I feel kinda cheap, because I've only just gotten into The New Pornographers, but I have to say they're already one of my favorite bands ever. I've told many already that out of their 40+ song catalogue, there's only a handful I actually don't like, and their Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema albums are safely nestled in my list of all-time favorites.
Unfortunately, these guys never tour with the full complement of performers, because as a side project and "supergroup," the individual parts are so busy with their own primary musical ventures that they don't have the time to get on the road together. Add that to the fact that they haven't put anything out for two years, and count on the chance they probably won't ever again, I'm pretty bummed that I got in on the phenonmen that is The New Pornographers so late.
All that aside however, there's still room to celebrate the absolute musical genius that is this band. Again, it's very hard for me to attach a genre to their music, because there's bits of folk, rock, pop, twee and damn near everything between that goes into every one of their four musical trips disguised as albums. In a tip of the hat to that, my Top 15 includes at least one song from each of those compilations, and not just out of necessity; The New Pornographers may have had one of the best debut albums ever with Mass Romantic, but the quality surely didn't stop after that, and every album has a slew of hits you can listen to again and again.
Just a couple notes before I get started on the list.
- The band evidently writes all the songs and only then decides who sings the vocals. When you consider that any of these brilliantly-written and eternally-poignant lyrics could have been sung by either the likes of Neko Case, AC Newman or Dan Bejar, it just adds to the happenstance aspect that goes to make The New Pornographers such a pleasant breath of fresh air and innovation.
- The New Pornographers have an astonishing knack for crafting almost perfect gems of songs. Nothing is too short, nothing is too long, and there's rarely ever a lull in a song let alone a full album. It's a shame more groups don't follow their example - but then again, they wouldn't be so special if everyone was as capable as they were.
- I'm not posting links to any of the songs in case I get another one of those annoying crackdowns/post deletes, but the majority should be easily accessible on hypem, and even moreso at your local record store. On to the list:
15. | "All For Swinging You Around" | Electric Version | With all the above being said, I do list Electric Version as my least favorite of the four NP albums. I don't know why that is, but they just didn't showcase all the same things on Electric Version that made me fall in love with their unique brand of music on the other three releases. That's not to say there isn't still good music; there most certainly is, and "All For Swinging You Around" is one of those highlights. Neko Case's voice is (as usual) put to good use, and the song starts with a flourish reminiscent of The Weakerthans' more upbeat numbers. A stranger track in that the chorus is where the music actually lets up a bit and gives you a rest to digest what's going on, but no less a great song.
14. | "My Rights Versus Yours" | Challengers | Challengers overall for me was a bit of a slower album, and a little more mature-sounding, so "My Rights Versus Yours" reflects that a little bit. As opposed to the previous tune, this one begins slowly and builds with the chugging guitar going at it bit-by-bit, the "oohs" picking up in the background, and Neko joining in to sing with who I think is AC Newman (I say that because I'm pretty sure Dan Bejar's voice is a little weirder - a bit nuanced and even lispy). There's a yearning to "My Rights Versus Yours" and almost a melancholy that's not there with the more excited-sounding Pornographers' tunes.
13. | "The Body Says No" | Mass Romantic | Part of this entire list, let alone the order I'm placing these songs in, is a bit haphazard. It's hard to say which of The New Pornographers' songs are really that much better than any of the others, so in going through my iTunes library, I picked the titles I knew I loved the most, and then threw them into a playlist of their own. I'm pretty sure I know what the top of the list is going to come out like, but in a testament to the overall quality of their work, "The Body Says No" could easily be in someone else's Top 5. It's insanely catchy (I've went entire days repeating "man, can you beliiiiieve?/that she didn't need meeee/any more than I, needed her too?"), inexplicably meshing given all of its differing instrumentation, and as up-and-down of a journey as the band can give you.
