Watch The Pixies Play “Hey” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven” on First Night of Playing Doolittle In Its Entirety – For Doolittle They Are Certainly DO-ing A Lot…Cough (I Am So Sorry); They Play New York November 23rd and 24th [Spin]
Kanye West and Lady Gaga Officially Cancel “Fame Kills” Tour; Somehow, Life Manages To Go On Smoothly [Idolator]
Irish 90s Girl-Mopers The Cranberries Reunite (Coming To a Raisin Bran Near You); Announce New York Date November 17th At Nokia Theater [Brooklyn Vegan]
Sufjan Stevens To Record Instrumental Album For Asthmatic Kitty’s Library Catalog With The National’s Bryce Dessner – Seriously, Who is This Sufjan Guy, and Why is He Making Headlines Every Fucking Day? Will Someone Just Shut Him Up?! (I’m Sorry Mr. Stevens, Please Don’t Go Away Again…We…We Love You) [Pitchfork]
Conservative Pundit Glenn Beck Praises Muse; Muse Asks Glenn Beck To Stop Praising Them…Listen Here; Elsewhere, Did You Hear What Glenn Beck May or May Not Have Done? [Stereogum]
Watch Jack White’s New Dead Weather Video For Horsehound Track “I Cut Like a Buffalo;” Instead of Watching This Video, I Analyzed How Much White Looks Like Willy Wonka in Its Still Frame [Spin]
compiled by Max Sebela
Doveman Announces New Album The Conformist Featuring Nico Muhly, Most of The National, Martha Wainwright, and Norah Jones (Sounds Like a Really Crooning Version of “We Are the World”); Released October 20 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Watch BLAKROC, the Black Keys and Mos Def/Raekwon/RZA/[Insert Meaningful MC Here] Supergroup, Perform In the Studio; Sounds Pretty Much Exactly Like What We Were Expecting [Spin]
Stream Really Early Nirvana Live Cut, “Scoff” Off the Upcoming Bleach Reissue; Released November 3 [Pitchfork]
Andrew W.K., After Experiencing Some Kind of Sexual Religious Experience, Cancels Concert Dates With Calder Quartet, As Apparently Sex and Religion Don’t Mix Well (Tell That Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa”) [Idolator]
James Murphy Drops Hint On Facebook About Upcoming LCD Soundsytem LP Possibly Due Out New March ; Elsewhere, Music News Is Really Fucking Slow Today [Pitchfork]
Watch Beach House’s Victoria Legrand Perform New Moon Track “Slow Life” With Grizzly Bear; Get Bored Fast, And Then Imagine How This Song Sounds Anything Like a Vampire/Werewolf Teen Crossover Novel Turned Film [You Ain’t No Picasso]
Stream New Grouper (Moniker of Noise Musician Liz Harris) Tracks, “Vessel” and “Hold the Way” – They Are Really Sad (Which is Good Because It’s Really Cold) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch New Volcano Choir (Bon Iver’s Psych-Side Project) Video For Unmap Highlight “Island, IS” – It’s Pretty Much Nothing But Lights Moving Around…So Uh…It’s a Really Sweet Video [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James to Release George Harrison Covers EP [Billboard]
Highline Ballroom Curate Concerts at The Beach on Governor’s Island [Brooklyn Vegan]
Dirty Projectors in Van Accident. Band Safe, Dates Canceled, All a Bitte Shaken Up (Awful Pun) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, The National (and more!) to Play Free Virgin Festival in Maryland [Spin]
Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli, Soulja Boy, and Buzz Aldrin?! Collaborate on Single?!…Uhh?! [Spin]
The Roots Debut First Single From Upcoming How I Got Over Tonight on Jimmy Fallon [Pitchfork]
Pavement Singer/Guitarist Scott Kannberg to Release First Solo Album The Real Feel as Pavement Pseudonym “Spiral Stairs” [Matablog]
Bon Iver/Collections of Colonies of Bees Side Project Volcano Choir Ready Debut Unmap – Due Out 9/22 No Surprise: Artwork Features Snow [Prefix]
Lil Wayne Drug Possession Trial Postponed Until August 11 [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
June 8, 2009
The National | “Runaway”
IN THE TUBE
The National are a pretty sneaky band. Their sophomore album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers is one of the best of its kind: it’s incessantly melodic and engaging and Matt Berninger’s lyrical capacities seemed, even then, to exceed the boundaries of pop music, a more effective survey of an urban and suburban romantic wasteland than most short story writers could hope to accomplish. I loved it. Neither follow-ups Alligator nor Boxer came close to replicating its success. “Fake Empire” is an incredible song, but the remainders of those albums seem to me maundering and sloppy. There are incredibly beautiful instrumental passages and Berninger hits some vocal high marks, but generally there’s just repetition and go-nowhere melodies. A lot of people strongly disagree with this, and I’m aware of that.
Anyway, I’m not trying to bash The National. Their Dark Was the Night contribution, “So Far Around the Bend,” was an impeccable pop song, and one of the highlights of that tremendous compilation. And here’s more cause for rejoice: a new National song that is amazing, a cut called “Runaway.” It’s not anything like “So Far Around the Bend.” In a lot of ways it exists as a natural progression from Alligator to Boxer. There’s a sense of control that I haven’t heard on a National album since Dirty Lovers, and it’s that control that made the band so incredibly exciting. Call it boring or square, but hearing a gorgeous folk-pop song immaculately played with some tight horn orchestration – this is good form. Berninger’s voice is perfect, and, lyrically, he’s killing it. So not the biggest news in the world, but still, I’m excited. Maybe now I can finally get tight with all my buddies that are like so completely obsessed with Boxer.
by Chris Kiehne
