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Coronavirus has turned all touring musicians into housebound music fans. “I haven’t been home this long in 15 years,” wryly confesses. When reached by phone last week, The National frontman chatted a bit about what’s keeping him occupied lately, including a recently completed solo , Serpentine Prison, produced by Booker T. Jones. But more than anything he’s been spending his quarantine time listening to familiar favorites. “I’m really gravitating to Willie Nelson for some reason. I’m finding so much comfort in his stuff. And ,” he says. “I find a lot of solace in Carrie & Lowell.” We recently tracked Berninger down to talk about one of our favorite quarantine listens, , which turns 10 today. For The National, High Violet signifies a pivotal moment in their history. Suffused with a musical grandiosity that blows far past its more introverted predecessors, High Violet debuted in the top 5 in the US and UK and permanently ushered them to headliner status in large theaters and arenas. Check out our interview here.

-- Steven Hyden, Uproxx Cultural Critic and author of This Isn't Happening: Radiohead's "Kid A" And The Beginning Of The 21st Century OPENING TRACKS

HAYLEY WILLIAMS

We’ve been talking up the new solo album by , Petals For Armor, for a while here at Indie Mixtape HQ. While you certainly know Williams’ work with the pop-punk band , Petals For Armor moves in all sorts of adventurous directions, embracing R&B, art rock, and everything in between.

LISTEN DIET CIG CASS MCCOMBS

This fun, feel-good -pop duo This genius singer-songwriter put make music that feels like a warm out one of our favorite of bear-hug from a long lost friend. 2019, Tip Of The Sphere. We didn’t After breaking through with their expect him to return so soon with a boisterous 2017 debut Swear I’m surprise single, but we’re more Good At This, Diet Cig returns with than happy to hear the dreamy, a bigger sound and more nuanced elusive “The Wine Of Lebanon,” songwriting on the new Do You made with the new brand new Wonder About Me? recording system LUNA.

LISTEN LISTEN

DEEP CUTS FONTAINES DC ROSE CITY BAND

These feisty Irish punks dropped We could all use some chilled out their debut LP, Dogrel, just over a jams as we move into the warm year ago. Clearly they aren’t weather months and tentatively resting on their laurels, however, step outside. One of our faves because they just announced their lately is this side project for Ripley second record, A Hero’s Death, Johnson of Wooden Shjips, who which comes out July 31. And tones down the menace of his they’ve released the title track, a other band for some Dead-like post-punk gob of spit, as the guitar meanderings. single. LISTEN LISTEN

VINYL OF THE WEEK 'DEAD MAN'S POP' by THE REPLACEMENTS

Although Don’t Tell A Soul ultimately became The Replacements' best- selling effort, the group was unsatisfied with the sound of the record. With the new Don't Tell A Soul boxed set, the band has radically reimagined Don’t Tell A Soul for a 4CD/1LP set that features the album mixed as it was originally intended (Don’t Tell A Soul Redux), along with a collection of previously unheard tracks (We Know The Night: Rare & Unreleased), and a classic concert from 1989 (The Complete Inconcerated Live). The music is presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book – loaded with dozens of rarely seen photos - that features a detailed history of the Don’t Tell A Soul era written by Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: The True Story Of The Replacements. Needless to say, this set is a can't-miss for Replacements die-hards.

This week, Indie Mixtape subscribers get 10% off the set by entering the code DMP10 at checkout.

PICK IT UP

THROWBACK

'VISIONS' by GRIMES In honor of her new baby — we don’t have the characters to type out the kid’s name — let’s go back to the 2012 album when much of the world first encountered Grimes. This weirdly catchy synth-pop gem hasn’t lost the ability to cast a spell.

LISTEN

LINER NOTES

Ask A Music Critic: What Are The Best Album- Opening Lyrics Ever?

What are the best album-opening lyrics of all time? Uproxx’s Steven Hyden attempts to answer this question in the latest Ask A Music Critic column.

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