12. | "Sing Me Spanish Techno" | Twin Cinema | Never judge a song by its title. Even though the Pornographers are one of the very few "indie" bands that actually titles their songs based on actual lyrics in the songs (I'm looking at you Fall Out Boy/Panic At The Disco), I thought this track would be an exception. Go figure, it's not, and as one of the myriad hooks in "Sing Me Spanish Techno," it strangely works. In reference to those hooks though, there's everything from "listening too long/to one song" to the guitar itself providing rhythms that just latch onto your brain and won't let go. An easy example of how the group can craft something so likeable out of something so seemingly benign.
11. | "Challengers" | Challengers | One of the more restrained NP songs out there, Neko Case puts on probably her most underrated performance as a member of the group. Whereas she's usually yelping and eccentric (all in a good and likeable way of course), "Challengers" provides her with a chance to flex the more mellow pipes she went on to showcase in this year's acclaimed Middle Cyclone, her most recent solo effort. "Nah-nah-nah"s and "oohs" abound here, and the track is stripped down to a bit of guitar and an uncharacteristic lack of percussion, but the vocals more than make up for that void. It's heartfelt, and would've been the perfect album-ending number had they chosen to place it as such. Not just for Challengers, but if you listen closely enough, maybe even The New Pornographers career together as well.
10. | "The Fake Headlines" | Mass Romantic | As probably the third New Pornographers song I'd ever heard, I was suprised at how much this song spoke to me. And as one of the few in their catalogue with a false ending, it wasn't just the words themselves that appealed to me. As the shortest of these 15 tunes at 2:46, it does leave you wanting a little bit more - not desiring a little more, because its satiating enough - meaning you wouldn't mind it going a little longer. It's straightforward while still giving off the heartfelt vibe of someone left to linger in their sorrow. Though instead of wallowing in that sorrow, he decides to write "the catchiest words I could find." If only every break-up sounded so good.
9. | "Mutiny, I Promise You" | Challengers | This on the other hand was one of the first two songs I'd heard by NP - I can't say definitively which was the actual first one, but this could've been it. Though the rest of the song may not be quite as engaging as that chorus, the echoing going on once the latter hits makes me reminisce about elementary music class, and the guitar blasting away back there is as good as any modern rock song's. When it slows down for a moment around the 2:30 mark, it comes back and hits you at full-steam within a matter of seconds, and reprises itself with a new vigour. Though the lyrics may be a tad on the ridiculous side, it's certainly more fun to decipher into your own meaning than other more sparsely worded odes to abstraction.
8. | "All The Old Showstoppers" | Challengers | For as much as I didn't think I liked Challengers in context with the other NP albums, it's got just as many tracks on here as Twin Cinema - but that may be because it wouldn't make sense to create a Top 15 of just Twin Cinema and Mass Romantic tracks (just kidding, it's all great). There's a rustic quality to "All The Old Showstoppers" that harkens back to a traveling band at a country fair (maybe it's that jangling guitar), seemingly only lacking someone playing that classic jug. Though there's persevering reference to "numbers" throughout, there's everything else from princesses to paupers to grab your attention and make for a fun little jaunt through that yearly tri-country affair.
7. | "The Laws Have Changed" | Electric Version | As much as I love Neko Case and her otherworldy vocals, a surprising number of songs on my Top 15 don't feature her predominantly. I guess that speaks to the great balance of The New Pornographers, and proves that they're so multi-faceted that it doesn't really matter who's singing those lyrics, as mentioned at the outset of this list. Neko and AC split the duties on this one to my knowledge, and do a swimming job of it. Not only that, but AC's vocals seem to be drowned a bit, while Neko's are presented naked and without filter, a further testament to the myriad ways in which NP can present their perfectly crafted musical pieces.
6. | "Twin Cinema" | Twin Cinema | The title track does well to set the mood for a great NP album, all in a concise 2:59. The pitchy guitar right off the bat, the louder-than-usual percussion, and impassioned vocals all make their debut, laying down a tone that's carried out well throughout the rest of the compilation. There's a rare breakdown just about halfway through, where the singing and instruments both slow it down a tad, but don't let that fool you - they're right back at it in a minute, setting the table perfectly for probably the most critically acclaimed album offering from The New Pornographers.
