The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

They've got to get more Neko songs on there...there wasn't enough of her on EV, which was the biggest problem with that record.

I'm super excited about the album, it should be a lot of fun.

The mp3 is right here.

Is this supposed to be the first single?

There's another song on the record that's a sequel to "Jackie" from Mass Romantic!

You mean OHC - Off his cracker. And no, I'm not. Not about this.

(sorry e'rbody i'm wasted)

You were right. Electric Version was so inferior, it affected my opinion of the band completely to the point where I don't even like Mass Romantic anymore. It highlighted what was bad and gimmicky about the band. This new mp3 sounds like lack of progression.

Hah, this is like a list of my least liked NP songs. And my favorites are more like The Fake Headlines, It's Only Divine Right, and From Blown Speakers, which I guess are kinda sludgier.

The Jessica Numbers! The Bleeding Heart Show! Cor!

Hello, it's Summer!

You misunderstood me, I hadn't played it yet and I was saying work (usually painful, esp. on a Monday) will be better with some new NP to listen to. Still haven't played it, I had forgotten I put it on my pod. I'll fix that right now.

Ugh. I didn't think it could be more sludgy and less engaging than Electric Version, but this is just painful.

Sorry for the confusion.

They buried the best song, Star Bodies, at track 12. Weird.

Star Bodies is awesome!

Ever tried parsing a NP lyric? For a while I thought they were clever until I printed them out. I just really, really wish Neko Case sung every song; she's like Alison Moyet singing lyrics written by Neil Tennant.

(xpost)

Except you forgot Letter to An Occupant

despite what christgau and his followers think, Neko's better as a solo lead than as a backup singer in the NP.

OPO Electric Version: Ballad Of A Comeback Kid

OPO Twin Cinema: Star Bodies

That and When I Was A Baby are both floating around out there, both worth hearing.

It’s also possible that we have vastly differing opinions on what constitutes “good music.” No need to be a jerk.

The title track is the only song I really like here.

I'm only that way with old friend, punkin.

"When I Was A Baby" was the b-side of "Letter From An Occupant." It's a Donner Party song.

"Your Daddy Don't Know" is on the FUBAR soundtrack. It's a song by the band Toronto.

It's Only Divine Right / Graceland / Use It / From Blown Speakers / The Bleeding Heart Show / Jackie / Mass Romantic / The Electric Version / Testament To Youth In Verse / Star Bodies / The Laws Have Changed / Sing Me Spanish Techno / The Body Says No / Twin Cinema / The Fake Headlines / All For Swinging You Around / Slow Descent Into Alcoholism / Letter From An Occupant

No encore, they were running out of time and had to rush to get the last two out, because it just wouldn't be a New Pornographers show without them.

It was a pretty good show, but in the context of the other NP shows I've seen, certainly the weakest I've been to in spite of a pretty solid setlist. Catherine Calder did a pretty good job filling in for Neko - she has an amazingly similar voice, but she's really young and lacks the power and presence of Neko Case. With a bit more confidence and experience, I think she'll really end up being great someday. She did really well on "Mass Romantic" and "All For Swinging You Around," though I don't think she has enough authority in her voice to nail Neko's parts on "The Laws Have Changed."

The sound mix was weak and the PA wasn't very loud, and that diminished things somewhat. The new songs seemed underrehearsed and "Twin Cinema," awesome as it was, lacked a lot of the oomph that makes it so great on the album. Ditto "Use It." "Sing Me Spanish Techno" is the exception, that one actually sounded better live.

(always=since I heard it live)

But did it sound any less like "Graceland"?

If you love the New Pornographers and haven't heard Bowling Green, you're in for a treat.

-- s1ocki (slytus...) (webmail), August 23rd, 2005. (slutsky)

Agreed. What the hell is that shit? I remember seeing a picture of an old TNP CD (never heard them before) and the cover was beautiful. What happened?

