New from The National :: "A Thousand Black Cities" (live in Copenhagen)

I'm pretty sure that this is the first new National song unveiled since Boxer, in its debut performance earlier this week at The Vega in Copenhagen, Denmark. This mp3 is just a rip from the video above (more pics from the taper here), but for us addicts I suppose it will do temporarily. The title could also be "Believe Me." Swirling atmosphere and sonorous horns . . . I can't wait to hear a clean copy of this.

A Thousand Black Cities (new, live 8/12/08) - The National

Also check out the amazing podcast of The National at Lollapalooza, or from the same site, Explosions in the Sky.

[thanks Erica!]

this river's full of lost sharks

The first song on The National's 2005 album Alligator is also one of my favorites by them, ever. There is an ineffable quality to "Secret Meeting" that I never tire of listening to -- the fantastic percussion that firmly anchors the song to bedrock as the luminous guitar chords dance and skitter above it. But in the midst of the beauty it has a darker chaos thrumming just beneath the surface, as with so much of their music. Berninger sings agitatedly about spies, sharks, and paranoia, all the second-guessing and questioning that forces a retreat to this secret meeting in the basement of his brain.

And the song feels exactly like an internal monologue warring. The indistinct yelling in the background builds towards the end to echo all our anxieties. But you can't quite tell what they are so urgently telling him to do, like that dream where you can blindly feel around the edges of coherency but can't quite grasp where you're running or the mission you are supposed to be fulfilling. Are they yelling just drop the dice and roll it? Don't draw the ace and fold it? How are you supposed to place your bet, to play your game, when it sounds like this inside your head? But I know exactly what that feels like; I think we all do.

The song builds into gorgeous chaos as everything degenerates and clamors inside before that final chord, the crash of the cymbal, the curtain fall and the lights out.

If you've never listened to The National, or never heard this song, I find it really hard to not love.

Secret Meeting - The National

i think this place is full of spies
i think they're onto me
didn't anybody, didn't anybody tell you
didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room
i know you put in the hours to keep me in sunglasses, i know

and so and now I'm sorry I missed you
i had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain
it went the dull and wicked ordinary way
it went the dull and wicked ordinary way
and now i'm sorry i missed you
i had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain

i think this place is full of spies
i think i'm ruined
didn't anybody, didn't anybody tell you
didn't anybody tell you, this river's full of lost sharks
i know you put in the hours to keep me in sunglasses, i know

and so and now i'm sorry i missed you
i had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain
it went the dull and wicked ordinary way

it went the dull and wicked ordinary way



What I would have given to be here for this moment, this electricity:

SECRET MEETING
LIVE IN ZAGREB, CROATIA (NOV 2007)


BUY: Alligator by The National. Or this cool shirt I just ordered.

[photo from the University of Chicago: Library Graffiti set]

but there’s no way I’m forgetting this

Frightened Rabbit are four guys from Selkirk, Scotland who have created an evisceratingly gorgeous album primarily tracing the death of a relationship -- the back and forth, the moments of confident strength followed by the ravaging weakness. Released in April, their sophomore album Midnight Organ Fight was recorded last year at the Connecticut home studios of Peter Katis (longtime producer of The National).

This is an album full of incredibly visceral lyrics, some of the most excoriating for me since, well, The National. The album opens with "The Modern Leper," wherein a damaged person laments how "vital parts fall from his system and dissolve in Scottish rain / vitally he doesn't miss them he's too fucked up to care."

As our protagonist, songwriter and frontman Scott Hutchison, fights his way through the final death-rattle gasps of a love affair, the themes are of unflinching self-flagellation (“Well is that you in front of me coming back for even more of exactly the same? You must be a masochist to love a modern leper on his last leg”) and fragile introspection ("I crippled your heart a hundred times and still can't work out why / You see I've got this disease I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life").

It's not an album for the fainthearted, but an excellent one for the honest. "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms" is a simple examination of how she won't need his (bad arms) now that she's found another pair -- although he tosses off a line to the new happy couple that he's armed with the past, and the will, and a brick, and says "I might not want you back, but I want to kill him."

