CATEGORY: Film Reviews - Music Videos

A series of artistic images and blurry night scenes loosely based on New York band the National and the making of their breakthrough album Boxer, French director Vincent Moon’s music film A Skin, A Night is a bittersweet offering for fans of the band.

Shot using Moon’s trademark saturated cinematography and scored by odd layers and instrumental pieces taken from the album, A Skin, A Night is a great visual representation of the dark, dream-like quality present in the National’s music, however, and sadly, the film shows no interest in being a documentary. There are occasional glimpses of band members talking about anxiety and the group’s early days fighting up the ranks, and a very interesting studio moment where singer Matt Berninger shoots down a piano arrangement, insisting the band can come up with something better, but these are too few and far between. The film is much more interested in giving us a visual impression of the band than documenting the facts behind it. As an art piece, it works just fine; as a National dvd, it is pretty underwhelming.

I guess my biggest beef with the film is that it needed more actual National music to go along with all the abstract imagery. Most of the background music in the film is bits and pieces of studio sessions. These range from great- there is an awesome Slow Show/Blank Slate sequence and an extended live performance of About Today- to way too short, blips of Bryan Davendorf drumming on a metal fan cage or Padma Newsome playing the violin for 4 seconds. I would have loved to hear some of the demo recordings and live studio footage featured on Boxer’s teaser website. Those offered real, interesting looks at the ideas behind the songs and how they went on to form one of the most well-reviewed albums of 2007.

The small audience that will embrace this DVD are collector’s and die-hard fans of the band; and as you can tell by this review, even some of them will be a bit disappointed.

Purchase The National’s A Skin, A Night DVD on Amazon.com

CATEGORY: MP3

Stereo owners beware! On Tuesday, May 22nd rebellious rockstars The National plan to take over your car & home music players with their brooding, goth-Americana stylings. Even computer headphone listeners are at risk of extreme joy & preference for the band’s signature late night songs.

Local police and social service agents are standing by at all Sam Goody and Wherehouse music stores in Vermont and New Mexico after reports that the New York band’s fourth studio album, Boxer, is “so damn good you’ll hand over your baby to the music store clerk for $12.99 store credit”.

To help the public transition from life before Boxer and life after, authorities have asked Invisible Limb to post a revised b-side from the record along with it’s original counterpart.

The tracks in question are Blank Slate, a b-side from the single Mistaken For Strangers (released this Tuesday), and Keep It Upstairs, which is taken from 2005’s Abel single.

This cd (Boxer) is brilliant! No joke!

[mp3] The National - Blank Slate
[mp3] The National - Keep It Upstairs