The National…

One of my favorite bands, that has been getting me through all my exams and project for long time already…kinda my creative background helping concentrate=)

The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band’s lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: twins Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf.

In 1991, Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf met while attending the University of Cincinnati where they also met Mike Brewer, Casey Reas and Jeff Salem, to make the lo-fi garage band Nancy (which was named after Matt’s mother), aspiring to sound like Pavement. The band was together for five years, but only released one album, titled Ruther 3429, on Wife Records. The group slowly dissolved when Matt, Scott, Jeff and Casey moved to Brooklyn.

Bryan, Bryce and Aaron were childhood friends who played in several bands together over the years. When their last effort Project Nim broke up in 1998, they joined Matt and Scott in Brooklyn via the Devendorf relationship.

When the band was formed in 1999, it was called The National (although the domain name of the band’s website is americanmary.com because, according to Matt Berninger in an interview with Better Propaganda, ” it’s a song off our first record. “We never thought of changing the (website) name, although we should have.”) Several of the members continued to work day jobs, while performing free Sunday night shows regularly at the highly regarded NYC Lower East Side venue Luna Lounge throughout the early years, including being involved in New York’s dot-com boom in the late 1990s.

Their first album The National was eventually released in 2001 on Brassland Records, a label founded by band members Aaron and Bryce Dessner, along with their friend Alec Hanley Bemis. When reviewing the album, Jason MacNeil of No Depression wrote, “…The National has created nearly a dozen picture-perfect Americana bar-soaked gems with its debut album. From the opening notes of ‘Beautiful Head’, the delicate line between polished roots-oriented pop and alt-country has rarely been walked so deliberately with the payoff so favorable.”

To find out more about them and follow their work, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, iTunes, Amazon.

Few songs I like most of all!

Bit more info:

Discography

  • The National (2001)
  • Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003)
  • Alligator (2005)
  • Boxer (2007)
  • High Violet (2010)

EPs

  • Cherry Tree (Brassland Records, July 20, 2004)
  • Tarquin Roughs (Beggars Banquet)
  • The Virginia EP (Beggars Banquet, May 20, 2008)

Singles

  • “Abel” (Beggars Banquet, March 14, 2005)
  • “Secret Meeting” (Beggars Banquet, August 29, 2005)
  • “Lit Up” (Beggars Banquet, November 14, 2005)
  • “Mistaken for Strangers” (Beggars Banquet, April 30, 2007)
  • “Apartment Story” (Beggars Banquet, November 5, 2007)
  • “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (4AD, May 3, 2010)
  • “Anyone’s Ghost” (4AD, June 28, 2010)
  • “Terrible Love” (4AD, November 22, 2010)
  • “Think You Can Wait” (March 22, 2011)
  • “Conversation 16” (4AD, March 29, 2011)
  • “Exile Vilify” (April 19, 2011)

Sincerely,

S.

Category : Music
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