The National - Laugh Track Vinyl Unboxing and Review

So after 25 years of being a band and accomplishing everything they have, the national surprises us this year with two new albums five months apart. And here's my question to you. Is it possible for a band that's that old and been around that long to put out something of high quality, back to back? Do they have the energy? Is it possible? That's what we're going to talk about today on the Syndicate X Library.

So the national surprised us with an album. They had a homecoming concert, I believe, in Cincinnati. And they announced from stage that they were dropping a new album. And then they said, hey, by the way, on your way out, you can pick it up on vinyl, which I think there were a thousand of them. Three different colors, yellow, blue, pink with white. This is the yellow one that I have here. This is 152 of the thousand, and they sold it for 60 bucks. The vinyl for this album is not coming out here for a couple more weeks from the time I'm recording this. So this is the only vinyl available currently. It's signed by, by every member of the band. Whenever I am listening to it and somebody enters my space that isn't familiar with the national, they always have this comment that it's sad. They're like, oh, it's so sad. It's so melancholy. Which it is sad, and it is melancholy. Then I was thinking about the. Just the fun idea of what if the national decided, like, hey, we've been around for 25 years, 99% of the people in the audience are going to walk away going, that was a great show. Like, they're. They're a great band. That was incredible, right? Think, is it still hard to write melancholy, sad songs when you're at a point in life where you have a lot of access and a lot of fun and things are kind of going your way? I wonder that about the National. Like, what would it be like if they. If they went away from all those minor chords and wrote an album that had a little happier tone to it? It'd be funny. It isn't going to happen because that isn't what you want to hear from the National. And they're in what they're in. Like, nobody's looking for them to do that or change that much. But it is a funny idea when you think about the things that we become known for or how we get used to certain things, get in certain habits, and it's hard to undo those habits, right? We kind of end up hanging out with the same friends, even if they're not really having a positive effect on our life. Sometimes we'll go to a job that we hate because we, we got to pay our bills or whatever the excuse is. And so we keep doing the same thing over and over again because it's kind of what we've always done. But we never really stop and think like, hey, I could. I could reinvent myself. I could do this a little bit different. The national could make a happy album. I don't know that it would be good, but they could. Let's talk about this album. It's the National. Like I, I personally kind of think they just keep getting better. They, they. They really do. There's some collaborations on this album that I don't know, like Bony Bear on a song. It's okay. I don't. I don't think that they make the album better in a sense. What really stands out to me is the. The drummer, Brian Davendorf, his drumming on here. On the last album, one of the thoughts was that it was more digital and he wasn't as prominent. But he definitely is more prominent on this one. I love the drums on the second track, Deep End and Coat on A Hook. The horns on Hornets also that song are. Are really cool. I love when the national use. Use horns. They subtly do it, but when they do, it's. It. It's so tasteful and great. One thing that kind of bugs me about this and I don't know. So it's a. It's a limited edition pressing of a thousand. There's no labels on these and because they're collectible, I don't want to write on there. You know, on my Massive Attack mezzanine. It's the same sort of thing I wrote in Sharpie. The sides myself because they didn't have it. That's the. The only thing about this. It. It's a great pressing. It sounds incredible. My. My stereo here at the Library and the one at home. There's certain bands that sound great on it. The national is one of them. Led Zeppelin is one. Pink Floyd, Massive Attack.

Miles Davis. Kind of Blue sounds great on it. And there isn't a national album that doesn't just for some reason just really, really pop off on. On the. On the system. It's always really, really fun. It's great. I will compare this one to the. To the release of the, you know, mass production vinyl when it comes out. Incredible album. Check it out. I think, I think you will enjoy. I'm definitely adding this to the library. Excited that it's so collectible and signed also, so thanks. We'll see you next time.