The National: High Violet + Violet Tickets + Tour + YouTube Event = Awesome


Brooklyn’s beautiful miserablists The National release their much-anticipated fifth album today (May 11), High Violet.

This is exciting for a number of reasons, namely that their last album “The Boxer” was a lush and superbly orchestrated bit of dark, swooping rock, and High Violet promises much the same. Songs about terrible love and walking with spiders, nuns versus priests, ghosts and blood – made almost flesh by Matt Berninger’s gothic baritone – abound. Everything you love about the National is still here, painstakingly layered. No, they haven’t gone alt-jazz or dubstep or commercial rock. They’re still good.

Not quite sure how such a complex band managed to attract the baseball-and-tailgate-party crowd (shudder), but it’s been a stellar coupla years for the band, and in 2010 you can expect another redonkulous tour schedule and some intense live gigs. Shell out for them, folks. Shell out.

But another exciting factor in today’s release HAS TO DO WITH MARKETING. I know, right?

Dig this: not only have the band put together an interactive map of all the INDIE (yay!) retail shops that are selling their new platter (see?), but they’ve also cribbed a bit from our friend Willy Wonka. Select shops have a select album that contains a select “Violet Ticket” that entitles the winner to get $50 worth of stuff from that shop. One more reason to a) buy proper CD/LPs and b) support your local indie record store. They’ve also released a new video for “Bloodbuzz Ohio.”

And one more thing. Mark your calendars for May 15. Let’s let The National explain why:


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