The New Pornographers | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Genres | Indie rock, power pop, post-punk revival |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | |
Members |
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Past members |
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Website | thenewpornographers |
The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 1997 in Vancouver. Presented as a musical collective and supergroup [1] of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band has released nine studio albums to date. The band have received critical acclaim for their use of multiple vocalists and songwriters, as well as for the elements of power pop incorporated into their music. [2] Pitchfork has described the band's sound as "peppy, gleeful, headstrong guitar pop", [3] while Stereogum has retrospectively praised the band's debut album Mass Romantic as "one of the greatest and most immediate power pop albums ever rendered". [1]
The New Pornographers' name was chosen by Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers . [4] The band has released nine albums to date: Mass Romantic (2000), Electric Version (2003), Twin Cinema (2005), Challengers (2007), Together (2010), Brill Bruisers (2014), Whiteout Conditions (2017), In the Morse Code of Brake Lights (2019), and Continue as a Guest (2023). A live album recorded on their 2006 tour is available only at concerts and on the band's website. In 2005, the band was the subject of Reginald Harkema's documentary film Better Off in Bed. [5]
The New Pornographers' first four albums each placed in the top 40 on The Village Voice 's Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers' album or a solo album from one of the band's members ranked in the top 40 on the list each year. [6] In 2007, Blender magazine ranked the New Pornographers' first album, Mass Romantic, the 24th best indie album of all time. [7] In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band's second studio album, Electric Version, No. 79 in the "100 Best Albums of the Decade". [8]
All of the New Pornographers' original members were prominent within the Vancouver music scene prior to forming the band. Kathryn Calder, who is also Newman's niece, joined the band in 2005 largely as a live replacement for Neko Case, whose solo career often left her unavailable to perform with the band. Calder's first lead vocals for the band were on 2007's Challengers , singing the lead on "Failsafe" and sharing the lead with Newman on "Adventures in Solitude".[ citation needed ]
In 2009, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the Destroyer song "Hey, Snow White" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night , produced by the Red Hot Organization. The band released their fifth album, Together , on May 4, 2010, on Matador Records. The album includes collaborations from St. Vincent, Beirut's Zach Condon, and Okkervil River's Will Sheff. [9]
In 2012, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the song "Think About Me" for the Fleetwood Mac tribute CD called Just Tell Me That You Want Me released by Hear Music. The band's sixth album, Brill Bruisers , was released on August 26, 2014. [10] The album was their highest charting to date in the United States, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200. [11]
On January 26, 2017, the New Pornographers announced their seventh album, Whiteout Conditions, would be released on April 7. The album was preceded by the single "High Ticket Attractions". [12] The album is the first to feature drummer Joe Seiders as a full-time member after replacing drummer Kurt Dahle in mid-2014. It is also the first New Pornographers album to not feature Dan Bejar. [13] Newman, however, went on the record to note that Bejar's absence did not mean he had left the band entirely; telling Stereogum:
he [Bejar] was right in the middle of doing a Destroyer record... [w]hich was something we'd narrowly skirted for our whole career. I'm always amazed that we managed to. Sometimes we avoided Destroyer, sometimes Destroyer avoided us, but eventually we hit at the same time. It wasn't anything weird. [14]
On November 29, 2018, A.C. Newman announced via Twitter that he had begun work on a future New Pornographers album. [15] On August 2, 2019, the band announced via Twitter that it would release its new album, In the Morse Code of Brake Lights , on September 27, and released its first single from the album, "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile". [16] In a press release for the album, Dan Bejar is described as a "former (and possibly future) member" of the band. The new press photos for the band include vocalist/violinist Simi Stone, officially inducting her into the band after being an auxiliary touring member since 2015.
