I'm an Old Pornographer.

My (exactly) one year long reign of having a photo of mine being the first thing you see when you go to the official site for The New Pornographers has come to an end. What you see above was a photo I decided to take, on a whim, since I was snapping away shots of the concert with my piddling old Fuji cam and wondered what a thousand people behind me looked like. That image was that good enough that the fine folks at the site chose to make it the image of their home, and for all this time I have been thankful.

The changing of graphics is understandable, of course, since the Porno's have to promote their new album entitled "Challengers", yet another blast of joy from the Vancouver-based band that includes the adorable Neko Case, the not-so-adorable Dan Bejar of Destroyer and wacky AC Newman, among others. They're "itchingly fun psycho pop rock", as I like to inaccurately label them, as these guys just defy description. The music is like, sooo damn addictive.

I had been listening to the NP's on and off through the years, but it was the 2005 release of their landmark album, Twin Cinema, that launched my love for this group into the stratosphere. And on the first day of my Vancouver Film Fest vacation that year, I mosied on down to the Commodore Ballroom to see the most wild concert of my life. Not only did I first meet Immaculate Machine followed by a drunk Bejar jam with his group Destroyer at that show, but also witnessed a freakin' TWENTY-EIGHT song blast from the NP's that still rings in my ear as I think of them. I danced, I made a few friends, I perspired like crazy. It was the most perfect night.

And their new album Challengers is amazing. Yes, I've listened to it early, even though the disc is due out in August. It takes some time getting used to, but I've had these songs on constant repeat on the MP3 player ever since it went in there. These guys know what they're doing, and it blows me away that they're still cranking out great music. I'm seeing them TWICE in concert this September, the latter in Vancouver at the Commodore, where Ms. Neko is in attendance once again. I can't wait to groove and dance to "Use It" once again.

Download a free NP's MP3: My Rights Versus Yours

Jason
efilmcritic.com