Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The band have finished work on their third album, due for release mid- to late summer of 2010. The album is being produced by Markus Dravs, who produced their previous album, 2007's Neon Bible and engineered by Marcus Paquin, who has also previously worked with the band.

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/05/arcadefire-suburbs-month-of-may.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mji0mxSXt8Q

http://www.arcadefire.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/postcard2_small.jpg

These two new songs are surprisingly good, nothing of the irritating drama queen-theatrics of The Neon Bible.

http://pitchfork.com/news/38931-new-arcade-fire-single-is-out/

This is my (as in, I work there) record shop... whoops!

Is Month of May about the Habs riot?

These two new songs are surprisingly good, nothing of the irritating drama queen-theatrics of The Neon Bible.

― zeus, Thursday, May 27, 2010 5:36 AM (3 hours ago)

u_u

album called 'The Suburbs'.

maybe I should try to care, but I probably won't.

oh god no

http://pitchfork.com/news/38940-arcade-fire-announce-new-album/

the title's gotta be some sort of prelease joek -- good 1 Win

that being said, Neon Bible rules, so i'll be checking this out & hoping not to toss it in the Forgiveness Rock Record indie rock landfill

completely co-sign w/ zeus - digging the (comparatively) laid-back nature of these new tunes.

Both of the two songs previewed are yawnfests.

yep

THIS BAND SUCKS

goodbye thread

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Arcade_Fire_-_The_Suburbs.png

The Suburbs is the upcoming third album by rock band Arcade Fire. The album will be released on August 2 in the UK and August 3, 2010 in the US.

1. "Saturday Morning" 4:48
2. "Month Of May" 4:02
3. "Latchkey Kids" 3:40
4. "The Suburbs" 5:15
5. "Sandbox/Turf War" 4:49
6. "In Iowa" 4:42
7. "La Maison Dieu" 5:95
8. "White Picket Fences" 3:07
9. "Flutey Harper" 5:10
10. "Asleep On The Beach" 6:20
11. "Where We Fell In" 2:57
12. "Never Stopped Running" 5:12
13. "Cars and Telephones" 5:05
14. "Vampire/Forest Fire" 22:18
15. "Neighbourhood #5 (Hockey)" 5:18
16. "Power Rebellion" 7:23
17. "No Cars Go" 9:00
18. "Yeah Toast!" 2:31

holy hell this is two hours long????

"Neighbourhood #5 (Hockey)"

omg

about 200 percent sure that's fake. also: "5:95"

it sucks that that's fake, that tracklisting actually made me pretty interested in this album

otm without the getting interested part

yeah it could be fake, got it from Wikipedia.

lack of french song title is a giveaway

"Neighbourhood #5 (Hockey)"

omg

― iatee, Thursday, May 27, 2010 11:03 PM (17 minutes ago)

if that is a real song title, massive massive massive loooooool

17. "No Cars Go" 9:00

yeah, "real" tracklist

7. "La Maison Dieu" 5:95

i mean 5:95 is a giveaway but that is french iirc

one of the previous edits of the Wiki entry for the record has song #18 as "Yeah Toast!"

"Rebellion Lies (Kelly Clarkson Cover)"

"Dymde Doo-doo (iTunes only bonus track)"

v. tru

Lima Beans - 3:55

i didn't list it because it's a iTunes bonus track only.

x-post

George W. Bush - 4:56

leaked btw

whaat

not really

lol

Someone took a leak alright.

indie rock is making me grow up too quickly in 2010 ;_;

by being awful

looking for love in all the wrong places

track listing has been deleted on Wiki.

;_;

curse you DMCA

ksh, love you dude, but you don't need to prove yr indie burnout in every thread. i mean, the last BSS rec was just as dull as this most recent one or the first one and it'll likely be ditto for the AF. i'm all in for people doubting on the hype darlins, but you shouldn't have to show how much you've grown in the last 6 months at every turn. honestly sorry if that sounds bitchy though.

Despite the dullness of the two previewed tracks, I still hold out hopes for the album. And I hope the bonkers tracklisting is true.

The "bonkers track-listing" is not true.

Who's up for doing a No Line On The Horizon on that track listing? I for one would like to hear Yeah Toast brought to life (w/ glockenspiel and sousaphone).

it would be hard to write a song called "Neighbourhood #5 (Hockey)" that wasn't totally awesome

Looking forward to this. I don't usually spring for "indie rock" stuff (whatever that means, really) but when the Arcade Fire have gotten it right in the past, they have just enough of a Bunnymen/U2 thing going on to keep things interesting. Doesn't hurt that Win Butler's voice can be a dead-ringer for McCulloch when he gets into his higher registers, and that certain arrangements recall Ocean Rain/self-titled era Bunnymen, etc.

I don't usually spring for "indie rock" stuff (whatever that means, really)

you don't?

Not really, no. I'd be pretty hard pressed to name, say, 5 indie rock albums I've bought this year (much less enjoyed).

Okay, maybe a few more (judging by this previous post of mine):

That said, here are the albums I've bought this year that are sorta "indie"-ish:

Beach House - Teen Dream (zzzzzzzzzzz... selling this soon)
Liars - Sisterworld (I guess to some this is "indie rock"? I'd say it's more a continuation, these days, of Jesus Lizard-style noise-rock... haven't had enough time with this album to cast judgment, but their live show is still great!)
MGMT - Congratulations (a mixed bag... kinda cool in parts, though)
Mount Eerie - Black Wooden (haven't listened closely)
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme (this one's really ace!)
Spoon - Transference (again, borderline indie... this is growing on me, though, regardless)
Yeasayer - Odd Blood (MPP-influenced indie psych-pop, I like it well enough)

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, May 4, 2010 8:58 PM (3 weeks ago)

Though, I'd prefer to throw Liars into the noise/rock bin with Sightings, etc., instead of the "indie rock" catch-all name. And I didn't care for the Beach House album at all (kinda just checked 'em out due to all the Hope Sandoval comparisons, honestly). Thus I'm left with 5 "indie rock" albums, I suppose.

Whoops, misplaced the quotation:

That said, here are the albums I've bought this year that are sorta "indie"-ish:

Beach House - Teen Dream (zzzzzzzzzzz... selling this soon)
Liars - Sisterworld (I guess to some this is "indie rock"? I'd say it's more a continuation, these days, of Jesus Lizard-style noise-rock... haven't had enough time with this album to cast judgment, but their live show is still great!)
MGMT - Congratulations (a mixed bag... kinda cool in parts, though)
Mount Eerie - Black Wooden (haven't listened closely)
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme (this one's really ace!)
Spoon - Transference (again, borderline indie... this is growing on me, though, regardless)
Yeasayer - Odd Blood (MPP-influenced indie psych-pop, I like it well enough)

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, May 4, 2010 8:58 PM (3 weeks ago)

yeah, that makes sense -- thought you listened to more indie rock for some reason but i guess i was just throwing a lot of non-indie rock under the "indie" banner again :-)

I guess it comes off that way when I make quips about The National or something, or start Pfork news headline-related polls. Which I can certainly understand. And I suppose you could file the Arcade Fire under "indie rock," for better or worse.

I do find most of the "indie" stuff I enjoy is because of its relation to something else, whether it's Spoon recalling a Kinks/Wire crossbreeding, Liars harkening back to the Jesus Lizard and other noise-rock, MGMT having enough Eno and Spacemen 3 reference points to get me to drop $7.99 on their album, or Yeasayer doing the blissfull psych-pop thing that people love to file under "indie rock," even though it's really not. Same goes for Arcade Fire and the Bunnymen/U2 reference points that I mentioned above.

Don't know if that makes sense or not. But as for strictly "indie rock" stuff that doesn't take ideas from, or throw a new twist on, a different genre that I enjoy -- my interest is basically nil.

weren't you seen as an indie rock dude when you were posting back in 2007, too? i used to post for a few months as "three handclaps" and seem to remember you being one of the other indie ppl on the boards. either way, that was three years ago

that makes sense, except i'm not sure exactly what you'd consider "indie rock" stuff that doesn't take ideas from, or throw a new twist on, a different genre that I enjoy"?

