Monday, August 25, 2014

The New Pornographers' 'Brill Bruisers' out today


The New Pornographers’ highly anticipated new album, Brill Bruisers, is out today on Matador Records (available for purchase here) to widespread acclaim. Billboard asserts, “…the album features the group’s most beautiful, whimsical harmonies yet,” while Consequence of Soundpraises, “…the Pornographers have somehow improved with Brill Bruisers, a notable feat considering they don’t have a bad album in their catalog.” Additionally, Pitchfork selected the title track as a “Best New Track,” while NPR Music asserts, “…gloriously infectious.” Moreover, the official music video for the track “War On The East Coast” recently premiered at Rolling Stone and can now be viewed/embedded here.

In celebration of the release, the band will perform material from the new album on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Wednesday,September 3 followed by an extensive North American tour, including shows at L.A.’s The Wiltern and New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom as well as appearances at Toronto’s Riot Fest and Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. See below for details. 

Produced by band-members John Collins (bass) and AC Newman, the 12-track album was recorded primarily at Little Blue in Woodstock and at JC/DC Studios in Vancouver with additional recording in Austin, Brooklyn and Vermont. Of the album, lead-singer and main songwriter Newman states, “This album is stylistically as close as we can get to what I think I’ve always imagined us being. I feel like what we did on this has always been in the back of my mind, even from the first record, but we just never did it, like using all the arpeggiators and adding that spacy synth element. It just never seemed right before, and with this record, it completely did. I feel more confident about this record than I’ve ever felt about anything before."
 
 
In conjunction with the release, the band is partnering with Intelligentsia Coffee on an exclusive, limited-edition coffee, “Brill Brew,” which will be available starting August 20 and can now be pre-ordered here. Each coffee purchased at an Intelligentsia location will come with a digital download card for Brill Bruisers. Of the collaboration, Carl Newman comments, “As absurd as it may seem for us to have a signature blend, I think it is important that there is some sort of marker, some flag planted in the earth, so that whoever walks into Intelligentsia, whoever drinks this, will know: ‘The New Pornographers really really loved coffee.’”

Since their debut in 2000, The New Pornographers have released five studio albums including their most recent, Together (2010), of which, NPR Music praised, “Unimpeachable pop gems…these are the songs of summer” while ELLE magazine asserted, “The New Pornographers have done what all great bands do: Evolve…unpretentious and unbelievably infectious” and the Associated Press heralded, “…Together finds them at their peak. The melding of Newman’s voice with Neko Case and Kathryn Calder is endlessly inventive, weaving in and out of the nervous-sounding rhythm that is the band’s calling card. The first four songs are what the Electric Light Orchestra meant to achieve but never quite did.”

A limited edition multi-colored “paint splattered” version of the Brill Bruisers LP is available at The New Pornographers’ web-store. 

The New Pornographers are A.C. Newman, Blaine Thurier, Dan Bejar, John Collins, Kathryn Calder, Kurt Dahle, Neko Case and Todd Fancey.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS TOUR DATES
August 29                                                   Edmonton, AB                                   Sonic Boom Festival
August 30                                                     Halifax, NS                                                        Sandjam
September 6                                                  Detroit, MI                                          Majestic Theatre*
September 7                                                 Toronto, ON                                                       Riot Fest
September 13                                               Victoria, BC                                         Rifflandia Festival
September 20                                             Columbus, OH                                        The LC Pavilion†
October 3                                                   Vancouver, BC                       The Commodore Ballroom‡
October 4                                                   Vancouver, BC                       The Commodore Ballroom§
October 5 & 6                                               Seattle, WA                                              The Showbox§
October 8                                                     Portland, OR                                        Crystal Ballroom§
October 9                                                        Boise, ID                                            Knitting Factory§
October 10                                               Salt Lake City, UT                                             The Depot§
October 11                                                    Denver, CO                                            Gothic Theatre§
October 13                                                   Phoenix, AZ                               The Crescent Ballroom§
October 14                                                    Tucson, AZ                                             Rialto Theatre§
October 15                                                Pioneertown, CA    Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace§
October 17                                                Los Angeles, CA                                             The Wiltern§
October 18                                                 San Diego, CA                                   North Park Theatre§
October 18-19                                         San Francisco, CA                  Treasure Island Music Festival
November 4                                                 Nashville, TN                                     Cannery Ballroom§
November 5                                                 Asheville, NC                                               Orange Peel§
November 6                                                  Atlanta, GA                                       Buckhead Theatre§
November 7                                              New Orleans, LA                                           Civic Theatre§
November 8                                                   Austin, TX                                           Fun Fun Fun Fest
November 10                                              St. Louis, MO                                              The Pageant§
November 11                                                Omaha, NE                                                   Slowdown§
November 13                                              Milwaukee, WI                                            Pabst Theater§
November 14                                                Chicago, IL                                            Riviera Theatre§
November 15                                              Cleveland, OH                                          House of Blues§
November 17                                              New York, NY                             Hammerstein Ballroom§
November 19                                                Boston, MA                                           House of Blues§
November 20                                            Philadelphia, PA                                        Union Transfer§
November 21 & 22                                    Washington, DC                                                9:30 Club§
November 23                                               Carrboro, NC                                               Cat’s Cradle§

*with Perfect Pussy, Pity Sex
†with Iron & Wine, Glass Animals
‡with Pickwick, Cool
§with special guest The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

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