In July 2021, the band announced a North American tour where they would play Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema in full across simultaneous nights, as well as a reissue of Mass Romantic on vinyl. This announcement also confirmed the return of Bejar to the band, as well as the departure of both Thurier and Stone. [17]
On January 9, 2023, A.C. Newman announced via Twitter that the band had moved to a new label, Merge Records, alongside announcing the band's ninth album Continue as a Guest , a single from the album, "Really Really Light", and a tour starting in April. The band's press photos confirmed Bejar's second departure from the group – although he has a co-writing credit on "Really Really Light". [18] [19]
Current members
Members' other projects in brackets
Current touring musicians
Former members
Former touring musicians
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN [11] | AUS Hit. [23] | SCO [24] | UK [25] | UK Indie [26] | US [27] | US Indie [28] | US Rock [29] | |||||||
Mass Romantic | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
Electric Version |
| — | — | — | — | — | 196 | 12 | — | |||||
Twin Cinema |
| — | — | — | — | — | 44 | 5 | — | |||||
Challengers |
| — | — | — | 156 | 13 | 34 | 4 | 10 | |||||
Together |
| 14 | 16 | — | 168 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 5 | |||||
Brill Bruisers | 14 | 3 | 94 | 132 | 32 | 13 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
Whiteout Conditions |
| 82 | 17 | — | — | — | 35 | — | 6 | |||||
In the Morse Code of Brake Lights |
| — | — | — | — | — | 144 | — | 26 | |||||
Continue as a Guest |
| — | — | — | — [upper-alpha 1] | 45 | — [upper-alpha 2] | — | — | |||||
"—" denotes a release that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN Rock [32] | AUT [33] | US AAA [34] | US Rock Air [35] | MEX Air [36] | UK [25] | |||||||
"Letter from an Occupant" [37] | 2002 | — | — | — | — | — | 139 | Mass Romantic | ||||
"High Art, Local News" [38] | 2005 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Twin Cinema | ||||
"Twin Cinema" [39] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Use It" [38] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Sing Me Spanish Techno" [38] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Challengers" [40] | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Challengers | ||||
"My Rights Versus Yours" [41] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"The Spirit of Giving" [42] | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||
"Myriad Harbour" [43] | 2008 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Challengers | ||||
"Mutiny, I Promise You" [44] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Hey, Snow White" [45] | 2009 | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | Dark Was the Night | ||||
"Your Hands (Together)" [46] | 2010 | 43 | — | — | — | 16 | — | Together | ||||
"Crash Years" [47] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Togetherness" [38] | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||||
"Moves" [48] | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Together | ||||
"Up in the Dark" [49] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Brill Bruisers" [50] | 2014 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | Brill Bruisers | ||||
"War on the East Coast" [51] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Dancehall Domine" [52] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Champions of Red Wine" [53] | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
"High Ticket Attractions" [54] | 2017 | 27 | — | 5 | 49 | — | — | Whiteout Conditions | ||||
"This Is the World of the Theatre" [55] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Whiteout Conditions" [56] | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | ||||||
"Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile" [57] | 2019 | — | — | 12 | — | — | — | In the Morse Code of Brake Lights | ||||
"The Surprise Knock" [58] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"One Kind of Solomon" [59] | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Really Really Light" [60] | 2023 | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | Continue as a Guest | ||||
"Angelcover" | — | — | – | — | — | — | ||||||
"Pontius Pilate's Home Movies" | — | — | – | — | — | — | ||||||
"—" denotes a release that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Neko Richelle Case is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a powerhouse [which] seems like it might level buildings," "a 120-mph fastball," and a "vocal tornado". Critics also note her idiosyncratic, "cryptic," "imagistic" lyrics, and credit her as a significant figure in the early 21st-century American revival of the tenor guitar. Case's body of work has spanned and drawn on a range of traditions including country, folk, art rock, indie rock, and pop and is frequently described as defying or avoiding easy generic classification.
Mass Romantic is the debut studio album by Canadian indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers. Produced by David Carswell and band bassist John Collins, it was released on Mint Records on November 28, 2000. The album was three years in the making, with musicians A.C. Newman and Dan Bejar writing songs as early as 1998. With encouragement from peers, they recorded an album with other Canadian musicians from groups including The Evaporators, Zumpano, and Destroyer.
Electric Version is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. It was released on Matador Records and Mint Records on May 6, 2003.
Mint Records is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based independent record label founded in 1991, by friends and campus radio enthusiasts Randy Iwata and Bill Baker. Mint has put out over 150 releases, several of which have won Juno Awards.
Twin Cinema is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. It was released on August 23, 2005. The album was shortlisted for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize. As of 2010 it has sold 138,000 copies in US and 20,000 copies in Canada.
