The National - High Violet

[DM]

Preview at NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25national-t.html

It's a grower but I don't think it's going to get the great reviews Boxer did. Anyone got tickets to The Royal Albert Hall?

[rh67]

Missed out on Royal Albert Hall tickets, but I did manage to grab some for their show at the Electric Ballroom the day before:clap:

The standout tracks so far for me are Afraid of Everyone and Bloodbuzz Ohio. It won't out review Boxer. It's not as good as Boxer. But Boxer was exceptional. Still enjoing High Violet though.

[DM]

Electric ballroom, cool!
Some tickets on sale for Brighton http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/the-national-tickets

[gravesend46]

I like it, but as mentioned, struggles to reach the immense heights of Boxer.

[rh67]

Really enjoyed the gig at the Electric Ballroom, though it was rammed and I hung out at the back where the bass sounded really distorted...

Reviews are starting to seep out now and as expected the more I listen the better it gets though I was surprised to see that pitchfork gave it a higher score than they gave Boxer!

After I've listened to it another 10 or 20 times I'll see if I agree with them.

[entrywound]

Not as immediate as Boxer, agreed, but after a few more listens I'm sure it will be great. I see they're playing Brixton Academy in December now too, tickets go on sale on Friday. I might go to that one.

[DCH]

My vinyl copy arrived from Amazon today. Yay!

They were great last week at the RAH, if a bit shambolic.
Bummed that I'll be in Japan when they play Brixton...

D.

[escape_adil5]

The National are on Jools Holland tonight. Should pop up on iPlayer tomorrow for those who miss it. :thumbs:

[rh67]

Just discovered they were on while flicking through the channels after getting fed up with the rolling election coverage. Thankfully Jools isn't playing along with them in his own inimitable boogie-woogie style! I've set Friday's edition to record as hopefully they'll play 2-3 tracks.

[stu_69]

This album is certainly a grower. I have been listening for a couple of weeks and it's lovely.

[Mr Majestik]

I've always found their albums take a few plays to sink in. Always a sign of a good album.

Looks like their going to have a UK top 10 album as well.

Which is nice.

[Ghost Dog]

I'll have to give this a listen on Spotify, didn't realise these guys had a new album out. I'll probably end up buying it on cd anyway though. Of their previous albums i prefer Alligator over Boxer especially the last part of the album from Abel onwards, pretty amazing stuff imo :notworthy .

[DM]

I was afraid I'd eat your brains

Is that a reference to something or is it just a bit ****** up?

[rh67]

Bit late but Youtube will be streaming one of their shows live in one hour from the Brooklyn Academy of Music - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNationalVEVO

Pretty sure you'll be able to catch up with it at a more reasonable hour as well.

[DM]

Ah, lovely. Nice one bored.com here

[rh67]

Oooh, BBC4 seem to be showing the whole set from earlier today now. That's nice.

I'm assuming it'll be on the iplayer/glasto website later for those that miss it.

[DM]

9 July Brighton, 2 standing tickets now up at www.scarletmist.com if anyone's interested. Can't go now. :(

[sharp_circle]

I am clearly on my own but I have tried and tried to get into both these albums after an impulse itunes buy but I just can't get past the fact that I think it's dreary crap.

All my friends love them, my missus loves them - I think I must have something wrong with me!

Mind you apart from Funeral I thought the same of Band of Horses who I now love, maybe need some more time!

[Tony Ferrino]

Alligator didn't click for a long time with me. I bought it at the same time as The Czar's Goodbye, which I thought was much better at the time. After a few months I went back to Alligator and that was that, favourite band ever since. Admittedly High Violet isn't as immediate as Alligator or Boxer but it's still wonderful.

[DM]

Just got my tickets sold, well ****** off but happy that the guy got all sorted.

[nsb]

Wow, finally got around to listening to this album, half way through , Bloodbuzz Ohio is fantastic.

[mcvitie]

really like this too, but not a patch on Aligator

[Dave T]

Been listening to this one recently and much prefer it to Boxer which I found a bit too dry. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geek is absolutely astonishing.

[rbradford]

Just noticed they've added a gig in Edinburgh in August, there are still tickets available as I've just ordered some.

[GlennSh]

and announced tonight they're headlining Latitude :thumbs:

[LouBarlow]

These have become one of my favourite current acts. Shame it's a limited thing.