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THE NATIONAL

The National

Laugh Track

    The surprise companion to The National's April release First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Laugh Track is the band's most freewheeling, all-hands-on-deck album in years. If Frankenstein represented a rebuilding of trust between group members after 20+ years together, the vibrant, exploratory Laugh Track is both the product of that faith and a new statement of intent. Reveling in the license to radically upend its creative process, The National honed most of this material in live performances on tour, and captured those invigorated versions in impromptu sessions at producer Tucker Martine’s Portland studio. Two nights later in Vancouver, the nearly eight-minute album closer “Smoke Detector” was recorded during soundcheck, completing a body of work bristling with spontaneity and vintage rock energy that makes a perfect complement to the songs found on its more introspective predecessor.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Laura says: Released as a companion album to ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, ‘Laugh Track’ was written during the same sessions but feels more dynamic, largely due to Bryan reverting to ‘real’ rather than programmed drums. After all, it’s his fluid, scatter-shot drumming that has always been the perfect foil for Matt’s melancholy. This LP sounds much more like The National we love and closing track “Smoke Detector” possibly hints at the future direction of their evolution.

    TRACK LISTING

    Alphabet City
    Deep End (Paul’s In Pieces)
    Weird Goodbyes Feat. Bon Iver
    Turn Off The House
    Dreaming
    Laugh Track Feat. Phoebe Bridgers
    Space Invader
    Hornets
    Coat On A Hook
    Tour Manager
    Crumble Feat. Rosanne Cash
    Smoke Detector

    Various Artists

    The Virgin Suicides (Music From The Motion Picture) - National Album Day 2023 Edition

      This soundtrack features music from Todd Rundgren, Boston, Heart, Sloan, The Hollies, Al Green, Gilbert O'Sullivan, 10cc, Styx, and two tracks by Air, which includes a previously recorded material, and an original composition, especially for the film. Sofia Coppola wanted to convey the theme of adolescence in the suburbs in the soundtrack.

      TRACK LISTING

      Side One
      1. Heart - Magic Man
      2. Todd Rundgren - Hello It's Me
      3. Sloan – Everything You’ve Done Wrong
      4. AIR – Ce Matin Le
      5. The Hollies – The Air That I Breathe
      6. Al Green – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
      Side Two
      1. Gilbert O’Sullivan – Alone Again (Naturally)
      2. 10cc – I’m Not In Love
      3. Todd Rundgren – A Dream Goes On Forever
      4. Heart – Crazy On You
      5. AIR – Playground Love (Vibraphone Version)
      6. Styx – Come Sail Away 

      Wu-Tang Clan

      Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - National Album Day 2023 Edition

        Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is the debut studio album by the American hiphop group Wu-Tang Clan, originally released on November 9, 1993.

        The gritty, distinctive sound of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) created a blueprint for hardcore hip-hop during the 1990s, and helped return New York City hip-hop to national prominence. Its sound also became greatly influential in modern hip-hop production, while the group members' explicit, humorous, and free-associative lyrics have served as a template for many subsequent rap records. Serving as a landmark release in the era of hip-hop known as the East Coast Renaissance, its influence helped lead the way for several other East Coast rappers, including Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, and Jay-Z.

        Despite its raw, underground sound the album received positive reviews from most music critics, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) has since been widely regarded as one of the most significant albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2020, the album was ranked 27th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

        TRACK LISTING

        Side A
        1. Bring Da Ruckus
        2. Shame On A Nigga
        3. Clan In Da Front
        4. Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber
        5. Can It Be All So Simple / Intermission
        6. Protect Ya Neck / Intermission
        Side B
        1. Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'
        8. Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit
        9. C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)
        10. Method Man
        11. Tearz
        12. Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber - Part II

        The Cranberries

        Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? - National Album Day 2023 Edition

          The Cranberries’ debut album has sold over 5,000,000 in the US and over 600,000 in the UK. They were one of the biggest bands of the nineties and this album includes their global hits “Linger” and “Dreams”. This release comes as a limited edition 140-gram dark green vinyl.