This Night is the fifth studio album by Destroyer, released on October 2, 2002. It was their first on Merge Records. Most of the material was written in Madrid, where Dan Bejar went to sidestep a tour with The New Pornographers, following the critical success of that supergroups's first album.
Destroyer's Rubies is the seventh studio album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer, released on February 21, 2006 on Merge Records, Scratch Records, Acuarela Discos, Architecture, and Rough Trade Records.
Kathryn Jane Calder is a Canadian indie rock musician, who performs as a solo artist, and is a member of the bands The New Pornographers and Frontperson. She is a former member of Immaculate Machine. Calder started with The New Pornographers by filling in for Neko Case for live performances and was made a permanent member in 2006.
Challengers is the fourth studio album by Canadian indie rock band the New Pornographers, released on August 21, 2007. The track listing for the album was revealed June 1, 2007. A box set containing three blank CD-Rs, named "Executive Edition", was released August 7, 2007, two weeks before the album, with the promise of future multimedia to be downloaded at the band's website for fans to compile and burn their own CDs. The first disc included B-sides, demos and alternate versions; the second, titled "Live from the Future", featured live performances of songs related to the album; the third disc includes videos, photos and album artwork. The bonus material was available for download with the pre-orders of Challengers. "Failsafe" is an A.C. Newman song first recorded commercially by the Canadian indie pop band the Choir Practice, and appeared on their debut album several months before the release of Challengers.
The discography of American rock band Interpol consists of seven studio albums, seven extended plays (EPs), and fifteen singles. Interpol was formed in 1997 by New York University students Daniel Kessler and Greg Drudy, with Carlos Dengler and Paul Banks joining later. Drudy left the band in 2000, and was replaced with Sam Fogarino.
Together is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock band the New Pornographers. It was released on May 4, 2010 and debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200.
Cloud Nothings is an American indie rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States, founded by singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi. It currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi, drummer Jayson Gerycz, and bassist Chris Brown.
Allan Carl Newman is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter. He was a member of the indie rock bands Superconductor and Zumpano in the 1990s. Following the breakup of those bands, he reemerged as the leader of the New Pornographers in 2000, a band who have enjoyed both commercial and critical success.
Brill Bruisers is the sixth studio album by Canadian indie rock band the New Pornographers. It was released on August 26, 2014 and debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200. In describing the album, A.C. Newman called it "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."
Sylvan Esso is an American electronic pop duo from Durham, North Carolina which was formed in 2013. The band consists of singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn. They made their debut with the single "Hey Mami" and released their eponymous debut album on Partisan Records on May 12, 2014. It reached No. 39 on the Billboard 200. They released their second album, What Now, with Loma Vista Recordings on April 28, 2017, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Big Thief is an American indie folk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Its members are Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums).
Whiteout Conditions is the seventh studio album by Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers. It was released on April 7, 2017, and is the first album not to feature either longtime drummer Kurt Dahle or singer-songwriter Dan Bejar.
The discography of American rock band Spoon consists of 10 studio albums, four extended plays (EPs), and 26 singles. Formed in 1993 in Austin, Texas by Britt Daniel and Jim Eno (drums), Spoon released their debut studio album, Telephono, in 1996 on Matador Records. Their follow-up full-length, A Series of Sneaks, was released in 1998 on Elektra, who subsequently dropped the band. Spoon went on to sign with Merge Records, where Spoon gained greater commercial success and critical acclaim with the albums Girls Can Tell (2001), Kill the Moonlight (2002), and particularly Gimme Fiction (2005), which debuted at number 44 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 300,000 copies in the US. The group's next three albums - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), Transference (2010), and They Want My Soul (2014) - reached the top 10 of the US charts, while the latter two peaked in the top 20 in Canada and the top 50 in Australia. The band's ninth album, Hot Thoughts, was released on March 17, 2017.
In the Morse Code of Brake Lights is the eighth studio album by Canadian indie rock band the New Pornographers, released on September 27, 2019. The album was preceded in August by its lead single, "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile".
Have We Met is the twelfth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer, released on January 31, 2020, by Merge Records and Dead Oceans.