Right...you spent the previous weekend in sweltering 90 degree heat, around the pool or the barbecue pit, slathering on the tanning butter...but friends, technically it's still Spring. For three more weeks, actually.
And like you, I did much of the aforementioned and never got around to a 'Summer Giveaway' graphic...so we'll make do this morning, ok? All Spring-like.
Brooklyn's The National storm Constitution Hall in DC this coming Sunday evening (6/6) and in advance of their appearance we've got three (count 'em, three) copies of the new LP 'High Violet' to put in your hands.
I think Popmatters in their review of the new LP put it best, "For years, loving the National’s music has often meant reveling in the twinge of pain that comes when someone else manages to perfectly pin down and dissect a little piece of your psyche, which is why fans can get so inarticulate when trying to talk about what’s great about the band. As Felix Mendelssohn said, “The thoughts that are expressed to me by music that I love are not too indefinite to be put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.”
High Violet‘s greatness, above beyond the fact that it’s a gorgeously arranged and performed set of songs of surprising tensile strength and grace, is that it rests its finger on some uncomfortably relevant truths about life after you no longer have the mental, physical, social or emotional wherewithal to spend every night at the bar and leaving the Silver City for somewhere quieter starts seeming like a good move. Anyone who loves this record probably has a very exact idea of how it touches on their own life, but most of us probably aren’t going to want to share."
Ready for your moment of self-reflection with 'High Violet' as a soundtrack? In the comments to this post when and how you turned a particular corner—in regard to The National or anything else that strikes you. That's it - just spill it.
We'll choose three winners for a copy of the LP and close this contest on Tuesday, 6/8 to give you some time after The National's DC appearance to let it all sink in and figure out what it all means. Remember to leave us some contact info too!
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio (Mp3)
Authorized for download!
9 comments:
I would have to say the first big corner of my life happened at 18 when my first child was born and I got married. Really had to change my way of life but I can say it has been nothing but happy times since..
MOVING TO DC!! best decision ever....
stellar0240@gmail.com
I have to work alllll weekend, and it's my birthday - so no National at D.A.R. and no birthday celebration. That's depressing enough to win, right?
kellyafcompton@gmail.com
Just this past month I decided I would move out on my own, take a risk of paying my own bills, and live in a different city from my parents. I am now working on getting accepted into a graduates program for the year after this...I have to save up money this year. This "turn" has really set me in the right direction. I am doing it all on my own and hopefully can keep this up.
Dunnand@gmail.com
Just one corner that was turned and life was changed? No, not for me. There have been multiple times when I turned that corner and life was forever altered.
1972 – Met some crazy red head kid playing with berries and a Frisbee who taught me the value of lifelong friendship.
1988 – Dropped out of school and faced reality for the first time and learned the value of education.
1993 – Held the hand of a dying motorcyclist after an accident and understood the fleetingness of life.
1995 – Married my wife and found out what true love was.
2003 – Graduated cum laude while working full time and learned that hard work really does pays off.
2006 – My first daughter was born after traumatic 36 hour labors were there were possibilities that either one was not going to make it; I learned to not sweat the small stuff.
2009 – Moved from my beloved, but besieged city to the suburbs of Middle America and realized the joy of a small but engaging community.
Looking forward to that next corner,
Spike
spikelo@verizon.net
The National isn't a band you turn a corner with, they're a band you grow up to. I remember when I was switched on to the National - I was in my early 20's dating someone in his early 30's. He knew a thing or twelve at the time that I didn't. Yet. I loved the lush orchestration of the music but what really started gnawing at me were the lyrics (I admit, I've always been one of those "lyric girls"). Back then I didn't quite grasp the jaded disenchantment under Berninger's voice when he sings "you know I dreamed about you for 29 years before I saw you" on Boxer, but as he laments now on High Violet's "Afraid of Everyone," "with my kid on my shoulders I try not to hurt anybody I like..." I get it. That popmatters review nailed it: The National is music for articulate people who are too lost wandering around own thoughts and worries (imagined or not) to spit it out.
shelley.fasulko@gmail.com
@shelleyfasulko
2010 has been a year of upheaval - both good and bad. My little record label with a vinyl jones worked very hard to mix and master our 3rd release (2nd on vinyl). Quite an arduous task of love and joy.
Half way through all the production and manufacturing tasks - I was give notice that my day gig was ending. A solid non-profit community oriented job I loved doing for the past 6.5 years here in DC. It was one of those swift kick to the head moments - where your given daily routine is uprooted making you question most everything.
I know now - more emphatically than ever - how important music is to my being: making, writing, producing, and most importantly listening. The National are a band I've enjoyed for their complexity and depth of songwriting. I submit to you that I could really use an LP to help me further my enlightenment and arrival of what's "next".
Above all - thanks for being such a community asset to vinyl lovers here in DC and beyond.
-C
twitter.com/undercast
I'm perpetually turning corners as if I've gotten lost in an Escher print, and I've kept the National on repeat through the whole damn labyrinth. A Cincinnati native, I was lucky enough to see them play an acoustic set at Shake-It records in 2007. They pushed the vinyl racks out of the way and set up a mic and a kitchen stool. I remember a cooler of Budweiser cans. The band members' parents were there. I saw their shows in Cincinnati and Columbus back-to-back nights that summer, before pivoting towards the Atlantic and landing in Spain. The National weren't far behind and I got to see them again in Barcelona that fall. I was expecting the intimacy of Columbus' The Basement, where you could hear the thump when Matt Berninger hit himself in the forehead with the microphone, but I was just one of hundreds of fans at the Apolo. Boxer had just come out and it was no secret among the bohemians of Catalunya. I spent the next couple of years playing connect the dots all over the Old Continent, guided by some sort of arcane mental compass. It wasn't long after I finally made it back across the pond that I was crowd surfing to Mr. November at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. I soon ended up living with my parents and foregoing most expenditures, until getting on the straight and narrow to D.C., where my 9-5 office job allows me to post this comment while concurrently fulfilling the duties of my post. The salary allows for concert-going--"civilized" was how Berninger described his interaction with the crowd at D.A.R. Hall last night, even though we numbered in the thousands and there was plenty of screaming and groping by star-stricken fans. Hard to believe this was the same band I saw three years ago. But I couldn't be more pumped for them, and I hope they keep following me into new corners.
Best pre-turn song: The Geese of Beverly Road
Best peak-of-turn song: Bloodbuzz Ohio
Best post-turn song: Apartment Song
katejries@gmail.com
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