New Pornographers - Electric Version (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Pornographic Pop Perfection

W. French | Carnation, WA USA | 05/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD rocks right from the moment you put it into your CD player to the moment you take it out (that is if you ever want to take it out, I sure don't want to quite yet). Top-notch songwriting infused with 70's rock/new wave, layers of sweet crunchy guitar, and very distinctive vocal harmonies. Mmmm. Neko Case is a highlight on this record, as always she's fantastic. They're just one fantastic band, certainly a bright spot in the world of pop music today. This album should be blasted out of car windows on a summer day."

Darned good

Stephen B. Baines | Lwonk eyelant, NY | 02/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not as intense or quirky as their debut, Mass Romantic, Electric Version is a more consistent, fuller sounding, and possibly better version of the New Pornographers. As before, the NPs technique is to use a quadrazillion instruments to layer bouncy rhythm track on top of bouncy rhythm track (the drummer is the closest thing to a lead instrument in this band) beneath insanely catchy melodies (lots of 'em butt-end to butt-end in a subway car) that are wrapped in slightly straining, often sweet, sometimes falsetto harmonies.

What results is something that sounds like simple bubblegum pop from the 60s and 80s....except that it is not simple at all. It's all shimmery brightness on the surface, and dense complexity underneath, with facets that catch the light in different ways. Or maybe it's elegant simplicity on top of blatantly over-the-top production. Whatever! Crazy thing is it works...In Carl Newman's ever busy hands the complexity serves the ebullient feel of the music well, providing a million ways to start and stop momentum, or accent little sections of songs, or just to throw the whole lot into the sea, as at the end of Testament to a Life in Verse when a jaunty call to rebellion against pop mainstreaming is transformed suddenly into a layered, resoundingly beautiful, ringing crescendo of "no, no, no" that could have fallen out of Abbey Road.

The lyrics complicate things further, never quite revealing their explicit meaning while suggesting a combination of satire, dissappointment, and frustration that makes all that musical ebullience sound oddly like a rebel cry. As a result the songs are certainly not simply "sugary goodness," as many have said. Rather they often contain something more akin to angry sarcasm --like on the Laws Have Changed in which Neko wails "Introducing for the first time/ pharoah on the microphone" followed in the next stanza by "Pharoah, all your methods have taught me, is to separate my love from bone." (I don't know exactly what that means, but it feels real wrong.) There's always this tension between the music and the lyrics, between loving this music (as the band clearly does) and questioning the very culture that spawned it and which feeds off it.

So NP concerts are filled with people (me included) screaming madly along with lyrics they barely understand. Carl Newman probably finds this at once funny, and yet oddly perfect. Is pop music really about explicit meaning anyway? Or is it really about feeling and expression? Why should we tell people how to be? Maybe that pop's problem, the problem with all popular culture? Is that why we always get fooled, why we get used so in the end? So many questions...what is there for a sensitive thinking person to do but find release in the the thing itself, the music, with full-throated passion and a wiggle. It's so easy with Newman conducting his manic orchestra and Neko's wail calling you home. That must be the answer.

Or is it? Hmmm...

Well, one thing's certain. Electric Version = Great album.

"

I thought good pop music was a thing of the past....

J. T. Winsor | 06/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a Neko Case fan, so when I heard about this side project she was in I had to take a chance. Let me tell you, I'm sure glad I did. Electric Version is a far cry from Neko's alt. country solo albums, which makes it that much more enjoyable and surprising. As soon as you pop this baby in your CD player you are hooked, and it probaly wont come out for a long long time. This is pop music the way it was supposed to be! catchy songs, goofy lyrics, and a killer back beat that gets you instantly hooked. Because the band has three different singers, it keeps each song fresh and new. Neko Case's voice is like a stream roller, it just takes over (even when she is just singing back-up vocals). I highly recomend this album with standout songs like "the laws have changed," "miss teen wordpower," and "july jones." I saw the New Pornographers live last week and I have to say...as good as they are on the album, they are 10 times better live! check them out and you wont be sorry!"

A great album by an enormously talented band

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 02/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The second album by the greatest band ever to hail from Vancouver is another winner. I have no idea why they aren't among the biggest names in music. They are well known, but they should be huge. Every song on the disc just ripples with talent and musical intelligence. This is without question some of the most energetic, brilliant, and passionate music in indie rock.

All of the members of the band are involved in other musical projects or have solo careers of their own (co-lead vocalist Neko Case, for instance, here in Chicago, where she has moved). Perhaps because of that or perhaps because they refuse to release anything that isn't utterly outstanding, they have managed to release only three albums in their eight years of existence. But though their releases are few, they make up for it by being close to perfect. There truly is not a bad cut on this album. Even the weakest cuts have numerous interesting moments, while the strongest cuts are so great they can send bolts of joy through your system. When you hear a song like "The Laws Have Changed" you can easily convince yourself that you haven't heard many better songs in your life. And then when you hear "It's Only Divine Right" you know it can't be true since it is at least as good.

This is a tight, tight band and every song bristles with wonderful musical touches. Because all the members are such seasoned professionals, they obviously know how to add just the right touch to properly embellish a song without weighing it down. And everyone in the band is so outstanding at what they do it is hard to single a single member out for praise. Nonetheless, I have to hand out kudos to two members. Carl Newman, more or less the leader of the band, has on all their albums managed to generate a fabulous set of songs. However, I wish he would give up singing lead on so many songs. Why? Because Neko Case is just a stunning vocalist. Every time she takes over the lead vocals I get a bit of a charge running down my spine. She has a marvelously nonchalant nasal voice and just seems to toss the lyrics almost without effort, as opposed to Newman, who while competent always seems to be working. Perhaps it is Case's non-Vancouver residence that keeps her from assuming more of the vocals, but if she were to do all the singing, this band would be almost impossibly great.

The great news for anyone who loves this album is that the band has two other albums that are at least as good as this one, perhaps even better. All three are must-own albums. So if you don't know these guys, go out immediately and get familiar with them. They are easily one of the best bands in the world."

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