Well, take the Decemberists. I don't like what they do, I don't like whatever it is they draw their ideas from, I don't like their vocalist or their instrumentation or their songwriting. I'm sure they are following their own muse (thankfully, there is only one Decemberists in the world, afaik), but since they're not drawing from anything I enjoy, I just don't see the appeal. It comes off as bland, pasteurized, NPR/Pfork-approved indie rock.

Key words: "that I enjoy."

There is plenty of indie rock that draws from various genres and so forth. I'm saying I only really dig the bands that successfully recall, and put their own spin on, something I already really love.

Makes sense to me.

Cue for some other poster to come in and make fun of us both in 3, 2...

I sure wish there was a new Suburbs album called 'Arcade Fire'. MPLSSTPL out.

haha, now Wiki has this listed:

Confirmed tracks

"The Suburbs"
"Month of May"

lol when ppl say they don't like indie rock these days i usually assume they just mean the decemberists

O! Valencia, I swear to the stars! We'll burn this whole city down! Oh ho ho!

Mount Eerie - Black Wooden

is this a real thing? somehow i missed it.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13829-black-wooden-ep/

hm. thanks.

There's a whole series of these sort of releases on Southern Records, and some other good ones worth checking out, too -- Alexander Tucker and Decomposed Orchestra, Magik Markers, Grails, Boduf Songs... all great.

ksh, love you dude, but you don't need to prove yr indie burnout in every thread. i mean, the last BSS rec was just as dull as this most recent one or the first one and it'll likely be ditto for the AF. i'm all in for people doubting on the hype darlins, but you shouldn't have to show how much you've grown in the last 6 months at every turn. honestly sorry if that sounds bitchy though.

― underwater, please (bear, bear, bear), Friday, May 28, 2010 12:51 AM (3 days ago)

appreciate this, and point taken! will quiet down about my struggling w/ my indie fandom. thanks for speaking up :-)

now's the time to speak up, tho. the suburbs is the greatest album ever made. in history.

irl lols, thanking u 4 that

no no, i'm very very serious

meh. i'm kind of -- sort of -- anticipating this disc. kind of.

i feel the same way -- but i'll definitely at least give it a fair shot. Neon Bible ruled

i have mixed feelings toward neon bible. i love (quiet, intense) bruce springsteen, but i'm not that interested in acts parroting his style, as arcade fire did often on this disc.

why do you hate pseudoapocalyptic, histrionic indie gloriousness, Daniel?

i have no time for pseudoapocalyptic discs. only truly apocalyptic discs for me, please.

http://991.com/newGallery/Scott-Walker-The-Drift---Seale-443894.jpg

that guy's a bummer.

i'll punch a donkey in the streets of Galway

Loved Funeral, loathed Neon Bible. Totally ambivalent about the new one.

"the suburbs" (the track) is great. i get why people are saying it's boring but i love it when af do darling folk, their best mode imo. very affecting and charming and warm.

Loved Funeral, loathed Neon Bible. Totally ambivalent about the new one.

yeah, i feel the same way, although there's a handful of songs on neon bible that i love (the ones that don't have that faux-springsteen feel, primarily).

xpost

"i love it when af do darling folk"

which other songs of theirs r u putting into this category?

like, "Neon Bible" and the "hey, our eyes are shooting sparks" tune? \(O_o)/

like, une annee sans lumiere

both of their albums were pretty awesome so i'm looking forward to this one

Digging both new tracks. Neon Bible had the uneviable pressure of being THE FOLLOW-UP TO FUNERAL, and as a result felt like it was constantly in quest of significance and meaning, which worked sometimes and oft-times felt a bit ham-fisted/pompous/overblown (and I say this as someone who likes the album on balance). Suburbs/Month of May feels like, having proven themselves w/ a #2 Billboard/SNL/etc. they were able to just retreat and chill and exist for a year and have just leisurely cranked out some tunez. Less pressure, less of a statement, maybe, but more off-the-cuff and less laboured over. So yeah, looking forward to this for now.

And Neighbourhood #5 (Hockey) isn't real at all...it's a long-standing joke from the band's semi-official Us Kids Know boards, IIRC.

oh, how i wish it was real.

we should rite it ourselves

     
     O
    /_\
   /|_|\
  / |_| \
 /  / \  \
/--/---\--\
| u | | u |
|  / * \  |
| /  _  \ |
\_________/
© 2010 KSH

this wizard head I just came up w/ will be on the cover of the single

I actually think Funeral and Neon Bible are roughly on a par - Funeral is A LOT patchier than people admit and Neon Bible's highs are pretty high. Neon Bible doesn't contain anything as awful as Crown of Thorns or that other dreadful slow one.

Sean's write up of the private warm-up show. Neon Bible didn't do much for me, but kinda excited for this.

yeah seriously that show was really good. reminded me of how comme-ci comme-ca i ended up with regard to Neon Bible.

I still think Neon Bible is loads better than the debut album. Probably on my own, though.

i was conviced of that on my first few listens, ilxor, then my love for Neon Bible started to fade a bit. Maybe it was emotionally draining? haven't played NB in a year or so, but the last time i heard a cut from funeral i thought it sounded as good as ever

I still think Neon Bible is loads better than the debut album. Probably on my own, though.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Monday, June 7, 2010 4:55 PM (1 hour ago)

You're not. Would need to listen to both back-to-back again to be sure, but, as it stands in my head now, Neon Bible is above Funeral.

you guys are both retarded

you are the #1 hit in Google for "teflon donk"

Free show last night in a suburban mall parking lot outside Montreal. The new material kicks really hard. More guitar heavy than anything they've done, with two drum kits for a lot of the songs. If Funeral was a joyously sad album about snow and family, and Neon Bible was about religion, water and dread, then the lyrical tropes here seem to be modernity and fire. Reminds me of some stuff off the 2003 EP at times, but good stuff overall and translates a lot better live than Neon Bible did (and I liked Neon Bible). Telling that they played about half of Funeral and nothing off NB except for Keep the Car Running and No Cars Go.

Basically, if anyone's wondering, they've still got it, whatever it is.

STILL can't believe they put No Cars Go on Neon Bible. Crazy fools.

whaddya mean? that's maybe the best song on NB, bigger AND better than the original

No Cars Go NB version is their finest moment thus far.

Kind of want to see the NB No Cars Go Bulgarian Orchestral Treatment given to Headlights Look Like Diamonds tbh.

Because they were playing it perfectly and recorded it perfectly before Funeral... At the time for me it seemed like they realised the NB material wasn't that great and thought they better include something that they knew WAS, except it made everything on NB sound worse in comparison

I mean its not like No Cars was some uber obscure unrecorded rarity that would have been lost if they'd not re-recorded it.

Finest moment thus far?? I find that song insufferable. Once they got to "no subs go" I was pretty sure they were just trying to write a bad children's book. "What's another mode of transport we can put here? I know a place where no tractors go... yeah!"

Also the best thing about the song is the "Hey!" - but that's straight out of Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More," where it's done better and creepier.

I would actually say it's their lowest moment--except the two songs that come before it are even worse. Antichrist Television Blues is a wreck.

ready to start is the best leak so far

also scott pgwp belatedly offtm

"I still think Neon Bible is loads better than the debut album. Probably on my own, though."

no i agree too.

Thirding that.

yo.

so they have leaked the first US single and the first UK single, not the same song. looking forward to hearing them.

01 The Suburbs
02 Ready to Start
03 Modern Man
04 Rococo
05 Empty Room
06 City With No Children
07 Half Light I
08 Half Light II (No Celebration)
09 Suburban War
10 Month of May
11 Wasted Hours
12 Deep Blue
13 We Used to Wait
14 Sprawl I (Flatland)
15 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16 The Suburbs (Continued)

empty room

Looking forward to this. As usual, I'm not gonna listen to YouTubes/leaks much, if at all, before the album comes out. Much better to hear these things as a piece than in pieces, methinks.

fake tracklist was better but this one is pretty good

16 is a lot of songs, they must be pretty confident.

pretty confident or grim humorless schoolmarms delivering a big message.

whatevs. i still kind of like this group.

