new New Pornographers

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

ksh, time to explore other "genres."

like "christian metal" and "crabcore."

also good: viking metal

listened to this last night. sounded good! "if you can't see my mirrors" might be my fave. but this band is pretty consistent for me. i pretty much like it all.

It's a big improvement on Get Guilty - with a few exceptions, the latter sounded fairly tired.

ksh, time to explore other "genres."

― cool and remote like dancing girls (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 7, 2010 10:24 AM

yeah -- a good 75% of my purchases are metal records these days

yeah, i wasn't terribly keen on Get Guilty -- something seemed off about that record.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this, tho i didn't give it much of a chance. somewhere along the way, the notion of an a.c. newman solo record began feeling drab and boring. by constrast, the notion of a new NewPo record still seems exciting and worthwhile.

xxpost

i don't know how i didn't go nuts earlier after just buying indie record after indie rock w/o even paying attention to any other genres for five years

yeah, as far as AC Newman records go, it sort of seems like he should actually try to make something *different* from the NPs ... Maybe that's what he was trying to do with Get Guilty (his 1st solo rec was ace, tho). Just felt like on Get Guilty the songs were a little lackluster and he tried to dress them up with kinda offbeat production. I didn't hate it or anything, but I haven't felt the need to go listen to it again.
i had a theory a while ago that the NPs should shake things up -- Neko should produce the next Pornographers record, Bejar should produce the next Case record and Newman should do the next Destroyer record. i don't know what that would mean, but it sounds kind of cool in my head.

Thus we see the diminishing returns of power-pop. I don't how different you guys expect a NP album to be. All power-pop gets tiresome when it doesn't slow down and congeal (no snark intended).

*I don't KNOW how

"All power-pop gets tiresome when it doesn't slow down and congeal (no snark intended)."

This is reductive and kind of meaningless (no snark intended). (I was thinking of adding a winking smiley face there as well, but I thought it would soften the retort to the point of excessive cuddliness.)

Whether it's Cheap Trick, the Raspberries, Matthew Sweet, or whoever else, sooner or later the formula bores me; and when they change the formula it's almost always a failure.

Obviously it's not true of everyone. I have a friend who listens to this shit all day but too much sugar's bad for you.

Well, I would argue the term "power-pop" is fairly hazy to begin with, and almost invariably applying it to a specific artist will seem reductive. Certainly, I think it is with regards to the NPs.

ksh, time to explore other "genres."

The "classic melodic pop" genre is a wonderful as anything else, and is where indie acts tend to end up once they learn the importance of arranging and producing. Nothing negative about that. :)