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Tracklisting:

1 My Rights Versus Yours
2 All the Old Showstoppers
3 Challengers
4 Myriad Harbour
5 All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth
6 Failsafe
7 Unguided
8 Entering White Cecilia
9 Go Places
10 Mutiny, I Promise You
11 Adventures in Solitude
12 The Spirit of Giving

from pitchfork:

Look out, home team! On August 21, Matador Records will let the New Pornographers' Challengers take the field. The album is twelve songs long, including nine by Carl Newman and three by Dan Bejar ("Myriad Harbour", "Entering White Cecilia", and "The Spirit of Giving").

Newman, Bejar, Neko Case, and Kathryn Calder all sing on it. "Unguided" is "my first true epic at over 6:30 in length," Newman said in a press release, and on "Entering White Cecilia", "I believe Dan is singing about entering a girl named Cecilia, who is either white or dressed in white, or both. Like all of Dan's work, it is overtly sexual."

Finally, all that stuff about epics and string quartets Newman told us back in April makes sense.

The New Pornos will take their show on the road this summer, hitting England in June before coming back to the States for the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park on July 14.

starseed1981

Can't wait for this! Twin Cinema was awesome. Hope this lives up to it's standards.

Hollowgen

woo hoo! these guys always put on a great show.... unless bejar is totally hammered by the time they play his songs.

Grimfarrow

My Rights Versus Yours is so good...one of the best songs I''ve heard this year.

westerbergrules

Yes. I downloaded a couple of songs off of Twin Cinema and was instantly in love with the sound. Matador is on Emusic, so I'll be saving 12 downloads for this one. By the way, what are is your favorite NP songs? It is really hard for me to narrow it down, but I'll go with ... Use It and Letter from an Occupant. Neko is incredible.

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from pitchforkmedia:

New Pornographers Trick Out LP

If you really want to be ready to step into the ring with the New Pornographers' Challengers on August 21, one CD just won't be enough. Nor two. Three, maybe, but since we're thinking big, why not go four? That's right, Matador is offering a deluxe box set version of Challengers-- what they're calling the "Executive Edition"-- packed to the brim with four discs. It's available right this minute as part of Matador's Buy Early Get Now pre-order campaign.

The first disc is of course the Pornos' fourth LP. The second aims to collect every B-side, demo, and alternate version related to the album, while the third, titled "Live From the Future", will include live Pornos cuts from gigs on their just-announced fall tour. The final disc includes videos, photos (no Neko Case lingerie shots that we know of, sorry), and album artwork.

You might be wondering, hmm... how can they sell me a box set that includes songs that haven't been recorded yet? Well, the answer is... the box set doesn't actually exist in a box. Unless you make it yourself. You see, all of the extra goodies will be downloadable from the Buy Early Get Now site-- it's up to you to burn it to disc. And since it's a bunch of downloads rather than a physical product, Matador can add new stuff to it whenever they want. Magic!

In addition to the box set, "Executive Edition" subscribers also get to stream the whole album RIGHT NOW, mp3s of three exclusive bonus tracks, and early bird access to tour dates and tickets. For five bucks less, you can get the "Standard Edition", which includes everything but the box set.

Matador: Buy Early, Get Now

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Tour:

06-18 London, England - Bar Academy %
06-19 London, England - Borderline &
06-20 London, England - 93 Feet East +
06-22 Pilton, England - Glastonbury Festival
07-04 New York, NY - Battery Park *
07-15 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival) $
09-13 Victoria, British Columbia - McPherson Ballroom #!
09-14 Seattle, WA - Showbox #!
09-15 Seattle, WA - Showbox #!
09-16 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom #!
09-17 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre #!
09-18 San Diego, CA - House of Blues #!
09-19 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater #!
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater #@
09-21 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre #@
09-22 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater #@
09-24 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater #@
09-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot #@
09-26 Boise, ID - The Egyptian Theatre #@
09-28 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #!