Yeah, the Best Buy around my pulls that shit quite often, even when the advertised price is in the weekly circular in stacks at the front of the store! So I've taken to grabbing one of those when I walk in so I can flash it at the cashier when I'm given the inevitable trouble. But when they have those $9.99 sales they rarley price them as such since they jump up to regular price within a week.

Why bother putting good art on a CD sleeve? One step beyond postage stamp.

After "Sung Tongs" I don't plan on getting within 10 feet of another Animal Collective album.

haha I know the Shins are thee living embodiement of all musikal evil on ILM, but they DO have hooks, ya know?

are they? Damn Garden Prostate. Damn OC.

Wednesday - August 24th - 7:00 pm
The New Pornographers

Do not miss this supergroup of pop perfectionists, starring John Collins, Kurt Dahle, Todd Fancey, Carl Newman & Blaine Thurier. Note: Neko Case & Dan Bejar will not be able to attend the instore.

"ring me hamish kilgour" woulda been pretty great.

I never her!

(sorry about the >s, can't be arsed deleting them all)

Twin Cinema
>
> In home theatres, still projecting, on distracting, a voice from the
> back, yeah.
> Double features, soft and harder, wait in silence while planning your
> attack, yeah.
> Shining through the hollow today, blinking baby heavens away.
> They've shown this on both screens.
>
> In torn seats our film leaders lead the charge of our armies into war,
> yeah.
> Lead the charge of twin teachers, false and featured, picture the
> euphoria.
> Flipping through the photos they send you, goin' to 16 and Valencia.
> They've shown this on both screens.
>
> Dreams, teeming with things you can find in the dark.
> Dust in the light falling through, day after night it follows you,
> follows you.
>
> In home theatres, still projecting, on distraction, a voice from the
> back, yeah.
> Double features, soft and hard lens, storm the heart Then they slip
> you through the cracks, yeah.
> Flipping through the photos they send you, goin' to 16 and Valencia.
> They've shown this on both screens.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The Bones Of An Idol
>
> We're lit by a torch as we kneel in the court of the king, As we sift
> through the bones of an idol.
> We dig through the bones of an idol when the will is gone, Because
> something keeps turning us on.
>
> You hold up the cup you've been searching for since you were younger,
> When you still had the bones of an idol.
> If you still had the bones of an idol, you'd be long long gone, But
> something keeps turning you on.
>
> We cling to the raft, we are missing by half what we wanted, But we
> escaped with the bones of an idol.
> Escaped with the belt and the title, but our land is gone, And
> something keeps turning us on.
>
>
>
>
> Use It
>
> The cat calls through the night,
> And 2 chicks in the parking lot crack wise on the price of fame.
> They stood to gain.
> The phonebooks been ripped off,
> And 2 shapes in the dark across the way know the price of flight, It's
> weight and size.
> If you've got something that sheds some light, use it tonight.
>
> Heads down, thumbs up,
> Two sips from the cup of human kindness and I'm shitfaced, Just laid
> to waste.
> So wait here, wait up,
> Stock tips from the credit checks come next in the logic's line, And
> all on my dime.
> If you've got will and a little time, use it tonight.
>
> You had to send the wrecking crew after me. I can't walk right.
>
> A phantom of the heart,
> 4 beats from the party line, been mine since I was a child.
> It just grew there wild.
> So wait here, wait up,
> 4 beats from the starting line, get set to exercise your right.
> Use it tonight.
> If there's a choice between a chance and flight, choose it tonight.
>
> You had to send the wrecking crew after me. I can't walk right.
> Use it tonight.
>
>
>
>
> The Bleeding Heart Show
>
> I leapt across three or four beds into your arms, Where I had hidden
> myself somewhere in your charm.
> Our golden handshake has been smashed into this shape.
> It's taken magic to a primitive new place.
> Watch 'em run, although it's the minimum. Heroic.
>
> We hung together in one chair out on the deck, In snow that frozen
> fell down on the modern set.
> It looked as if I'd picked your name out of a hat.
> Next thing you know you are asleep on someone's lap.
> Watch 'em run, although it's the minimum. Heroic.
>
> We quit the room, quit so our thoughts could rest, Rest them on
> nothing new, and that's when we crowned the whole, Or whatever it is
> we fell into, lousy with your kept time, With what the majestic cannot
> find in the business of your lives, The perception it is wrong, mile
