They have their similarities but I would never confuse them. Tindersticks more soulful and ... wry? Dry?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 15 March 2014 19:22 (ten years ago) link
why?
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 15 March 2014 19:25 (ten years ago) link
To me the National fill the same role the Cure once played. ― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, March 15, 2014
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, March 15, 2014
http://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/blasphemer.jpg
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 15 March 2014 19:26 (ten years ago) link
Note the past tense, man. The Cure hasn't done anything I've liked even the slightest bit since "Bloodflowers," and that was back in ... 2000? Not coincidentally, the same year the National more or less kicked off, though still a good 5 years before "Alligator."
Re: Tindersticks, I always thought the band was going for, or has been going for for some time now, this moody formalist soul thing, and that also its sense of humor was so deliberately subsumed into this morass of delirious melancholia. The National are a lot artier, more inclined toward amorphous ambient guitar shading, both funnier yet also, strangely, heavier in terms of mood. That is:
certain lines in this record really get to the heart of things though.
This is really key to the National, I think. Tindersticks is more explicit in its ennui or whatever. The National, lyrically, is goofier, more surreal and/or stream of conscious, tossed off, but they somehow convey (at their best) something really powerful.
I was teething on roses/I was in guns and noses
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 15 March 2014 20:00 (ten years ago) link
I have noticed that this album features more than its share of references to hanging at the pool, however obliquely. "I’ll try to call you from the party/It’s full of punks and cannonballers." "All the L.A. women/Fall asleep while swimmin'." Etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 15 March 2014 20:03 (ten years ago) link
The LA women verse is one of my favorites in any song ever. "She said babe you're better off..." A hypercondensed short story.
― Treeship, Saturday, 15 March 2014 20:14 (ten years ago) link
i like that verse too. "i got paid to fish 'em out and then one day i lost the job" is a lil tangled up in blue.
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 15 March 2014 20:18 (ten years ago) link
This album is so perfect I almost don't want them to follow it up.
― Evan R, Monday, 6 June 2016 15:13 (eight years ago) link
it's their best record but i think they can better it, or at least make it shorter
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 6 June 2016 15:33 (eight years ago) link
^ could almost agree
to me it's surprising they had this in them after the misstep of high violet
― 龜, Monday, 6 June 2016 15:34 (eight years ago) link
And frankly, I think that was a pretty subtle misstep.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 June 2016 17:02 (eight years ago) link
a misstep disguised as a great The National record. very clever!
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 7 June 2016 16:30 (eight years ago) link
i can't get my head around iti keep feeling smaller'n'smaller
― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 01:33 (eight years ago) link
Not a big fan but I love Pink Rabbits. Such a gorgeous and sad song.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 01:37 (eight years ago) link
like the cocktail, you can only order it monthly
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 01:41 (eight years ago) link
Love the Nationals. Really do. But hell is a party with them as the only soundtrack.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 02:57 (eight years ago) link
that's why they're hangover music. the musical echo of a long headache.
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 04:00 (eight years ago) link
good fall music
― 龜, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 11:46 (eight years ago) link
http://www.danshort.com/pl/b/Paradise0001.jpg
― all olly murs' lemurs (ledge), Tuesday, 6 September 2016 12:39 (eight years ago) link
This might be my favorite indie-rock album of the last five years. I still listen to it all the time and I'm always floored by its wisdom and wit and replayability.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 14:15 (eight years ago) link
the chord changes in Pink Rabbits are so great, and i love the unusual structure of the song. great lyrics, too. "I was a white girl in a crowd of white girls in the park"
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 6 September 2016 15:44 (eight years ago) link
If anything I think the band's more-of-the-same reputation has lead people to underrate this record, which is at the very least gorgeous and powerful and moving and funny.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:02 (eight years ago) link
I heard this album in full a couple of times, and right now I'm struggling to remember anything about it, bar the fact it didn't leave enough of an impression while I was listening to it to warrant sticking with it. A boring record, in other words. 2013 is my favourite year of the decade for music so far, too.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:16 (eight years ago) link
There is no such thing as boring music, just boring people.
