the national - a lot of sorrow

[humandingus]

hey ya'll, i don't know if you are all into the national or not, or if you all heard about the new release they are putting out. but it has certainly got my attention.

"ON MAY 5, 2013 THE NATIONAL COLLABORATED WITH ICELANDIC ARTIST RAGNAR KJARTANSSON ON A LOT OF SORROW, A DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE PRESENTED AS PART OF MOMA PS1’S SUNDAY SESSIONS. KJARTANSSON, WHO OFTEN USES REPETITIVE PERFORMANCE TO EXPLORE COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE AND EMOTION, INVITED THE NATIONAL TO PLAY THEIR THREE-MINUTE, TWENTY-FIVE SECOND SONG “SORROW” LIVE ON STAGE, REPEATEDLY AND CONTINUOUSLY, FOR SIX HOURS. THIS INCREDIBLE FEAT OF ENDURANCE HAS BECOME LEGENDARY, AND THE AUDIO RECORDING OF THE PERFORMANCE WILL BE RELEASED AS A LIMITED EDITION 1,500 RUN VINYL BOXED SET BY 4AD ON JUNE 22, 2015.
FEATURING NINE PIECES OF CLEAR VINYL IN CLEAR SLEEVES HELD IN A TRANSLUCENT, SCREEN PRINTED BOX, A LOT OF SORROW IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER. ALL PROFITS WILL BE DONATED TO PARTNERS IN HEALTH, AN ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF IMPOVERISHED PEOPLE WORLDWIDE."

i think this is total bullshit, and one of the most pretentious things a band has ever done. how many bands do you think got their records delayed because the national needed 13,500 records pressed all with the same fucking song being played over and over again?

[D.o.S.]

how many bands do you think got their records delayed because the national needed 13,500 records pressed all with the same fucking song being played over and over again?

Isn't that basically what happens every time the national put out a vinyl edition of their record, though?

[kbit]

Seriously though, vinyl is not a good medium for this kinda of thing. Just going for what sells.

Its kinda pretentious, but I'd listen to it (probably not all of it). Its almost like the disintegration loops

[D.o.S.]

I will say that the relatively recent homogenization of record store day comes with the good (people are buying records which means people like us can out records on records) as well as the bad (c'mon no one needs to hold up the pressing plants for the 2162183122394723th edition of Nebraska)


edit: it's probably also worth noting that as a Grateful Dead and Phish fan I should probably not in good conscience be talking shit about listening to a band playing the same song for six hours or whatever.


The difference, of course, is that neither of those bands are nearly as garbage as The National.

double edit:

[Harry_Manback]

[Blackened Soul]

what is a the national anyway? I have never heard of them. should I have ever heard of them? will now knowing that somewhere out there there is a the national harm me in anyway? why would a band that I have never heard of be able to delay other band's that I might have actually heard of releases? how can this happen? how can this kind of thing be stopped?

[kbit]

More vinyl pressing plants are needed. For sure. not probable to happen due to the machinary needed.

Although thirteen presses were just found in some Chicago warehouse recently. Dunno what that will do for the market though.

[D.o.S.]

what is a the national anyway? I have never heard of them. should I have ever heard of them? will now knowing that somewhere out there there is a the national harm me in anyway? why would a band that I have never heard of be able to delay other band's that I might have actually heard of releases? how can this happen? how can this kind of thing be stopped?

This is a pretty good summary of the problem:
http://www.thefourohfive.com/news/artic ... labels-139

And here's the full letter from last year:
http://www.kudosdistribution.co.uk/reco ... ustration/

Kudos’ physical release schedule will be pretty quiet for the next few weeks.

This isn’t a seasonal issue. The early spring sunshine isn’t keeping shoppers away from the high street. In fact, March and April have traditionally been very strong trading months.

The cause of this new release drought might surprise you; Record Store Day.

Right now, we have 20+ manufacturing jobs in production, all of which have come to a grinding halt while the pressing plants make hay by pressing up umpteen thousand Oasis LP re-issues, Abba 7”s and REM Box sets. We have even had one vinyl plant refuse any order of less than 500 units until after Record Store Day.

So, for the next six weeks, we are effectively locked out of the vinyl business.

[Achtane]

It's designed to be an emulation of the all-encompassing, hopeless grind that is daily life for billions of people worldwide, you fucking philistines.
Now cough up for the box set

[kbit]

It's designed to be an emulation of the all-encompassing, hopeless grind that is daily life for billions of people worldwide, you fucking philistines.
Now cough up for the box set

This is why I love you.

[Blackened Soul]

It's designed to be an emulation of the all-encompassing, hopeless grind that is daily life for billions of people worldwide, you fucking philistines.
Now cough up for the box set

I'll buy their box set when they play a cover of "A Shaving of the Horn that Speared You" for six hours and put that on pink with yellow polka-dotted cear vinyl...

what is a the national anyway? I have never heard of them. should I have ever heard of them? will now knowing that somewhere out there there is a the national harm me in anyway? why would a band that I have never heard of be able to delay other band's that I might have actually heard of releases? how can this happen? how can this kind of thing be stopped?

This is a pretty good summary of the problem:
http://www.thefourohfive.com/news/artic ... labels-139

And here's the full letter from last year:
http://www.kudosdistribution.co.uk/reco ... ustration/

Kudos’ physical release schedule will be pretty quiet for the next few weeks.

This isn’t a seasonal issue. The early spring sunshine isn’t keeping shoppers away from the high street. In fact, March and April have traditionally been very strong trading months.

The cause of this new release drought might surprise you; Record Store Day.

Right now, we have 20+ manufacturing jobs in production, all of which have come to a grinding halt while the pressing plants make hay by pressing up umpteen thousand Oasis LP re-issues, Abba 7”s and REM Box sets. We have even had one vinyl plant refuse any order of less than 500 units until after Record Store Day.

So, for the next six weeks, we are effectively locked out of the vinyl business.

this I get, and I get it with lame old dinosaur bands, pop stars that have no right putting out records or fo-indie legends from the old day [ lame old dinosaur bands of the future] but I have never heard of the national and now I have and the fact that they exist depresses me.

[sonidero]

It's a group of old dads who couldn't hack it in their local Waits/Cohen cover bands so they made their own "band"...

[spacelordmother]

I heard of this performance and thought it weird, but dudes. The National are fucking fucking awesome awesome. Like for real.

[Twangasaurus]

I heard of this performance and thought it weird, but dudes. The National are fucking fucking awesome awesome. Like for real.

This is true. I have also liked the last two classical things Bryan Dessner has done.

That being said, this project sounds like a load of shit. I don't really care though, it's one thing they have done in a consitently excellent catalogue.

[sonidero]

That singer...

There are some ok musical passages live at Roskilde but that aint cool...

I don't get it but I'm not 22 so...