The Turn Table

Canadian fans of The National have two reasons to rejoice.
The Brooklyn-based indie rockers will release their sixth album, Trouble Will Find Me, on May 21 following that up with three dates in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
As an added bonus in Toronto – where the group led by Matt Berninger will play a free NXNE show at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 14 – there is a return engagement of the excellent band documentary, Mistaken For Strangers, directed by Berninger’s younger brother and the movie’s breakout star Tom, earlier in the day at the Bloor Cinema as part of NXNE’s film festival.
Both hilariously funny and deeply poignant due in no small part to the personality of the party-hearty, metal-loving Tom, it premiered earlier in May at Hot Docs in T.O.
“I have told him, ‘Lightning has kind of struck with this movie with you,’’ Berninger, 42, told QMI Agency while in Toronto. “Like after the (Hot Docs) screening, I was signing a lot of autographs but Tom was probably signing more.”
The film came about after Berninger offered Tom a job as assistant road manager during The National’s 2011 tour for 2010’s well-received album, High Violet, and he brought a camera along.
“I don’t think anybody expected there to be a big serious movie,” said Berninger. “They thought it was maybe going to be goofy stuff for the website. …. But then ugly things kind of happened… and it turned into cinematic gold.”
In the end, Mistaken for Strangers is a lot more about the Berninger family dynamic with Tom portrayed as the directionless younger sibling with plenty of untapped creativity until now.
“I’m really, really happy with it and I’m so happy for my brother, and my wife (and co-producer), they did an amazing job,” said Berninger. “It’s a mixture of pride and relief. Relief because it’s not going to ruin our band, it didn’t ruin my marriage.
“(Tom) was always the baby,” continued Berninger. “I have an older sister. My mom puts it more delicately but he was a little bit of a lazy-ass slacker kid. I love him so much and he’s one of the nicest, sweetest, hilarious, wonderful men but he’s a little bit his own worst enemy. He takes like easy, which is great. He’s a little bit of The Big Lebowski, in some ways. .. If there’s any message in the movie it’s that he just figures out that it’s about the work. You have to carve success out of stone with your bare hands.”
Turns out Tom, 33, has been living with Matt and his family for the last three years while he’s been working on Mistaken For Strangers, which still hasn’t gotten distribution in Canada and probably won’t until later this year as they attempt to self-release it.
“I think he’s brilliant in front of the camera,” said Berninger. “Because he’s guileless and his guard is down and I think he knows he’s good and I think he’s fearless in front of the camera and I think there aren’t enough people like that. … Tom has kind of a gift. And he frustrates people but people do like him and I think he could be a brilliant actor…. It’s like a star is born with him.”

The National’s 2013 Canadian tour dates
June 13, Lachine Canal, Montreal
June 14, Yonge-Dundas square, Toronto, free show, North By Northeast (NXNE).
Sept. 22, PNE Amphitheatre, Vancouver

By now, you’ve removed your winter tires, dusted off your spring jacket and glimpsed at that elusive orange orb in the sky. Remember summer? It’s almost back.

When warm weather makes a comeback each year, there’s nothing like that first drive. That first drive with your new sunglasses positioned fashionably on your face, your windows rolled down, and your music turned up. Even if you don’t have a sweet audio setup in your car – for example, your trunk space isn’t entirely dedicated to a massive subwoofer – it’s still fun to crank your music loud enough so that the bass rattles your rear view mirror. It’s like creating a trippy, dizzying visual effect for your own personal music video.

So here’s a list of our favourite bass-thumping, mirror-shaking, passenger-irritating summer songs. If you’ve got any suggestions, let us know in the comments below. And if you’re rolling with the kids, please note that some of these tracks contain naughty language. Alright, enough talking – let’s go test those speakers.

Tinie Tempah – Simply Unstoppable

One of the first songs on British rapper Tinie Tempah’s 2010 album Disc-Overy, the otherworldly synth bass on Simply Unstoppable generates a menacing mood right away.

Tyga – Muthaf—- Up (feat. Nicki Minaj)

The bass sound in this Tyga-Minaj collaboration switches between two different pitches – super low, and then deep-as-the-dark-ocean-low.

Spacehog – In the Meantime

Though these guys are considered one-hit wonders now, the first 35 seconds of this alt-rock track contain one of the best basslines of the ’90s.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop

Producer Ryan Lewis injects some cavernous bass sounds into one of this year’s Top 40 mainstays. The deep bass isn’t present throughout the entire song – obviously, the focus is on that catchy saxophone sample – but it’s those dynamics that make the beat memorable.

Kendrick Lamar – Backseat Freestyle

California rapper Kendrick Lamar adopts the persona of his 16-year-old self, rhyming about his desire for money, power and women over a simple-yet-fierce beat from N—-s in Paris producer Hit-Boy.

Alex Clare – Up All Night

The distorted bass guitar and reggae-style drums give Alex Clare’s Up All Night the right punch to kick off his 2011 album The Lateness of the Hour.