I kid. If you can't remember it, give it another listen!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:23 (eight years ago) link
Nah, I'll pass. There's so much music out there and so little time, that I think it's better to check out something you haven't heard that you may like instead of revisiting something that you know didn't make any kind of great impression to begin with... and of course, there is such a thing as boring music.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:35 (eight years ago) link
gave it 2 spins yesterday since thread was bumped and this album r00lz, very mature, well produced, good songs
sad to find out is in fact boring, must be a heavy reality distortion field around my stereo
― niels, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:46 (eight years ago) link
very mature, well produced, good songs
Yeah but what else does it have going for it, zzzzzz.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 17:55 (eight years ago) link
unique song structures and dope drumming keep it from being boring imo
― dc, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:09 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, honestly, even if someone hated the National, he's such a great drummer I can't imagine him not holding your attention. But hey, maybe some people think drums are boring.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:15 (eight years ago) link
"sea of love" has the most lopsided groove and they sorta make it rock anyway
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:17 (eight years ago) link
also the "what did harvard teach you?" line is super funny
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:19 (eight years ago) link
lotsa funny lines on this. i like "god loves everybody / don't remind me"
― dc, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:21 (eight years ago) link
I don't even remember any of the drumming. What I do remember is morose American indie rock.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link
feel like his drumming was a bit subdued on High Violet, maybe the new style didn't leave much room for all his variations, so I was happy to find him let more loose on this - not like Alligator, but a v good match for their new direction
― niels, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:23 (eight years ago) link
lol i remember when i first heard the drum intro to "bloodbuzz ohio" and was like "oh i get this band now"
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link
i don't think the "graceless" video was ever posted in here but it's sort of the ultimate national video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpz_gUyImhw
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:28 (eight years ago) link
i took the medicine then i went missing
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link
i mean, the national imo are a really interesting band bc from a distance they do embody everything that's boring and morose about modern american indie rock but in terms of composition and interplay they're one of the tightest bands around and they are always pushing at their own boundaries and their lyrics are super funny but also very sharp and can do great suggestive things in the space of a couplet, and basically none of these things are immediately accessible from the surface
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
otm
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 18:55 (eight years ago) link
yup^^
like, I'm sure Turrican is a perfectly nice person and I'm not interested in starting a fight but this is so, so dumb:
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, September 7, 2016 11:22 AM (thirty-six minutes ago)
― alpine static, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:07 (eight years ago) link
oops, forgot to block quote
like if you come to me and say "check out this music that's not normally up your alley, the guitar playing is incredible" and I come back and say "i didn't notice the guitar playing, what I did notice is the music isn't really my thing" i think it'll be time to fold up shop
― alpine static, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:13 (eight years ago) link
For what it's worth, I don't recall anyone saying to me, three years ago, "Check out the new National album. Amazing drumming."
If they had, and I'm basing this on what little I actually remember about hearing this record and also bear in mind I did listen to this album in full more than once, I'd return the favour by asking 'em to check out a Rush record.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:20 (eight years ago) link
there is one kind of amazing drumming and its avatar is neil peart
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:22 (eight years ago) link
bookmarked
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:35 (eight years ago) link
seriously bryan devendorf is incredible turrican i'm sorry but obv u lack two ears and a heart
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:37 (eight years ago) link
also god forbid an album should be a grower
it's OK to dislike morose American indie rock, but that doesn't make this a boring record or The National a bad band, that's all.
― alpine static, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 19:48 (eight years ago) link
This band sucks so much it's breathtaking
― yolo mostly (sleepingbag), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 20:08 (eight years ago) link
love that turrican's response to the idea that this band has a great drummer was to bump a bunch of prog and hard rock threads with the phrase "amazing drumming"
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 7 September 2016 21:11 (eight years ago) link