          TRACK LISTING

          Side A
          I Still Do
          Dreams
          Sunday
          Pretty
          Waltzing Back
          Not Sorry
          Side B
          Linger
          Wanted
          Still Can't...
          I Will Always
          How
          Put Me Down

          Siouxsie & The Banshees

          The Rapture - National Album Day 2023 Edition

            Siouxsie & The Banshees final album ‘The Rapture’ includes the title track as well as ‘Fall from Grace’ and ‘Not Forgotten’ which were produced by the band in 1993. The release comes as a limited edition 140-gram turquoise transparent vinyl. 

            TRACK LISTING

            Side A
            O Baby
            Tearing Apart
            Stargazer
            Fall From Grace
            Side B
            Not Forgotten
            Sick Child
            The Lonely One
            Falling Down
            Side C
            The Rapture
            Side D
            Forever
            The Double Life
            Love Out Me
            Stereophoni

            R.E.M.

            Automatic For The People - National Album Day 2023 Edition

              Released in 1992, Automatic For the People is the eighth studio album from R.E.M. The reflective album, featuring the singles ‘Drive’, ‘Everybody Hurts’ and ’Man On The Moon’, reflects a soothing melancholy through the acoustic arrangement. Selling over 18 million copies worldwide, this release comes as a limited edition 140-gram Solid Yellow vinyl.

              TRACK LISTING

              Side A
              Drive
              Try Not To Breathe
              The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
              Everybody Hurts
              New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
              Sweetness Follows
              Side B
              Monty Got A Raw Deal
              Ignoreland
              Star Me Kitten
              Man On The Moon
              Nightswimming
              Find The River

              The National

              First Two Pages Of Frankenstein

                Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the band’s beloved discography. The 11-song album was produced by The National at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.

                The follow-up to 2019’s top five hit album I Am Easy To Find, First Two Pages of Frankenstein was initially stalled while lead singer Matt Berninger navigated “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all, and that period lasted for over a year. Even though we’d always been anxious and argued quite a lot whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end.” Instead, The National “managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band,” according to guitarist/pianist Bryce Dessner, whose bandmates also include his brother Aaron (guitar/piano/bass) as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

                First Two Pages of Frankenstein channels the group’s revitalized chemistry into a body of work that beautifully balances elegant musicality with the National’s more idiosyncratic impulses. Tracks such as “Grease in Your Hair” and “Ice Machines” were road-tested in 2022 before they were recorded, allowing the band to hone the material in real time (another song, “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, was released as a standalone track last August). “To me the power of this record has to do with the intentionality and structure of the music meeting with a lot of accidental magic,” says Aaron Dessner.

                Swift duets with Berninger on the luminous “The Alcott,” continuing her recent string of collaborations with members of The National on her chart-topping albums folklore and evermore and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine project. The song finds Berninger and Swift inhabiting the roles of a couple attempting to resurrect a troubled relationship, forging a finely drawn story nearly novelistic in scope. “It’s about two people with a long history returning to a place and trying to relive a certain moment in time,” says Berninger. “It’s got the feeling of a last-ditch effort to hold onto the relationship, but there’s a hint of something positive where you can see the beginnings of a reconnection.”

                STAFF COMMENTS

                Liam says: Succeeding on from the beautiful yet gut-punching 'I Am Easy To Find', 'First Two Pages Of Frankenstein' is another exquisite slice of moving and expansive indie from Berninger and co. Boasting huge guest spots from Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens and Phoebe Bridgers, this record further cements The National as the generational talent we've always known them to be!

                TRACK LISTING

                Once Upon A Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
                Eucalyptus
                New Order T-Shirt
                This Isn't Helping (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
                Tropic Morning News
                Alien
                The Alcott (feat. Taylor Swift)
                Grease In Your Hair
                Ice Machines
                Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
                Send For Me 

                The Damned

                Damned Damned Damned - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                  ‘Damned Damned Damned’ is now available on yellow vinyl for National Album Day. The Damned blazed a trail when they became the very first British punk band to release a single (New Rose) on 22nd October 1976, which was swiftly followed by the release of the very first British punk album, their classic debut long-player Damned Damned Damned, originally released by Stiff Records on 18th February 1977. Charting at 36 in the UK upon release the album has reached legendary status over the 45 years since it's initial release. At just half an hour long, Damned Damned Damned is a stone cold classic of rock & roll fire and coupled with the band's take-no-prisoners aesthetic, the Damned left rhetoric for the theoreticians and political posing for the Clash. All the foursome wanted to do was rock. The original line-up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Brian James and Rat Scabies regrouped last year and will perform the album in its entirety this coming November on a one off tour. 