5. | "The Bleeding Heart Show" | Twin Cinema | This is where it starts to get really hard, and the order starts to matter that much more. "The Bleeding Heart Show" hints strongly at how Challengers ended up being mood-wise, but it was a departure at that time for Twin Cinema I'd say. It's got a bit of that heartstring-tugging feeling that's so prominent on NP's final album, but which isn't really there on the more upbeat and outright fun Twin Cinema. Then at exactly 2:40 in, the whole song switches it up on you, and comes around with the most damned triumphant showing from not only The New Pornographers, but possibly any song within the last 10 years (since everyone seems to fond of doing those decade-ending lists right about now). It's no wonder the University of Phoenix uses "The Bleeding Heart Show" in their ads; I'd go to university in freakin' Chechnya if they blasted this song on campus every morning. For as much as I may have written, you really just have to hear this one. It's uplifting, moving, and everything you'd be pleasantly suprised to find out The New Pornographers are too.
4. | "Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" | Mass Romantic | It's quirky, it's fast-paced, it's about drinking. I could just finish this particular review with that singular blurb, but it deserves so much more. The vocals are dragged out in the catchiest of ways, there's the triad of choruses that NP does so well, I'm pretty sure there's some brass involved, and the harmony between the male and female singing is an underrated aspect that makes this ditty one of my favorite. Around 2:40 (again?) the song takes on a bit of a different flair, but this time becomes only more fervent and the instrumentation that much crunchier, before it stops for a split-second and proceeds to blow up in your ears. The vocals start to lean to the visceral side, and then it's over just as quick with a few "uh-huh"s. Uh-huh indeed.
3. | "Mass Romantic" | Mass Romantic | Who does great title tracks? The New Pornographers obviously do. "Mass Romantic" is like the mission statement for their careers. It's a bit unconventional, it's unmistakably Neko Case, the lyrics are as non-sensical and fun as they get, and the instruments are banged out in a garage band-ish way The Strokes popularized around the same time, albeit in a decidedly more lacksadasical and lo-fi way. "Mass Romantic" is bursting with exhuberance, and if there's any better track to get you in the mood for a good listening session with one of Canada's best supergroups (we do tend to have a lot), there may not be a better place to start than their first - discographically speaking that is.
2. | "Use It" | Twin Cinema | I lied earlier. "Use It" is in fact the first New Pornographers I remember hearing. As the theme song for the first few seasons of CBC Televison's The Hour pop culture show, I'd been unwittingly listening to one of the band's best tracks night in and night out, rapt by the feverish drumming, poignant piano and ever-so-distinct guitar. When "use it toniiii-iiii-iiiight" closed out the show's intro, little did I know just how great the rest of NP's songs were - I just knew that that song was some damn catchy. Unfortunately, I never really acted on those feelings until this summer, but I can say without hesitation that I was incredibly dumb to wait this long. Even when a friend played NP's stuff for me last summer, I kept going back to "Use It" over and over again. I think back then I thought they were almost too diverse and "all over the place" for me, but as my tastes have solidified a bit, and my thirst for Canadian music increased, I've had the hindsight to dive into a great catalogue that features "Use It" as one of its best tracks. By the way - any song that states "two sips from the cup of human kindness/and I'm shitfaced" in a totally un-ironic way, definitely has my stamp of approval.
1. | "Letter From An Occupant" | Mass Romantic | A brief riff, and you jump right into possibly the best Neko Case vocal performance ever. She has a brilliantly unique voice and delivery, and nowhere is it showcased any better than on "Letter From An Occupant." There's a shrill and campy quality to it that would make most other artists cringe to reach, let alone showcasing it on a song so well-crafted as this. I'm sure many listeners may even cringe at the quirkiness of Neko's voice here, but for anyone who truly likes her or any of the Pornographer's work, "Letter From An Occupant" has to be the epitome of the band firing on all cylinders. There's a bubbling guitar line through the break of the song, pinpoint drumming throughout, and even the infrequent and faint exclamations you can hear in the background sound so authentic you'd think it was those in the studio at the time whooping at how well the whole piece coalesces. There's virtually no weak points, and I'll be damned if this tune doesn't stick in your head for more than a day or two. As the best New Pornographers tune, you should expect no less.
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