New Music: The National - Guilty Party (Video)

This weekend just gone The National played The Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. I’m a huge fan of the band and for me this should have been one of their crowning moments, but I'm sorry to say it felt like a wasted opportunity. Too many new songs left the audience where I was standing losing interest and the band’s mood, whilst humble, felt a little downbeat which didn’t really capture the atmosphere on site, which was positively upbeat. 

Menacing closer and new song Turtleneck felt wrongly positioned in the set, particularly with its rather abrupt ending. “So is that it?” seemed to be the shoulder shrug response of those by me after they finished. When Matt Berninger showed his phone to the crowd to ask them to call a US politician and stop a controversial healthcare bill in the US, it was an admirable thing to do, but felt misplaced given the band was playing in the UK which has its own very pressing political issues right now. It was all in all a little disappointing, especially after Katy Perry (who I've never particularly liked) put on a exuberant show immediately before them and became one of my (many) surprising highlights of the weekend.

That’s not to say there weren’t highlights though. An early appearance of Fake Empire captured my heart and England swelled with huge emotion as well, but it wasn't enough from a band that have previously moved me nearly to tears.

However, not every artist can be perfect every time you see them – it’s one of the realities of being a fan and seeing a band a number of times; some shows will always be better than others. Not to admit that is living a false reality.

However, all is forgiven when listening to the second rather gorgeous but sad song to be released from the forthcoming album Sleep Well Beast. It's called Guilty Party.

"It's nobody's fault. No guilty party. We just got nothing, nothing left to say" sings Matt, capturing exactly how many break ups feel. If you’re going through a tough time with a relationship ending right now, this song will probably feel like it’s written for you. Hopefully that might help with things a little. 

The National - Guilty Party (Video)

New Music: The National - The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness

When any band or solo artist creates a substantial body of work and the inevitable ‘what’s your favourite album by that act’ discussions come up, it’s easy to be derided for choosing the most commercially successful of that acts' records. Yet I’m quite happy to admit that some of my personal bests are the big hitters. U2’s Joshua Tree, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love and The Cure’s Disintegration are all records that, of those particular artists, mean the most to me. Likewise, The National’s High Violet, the band’s 2010 album, sits easily within my albums of the decade list.

But once a band has released an album that endears itself so powerfully to you, there’s a danger that having fallen completely in love, any other relationship will always seem slightly inferior. That’s certainly what I found with the 2013 follow up Trouble Will Find Me. Despite some superbly crafted material (I Need My Girl in particular is an exemplary song) it just never found a place in my heart in the same way as High Violet did.

Now, four years on, my favourite band that look like a bunch of Geography professors return with their seventh album. Sleep Well Beast will be released on September 8th through 4AD records and the band will be touring extensively – the opening date of that tour being Glastonbury Festival, but UK fans can also find them playing a number of dates in Edinburgh, Manchester and at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. The first single to be taken from it is called The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness. It is, I'm very pleased to say, very good.

Instantly recognisable as The National due to Matt Berninger’s gorgeous baritone, the first things that strike me about the song is the taught guitar riff that eventually leads into a full on solo (we just don't get enough proper guitar solos these days, so it's good to have one here), the simple repeated piano backing, lyrics about talking to God, loss of no other faith and dying of lonely secrets. Then there’s the fan pleasing moment when Matt sings ‘I can’t explain it, any other, any other way,” a lyric that sounds ready and ripe for 1000s to sing out together at the gigs.

I doubt anything will ever surpass High Violet for me, but having just played The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness twelve times on repeat I can confirm that this is a very fine return.

The National - The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness (Video)

Back Soon....

Breaking More Waves is taking a short break for a few days, but we’ll be back on Monday the 18th November when we’ll be starting our annual Ones to Watch posts, looking forward to 2014. Then when that’s done and dusted we’ll be revealing (together with some of our UK blog peer group) the results of the UK Blog Sound of 2014 poll, followed in quick succession with a countdown of our favourite albums of 2013. There’ll be an occasional standard new music post slotted in between all of this, but it will mainly be about tips and recommendations from the last 12 months and then looking forward to the next 12.

In the meantime, we start our time away from the blog tonight with a trip to see the band that produced our favourite album of 2010, so rather appropriately here’s a stream of their recently released tune Lean from the second Hunger Games film, Catching Fire.

The National - Lean

The National - Demons (Video)

We were once asked by somebody standing behind us at a gig by The National to stop swaying / dancing because it was making them giddy. We’re not sure if it was really was our dancing or The National’s music that was making her feel that way. Certainly our anticipation for their sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me has made us feel like a fired up teenage boy waiting outside a girl's house before he takes her on a first date; stupidly dizzy with excitement. “It’s a record about getting older,” said vocalist Matt Berninger of the album, certainly a theme we can all relate to, but he’s also suggested that it isn’t going to be fully grim.