                  TRACK LISTING

                  Neat Neat Neat (2017 - Remaster)
                  Fan Club (2017 - Remaster)
                  I Fall (2017 - Remaster)
                  Born To Kill (2017 - Remaster)
                  Stab Yor Back (2017 - Remaster)
                  Feel The Pain (2017 - Remaster)
                  New Rose (2017 - Remaster)
                  Fish (2017 - Remaster)
                  See Her Tonite (2017 - Remaster)
                  1 Of The 2 (2017 - Remaster)
                  So Messed Up (2017 - Remaster)
                  I Feel Alright (2017 - Remaster)

                  The Clash

                  The Clash - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                    The Clash is the eponymous debut studio album one of Britain’s most iconic bands, The Clash. Originally released on 8 April 1977, this album is regularly cited as one of the greatest Rock and Roll albums of all time, including tracks like White Riot, Janie Jones & Police & Thieves.

                    Issued for National Album Day 2022 on 180g PINK vinyl.

                    TRACK LISTING

                    SIDE A 
                    1 Janie Jones 
                    2 Remote Control 
                    3 I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. 
                    4 White Riot 
                    5 Hate & War 
                    6 What's My Name 
                    7 Deny
                    8 London's Burning
                    SIDE B
                    1 Career Opportunities
                    2 Cheat
                    3 Protex Blue
                    4 Police & Thieves
                    5 48 Hours
                    6 Garageland

                    The National

                    The National - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                      The National’s self-titled debut album marks the start point for one of the best bands of a generation.

                      Released in 2001, ‘The National’ landed two years after they formed and came during a time when they were having to juggle band life with full-time jobs.

                      And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own - Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

                      For National Album Day 2022, the band reissue the album on white vinyl.

                      TRACK LISTING

                      Beautiful Head
                      Cold Girl Fever
                      The Perfect Song
                      American Mary
                      Son
                      Pay For Me
                      Bitters & Absolut
                      John’s Star
                      Watching You Well
                      Theory Of The Crows
                      29 Years
                      Anna Freud

                      The The

                      Soul Mining - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                        Originally released in 1983, ‘Soul Mining’ is the debut major label album by post punk outfit, The The, fronted by Matt Johnson. Including the singles “Uncertain Smile”, “Perfect”, and the iconic “This Is The Day”, the album, which is Gold certified in the UK, has been long out of print on vinyl, except as part of a limited run 30th anniversary 2 LP boxset reissue in 2014. Featuring a host of talented musicians, including JG Thirwell (aka Foetus, Manorexia and Steroid Maximus), Zeke Manyika (Orange Juice), electronic DIY pioneer Thomas Leer and Jools Holland, Matt Johnson set out with a clear vision in mind - to produce an album that felt cinematic; a record of width, depth and texture and one which avoided the mundane line-up of two guitars, bass and drums. Lauded with critical acclaim (“Soul Mining is a brilliant and very idiosyncratic album” – The Guardian ; "Like shaving lotion applied to cleanse a wound, Johnson’s songs are attractively scented and sting like hell” – Melody Maker) the music and lyrics of ‘Soul Mining’ are as fresh and relevant today as they were almost 40 years ago.

                        TRACK LISTING

                        SIDE A 
                        1 I've Been Waitin' For Tomorrow (All Of My Life)
                        2 This Is The Day
                        3 The Sinking Feeling 
                        4 Uncertain Smile
                        SIDE B
                        1 The Twilight Hour
                        2 Soul Mining
                        3 Giant

                        The Police

                        Outlandos D'Amour - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                          The seminal 1978 album by The Police announced the band to the world, containing the era-defining hit singles Roxanne, Can’t Stand Losing You and So Lonely. Ranked by Rolling Stone as among the 40 best debut LPs ever, this special edition reissued for National Album Day is available on limited edition blue vinyl.

                          The Staves

                          Dead & Born & Grown - National Album Day 2022 Edition

                            Revered indie trio The Staves' debut album 'Dead & Born & Grown' is celebrating its 10th Anniversary on the 12th November 2022. To celebrate 10 years of their debut album the band will be re-pressing Dead & Born & Grown on recycled colour vinyl.

