NEW YORK, NY—New York’s River to River Festival hosted up-and-comers The National on a drizzly Friday night to a huge crowd of clean-cut hipsters.

You can no longer consider yourself hip, nor the possessor of secret knowledge about a brilliant undiscovered band, when you hear them featured on National Public…

The release of the 2005 album Alligator made the The National one of the most buzzworthy bands in the country. They became the darlings of critics and bloggers, and the album ended up on a number of “best of the year” lists. That’s all very nice, but it also adds…