The National

These recommendations are great y'all thank you. I started with Trouble Will Find Me and I'm definitely enjoying most of it - I really like Slipped the best so far, think I might hop around a bit. I'll come back to the thread to note what I'm enjoying as I'm digging in. :)
 
krutter said:
I'm someone who has tried to listen to The National a bit in the past and it never really caught my interest...if I were to revisit should I just pick a random album and jump on, or go in any recommended order to give it another shot?
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Go to the nearest large city, wear a suit and tie. Drink with your friends until you are three sheets to the wind. Close out the bar and walk/take public transit home alone. As you travel home assessing your life choices, pop on either Alligator or Boxer. This should do it for ya.
 
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
Go to the nearest large city, wear a suit and tie. Drink with your friends until you are three sheets to the wind. Close out the bar and walk/take public transit home alone. As you travel home assessing your life choices, pop on either Alligator or Boxer. This should do it for ya.
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The first time I really listened to Alligator was when I was alone working late at my office just outside of downtown Denver, overlooking the skyline. It was maybe a couple months into my job and I was literally the only one there in the office since it was like 9:00. The album spoke to me for some reason at that very moment. It’s still my favorite album of theirs too.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Go to the nearest large city, wear a suit and tie. Drink with your friends until you are three sheets to the wind. Close out the bar and walk/take public transit home alone. As you travel home assessing your life choices, pop on either Alligator or Boxer. This should do it for ya.
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This is the advice right here.

I found The National in my early-20s while living in NYC, and I cannot count the number of times that I listened to Alligator on the subway. It was my soundtrack for a whole year. Then, as the mid-20s, what the f am I doing, malaise hit, they floored me with Boxer, so that holds a really special place in my heart. It's so cliche, but in a lot of ways, their albums have always seemed to mirror what's going on in my life (I have a similar relationship to the Walkmen, RIP).

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was posted in the previous National thread, but if any of you haven't checked out the Boxer-era Take Away Show, you should drop everything and do that.

La Blogothèque | The National

en.blogotheque.net en.blogotheque.net
 
mgp said:
This is the advice right here.

I found The National in my early-20s while living in NYC, and I cannot count the number of times that I listened to Alligator on the subway. It was my soundtrack for a whole year. Then, as the mid-20s, what the f am I doing, malaise hit, they floored me with Boxer, so that holds a really special place in my heart. It's so cliche, but in a lot of ways, their albums have always seemed to mirror what's going on in my life (I have a similar relationship to the Walkmen, RIP).

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was posted in the previous National thread, but if any of you haven't checked out the Boxer-era Take Away Show, you should drop everything and do that.

La Blogothèque | The National

en.blogotheque.net en.blogotheque.net
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This is really great! Is there more then just the two songs? So good!
 
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My favorite encounter with The National...we saw the band live in the summer of 2014, at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon. It's a nice outdoor venue, one of those more intimate settings where you can see the band well from most anywhere. My daughters were 5 and 7 at the time, so we were all sitting toward the back of the venue on the lawn. Toward the end of the set, they launch into 'Mr. November' and I let my family know I want to get a bit closer for this one, and my 7 yo says she wants to join me. So we run up toward the stage, and of course by this point Matt is walking at a brisk pace through the crowd, singing/yelling. Our paths collide, and when he encounters my daughter, he comes to a full stop, puts his hand on her head and looks her right in the eye for a few seconds...and then was off again, back to his frantic pace. It was pretty cool, we still talk about it from time to time. Looking forward to seeing the band again later this summer in Portland.
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
...Our paths collide, and when he encounters my daughter, he comes to a full stop, puts his hand on her head and looks her right in the eye for a few seconds...and then was off again, back to his frantic pace. It was pretty cool, we still talk about it from time to time....
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That is awesome!! Maybe I need a kid...
 
mgp said:
This is the advice right here.

I found The National in my early-20s while living in NYC, and I cannot count the number of times that I listened to Alligator on the subway. It was my soundtrack for a whole year. Then, as the mid-20s, what the f am I doing, malaise hit, they floored me with Boxer, so that holds a really special place in my heart. It's so cliche, but in a lot of ways, their albums have always seemed to mirror what's going on in my life (I have a similar relationship to the Walkmen, RIP).