So here’s the first offering. It’s called Demons and it would be fair to say it's not exactly The Venga Boys. In fact The National still sound gloriously gloomy. There’s plenty of awkward despondency and self-doubt here. The song seems to be Berninger commenting on the fact that even though his life is OK, sometimes it’s easier for him to wallow in the darkness and stay “down with the demons.” “I get this sudden sinking feeling of a man about to fly,” he sings, suggesting that the very idea of being comfortable, successful or in a good place doesn’t sit easily with him. The music itself matches these themes, slow aching drums and placid guitar effects ensuring that the song remains restrained, downcast and perfect for coaxing you back into the world of The National. Roll on May 20th when Trouble Will Find Me is released.

The National - Demons (Video)

UK Blogger Albums Of 2010 Poll Results

For six years now the superbly intelligent and literate Sweeping The Nation blog has been running the UK Bloggers Album of the Year poll, with each blog submitting (or in some cases Sweeping The Nation filching) their top ten LP’s of the year for some sort of points scoring contest that smooths out any idiosyncrasies of potential and arguable ‘poor taste.' For example the Breaking More Waves choice of Ellie Goulding in the top 10 was hardly likely to be replicated by the rest of the blogosphere – mainstream commercial female fronted pop music albums have nearly always received short change in end of year polls from anything outside ‘true pop’ blogs.

The poll gives us a good aggregation of what LP’s have been collectively floating UK bloggers boats over the past 12 months. The list shows some of the differences in UK bloggers tastes to our American cousins over the pond – for example there is very little hip hop on the list – but then maybe that’s because of the sample of blogs chosen to compile the list.

From the Breaking More Waves perspective it’s also interesting to see where we fall in line with our UK music blog peer group and it seems there’s a fair degree of commonality (Ellie Goulding being an exception) with 7 of our 10 albums of the year featuring in the Top 75 and 3 of our 10 being in the Top 10. The full list of 75 albums can be found at Sweeping the Nation – the link is below. We raised a little cheer when we saw that Hurts came above Crystal Castles and Gorillaz in the poll, were a little disappointed to find that Stornoway haven’t picked up the love from bloggers that we hoped they would and are startled to see that Midlake’s preposterous sleep inducing dirge of prog-folk got any votes at all, but that is the beauty of opinion and taste.

Click here to see the top 75 albums in full from the Sweeping The Nation poll.

Here’s a summary of our top ten which we voted for with links to each individual blog, followed by a couple of tracks from Sweeping The Nation’s own number 1 album of the year (and number 10 in the poll) Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos!

The National – High Violet – Our #1 Blogger Poll #1

We said “Subtle and perfectly executed musicianship and songs.”

Hurts – Happiness – Our #2 Blogger Poll #28

We said “In a world where 'alternative' often means recording some fuzzy guitar and wailing vocals and doing a blurred photo shoot, by doing something so uncool and opposite to what most music fans expect, Hurts are in an odd way a real alternative.”

Sleigh Bells – Treats – Our #3 Blogger Poll #8

We said “A journey of youthful noise, out on the town, with its knickers off, ready to shag against a wall.”

Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now – Our #4 Blogger Poll #12

We said “Own Side Now is rooted in tradition and is hardly ground breaking, but that doesn't matter when it’s bedecked with this much quality.”

Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill – Our #5 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “If you’re feeling bad about life this cold winter, put on Beachcomber’s Windowsill; it will warm your soul.”

Zola Jesus – Stridulum II – Our #6 Blogger Poll #39

We said “A doomsday pop record full of emotion, vulnerability and accessible songs.”

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can – Our #7 Blogger Poll #3

We said “Musically evocative.”

Ellie Goulding – Lights – Our #8 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “Lights is a quality pop album that stands up to the weight of hype.”

Salem – King Night – Our #9 Blogger Poll N/A

We said “Like a druggy Halloween screw in a graveyard”

Perfume Genius – Learning – Our #10 Blogger Poll #36

We said “It’s the angsty, fragile and rawness of its whole that makes it such a brilliantly affecting album.”

There Are Listed Buildings by Los Campesinos!

Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos!

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future by Los Campesinos!

Thanks to Simon at Sweeping The Nation for doing such a good job in compiling all the results again. Make sure you pay a visit to his blog.

The National - High Violet - Album of the Year 2010 #1

High Violet is the fifth studio album by The National and is their best. Rather like REM, The National give substantial weight to the argument of letting bands slowly develop, perfecting their craft and growing in both critical and commercial stature.

High Violet is not a huge ballsy album that comes gate crashing the party through your front door, more the kind of recording that sits around in the back garden smoking with your friends and then as the evening develops, slowly sidles up, plants a gentle red wine kiss on your cheek and whispers “let’s go to bed.” It’s gradual and seductive charm is impossible to ignore.

