The National - High Violet

What do you think of Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers?

Can't wait for this, I'm kind of bummed that they're playing like two shows in the UK becuase they were amazing when I saw them a few years back.

The 2 songs are fantastic.

Can. Not. Wait.

Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers is real good (I like the more country-ish tinge to it), but I agree with Martin that they really stepped it up with Alligator. I'm absolutely nuts for these dudes so I can't wait to get the album. I've even avoided reading a track-by-track breakdown that was posted on another board just because I didn't want to spoil any good listening moments.

I was prepared to chime in early on with "BUT 90-MILE WATERWALL!!!!"

I think this is going to be the absolute pinnacle of what is shaping to be the best music year in as long as I can remember. I'm so excited for this album.

One of the best bands recording today. Boxer has become one of my favorite albums, and I doubt this will disappoint.

I am hyperventilating like a motherfucker. Can I leave work early? I can leave work early. I can shit my pants and will then have an excuse.

Martin is it good enough to warrant shitting my pants I need to know

Might end up shitting my pants anyway - this chili is starting to make me feel like I'm gonna have to break out the wet wipes.

Good to hear the album's awesome!

Made me laugh. Also, album streaming tomorrow!

I keep humming "I was carried...to Ohio in a swarm of bees."

Lemonworld IS pretty great, but what is that chorus about? It sounds good, but the first time I heard it I was scratching my head like an ape.

Conversation 16 is my shit, though. I'm really liking Berninger's few vocal tweaks on this, even if they're not much they're still noticeable.

The changes in style on High Violet are pretty subtle, even compared to the small leap from Alligator to Boxer, but their confidence in what they're doing is audible. I still miss the occasional rave-ups (and I think there are actually fewer on here than on Boxer - oddly "Bloodbuzz Ohio" may be the big rocker of the bunch), but it's a pretty small complaint. Definitely another grower along the lines of Boxer.

Agreed. There's just something sort of commanding about that track compared to the others.

Fuck me. I went over to that article, read it and then looked everywhere for the Stream. They took it down due to "security reasons."

Absolutely.

What a fantastic album. My favorite so far is Afraid of Everybody.

anybody else loving this album as much as me. I need to stop playing the streams or I'm going to burn myself out on the album before it even comes out.

That Terrible Love song sounds like The Wrens. Like, a lot. Can I get a witness?

Looking forward to picking this up, of course.

Three songs from the new album played live on Pitchfork TV.

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2154-the-national/1

Witness = got.

It's a fantastic album. A friend had told me to be prepared to be disappointed. He's an idiot.

The only disappointment is that some of the songs aren't as good as their live versions (Terrible Love being the best example). But yea it's an awesome album.

The production of Terrible Love might be its hinderance.

It's a fantastic album that's a real departure for them, but part of me is like "I would like this album better if I was still in my 'gonna live in the mountains and grow a beard and show kids how to cut ice out of lake while the wind beats my face to hell' phase."

Album is up on iTunes

This is a pretty good album from them. Afraid of Everyone and Sorrow are rocking me right now. Plus, for some odd reason, I'm enjoying the lyrics in Little Faith, where "we'll play Nuns versus Priests until somebody cries."

Alligator is one of the best albums of last decade, so that's mighty high praise. I do like how the last track on the album seems like a companion to "Mr. November," though.

Christ I need to get this like yesterday. I just listened to a few tunes in a record store in Syracuse when I was visiting a week or two ago. Sounds amazing. I might go run and get it...now.

You should probably run and get it now.

Yeah, and you should have probably made me a CD full of shitty music too.

;___________;

I'm still mourning the loss of that goddamn hard drive. I got about 2/3rds of it back, but ugh.

Did you get a virus, Jake? Is that what made your HD crash? Just curious.

No, but seriously, I don't need your shitty music. I got enough of my own, apparently. And I've been through that shit before and it sucks.

I wish, that way I could get super pissed about it on the internet.

It just died, oddly enough. Tried different cords, power sources, etc. and no dice.

While I can't agree less that Boxer blows Alligator away, I've come around to the idea that all three do subtly different things and aren't really all that comparable, despite their obvious similarities.

Alligator is more schizo, but I don't think that's unevenness so much as a deliberate move to keep things unsettled (and, really, "Looking for Astronauts" and "Friend of Mine" are the only two that aren't strong standalones). Obviously, an album that begins with "Secret Meeting," which has a low-key groovy that Mark Sandman would have admired, and ends on "Mr. November," which is still the band's all-time best rocker, is simply not going for the same feel as the slow-burning Boxer. They developed a uniform sound for Boxer, so consistency wasn't the issue so much as making that sound vary enough so that it didn't get boring.

On the surface, it sounds like there's a lot more crossover going on with High Violet and Boxer in that the songs from one could pretty easily fit on the other. But there's actually substantially more aggression on this one, and it comes out the more you listen to the arrangements.

Incidentally, the more low-key the band gets, the more it makes Bryan Devendorf come up with awe-inspiring drum patterns. Two albums from now, I'm expecting all of the songs to consist of a single guitar, bass, and strings drone, Berninger repeating one phrase over and over (probably putting the words in a slightly different order in each iteration), and Devendorf playing the most ridiculously complex drum patterns you've ever heard. And it'll still be awesome.

He really is the unsung hero of the band, I totally agree. Watching him play those drum patterns live is awe inspiring. The best part is that he does it like it's no big deal.

Hmm. Wow. This record.

I hate to do this, but....

And with early excitment/hyperbole aside...

After listening to it straight three times in a row.

I think it's a masterpiece. I really do. I've always loved the band but man...they really grew here...in a totally organic and rational way. The songwriting is just outstanding.

ETA: The first eight songs work so well as an album that I'm expecting the last three to pick up on repeat listens. The last song is strong, but I think maybe it should have been switched with Runaways.

I'm beginning my first listen right now, and I instantly LOVE the production on Terrible Love. I'm a sucker for that kind of sound in general.

Loving the song too.

Yeah, honestly Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks hasn't clicked for me yet, but that's like saying "Look, all those other supermodels were fantastic in bed, but this one squirts too much and punched me when she came. I think I could probably get used to that though"

You're a fucking poet, sir.

But, on topic, I agree with you completely. Everything else clicks instantly.