The New Pornographers "Twin Cinema" (2005)

This is catchy stuff. More of a singles album than anything else, most of these tracks are rhythmically-interesting pop music best played at high volume. Good to get you going in the morning, when you need a kick of energy in the afternoon (I do), or at night if you feel like pissing off your upstairs neighbours.

I have no idea what any of these songs are about. Any of them. I don't even know if the lyrics are proper sentences or what. Doesn't matter.

I'm going to see these guys play with Belle & Sebastian on March 21. It's going to be awesome.

Is it their best album? Maybe not. Is it still the best pop album of the year? Of course. -Cokemachineglow.com

speaker-blowingly brilliant -Rolling Stone

• New Pornos on allmusic.com
• New Pornos official site
• Twin Cinema on metacritic.com
• Twin Cinema on amazon.com

1. Twin Cinema

Solid. The pure rush of indie rock! Comes in at 2:59; any longer would be a crime.

2. The Bones of an Idol

Bearable. I usually skip this one as it kills the momentum right at the beginning of the album. Slow, bland melody. I do kind of like the pulsing backing that comes in at 0:38, and the guitar at 1:15, and the full backing at 2:11 (it is pretty awesome for the last :30). But I still just want to skip to track 3.

3. Use It

Solid. Great song.

4. The Bleeding Heart Show

Standout. Absolutely fucking brilliant. Turn this up as loud as possible.

5. Jackie, Dressed in Cobras

Bearable. I usually skip it. Like track 2, just kills the momentum.

6. The Jessica Numbers

Standout. Something about the rhythm in the verses here.

7. These Are the Fables

Filler. Okay, at this point the album does need a little breather, and the beginning of this is it. Inoffensive. And then the ending is killer, starting at 2:38. Great pulsating rhythmic thing going on there, with the 2nd layer of vocals coming in and kicking ass. If the first 3/4 of the song weren't so bland, this would have to be upgraded.

8. Sing Me Spanish Techno

Solid. Keeps growing on me. Borderline standout.

9. Falling Through Your Clothes

Bearable. Nice bit of chorus where it gets loud but doesn't do anything for me really.

10. Broken Breads

Filler. The slow thing it starts out with is kind of blah, but I like how the pace keeps changing. The faster parts are quite catchy.

11. Three or Four

Solid. Like the music a lot here. The guitar part is good, the verse melody is good. Don't care for the chorus.

12. Star Bodies

Solid. Another rush, like the first track. GREAT intro to the chorus. See 1:20-1:26. I wish the song were built around that. The chorus itself doesn't do much for me. Especially the "take me to where your sister lives" part, I could do without.

13. Streets of Fire

Filler. A pretty little ditty.

14. Stacked Crooked

Standout. Just like "The Bleeding Heart Show", this track has a good deal of pleasant noodling until it goes into a transitional instrumental period (2:07) and then breaks out of it into a kickass finale (3:00). It's like at some point they looked at each other in the studio and said "Okay, enough yanking them around, let's give them the good stuff."