The somewhat clunky album title analogy about a 'midnight organ fight' makes perfect sense once you hear those words repeated in the raw desire of "Fast Blood," which goes on to remember: "I tremble, because this stumble has become biblical. I feel like I just died twice and was reborn again for all our dirty sins / And the fast blood, fast blood, fast blood hurricanes through me, and rips my roof away."


But the primary song which I can't shake from scrolling through my head on repeat is "My Backwards Walk" -- one that grapples with failure, in full. Decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. It is very highly recommended.

My Backwards Walk - Frightened Rabbit

I’m working on my backwards walk
walking with no shoes or socks
and the time rewinds to the end of May
I wish we’d never met, then met today

I’m working on my faults and cracks
filling in the blanks and gaps
when I write them out they don’t make sense
I need you to pencil in the rest

I’m working on drawing a straight line
and I will draw until I get one right
it's bold and dark, girl, can’t you see
I’ve done drawn a line between you and me

I’m working on erasing you
but I just don’t have the proper tools
I will get hammered, forget that you exist
but there’s no way I’m forgetting this

I’m working hard on walking out
but my shoes keep sticking to the ground
my clothes won’t let me close the door
‘cause my trousers seem to love your floor

I’ve been working on my backwards walk
‘cause there’s nowhere else for me to go
except back to you just one last time
say yes before I change my mind

say yes before i…

you're the shit and I’m knee deep in it
you're the shit and I'm knee-deep in it


WATCH: My first introduction to these guys was from Kevin on the So Much Silence blog, when he posted this live video of them covering a bit of The National's "Fake Empire" at the beginning of "My Backwards Walk."

TOUR: Frightened Rabbit is currently out with the French Kicks, and you can bet I'll be seeing them in Denver next weekend with Oxford Collapse.

BUY: The Midnight Organ Fight (Amazon US) / Or from Fat Cat Records UK

UPDATE: Frightened Rabbit interview here

The National :: "Without Permission" (from The Virginia EP, out today)

The new Vincent Moon-directed film that follows the making of The National's 2007 album Boxer is out today. A Skin, A Night offers the gorgeous treatment that this music deserves, making it feel even more special, all wrapped up in moonlight and grainy black and white. The film is being screened at select U.S. locations (and hmmm, should we do a Denver one?) and if you buy it, the DVD comes paired with an excellent collection of 12 rare/demo/unreleased tracks called The Virginia EP.

In addition to collaborations with like a song with Sufjan Stevens recorded at Benny's Wash 'N Dry in Brooklyn, some great UK b-sides including one called Santa Clara (which I like to pretend is about my alma mater), and that sublime Springsteen cover I posted in April, there are several home-recording demos and live tracks.

This cover is one of my immediate favorites on the EP -- a mournful, quietly sad song written originally by a Bristol-born singer-songwriter named Caroline Martin. It starts with a fill of organ pipes like you just stopped into that little cathedral, and now are not quite sure what for. Maybe to say a prayer for someone, light a candle. Maybe just to sit in the silence.

Quickly the song blossoms within its traditional structure that caused me to wonder at first if this was a reinvention of an old doo-wop tune from a girl group. But there within the simplicity, The National wrenches out new layers of genuine loss and missing someone so much that all you can construct are lines that are three or four words long.

Without Permission (Caroline Martin cover) - The National

Oh
well I just don't know
how you could go
without permission

'Cause well,
if you're not there
well i just don't care
for this omission

Every moment brings me down
when you're not around
but all i'm asking for
is come back for just one day

So
where did you go?
and do you now know
how to be happy?

'Cause here
well it's pretty clear
when you're not near me
i am unhappy

Every moment brings me down
when you're not around
but all i'm asking for
is come back for just one day

I'll make it worth the while
just to see your smile
that's all i'm asking for

Oh
I've come to know
you had to go
without permission

'Cause it was how
how i wore you down
and how i dragged you 'round
my sore ambition

Every moment brings me down
when you're not around
but all i'm asking for
is come back for just one day

I'll make it worth the while
just to see your smile
that's all i'm asking for
my dear


Originally featured on Caroline Martin's debut album I Had A Hundred More Reasons To Stay By The Fire (2005, Small Dog Records)

Order the A Skin, A Night DVD / Virginia EP here


A SKIN, A NIGHT TRAILER


[other Vincent Moon/National work]

Hey, nice t-shirt / The National at Coachella

Yellow Bird Project tasks your favorite musicians to design a shirt for a good cause of their choosing.

