The National - Alligator/Secret Meeting

June seemed to be a slow (for lack of a better word) month in that we had three posts by the 10^th of the month and we ended up with a grand total…of three posts in June. The above picture I just featured on the marquee is also from June (this one here is a beautiful American gator) – a sort of cloudy time during the middle of the day that I couldn’t find any other time of the day. Sure it’s been hot and sure it’s been a bit different but my regards and sentiments don’t change on the aim of the blog: a hopefully thriving collection of writing. My compatriots don’t seem to share the same vision I have; heck, my dry spell for most of this year doesn’t seem to share the unlikely vision my brain has. Maybe I'm crazy, probably but for now, it’s gonna be a July or bust kind of month. July reigns as one of my favorite months because it’s sort of in the middle and it’s also a transitional/longing period for many. You know, the whole ‘it’s almost august before school and work (for most, not me) starts again so let’s enrich July." For me, it’s July, the maybe best month. I’ll be at the Chamizal for the 4^th and hopefully with a better picture than the one above. In the meantime, the realness of The National takes over.

I’ve got I think 3 posts on High Violet and only one on Boxer (which needs to change because that’s the one I was listening to earlier) but contrary to what the masses assume, The National made music well before either of those albums. This band is truly something for the ages. they make music surreal and amazingly in-tune with what many young adults face in the here and now. And they also name their albums beautifully with each one a story. For a punk college kid in 2005, Alligator really showed me the magic of combining the storied songwriting The National fashion with a compelling lushness of guitars and drums that never seem to tire. This alligator was always spiky and maybe ornery but only if you mess with it.

The first song is where many of us fell in love with the Ohio-created, now Brooklyn-based band. side note: maybe just moving to a new territory would be nice? Anyways, this song reckons some kind of kiss-off to The National’s record label as a sort of “leave me alone, I aint listening to you, I’m having a secret meeting in my head away from you about what this album will be.” Maybe it was like a moment of frustration where the band realized ‘hell you signed us, let us do our thing’ and well, according to most artists (even the big ones on major labels) the labels have a lot of say. And its funny, or ironic, for a better word, the big wigs at a record label isn’t always someone who knows about music. Sort of twisted but I’m sure it’s like that anywhere.

For me personally, the song drives a sort of paranoia, lost in a relationship, lost in a self destructive state of mind sort of. Like the spies are around you and they seem to be honing in on you but is it in your head? Are you having these secret meetings and finding something worse in your own terrible mindframe? They talk about trying to make it as a band (and I think that’s more what it is REALLY about) but I mean, the metaphors run wild on here. At the end he’s screaming about holding an ace but still folding, like a sort of give up where you realize you’re the best but still lose. And then they try to reason with him to throw it away but he’s scared. Like having too much power is scary enough and the ace, well, it’s strong no? I’m not sure, but the sharks always run wild in the river. The point is... they’re lost.

I wanted to include another song but I just realized I ranted for more than 600 words here already, that’s enough. Until then, some hopes and a bad ass song by a bad ass American band. – Bryan