The National Band • Page 2

TWFM is what got me hooked, although I started wth Boxer. Went back after TWFM clicked and then Boxer did too in a major way. I think I was just too young at the time to appreciate Boxer for what it was. Phenomenal fucking record.

And yeah, agreed with Tim that HV is probably their least accessible album post Alligator.

 

High Violet, specifically Afraid of Everything, is what got me hooked

 

Hearing this song on their MySpace 7 years ago is what got me hooked, more than maybe any song has ever instantly gotten me hooked on a band.

 

I'd say any of the last 3 are good starting points. Maybe the most thrilling part of getting into their music, for me, was after I was hooked by High Violet and Boxer, going back and listening to Cherry Tree EP, Alligator, and Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers and hearing how raw they could be sometimes. Their catalogue is so great.

 

@Iago definitely got me hooked on TWFM, so I bought it on vinyl in Chicago. Recently, though, I listened to High Violet for the first time and it is my favorite National album.

 

I think that High Violet is my second least favorite, right before Sad Songs, although I've never listened to the self-titled. However it's still a very great album with some of my favorite National songs on it (Conversation 16, Lemonworld, England, Vanderlyle).

Fuck, I love this band.

Boxer > TWFM > Aligator >> High Violet >> Sad Songs

 

Every few months, Trouble Will Find Me hits me like a truck. Put it on last night, and damn, it hit harder than it ever have. I feel like it will be an album that only gets better with age for me. The more I mature as a person, the more I resonate with the topics on the record.

 

Trouble Will Find Me is one of my all time favorites now.

 

Yeah I'm in the same boat. Certainly has a spot in my top 20 of all time now.

 

The debut has some gems. The first two tracks are my favourites.

 

Alligator is the one that always blows me away. Don't get me wrong, their last 5 records are very important to me, but Alligator is the one that I have the most attachment and gets me the most emotional. Plus "Lit Up" and "City Middle" are my two favorite National songs.

 

I agree with you so much. "Beautiful Head" and "Theory of the Crows" are two of my favorite tracks by them. Shame they won't ever play them live haha.

 

"It's the side effects that save us" is one of my favorite lyrics written by anyone, I remember crying after hearing "Graceless" the first time because of how relatable it was, given my tumultuous mental health struggles and finding the proper balance of medication.

 

Graceless is one of the best songs this band has written.

 

I love "Graceless".

 

God loves everybody, don't remind me

 

Put the flowers you find in a vase
If you're dead in the mind it'll brighten the place

 

You ever just hit shuffle on this bands entire discography and get lose in your feels.

Same.

 

Probably the artist I can mostly safely shuffle next to Drake.

 

I have a handful I can shuffle and be happy with pretty much anything

JEW
The National
Thursday
Converge
Kanye
Deftones
Sleater-Kinney

 

Not been able to get into these guys yet. I think it's the vocals, plus that sort of indie rock usually isn't my thing. Gonna give it another go soon.

 

I know it sucks when people say this kind of thing, but they definitely require a fair amount of time before they sink in. It's like a world revealing itself to you. What do you mean by "that sort of indie rock"? I remember my first impression was that they were really safe and buttoned up and too cerebral, and now I don't feel that way about them at all.

 

This is going to sound bad, but I am being completely honest. I think of, like you said, buttoned up, cerebral, chill indie rock with the typical ''hipster crowd'' as fans(i.e. Bonaroo/major festival fans who think they are above everything). The majority of the rock music I like has edge(either vocally or instrumentally) For example, some of the indie rock bands I like are bands like Superchunk, Pavement, etc. Then of course I really enjoy punk, emo, hardcore, etc. I realize I did a terrible job explaining, but its hard to articulate. I think a few of your initial concerns are spot on with mine.

I will give it another shot though, to see if anything clicks. And by no means are my feelings an indictment of the band's talent or accomplishments, it is solely a matter of taste up to this point.

 

The National took a while to grow on me at first too. I started listening to them back in 2013 with TWFM because I had heard so many great things about them. I enjoyed the album but it didn't really click with me. Eventually it landed in my top 10 for the year and would be in my top 5 for the year now in hindsight. I got into Boxer and High Violet soon after and then Alligator the following year. Now they're one of my favorite bands.

I just love the mood and atmosphere they create. I think they write really captivating music that I often find myself getting lost in. I think they're all kinda underrated as musicians too, especially Bryan on drums. They aren't an immediate band. I think they're a band that settles beneath your skin at first and grows from there.

 

I listened to Boxer and High Violet for a year before going to their back catalogue. I heard this song, and it changed my perception of the band and kind of made me reexamine their later, more brooding stuff as being an extension of something very raw and emotive. It's funny you mention Pavement, because Matt Berninger is, in my mind, the lyrical heir apparent to Malkmus.

But like you said, it's all down to personal taste and far be it from me to hold that against anyone. I just try to explain to others why this is my favorite band in the world while I largely dislike the "Bonnaroo" indie acts you mentioned haha I just think that they're very different. To me, the National are pretty distinctive because they have as much in common with the REM-Replacements-Pavement lineage of indie rock as the Sufjan-Arcade Fire-Bon Iver one.

Like, I think the album 'Alligator' is actively raging against being buttoned up.