The latest classy, minimalist, circle-tastic design comes courtesy of Fuel favorites The National (shown below, $25) and previous contributions have been made by folks like Stars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Rilo Kiley, The Shins, Wolfmother, and Broken Social Scene.

Check out Yellow Bird Project and be cool for a good cause.


And speaking of The National, this gorgeous video from Coachella made me physically ache; no, I can't really explain why but just watching it should make you understand too.

THE NATIONAL
FAKE EMPIRE, LIVE AT COACHELLA 2008


And Slow Show at sunset. Sigh.

Coachella, let's go again (Day One)

Ah, Coachella, you winsome siren.

That festival is going to beckon to me annually after the amazing experience I've had over this past weekend. Even with a lineup that some declared "not as strong" compared to past years, I had such a full schedule and was extremely pleased with almost every show I went to. In fact, as I scroll through the schedule now that it's over, I feel actual pain at the shows I meant to go to and completely missed. It all felt like a well-organized little technicolor city with oases of coolness and mist and fun around every corner, worlds apart from the everyday world. The variety of music represented was truly terrific and non-stop. And I am now in love with the Coachella tacos, two for $4! It just doesn't get much better.

The first really awesome set of the festival for me on Friday was the Black Kids. They were fun and having fun, they sounded terrific -- like the Cure filtered through a little bit of a danceathon soundtrack - plus they can really play. I felt an immense sense of kinship to see all these other kids counting off "1! 2! 3! 4!!" in unison for a band that's gained 90% of their buzz through blogs:

THE BLACK KIDS: "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" (live at Coachella 2008)


Yeah, like that.

After the Black Kids I heard the jarring strains of Slightly Stoopid covering old Nirvana wafting across the open field to me (no!!) and then headed to the press tent for this pleasant surprise:

Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip then turned in an electrifying, stimulating, clever, fresh set over in the Gobi Tent to another packed audience. I can't get enough of the way Pip rolls around his words into these sentences that you think aren't gonna flow back together, and then he pulls it off with panache and wit. The beats shook that tent to its stakes. Can't wait to see them again at Monolith:


A clamorous and multi-instrumental set from Architecture in Helsinki (not from Helsinki mind you but Australia) also popped up that afternoon. AIH were the first folks of the fest to be sporting the very popular yet really awful '80s fluorescent fashion alongside the kind of brightly colored sunglasses you know I had in the eighth grade.


Vampire Weekend! Hugely anticipated set that delivered what I had come to see. Crest of hipness or over it, these guys know how to write an infectiously catchy yet distinctively African-infused pop song. More seriously questionable '80s fashion, this of the preppy variety (those shorts?!), and one of my personal favorite pics I managed to snap:


And then as the golden sun began to slide behind the palm trees, and that perfect light hovered over the lawn and wrapped itself around the stage, The National took their places for a set that I was almost intimidated to see. I'd been looking forward to seeing them live for so many months here, and with so much ferocity that I almost couldn't abide. No screaming or fainting on my part, but I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't a bit fluttery. Their music is so richly, deeply gorgeous with lyrics that drip poetry and a flawless way of phrasing things I've always thought but never said. The National carved something out of me and put something back in is the best way I can put it. Their set ended too soon for me, but it seemed like magic in the desert when that sun hit the mirrorball above their heads and splayed the crowd with dancing light.


Unfortunately the steep price extracted to see the National was missing about half of the Raconteurs and all my pictures were crap. What I saw was scorching as expected and led to a conversation about Jack White's exceptionally impressive guitar skills and how Brendan Benson is always better than we remember to give him credit for.

Then another pinnacle on a day filled with greatness - The Verve! Seeing the re-formed Verve was treat enough but did anyone really expect them to sound this tight? After Richard Ashcroft famously declared, "There's more chance of getting all four Beatles on stage together than a Verve reunion," there they were.

