Pornograffiti

The New Pornographers "From Blown Speakers"

The New Pornographers "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism"

The New Pornographers "Broken Beads"

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Since yesterday's post was about the Decemberists, I thought I'd write about another obvious indie rock snob band that I like, the New Pornographers. Again, you're probably already familiar with them but I've been meaning to put some of their songs up for a while now so if you've already heard this maybe you can go listen to some Stockhausen or work on your "what are you looking at my fedora for i'm so much cooler than you could ever hope to be" look in the mirror. Talk amongst yourselves hipsters, I know i'm SO 2003.

For those of you who DON'T know, the New Pornographers hail from Canada. they write brilliant pop songs that sort of sound like they should have been played on TRIAD in the 70s. It's dated but fresh, and they're better than most bands who try to pull that type of thing off. Carl Newman, who writes most of the songs (it coud be said he's the head pornographer) cites Brian Wilson as one of his chief influences, and it can be heard in songs like "From Blown Speakers". The songs are filled with colorful stories as well. "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" was supposedly written after being on tour with Guided By Voices and getting drunk with Robert Pollard every night. Ha!



Neko Case, a sort of indie superstar in her own right, also contributes to the New Pornographer's records, although she doesn't always tour with them because she's got her own thing going on, I guess. Truth be told her songs are kind of my least favorite and I still don't understand all the hooplah that surrounds her. Maybe someday I will. The band is sometimes thought of as a sort of indie supergoup, because its members hail from bands like The Blacks, Age Of Electric, and Fancey. And if you've heard of any of those bands then congratulations, yr cooler than me, cause i've never heard of any of em.

I may seem to be coming off as sort of defensive but the fact is that i LOVE this band's records. Its just that i've encountered some fans of theirs who really do have "more indie than thou" attitude and I don't understand it, because the New Pornographers' songs are about as power pop as they come. It would be like being snobby because you listen to Cheap Trick. I mean, come on dude, EVERYBODY likes Cheap Trick.