(No Cars Go is their) Finest moment thus far?? I find that song insufferable

otm.

https://twitter.com/Billy/status/17025208502

eight different covers:

http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cat_arcade-fire-covers.jpg

The "standard" cover (3 across, 2 down) is still the best.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/nm4z

the reason why i post that link:

And The Suburbs is their most thrillingly engrossing chapter yet; a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. You could call it their OK Computer. But it’s arguably better than that.

yeah, that's some straight up hyperbole, but I'm hoping the record is still really, really good. they're two for two right now, and Neon Bible is arguably better than Funeral. I mean, if this hits one out of the park they could become even way more popular than they are now

nah, they underestimate it, and it's probably more like "arguably the best record ever recorded by anyone".

has it even leaked yet?

nope

but if they are starting to review it out there then it's only a matter of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_IKcMl_a9A

haha

I'm probably going to wait until it drops, which is only a week or two away, right?

you are right, this drops in a week and a half. man time flies.

Neon Bible is arguably better than Funeral

I'll argue with that. Thematically more cohesive, perhaps. More of a statement. Maybe even more consistent song-for-song (when you're not in the mood for Annee Sans Lumiere or 4 Kettles, they can be sort of dire). But the production and the vibe are just so overwhelmingly heavy, both sonic and otherwise, that I rarely return to Neon Bible unless I make the conscious decision to LISTEN to it.

Funeral, 6 years on, is still something that I *want* to listen to.

Honestly, of the four recorded tracks I've heard, and the three or four others they played at the concert, The Suburbs sounds promising because it breathes in ways Neon Bible never bothered too. There's an efficiency of sound and spareness. Less overbearing, maybe.

(And I mean, I love Neon Bible! It's a stellar album. But it's just very much a 'sometimes food')

The BBC review's stupidly overblown but I agree that The Suburbs is their best record yet. There's much more warmth, pacing and nuance to it, and it does pull off the quasi-concept thing remarkably well. When I go back to the first two now, they seem slightly clumsy and overbearing by comparison. Neon Bible was like a monument that I stood and gawked admiringly at but The Suburbs is a record I'd like to hang out in for a while.

xp We're polar opposites, except we both seem to agree that Neon Bible is more cohesive, consistent, and heavier (yet you like it less?). Funeral is something I have to make an effort to get all the way through. Some of it is quite good, but that which is not is absolutely not. No moment on Neon Bible seems wasted, though. I get what you (and Dorianlynskey) mean about Neon Bible being kind of monolithic, and tbh when I listen to it I often listen to it beginning to end. Funeral's an album you can treat like a buffet. Neon Bible is a prepared meal.

Where was I going with this?

Neon Bible is something that people might pull out less because, yeah, it is "kind of monolithic," and it's dark (for an indie record) too. whereas Funeral is at least triumphant in places

still, if this new record really is great, I'm thrilled -- we need one of our big indie acts to hit the ball out of the park this year, and I won't be disappointed at all if that act is Arcade Fire. they've been pretty consistently great

has it even leaked yet?

― markers, Thursday, July 22, 2010 6:50 PM (Yesterday)

Yes it has

one of our big indie acts

I am possibly the only person who doesn't loop Arcade Fire in with these other "big indie acts," given that I don't really stan for any of them... except for Arcade Fire, who recall the sense of grandeur that the Bunnymen and Furs and U2 and others did in their prime.

in popularity, they're probably, what, smaller than Death Cab but larger than The National? I don't really know how it'd break down

was just gonna say, "When David Bowie's showing up at your shows, you're probably kinda big," until I remembered he went to at least one Clap Your Hands Say Yeah concert

Can Death Cab sell out MSG in a minute?

Twice?

no idea!

Yes it has

really? looking forward to hearing this.

Production breathes, often to the benefit of the songs compared to Neon Bible - more approachable as an album. That said, a lot of these songs rocked harder live. The arrangements aren't just open...they're a little wussy sometimes?

But overall it's a strong showing. More thoughts later.

probably gonna bow out of this thread until the record's out to avoid spoilers, but I'll be bookmark this and come back later

SPOILER: They all die in the end ... but it was just a dream.

On first listen, it was all in one ear, out the other until I got to "Empty Room" which is absolutely great and has that smeared guitar sound I love. Then they follow it with "City With No Children" which is simply exquisite. Things are lookin' up now!

Ooh, that syncopated bass synth in "Half Light II" is really, really nice.

xpost

Have they sold out MSG though? Lefsetz was writing the other day that it's not selling at all - tix in all parts of the arena.

They're playing 2 nights there, so sales have to be pretty good.

Third song sounds like a slow version of the 'Growing Pains' theme song.

The Sprawl II makes me think of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun covered by The Knife, which is a good thing.

Empty Rooms is a weak point for me because it sounds like a throwback to the default everyone-play-at-once Arcade Fire approach, even though it's good in isolation.

On second listen this is their leanest album, and while I loved NB either I've gotten older or they're still picking boogers. The obsession with PURITY and THE KIDS is deeply strange. They're too old to feel so intently about adolescent crises. There's no attempt to examine these crises as adults. When Win Butler and his gang were closer in age to THE KIDS this stuff went down easier. Now I just find his continued identification with them creepy. Against Me! have shown how you can recreate the energy, excitement, and rhythms of the music that excited you as an adolescent but from an adult's POV.

Guys, listen to "Sprawl (Flatland)" -- the stupidest song of the year. It's HILARIOUS.

I love this album cover btw. Never heard an Arcade Fire song in my life, tho...

the synthpop track with the woman singing (blanking on her name) kinda makes me wish they had done a whole album of that

The Sprawl II makes me think of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun covered by The Knife, which is a good thing.
yeah this one's the one i mean

the synthpop track with the woman singing (blanking on her name) kinda makes me wish they had done a whole album of that

yep

alright seriously this song is so light and catchy and makes the rest of the album seem muddy and heavy in comparison

it sounds more like Arcade Fire covering "Heart Of Glass" to me

I've only listened to the album once, so far I have to agree the only song that really stood out was The Sprawl II. That would have been a great sound for the whole album. The rest seems pretty forgettable but I'll give it a few more chances.

it sounds more like Arcade Fire covering "Heart Of Glass" to me

how is this a bad thing?

have yet to listen to this album, going to wait for CD release date.

not a bad thing at all, I can't stop listening to it

It's all a bit too world-weary. What was the Simon Reynolds quote? "I liked Echo and the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain but I don't like it being an entire genre of music."

The Sprawl II is pretty nifty, still.

What song is the Sprawl II reminding me of when she sings? Is it that MGMT's Time to Pretend??? (just listened to that; yeah, similar vocal melodies)

The Sprawl II is horrible

a sequel to the SY song?

"Sprawl II" oddly reminds me of "Highwaymen"

It really does

This is a really beautiful album. If I had to register a complaint against it, though, it's that sometimes the music is more melodramatic than the subject matter calls for.

"Suburban War" is the most egregious offender. Win Butler sings of how his old friends don't know him anymore, a universal enough phenomenon, but the strings behind him swell and cry out to the heavens, warning of impending doom (lots of Echo and the Bunnymen's "All My Colours" here).

Some subjects suit these kind of theatrics—love and loss really do induce these kind of panic attacks—but nobody actually frets this much about the gradual realization they've grown apart from very old friends. It's a bittersweet feeling, sure, but the band soundtracks it like it's the final scene of Casablanca. It's way over the top, and those kind of histrionics undermine the pathos that the album actually earns.

Again, small critique of a really masterful album.

i always thought Arcade Fire would make a great record, if they got rid of the heavy,bombastic production and make something simple and straight fot a change.

i was wrong. this album is mostly a mainstream bore,with some interesting stuff here and there. the production reminds me of the Decemberists or something.

(and i agree the girl's singing tracks are good )

half light II's vocal melody has something of let it be

sprawl ii reminds me of heartbeats by the knife.

album is amiable enough, but i miss the exuberance, spontaneity and frankly excitement of funeral. the only respite is at least this new one isn't as ponderous as its predecessor -- these guys really need to loosen up imho.