From the opening notes of "This Is Music" followed by "Space and Time" and then my much-beloved "Sonnet" -- it really did all sound like a sonnet, my love. Their set was one treat after another, with the newish song "Sit and Wonder" which had been played on the UK shows, and a brand new song that veered off into rave-worthy dance territory called "Love is Noise." It was the epic seven-minute closer:

Love Is Noise (new song, live in San Francisco 4-23-08) - The Verve

But before Love is Noise was unleashed on us, the true culmination of their set came for me with that Stones-string-sampling wonder that is "Bittersweet Symphony." This was a moment that will live on in shiver-inducing concert history for me -- check that break, that crashing like a wave, all the fists pumping together across the crest:

THE VERVE: Bittersweet Symphony (live at Coachella)


Now, Jack Johnson is so affable and warm and relaxing that I'll admit to falling out of the game for his set. After the Verve I just felt drained and exuberant and didn't give ole Jack my undivided. But Mason Jennings joined him for a new song "I Love You and Buddha Too," as did Matt Costa for "Let It Be Sung," a tune off the eclectic Brokedown Melody soundtrack.

The effects of running on Heineken and funnel cake for a weekend are catching up with me in force tonight and I am going to tuck it in for the evening with the sun setting on Day One. We got two more days to cover, kids. What a fantastic, halcyon Friday.

The National cover Springsteen

This seems exceptionally fitting to post today, as I have a date with Bruce Springsteen this very evening. The National does a gorgeously arresting cover here. The rich, round tones of the plucking of strings sound for all the world like rain on the roof of a wooden cabin I stayed in once, deep in a redwood forest.

Mansion On The Hill (Springsteen cover) - The National

I think my heart stops at a few points during that song -- the way the strings stretch and hover, pause and swell.

Pitchfork wrote yesterday that The National is including this cover on a new CD called The Virginia EP (a 12-track "EP") which will also contain unreleased demos, b-sides, live recordings, and a song from last year's Daytrotter session.

It's part of a package that will also include the excellent Vincent Moon documentary A Skin, A Night: watch clips here.


[song via, photo credit Valerio]

Fuel Favorites of 2007

For each year so far that I've been dabbling in this music-blog-writing hobby, there seems to be a greater proliferation of choices for my ears to make. It seems like more artists are making their voices heard, more albums getting out there in one form or another, more people being turned on to music outside the mainstream 35 songs you hear on the radio.

This is good news for ears, hearts, and souls, and bad news for listmakers.

After much struggling, I've picked out ten albums that I'm happy with being my favorites from 2007; add all of these to your collections and be happy too. There were some very good albums that I left off this year (I am sure you will point them out to me in the comments) but these 10 are the ones that connected with me uniquely and viscerally. And they're listed in alphabetical order because even numerically ranking them defeated me.

If you would like to hear me talk more about these albums, and discuss my perspective as a music blogger in the digital music world in 2007, please tune in to NPR's World Cafe on January 1st. I'll be doing a piece with David Dye, Tom Moon from NPR and Marco Werman from BBC's "The World" program.

And yes . . . this is my poker face. I'm doing little freakout backflips on the inside.


TEN FUEL FAVORITES OF 2007

BECAUSE OF THE TIMES
Kings of Leon
Folks complain that this album isn't as loose and rough and gut-punch raw as earlier KOL efforts, and they're right. This album is bigger and hazier and more anthemic, but I find myself craving the riffs, the melody, the scowly drawl of the lyrics, and the unabashed rock. I agree with the fantastic Daytrotter piece that called this one "a sneaker" (as in it sneaks up on you, not a shoe). I like that KOL are experimenting with their sound and pushing the edges. Plus, they absolutely have the best live show I saw (twice) this year, all caged energy, confident strut and rock and roll.
Fans - Kings of Leon


BOXER
The National
This is the richest album in my top ten this year, in that the songs seep under your skin and percolate slowly. As we discussed, so much of this is 4am music; the late-night special, flawed but transcendent. Woven through songs that pulse restlessly with thumping drums, elegiac strings and evocative piano melodies, the lyrics here destroy me. Absolutely. They lament "another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults," then ruefully note that "we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe is diving diving diving diving off the balcony / Tired and wired we ruin too easy, sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave." The purity of elemental urges and gorgeous expression makes me wants to live inside the stories of this album.
Fake Empire - The National