With this record The National have produced a slow burning and addictive masterpiece. It’s a richly textured and utterly beguiling piece of work that relies on four simple ingredients - Matt Berninger’s baritone - reminiscent of Stuart Staples from the Tindersticks, intriguing lyrics that on paper often seem ridiculous but when performed make perfect sense, take for example Berninger intoning “I was afraid I’d eat your brains ’cos I’m evil,” on Conversation 16, plus the subtle and perfectly executed musicianship and songs.

What The National do with High Violet is show that it is still possible to make beautiful rock music formed from sadness and neuroses as adults. The touching piano led England talks of being “afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners” and during Afraid of Everyone Berninger plays to his role as a parent as well as a rock singer when he sings of hoisting his “kid on my shoulders” before offering the slightly startling thought that “I don’t have the drugs to sort it out”. These songs grapple with the concept of mature life and sees Berninger cynical and self-depreciating “ I was a comfortable kid, but I don’t think about it much anymore,” he sings on Lemonworld, before adding “ Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth, and we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party.”

Despite the lyrics of High Violet having a fair degree of paranoia, the record never sounds cold – far from it, this is a record that despite its late night city ambience sounds very warm, such is the exceptional musical and human dynamic. It is this as much as anything else that makes us return to listen again and again.

When we first heard this record back in May we thought it was good. By July it was great. By October it was outstanding. By December High Violet by The National is our album of the year by a long mile.

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

The National - Terrible Love (Alternate Version)

Look. We haven’t talked about The National much on Breaking More Waves - which is an utterly ridiculous state of affairs. Just here.

We will be addressing this during December, you have our word. Until then here’s the new (that is if you define new as just a few weeks old) alternate version of Terrible Love. Stunning song, stunning band. Really if High Violet doesn’t move you then you really need to check your pulse.

Clogs (featuring Matt Berninger from The National) - Last Song

Sometimes it doesn't matter how many words are used to describe something or how excessively over the top the enthusiastic words are, nothing will do a song justice. Rather like trying to describe the most attractive man or woman, the most wondrous landscape or the most incredible architecture, nothing beats experiencing it yourself.

Which is why we implore you to take a few minutes out of your life and listen to the ornate and restrained beauty that is Last Song by Clogs, featuring the moving muttered baritone of Matt Berninger from The National. Right now he is quite simply our favourite male vocalist on the planet. Last Song is taken from an EP of the same name and also features on Clogs album The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton.

There is nothing more to say. Just listen. Absolutely perfect.

Latitude 2010 - Review (Part 1)

The attempt by Festival Republic to establish and market Latitude as a safe and family friendly festival took several steps backward this weekend. The horrific reports of two alleged rapes on the site, the partial collapse of the canopy structure over the Sunrise Arena stage (pictured above before collapse) on Friday afternoon, and Crystal Castles lead singer Alice Glass throwing punches at a member of the crowd during their Main Stage set on Saturday evening all spoilt what was otherwise a good natured and friendly vibe. It highlighted the fact that despite festivals ethos of love, peace and harmony, such events can be high risk environments.

Under sunny skies girls waltzed around the site wearing flower and leaf headdresses, people relaxed in deckchairs by the now famous multicoloured sheep adjacent the lake, whilst the cream of Central St Martins and Chelsea graduates displayed fashion shows. Despite a few regulars grumbling that the site was even busier than years past, that there was a more boisterous teenage element present (lured no doubt by acts such as Florence and the Machine, Crystal Castles and Vampire Weekend) and that the toilets were still the disgustingly smelly long drop types, overall Latitude 2010 still had a significant amount of chilled goodwill at its heart.

The ‘quiet opening’ on Thursday night got underway with a special midnight set in the middle of the woods by Tom Jones, performing songs from his critically acclaimed album Praise & Blame. With a full to capacity crowd and delayed by technical hitches, Jones arrived on the small stage to ask “Can you hear me OK?” and received a roar of approval in reply. However as his set progressed a significant portion of the crowd grew restless shouting for Sex Bomb and Delilah - hits that Jones had no intention of playing. This was no nostalgia trip, but an opportunity for Tom to display the essence of his talent - his remarkable voice; a soft mix of Presley and Cash - going back to his roots. With a band including Ethan Johns of Kings of Leon and Laura Marling production fame, that played upbeat rock n roll and gospel tinged ballads, Jones may not have delivered a typical crowd pleasing set, but for those who were prepared to listen with an open mind, it was sterling stuff.