"The Suburbs" reminds me of that Sleepy Jackson song.

The first few tracks of this didn't really grab my attention on first listen, sounded a bit Arcade Fire by numbers, but then it gets better and better. Suburban War was the standout for me, and Sprawl II is obviously great. They should let her sing more often - Haiti was my favourite track on Funeral as well.

YouTube'd the "Sprawl II" track due to the positive thread chatter and holy shit it's great.

a full-on repeat-1 track for sure

Reminds me of Liz Fraser mixed by the Utah Saints.

I WENT OUT INTO THE NIGHT I WENT OUT TO PICK A FIGHT WITH ANYONE

COS U AINNT FOOLING ANYBODY, WITH THE LIGHTS OUT *INDIE HEADBANGS* DO DO DO DO DO DO

valuable new poster

no u

ty ::hugz::

what does ty stand for?

thank you

mittens is Win Butler

i keep seeing 'mittens' and thinking it's 'markers'/ksh

i know, i've had to reduce my ILX'ing to ward of schizophrenic feelings

by schizophrenic I meant "multiple personality disorder feelings," btw

anyway yeah who am i

noah lennox?

otm

I know a place where posters go.

Listening to it again, their almost complete lack of interest in rhythm is really frustrating, how many of these songs just have that same reliance on the guitars playing straight eighth notes and nothing else? It's fine when there's some speed behind them but it makes the midpaced songs sound so square and clunky. They sound so much better when they depart from that blueprint.

Maybe I mean rectangular and clunky?

shout out to Bee OK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diK1tZOXgDk

So sad if fancy pants webcasts are the wave of the future.

is it just me or does she sound like karin dreijer on "sprawl II"

i'm not much of an arcade fire fan, but this early review of the disc makes me want to hear the new disc.

emusic has some outstanding writers.

thanks, ksh.

no problem

Daniel: didn't read the Spin review, but they gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars: http://www.spin.com/reviews/arcade-fire-suburbs-merge

Don't worry about buying it -- just read my review upthread ;)

ok, i take it back. i'm not thanking you for that commercial. lol

Chris Richards of the Washington Post does not like it, at all:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/07/album_review_arcade_fire_the_s.html

It's a billowy showpiece that embodies everything wrong with 21st-century rock music: the joyless grandiosity, the air-sucking humorlessness, the soggy sentimentality, all those fussy string arrangements. (U2 can be blamed for most of this.) When Arcade Fire debuted in 2004, its oversize ambition had its charms. In 2010, its music feels heavy-handed enough to karate-chop through every cinder block in Montreal.

This album is terrible in a self-evident away -- like, no ambivalence necessary.

*way

I really wanted to like this album but sadly I think this review is OTM.

21st century rock music is full of fussy string arrangements?

not in indie rock

Arcade Fire performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Aug. 6.

oh boy.

And, yeah, otm about the tired cliches about suburban anomie. If you don't like the Sprawl, and you can't say anything insightful or new about your distaste, just go pull a Larry Sanders and move to Montana, or to the Big City. They're not fifteen any more. No one's keeping them from leaving. Alfred OTM earlier about the creep factor.

They should just cover "Don't Stop Believing" and be done with the subject forever.

everyone should cover don't stop believing.

anticipating the forthcoming Daniel, Esq. cover

mine is the cod-reggae version.

look for it on "youtube" this summer.

this summer! you've got a month like a month, dude! goooooooooooooo!

this has no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth

On second listen this is their leanest album, and while I loved NB either I've gotten older or they're still picking boogers. The obsession with PURITY and THE KIDS is deeply strange. They're too old to feel so intently about adolescent crises. There's no attempt to examine these crises as adults. When Win Butler and his gang were closer in age to THE KIDS this stuff went down easier. Now I just find his continued identification with them creepy. Against Me! have shown how you can recreate the energy, excitement, and rhythms of the music that excited you as an adolescent but from an adult's POV.

All due respect but I think this is a serious misreading. There are three tracks on The Suburbs that are clearly being disdainful to 'the kids'. Arcade Fire have always been an aspirational band, saying 'We're like X, Y and Z and you can be like us if you try' not like Green Day who say 'Don't worry, we're exactly like you'.

Take the song Rococo for example. Not only does this come directly after a clearly ironic statement from Win declaring himself a "modern man" but contains (a slightly disagreeable if I'm honest) straight-faced hauteur when referring to the "modern kids" who are "using long words they don't understand". He adds: "They seem so wild but they're so tame." As if to re-enforce the idea, Regine repeats the refrain of "rococo" until its meaning breaks apart like pleasant but nonsensical baby babble.

This is almost unpleasantly anti 'the kids'.

And who says they're trying to recreate the styles of music they loved when they were young slavishly? They're all classically trained musicians with backgrounds in jazz, big band, rhumba etc aren't they? Who's to say they were purely into Echo and the Bunnymen when they were young?

Even though they're 'just an indie band', don't you reckon they deserve more credit than this?

I mean, they're dissing people who discuss music on the internet (journalists maybe?) for not understanding the proper meaning of the word rococo. Doesn't feel like a populist move to me. Lyrically at least.

NOTTTHINGGGG'SSSS HIDDDDD
FROOMMM USSSS KIDDDDSSS

"21st-century rock music: the joyless grandiosity, the air-sucking humorlessness, the soggy sentimentality, all those fussy string arrangements."

Is this really emblematic of "21st-century rock music"? It's kind of fun to speculate on what that phrase could mean.

It's emblematic of the rather widespread line of thought that goes "Let the birth of rock and roll be placed at the release of The Soft Bulletin."

i predict an 8.6 for this record.

"best new music," too.

Okay, what are the mega millions numbers

I'll let you know as soon as they're announced!

lol :)

Daniel "The Seer," Esq. otm once again

streaming this for the hell of it--it seems to be an inoffensive collection of reasonably well-crafted songs, but at this point in 2010 it has to be a challenge to be this dull, both rhythmically and sonically.

that makes it sound like there's a lot of exciting things happening in music, against which this sounds rhythmically and sonically dull. i'm not being snide. it's refreshing to hear people on ilx sound optimistic about rock music. to be sure, people sound hopeful/excited about individual albums all the time, but it feels like -- overall -- people here aren't excited about rock today.

Today = Monday monring.

it seems to be an inoffensive collection of reasonably well-crafted songs

This is it, exactly. I'm sort of bewildered as to why I feel compelled to listen to it so often, though.

as perverse as this sounds, I'm relieved this record is so dull. I would hate to hear a rhythmically and sonically exciting album whose lyrical ideas are this sophomoric.

Today = Monday monring.

a stickler for accuracy (but not spelling), i see.

I would hate to hear a rhythmically and sonically exciting album whose lyrical ideas are this sophomoric.

What, you don't like New Order?

"Love Vigilantes" compresses The Suburbs into four minutes.

xp to daniel--that's a slight confusion of "optimism" with "raised standards." the one thing that 2000s indie did a decent job with was widening the rhythmic and sonic palette to include some different stuff. i don't think 2010 has been a good year at all but damn, these guys make the national sound like trouble funk.

I really dig the album cover, but I'm afraid to listen to this. I ADORED funeral in 2004, but last year i revisited it and, well, didn't Echo and the Bunnymen do it 10,000x better?

They were kinda stupid too, to be honest. I just pretend McCullough is a foghorn.

man, I really hope this isn't as lame as some people are indicating

I'd love to hear either this band or the National incorporate massive rototom fills.

Alfred do not stan for New Order's lyrics, they are terrible.

Not all of them.

"Temptation" does not even exist on a continuum of good or bad for me, it is just real as hell.

wait is this going to be another new order thread

I've always thought the vagueness of NO's lyrics is filled in by how normal a human being Sumner sounds, but that's for another thread.

here's the stream, for those who might want to check the record out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128878239

wait is this going to be another new order thread

New board description!!

I like a lot of corny indie fuxxx0R shit but this band makes me wants to claw my eyes out

Streaming this on NPR now. I totally woke up this morning and was all, "Ah, one day til The Suburbs, I bet this is streaming on NPR today." Behold... the amusing predictability...

hahahaha i did the exact same

I really like the first three songs (esp. "The Suburbs") -- as well as "The Sprawl II" (though it's a little repetitive) -- but do wish the whole thing was more concise.

