The National - High Violet

http://pitchfork.com/news/38099-new-national-album-ihigh-violeti/

The National's fifth LP, High Violet, is due out May 10 in the UK and May 11 everywhere else via 4AD...

They've already got a slew of tour dates lined up for the spring, and you can check them out after the jump.

The National:

03-28 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre (Big Ears Festival)
04-22 Richmond, VA - The National
04-23 Richmond, VA - The National
05-05 London, England - Electric Ballroom
05-06 London, England - Royal Albert Hall
05-07 Paris, France - Le Zenith *
05-09 Berlin, Germany - Astra
05-21 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
05-22 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern #
05-23 San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre #
05-26 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre
05-27 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre #
05-29 Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Festival
06-02 Boston, MA - House of Blues %
06-03 Boston, MA - House of Blues %
06-04 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory %
06-05 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory %
06-06 Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall %
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall %
06-09 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall %
06-11-13 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-16 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall %
07-27 Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park ^

* with Pavement
# with Ramona Falls
^ with Beach House
% with the Antlers

I realized recently that my initial praise for Boxer was just residue from my enduring love of Alligator. It was actually a pretty lame and rather hollow record. Hope High Violet isn't a disappointment.

^^pretty much the opposite for me - I didn't really like Boxer cause it was so different from Alligator but it's really growing on me, and Alligator is falling out of favor. think I prefer their slow sad man jams nowadays

crazy. 'Boxer' completely shadows their other albums, which I like but still. It seems that the new one will move away from the more restrained sound of Boxer, which I'm a bit worried about out. They have the potential to go U2 on us.

I had (and still have) no use for Alligator but ended up loving Boxer. I'm hopeful for this but have a feeling Boxer may be that anomalous piece of their catalog that doesn't make me wince.

I realized recently that my initial praise for Boxer was just residue from my enduring love of Alligator

i always felt like the critical praise for boxer was partly based on people feeling like they underappreciated and/or slept-on alligator. still a pretty good record; still interested in the new disc.

slow sad man jams

This is pretty much an anti-endorsement of any music I might care to check out.

Will be avoiding this National album.

alligator probably got slept on because it's so backloaded. i think i like the last 5 songs on it all better than the first 8

New song sounds pretty good, definitely louder than most of the stuff on Boxer (though that could be because it's a live performance):

http://pitchfork.com/news/38161-watch-the-national-debut-ihigh-violeti-lead-track-terrible-love-on-fallon/

BTW I didn't hear Alligator until after I heard Boxer and I prefer Boxer

same thing for me and although I like Alligator, I don't think I would have investigated further had it been the first thing I'd heard from this band

I'm the opposite, Alligator was the first I heard and its still marginally my favorite. Like them both a lot though. Not in love with this song, but the other new songs they played when I saw them last fall sounded great. Still looking forward to this.

I heard Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers before I heard either Alligator or Boxer, but Alligator still stomps all over both of them.

I still haven't even heard the first album, though. Any good?

Its not bad... I little rough around the edges, but there are some good tracks.

I really like their b-sides, which are compiled on the ... Virginia EP?

but the first non-album thing you should check out is the Cherry Tree EP

Oh yeah, I've heard the Cherry Tree ep. I was so happy when "All the Wine" showed up on Alligator.

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/03/the-national_high-violet.jpg

Alligator was the first I heard and I saw them put on amazing show backing that record, so still my favorite by far. I found Boxer to be a huge disappointment at the time, though it has grown on me a little more. Just seemed too flat and lacking the dynamics that I loved about Alligator.

that cover is atrocious

yeah that cover is :(

seems like a typical indie CD cover. won't look good on vinyl that's for sure.

music would have to be pretty different for this cover to fit

they're going in kind of a four tet meets yeah yeah yeahs direction

not trying to be dense but what exactly is the object that the font is on?

concrete with rebar coming out of it?

Looks kind of like a tailpipe.

not trying to be dense but what exactly is the object that the font is on?

― hitler runoff (J0rdan S.), Friday, March 12, 2010 1:09 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

concrete with rebar coming out of it?

― but actually it is impossible to have a penis on the body of a mermaid (dyao), Friday, March 12, 2010 1:34 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Looks kind of like a tailpipe.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, March 12, 2010 1:44 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

album of the year

"Terrible Love" is great (opening track), now i'm excited about new National.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GdlsaQH6ao

Fewer sad man slow jams! More guitars!

not trying to be dense but what exactly is the object that the font is on?

A book?

A book that's not strong enough to contain all of the powerful emotional words that are spilling out of it?

THE SINGER'S DIARY???

Looking forward to hearing this, fwiw. Boxer did nothing for me but I still LOVE Alligator.

we finally have a track listing but still not on Amazon:

The sculpture on the album cover was created by artist Mark Fox, and is called The Binding Force.