                            The album was produced with Glyn and Ethan Johns, who have worked with a plethora of huge artists from past and present between them, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, as well as the likes of The Vaccines, Kings of Leon and Kaiser Chiefs. The Staves are three sisters from Watford who share vocal duties in addition to some contributions on guitar and ukelele.

                            This special-edition recycled vinyl is made from 100% PVC recycled material, using waste material and clippings from previous pressings and are re-used. The result is that each vinyl is unique with its own colour combination therefore the colour you receive will be randomized.


                            TRACK LISTING

                            Wisely & Slow
                            Gone Tomorrow
                            The Motherlode
                            Pay Us No Mind
                            Facing West
                            In The Long Run
                            Dead & Born & Grown
                            Winter Trees
                            Tongue Behind My Teeth
                            Mexico
                            Snow
                            Eagle Song

                            The National

                            The National - 2021 Reissue

                              Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021, The National’s self-titled debut album of sozzled Americana is a thing of beauty, laden with heavy hints that this was a special band in the making.

                              Their first release, The National arrived two years after The National formed, a time when they were juggling bandlife with needing to hold down full-time jobs. And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own – Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

                              The National marks the start point for one of the best bands of their generation with its new master helping elevate it to new levels. A great primer to a great band.

                              Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

                              TRACK LISTING

                              1. / A1. Beautiful Head
                              2. / A2. Cold Girl Fever
                              3. / A3. The Perfect Song
                              4. / A4. American Mary
                              5. / A5. Son
                              6. / A6. Pay For Me
                              7. / B1. Bitters & Absolut
                              8. / B2. John’s Star
                              9. / B3. Watching You Well
                              10. / B4. Theory Of The Crows
                              11. / B5. 29 Years
                              12. / B6. Anna Freud

                              The National

                              Cherry Tree EP - 2021 Reissue

                                Released a year before The National broke through with their third album Alligator, 2004’s Cherry Tree EP is a thrilling record which - thanks to its collection of delicate ballads and anthemic crowd-pleasers - sums up what they do best in under 30 minutes. Now a firm fan-favourite, among Cherry Tree’s seven tracks are now National classics ‘About Today’ and ‘All The Wine’, plus a thrilling live version of ‘Murder Me Rachael’ that reminds of the band’s fearsome early live performances. Cherry Tree can be seen as the record that marks the moment when The National had truly found themselves, a bridge from what went before to a band ready to conquer the World.

                                Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

                                TRACK LISTING

                                1. / A1. Wasp Nest
                                2. / A2. All The Wine
                                3. / A3. All Dolled-Up In Straps
                                4. / A4. Cherry Tree
                                5. / B1. About Today
                                6. / B2. Murder Me Rachael (Live)
                                7. / B3. Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)

                                The National

                                Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers - 2021 Reissue

                                  The National’s second album, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (2003) proved a leap forward from 2001’s eponymous debut, showing a band adept at delivering warm embraces and gut punches in equal measure.

                                  With word of mouth now spreading on the band, critics proved equally enthusiastic... Pitchfork in their glowing review called it a “Gorgeous train wreck” that “Lives up to its blunt title (with) Matt Berninger’s self-effacing barbs matched by the band’s equally potent hooks,” while Uncut also became early champions saying the album was “A genuine treasure... Livid as a bruise, this is brave, desperate, beautiful music.”

                                  No longer a secret among those that know, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers is an important record in The National’s discography with this new remaster showing that it’s more than standing the test of time.

                                  Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  1. / A1. Cardinal Song
                                  2. / A2. Slipping Husband
                                  3. / A3. 90-Mile Water Wall
                                  4. / A4. It Never Happened
                                  5. / A5. Murder Me Rachael
                                  6. / B1. Thirsty
                                  7. / B2. Available
                                  8. / B3. Sugar Wife
                                  9. / B4. Trophy Wife
                                  10. / B5. Fashion Coat
                                  11. / B6. Patterns Of Fairytales
                                  12. / B7. Lucky You

                                  The Stone Roses

                                  The Stone Roses - National Album Day Edition

                                    Ultra limited release for National Album Day.

                                    Pressed on Clear LP Vinyl.