DIRTY BOMB
The Star Spangles
Here to save the rock and roll crown from the hands of slicker entries this year, The Star Spangles from New York are filthy and gritty and raw, making pub-chant punk with strong melodies. Full of heart, they are the real deal so don't mess with their work ethic. In addition to playing roughly 3,528 fiery live shows this year, they're not above doing things like playing a recent show at the Jesse Malin/Ryan Adams hangout Niagara in NYC wearing only a trenchcoat and a fedora (all the better to rock with less friction, I guess). Listen to this vibrant album loud, and feel the ebullient crush of youth.
Take Care of Us - The Star Spangles


FIGHTING TREES
The Swimmers
The owner of some trusted ears remarked upon first hearing this Philly band that "this is what Wilco might sound like if they just let their popness run rampant." Fighting Trees is a shimmering, delicious, intelligent album full of pop goodness but not too sugary-sweet. It's got the jangle and the thump, the three-part harmonies and the cohesive storyline lyrics that sweep me off to somewhere else; they weave a dream-sequence where you are floating above yourself, watching the actions below with a distanced eye. Loosely based around the 1964 short story "The Swimmer," both the grad-school premise and the resulting album deserve massive props.
[stream here, buy CD at shows, out via Mad Dragon in early 2008]
Heaven - The Swimmers


GOOD AND RECKLESS AND TRUE
The Alternate Routes
In a year when I was really hoping for a grand, rootsy, golden album from Ryan Adams that never materialized for me, The Alternate Routes warmed the speakers of my car all summer long with their expansive, windows-down, wholeheartedly good brand of alt-country rock. One of my favorite lyrical pictures all year comes from these opening notes: "I've been wasting my days good and reckless and true, I have danced in the dark at the edge of the water, swingin my hips at the black and the blue..." The songwriting is solid and incisive, highlighted by the aching tenor of lead singer Tim Warren -- and speaking of Ryan Adams, current Cardinals drummer Brad Pemberton pitches in on the skins here as well. Although the album swings effortlessly from rollicking to pensive, the common thread that I find appealing is the earnest commitment to simply playing their blessed hearts out.
Ordinary - The Alternate Routes


THE HISTORICAL CONQUESTS OF JOSH RITTER
Josh Ritter
A pal recently asked me who I thought the best modern-day songwriter was. At the time it was 2am, and I mumbled something about how I thought Josh Ritter was pretty dang incredible. Upon coherent reflection, I take that back; I think Josh absolutely may be the best songwriter of our generation that I've heard. His penetrating lyrics consistently blow me away, and the rock influences of his new album ramp up the folk sounds I've loved in the past into something that definitely hits harder and leaves me all itchy and excited-like. You must see him live in 2008, the new material is amazing in concert. As Josh weaves his intricate, literate songs on stage, he overflows with each lyric as if he were birthing every line afresh for the first time. That same refreshing joy is palpable on this album, and we are grateful for it.
To The Dogs or Whoever - Josh Ritter


I CAN'T GO ON, I'LL GO ON
The Broken West
When I first heard this new Merge Records signing last January, my post title was "I want to listen to The Broken West all weekend long, maybe until my eardrums crystallize into sugar." That pretty much sums up how vividly I crave the sounds on this disc. Catchy hooks and fuzzy power-pop sounds blend with a blast straight from the '60s in terms of sheer listenability -- and you're having 100% Fun with Matthew Sweet while the Kinks play in your garage. Hailing from Los Angeles, the guys in the Broken West wrap up all kinds of California imagery while also underscoring a bit of the shadow as well: "Sun down, blood horizon, now it feels all right/ No one feels the darkness down in the valley tonight." Musical novocaine.
Down In The Valley - The Broken West


NIGHTTIMING
Coconut Records
This clever, humble, and thoroughly enjoyable album from Coconut Records (the nom de rock of actor Jason Schwartzman) came out of absolutely nowhere this year in a stealth digital-only release that spread like wildfire. Normally we can all agree that actors making music spells disaster, but in this case it absolutely spells y-a-y. Schwartzman blends some of the jangly California indie-pop of his previous work with Phantom Planet with his experience in composing film scores for this aural delight. No two tracks alike: the Weezer rock of "Back To You" flips over the lo-fi duet on "Mama" (with Zooey Deschanel?) and the scratchy dabble into Beatles pop with "Easy Girl" is a million miles from the disco beats of the title track or the Franz Ferdinand stomp on "Minding My Own Business." The album is eclectic, stripped of pretension and ready to make you smile.
Back To You - Coconut Records


