June 6, 2005 | Posted by mark at 1:23 AM

I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope

The National - AlligatorThe National - Mr. November

From the opening chords we know we're dealing with a great American single. Matt Berninger and the boys from Cincinatti have created a song with almost unlimited appeal. High praise, I know, but listen to the damn thing -- it's incredible. I can listen to the chorus "I won't fuck us over/I'm Mr. November" til the cows come home -- and I have no idea what Mr. November is. I'm pretty sure he's a quarterback, but he could be a dude who posed in a Calendar for all I know. It's not important.

What is important is that Mr. November will fuck us over. He has to. There's so much desperation, so much to lose, there is no other way. He's buried in all this old pride, this leftover bravado, but it's not worth a shit. None of it matters because whatever he's attempting now is bound to fail. Even though the song is absolutely bursting with hope, I can't help but feel it's false.

What's even more wonderful is that Mr. November is just the tip of the iceburg on The National's new album -- an album that is easily in my top 5 of '05 so far. I can't stop listening to it. From the very first song, this album just reeks of accomplishment and craft. It's an excellent American indie rock album. I'd rank these guys right up with Spoon in terms of melody, action and writing. It's highly recommend it. I'm surprised you don't already own it.

Now, people are bound to say "Hey -- you're just plugging these guys because they're on your compilation," and sure, that's part of it. But the song on our comp is from several years ago, and the band has grown by leaps and bounds since then. An interesting note is that the lyrics to "High Beams," which is on the comp, show up again in "All the Wine" from Alligator, which was also on the Cherry Wine EP. You can connect the dots, and see the growth! Plus, none of us are making any money from the comp, but the band will make money from Alligator. You can buy it, and all their other cds, direct from the band

And for the more visually inclined among you, check out the new video for the excellent single, Abel:

Comments

saw the story in the new york times today. congrats! keep up the good work.

Posted by: adrienne at June 6, 2005 10:24 AM

My friend Lex Zaleta, who is an indie songwriter from down Nashville way, sent me the article from the New York Times. Very good story. Really good news for indie artists! Keep up the good work!!

all the best,
guy michetti
www.guymichetti.com

Posted by: Guy Michetti at June 6, 2005 10:41 AM

Is it just me or does that sound a HELLUVA lot like the Walkmen?

Posted by: Kevin at June 6, 2005 10:53 AM

I just wanted to congratulate all of the Music for Robots crew for your article today in the NYTimes. I've been telling my friends about you for about a year now (naturally they don't listen...bastards), as you've introduced me to more music than I care to list here. I'm not "in the know" when it comes to indie music, having heard of bloc party, gang of four, and MIA all here, and it's great reading your posts every day. Keep up the good work!

Posted by: Lee at June 6, 2005 11:46 AM

This is my fav record of 2005 so far. Great stuff (and yes, this is my favorite song too). And no, it really doesn't sound like the Walkmen.

Posted by: Brad at June 6, 2005 12:32 PM

The Walkmen comparison probably comes from the fact that the drums are like the marquee instrument on this track.

Posted by: pinder at June 6, 2005 1:07 PM

I heard the tunes at [don't advertise on our site -mgmt].

Posted by: JohnnyD at June 6, 2005 2:21 PM

The REASON to give your music away? Artists like myself have been told by the labels to "get it out there"....... So go to my site and download it all, maybe THEN I can get paid.......


'Nuff said,

Mobile Home Boy Himself.

Posted by: Mobile Home Boy at June 6, 2005 3:44 PM

I've heard Mr November and loved it, but great to know the rest of their stuff is of the same high quality. Will investigate further.

Posted by: james henry at June 6, 2005 4:15 PM

Indeed, there are hints of Walkmen in their sound, as well as top notes of American Music Club. Where The National succeed and these bands fail, however, is in their dynamic range and consistent quality. While Walkmen and AMC's recent albums held their fair share of filler, Alligator is uniformly excellent.

Posted by: Cameron at June 6, 2005 7:38 PM

I love your site, but I don't know about this one. Good, but "great American single"? Not sure about that.
sometimes these things grow on me.

Posted by: Michael at June 6, 2005 8:13 PM

It is a great album -- I posted tracks awhile back from it. I love Secret Meeting. That song's addictive as all hell!

Posted by: fd5000 at June 6, 2005 10:00 PM

Awesome! Good Job guys.

Posted by: Ryan Dallas at June 7, 2005 10:22 AM

Thanks for turning me/us on to The National--awesome band...as for Mr. November, I'd guess a candidate

Posted by: ted at June 8, 2005 9:10 AM

does anyone now the nationals website?

Posted by: joel at June 8, 2005 12:10 PM

Here's their site:http://www.beggars.com/features/thenational/

Posted by: Noreen at June 8, 2005 12:48 PM

the band's official site it http://www.americanmary.com -- it's right up there next to the song download.

also, Ted, it does seem obvious that the song is about a political figure, most likely G.W.Bush. This can be seen in both the "english are waiting and I don't know what to do" and the "I was carried in the arms of cheerleaders" parts. In that regard, it sorta makes Bush into a sympathetic idiot. But honestly, I don't want the song to be about Bush, so I tend to ignore that interpretation and pretend it's about a football player. That's much more interesting to me.

Posted by: robot mark at June 8, 2005 1:21 PM

Mark,
Just wanted to say that I picked up this record a couple days ago on the strength of this post and I love it. Thanks.

Posted by: kristen at June 8, 2005 1:41 PM

the song is about john kerry i think....mr. november....the great white hope.....definitely not gw bush if you listen to the national.

Posted by: tom at June 9, 2005 4:17 PM

whoever mr. november is he will most surely fuck us over. but i don't mind.

Posted by: sais at June 9, 2005 11:02 PM

Would be funny if it was Mr. October. Then it would be about Reggie Jackson.

Posted by: at July 9, 2005 6:29 PM

Well, Derek Jeter was given the nickname "Mr. November" a few years back...

"Some of Jeter's most memorable moments have come in postseason play. These include his eighth inning, game-tying faux home run against Baltimore in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS, his shovel pass in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS against Oakland, and his game-winning, tenth-inning home run off Arizona's Byung-Hyun Kim in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series. The home run briefly earned Jeter the moniker, "Mr. November," as it came 4 minutes after midnight on November 1."

Posted by: Jerry at January 11, 2006 10:48 AM


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Posted by: neon at May 20, 2009 4:25 PM
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