record.

this is out today

it sure is. my wife bought it and she says it's great! so there's one review for you. i haven't listened yet.

hahaha -- i like your wife's review! the album's only $6.99 'round here, so i'm considering getting it later

$6.99 are you out of your mind?!?

(j/k)

Newbury Comics for the win

new BSS was $8.99, Hold Steady was the same i think

Wish I had a Newbury Comics around here! I only paid $7.99 for this, but nobody had the new BSS.

yeah, Newbury Comics is really good about stocking the big indie records -- they're always really cheap too, especially if they know they'll sell a lot. last year's Built To Spill record was $6.99 too

but, like, the new Deftones was $13.99 or $14.99 or some shit, but i don't know how much control NC has over that

Matthew Perpetua is the most boring of all Pitchfork writers, I think. I never get the feeling that he's moved by music, or maybe he's just not talented enough as a writer to get that down into words. His writing is just a cold, hard retelling of what happened where, who did what, and how this compares to other output by [insert artist name here]. "Aside from 'Valkyrie', Together is a solid collection of well-crafted songs," he writes. "However, in spite of the quality, the album isn't entirely satisfying." Zzzzzz.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14195-together/

Very annoying and trollish review by Chris Roberts in this month's Uncut. He says NP fanatics perversely deny themselves the pleasure of listening to less fashionable acts who "do this sort of thing better". I'd like to know who the hell exactly is writing songs better than "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk". Jerk. ;-)

i disagree with perpetua's overall view of the disc, but i thought he raised some interesting points (e.g., the contrast between case's "powerhouse voice" and Calder's "delicate, princessy" voice). the disc has received pretty good reviews overall, but the criticisms i've read seem to come down to the lack of explosiveness of the choruses, especially the vocal harmonies. some people -- understandably -- expect and cherish the jet propulsion feel of early new-pornographer choruses, especially the sharply rising tone of the vocal harmonies. on some of the early songs in this new disc, i felt like the platform was constructed for that type of harmony in the chorus, but the vocals didn't "take off" that way. but then i listened again, and began appreciating the heavier, more rock-oriented bottom to the sound. and as i hit the midsection of the album, i did find those big choruses, just in places i wasn't expecting, e.g., If You Can't See My Mirrors, My Sheppard, and Sweet Talk.

anyway, loving this disc a lot.

some people -- understandably -- expect and cherish the jet propulsion feel of early new-pornographer choruses,

I hadn't pieced this together to articulate it, but this is totally my issue.

Well, now that you all mention it, it seems to me that on most of the songs on this album, the verse melody is the crux. I don't see why this is bad thing.

is *a* bad thing, even.

I disliked "Crash Years" and am hesitant to buy this because as I get older I'm losing my taste, I've noticed, for this kind of power pop.

On 1st listen this album starts off super-well then tails off noticeably toward the middle, and the less said about the end the better.

*reserves right to pull super-180 if necessary*

and i kind of feel the opposite, where the middle is my favorite part. that may be because i've played-out the first four songs already.

Surprisingly good stuff. Feel like they have regained much of the songwriting spirit of the earlier albums, but with a production spirit that makes it feel more of a "finished" pop album.

ehhh so this is really a bit of a snooze isn't it

I think the first six songs are as good a run as they've had on any album - melodically and texturally an emphatically brilliant group of songs - but that the second half is a good bit below that standard. And I will reiterate that "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk" is sensational.

what's happening to indie rock? the new BSS is more than "a bit of a snooze"

all these bands are getting old is what's happening

sweet talk and up in the dark are the only two i was really feeling on the first listen.

i don't get the sense that newman really wants to write for this band anymore--on his solo records he doesn't feel the need to overarrange everything and the compositions on get guilty were way the hell more interesting than anything here