cungar

I like all the songs including My Shepherd. Definitely an improvement over Challengers. If I was going to complain at all I'd say it sounds so much like past records by the band there's no real surprises. But with a band sound and songwriting so sublime it's hard to complain about lack of originality. This is one of the few bands I can say actually brighten my mood when I hear them.

And Neko Case's voice continues to be a force of nature.

Osiris3657

I'm alittle over halfway through my first listen and I like the album a lot. The first half is especially strong. I don't know if it's as good as Challengers though, that's my favorite NP album. Further listening is required.

Eddie W

Matador rocks! This doesn't come out for another week but I got my vinyl in the mail today, complete with a 7" with three bonus tracks. All Outrageous Cherry covers. Oh yeah, and a poster of the album art.

Heat

$7.99 for the CD at Best Buy, Amazon, and Tower.com.

Sessa17

So far upon the first couple of listens I'm pretty let down with this one. I find it very repetitive & nothing really stood out. Challengers ended up really growing on me, but I remember the very first time I listened to it at least two tracks jumped out at me instantly. This one, dispite having by far the most Neko every for a Pornos album, just seems so redundant.

Mike86

I heard about this band for the longest time but never bothered to listen to anything by them. Saw this at Target today for $7.99 and decided to pick it up. Have to say I really am enjoying it a lot. What would fans say is their best album? I'd like to get more by these guys.

Red Medicine

A return to form after the uneven Challengers, but after listening to it 7 or 8 times I would rank it below their first three albums.

cungar

Mass Romantic, Twin Cinemas, Electric Version, Challengers in that order.

Yavin

I started listening to the new album the other day as well, and it also is growing on me. Mainly I'm here for Neko, whom I only started listening to last year or so. I did hear Mass Romantic on the radio before, but I never made the connection that it was her voice since it was after the fact. I remember sampling some songs from Twin Cinema before as well, but nothing really stuck with me.

I agree that there is a feeling of repetitiveness with some of the songs on the album. I do like "My Shepherd" though, since it's quieter and Neko is front and center.

Sessa17

IMO its Twin Cinema by far.

sb5

Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema.

Though I've enjoyed all their albums personally.

Giles

love Twin Cinema - and [shock] I haven't heard Mass Romantic - off to Amazon marketplace to find a copy. Glad they added another show at the 9:30 Club in June!

Superman07

I gave this a first listen yesterday while I was doing some work. It's certainly not bad, but I agree that it does sound repetative. I almost switched over to Challengers since I thought one of the new songs sounded identical.

keith71

I think it's a good album. I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars. It's certainly not as good as Twin Cinema or Electric Version, but it's at least better than Challengers.
My fave tracks would have to be "Crash Years","Silver Jenny Dollar", "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk", and "Up in the Air." I think "Valkyrie in the Roller Disco" and "Daughters of Sorrow" are two weird, but oddly effective tracks. My least favorite track is "A bite out of my bed" which strikes me as bland filler.
Did anybody catch NP on Jimmy Fallon last night? They performed "Crash Years." I was a little shocked to see how skinny Neko Case got. She is like wafer thin now. I also thought her vocals were a tad off. Not off-key or anything, but not as bold, brassy, and powerful as her singing usually is. Maybe she was just nervous or something. And did they get a new member?
There was a girl playing guitar, I didn't know who she was.

Heat

Amazon has an interesting promotion - if you order two CDs from The New Pornographers, Neko Case, or the Nationals you get $2 off of each CD. Plus for each CD you buy you get $1 in credit for music downloads. And the $2 credit is applied after the total is calculated for purposes of determining whether you are over $25 for free shipping, so you can go below $25.

To make a long story short, I ordered Together with Twin Cinema ($7.99 and $10.99) along with another CD/DVD (Carole King / James Taylor for $9.99), for a finale price of $24.97 shipped. Plus I will receive $3 in credit for Amazon music downloads.

Mr. Salty

I ordered two CDs and only got a flat $2 off, not $2 off each.

Quake1028

And you will only get $1 in Amazon credit.

Superman07

You sure? I ordered the Vampire Weekend album and Spoon earlier this and received $2 off each and $2 credit each.

Heat

I just added three New Pornographers CDs to my cart; Together, Challengers, and Twin Cinema. $7.99, $10.99, and $10.99. I didn't complete the sale, this was just to see if the $2 credit was per CD, or per order. It's per CD.

The $1 in music credit appears to be per order, not per CD but I'm not sure, I can't quite figure out how to see my credit balance. I think it's one of those things where I need to buy a song to see how much I have left.

Mr. Salty

Maybe you have to buy Together to get the per-CD credit. I bought Twin Cinema and Mass Romantic and only got $2, plus the $1 MP3 credit.

Heat

Weird. Any combination of New Pornographers CDs gives you $2 off per CD... except for Twin Cinema and Mass Romantic. If you paid for shipping (only had the two CDs and thus was under $25), and if you can still modify your order, go ahead and add Together. It will cost you two cents.

Ayre

Just picked it up for $5.99 at amazon download. Wonderful album. Some of the arrangements did have similar strings and vocal harmony, but the songwriting was varied and filled with strong unique hooks. Didn't seemed repetitive at all.

This is in my top 5 so far this year. 2010 looks like another great year for indie pop/alt rock. (Come on Interpol)