March 31 street date. Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. The group's ninth album (and first for Merge) establishes them alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. A dazzling and intriguing collection of songs, "Continue As A Guest" finds bandleader A.C. Newman and his compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders exploring fresh territory and shattering the barriers of their collective comfort zone. Themes of isolation and collapse bleed into this album, as Newman tackles the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newman discovered new vocal approaches within his own talent - there are new and rich tones to his voice throughout the album. Even as Newman embraces a collaborative spirit more than ever, "Continue As A Guest" is a testament to his ability to discover new artistic sides of himself. "Continue As A Guest" sounds like a thrilling path forward for The New Pornographers, with songs that generate a contagious feeling of excitement for the future as well.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
March 31 street date. Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. The group's ninth album (and first for Merge) establishes them alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. A dazzling and intriguing collection of songs, "Continue As A Guest" finds bandleader A.C. Newman and his compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders exploring fresh territory and shattering the barriers of their collective comfort zone. Themes of isolation and collapse bleed into this album, as Newman tackles the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newman discovered new vocal approaches within his own talent - there are new and rich tones to his voice throughout the album. Even as Newman embraces a collaborative spirit more than ever, "Continue As A Guest" is a testament to his ability to discover new artistic sides of himself. "Continue As A Guest" sounds like a thrilling path forward for The New Pornographers, with songs that generate a contagious feeling of excitement for the future as well.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
March 31 street date. Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. The group's ninth album (and first for Merge) establishes them alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. A dazzling and intriguing collection of songs, "Continue As A Guest" finds bandleader A.C. Newman and his compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders exploring fresh territory and shattering the barriers of their collective comfort zone. Themes of isolation and collapse bleed into this album, as Newman tackles the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newman discovered new vocal approaches within his own talent - there are new and rich tones to his voice throughout the album. Even as Newman embraces a collaborative spirit more than ever, "Continue As A Guest" is a testament to his ability to discover new artistic sides of himself. "Continue As A Guest" sounds like a thrilling path forward for The New Pornographers, with songs that generate a contagious feeling of excitement for the future as well.
Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening!
December 10 street date. Matador Records celebrates the 21st anniversary of The New Pornographers' debut record and breakout, "Mass Romantic", with a limited-edition LP reissue. The album - clocking three singers and 12 effervescent and undeniable power-pop gems - will return to us on red vinyl and will include a bonus 7", "Letter From An Occupant", which includes two rare B-sides, "The End of Medicine" and "When I Was a Baby". What's more, The New Pornographers will tour the U.S. and Canada this fall playing a series of two-night stands - performing "Mass Romantic" in its entirety on the first night and running down the equally outstanding "Twin Cinema" (2005) on the next. Throughout this trip, the band's lineup will feature AC Newman, Dan Bejar, Joe Seiders, John Collins, Kathryn Calder, Neko Case, and Todd Fancey.
Available now. Now back in print, "Twin Cinema" is the third album from Vancouver pop maestros The New Pornographers. The album features Neko Case and Dan Bejar (Destroyer) as well as vocalists Kathryn Calder and Nora O'Connor. Fans of "Mass Romantics" kinkiness will find immediate appeal, as will those partial to "Electric Version"'s drive. Yet the songs on "Twin Cinema" veer more toward the rocking and the personal than the sugar of the earlier work. Chief singer/songwriter A.C. Newman has absorbed not just the mechanics of classic song writing - but the heart, while indulging his admiration of demented current bands like Fiery Furnaces and Frog Eyes. Expect to hear influences from the Moody Blues, Tubeway Army, Wings, Eno, the Stranglers, 10cc and other greats, all filtered through Newman's warped worldview.
Available now. "A pure joy to listen to from start to finish" (Line Of Best Fit). Reissue of "Challengers", Canadian super-group New Pornographers' 4th studio album, and 3rd for Matador. Continuing with their signature multi-layered sound, "Challengers" is less frenetically jaunty than its predecessors but still encapsulates the pure summer joy, impressing existing fans and converting the uninitiated. "A leap forward sonically and emotionally, the band is definitely growing up without growing old" (Exclaim).
July 7 street date. "Brill Bruisers" is the sixth full length album from "virtually peerless" (NPR Music) Canadian supergroup, New Pornographers. "It's an album that captures the spirit of the group's classic work while simultaneously pushing into new territory" (Exclaim 8/10). Produced by band-members John Collins (bass) with A.C. Newman, the 13-track album was recorded primarily at Little Blue in Woodstock, NY and at JC/DC Studios in Vancouver B.C. with additional recording in Austin, Brooklyn and Vermont. On "Brill Bruisers", lead-singer and main songwriter Newman comments, "this is a celebration record. After periods of difficulty, I am at a place where nothing in my life is dragging me down and the music reflects that. I'm grateful".
September 22 street date. This year, Matador Records are celebrating the 20th anniversary of The New Pornographers' second full-length, "Electric Version", with a limited edition opaque blue vinyl reissue. As for the music: no sophomore slumping to be found here. Back then Matador wrote, "with impossibly huge hooks and an innate understanding of every pop trick in the book, this follow-up to 2000's breakthrough "Mass Romantic" is the most exciting pop record we've heard in a long while". For once, tastemakers of the day shared their enthusiasm. "The New Pornographers mix the pop purism of the Beach Boys, the power charge of Cheap Trick and the gentle psychedelia of Syd Barrett", wrote the New York Times, who labeled "Electric Version" "some of the best pop of the year".
July 7 street date. "Together" is the fifth album from Canadian supergroup, The New Pornographers, featuring Neko Case, Destroyer's Dan Bejar, in addition to bandleader and chief songwriter A.C. Newman, who All Music Guide says "in a perfect world, would be our Elton, our McCartney". Playing to all their strengths, "Together" combines the freewheeling, glammy spirit of their debut, "Mass Romantic", with some of the very personal, emotional songwriting of their mid 2000s material. As a result, it's an album that aims to please, as exciting for The New Pornographers obsessive as for casual new listeners. Newman says he’s always had a dream of finding the middle ground between Led Zeppelin and The 5th Dimension, which isn't a bad way to describe "Together"'s mix of deceptively complex songwriting with pop hooks, and arena-rock power. "It's the band's most colourful patchwork to date" (8/10, Paste).
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2021/12/10
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