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After weeks of indie blog hinting the general public can finally see for themselves whether The National’s fourth studio album Boxer is the record to beat in 2007. If magazine & newspaper critics have any say in the matter Boxer is, at the least, a very surprising step up from 2005’s already adored Alligator. Here is what Stylus magazine has to say about Matt Berninger and company, which I believe sums up the record & most reviews beautifully:

“Boxer is a National album through and through but blessed with a restraint and self-assuredness of a band on top of its game, resulting in a startling masterpiece on par with Turn on the Bright Lights, Bows & Arrows, or any other austere tribute to urban alienation you care to name.”

The only negative review I could find was from the UK surprisingly (which is where the National seemed to receive most of their attention prior to Alligator) and even then the publication, The Gaurdian, gives the record 3 out of 5 stars; although not until after criticizing the band’s last two records as “claustrophobic, minor-key U2-on-a-budget” and “deadened, muffled music”.

Harsh, no?

But perhaps the most interesting piece of feedback I’ve read for Boxer comes from the Earth’s largest social networking site, Myspace. For a week the record was available for full streaming on the band’s page and they were featured as a spotlight artist. Here is a screenshot of their write up on Myspace’s homepage.

Best band in America? Not sure the site’s 16 year old screamo-loving base will agree, but I sure love hearing those words.

Now the next step beyond what the critics think is to see how the public responds to the record. As Goodhodgkins so perfectly states, “If there’s one thing about Boxer that everyone and their grandma is going to use to discredit it, it’s the fact that there’s no ‘Abel’ or ‘Mr. November’”. These are the exact thoughts I had as I sat down and listened to the record for the first time.

As great as it would be to have a clear, aggressive single, Boxer benefits from its uniformity. Other than the darkly energized ‘Mistaken for Strangers’, most of the songs on record are content to give up their personal will and do their part in making Boxer a great complete listen. No instrument or vocal track attempts to stand out above the rest or steal the spotlight away from the collective whole. In my opinion, this is what gives Boxer the advantage over Alligator. It’s smarter and shows more restraint/maturity.

Hopefully fans will recognize this (it shouldn’t be very hard) and the chants of “It’s no Alligator!” and “Where is Mr. November?” will last only long enough before “Hey, I think I’m starting to love this cd!” kicks in.

BONUS:

Here is the band performing ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ and ‘Apartment Story’ live during MTV’s 24 Hour Human Giant Takeover last week (the always intelligent & musically knowledgeable people at MTV mixed the video tags, so Apartment Story is actually Mistaken for Strangers and vice versa).

By the way, Los Angeles residents can catch Human Giants’ Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer perform long-form improv at their always delightful Myspace Show every Wednesday night at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater on Franklin Blvd. Much recommended!