sian_wNow if you’ve ever heard the song ‘Terrible Love’ then you’ll know the somewhat dark, melodic and melancholy tones of the Brooklyn based, Ohio formed band The National. The National ‘Terrible Love’ was one of my favourite songs of 2010; there is just something oddly comforting about lead singer Matt Berninger’s voice singing lyrics such as ‘It takes an ocean not to break.’ Now, three years after their last album ‘High…
Top Albums of the Decade: 2007
Staff
This post is part of our “Top Albums of The Decade” series. Follow the series to read about the best music to grace our ears in the 2000s. Bat for Lashes – Fur & Gold (Parlophone/The Echo Label) Captivating and mystic, Natasha Khan’s bristling debut “Fur & Gold” is like a never-ending fairytale crossed with the gripping, heart breaking reality. The whole album is wrapped around this aura that you wont be able to unravel…
Incredibly low, yet odd, sales week for the record industry
Steve Lampiris
Here are the stats of Billboard for this past week. Some bad, some good, some are just fascinating. First the bad news: Only 5.32 million albums were sold last week. Compare that to the 6.07m from the week previous, and the 5.89m from the comparable week in 2009. Year to date sales are at 115.1m, compared to 127.9m this time last year, which is a 10% drop. The worst news of the week: Justin Bieber…
New Music Monday: May 10
Tibi Puiu
The National’s “High Violet”, one of the most anticipated releases of the year, is finally upon us once with its official drop this week. I’ve been streaming the album for the past two weeks now, and I can firmly say it’s definitely up to the hype. Big up! After a series of rather disappointing past releases, UNKLE is also moving out a new record, the band’s fifth actually, in the form of “Where Did The…
Listen to the National’s “High Violet” right now
Another week sees another new album streaming before its release date. This time around, the band in question is the beloved Brooklyn indie collective The National and the band’s newest effort, High Violet. The New York Times website is hosting the stream and offers a fascinating bio of the band as well. It’s as stirring as 2007’s Boxer. My initial reaction is that this may well be the band’s defining record. It’s that good. If…
New The National song: ‘Terrible Love’ (live @ Jimmy Fallon)
Following The National’s previous two instant classics, “Alligator” and “Boxer”, the Cincinnati five piece will release their fifth studio full length titled “High Violet” on May 10th via 4AD. I know a lot of you are very curious, and anxious alike, to have listen to the new material, so I managed to find this great performance of High Violet’s opening track “Terrible Love” played by The National live just a few days ago on Late…
Download: The National – ‘So Far Around The Bend’
The Dark Was The Night compilation has been spinning frantically in my player over the past few weeks since I got ahold of it. Frankly, I can’t get enough of it, which is actually a big surprise for me too, since I’ve always hated various artists or “NOW, That’s What I Call Music!” compilations. Dark Was The Night is truly special, though. I was meaning on writing a detailed review of the compilation, but for…