                                    Surely this album needs no introduction or explanation?! But just in case you don’t know, this is arguably one of the best debut albums of all time, from one of the most influential bands of their generation! And if that’s not enough to tempt you, then I don’t know what is. 

                                    The Wedding Present

                                    Bizarro - National Album Day Edition

                                      A 'National Album Day' release - Pressed on standard Black LP Vinyl. 

                                      'Bizarro' was the second Wedding Present album, originally released in 1989. The band's first album on a major label, 'Bizarro' saw The Wedding Present toughening up rather than selling out. Toying with extremes of tempo and mood, the result was a vibrant hybrid of astringency and the band's quintessential pop euphoria.

                                      Fifth Album by the Bill Wells project feat. words by Aidan Moffat A masterclass in nuance, interpretation and the purifying power of the human voice, Standards Vol. V represents another captivating chapter in the career of a singular figure in contemporary music. For his fifth album as the mischievously named National Jazz Trio Of Scotland, the prolific jazz outsider Bill Wells posits yet another collaborator in the diffuse light cast by his tender chord shifts and understated arrangements. The voice on Standards Vol. V is that of Black, whose other musical activities include the band Babe, Francois And The Atlas Mountains, Rozi Plain and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

                                      TRACK LISTING

                                      I Know Where I'm Going (1:59)
                                      Sigh No More Ladies (2:35)
                                      Vox II (3:33)
                                      Sunrise, Sunset (4:42)
                                      Set Firee To Silver Light (0:51)
                                      So Much Power (3:18)
                                      Gradual Inclination (3:30)
                                      The King Tailors (2:15)
                                      Of Thee I Sing (4:46)
                                      Gradual Inclination (reprise) (1:10)
                                      A Quiet Goodbye (2:28)

                                      I Am Easy To Find is the band’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s GRAMMY®-award winning release Sleep Well Beast. A companion short film with the same name will also be released with music by The National and inspired by the album. The film was directed by Academy Award-nominated director Mike Mills (20th Century Women, Beginners), and starring Academy Award Winner Alicia Vikander. Mills, along with the band, is credited as co-producer of the album, which was mostly recorded at Long Pond, Hudson Valley, NY with additional sessions in Paris, Berlin, Cincinnati, Austin, Dublin, Brooklyn and more far flung locations. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more.

                                      I Am Easy to Find is a 24-minute film by Mills starring Alicia Vikander, and a 68-minute album by the National. The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. The two projects are, as Mills calls them, “Playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other”—they share music and words and DNA and impulses and a vision about what it means to be human in 2019, but don’t necessarily need one another. The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director. The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatically sidestaged in favour of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit. It is unlike anything either artist has ever attempted and also totally in line with how they’ve created for much of their careers.

                                      As the album’s opening track, ‘You Had Your Soul With You,’ unfurls, it’s so far, so National: a digitally manipulated guitar line, skittering drums, Berninger’s familiar baritone, mounting tension. Then around the 2:15 mark, the true nature of I Am Easy To Find announces itself: The racket subsides, strings swell, and the voice of long-time David Bowie bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey booms out—not as background vocals, not as a hook, but to take over the song. Elsewhere it’s Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, or Sharon Van Etten, or Mina Tindle or Kate Stables of This Is the Kit, or varying combinations of them. The Brooklyn Youth Choir, whom Bryce Dessner had worked with before. There are choral arrangements and strings on nearly every track, largely put together by Bryce in Paris—not a negation of the band’s dramatic tendencies, but a redistribution of them.

                                      “Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn't because, ‘Oh, let's have more women's voices,’ says Berninger. “It was more, ‘Let's have more of a fabric of people's identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn't let that happen.”

                                      TRACK LISTING

                                      1. You Had Your Soul With You
                                      2. Quiet Light
                                      3. Roman Holiday
                                      4. Oblivions
                                      5. The Pull Of You
                                      6. Hey Rosey
                                      7. I Am Easy To Find
                                      8. Her Father In The Pool
                                      9. Where Is Her Head
                                      10. Not In Kansas
                                      11. So Far So Fast
                                      12. Dust Swirls In Strange Light
                                      13. Hairpin Turns
                                      14. Rylan
                                      15. Underwater
                                      16. Light Years

                                      Side 5 On Deluxe Triple – Contains 22 Minutes Of Music From The I Am Easy To Find Original Film Score – EXCLUSIVE To This Format.
                                      Side 6 On 3LP - Etching.

