90.

The National
Alligator
(Beggars Banquet, 2005)

The National. Could there be a more solid band? The group seems to be the perfect mixture rhythm, melody and lyric, with every member playing their part to perfection. On Alligator that perfection was at its most darndestly transcendent. Musky, brooding, enlightened, tragic, desperate and oh so gorgeous, Alligator is the work of a mature band doing what it does best better than ever before. A couple years ago while in Chicago I discovered that The National (via the equally wonderful Boxer) is the perfect music for eating after midnight at an Irish pub. A great coda to a weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival.

-Thistle