Crate Digging is a recurring feature in which an artist presents several albums within a theme that all music fans should know about. In this edition, Brooklyn synth-pop trio Nation of Language elaborate on their favorite albums for living in the city.
“In Manhattan, you cannot have it all,” Nation of Language’s Ian Devaney sang on the opening line of A Way Forward, the New York trio’s 2021 sophomore album. Like that rather dramatic lyric suggests, the shadow of the city looms large in Nation of Language’s discography. Their frenetic synth-pop sound mirrors the pace of the New York’s crowded streets and busy intersections; the way big emotions tumble out of the band in climactic, cathartic fashion is akin to asking “can anyone hear me?” in sea of pedestrians, to being that person weeping on the subway.
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Dance Called Memory, Nation of Language’s latest effort, is similarly made for the city; though instead of weeping in the subway, Dance Called Memory makes it feel like they’re weeping in a large Broadway house, Devaney’s booming baritone echoing right back at the listener with a touch of distance. Grief and personal lows were catalysts for the album’s potent hues, but to mourn in the city is a complicated task. How do you move on when the city has already moved on without you, another day beginning and more work to be done?
But as they have on each of their four albums, the trio use each other as outlets. Alex MacKay’s restless basslines root these songs in joy and motion, and each time Aidan Noell’s voice pops in the fray, like on “In Another Life,” it’s angelic. Their infectious camaraderie in the face of anguish is what helps these songs float above the rising water, and the album then becomes a testament to creative pursuits.
This is all touched upon beautifully in the video for lead single “Inept Apollo,” itself an ode to artists in the city. As a camera pans unceasingly through a warehouse, a variety of artists are seen rehearsing their various disciplines in tightly-sealed practice rooms. It’s an apt summation of the relationship between public and private within urban environments, and a love letter to the idea that creative expression and the city go hand-in-hand.
It was a treat to hear which city albums resonate the most with Devaney, Noell, and MacKay, who have each seen multiple eras of music and art unfold in New York City throughout the years. Some of their picks are more obvious gems — like LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver — while others are slightly more unexpected (scroll to the end to read about an Aldo Ciccolini record that Devaney swears by).
See Nation of Language’s picks below of the 10 city albums they think everyone should own, and stream their great new album, Dance Called Memory, here.
LCD Soundsystem — Sound of Silver
Ian Devaney: This was one that was on all of our shortlists. Growing up in New Jersey and sort of envisioning this future time when I would move to New York, LCD Soundsystem just feels like such a definitive New York band of that era. There’s able to be both humor and deeply emotional stuff and fun dance music. There’s just a confluence of a lot of things that are hard to weave together.
Aidan Noell: It’s great when one song can make you laugh out loud while touching a core emotion about what it is to live in New York. Having seen them many times now during their New York residencies, these songs have become even more impactful somehow. The feeling of jumping around and wailing with a full packed room to “Someone Great”… it’s very special and feels like the community aspect that you can really only get living in a city, and especially this city. Everyone is feeling the same thing at the same time.
Ian Devaney: They’re just one of the most fun live bands to see. There’s something still very scrappy about it, even though it’s this really big production. It seems like they’re constantly working on it and it’s constantly evolving in little ways. That perpetual motion, to me, reflects a kind of city living that’s put into practice.
Essential Track: “Someone Great” (with nods to “Get Innocuous” and “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down”)
Stream LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Smerz — Big city life
Alex MacKay: This album came out earlier this year and I’ve just been listening to it constantly. It’s one of those experiences where it scratched an itch I didn’t know I had — like, oh, this is a new kind of album that I haven’t really heard before. It’s very good for city listening, for walking around, and there are a lot of songs about nightlife and more reflective moments. There are some really weird interludes too.
What I love about it is that I still don’t really have the track list internalized, so when I listen through, when a song ends I really don’t know what’s gonna come next. It could be almost anything. The production is really restrained but also bangs really hard at the same time, which is a tough thing to do. It’s really minimal and feels like some of these songs could be birthed in one two-hour moment, one night. They talked about in an interview how a lot of times the vocal takes are just the first ones they did, right off the cuff after they’d written them. I think that’s a testament to how good their choices are.
