The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers

The band onstage

Background information
Origin Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres Indie rock, power pop, psychedelic rock
Years active 1997–present
Labels Matador, Concord, Mint, Last Gang
Associated acts Pretty Girls Make Graves, Destroyer, AC Newman, Limblifter, Age of Electric, Zumpano
Website thenewpornographers.com
Members Kathryn Calder
Neko Case
John Collins
Todd Fancey
Carl Newman
Joe Seiders
Blaine Thurier
Dan Bejar
Past members Kurt Dahle
Fisher Rose

The New Pornographers is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Presented as a musical collective of singer-songwriters and musicians from multiple projects, the band have released seven studio albums to critical acclaim for their use of multiple vocalists and elements of power pop incorporated into their music.

History

The band's 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.[1] In 2007, Blender magazine ranked The New Pornographers' first album, Mass Romantic, the 24th best indie album of all time.[2] In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band's second studio album, Electric Version, No. 79 in the "100 Best Albums of the Decade".[3]

The name of the band was chosen by Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers.[4] Many writers have assumed that the name was a reference to Jimmy Swaggart's claim that rock and roll was "the new pornography."[5] The band has released seven albums to date: Mass Romantic (2000), Electric Version (2003), Twin Cinema (2005), Challengers (2007), Together (2010), Brill Bruisers (2014), and Whiteout Conditions (2017). 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.[6]

All of the band's original members were prominent within the Vancouver music scene prior to forming The New Pornographers. Kathryn Calder, who is also Newman's niece, joined the band in 2005 largely as a live replacement for 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".

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.[7]

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.[8] The album was their highest charting to date in the United States, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200.[9]

On January 26, 2017, the band announced their seventh album, Whiteout Conditions, would be released on April 7. The album was preceded by the single "High Ticket Attractions".[10] 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.[11] Newman has since, however, gone on the record to note that Bejar's absence does not mean he has left the band entirely; telling Stereogum that "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." [12]

Members

Current members

Members' other projects in brackets

Touring members
Former members
Former touring members

Timeline

Discography

Contributions

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Pazz & Jop awards from". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  2. ↑ "100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums of all time, No. 30 – No. 21, from". Blender.com. 2007-11-15. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  3. ↑ "Rolling Stone lists Top 100 of decade". CBC News. 2009-12-10. Retrieved 2 Oct 2010.
  4. ↑ Handler, Shane (2005-11-01). "The New Pornographers: Canadian Blockbuster". Glide Magazine. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  5. ↑ "New Pornographers bio from". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  6. ↑ "Harkema's road rockumentary inspired by the Rolling Stones". Edmonton Journal, July 22, 2005.
  7. ↑ Lindsay, Andrew (22 Feb 2010). "The New Pornographers reveal album details". Stereokill.net. Retrieved 1 Oct 2010.
  8. ↑ Gordon, Jeremy (June 10, 2014). "The New Pornographers Announce New Album Brill Bruisers, Share Title Track, Tour". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 "US Billboard Charts". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  10. ↑ Helman, Peter (26 January 2017). "The New Pornographers – "High Ticket Attractions"". Stereogum. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "New Pornographers Announce 'Whiteout Conditions' LP, Release 'High Ticket Attractions' Single". Spin. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Leas, Ryan (17 March 2017). "Q&A: A.C. Newman On Canadian Healthcare, Dan Bejar, And The New Pornographers' Whiteout Conditions". Stereogum. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "AC Newman on the last bit of the New Pornographers' 'Brill Bruisers' tour from". nuvo.net. Retrieved 2015-07-18.
  14. 1 2 "UK Chartlog: Nadanuf – Michael Nyman". zobbel.de. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  15. ↑ "New Pornographers > Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  16. ↑ "A Completely Biased Ranking of the 60 Best Canadian Indie Rock Songs of the 00s Part II". Vice, Cam Lindsay Apr 10 2017
  17. ↑ "Future Releases on Triple A (AAA) Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 2014-06-27.
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