% with Envelopes
& with Immaculate Machine
+ with the Little Ones
with Midlake
$ with Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Of Montreal, Jamie Lidell, the Sea and Cake, Junior Boys, the Field, Cadence Weapon, the Cool Kids, Klaxons, Nomo, Deerhunter, the Ponys, Menomena, Craig Taborn's Junk Magic, Brightblack Morning Light, Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra
# with Lavender Diamond
! with Fancey
@ with the Awkward Stage

clemente

Too Pitchfork or not to Pitchfork...that is the question.
It is just down the road....

JPRaup

you fucker! you better go haha

i wanna so bad

Chaza

Hopefully I'll get tickets for the free show on the 4th of July, I'm still pissed I missed out on seeing them when they toured with Belle and Sebastian.

starseed1981

Album is leaked. Wanna give it a couple of spins before I comment.

Adam Tyner

For those of you doing the Buy Early Get Now thing online, are there any stores you'd recommend? The closest store to me is an hour and a half or so away, and I clicked on a couple of websites for the ones in my regional neck of the woods and didn't quickly see a way to order.

DGibFen

Anyone do the Buy Early Get Now with a copy purchased from a store? I tried the code and it rejected it.

auto

Bump for the release tomorrow. Best Buy has this for $9.99.

Giles

I know ... bring it on!!!

JPRaup

Will def pick this up tommorow.

B.A.

Thanks for the heads up.

Sessa17

I picked this up with the new Rilo Kiley CD yesterday & I had the exact opposite reaction with Challengers. I posted over in the RK thread, that I think their new album is probably the most dissapointing, bland, album I bought all year, without any songs jumping out at me upon the first 2 listens of the CD. Total opposite for Challengers. First time through I absolutely loved Myriad Harbour & Challengers. And listening through again more songs are growing on me. I wish there was more Neko, but this is definitely a solid album. Unlike Rilo, they aren't trying to be something they are not, they are sticking with what works.

Adam Tyner

It's funny you say that because I'd read so many negative/indifferent reviews that I really had my expectations lowered dramatically. When I gave the album its first spin this morning (I did the 'Buy Early Get Now' thing, but I'm not so much a fan of streaming), I was floored. It's not as caffeinated and effervescent as the other albums, but it's as upbeat and infectiously poppy as anything else they've done. I actually had a hard time listening to it from start to finish because I kept going back and replaying "Myriad Harbour" again and again. I'm really, really enjoying it.

Sessa17

Dude, me too. It's totally why when I bought this & Rilo Kiley at the same time, I listened to Rilo first, b/c I also read so many bad things about the NP CD I just wasn't expecting much & then while listening to it, I was smiling b/c I'm like damn, this CD is pretty damn good. It's just AC Newman making the type of songs he does so well, he isn't trying to re-invent his sound, which to me, isn't something to always criticize.

gjamesm

I loved the Pornographer's previous releases but Challengers is a dud in my opinion. Out of 10 I'd give it a 4. To me Myriad Harbour is god awful. I am loving Rilo Kiley's new cd however and would give it a solid 9/10. My favorite cd of the year so far. I just keep playing it over and over in the car.

cungar

It's getting the worst reviews of their career and I believe rightly so. I think after 3 great albums their entitled to a dud. I just don't know how far they can take their sound without starting to sound monotonous..

clemente

Same here...I've been looking forward to Challengers for months and gave it a spin and was disappointed. It has typically taken me a good number of spins to really get into the previous TNP CD's, but I've never had such a bad initial reaction....

The RK CD on the other hand, awesome. I was borderline on even picking it up, but for $7.99, why not.

Hollowgen

i like it.

nowhere near as much as the first 3 albums, but that's not because i think this is of any lesser quality. it's just a different feel. more downbeat songs, but the music is still pretty awesome. change doesn't = a dud imho.

4/5

gjamesm

Unless it is a sex change.