The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers (read more)

9,859,750 plays scrobbled on Last.fm

The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock group formed in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The name of the band represents a subversion of a comment by disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who once referred to modern music as “the new pornography.” Their sound is influenced by that of such power pop bands as The Cars and Cheap Trick; their songs, however, are generally of a greater melodic and harmonic complexity. Carl Newman, who writes most of the band’s material, has said, “When I seriously started to try to write songs, my main influences were, like, Burt Bacharach, Jim Webb, and Brian Wilson. Those were the guys I kinda looked at their music and went, ‘What the hell are they doing here?’ I was just fascinated by the structures and the harmonics.”

The melody of the first and eponymous track on their second album Electric Version, for instance, begins with an arpeggiated diminished triad —- a rare and strange opening flourish for a pop song.

The band has released four albums to date:
Mass Romantic (2000)
Electric Version (2003)
Twin Cinema (2005)
Challengers (2007)

The band members include:
- Carl Newman - vocals, guitar, ebow, synthesizer, harmonica, pump organ, xylophone
- Dan Bejar - vocals, guitar, synthesizer, melodion
- Kathryn Calder - vocals, piano
- Neko Case - vocals
- John Collins - bass, guitar, synthesizer, ebow, vocals
- Kurt Dahle - drums, percussion, vocals
- Todd Fancey - guitar
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Electric Version

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Mass Romantic

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Top Tracks, Last Week

–	1	Add this track to your playlist Myriad Harbour	1,536
–	2	Add this track to your playlist My Rights Versus Yours	1,385
–	3	Add this track to your playlist Challengers	1,332
1	4	Add this track to your playlist The Bleeding Heart Show	1,281
1	5	Add this track to your playlist Use It	1,262
–	6	Add this track to your playlist Sing Me Spanish Techno	1,174
1	7	Add this track to your playlist The Electric Version	1,139
1	8	Add this track to your playlist All The Old Showstoppers	1,117
2	9	Add this track to your playlist Twin Cinema	1,092
–	10	Add this track to your playlist Mass Romantic	1,026
–	11	Add this track to your playlist The Laws Have Changed	935
3	12	Add this track to your playlist Adventures In Solitude	923
1	13	Add this track to your playlist Failsafe	911
5	14	Add this track to your playlist Jackie, Dressed in Cobras	895
1	15	Add this track to your playlist Go Places	892
3	16	Add this track to your playlist The Bones of an Idol	884
–	17	Add this track to your playlist All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth	879
–	18	Add this track to your playlist These Are the Fables	878
3	19	Add this track to your playlist Mutiny, I Promise You	858
6	20	Add this track to your playlist The Jessica Numbers	820

Number of listeners for the last week More top tracks…

Top Tracks, Last Six Months

–	1	Add this track to your playlist Myriad Harbour	19,023
1	2	Add this track to your playlist Use It	17,904
1	3	Add this track to your playlist My Rights Versus Yours	17,775
1	4	Add this track to your playlist The Bleeding Heart Show	16,830
1	5	Add this track to your playlist Twin Cinema	16,799
–	6	Add this track to your playlist Sing Me Spanish Techno	16,483
–	7	Add this track to your playlist Challengers	15,634
–	8	Add this track to your playlist All The Old Showstoppers	15,464
2	9	Add this track to your playlist The Electric Version	14,046
–	10	Add this track to your playlist The Bones of an Idol	13,860
1	11	Add this track to your playlist Mass Romantic	13,728
1	12	Add this track to your playlist The Laws Have Changed	13,551
1	13	Add this track to your playlist Jackie, Dressed in Cobras	13,398
3	14	Add this track to your playlist These Are the Fables	13,168
1	15	Add this track to your playlist The Jessica Numbers	13,113
1	16	Add this track to your playlist Failsafe	12,787
1	17	Add this track to your playlist All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth	12,251
1	18	Add this track to your playlist Adventures In Solitude	12,082
1	19	Add this track to your playlist Go Places	11,942
6	20	Add this track to your playlist Streets of Fire	11,901
12	21	Add this track to your playlist Star Bodies	11,896
1	22	Add this track to your playlist Unguided	11,878
5	23	Add this track to your playlist From Blown Speakers	11,813
3	24	Add this track to your playlist Falling Through Your Clothes	11,784
1	25	Add this track to your playlist The Spirit Of Giving	11,648
3	26	Add this track to your playlist Mutiny, I Promise You	11,575
2	27	Add this track to your playlist Entering White Cecilia	11,396
2	28	Add this track to your playlist All for Swinging You Around	11,280
–	29	Add this track to your playlist Three or Four	11,059
1	30	Add this track to your playlist Letter From an Occupant	10,917
1	31	Add this track to your playlist Stacked Crooked	10,458
1	32	Add this track to your playlist The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism	10,014
1	33	Add this track to your playlist The End of Medicine	9,269
1	34	Add this track to your playlist The Fake Headlines	8,784
1	35	Add this track to your playlist Loose Translation	8,488
14	36	Add this track to your playlist Broken Breads	8,450
–	37	Add this track to your playlist Miss Teen Wordpower	8,338
–	38	Add this track to your playlist Chump Change	8,189
–	39	Add this track to your playlist The Body Says No	8,075
1	40	Add this track to your playlist Ballad of a Comeback Kid	7,931
1	41	Add this track to your playlist Jackie	7,914
–	42	Add this track to your playlist The New Face of Zero and One	7,713
–	43	Add this track to your playlist Mystery Hours	7,634
–	44	Add this track to your playlist It's Only Divine Right	7,493
–	45	Add this track to your playlist To Wild Homes	7,210
–	46	Add this track to your playlist July Jones	7,085
–	47	Add this track to your playlist Execution Day	6,907
–	48	Add this track to your playlist Centre for Holy Wars	6,832
–	49	Add this track to your playlist Testament to Youth in Verse	6,679
–	50	Add this track to your playlist The Mary Martin Show	6,450

Number of listeners for the last six months More top tracks…

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higginst (Saturday 5 July 2008) Send a Private Message to higginst
why am i so often referred to as "the kiwi"
higginst shouted
keech_21 (Thursday 3 July 2008) Send a Private Message to keech_21
Wow! First song I heard "daddy dont know" and it was pretty kick ass. Wonder what other songs they have. I think I have stumbled onto something here...
keech_21 shouted
kacheung (Thursday 3 July 2008) Send a Private Message to kacheung
When will the New Pornos come to the Netherlands again (with Neko and Dan)? I really must see them live soon -__-
kacheung shouted
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The New Pornographers

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