                                      Beth Gibbons And The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

                                      Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs)

                                      Domino is extremely proud to present Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) performed by Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki. 

                                      The performance took place at The National Opera Grand Theatre in Warsaw on November 29th 2014, and was part of an evening of programming that also featured Jonny Greenwood's (Radiohead) 48 Responses To Polymorphia and the world premiere of Bryce Dessner's (The National) Réponse Lutosławski.

                                      Following an invitation to collaborate at the concert, Beth Gibbons undertook an intense preparation process, including tackling the challenge of learning the original text (and the emotional weight it carries) without speaking the mother language. Typical to Beth though - the elusive yet iconic frontwoman of one of the most important British bands of the last two decades - the challenge was met and exceeded. Her performance alongside the maestro Penderecki has been hailed as triumphant, as you can see and hear on this release.

                                      The film, was produced by the National Audiovisual Institute, Poland and directed by Michał Merczyński.

                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                      Barry says: There's no denying that Beth Gibbons is one of the most cherished and highly recognisable vocal talents of the past several decades, but hearing her in this context is nothing less than astounding. The latent sadness inherent in Gorecki's 3rd symphony is only enhanced by Gibbons' stunning vocal range and perfect delivery. Astounding.

                                      TRACK LISTING

                                      I. Lento - Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile
                                      II. Lento E Largo - Tranquillissimo
                                      III. Lento - Cantabile-semplice

                                      The National

                                      Boxer Live In Brussels

                                        Previously unreleased live version of the bands Boxer album performed in full - recorded at Forest National, Brussels, Belgium, 09 November 2017

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        Fake Empire (Live In Brussels)
                                        Mistaken For Strangers (Live In Brussels)
                                        Brainy (Live In Brussels)
                                        Squalor Victoria (Live In Brussels)
                                        Green Gloves (Live In Brussels)
                                        Slow Show (Live In Brussels)
                                        Apartment Story (Live In Brussels)
                                        Start A War (Live In Brussels)
                                        Guest Room (Live In Brussels)
                                        Racing Like A Pro (Live In Brussels)
                                        Ada (Live In Brussels)
                                        Gospel (Live In Brussels)

                                        The National return with their much anticipated seventh album, produced by Aaron Dessner, with additional production by Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner. The album was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at Aaron’s Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY.

                                        While in some ways it’s typically National-sounding, they’ve definitely added some new elements to their sound. Opening track “Nobody Else Will Be There” is a stripped back ballad with melancholic piano, and Matt’s distinct vocals, but the electronics pulsing away in the background are a sign of what’s to come with the album.

                                        All the usual elements are there, intricate guitars, delicate piano keys, scatter-shot drums and of course Matt’s mumbling/crooning baritone, but a new layer of electronics bubbling away in the mix adds a new dimension to their sound.

                                        As with the last couple of albums, it features mostly fairly downtempo ballads but they do ramp things up from time to time: “Day I Die”, “They System Only Dreams In Total” and the big rock-out track of the album, “Turtleneck”. It’s taken a few listens to get into it, but as a fan I’m certainly not disappointed.

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        A1. Nobody Else Will Be There
                                        A2. Day I Die
                                        A3. Walk It Back
                                        B1. The System Only Dreams
                                        In Total Darkness
                                        B2. Born To Beg
                                        B3. Turtleneck
                                        C1. Empire Line
                                        C2. I’ll Still Destroy You
                                        C3. Guilty Party
                                        D1. Carin At The Liquor Store
                                        D2. Dark Side Of The Gym
                                        D3. Sleep Well Beast

                                        * First ever anthology
                                        * Remastered from original sources
                                        * 2xLP housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 20-pg book, and download card full full anthology
                                        * Vinyl cut by John Golden and pressed at RTI
                                        * CD housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 48-pg book
                                        * Scholarly liner notes by Punk In Africa director Keith Jones
                                        * Unseen photos, flyers, and band ephemera

                                        The South Africa of the late 1970s was neither the right place nor time to launch a mixed-race punk band. Yet, following the student-inspired Soweto Uprising of 1976, it was also exactly the right conditions to foster a band like National Wake, one formed in an underground commune, and one whose very name exists in protest at the divisive, racist apartheid regime. Never before collected together, Light In The Attic is set to release National Wake’s full body of work as Walk In Africa 1979-81.