The Sunrise Arena is a beautiful fern lined clearing in the woods, covered with a tent-like canopy for shade and shelter. It provided a safety related incident on Friday. Following well received sets from local acoustic singer songwriter Mathew P and the indie-folk-rock of Kurran and the Wolfnotes, a small lunch time crowd were waiting for country singer Delta Maid, when one of the heavy central support poles to the canopy dislodged and kicked out, falling to the floor, presumably from wind force pressure. Luckily because the space was relatively empty nobody was hit or hurt. With the canopy now partially collapsed security were quickly on hand to clear the area and the public asked to leave, the stage closed for the time being.

Over at the Lake Stage local band These Ghosts drew a young home crowd to witness their brooding, epic and passionate guitar anthems. “You are the most beautiful people. Thank you for making this the best day of our lives,” their overawed lead singer proclaimed in a believable way. Next up the sensual eyed ex-Pipette and every geeky indie boys pin-up poster girl Rose Elinor Dougall took the prize for biggest stilettos of the day. Her songs reference late 80’s / early 90’s indie and Casio keyed 50’s film noir. Come Away With Me sounded not dissimilar to The Sundays, the intro to Start / Stop / Synchro hinting at Broadcast. Less commercial than The Pipettes, these songs are likely to be significantly longer lasting.

The Lake Stage continued to push out varied new bands all afternoon. The bobble hat wearing welsh surf-guitar instrumentalists Y Niwl got a varied crowd dancing. Their sound may be obvious with it’s 60’s Hammond organ and garage-twang guitars, but it was perfect for the glorious sunshine - it wouldn’t have been at all surprising to find Quentin Tarantino running down the hill in Bermuda shorts signing the band up for his next film soundtrack,

“This is my sister, she spat water on my groin,” a member of Yuck announced from the stage. It certainly made a change from the standard “Are you having a nice festival / good time,” question that virtually every band used all weekend as their conversation piece with the audience. Squalling guitars, whiney vocals, fuzzy shoe-gazing pop, Yuck have got indie-rock-like-it-used-to-be down to a fine art and are appealingly good. They’re starting to give The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart a run for their money.

Gold is her name and it seems that Gold is her colour - for Alice Gold had either overdone it with the fake tan or has gone a few rounds sunbathing. Looking more like a Jordan wannabe than a rock star she belted out her MOR rock-pop with a big pair of lungs, to a small crowd of curious onlookers most of whom were passing by on their way to buy food or drink.

Sarah from The Good Natured first came to our attention as a bedroom-demo keyboard lass back in 2009. Now playing as a three piece band she’s ditched the keyboard, relying instead on a backing track. Displaying a girlish nervousness between numbers, her performance was entirely composite and confident during the songs themselves. She prowled like a hotpants and black eyeliner wearing tiger, thrusting her arms towards the crowd, throwing the microphone lead around her neck and dropping to her knees to sing in her strangely captivating flat tones. Sarah is certainly playing at being a ‘proper’ pop star, but possesses a darker edginess. Fortune Teller was a hooky swirling danceable beast and Your Body Is A Machine a deeper scratch below the surface.

The scratch becomes a darker wound with Esben and the Witch. The Brighton trio were primitive, experimental and powerful, the reverb laden female vocal more than ghostly, the drums, thrashing guitars, electronic beats and pulses of ambient noise not for the fainthearted, but all spectacularly good. One of the highlights of the afternoon at the Lake Stage for those who like their music a little eerie.

New bands led to more established artists on the main stage and then The Word sponsored 6,000 capacity tent, as day turned to night.

Laura Marling’s second album I Speak Because I Can may be bolder than her debut but would her songs transfer in the huge open space of the main stage, known as the Obelisk Arena ? The answer is yes, her hushed folk sound and quality musicianship only being slightly spoilt by sound bleed from the booming Wild Beasts set from The Word stage. Devil's Spoke and Rambling Man were authoritative and passionate, and when unadorned of her backing band she bears fruit with songs of beauty. Not so much the shy or humble girl she once was, Marling even engaged in some between song banter and got the crowd to accompany her on a whistling solo.

In the Word Arena Richard Hawley was un-typically quiet in between songs, which he finally explained was due a bout of bronchitis. Despite this however his lovelorn melodies were timeless and wonderful, particularly during Tonight The Streets Are Ours which was so romantic that if babies haven’t been created to its sound, there’s something tragically wrong with the world.

It’s left to The National to send folks back to their tents with the best set of the day. It’s powerful, weighty and intensely euphoric. Matt Berninger’s baritone is imposing, the bands music almost overwhelming, layered, lush and hugely emotional. They start with the slow build of the exquisite Runaway, and by the time they reach Bloodbuzz Ohio and Fake Empire grown men are on the verge of weeping. Mass singalongs occur. It’s that good. It’s that exhilarating. It’s moments like these that make you realise that, in the moment, music is that important. The National are now challenging Radiohead as the worlds best rock band. Even bigger stages surely beckon. Very special and the perfect way to end the first day.

Latitude 2010 Day 2 and Day 3 review posts will be published daily this week.