Essential Track: “You Got Time and I Got Money” (though Alex’s personal favorite is “Feisty”)
Stream Smerz’s Big city life on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Talking Heads — Fear of Music
Ian Devaney: My parents lived in New York in the ’80s and were living in D.C. in the ’70s. There are all these great concert photos that my dad took seeing bands like The Clash and Talking Heads. For me, that era of New York music really shaped so much of how I see the urban experience — that amidst bad conditions, very interesting art can be created because it feels like nobody’s paying attention anyway and no one’s gonna stop you because there are bigger problems to solve.
With this record, I think there’s such a run of songs that I would listen to over and over again. I love the whole record, but tracks four through eight — “Cities,” “Life During Wartime,” “Memories Can’t Wait,” “Air,” and “Heaven” — I would run on just a loop. For me, as someone who first was obsessively listening to the album while not living in New York, it made me sort of long to create my own experience within the city and find some sort of artistic community, the way that there was the entire CBGB ecosystem of bands. It really romanticized what it is to be a New York band to me.
Essential Track: “Life During Wartime”
Stream Talking Heads’ Fear of Music on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Fontaines D.C. — Dogrel
Aidan Noell: I feel like a lot of people aren’t really talking so much about their debut album these days because they keep hitting us with great records, but that first album is so good. It’s just like the perfect gritty, youthful energy. It’s aggressive and abrasive and so fast-paced — it’s really just all bangers. I don’t live in Dublin and never have, but it translates to any big city where you feel like the city’s trying to beat you down, but you’re gonna prove everyone wrong by surviving. It feels good to face the shit and make it out in the end.
I’ve seen them a few times in New York and London, and every time the show has been such a whirlwind. That energy is matched in this album because no matter where you’re from, if you live in a city, you can relate to that feeling of needing to prove yourself and smash the system.
Ian Devaney: This album stands out to me because I got to see them play in New York pre-pandemic when it was these songs in like a 200-capacity room. Just falling in love with it so instantly, and now to see that they’re proper rock stars in stadiums is pretty incredible. I don’t know that I’ve ever watched a band go from that size to that size.
Essential Track: “Sha Sha Sha”
Stream Fontaines D.C.’s Dogrel on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city
Alex MacKay: This is an album I got into a lot in an earlier chapter of my life. It came out 13 years ago now, which is crazy. I know it wasn’t his first — I’d been hearing his name in the years prior, like people saying there’s this legendary young rapper in LA and everybody’s co-signing him. But I’ve never been super up to speed on the rap and hip hop world, so I think this was the moment when it really crossed over into my world.
Looking at the track list, it’s just mind-blowing how many of these are still classics. There’s a song that’s over 12 minutes long, so you see all the things that Kendrick would come to represent in terms of his digressions into more jazzy things, his understanding of his place within the culture. Even though he was 24, 25, you could tell that he really understands where he wants to be. That refrain “promise that you will sing about me” — he sees this greatness within himself, which he was right about, and he’s always been so savvy about how to position himself within the culture.
Most people go to LA but they don’t go to Compton, and this album shows you what it is to him. It’s this amazing contrast of really developed storytelling elements and interludes with these just stone cold bangers. When I think about city records, that was one that came to mind right away.
Essential Track: “Backseat Freestyle”
Stream Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Blur — Modern Life Is Rubbish
Aidan Noell: I’m a huge Blur fan, and if I had to choose one album to be a city album, I think I’d choose this one. It’s very tongue-in-cheek but also swings to being super sincere, and I feel like that’s how you have to balance your emotions when living in the city. You have to be able to laugh at it all and poke fun at yourself and at the entire scene, but also take moments to be grateful and reflect on what it is to live in a city.
Some of the songs are super sexy and cool in a way that epitomizes nightlife or the romanticization of living in a city. “Oily Water” is probably my favorite track on the album, it’s especially sensual. Then there are the groovers on the album that are great walking-around-town songs like “Chemical World” or “Sunday Sunday.”
It’s one of the great album titles — Modern Life Is Rubbish — and that’s just an evergreen truth. It’s also really fun to sing along to these songs, and I think that’s something we all need: catharsis. Living in the city and singing your heart out, whether doing karaoke or going to a show or just turning the stereo up really loud in your apartment and singing along to these songs feels really good.
