Oblivions

Humiliation is the best National song that no one ever thinks about though. If I was in a band and we were on a National tribute album that’s the song I’d pick to make people think we were really cool and hip.

Humiliation is the best National song that no one ever thinks about though. If I was in a band and we were on a National tribute album that’s the song I’d pick to make people think we were really cool and hip.

Humiliation is the best National song that no one ever thinks about though. If I was in a band and we were on a National tribute album that’s the song I’d pick to make people think we were really cool and hip.

They haven't had a bad album after their debut. Some songs may be weaker. If you're cynical, I guess you could call it filler. But I can't think of a popular group/artist thats had as good of a run for as many albums as The NTL have had the past 15 years. 
 
 
 

To be clear, with the standup thing, I was more referencing the effortful nature of everyone playing guitars and filling every second with action vs. the confidence of knowing you can be concise and powerful and use space and silence. Less a comment on the artistic quality and more on replacing energy and effort with skill and confidence.
 
I agree that it’s about personal taste/investment/interest and it’s not a matter of intelligence or being an enlightened listener. I know it’s technically boring and not the most immediately rewarding sound and I don’t think everyone should be forced to struggle with it until they give in. I wouldn’t want to be forced to listen to War on Drugs albums until I “get” why people love them. I’m cool taking them at their word.

I get why people might find the last two albums boring, even by National standards, but I think they're achieving what they're aiming for at a super high level. Matt pausing for an extra half-second between a compound word and then a sudden flourish of drumming followed by one of the twins slapping a guitar with a violin string for 3 seconds might sound like very sparse and dull music but it gives me as much of a rush as hearing 3 minutes straight of layered guitars and Matt yelling. It's like watching a stand up comedian who used to hump the stool and act out every joke, 10 years later with more experience and skill, standing still behind a mic stand and slaying a crowd with three words and a perfectly timed facial reaction. I like Alligator and Boxer but I'm really really glad that they didn't put out 5 more albums of guitar-focused rock at that same volume with more variations on the orchestral cacophony crescendo. IMO, SWB and IAETF have given the band another 10 years of quality career fuel if they want it.

It's wild how much I love this album, front to back, and how absolutely boring it is to everyone I know who isn't an existing National fan. I talked it up to a friend who is a casual appreciator of the National as being this new version of the band that is broken open and more spacious and experimental than ever and he was like "This sounds pretty much like the last album but like they wanted to make it about the vocals and they lost that fun energy."

ya'll are crazy. this record is great. 

I'm just more of a "cringe and shudder inwardly" kind of guy than a "fuck you" kind of a guy. That poster is probably 45 years old and able to fight their own battles but I always imagine naive new people who come on here excited about their silly projects as being 14 years old like I was when I'd post a terribly written review on my mp3 blog and then go google punk message boards to share it on. 😁

I did exactly this for a bad music blog in the 90s. 
 
Edit: It was Angelfire. And it still exists in all its Comic Sans horror: http://www.angelfire.com/on2/SmellyFishZine/

In the late 90s/early 2000s, I started a few mp3 blogs as a non-expert, often-wrong kid who just loved music and building websites. No one told me to fuck off*. No one co-opted my blogging into a larger point about the decline of the scene/society. In fact, I got like hundreds of free CDs from cool labels and learned a TON more about music, met a ton of people whose songs I loved, and had a great time being a wrong, non-expert learning about music as I went along. The point of this post is that the OP should time travel back to 1999 and build Trill Vinyl as a Tripod page with a free cjb.net redirect URL and then today you could be in your 30s/40s and tell the new school of amateur music writers/bloggers to go fuck itself. 😊
*The guy who owns Hush Records did tell me to fuck off. LOL.

The theory the forums floated that they’re trying to trim liabilities and shiny things up for a big payday sale of the company sounds like a reasonable possibility, IMO.

Wouldn't $3,000 fund a web forum for like 10+ years? I've built websites for 15+ years but never ran a large forum. Would you need an expensive private server plan for something like that?

this may be the best National record ever from a technical and composition angle and removing any nostalgia one might have with the Alligator/Boxer/High Violet eras - Berniger's lyrics have never been better and switching up the dynamic by having a multitude of different voices signing on it prevents the band from eating its own tail and reigniting their creativity. 
 
this record probably cements the band - for me at least - with one of the greatest discographies in all of music of all time. 

Album is so fucking great

Yeah. TTL have had that "advice" posted on their site for a while, as a subtle nudge for people to not contact them about warps.
Personally, I prefer the alternative method where you put the vinyl on your lap and pet it softly until it relaxes into being flat.

Yeah. TTL have had that "advice" posted on their site for a while, as a subtle nudge for people to not contact them about warps.
Personally, I prefer the alternative method where you put the vinyl on your lap and pet it softly until it relaxes into being flat.

Yeah. TTL have had that "advice" posted on their site for a while, as a subtle nudge for people to not contact them about warps.
Personally, I prefer the alternative method where you put the vinyl on your lap and pet it softly until it relaxes into being flat.

Yeah. TTL have had that "advice" posted on their site for a while, as a subtle nudge for people to not contact them about warps.
Personally, I prefer the alternative method where you put the vinyl on your lap and pet it softly until it relaxes into being flat.

Yeah. TTL have had that "advice" posted on their site for a while, as a subtle nudge for people to not contact them about warps.
Personally, I prefer the alternative method where you put the vinyl on your lap and pet it softly until it relaxes into being flat.

The busted VC forum won’t let me leave feedback but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that @thefavoriteplay is my personal RSD hero. Buy/sell/trade with him forever!

Based off these two tracks and the clip of studio Rylan, this one is shaping up to be another Trouble Will Find Me style collection of straightforward decent/dope songs. I’m also kind of stoked at the destinct  lack of High Violet EPICNESS for a third album in a row. If this band retires with England and Vanderlyle being their most pandering big arena tracks, I will start calling up local trophy shops and getting quotes for a “best/most consistent rock band of my generation” plaque.

They just revealed the vinyl artwork and details on Amazon:

R.E.M. - Best Of R.E.M. At The BBC (2xLP)
 
And the same for the CD complete version:

R.E.M. - Best Of R.E.M. At The BBC (8 CDs)

So I have a very exciting update on the project! As of a few days ago, I've officially partnered with Kindercore Vinyl in Athens, GA to press the album to vinyl record! One of the owners reached out to me after happening upon one of the FB ads I ran a few weeks ago and said they'd be honored to do it. Considering Kindercore has been a part of the music scene in Athens since the 90's and have worked with a lot of the artists in the E6 Collective, including key NMH members, I think this adds some significance to the album and I couldn't be happier about it.
 
I'm planning to take a road trip down there to pick everything up once the press is done and hopefully meet some E6 people while I'm there. I'm going to leave a dozen albums with select people and cross my fingers that one of them ends up in Jeff Mangum's hands! I briefly spoke with Scott Spillane and reached out to Laura Carter as well in that effort.
 
If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the vinyl or an album download (and other goodies), campaign link is below - only a week left!
 

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