Neon Bible was one of my favorite records of the first half of 2007, so I hope this isn't disappointing. that being said, most bands never put out a record half as good as Funeral or Neon Bible, so

as well as "The Sprawl II" (though it's a little repetitive)

See, I like this about it.

Whoops, meant to bold that, not strikeout...

wrapping up after a break--both of the sprawls suck ass. had minor hopes for sprawl 2 but it's completely bloodless and she's a bad singer.

RIP

here we gooooooooooooooo

can't believe arcade fire put npr ads in the middle of their record

Please don't do a track by track analysis -- survivors don't often like to hear confessions from their inquisitors.

no worries, wasnt planning on it

so...what are the arcade fire's solutions for our land-use problems?

is the last song on the album about transit-oriented development?

http://www.healthline.com/blogs/outdoor_health/uploaded_images/mountains-beyond-mountains-754158.jpg

'Farmer is one of the founders of Partners In Health (PIH), an international health and social justice organization.'

'In August 2009, Paul Farmer was named United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti to assist in improving the economic and social conditions of the Caribbean nation'

'Dr. Farmer is a co-founder and Board Member of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer

wait what does he have to do with the canadian burbs

Just to point out that the reference is deliberate - PIH & Arcade Fire have been involved since at least '07, when chunks of ticket revenue from the Neon Bible tour went towards the organization, and KANPE, the new Haitian humanitarian development org. that Regine helped set up works fairly closely with Farmer et al.

So nothing to do with the Canadian 'burbs, but a lot to do with Haiti & Arcade Fire.

I'm not sure whether or not the use of the phrase 'Mountains Beyond Mountains' is just supposed to be a cheeky in-joke or something...not actually sure in what context it has anything to do w/ Paul Farmer except that it's the title of the book markers posted above.

Its actually about good old fashioned Murrican burbs, isn't in? About Win and his brother growing up in this audacious planned community in Texas before they moved to Canada.

so this whole thing is a massive conspiracy to get people to move to canada

OK so I was a little reluctant to post since there was so much hating going on in this thread and also because I haven't really listened to the new album but . . . I saw them last night. Some friends gave the ticket as a gift and it turned out to be a really great show despite the fact that I haven't really listened to them since "Funeral" came out. They have a lot of energy and are entertaining to watch and played just enough of the "hits" off the older albums to keep me interested.

In regards to "Mountains Beyond Mountains" - she explained at the start that it was inspired by the book but also by her experience of growing up in a rough neighborhood. That book is a favorite of mine and Farmer a sort of personal hero so I did think that was sort of neat. Also, a dollar from each ticket sold went to benefit Partners in Health which is also pretty great.

fantastic!

npr values feedback from our listeners

that book is a favorite of mine and Farmer a sort of personal hero

My gf loves him, too, so I've heard a lot about PIH, which seems like a model NGO. Good for the band.

I saw them last night. Some friends gave the ticket as a gift and it turned out to be a really great show

even people who dislike the band often admit they're a very good live act.

Yeah, it's like Springsteen, in that regard. Also reminds me of Homer in the Aussie episode of "The Simpsons," when he sarcastically asks for one of the country's giant beers, is given one, and sort of mutters, disappointed, "yeah, I guess it is pretty big."

"Oooh, Arcade Fire! You think you're SOOOOO good live."

[band plays]

(grumbling) "Yeah, I guess they were pretty good." (grumble)

this sounds like if wilco were a bunch of pussies

can you expand on that? because as a Wilco and Arcade Fire fan, that statement makes absolutely no sense to me

well no i can't

you're hopeless.

when have wilco ever been anything other than a bunch of pussies? directions to youtube clips particularly appreciated.

The way both bands sounded in 2007 (the grandiose, fantastic Neon Bible vs. the shitty, despicable Sky Blue Sky), I'd say that Wilco sound more like Arcade Fire if they were a bunch of pussies.

lock thread

please stop clogging the site's bandwidth and our lives.

this is MOR tepid radio music for zoloft-prescribed 35yr olds

lol

when have wilco ever been anything other than a bunch of pussies?

stop it, you are mean.

btw i will be purchasing this today

Basically, while I love about 4 or 5 songs on this, and like the rest of them decently enough, it's occurred to be that circa Funeral, Arcade Fire were lyrically understated and musically overbearing, which is a far better look for them than 2010's lyrically overbearing and musically restrained.

Not necessarily lyrically understated c. 2004, I guess, but vaguer, more impressionistic, less pointed and topical and try-hard.

Not sure if they could pull off an 'In the Backseat' these days, you know?

just bought this today, not going to listen to any you yahoo's. will make up my own mind in a few days.

good luck

not going to listen to any you yahoo's

wise decision.

Listened to first three songs, it sounded good but didn't grab the attention, took it off in favor of also-just-purchased Sleigh Bells, will see if it grows on me.

still think there should be a Rolling Indie thread for all of us who want to talk about indie without all the bullshit overhead that inevitably comes along with starting individual indie threads like this

A bunch of 2¢: Rolling Indie Thread 2010

understood, but that thread has sorta become the place for talking about lesser-known indie bands that don't really need their own thread. I'm suggesting that those of us who still care about indie move a lot more of our chatter over there and work on getting some sort of a Rolling Metal/goon vibe going there where people really invested in a scene can talk about stuff without getting derailed by a lot of snark

Look at the front page of ILM on any given day. Close to half of it is typically indie oriented. The fact there's even a thread devoted to being a catch-all is sort of a throwback.

fair enough, but it's just a fact that for certain bands -- like this one -- album-oriented threads are always gonna turn into a clusterfuck that they might not turn into if there was a Rolling Indie thread frequented mostly by people who still felt invested in the genre

Well if you can get the mandatory number of signatures, they'll start one for you

ahh thx ned but please don't direct arcade fire fans at that thread

Too late! (I guess.)

Surprised this thread hasn't reached HOOM-like levels yet tbh.

the Jay Reatard live cover that popped up yesterday kinda makes me hate them. Takes a fun pop-punk tune and turns it into a sad "tribute" dirge. Lame, and I'm fairly certain he would have hated it.

So I hoped this one would reign in the histrionics they've been prone to thus far in their career and tie that together withe the vastly improved sonics of the last album, but sadly no, Markus Dravs is a butcher and shouldn't be allowed in a studio.

So I ttoally fucking killed this thread today, then.

I've only managed to get halfway through this because of the objectionable (to me) sonics and because, well, it's really really fucking long, but Roccoco is the only actually objectionable song in the first half. Some of them don't excite me much (or at all) but none of it bar that is nasty. I really wanted this to be beautiful and it just isn't, though, phenomenologically.

understood, but that thread has sorta become the place for talking about lesser-known indie bands that don't really need their own thread.

maybe the 2¢ Indie Thread should be made a feature on the altered zones webzine.

this thread is fine. what is wrong with this thread?

this is the third album by a major band and ppl want to stick it in some non-existent rolling thread?

Arcade Fire aren't an indie band, they're a massive international rock group.

i like the threads devoted to a major new album. some of the most interesting, in-depth discussion take place on these threads (there are often too many competing conversations on the rolling threads for the same type of discussion that takes place on the single-album threads).

ppl want to stick it in some non-existent rolling thread?

no they bloody don't!@

Rolling threads are pretty much the worst place to discuss anything except very self-contained dance genres. Threads on individual songs >>> burying them on a rolling thread. Albums even more so.

I've only managed to get halfway through this because of the objectionable (to me) sonics and because, well, it's really really fucking long, but Roccoco is the only actually objectionable song in the first half. Some of them don't excite me much (or at all) but none of it bar that is nasty. I really wanted this to be beautiful and it just isn't, though, phenomenologically.

Second half is much better than the first IMO, generally it's better when they aren't doing Arcade-Fire-by-numbers though, and they do that A LOT on this one.

I'll start halfway through this evening.