> after mile Of phantom teens drinking wine from your heel.
>
> Hey la, hey la, hey la, hey la,
> We have arrived too late to play the bleeding heart show.
>
>
>
>
> Jackie, Dressed In Cobras
>
> Look, we've seen this kind of thing before, Jackie flirts with cobras
> at the door.
> Don't live your life inside an arrow filled with glances, New York
> sick, You had your chances, yes, you had 'em, yes, you had 'em .
> On a train devouring the land, there's a kid going insane over her
> man, Insane over her man, insane over her.
>
> Look we've seen this kind of thing before, orchids hanging from the
> reverend's door, And if he hollers let him out 'cause he's gonna
> shout:
> "There's something in the way she moves that shouldn't be allowed!"
>
> Wrecked on the jungle floor, Jackie's dressed in cobras, giving me
> ideas.
> What I really need now is ideas.
>
> Look we've seen this kind of thing before, vampires float across the
> ballroom floor.
> Mistake this bloodless feast for dance, New York sick, you've had your
> chances.
> Yes, you had 'em, yes, you had 'em.
> On a train devouring the land, there's a kid going insane over her
> man, Insane over her man, insane over her.
>
> Wrecked on the jungle floor, Jackie's dressed in cobras.
>
>
>
>
> The Jessica Numbers
>
> Let me through, paper in fist, Jessica Numbers, tell me if we're
> clear.
> Write me a storm, just tape the letter to the door.
> This thing is your mission, the lone wish and condition.
>
> Brave under the roars, Jessica Numbers stole the war, Slip through,
> ever the thief, this close to hero but we'll see.
> This thing is your mission, the lone wish and condition
>
> Push me through, counting the lies,
> Measuring all my shadows by old stars shifting to red, Just tape the
> numbers to the bed.
>
> Headtripping up the sadness as it passes, Eyes burn across the window
> frost and now, You're starting to feel it kicking here at last.
> Yeah, it's something worth keeping an eye on.
>
> Let me through, paper in fist, Jessica Numbers give me this.
> Let's fall, live where we land, just write the answer on my hand.
> This thing is your mission, the lone wish and condition.
>
> Jessica Numbers, are we due?
>
>
>
>
> These Are The Fables
>
> In coral and gray, in submarine chambers, One day it swam for the
> light, the jewels that lit the cities that float there, Cities in
> circles drawn perfect complete, holding the secrets on my street.
>
> So come in and play the song of the siren, It's common place, you hear
> the voice rise in one wave and crash on your doorstep, Making the
> circle here perfect complete, these are the fables on my street.
>
> 10000 dancing girls kicking cans 'cross the sky, no reason why.
> Why ask? Prepare yourself for the call of the wild, You found this
> child, now raise him.
>
> And wind your way back, come back to the river, The current speeds by
> in hope and then fear, The hammer comes down so hard on the morning,
> Cracking the dawn of your days on repeat, these are the fables on my
> street.
>
> Then heaven shook hell, and down from its pockets a ringing doorbell,
> It fell through your hands, it rang at your feet but doors they won't
> open, Marking the journey of our friend complete, these are the fables
> on my street.
>
> Lay down in glory, you're not allowed.
>
>
>
>
> Sing Me Spanish Techno
>
> Go to now, after picking the glass off the ground, Go to now, after
> shaking the thing for a sound, Now we see what the clock makes you do,
> and I won't let this happen to you.
>
> In a town, where I'd lost every shirt on the fence, Go to now, I am
> bleeding a trail through the lens, Now I see what I now know is you, I
> was caught in the eye as you came, Pulled by my name, up on and
> through.
>
> Travelling at godspeed over the hills and trails, I had refused my
> call, Pushing my lazy sails into the blue flame, I want to crash here
> right now, The hourglass spills its sand, if only to punish you For
> listening too long to one song.
> Sing me spanish techno.
>
> Go to now, after wiring the thing to explode, Wired for sound, wide
> awake here for days in a row, Now we see what the engine can do, and I
> won't let this happen to you.
> I won't let this happen to you.
>
>
>
>
> Falling Through Your Clothes
>
> Pinwheel spark, break loose and roll, where you stop nobody knows.
> Just a thought, but goddamn, its been carved into a point, understand.
> Turned into someone that you only know when you're falling through
> your clothes.
>
> Turn mind run, deep breath and jump, roll with your vertigo stomp.
> Now you're clear, but goddamn, you've been cleared of every charge,
> understand.
