Artist	Song
The New Pornographers	All The Old Showstoppers
The New Pornographers	The Laws Have Changed
The New Pornographers	The Body Says No
The New Pornographers	Sing Me Spanish Techno
A.C. Newman	Secretarial
The New Pornographers	The Electric Version
The New Pornographers	Myriad Harbour
The New Pornographers	The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
The New Pornographers	Twin Cinema
The New Pornographers	Failsafe
The New Pornographers	The End Of Medicine
The New Pornographers	The Bleeding Heart Show
The New Pornographers	Letter From An Occupant
The New Pornographers	Mutiny, I Promise You
The New Pornographers	All For Swinging You Around
The New Pornographers	My Rights vs. Yours
The New Pornographers	Miss Teen Wordpower
The New Pornographers	Mass Romantic
The New Pornographers	The New Face Of Zero & One
The New Pornographers	It's Only Divine Right
A.C. Newman	Miracle Drug
The New Pornographers	Star Bodies

Comment:

A simple ode to one of Canada's finest exports, and one of the most innovative indie pop outfits of recent years. Such kudos aside, I have to admit I enjoy them less than I'd like to, and, with the exeption of their latest release, find some of their albums tough to slog through. In the plus column, they have one of the finest modern tunesmith's in A.C. Newman, who continually finds new ways to twist old power pop hooks into stunning new forms; they have, in Neko Case, one of the most stunning (hey, I mean her voice, I swear) female vocalists on the planet helping with back-up (and occasionally lead) vocals; and they've already produced two of the most memorable songs of the past decade in "The Laws Have Changed" and "The Bleeding Heart Show," works of sheer pop genius that have guaranteed them some measure of immortality. In the minus column, they have a tendency towards excess -- too many vocal layers, too many synths, too many chord/key changes -- that result in songs that are not just too busy by half, but sometimes downright annoying and abrasive. (Which is why I find this summer's Challengers, while less ambitious and memorable than prior works, their most enjoyable album.)
As should be obvious to fans, I lean much more toward's frontman Newman's tunes than those by secondary songwriter Danny Bejar, whose songs I find much less interesting (though his "Myriad Harbour" off the new album, sung by the woman who isn't Neko Case, is a winner).This mix collects the highlights of their 4 albums plus a couple from Newman's solo album (though I ended up cutting tracks from his pre-NP's band Zumpano -- decent enough pop, but didn't really fit in with the rest of the mix).

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