The National: More Subtle Than Ever

It's hard not to like the National. Sure, maybe their music doesn't quite suit your taste, but it would be impossible to argue that this band's repertoire is anything but thoughtful and intensely belabored over. Effort is one area where these guys never fall short. And on their new record High Violet, the songs feel more strenuously produced and fussed over than ever before. What that creative process has led to are very tight and densely packed nuggets that lack the visceral punch of Alligator and the intimacy of Boxer. The landscape of these songs is epic, and for better or worse, they are also the band's most subtle to date. On High Violet, the songs won't engage you; instead, you have to go engage them. A quick listen here will leave little bounty, but for the dedicated fan that fully engages in every aspect of the music—from the lyrics to the carefully constructed tone and tempo changes (the drumming on "Conversation 16" is sensational)—it's a rich and emotional whirlwind of modern theater that goes right for the jugular.

The only fault of the album is also the band's greatest attribute: careful construction. These songs are built to last, brick by brick with cement from the ground up, but over the course of that process the potential for mistakes and surprises is diminished and so goes with it a small spark of electricity. Will High Violet get your blood boiling and pull your heart strings? Certainly, but you have to give it time. Just do as Matt Berninger talk-sings on "Anyone's Ghost": "Go out at night with your headphones on, again."

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (from High Violet)

Digging For Covers: The Boss's Disciples

The National - "Mansion On The Hill"

Marah - "Streets of Philadelphia"
Josh Ritter - "The River"
Deer Tick - "Nebraska"

Ted Leo - "Dancin' In The Dark"

AA Bondy - "I'm On Fire"

Spoon - "I'm Goin' Down"

New National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

"We wanted to make a meaner record," National singer Matt Berninger recently told Pitchfork about the band's forthcoming LP High Violet. After listening to "Bloodbuzz Ohio"—released today for free download via 4AD—it seems Berninger and company have come through on that promise. There many not be any "Abel"-like crazed shouting, but this certainly ain't a happy song. Here are the lyrics (whose meaning I'm still trying to decipher):

Stand up straight at the foot of your love, I'll lift my shirt up.
Stand up straight at the foot of your love, I'll lift my shirt up.

I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees.
I never married, but Ohio don't remember me.
Lay my head on the hood of your car, I take it too far.
Lay my head on the hood of your car, I take it too far.

I still owe money to the money to the money I owe.
I never thought about love, when I thought about home.
I still owe money to the money to the money I owe.
The floors are falling out from everybody I know.

I'm on a blood buzz. Yes I am.
I'm on a blood buzz.
I'm on a blood buzz. God I am.
I'm on a blood buzz

High Violet is due out May 11th.

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (from High Violet)

Pavement: Post-Puff Daddy Ketchup

In the National's song "So Far Around The Bend" (one of my favorites of 2009), Matt Berninger croons: "You’ve been humming in a daze forever / Praying for Pavement to get back together." Foreshadowing perhaps, Mr. Berninger? On the heels of news of their reunion tour, 90s indie-rock pioneers Pavement have also announced they will be releasing a 23-track greatest hits compilation titled Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement, due out March 9. Back when Pavement disbanded in 1999 I was still listening to Puff Daddy cassette singles. Suffice it to say, I've been playing catch up ever since.

Pavement - "Easily Fooled (B-Side)" (from Wowee Zowee)

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"Abel, come on. Give me the keys, man."

I like to make lists in that annoying Rob Fleming (High Fidelity) fashion: best Bob Dylan covers, top ten favorite films, greatest 80s songs not used on the Top Gun soundtrack or featured in a John Hughes movie, etc. But most important and dear to my heart is my top ten favorite songs of all-time list: a constantly evolving undertaking roughly eight years in the making. Last week I knocked off the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" at the tenth spot for a song by the National I haven't been able to shake since 2005—the deliriously crazed "Abel."

A loosely depicted narrative about the aftermath of a string of bad events that leads the narrator to loose all sense of control, "Abel" is a pounding whirlwind of emotion encapsulated by the simple and repeatedly screamed phrase "My minds not right." The song is anthemic in many ways, but it's not the type of chorus you can sing along to without seeming slightly manic or unbalanced—and yet that's precisely what makes it so perfect.

The National - "Abel" (from Alligator)