> You turned into someone that you only know when you're falling through
> your clothes.
>
>
>
>
> Broken Breads
>
> I could have lived without the hordes and their monies.
> I suppose that father knows best where the wind blows.
> You could always see into the dark for miles around.
> My job was to try and make a sound, thenŠ.
>
> I heard the call-up, I heard the call, kids screaming "I don't wanna!"
> I saw their pearls, the new world minstrels whistling "I don't wanna!"
> Tormented kings, your children of the earth sing: "la la la laŠ"
> Under an embalmed clear sky.
>
> I foresee that you'll be weakening, the children of New York are shit.
> I can tell you can't live with out it.
> Who was I to come between a whore and her money?
> Yes, there is a war, boys versus girls, clowns versus their curls.
>
> I invested well and heavily into your antics.
> I requested suicide blondes loudly.
> There is a war, its much like the one I've been waiting for.
> Boys versus girls, clowns versus their curls.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Three Or Four
>
> Give me a home where the past won't pay no mind, in case I'm
> bringing my own.
> Bring me a team of replacements, just in case the place I'm
> taking's my own.
> Three or four, all of us.
>
> Tell the unknown I'll be back in just a shake to see how my babies
> have grown.
> Circle the chairs to protect us from the law, a case defeating my own.
> Three or four, all of us.
>
>
>
>
> Star Bodies
>
> On a tear, under siege, under oath,
> Anna Lee, won't you come strap yourself to my side?
> With our brilliant disguise,
> We've got more lives than I ever dreamed you could own at one time.
>
> There's a shame with the shock, and a gifthorse with them,
> To carry the dust of a failing wisdom.
> For you this night and a warning, a night misfiled under morning,
> For you this night and a warning.
>
> On a tear, cautiously we advance,
> Anna Lee, won't you come pass the torch, bring your hands?
> Yes and no, there's no right, but we had no bed or light to see
> through,
> To our star bodies go.
>
> Now take me to where your sister lives.
>
> On a tear, far from home, by a thread,
> Anna Lee, what's been said has to stay between us.
> Call me over, I trust we'll stay here 'til we must make our break.
> To our star bodies go.
>
> Can we skip to the time, to the price we passed on,
> And bury the dust of a failing wisdom?
> For you this night and a warning, a night misfiled under morning,
> For you this night and a warning.
>
>
>
> Streets Of Fire
>
> Come on, come out of the rain, you're not impressed you're just too
> learned.
> I took the book, I lit the page, your sabbatical was burning.
>
> Sweet sweet sweet sweet fires in the street, let's sully every
> stage we meet.
> Lick my lips, twist my hips, but Contessa,.. I already did.
>
> Some things work but me, I choose to lose my skin in the dirt.
> This whiskey priest he burned his church to keep his girls alive.
>
> Sweet sweet sweet sweet fires in the street.
>
>
>
>
> Stacked Crooked
>
> I counted on my private Altamount, trusted it all along but now I'm
> on my way.
> We left the house, you're fingers in my mouth,
> Stacked crooked all along but now I'm on my way.
>
> The force that through the red light pulled the hours,
> I tried to imagine it, I couldn't imagine it.
> The vantage falling from the ivory tower,
> I tried to imagine it, I couldn't imagine it.
>
> You clipped and tossed your cryptic crossword locks, union
> abandoned talks,
> And now its hard to say why we would wait in smoke and mirror states,
> Stacked crooked all along but now I'm on my way.
>
> Do not, do not deny me, deny my last appeal.
> Do not, do not deny me, my Achilles heel.
> Do not, do not deny my attention to detail.
> Do not, do not deny me the clicking of clear heels.
>
>
>
>
> High Art, Local News
>
> In a good girl new world, filled to the roof, teaming with you
> To make high art, mad love, nightly news,
> Skip the reviews, they don't want to be known, don't want it read,
> It's just something that's floating in somebody's head.
>
> So let me, princess, print this. Let me, princess, print this.
>
> In a postcard parkside rendez-vous, teaming with you
> To make high art based on walking the dog, walking through fog,
> And please skip the reviews, because someone you've met's
> Become something exploding in somebody's head.
>
> Let me, princess, print this.
>
> It leaves voices in people
>
> In a countdown downtown total eclipse, big as the Ritz,
> You find new signs, no time, some you could use, lost in your shoes,
> But don't skip the reviews, we don't want it said,
> "It's just something that's floating in somebody's head".
>
> Let me, princess, print this.

