New New Pornagraphers Pornagraphers

I really liked Mass Romantic, but I never got their follow up albums. Are they all considered a step down from Mass Romantic?

Twin Cinema is incredible, I think probably the best first five songs on an album I've ever heard. Definitely Definitely Definitely worth your time. Electric Version could have 13 tracks of monkeys farting, and it would all be redeemed by the beautiful pop that is "All for Swinging You Around" .

That being said, Parker, How much is Neko a part of Challengers? I've been out of it lately, and haven't picked this up, but I want to now.

I agree with Chris, Twin Cinema is excellent (though, for some reason, the title track is my least favorite). That's the album to get, in my mind.

Definitely not. A lot of people who don't like Electric Version as much as the first one have loads of esteem for Twin Cinema, at least.

Personally, I think they're one of the best bands playing music today and that all of their albums are essential for different reasons. Mass Romantic is a scrappy, messy heap of pop; Electric Version is the more streamlined, efficient and cleaned-up version of that; Twin Cinema is an attempt to incorporate some more experimental bits and grander instrumentation into the formula, and Challengers is their attempt at de-emphasizing the fast and frenetic pop of their early albums and emphasizing the epic quality of the slower songs on Twin Cinema.

I'm, frankly, a little amazed that critics are so down on it (well, I've seen few outright negative reviews, but they're certainly the worst I've seen for a NP album), and I'm especially amazed that many of the complaints are that there are too few up-tempo songs like "All the Things That Go To Make Heaven and Earth"; those songs sound to me like solid, but not-too-spectactular NP-by-numbers, while the epics sound fresh and vital.

I also think some music critics don't have the background in playing music to understand why their songs have never been simple power-pop. They barely ever rely on standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structures, there are all kinds of one-time-only tricks and odd changes. In short, if the critics are now disappointed that they've expanded their sound instead of sticking to upbeat, "simple" pop, they've been enjoying the band for some of the wrong reasons.

She sings lead on a couple songs, sings backup a bunch, but she doesn't get any star turns like "Letter from an Occupant" or "The Bleeding Heart Show." Her voice sounds strong, but her leads are on ballads, so she doesn't really get to showboat.

Unlike some, the band's never been the Neko Case show for me, though. Newman's a stellar writer and arranger, Neko and Bejar are just exceptionally nice bonuses.

The writing is always key for me too, but Case's voice is what roped me in to begin with. When a good friend of mine was constantly recommending them,I foolishly didn't pay too much attention, but the first time I herd the aforementioned "All for Swinging you Around" I investigated and got hooked. Oddly, I'm not huge into her solo work, or the bit of it I've heard. I think I'm more in love with the marriage of the Pornographer's writing and her voice, especially on more energetic tracks.

You should check out Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. I've liked previous Neko Case albums, but this is the first that I've absolutely loved all the way through. Her writing finally caught up to her voice, and, while it's still largely in the gothic country vein of her older stuff, it's more varied with a few songs that even veer closer to up-tempo rock ("Hold On Hold On," "The Needle Has Landed").

What I find so interesting is how well she adapts from being an ever-evolving country-tinged solo artist with a subtle, yet powerful, voice to being a pop song belter in a group where she has very little artistic control at all.

But I do see her as just a component of the whole, not the main event, in the New Pornographers. In fact, she's not even on a bunch of my favorite songs by them (although I don't think any of those that she sings lead on is less than great).

I have to throw in "Unguided" there, too. It's their longest song to date, and it's absolutely huge-sounding. I can't imagine it being on Mass Romantic or Electric Version, but it fits in perfectly on here. Neko might be on there, but it's impossible to tell with all of those voices. Calder does the female lead on the bridge, though.

Yeah, I think that might have something to do with it. On the new album, though, there are only a couple fast songs, anyway, and I can't imagine Neko singing them.

She is, for the record, coming with them on the fall tour, as is Dan Bejar. I've seen them twice, but only once with Neko and never with Bejar.

Yeah, the only review I've read was in Entertainment Weekly, and even though it was kind of a lukewarm review, I wasn't too concerned because, well, it's Entertainment Weekly. Still, good to hear that the album is as solid as I'm expecting it to be. Certainly one of my most anticipated releases this year. I'm equally excited to see them live for the first time. And I'll second the love for Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. I like all of Case's stuff, but Fox is, at least so far, her career defining album.

Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Stylus were all pretty lukewarm, too. The critical reception is oddly consistent, considering how good it sounds to me.

Agreed (about Calder's vocal performance, though not about preferring "Adventures," because "Unguided" is tops in my book). But I haven't heard much of Immaculate Machines, Calder's other band. I've heard reports that she's sounding better and better live, too, and is carving out a niche other than performing the thankless task of being "Neko's stand-in" (which is more-or-less what she was when I saw them last).

Immaculate Machines' first album is pretty good, a little samey, perhaps, but a good listen. They opened up for the New Pornographers when I saw them last year and I was pretty impressed. Calder, however, is certainly no substitute for Neko Case, and it's a shame that she had to play that role in the band.

Add me to the list of people who are surprised by the criticism of the new record. I've only given it one listen but I think it's great. Maybe not as immediately accessible as Twin Cinema, but certainly not an inferior record. I think you're right, Dave, about the strange attitude of the critics with this band. Pretty much every other act out there gets slammed for not pushing the envelope or experimenting (see Wilco for another recent example), but now the New Pornographers put out a strong record that's different from their earlier records--one that uses their instruments (like Neko Case's voice) in new ways--and they get criticized for not releasing more of the same. Whatever. At lease we know it's good.

Oh, actually I meant DaveB, but you're right about lots of stuff, too.

So did anyone go with the "Executive Edition" offer? I was kind of curious about it, but I just ended up snagging the cd from Best Buy during my lunch break.

Actually, I forgot about the first post in the thread by the time I replied. It's quite possible I was drunk; I'm sorry.

Anyway, how are those b-sides?