Since they've resurfaced in popular culture, I decided to listen to their self-titled debut in full for the first time since maybe 1998. It is bad. Their singles were all great, though! Special shoutout to "Think Twice."
Loved the first two albums and replay Tired of Tomorrow quite often, but Dance on the Blacktop was a miss for me. Before diving into this track, hoping they're back to that earlier sound on this one.
No, it's just something you know when you're both into music and a proponent of Israel - or forget proponent, but someone who thinks it at least has the right to exist. The fact that I got as many downvotes for my comment as I did shows how scary anti-Semitism masquerading anti-Zionism is.
"That’s never been one of TVOTR’s best-loved songs; I’m not sure I ever even paid the song much mind."
Dear Science - and this song in particular - are one of my favorites of my 30+ years on earth so far, but Tunde lost me once he joined the BDS movement. Sucks.
Never get to reading these as fast as everyone else... huge National fan, and I also wrote my own track-by-track writeup of the album, if anyone's interested: https://www.maxfeinblatt.com/single-post/2020/05/11/High-Violet-Turns-10
Agree, especially on that first part. I understand the shift from Boxer to High Violet, but their switch on Sleep Well Beast was their most significant transformation from one album to the next.
This is their best album, though, as you mentioned, not their best production. At the same time, I don’t know if there’s any other band that’s more tied to age of listener than this one. Even though it’s good (I agree that his writing has become a bit too on the nose sometimes ::cough cough “When We Drive” cough cough::), when Thank You for Today came out, it just had no shot of rekindling the magic of this one since I’m not a teenager anymore.
I think El Pintor is really good. But Marauder is borderline unlistenable (maybe 2 decent tracks), so it's not lazy to say it's actually bad when it is...
Uh... I'm a pretty big Death Cab fan and "I Dreamt We Spoke Again" is horrible. "Gold Rush" is ok but aside from the fact that we're getting a new Death Cab album, I wouldn't say I'm super hyped for the album based on what we've heard so far.
Loving all the comments here. This is truly one of the greatest albums ever. I also went to check this out right after hearing "Float On" for the first time back in high school and I was blown away - not in a good way - by "Teeth." Needless to say, a few more listens in, I realized how amazing this was - unlike anything else my 15-year-old ears had ever heard.
One thing: I always thought Brock was talking about the band Pavement in "All Nite Diner." (Hopefully someone sees this since it took me a while to get around to reading this.)
Yeah, I'm very curious about this. This is obviously a much secondary/tertiary concern out of all this, but I was a huge Mondanile-as-guitarist fan (not so much Ducktails) before this all became public, and while I've written him off, I wonder what's gonna happen with RE. I'm not sure how to feel about how they handled it or what's coming next for them. Given that they all grew up together, it's also hard to believe they didn't know about what MM was doing that whole time... Can I not listen to classic Real Estate (one of my favorite bands) because Mondanile played guitar for them?
Back at Jewish sleep-away summer camp in 2004, the original version of Kids was played outside all the time, and our official frisbee for the summer says FAMILY OF TREES on it. I have such nostalgia for that summer when I hear the song now, and I also have the benefit of knowing that I knew the song years before it actually became popular. Must have been a counselor or 2 from Wesleyan.
Was I the only one who always assumed Taylor's song was a riff off that? And that she may or may not have asked their permission to use it? This feels a few years too late...
I really don't know what to make of AF's behavior/online presence as they roll out Everything Now. I'll give them this: They're going for it 100%. It really all just comes down to the music, though, so I guess we'll see what the record sounds like on Friday...
It's a movement that seeks to delegitimize/foil Israel and further divide Middle East relations in the fake veiling of Palestinian support instead of recognizing that everyone should be supporting dialogue and working together and that some people - re: a lot - of people want rights for everyone, not just Israelis.
Wow, just re-listened to it on the train before I even knew this was written/it was officially the 20th anniversary. I heard it with new ears. It was amazing.
I just remember first hearing Karma Police as a 9-year old on the first NOW CD and I thought it was the most ridiculous/creepy-sounding "song" ever ... How far I've come.
Of course, I agree. And this is probably the silliest place to debate this, but still, Palestinian terror attacks and textbooks and parents teaching their kids revisionist history and to hate is something that happens largely on one side, and not on the other. Still, of course, it's not everyone or even a majority. But there is a difference.
Even with an occupation, the point of the BDS movement is to harm Israel - aka - completely undermining the "dialogue" that Roger so desperately seems to want to have. And if "all human life is sacred," Palestinians wouldn't be indoctrinating their kids to become killers. (Some. Not all, of course. Nothing is black and white.) So why has he (and many others) completely disregarded the nuances to this situation, as Thom has recognized? Come on.
Listening to "Like a Stone" on a CD mix I made while playing the Gamecube in my basement. Oh, 2003. Love the emotion in that song, though. That and "I am the Highway" are my favorites.
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