THE REMINDER
Feist
The completely charming and effortlessly cool Leslie Feist covers a lot of ground on this album, her third of original solo material, in addition to her releases with the Broken Social Scene. Feist is musically adventurous with a sound that is impossible to pin down. Moving easily from intimate songs like "The Park" that aches like a midnight dirge sung lying flat, looking out a darkened window, to the spiritual-gospel handclap community of "Sea Lion Woman," you never know what the next track will bring. The only common thread among the songs is her gorgeously honey-drenched, knowingly sly voice. Feist possesses a welcome imaginative streak that she’s not afraid to reveal on this album. She deserves every ounce of recognition that Apple commercial got her in 2007; anyone who conceives of the idea to do a rainbow-hued dance video clothed in spangles to a song that good gets my respect. I wait in breathless anticipation to see what she does next.
My Moon, My Man - Feist


WE BELONG TO THE STAGGERING EVENING
Ike Reilly Assassination
Call it defiant pre-punk, cranked-up '50s rock'n'roll that slipped past the censors, or just some seriously good music. Ike Reilly writes unflinching rock songs full of bluesy, boozy, humid, rock riffs and intelligent, biting, evocative lyrics that make me want to take off with him through the desert on the run from the cops, the windows down and a knowing glance between us. Ike's not ripping off a halcyon era of memories past like some of the retro-influenced acts today (Brian Setzer, I love you, but I'm talking to you), but rather he feels like an earnest, fierce character who somehow slipped in from a time when the music was rawer, the sex was furtive, and the liquor was bootlegged. This is a fiercely fantastic album that provocatively edged itself into my top ten the first time I listened to it.
Valentine's Day in Juarez - Ike Reilly


And yes, since you asked, my membership in the bloggers guild is currently under review for revocation for not listening to Arcade Fire or Radiohead in 2007. I'll keep you posted.

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Who am I, where am I, and no more Polish women

1) I'm finally back but I am sick. Dang airplane recycled air.

2) California was excellent. In addition to all the wonderful Thanksgiving-related things, I adopted the spirit of appreciating what CA offers that CO doesn't; I got some really cute chocolate-brown corduroys at H&M in San Jose that I am wearing today, and I found a wrap dress that I want to wear every day. Plus, Trader Joe sent me on my merry way with cocoa almonds and some two buck Chuck. I could be in love with that strapping Trader man.

3) My high school reunion was the weirdest thing I think I've done yet. To see all those faces in one room - walking into that was strange. And great.

Since I can't even get my head clear enough to attack the hundreds of emails waiting for me, here are some random odds and ends that jumped out at me today, for you, since I miss you all:

۞ The new Nine Inch Nails remix album is out: Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (took me a while but hey look that spells out "Year Zero Remixed," which is what I think I'll call it in polite conversation). After getting out of his relationship with Interscope and going all free-agent, sounds like Trent has some new innovative ideas; he's posted tons of master tracks from his songs at remix.nin.com and invites his fans to play with them and share their results. If I had any idea how to do that, I would, but for now I will settle for listening to The Faint (whose song "Posed To Death" is on my very favorite running playlist) remix "Meet Your Master" --

STREAM - "Meet Your Master" (Faint Remix)

I think it sounds pretty good. If you think you could do better, try your hand at it over on http://remix.nin.com/


۞ Black Crowes announced details today on their new album Warpaint, due March 4th. It's their first new studio record in seven years, since Lions was released on V2 in '01. Since V2 is no more, this album will be out on the band’s own newly formed Silver Arrow Records, and the new lineup includes Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars on guitar.

You can read the full tracklisting here.