I suspect that half my aggravation is with the opening track, which, as with so, so many opening tracks over the last 10 years, is really obnoxiously done.

ksh you could post here:
Indie Rock: What's Going On?

lol, thanks dude

That Wilco comparison upthread is absolutely bizarre and senseless.

This is growing on me. Still annoyed by lack of bottom end and tendency to squash instruments together.

That performance is being streamed tonight: http://www.youtube.com/ArcadeFireVEVO

You really think they do AF-by-numbers a lot on this one, Matt? Apart from a couple of cases - Empty Room, City of Lost Children, We Used to Wait - I'd say the opposite. I like it because it's looser and warmer than usual.

SNOOZE

Ott is that u

that is not ott

NotOtt. it's like the name of a james bond villain.

This sounds like crap.

I mean literally, the sound that crap makes. When crap is just sitting there.

so no one thinks that "sprawl II" sounds like ABBA? Like a mix of dancing queen w/the colder, sleeker later period stuff. It's maybe the 2nd song I've heard from this band, and was really pleasantly surprised!

This is highly recommended to anyone who wishes the whole album sounded like The Sprawl II.

Yeah I definitely heard ABBA the first time I heard it!

How can anyone say this sounds terrible when the band totally used a vintage tube board to master directly to vinyl and then digitally master from the vinyl master source? I mean, it's physically unpossible!!!

HERE WE GO:

http://www.youtube.com/arcadefirevevo?feature=ticker

cool, lets have fun

thirteen minutes until they take the stage, actually -- "pre-show created by Terry Gilliam" apparently on now

ok, start already!

fourish minutes

digging his michael stipe '88 haircut

where are they at tonight?

Madison Square Garden

liked the first song quit a bit.

sound all over the place. is this actually live? i'm just turning up now.

yes it's live

anyone know why it takes bands six to seven years to make their Fables now instead of three to four? These guys, LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, don't really get why they need so much longer than your better college rockers did in the 80s.

Spoon not so much the Fables thing, obv, just that these bands can't pump out an album a year (or even every two) like their heroes. The Waterboys had just as many people on stage as the Arcade Fire, and they got three albums out in three years!

need to build hype innit

i don't think Spoon belong in that sentence.

xxpost

also bros just want to chill out a bit. this ain't the go-go-get-em 80s.

audio levels all over the place

guess with record sales down there's also no real benefit to amasssing a big catalog - kids aren't gonna go BUY the four albums you made in the four years before your breakthrough, just download the big rar file

They tour more, don't they? I mean, LCD will be supporting this album for 1.5 years on the road. And not that REM didn't tour a ton, but I'd suggest these bands tour for longer stretches and to more places than REM did, so they have less time to bunker down in the studio. But I could be wrong.

How, Arcade Fire, they're very careful, so I'd say it's hyper and/or hype management.

load on the server right now must be insane

this is pretty cool

hey look sfj, the arcade fire, they're dancing!

oh man when they overlap the projections over the band it's sooooo Tourfilm

My stream sounds like two bands playing at once, but I sort of like the audio chaos.

really do love these guys, feel no more need to take The Kids talk any more earnestly than I do REM's "file under fire" shit, they just make grand, jumpy college rock like they did when i was a kid

also bros just want to chill out a bit. this ain't the go-go-get-em 80s

bands nowadays want to lounge around, chugging cream soda and eating sushi.

is this streaming on youtube?

http://www.youtube.com/arcadefirevevo?feature=ticker

I hear more Kate Bush-Utah Saints in "Sprawl II."

Weird, it sounds like the audio is streaming unique from the video stream on the same page. I turned the video off but am still getting audio. That explains it, I guess. Sort of.

ty, ksh

even though i own the album i have yet had a chance to listen to it. so tonight is my first experience with these songs.

me too

I keep resisting the idea that the album "The Suburbs" is really about The Suburbs, which seems to me a pretty bad idea for something to make an album about it. But the videos projected behind these guys are making me realize I am just wrong.

Why don't I ever wear a glittery gold dress when I play drums?

xp me too, have it and still haven't listened past song 3

is that praise or an indictment?

I'm not super into these guys but I think it's a pretty good idea for an album! xp

love that line: "I'd only waste it again"

damn i lost the steam again, google what's up?

ok that is the most grandiose tambourine playing i've ever seen

i've switched to safari and i'm getting far fewer interruptions
xpost

sound still dropping low at points though

jesus ian astbury could take tips from this guy

jeez these guys are ugly

lol

xpost

ROCOCOCOCOCOCOOOCOCOCO
`

no one's remarked how Butler looks like Bryan Adams-Bernard Sumner mashup?

*a

kinda diggin' this song. now understand a little of the hype surrounding it.

dude's, don't y'all think Butler looks like a Bryan Adams-Bernard Sumner mashup??

― markers, Thursday, August 5, 2010 10:50 PM

scooped u

so far i'm really liking these new songs

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

THE KING'S TAKIN BACK THE THRONE FYI

lol if you type "tourfilm" into google pics you actually get the arcade fire on the first page

that violinist is cute shut up xposts

mind meld, markers

Also: this perf is like attending a Mass celebrating the Holy Spirit of Uplifiting Indie Melancholy.

If you're rocking the sideways haircut, do you one day have to just shave it all off and start over?

AND IT'S GREAT!

WHO'S GONNA THROW THE VERY FIRST STONE!

i felt like i squandered my chance to see a "legendary" show by turning down a ticket to this show today. But then another writer told me that turning down a ticket to a legendary show will be a better story

AW WHO'S GONNA RESET THE BONE!

Do love when a band releases a new album and live the new songs don't stick out conspicuously as "new songs." They just fall into place and don't blunt the momentum at all. Not many arena bands can pull that off.

it helps that all their songs sound the same

I loved the second album but either I'm jaded and old like Butler's adults cuz these songs aren't working their mojo anymore.

Is Naploleon Dynamite wearing a Nudie suit?

i think that other writer's trying to sabotage you, whiney

Or a Nudie jumpsuit?

I keep waiting for this song to turn into Anglodisco.

"trust me, everyone will love when you don't go and just announce to the world how little you care. that's what impresses people these days."

I bet Terry Gilliam threw in that "technical difficulties" on purpose.

Right now, he's recasting the Arcade Fire because Win dropped out.

It was a "money thing."

ah, "We Used to Wait"

"SO WHEN THE LIGHTS CUT OUT" [stream cuts out]

please do not besmirch this "legendary" show.

Win's been taking Boss lessons.

This is amazing. It's exactly like all those gigs I've gone to that were free for whatever reason and I only know like 5 songs by the band in total so I sit there trying to care about the shit I don't know.

nice

phew. thank the maker I voted 'wake up' as the encore song. would have felt stupid right about now.

Someone just tweeted "camera work is fantastic." I think that must be Gilliam online again.

this guy doesn't say "fucking" convincingly

neither does bruce springsteen

this is SO GOOD

WHAT'S THE PLAN??

Years ago I interview Joey Santiago, and I asked which was better, playing clubs in the US or festivals in the UK, and he was all, like, duh, festivals.

markers is dancing around the room like Ferris boogying to "I Dream of Jeannie"

I'm definitely bouncing up and down in my chair!

fanboy.

this is fun

So when a band, any band, plays a song for the 1000th time as if the world is about to end, is that ... acting?

strategically voted for 'wake up', btw, although i wonder if they'll do the acoustic 'where the wild things are' intro

xpost

it's awesome

COME ON ILM, LET'S PARTY IT UP

Didn't Trent Reznor say one reason he put NIN on hold was because he'd be up there going nuts when he was really just thinking about the chicken sandwich he had for dinner?

ok that was good

yeah, they're a v. good, v. energetic live act.

Do they have three violin players now?

Yeah, I'll always love this song.

I think this (Rebellion (Lies)) is my favorite song they've made. Had to look up the title. I find the titles impossible to remember for whatever reason.

***AIR DRUMMING***

as long as you're not air-glockenspieling.

that's a good idea!

Is the guy with the snare slung over him like the Bob Nastasovich of Arcade Fire?

great set, i'm going to have to catch them here in Los Angeles.

Is the guy with the snare slung over him like the Bob Nastasovich of Arcade Fire?

haha -- my thought too. Or their Bez.