Essential Track: “Oily Water”
Stream Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
The Clash — London Calling
Alex MacKay: This is an album I listened to a lot when I was a child and still listen to a lot. My parents were into The Clash, so I remember listening to it in the car constantly. All these songs have a special resonance for me; songs you listen to when you’re a kid tend to do that. They come on and you’re transported to being in the backseat of the car, looking out the window.
They’re still one of my favorite bands, maybe my favorite band. I wasn’t alive when this album came out, but I can’t imagine what it was like going from really good but pretty straightforward British punk records before this, and then suddenly there’s this album. It’s so wide-ranging. The writing is so good, the hooks are so insane, there’re horn sections, they’re trying all these styles. I don’t know what happened for them in that period, but I want to bottle some of that because it feels like they hit another level that hadn’t even been imagined.
They’re writing about things that are archetypal but also about their city, about their lives. They’re very political, but they’re writing catchy political songs about the Spanish Civil War or fascist backsliding. That’s not easy to do — to take on political subjects but do it with such conviction and such style. That’s a pretty irresistible combination.
Essential Track: “Clampdown” (with mentions for “London Calling” and “Rudie Can’t Fail”)
Stream The Clash’s London Calling on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Parquet Courts — Light Up Gold
Aidan Noell: If you are a New Yorker and you have been for the last 10, 15 years, Parquet Courts is just a peak indie rock band. This album is specifically the one that, before I moved here, connected me to this town. Then when I did live here, I was like, oh yeah, this is the perfect album for this town.
From the start it’s like the perfect album for putting on to blow off steam. You can dance to it, you can walk really fast and angrily to it, you can sing along to it. Andrew Savage is my favorite lyricist of our generation. He just knows how to put emotions to words in a very romantic way or in a very ironic way, from many directions. The city imagery is all so spot-on in every song; he just paints a picture and you can see it. It’s very New York.
Ian Devaney: I still remember the first time I heard the record. I was instantly so jacked up about it. I was still living in New Jersey but coming into New York on the weekends all the time because my friends were still in college, but I had dropped out. It just had this very urgent quality in a great way.
Essential Track: “North Dakota” (with mentions for “Stoned and Starving” and “Master of My Craft”)
Stream Parquet Courts’ Light Up Gold on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on Vinyl/CD
Gustaf — Audio Drag for Ego Slobs
Ian Devaney: For another city walking vibe, we have Gustaf. As basically as long as I’ve been in New York making music, Gustaf have been around making music and playing a million shows per month. Every time I see them, I feel equally blown away by their ability to just capture a room of people who don’t know them and immediately convert them all. It’s really inspiring and incredible.
The band and this album has such an urban mania to it. It feels over-caffeinated and under-rested and in a hurry. Similarly to LCD, I think Lydia from Gustaf is really great at blending humor into things very seamlessly, and she’s just such an incredible performer. For personal reasons — the feeling that if you’re in Brooklyn, there’s always a Gustaf show going on — and something in its post-punk essence and madcap energy feels very New York and city in general.
Alex MacKay: I remember one year they won the award for most shows played in New York City. They used to sometimes do like two shows a night sometimes, just relentless.
Aidan Noell: It’s reminiscent of being on your grind and trying to cut through the noise in this town.
Essential Track: “Dog”
Stream Gustaf’s Audio Drag for Ego Slobs on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on CD
Aldo Ciccolini — Satie: Piano Works
Ian Devaney: This one was a little bit of a curveball that I wanted to throw in. A lot of these touch on the urgency and fast-paced, angular nature of living in a city. But I think it is nice to, amidst all the chaos, at certain moments rather than reflecting it, put your headphones in and cocoon yourself.
It makes you feel like you’re in some kind of classic film and makes you see the city differently, for its beauty rather than for its rough edges. It is so sparse and delicate, and I think that contrasts so nicely with so much of the heavy urbanism around you that having a bit of peace amidst the madness is a really nice way to change your perspective on your own environment.
So much of cities were already very overwhelming and urgent, but now you have the rest of the world right here on your phone, and it’s all bearing down on you. Any kind of music that lets you just breathe for a second I think is very valuable.
Essential Track: “Gymnopédie No. 1”
Stream Aldo Ciccolini’s Satie: Piano Works on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Buy on CD
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