Streaming from the Beggar's Banquet website. Also a video for "Abel" if you're into that kind of stuff.

http://www.beggars.com/features/thenational/

Oh snap, I just went and bumped it.

this has turned into one of my favorite records this year.

I will endorse the goodness of this album

were you a fan of their earlier stuff? i remember you saying that you weren't impressed with this one, curious as to what part of it grew on you.

This is definitely my favorite record of the year right now. I think they've found a nice balance between the slower dirges and the more uptempo rockers then their previous two albums (not that I don't like those a lot, though).

to be honest, this is the first that i've heard of them. at first listen it didn't hit me, but after posting the album i decided to take another listen. one of those albums that revealed itself after many listens for me. now, it gets daily play.

what's their earlier stuff like?

more or less like this, but less consistent, i feel. i think that tommy's a bigger fan than i (meaning he can probably explain this better is his pants haven't exploded), as he's the one that turned me on to them in the first place with a GREAT song called "Cold Girl Fever" that i unfortunately don't have here. i'm making a YSI on their previous album now.

The first self-titled album was more slow to mid-tempo songs. Crushing lyrically, but overall a more deliberately-paced album. It should have been in my top ten of 2001. Here is the song that Chase is talking about, "Cold Girl Fever": http://www.americanmary.com/mp3s/cold_girl_fever.mp3

The next album, which I just got around to buying recently, is Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers and is more or less along the lines of the self-titled debut, but has a few more uptempo tracks where they let their guitars lose, a la "Abel" or "Mr. November" off the new one. They also added more instrumentation to the mix. I'm still digesting it, but here are two tracks off of it:
http://www.americanmary.com/mp3s/slipping_husband.mp3
http://www.americanmary.com/mp3s/murder_me_rachael.mp3

The Cherry Tree ep, which came out last year, is more along the lines of Alligator. "All the Wine" was on it before it came out on this album. It got 5 stars from Uncut. Here is a song off it, "Wasp Nest": http://www.americanmary.com/mp3s/01%20Wasp%20Nest.mp3

this is my favorite record of the year so far. look out for my interview with them at www.billboard.com later this week.

finally got around to listening to this for the first time yesterday, and after one listen i know this will be making a run for my favorite of the year.

i really loved sad songs for dirty lovers, i'm pretty sure it made my top 20 of '03. murder me rachael is such an awesome song. and i think alligator is an even better album.

i have to thank good ol' tomcmj for introducing them to me via the (sniff) old board.

thanks for the info guys. gonna search for their previous releases.

You dont' have to search too hard for their second album. Chase posted a YSI of it a few posts ago.

i really like slipping husband and cold girl fever

yeah slipping husband has always been one of my favs too.

purely because its a good song right

i hope this is still up later. my curiousity is piqued

"Mr November" is my jam off the new album: Link

i'm listening to this song right now and it's so goddamned good.

riyl? the album came out today on emusic & i was wondering if this was worth my monthly splurge...

i'm not sure that there are any accurate RIYLs. tommy did a really good synopsis in this thread with d/ls.

found a pitchfork review, http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-re ... ator.shtml, which helps a little. can't listen to samples from work, otherwise i'd do that.

i would say the best riyl would be a more rockin' tindersticks.

Yesterday, a friend of mine compared the band to The Constantines and attempted to classify it by calling the genre "blue collar post punk." It's probably the most accurate RIYL and genre description I had heard to date.