                                        Featured heavily in the Punk In Africa documentary, National Wake played punk, reggae and tropical funk, equally at home in the city’s rock underground and the township nightclub circuit. Ivan Kadey started the band with two brothers, Gary and Punka Khoza. The three were from different worlds –while Ivan was an outsider, a Jewish orphan born in the traditional Johannesburg immigrant neighborhood, Gary, Punka and their family were forcibly moved to the troubled township of Soweto under the apartheid regime. Later joined by guitarist Steve Moni, the whole band grew up against a backdrop of township unrest, social upheaval and suburban tedium that characterized apartheid-era South Africa.

                                        National Wake released just one album, in 1981. It sold approximately 700 copies before being withdrawn under government pressure. The band subsequently disintegrated, but their influence could be traced in the racially mixed post-punk underground centered around Rockey Street in Johannesburg throughout the 1980s, their legacy transmitted through fanzines and underground cassette trading.

                                        Sadly, Gary and Punka Khoza both passed away in their 40s. Kadey now works as an architect in Los Angeles, but his attention eventually turned back to the band as their legacy grew in the digital era, with the emergence of specialized music websites and Punk In Africa leading to their rediscovery. Czech State Radio memorably described the band as “perhaps the most dissident music scene of the 20th century: a multi-racial punk band in a fascist police state.”

                                        In 2011, Kadey re-released the band’s self-titled album, but spoke about having more than 20 tracks that had never seen the light of day –until now. “All of these recordings put together they speak of the whole evolution of the band,” he has said. “From a sort of naive, almost belief that we could miraculously change everything to realizing what a struggle it was, and what the country was going through and what it would go through.”

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        1. International News
                                        2. It's All Right
                                        3. Walk In Africa
                                        4. Time And Place
                                        5. Corner House Stone
                                        6. Mercenaries
                                        7. Wake Of The Nation
                                        8. Supaman
                                        9. Speed It Up
                                        10. Beat Up The Lights
                                        11. Black Punk Rockers
                                        12. Stratocaster
                                        13. Everybody
                                        14. Vatsiketeni

                                        This is the sixth studio album for the Brooklyn band, and follows 2010’s High Violet, which was No 2 in our Albums of The Year, that year.

                                        In an interview with UK’s Uncut Magazine, front man Matt Berninger described the songs as more “immediate and visceral” than their previous work. Trouble Will Find Me possesses a directness, a coherency and an approachability that suggests The National are at their most confident.

                                        After a 22-month tour following the release of High Violet the band returned home. Regardless of plans to wait to record new music for another year or two, guitarist Aaron Dessner began working on sketches of new songs that the other members were too inspired by to not fully realise. Matt confesses, “For the past ten years we’d been chasing something, wanting to prove something. And this chase was about trying to disprove our own insecurities. After touring High Violet, I think we felt like we’d finally gotten there. Now we could relax—not in terms of our own expectations but we didn’t have to prove our identity any longer.” The results are simultaneously breakthrough and oddly familiar, the culmination of an artistic journey that has led The National both to a new crest and, somehow, back to their beginnings—when, says Aaron, “our ideas would immediately click with each other. It’s free-wheeling again. The songs on one level are our most complex, and on another they’re our most simple and human. It just feels like we’ve embraced the chemistry we have.” The album was recorded at Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY. Trouble Will Find Me was self-produced and mixed by Craig Silvey with additional mixing from Peter Katis and Marcus Paquin.

                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Laura says: With every album The National have pushed on and made a more ambitious album, constantly upping the ante with bigger arrangements and a bigger sound. So how on earth were the going to follow High Violet?
                                        Well, it seems they’ve finally come to terms with who and where they are as a band and made an album that reflects that. The Dressner brothers intricate arrangements are still there, as are the distinctive scatter-shot drum patterns (described perfectly by film director DA Pennebaker as “like rain falling through the leaves of a tree”) and of course Matt Berninger’s rich baritone rolls effortlessly over it all, but “Trouble Will Find Me” is a more relaxed, streamlined collection, and this stripping back gives the songs room to breathe and emphasises just how good they are at what they do. There may be less angst here than in the past, but the romanticism and melancholy are still there and for me, once again they've come up with one of the best albums of the year.