1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow
3. Anyone's Ghost
4. Little Faith
5. Afraid of Everyone
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
7. Lemonworld
8. Runaway
9. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

The Binding Force

i wish

1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow

this is going to be their 'sunshine pop' record then?

You can download Bloodbuzz Ohio from their website. It's a grower i think.

It's got that terrible line about "the swarm of BEEEE-EEZ."

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/03/bloodbuzz-ohio-national.jpg

the artwork is even getting more interesting.

another very solid song from these guys, looking forward to this new album!

I was bees, says the National

really liking this single, esp. its slightly motorik feel. Excited

The album version of Bloodbuzz Ohio sounds terrific. Very high hopes for this album.

Also this is them performing another album track, Runaway, on Q TV last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjskJAKeJdM

The cover is apparently based upon a sculpture by Mark Fox

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images/653/388006.jpg

I don't know about the single. It sounds like an outtake from Boxer.

here is another new song, "Afraid of Everyone."

http://pitchfork.com/news/38478-download-the-new-national-song-afraid-of-everyone-now/

^liking this song a lot.

first listen: nice song, not going to convince anyone who didn't like the band before to like them now

this has finally leaked.

Sounds pretty good to me. "Little Faith" actually grooves a bit, which is new for them.

email:

Hi everyone!

As you may have heard, there is a low quality leak of our new album, High Violet, spreading across the Internet as we speak. We wanted to let you know the New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com - will be streaming the real thing starting Friday April 23rd. We hope you'll take the time to hear the album at its intended level of quality.

High Violet will be released by 4AD worldwide on May 10th/11th.

Is the low quality thing true?

Listening to it on my computer at work so hard to tell - most of the mp3s are 320kbps but Terrible Love did sound slightly distorted (like it was recorded with the recording level/volume up too high). Sorrow sounds ok though.

to add to some of my earlier thoughts, i think this record in its self-consciousness and tendency to be a little too uniform, strays a bit from the unhinged feel of the earlier stuff where you get the sense that something unpredictable could surface at any moment.

I was wondering about the production on Terrible Love. Why so bad / distorted? Does anyone think it works?

imo the production is kinda the idea of the song being at the brink of bursting at the seams, sorta the personification of the lyric 'it takes an ocean not to break' in re: the terrible relationship in the song or wathever

i think it works i guess, but it seems a little less than subtle for my tastes

yeah it just seemed like a conscious aesthetic decision to make the drums sound like that. i've gotten used to it but there's some really intricate playing that is totally lost in the noise.

I like the album well enough, but I'm not sure if I like how Berninger's vocals are mixed at times... I think I'm just generally not a fan of vocals that are mixed lower in the track, so the blend in more. I dislike that. I think Beninger is more effective when he's separated somewhat from the rest of the track.

Extended edition being released late November with this second disc. Hoping the new version of Terrible Love is more like that original live one.

CD2:

01 Terrible Love (Alternate Version)
02 Wake Up Your Saints
03 You Were a Kindness
04 Walk Off
05 Sin-Eaters
06 Bloodbuzz Ohio (Live on The Current)
07 Anyone's Ghost (Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music)
08 England (Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music)

nothing really wrong with it, and it def. has some high points, but this album somehow never clicked with me as a whole like Boxer did

Hope they do their fans a solid and offer that as a standalone package, if not, I'll have learned to never but their albums when they first come out.

i got bored with this pretty quick...been the case with all their albums.

yes, in the end, not as good as any of the other albums. pleasant enough.

keeps popping up on the ipod today...keeps getting skipped.

11.22.10

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NZKt6bsnL._SS500_.jpg

I love this album, but fuck you guys for releasing a special edition right after I buy the regular one.

Looks like they listened to everyone complaining about the production on Terrible Love.

finally actually got around to listening to this. it's pretty good! its sort of like a brooklyn-indie Boatman's Call.

I can listen to Lemonworld or England on repeat 4-eva.

Still liking this album, genuinely don't understand a lot of the meh on ILM toward it.

Don't think the meh was confined to ILM

Not being sure one way or the other, I just checked Metacritic—I wouldn't call an average score of 84 out of 100 meh exactly.

Wasn't talking about the critics either. Think the general reaction among fans has been fairly muted.

Okay, but just speaking for myself, I wouldn't have considered myself a fan of the band, but I am a fan of High Violet. I'm not upset or angry with the ILM massif, btw, just finding it difficult to understand the largely underwhelming reaction itt. More like puzzlement, really.

it's easier to hate them than it is to critically listen to them?

i mean of all the albums that could be liked or hated on ilm, this is really obviously in the hate category

i really like this one and didn't like their older stuff (except for "fake empire")

To put it simply, i listened and re-listened to both Alligator and Boxer but i haven't felt like putting this one on since a couple of weeks after it came out.