۞ I stumbled across a raw demo version of The National's "Slow Show" over on Sixeyes. Now, you know how I feel about The National; My friend described this song perfectly when he wrote to me, "the national writes songs to drive through the darkness listening to, they are the best late night/early morning band i've ever heard, 20 years from now when they remake almost famous they are going to be playing fake empire or slow show in the bus scene instead of tiny dancer." I thought that was lovely. So go see what you think.


۞ Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers are heading back into the (Mexican) studios in January with the creative mission to write, compose, and record an album in 8 days . . .

According to their MySpace blog, Roger, P.H., Steve, Nick, Jason Boots with his video camera, and the talented Clif Norrell (producer of Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy and No More Beautiful World) will be relocating for the week to a house in Rocky Point, Mexico, and I am excited to hear what is to come. Roger told me a near-mystical story once about how the song idea for "Leaky Little Boat," (one of my favorites) sprung unexpectedly from the fertile beaches of communal Mexico living, so let's hope that same inspiration is present come January. Read Roger's latest story of white-knuckled traffic travails and the details on the album here.

۞ New tour dates announced in 2008 for Ryan Adams (and then while you're at it go over to the MySpace try and figure out WTF is going on with the Axl Rose-channeling on the streaming new Ry song "Sexual Fantasy")


۞ New tour dates announced in 2008 for the Foo Fighters (and they've got that new video for Long Road to Ruin that reminds me of the adolescent days when I used to follow General Hospital - a dark secret)


۞ The Fader Magazine has a really interesting article on New York rock in "the years to be hated" (early 2000s) and includes some cool silent black and white video footage of The Strokes shot in the style of Andy Warhol's Factory screen tests.The article talks about the Strokes in their genesis days (lower-case g), and also bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, !!!, the Rapture and DFA. The article has several punch-fantastic photographs in it, but this absolutely gorgeous photo instantly became one of my all-time favorites - that saturated hue, the skyline, that perfect time of night, all lovely and blue.

The National in black and white

Just like the baklava that we ate at the Starlite Diner in NYC, long after midnight last Thursday . . . there is enough dense, layered, substantial goodness in this post to stick in your ribs for a while. The National is a band of friends from Ohio who now call Brooklyn home, with four albums to their name since 2001.

As I recently wrote to a friend, there is something so bottomless and untouchably good about their music. They release albums to critical acclaim and rapturous blog praise that is (actually) merited; their music has been called "Gothic," a descriptor that I completely get -- all at once you can see the dark cold-granite shadows, the elegantly arched architecture, and the soaring stained glass in one song.

So much of this is 4am music. It's the end of a beautiful night, where all your pretenses are stripped. The girls are starting to get that smudge of mascara under their eyes, and the shirts that the guys put on so crisply at 8pm are now wrinkled with a button undone. You're bleary-tired, but your heart is full. It's that kind of music, the late-night special, flawed but transcendent.

The lyrics read like stark, eviscerating poems:

Bottle eyes, glassy blue
I watch the rain come out of you
Sky is white with the flu
I'm terrified of losing you

(from Cold Girl Fever)

And I really couldn't tell you why, but I somewhat tragically missed their recent swing through Denver about a month ago. They have been blowing minds all over the States with their live show, and right now they are in the midst of a massive European tour, followed by Australia.

Here's what they might do to you.


THE BLACK SESSION
French radio performance 11/17/03
Almost all early material, with a pre-release version of "Lit Up"
Son
Thirsty
Slipping Husband
All the Wine
Cold Girl Fever
Murder Me Rachael
90-Mile Water Wall
Lit Up
Pretty Forever
Cherry Tree
Available
About Today

ZIP: BLACK SESSION


THE WHITE SESSION
Same radio station "France Inter" in May 2007, this time sans audience. Almost exclusively material from Boxer.
Start a War
Brainy
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Apartment Story
Racing Like a Pro
Ada
You've Done It Again, Virginia
Mistaken for Strangers
Fake Empire
About Today

ZIP: WHITE SESSION


[thx Russ and cwb]


ADDITIONAL READING:
* A recent concert review from Daytrotter, and their June 2007 live session/interview

*Article in the Village Voice from May --
"The National's Anthems:
If Springsteen is right, the glory days for Brooklyn's best rock band may lie just ahead"

*More National mp3s here


[photo credit Abbey Drucker, effect-y white sessions version from Sixeyes, who loves The National]