(xpost, obviously)

I'd actually love to hear his process. Does he write them first and then figure out complex ways to cram them into the cadances on the songs?

I'm glad you liked the interview! I'm planning on doing some more for them in the near future, but I've been kinda busy lately and I'm actually drawing a blank on who to pitch next. Maybe Robyn?

15 Today

*sigh*

I mentioned this on another New Pornographers thread, but I highly recommend getting the live session versions of "Bones of an Idol" and "Streets of Fire" on iTunes. "Bones of an Idol" is sung by Kathryn Calder, and I think she does a better job on that particular song, and "Streets of Fire" has a better arrangement and has Carl, Kathryn, and Kurt singing together instead of Dan and Neko. The versions of "Sing Me Spanish Techno" and "Graceland" are nothing special, though.

Actually I see it turned 15 three days ago, but the band just acknowledged it on FB today.

I'm not crazy about the consensus that seems to have built around Twin Cinema as their best album.

To be clear, I'm a mega fan. I believe their recorded catalog is the best of the 21st century so far, and TC is incredible.

But better than Mass Romantic or Electric Version? NO! NO!

I never listened to the lyrics of the title track properly at the time but am positive they were warning us all about the dangers of Nolanism

still got a soft spot for the slow wonder

Was just the other day listening to songs from this album for the first time in years.

The wall-to-wall bangers on the first two albums are undeniable but I've been saying since not long after its release that TC is for sure their best album qua album.

lol, just remembered insisting as much (off board) to Matty P until he finally came around, as evidenced upthread.

I think it's their album w/ the highest % of good songs (but I'm not a mega fan myself).

A playlist I made a while back has 4 songs from that album, vs. 2-3 from others.

I never listened to the lyrics of the title track properly at the time but am positive they were warning us all about the dangers of Nolanism

I always guessed/assumed it was about Iraq and Afghanistan

I was joking!

oh I know, but I checked Genius to see if my reading is as obvious as I always assumed it was and...I guess not?

The Slow Wonder is my favourite of all tNP-related albums including Destroyer's and Neko's (and I love Destroyer and Neko)

Best album.

it's a blooming hydrogen bomb of an album, it never get's old!

absolutely their best album to me, newman was in such a groove he was openly messing with form and structure on stuff like bleeding hearts and spanish techno and it turns out those are some of their best and most beloved songs.

I meant the slow wonder, but this one isn't too shabby either.

I checked Genius to see if my reading is as obvious as I always assumed it was and...I guess not?

I think the lyrics are pretty inscrutable, but I’m afraid I don’t see much in them to support your interpretation (other than the “armies to war” line).

“Use It,” I always thought, has great lyrics.

oh it's pretty thin, just the idea of "cinemas" as "theaters", yknow, of war. and the unusual intensity of the vocal.