Sort of wonder who's going to see Arcade Fire vs. who's going to see Soundgarden at Lollapalooza this weekend. People 35 and under vs., um, 35 and older?

when I was getting into indie rock, ARCADE FIRE were the big band!

now the kids have WAVVES!

sorta enjoying this but this song really isn't very good

I want them to play the bruce springsteen song from the 2nd album

is this their speed song?

i'm over 35, and i'd see AF over SG

i like it

ILM INDIE ROCK DANCE PARTY ITT

http://www.dawnbusters.org/Images/turkey_dancing.gif

yeah, at this point it them.

it's

LIES. LIES.

Hurdy gurdy, take a shot!

They should get Wyclef up there for a guest spot.

oh come on Alfred, aren't you enjoying this at least a little bit?

"Keep thet Car Running"?

YES THIS SONG

KEEP THE CAR RUNNIN

G

Yeah, it's been fine! Whoever upthread praised their skill at integrating their new stuff is OTM, but it also has the effect of diminishing the thrill of the older stuff.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Been watching this sporadically. It's good (I mean, they are always good live) but at least half of the excitement I get from an Arcade Fire show is that crowd energy and the interplay and watching it just feels sort of distanced and strange.

(I guess this is true of any live show, but much as I love Gilliam, he really isn't capturing the no-holds-barred vibe their shows tend to have.)

shrugs.

If you tell these guys they were just "fine" they'll jump out of your computer and play in your living room until you give in, like the "Tales of Springsteen" Ben Stiller sketch.

I left the computer and when I returned I thought I saw Stevie Nicks in her boots onstage.

she's gonna crowdsurf

they're literally going to throw her into the crowd

I get the same sort of intense, nervous energy from this band that I get from Lindsey Buckingham, come to think of it.

Can I still vote for the encore? I have a hunch.

"The Insistor" by Tapes 'n Tapes

TUNNNNNNEEEELLLLSSS

not a bunch of stuff from Neon Bible, is that going to be the encore?

omg the snow's gonna bury my neighborhood

Encore = Tunnels, Sprawl II, WAke Up

Calling it now, since Crown of Love aside the set's been pretty much identical to OSHEAGA last wknd.

THE NAMES WE USED TO KNOW!

OOOH. They're actually doing that confetti thing everywhere? Awesome.

Then we think of our parents. WELL WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THEM?

(YEAH, FUCK IT I HAVE SURRENDERED.)

SPREAD THE ASHES

OF THE COLOURS

OVER THIS

HEART OF MINE

YESSS ALEX YOU GOT IT!

(I mean, dude. I am "have a 4 pm picnic in a Longeuil parking lot to be front row for their free concert guy. I am that guy. Alex = corny indie fuxxor)

But like. MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS time, so.

loooooool @ MERRY CHRISTMAS

INDIE PPL UNITE

except if Win re-uses that Merry Xmas joek at every show they do on tour he will officially be branded a purveyor of dad-humour.

it like a celebration, totally awesome!

EVERYONE GET OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER CHAIR AND DANCE! COME OOOONNNN

man, the mixing here really does Sprawl II no justice. It's so fucking massive live.

It sounds DAINTY right now. :(

I NEED THE DARKNESS - SOMEONE PLEASE CUT THE LIGHTS.

OH, "THIS IS LIVE AS SHIT. THIS IS SO LIVE THAT OUR DRUM MACHINE FUCKED UP."

now i'm seeing why this song is getting all that hype.

They should fire that drum machine.

haha

OMIGOD DRUM MACHINE -- IT'S NOT REALMUSIC

great save. guess you could say that was a....WIN?

Aw. <3

Was it just me, or was there mid-song kissing? Haha.

that was sweet

yeah this song is quite good

YES

THE OUTRO.

Admire the restraint of these guys for never covering "Come On Eileen."

(And like. I say this all the time, but the more often you get Regine on lead vocals, the better, ok guys?)

Also admiring their recognition that there is no place for a song this good besides the (near) end.

Wake Up Wake Up Wake Up

agreed, that is their best new song!

wake up is my fav

gotta rock out, brb dudes

ok, back just in time for the encore

The moment I knew this band was absolutely massive was when all those people started spontaneously singing along with this song when it played over the PA before U2 went on.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO ADJUUUUUUUUST

#arcadefail

(dancing time)

YOU BETTER LOOK OUT BELOW!

SO GOOD

So, they filled the fuck out of that place, didn't they?

I was actually totally unaware that Arcade Fire in 2010 was at a sell-out-MSG level of popularity!

that was MASSIVE

audience doesn't look that big. what's that capacity?

gonna head out, but just wanna say it was AWESOME "watching" this with y'all!

was fun

Fun show ... agreed that "Sprawl II" reaches Blondie-like levels of indie disco awesomeness.

So what happened?

They conquered, we saw, markers came

Lock brain.

my first impressions of the album are that it's not bad really... but it's kind of a dirge? like, i don't use this criticism often, if ever, because even in the totally subjective arena of having one's own opinion, i feel like this is super subjective, but this album isn't any fun to listen to AT ALL. there was nothing really thrilling about it at all... there are moments where it picks up but initially it has struck me as just empty bluster.

for as inclusive as win butler and AF want to be, i think i've realized that i find him to be a totally cold and unreachable singer. the songs on here where regine is singing are miles better.

another problem i have is that there have been a few really fantastic albums released in this same exact vain recently i.e. histrionic suburban malaise turned rallying cry

like, 'the suburbs' is so irrelevant to my life in a world where titus andronicus exist -- everything that is wrong about 'the suburbs' is totally right about 'the monitor' -- 'the monitor' is an adventurous, thrilling album that uses the idea of an epic post-springstreen rock album about the suburbs as a launching point to go places (stylistically speaking) that justify the whole notion of relatively well to do middle class people complaining about their problems -- 'the monitor' is an album that really goes for the jugular and it makes 'the suburbs' seem incredibly safe by comparison -- it makes the shit seem like the burger king of indie rock

hell, even '21st century breakdown' kicks the crap out of this album i think, for totally different reasons

also i want to point out that alfred's initial assessment of this album is totally otm -- it is, to get quite lexian, kind of creepy and weird for win butler to be so stuck on "the kids!" at this stage in the band's career -- it feels stale from the standpoint of looking at this album in the context of their discography, but in terms of who win butler is as a person, it just makes him seem like the 40 year old dude at indie rock shows who is still wearing cut offs, which is nagl imo -- either that or he's a car salesman and "the kids!" is his 2002 hynduai -- not sure which is worse

i think i'm paraphrasing alfred again -- altho now i can't keep straight what he posted itt and what he told me when we talked about this album -- but against me! really showed how to do an album like this at that stage of your life/career -- there's no internal conflict in 'the suburbs' where win steps back and tries to consider if everything he thought he believed was actually bullshit -- this is important imo when you're singing songs as melodramatic as he does, especially when they're removed from the context of irl death -- if win still believes all this crap through all these years (and even before 'funeral') he, again, might be a creep

all that said, i don't think the album is horrible, and i may end up warming even more to it as the weeks wear on -- i think it sounds good musically most of the time, but really it just makes me want to listen to the aforementioned albums

Yeah, I came up with the Against Me! analogy. But this -- is album isn't any fun to listen to AT ALL -- is OTM.

eh it's too long, the songs aren't AS good and they probably took too long to make it, but of course it's not going to be any fun to listen to these guys if you take everything they do so seriously. Do you guys listen to '80s college rock this way, bristling every time Ian McCulloch or somebody references the sea?

I got a handful of hooks, what do I do with them

Do you guys listen to '80s college rock this way, bristling every time Ian McCulloch or somebody references the sea?

i care about lyrics, selectively. sometimes, they make or brake the act (the hold steady). sometimes, it's best to ignore them altogether (new order; scores of pop acts whose lyrics sound like blunt, artless mash notes from a high-school diary)

Can't stand the Bunnymen anyway -- first two Arcade Fire albums do this orchestrated bathos thing a lot better.

