The New Pornographers

All Music Guide:

The Vancouver indie rock supergroup the New Pornographers features the talents of Zumpano's Carl Newman, the Evaporators' John Collins, Destroyer's Dan Bejar, cartoonist/filmmaker Blaine Thurier, drummer Fisher Rose, and guest vocalist Neko Case. Newman began the band in 1996 as a lark after releasing Zumpano's Goin' Through Changes; one by one, the other members joined the fold, and the New Pornographers' first official rehearsal took place in 1997. By the following year, the group had completed four songs, but then Case left Vancouver for Chicago, Thurier began work on his film Low Self Esteem Girl, and the other members attended to their other bands and projects. Rose left in 1999, and Limblifter/Age of Electric drummer Kurt Dahle and guitarist Todd Fancey joined the Canadian supergroup. With a solid lineup in tow, the New Pornographers reunited and began recording again in early 2000, completing their debut album, Mass Romantic, in time for a fall release and critical acclaim. Ray Davies joined the band at SXSW in fall 2001, performing the Kinks classic "Starstruck" for the first time ever. After a brief North American tour, each member returned to their respective projects by 2002. Bejar recorded with Destroyer, and Case headed out on the road with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in support of her second solo album, Blacklisted. Nobody strayed too far, however, for the New Pornographers headed back into the studio before the year's end to work on a follow-up to Mass Romantic. The pop-powered Electric Version, which appeared in spring 2003, marked their first for Matador. Twin Cinema followed in 2005 and garnered a good deal of critical praise, receiving near-perfect rankings from such influential outlets as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Bolstered by such a positive reception -- as well as the success of Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood in 2006 -- the group went in a mellower direction with 2007's Challengers.

Wikipedia:

The New Pornographers is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

History

The band's first four albums each ranked in the top 40 on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers' album or a solo album from one of the band's members ranked in the top 40 on the list each year. In 2007, Blender magazine ranked The New Pornographers' first album, Mass Romantic, the 24th best indie album of all time. It is the second-highest Canadian album on the list, behind Arcade Fire's Funeral (which came in sixth). In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band's second studio album, Electric Version, #79 in the "100 Best Albums of the Decade".

The name of the band was chosen by Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers. Many writers have assumed that the name was a reference to Jimmy Swaggart's reputed claim that rock and roll was "the new pornography." The band has released five albums to date: Mass Romantic (2000), Electric Version (2003), Twin Cinema (2005), Challengers (2007), and Together (2010). A live album recorded on their 2006 tour is available only at concerts and on the band's website.

All of the band's original members were prominent within the Vancouver music scene prior to forming The New Pornographers. Kathryn Calder, who is also Newman's niece, joined the band in 2005 largely as a live replacement for Case, whose solo career often left her unavailable to perform with the band. Calder's first lead vocals for the band were on 2007's Challengers, singing the lead on "Failsafe" and sharing the lead with Newman on "Adventures in Solitude".

In 2009, The New Pornographers contributed a cover of the song "Hey, Snow White" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

The band released their fifth album—Together—on May 4, 2010, on Matador Records. The album includes collaborations from St. Vincent, Beirut's Zach Condon, and Okkervil River's Will Sheff.

Members

Carl Newman shares the lead vocal duties with Dan Bejar, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder. The band's songs are generally written by either Newman or Bejar, and vocal responsibilities are decided once the songs are written.