Dev (feat. The Cataracs) – Bass Down Low

Sure, the track gets annoying after a while, but if you want to test your car’s sound system, you can’t go wrong with The Cataracs. It’s all in the song title, right?

photo: Macklemore performs at SXSW in March. (AFP)

So how will The National’s frontman Matt Berninger prepare for an upcoming 6 hour performance of the band’s song, Sorrow?
Frankly, he has no idea.
“I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like that,” Berninger told QMI Agency in Toronto this week prior to the May 21 release of the new National album, Trouble Will Find Me.
The six hour-long rendition of Sorrow from the American indie rockers’ last album, High Violet, takes place Sunday (May 5) at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, N.Y.
It’s a collaboration with Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and the work is titled A Lot of Sorrow.
“We had heard of him, he’s a pretty famous artist and so we were like, ‘Okay, that sounds pretty interesting,’” said Berninger. “And for him, it’s not about the endurance or it’s not about how hard it is. It’s about the sort of euphoric or zen state you get in with repeating stuff, the same thing over and over in the same way of almost of a mantra or a prayer would be.”
The only instruction Berninger and rest of The National have been given by the artist is that they should do whatever they need to do during the performance.
“He’s like, ‘If you need to lie down (do it). You don’t have to stand there and perform the exact same way every time. You can relax. If you have to go to the bathroom just leave the stage and everybody else can keep playing. You’ll leave the stage, go to the bathroom and come back. So it’s not about pain or struggle. It’s about finding the pleasure and the reflection of doing something over and over again.”
Berninger says the artist will even feed the band during the show.
“He says, ‘You’ll have waves of getting tired and your energy will ebb and flow.’ And he’s apparently coming around and giving us cheese trays or whatever it is we want, feeding us.”
The performance takes place in MoMA PS1′s VW Dome between 12-6 p.m.
“He’s going to fill it with smoke and it’s going to be filled with lights and cameras,” said Berninger. “He’s got five cameras that are going to be filming everything and recording everything. And we’re actually even going to record a high end audio version of it and put it out on vinyl and sell it for charity, six hours of Sorrow.
“But he wants it to feel like a big rock concert on repeat. Like the needle is skipping on a rock concert. So it’s interesting. He’s done really brilliant things in the past so we trust him.”
Berninger was also in Toronto to attend a screening and Q&A of the band documentary, Mistaken For Strangers, directed by his brother Tom, which still has one more screening at Hot Docs on Sunday (May 5).
The National’s two Canadian tour dates so far are June 13 in Montreal and a free show at Yonge/Dundas Square on June 14 in Toronto as part of NXNE.

REGINA – Here’s the best of what you didn’t hear backstage from Sunday night’s Juno Awards:
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“Dr. Phil was a sport. I don’t know if you noticed. He kept looking down at his piece of paper and he said (does southern accent), ‘Well, you may have not have the career of a William Shatner or the street cred of a Drake.’ So I don’t know how aware he was of it. But he was really sweet about doing it. It didn’t take a lot.”
– Juno host Michael Buble on whether Dr. Phil, featured in opening skit, knew what the Juno Awards are.
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“I think it’s the best sauce ever!”
Triple Juno winner Carly Rae Jepsen on designer Asos, who made her fetching yellow gown.
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“I knew it made me want to dance and I think I don’t have a s–t taste in music.”
Best adult alternative album winner Serena Ryder of her hit song, Stompa.
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“It it’s fun, keep doing it. If it’s not, please stop. For all of us.”
Ryder on her advice to younger musicians.
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“I knew there was no f–king way I would win for single of the year. It was like, ‘Seriously if the biggest single (Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe) on the planet is not going to win the single of year then there’s something wrong with the world. So I was really stoked with Carly Rae won.”
Ryder on the chances of Stompa winning best single.
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“The recipe for a killer tunafish salad. Really one of the best.”
- Adam Cohen on the biggest lesson his father, artist and songwriter of the year winner Leonard Cohen taught him not about music.
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“Adele recently. He says (does impression of his gravelly voice), ‘Set fire to the rain,’ that’s good.”
- Adam Cohen on what new music Leonard is listening to lately.
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“We all had different seats on the plane and I knew that the text messages were going to come to me … and I turn on phone … and we got this great text, we got 20 of them, ‘You went three for three!’ And I was yelling out, ‘Emmy (Haines)! Emmy! Three for three!’ And she was like, ‘I don’t know what you were talking about it!’ – Metric’s James Shaw on flying in from their Coachella performance to Sunday night’s Juno Awards. Shaw won producer of the year while Metric’s Synthetica won alternative album of the year and and Justin Broadbent won best recording package for Synthethica.
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“Oh, yeah, I got punched in the face while I was singing last week. That sucked man! I was working through the crowd, singing some stuff and this guy came up and smacked me in the face a couple of times. And I was like, ‘Are you serious? Did you just come to my show to punch me in the f–king face?’”
- Marianas Trench frontman Josh Ramsay on getting punched during a recent Moose Jaw concert.
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“It was like holy s–t! I got to go up there and talk now. And I was on the stage shaking and the teleprompter was going, ‘Wrap it up now!’”
- Jeremy Widerman of Hamilton’s Monster Truck, who won breakthrough group of the year despite all being in their 30’s and not having a debut album, Furiousity, out till May 28.