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        1. I Should Live In Salt
                                        2. Demons
                                        3. Don't Swallow The Cap
                                        4. Fireproof
                                        5. Sea Of Love
                                        6. Heavenfaced
                                        7. This Is The Last Time
                                        8. Graceless
                                        9. Slipped
                                        10. I Need My Girl
                                        11. Humiliation
                                        12. Pink Rabbits
                                        13. Hard To Find

                                        The album opens with the slow drums and mournful vocals of “Terrible Love” but from the start there’s a simmering intensity that builds and eventually explodes into crashing cymbals, pummelling drums, distorted guitars and layered vocals.
                                        A dramatic entrance to The National’s fifth album. But it’s not all this heavy, as with their previous releases it’s an album of mood swings. Where “Terrible Love” was explosive, second track “Sorrow” is mournful and melodic.
                                        And while the album changes mood and tempo, at times warm and intimate at others dramatic, propelled by off beat drum rhythms, there’s always a palpable intensity. I read recently that they find it hard to finish songs, with one or other band member frequently rejecting material. Whether the atmosphere created here is the cause or result of this I don’t know, but either way it works perfectly. Despite Matt’s melancholy, there’s something really uplifting about this collection of beautifully crafted mini epics.


                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Martin says: A bona fide classic, and possibly the summit of The National's already majestic canon. Moody, introspective and deeply involving, "High Violet" manages to be both clever and inventive and at the same time focused in it's somewhat bleak expression. A work of troubled genius whose (very) high points, "Afraid of Everyone", "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and the sublime "Conversation 16" would grace pretty much any album, ever. It is really that good.

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        1. Terrible Love
                                        2. Sorrow
                                        3. Anyone’s Ghost
                                        4. Little Faith
                                        5. Afraid Of Everyone
                                        6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
                                        7. Lemonworld
                                        8. Runaway
                                        9. Conversation 16
                                        10. England
                                        11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

                                        The National

                                        Boxer

                                          The National's 2005 album "Alligator" saw them fulfil the promise shown on their previous two albums, and set the bar impossibly high for their follow up.

                                          However, with "Boxer" they've created something quite stunning, in fact the opening three tracks, "Fake Empire", "Mistaken For Strangers" and "Brainy" are possibly their best songs ever. A taut rhythm section is present throughout, and complements the languid vocals and lush string arrangements perfectly. Although the strings and Matt Berninger's distinctive drawl create a solemn mood, there are plenty of upbeat moments here too, creating a rich anthemic album with just the right amount of melancholy.

                                          TRACK LISTING

                                          1. Fake Empire
                                          2. Mistaken For Strangers
                                          3. Brainy
                                          4. Squalor Victoria
                                          5. Green Gloves
                                          6. Slow Show
                                          7. Apartment Story
                                          8. Start A War
                                          9. Guest Room
                                          10. Racing Like A Pro
                                          11. Ada
                                          12. Gospel

                                          The National

                                          Alligator

                                            These five Cincinnati friends recorded two albums and a mini album for Brassland before signing to Beggars Banquet. Their last effort, "Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers", was touted as one of the year's best by Rolling Stone and other magazines.

                                            The National contains two pairs of brothers - Aaron Dessner (guitars, bass) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (guitar, bass), Bryan Devendorf (drums) and singer Matt Berninger. Matt's potent baritone intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. The songs are intense, and emotive but generally quite restrained, but on one or two tracks, this intensity spills out into a superbly abrasive blast of emotion, before ebbing back into mellowness. Wonderful!

                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                            Laura says: An absolutely awesome album - one of my albums of the year in 2005 when it was originally released. Although it's perhaps a little less 'polished' than "High Violet" it still has that same compelling, claustrophic intensity too it.

                                            TRACK LISTING

                                            1. Secret Meeting
                                            2. Karen
                                            3. Lit Up
                                            4. Looking For Astronauts
                                            5. Daughters Of The Soho Riots
                                            6. Baby, We'll Be Fine
                                            7. Friend Of Mine
                                            8. Val Jester
                                            9. All The Wine
                                            10. Abel
                                            11. Geese Of Beverly Road
                                            12. City Middle
                                            13. Mr. November


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