Yet I'm still listening to it, and neither of those two ever made me return to them more than a couple of times each. So, still confused. I mean, what specifically is so easy to hate on? That it's mopey? That shuffling mid tempo thing? I mean, sure, but I feel this low key tension throughout a lot the songs, a strained reticence, and an overall cohesiveness, plus it's by far their most melodically interesting album (admittedly, I've barely listened to their earlier stuff... but there's a reason for that). Anyway, shrug. It doesn't really matter: if I make a EOY list, it's going in the top five likely as not.

I think, for a lot of fans, self included, it suffers for having neither the singular vision and feel of, say Boxer, nor the variety of Alligator. It's stuck in a nowhere land of unmemorable medium tempo plodders. If I made, say, a 14 track favorite National compilation, the only two to make it from this would be Afraid of Everyone and Bloodbuzz Ohio.

it's easier to hate them than it is to critically listen to them?

― call all destroyer, Monday, November 8, 2010 9:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i mean of all the albums that could be liked or hated on ilm, this is really obviously in the hate category

― call all destroyer, Monday, November 8, 2010 9:50 PM (Yesterday)

So, still confused. I mean, what specifically is so easy to hate on?

white indie rock from brooklyn that's more or less well-regarded by critics?

lol thx

http://i51.tinypic.com/2v15jys.gif

Yeah, I guess I assumed we'd all progressed beyond old ILM and mid-period ILM prejudice, deluded fool that I am!

hahah nope, sry.

I think this album just seemed like more of the same to fans, but to new people it was a little easier to get into. anyway, i really like it now. I'll buy the deluxe since I haven't gotten around to legally purchasing this yet.

^Pretty much how I feel about it.

i havent listened to this in a while tbh, but it's not that bad. i just am rarely in the mood for something this, uh, not uplifting at all. which is fine and not the records fault

is that why you spend all your time listening to tapes n tapes

I love the feel they captured on Alligator, and I'm content with knowing that will never happen again. That album's enough for me. I mean, I'll always listen to whatever new thing they release a time or two, but I went inside Alligator and never fully emerged on the other side.

liked Alligator, loved Boxer, found the new one pretty good but maybe a bit too sentimental if not corny - in a way I could start to see the elements which might eventually piss me off (ie. some songs veer a bit into U2/Coldplay territory at times)

High Violet is all about them playing with hooks and choruses, often pushing the verses to the background. That's not a criticism, they just take a everything-is-a-hook approach, much more so than the previous albums. I mean most songs are built on like four or five phrases repeated over and over, just like Sufjan's new album. Them and Love King are all similar in that way.

oh it absolutely is in the indie equivalent of Rush of Blood To the Head.

Which is kind of a good thing, in my opinion.

If The National and The Walkmen go on tour together, how will the crowd be able to tell which one opened up?

http://twitter.com/#!/freddurst/status/99869930060652544

i still owe money to the money to the money i owe

New album in May

https://twitter.com/The_National/status/306092284250824704)

Oof, good news! Took an extended break from these guys for a good 2 and a half years, started listening again just before Christmas. I think a bit of distance has made all the difference. Listened to Cherry Tree, Alligator, Virginia EP and Boxer on pretty heavy rotation for about 4 years and was starting to tire of the act/persona/whatever a little bit.

I found myself incapable of committing to High Violet in the same way when it came out after that, but I've been seriously enjoying it recently. Also backtracked and had a go at the first two albums - not as good as what came after for sure, but there's some nifty little tunes in there, 'Pay For Me' and 'Slipping Husband' and 'Ninety Mile Water Wall' and whatnot. I like some of the ideas that were refined out of their sound as time passed - the backing vox on Pay For Me, for instance. In fact yeah fuck it, 'Pay For Me' is really up there with their best for me. Except for that lyric about being on a plane somewhere over Spain.

Still can't really touch Boxer, because I'm just not sure that the songs stand up so well down the line. Actually that's not true, I've just tried to think of a song off that album that I really don't like and I've drawn a blank. Just less inclined to listen that I used to be. Alligator's still where it's at for me. Probably not got the best songs from their catalogue (tbh I think Cherry Tree EP was them at their hottest in terms of hit-ratio) but it's a brilliant collection of songs. One of those delights where I think every song on there has been my favourite at least once. 'Friend Of Mine' and 'All The Wine' really doing it for me atm.

So yeah, damn excited for this. Way more so than for the last one.

http://pitchfork.com/news/59182-the-national-announce-vinyl-box-set-collecting-six-hour-performance-of-sorrow/

How environmentally friendly

i hear that vinyl breaks down well into mulch.