it's growing on me more and more but it's still my least favorite National album since Alligator. I feel like Matt's lyrics have gotten more, I dunno, plain and repetitive maybe? I miss some of the old surrealism and the outlandish imagery, plus I think the electronics and whatnot are done tastefully but maybe they should have just gone for broke like Kid A? Like if you are gonna go "experimental" don't just put some blips and bloops at the beginning and end of your song, that shit might fly in 2002 but come on, Bon Iver put out an album of robot noises last year, you gotta keep up.
Huh. I haven't heard the Logic song so I assumed this was an Eminem impression. Cartman seemed to be rapping with Em's flow, and doing a pretty good job too.
This tiny, often-overlooked interlude is legit one of my favorite Pumpkins songs. The guitar tone on it is sublime. This piano version loses something, but it's still a gorgeous song.
As someone who was obsessed with MM when I was 14, I'm truly baffled by why Stereogum continues to cover him. Y'all didn't cover last year's Korn album or the new Powerman 5000 single, why this shit? Dude hasn't made anything noteworthy since Holy Wood, 17 years ago.
Sleep Well Beast is great but if you don't want to be sad, Princess Nokia's 1992 Deluxe is out today and lots of fun. Think weirdo dirtbag Harlem tough-girl rap, like if Nicki was still street or Azealia had more than one good song.
This year has already had an overabundance of great new releases, and the home stretch is still stacked! Lots to look forward to in September and October, and now we got Converge and Bjork holding down November!!
Beach Slang lyrics all sound like descriptions of a basement punk show written by someone who has never actually been to a basement punk show. Don't they literally have a song with the chorus "we're young and alive!" and then two songs later "we're drunk and alive!"? It's just the phoniest shit.
What I love about TWFM is how many songs don't follow the verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure and instead evolve from one section to another section to a final section, all of which are different. Sea of Love, This is the Last Time, Pink Rabbits, Humiliation, all end somewhere completely different than where they began.
On first listen, this feels like a more subdued, moodier iteration of The National. I think it's going to take some time for this one to open up for me, whereas High Violet and TWFM grabbed me right away with immediately catchy songs like Bloodbuzz Ohio, Anyone's Ghost, Don't Swallow the Cap, Graceless, etc. There's not an obvious "classic" National single on here, except for maybe I'll Still Destroy You, which is probably why I responded most strongly to that song.
I've always been skeptical of The National's reputation for making "growers". Songs like Brainy or Secret Meeting required no time to grow on me, they seemed obviously catchy from the very beginning? But this one is definitely going to grow on me, which is not a negative. I appreciate a band stepping back from their most obvious, crowd-pleasing tendencies and doing something a little weirder.