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was posted in the previous National thread, but if any of you haven't checked out the Boxer-era Take Away Show, you should drop everything and do that.

La Blogothèque | The National

en.blogotheque.net en.blogotheque.net
Click to expand...
Haha I tell everyone that The National have essentially been the soundtrack to my life. Which kinda scares me at this point as I am not yet a divorced father of two staring out a window wistfully at the early morning city lights while clinking a slow melting ice cube around a highball half full of top shelf scotch, reflecting about my misspent youth and past mistakes. Good to know what I have to look foreword too though I guess.
 
Smansmith said:
That is awesome!! Maybe I need a kid...
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My daughter saw Wilco live 3 times before her 4th birthday...all summer shows at outdoor venues. We go to Solid Sound Festival every other year, and Jeff played two solo sets at Pickathon a few years back, so at this point she has seen at least 10 Wilco / Tweedy shows (she is 12).
 
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hatfieldpdx said:
My daughter saw Wilco live 3 times before her 4th birthday...all summer shows at outdoor venues. We go to Solid Sound Festival every other year, and Jeff played two solo sets at Pickathon a few years back, so at this point she has seen at least 10 Wilco / Tweedy shows (she is 12).
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When I grow up, I wanna be your daughter. :)
 
Side C&D are phenomenal! Where is Her Head is one of the best Broken Social Scene's songs they've ever recorded, Not in Kansas is one of my new National's favorite, Rylan is Rylan and Light Years is my IAETF's Pink Rabbits. I am playing the album a second time.
 
The last time I saw The National I was sooo close to getting Matt’s cup of wine. He poured one and gave it to someone in the front row. I was right behind them, and was super bummed because I had been in that exact spot for Big Thief’s set but I had gone to the bathroom before TN came on.

This time I’m not moving from the very front. And I’m so pumped to see them again. And just a year later at that. Still haven’t gotten my ticket in the mail though
 
Man I don’t want to overplay this album right off the bat, but at the same time it’s all I want to listen to right now.

Might take a break and go back through the rest of their discography.

What I do think is interesting is although IAETF sounds unique in their career, it almost does work as the culmination of TWFM - SWB. Like I can hear both those album’s influences on this one. Curious to see where they go next. But that’s probably quite a ways away.
 
Djxfactor511 said:
I don't have any firsthand experience on this, but have read up on it.

Here's a thread from Discogs on it. Basically PVC sleeves over time react with vinyl records and can damage them. In the case of this National record, since it's an outer sleeve and doesn't come in contact with the record itself I am not sure if the effects are mitigated at all.

Discogs Forum - Does PVC Sleeves damage the vinyl?

www.discogs.com www.discogs.com
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Hope pvc “beach ball” outters isn’t a growing trend again. First Breaking Bad and now both of the new The Nationals.

I think I may finally have pitched all the other ones I had stored so they would not be near my vinyl. They might be in a back closet somewhere. This is Including the “deluxe edition” St Vincent that was the worst packaged record I ever bought.

The collector in me likes to keep things original but besides the long term leaching chemicals worries I really do not like the way these look and feel near as well as a good quality standard outer sleeve.
 
mitchwagz said:
I’m so confused by that Pitchfork review. Seems pretentious for no reason at all (I mean I know it’s P4K but still). Also bagging on the album and calling it boring yet awarding it a 7.6? Who knows. I haven’t listened to it yet but I’m super excited! Though over an hour gives me slight pause wondering if it should have been more concise.
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I've read that Pitchfork's numerical rating is actually voted on by a group, that are not necessarily the person that wrote the article.
 
To be honest, the album doesn’t feel like it’s an over an hour at all. Even the two longest songs never feel too long. Conversely, Light Years feels too short, like just a bit more added instrumentation at the end would make it feel more whole as a closer.

As for the Pitchfork review, it does seem like the person writing it wasn’t interested in writing about it. Which begs the question why they were the one assigned to it (assuming they were). But it’s not completely negative. They’re off base about a number of things, but it is just an opinion. Ultimately, it’s like many Pitchfork reviews though in that it doesn’t feel that interesting of a read. The lengthy Stereogum piece on the LP is much better.
 
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