The National

[given2trade]

Wife and I think this new album is booooooring.

I really don't know what these guys are doing but now it's the last 3 that have been boring.

Gotta go back to Sleep Well Beast for some rocking songs. I liked IAETF but was hoping they would follow it up with a more upbeat record but instead we got these two duds.

[Chris_H_2]

funny, because i'm coming around on this album. i'm back to liking it more than FTPOF.

I really, really LOVE Turn Off the House. Coat on a Hook is great too.

[Strat]

Yes I'm over this band unfortunately. Sleep well beast was mostly good but the last few years have been a drag.

I also kind of hate how the dressners have their hand in everything (good for them) and all of these artists are beginning to sound the same.

[given2trade]

I just can't believe Sleep Well Beast was 2017! So it's been 6 years since. I thought I Am Easy To Find was a really cool diversion but just a one off from their sound. Pretty disappointed with the two albums of 2023 which I really assume are just 1 and were all recorded at the same time.

I do like Matt's solo album but it's not The National. Also loved El Vy.

[dad]

guys, they’re still a good band.

[given2trade]

Love them. Will see them live every tour cycle. Listen to their stuff all the time. But just seems to be turning into the very normal pattern of "new music sucks". It's not that abnormal. It's the rule not the exception for virtually every established band or artist.

[digster]

I Am Easy To Find was always pretty vastly underrated to me, and an example of a band trying to experiment with their sound and personality rather than just nibbling at the edges. I think the highs on the last two albums may be higher, but as a piece Easy To Find may still be my favorite of them.

[dad]

I get it, and I somewhat agree about the last few studio albums. I’ve still only given Laugh Track one passive listen. Smoke Detector is - as of now - the only track that’s interesting to me. Where did THIS band go?

They had a formula for songwriting from Alligator to TWFM, and right around SWB they started to veer off from that formula. I get it. They were trying new things, challenging themselves. Some of it worked. IAETF is not really a National album. It’s a companion piece to a film.

Frankenstein feels like they kept elements of the previous two albums while trying to return the early days (see Once Upon A Poolside and Tropic Morning News). Hit and miss, at least for me.

I plan on seeing them twice in a couple months, and maybe I’ll feel differently about the new songs. I remember liking Hornets and Turn Off the House when I saw some clips.

As much as I want them to grow as artists, I want the old formula. I want Bryan to go nuts.

Not a whole lot of that anymore.

/shouting at clouds

[Chris_H_2]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

[digster]

The criticism of them needing to rock more (and it comes up with them very often), always struck me as a bit of an odd one for this band in particular, since they've rarely ever been rockers in that sense in the studio. Even an album like Alligator, which is probably what people think of when they think of The National's rock songs, really only has 3, maybe 4 songs like that? Stuff like Abel has always been the outliers in the catalog. It seems like the Frankenstein stuff is following the course the rest of their albums do, where the studio version are more sculpted and considered, and then they dirty them up live.

[oasisfan35]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

How is a concept album not within the album cycle?

I know it has only been a few days with Laugh Track but I find First Two Pages to be far more cohesive and thematically possibly their strongest as a whole. I mean, I would expect the first release to be that which received more effort overall and the Laugh Track announcement was just weird to me. I chalk it up to the band being in a better place, which I am all for.

There is a lot of mention of 'rockers' and loud tunes lately, each album was really sprinkled with some more aggressive tunes but that was far from the norm IMO. The live show really suffered when Matt was going all out and the subtleties were getting lost in the larger venues. I definitely feel the band was losing the plot a bit, I blame the Grammy.

[Chris_H_2]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

How is a concept album not within the album cycle?

I know it has only been a few days with Laugh Track but I find First Two Pages to be far more cohesive and thematically possibly their strongest as a whole. I mean, I would expect the first release to be that which received more effort overall and the Laugh Track announcement was just weird to me. I chalk it up to the band being in a better place, which I am all for.

There is a lot of mention of 'rockers' and loud tunes lately, each album was really sprinkled with some more aggressive tunes but that was far from the norm IMO. The live show really suffered when Matt was going all out and the subtleties were getting lost in the larger venues. I definitely feel the band was losing the plot a bit, I blame the Grammy.

i mean, yes, a concept is within an album cycle. what i mean is that they did things on that album to fit a movie. it's more like a soundtrack. they didn't even plan it until mike mills, the director of that short movie, asked them to create something. and so i just treat it as a throwaway.

btw, i'm one of the few that kind of really enjoy iaetf.

[given2trade]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

I do agree with this but Sleep Well Beast was 2017! That's a long time ago!

[Chris_H_2]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

I do agree with this but Sleep Well Beast was 2017! That's a long time ago!

crazy. i remember driving home from my kid's football practice and him hearing the system only dreams for the first time. we were at his first national show a month later. since then he's aged 6 years and 10 national concerts.

[dad]

i am easy to find was a concept album, so i don't even really consider that in the album cycle. the last two albums were recorded at the same time, and it was just their vibe. so i don't see this as "the last three albums are all the same." i see these two albums as one in the same and as the departure from sleep well beast more than anything. they'll be back with the rockers.

I do agree with this but Sleep Well Beast was 2017! That's a long time ago!

crazy. i remember driving home from my kid's football practice and him hearing the system only dreams for the first time. we were at his first national show a month later. since then he's aged 6 years and 10 national concerts.

10 shows?

Adopt me.

[given2trade]

Yah I'd like to amend what I said.

It's not about the last 3 albums not "rocking". I don't give a shit about that. They just suck compared the other stuff.

Listening to Trouble Will Find Me right now and Heavenfaced is amazing and that's not a rocker.

But look, it's pretty unfair to care about new output from 20+ year old bands. No bands put out good shit anymore. Not one. Maybe Jason Isbell. Too hard. Everyone too old, too rich, too sober.

[oasisfan35]

Yah I'd like to amend what I said.

It's not about the last 3 albums not "rocking". I don't give a shit about that. They just suck compared the other stuff.

Listening to Trouble Will Find Me right now and Heavenfaced is amazing and that's not a rocker.

But look, it's pretty unfair to care about new output from 20+ year old bands. No bands put out good shit anymore. Not one. Maybe Jason Isbell. Too hard. Everyone too old, too rich, too sober.

I see you're excited for the new Peal Jam album.

- Sick Boy: "The Name of The Rose" is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
- Renton: What about "The Untouchables"?
- Sick Boy: I don't rate that at all.
- Renton: Despite the Academy Award?
- Sick Boy: That means fuck all. Its a sympathy vote.
- Renton: Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it?
- Sick Boy: Yeah.
- Renton: That's your theory?
- Sick Boy: Yeah! Beautifully fuckin' illustrated.

[dad]

i'm coming around on Laugh Track, particularly Turn off the House and the second half - Space Invader thru Smoke Detector.

[Chris_H_2]

*slow grower

[digster]

I do think the one thing missing from their catalog is a definitive, Live on Two Legs-ish live document; they've had these offshoots, like the Juicy Sonic Magic thing or a live recording of Boxer, but something like a compilation pulling great performances together would be cool, and I think would be an eye-opener to a lot of people. I've been to a few National shows with people going for the first time, and they're always really surprised by how intense the shows and performances are, compared to the subtler studio stuff.