I agree, and I don't hear nearly as many highlights here, in a perfect world we'd have gotten 10 of these songs a year after Neon Bible, but yeah I just feel like these guys do The Big Music better than anybody these days so if you're going to poo on them you kind of have to poo on the genre entirely.

ironically, for all my "hey who doesn't love the '80s?" jive I do wish they hadn't discovered synths. Preferred the Danny-Elfman-score sweep of the last one, for sure.

Seriously shocked the Waterboys haven't found a way to exploit the Arcade Fire for profit yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNTmjlf1vI

Scott's the hair, Win's got the hooks -- let's make lots of money.

Can't stand the Bunnymen anyway

waht

2002 hynduai

i actually drive one of these

i don;t care abt arcade fire, just wanted to pt this out 2 u

Sprawl II sounds pretty good but like much of Arcade Fire is still feels like basically one theme repeated over and over. For some reason I find this frustrating and annoying. I want a chorus! The key change is a wonderful thing tho.

^Exactly. It's got a great melodic line and great arpeggiated synths, but all of the songs people are comparing it to ("Heartbeats," "Heart of Glass," etc.) are more fully formed.

dirgecore

sorry bison :-(

btw this

just feel like these guys do The Big Music better than anybody these days so if you're going to poo on them you kind of have to poo on the genre entirely.

― da croupier, Friday, August 6, 2010 9:45 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

is totally untrue! i can indict arcade fire w/o indicting albums by titus andronicus, green day, my chemical romance, hell, even gaslight anthem

you also don't have to uh CHOOSE between Titus Andronicus and Arcade Fire

i agree, but, in my view, 'the monitor' makes 'the suburbs' unnecessary and irrelevant

i mean i like The Monitor a lot; but also the The Suburbs and all of Arcade Fire. Their romanticism, Win's lyrical landscape, exist in a completely different world from Titus Andronicus. They're not redundant at all.

yeah I haven't heard all those bands but I wouldn't put the ones I have in the tradition of this shit at all

I saw the rain dirty valley, You saw Brigadoon. I saw the present, You saw the whole of the moon.

That song is ridiculous but I love it.

I mean in a broader context it's all Benign Arena Rock, fair nuff

ha so this finally inspired me to listen to Titus Andronicus and Gaslight Anthem - when I say The Big Music I'm not referring to The Big Punk.

in that case, i'd still rather listen to the lsat green day album

altho i would prob not listen to an album of green day singing about the lsat

ok again, not saying its wrong to prefer souty punk operas, and they all tie back to springsteen in a big way, but the arcade fire are following enough of a different strain that 21st Century Breakdown is neither here not there to my original statement.

haha SHOUTY punk operas

"Wake Me When One-L Ends"

haha some of this shit sounds like what Rick Rubin would have wanted for a Harry Nilsson comeback album

not an insult!

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/03/16/alg_viral_edward-khil.jpg

rocococococococoooooo

Speaking of dirgey, po-faced etc... is it at least better then The National?

I don't think so. I find the National record considerably less annoying thanks to its streak of self-loathing humor.

its not better than the national record. i never really gave high violet a charitable listen but to my jaded-with-indie-this-year ears, the thing was super depressing in a boring way and more or less monochromatic

The National album at least has the advantage of being boring in an interesting way.

not sure i know what you mean, plz explain everything to the geeks

fwiw, i think im closer to arcade fire's target demo than the national's

Thanks.

So your advice seems to be that if I am looking for a 'Boring' record then The National is the best and most interesting Boring record around.

"its not better than the national record."

i meant to say the exact opposite, actually

which is, yes, its way better than high violet, which is boring and a waste of yr time

Listening to this now ... not sure how it's any less "fun to listen to" than their first two albums. Keep in mind that I usually don't pay much attention to lyrics, particularly on the first few listens.

i think im closer to arcade fire's target demo than the national's

that's okay. i am closer to lawrence welk's target demo than arcade fire's.

have no idea who that is, but it looks like he was a happy guy -- RIP

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/MisterChampagneMaestro.jpg/240px-MisterChampagneMaestro.jpg

wau

more thoughts: synth songs >>> non-synth songs

I have always been suspicious of albums with more than ~ 12 songs (e.g. there aren't many 16 track, hour long albums that don't feel overlong and bloated).

i listened to this album and i had fun even though green day make it redundant and wyn butler might be a pedophile.

and wyn butler might be a pedophile.

O_O

just like pete townshend

So I'm really enjoying this now, albeit in a completely non-committal way. Favourite songs are Ready to Start, Suburban War, We Used To Wait, Mountains Beyond Mountains. Still don't really get why these guys are so lauded and so loved, though; as an example, I much prefer the Spoon record and Owen's record to this and dint understand why anyone else would prefer this to those. (Much prefer Laura Marling, Four Tet, Caribou, etc, too, but, you know, apples with apples as close as one can.)

Things I like; the restraint of many songs, the way they don't rush into 4/4 shouty emoting the way Funeral does. The electric guitars, which are floaty and chiming. The synths, which are nowhere near foregrounded enough for songs on this to be described as synthpop, but which add nice texture. Many of the melodies are getting caught in my head in little snippets, which is very nice. Occasionally snippets of lyrics are too, which is unusual for me with this band.

Things I don't like; Rococo, which is horrible. There's one other in the midsection that I can't recall the name of that I find too sickly too. I think its about 20 minutes too long, too, although perversely, it it almost seems to end too quickly. I put this down to not quite right sequencing. I don't like the drum sound, especially the really flat, midrange sound to the kick drum; there's no bottom end to it. I like a kick drum to really kick me in the stomach and this is more like a slap on the cheek. Likewise the bass sound is really midrangey, and I find a lot of the instruments getting lost amongst each other in a way I find unpleasant, because guitar, piano, organ, synth, bass, drums, and vocals are all occupying a very similar area in the middle of the frequency range. I think this really hampers the more synthy, disco-y songs, especially Mountains Beyond Mountains, which I don't get being compared to Blondie, say, because of this; there's no punch to it, no bass, no weight, and as a result it's a really wet, impotent, indie take on disco that you couldn't actually dsnce to if someone played it in a club. I reckon it'd be great live, though. It's not so much fear of the middle of the body as fear of the bottom end of the frequency range. Of course,stuffing all the instruments into the midrange might well be an aesthetic choice to reflect the middling nature of the suburbs being sung about. If it is, it's a silly aesthetic choice because to my ears it hampers enjoyment of the album quite a bit.

But yeah, this is a good record. I like it.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/08/the-arcade-fires-the-suburbs-sells-156000-in-its-first-week-according-to-spoon.html

The weekly numbers from Nielsen SoundScan aren't given the official unveiling until Wednesday morning, but perhaps Chapel Hill, N.C.'s Merge Records can be forgiven for not being totally hip to music industry embargoes.

But despite a valiant effort from Eminem, the adventurous orchestral pop act Arcade Fire will find itself at No. 1 first thing Wednesday morning -- errrr, probably, and most assuredly definitely, but Nielsen SoundScan isn't talking.

Yet if Merge and its close-knit family of bands is to be believed, the Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" sold 156,000 copies in the U.S., according to Spoon's official Twitter page. Yes, Spoon, the Austin, Texas-bred minimalist art-rockers, are the ones who broke the news of Arcade Fire's first-week sales.

The 156,000 number -- should it hold -- rockets passed the first-week sales of the band's "Neon Bible," which bowed with 92,000 copies sold back in March of 2007. "Neon Bible" missed the No. 1 spot, albeit narrowly. The top-selling album that week was Notorious B.I.G.'s "Greatest Hits," which opened with 99,000 copies sold.

156,000, that's the modern equivalent of shipping double platinum, yes?

Every copy counts, Ned!

Which of the eight cover designs did you search out and buy?

nuts that they sold that many more copies first week than they did w/ neon bible

156,000, that's the modern equivalent of shipping double platinum, yes?

i think so, that is a lot of records in today's standards.

How many copies did Funeral do its first week? I still remember buying that one on release day. My record store in Austin had five copies stocked. I bought one. I think they had sold out the five copies by week's end due to the Pfork review.

In contrast, they've currently stocked, oh, maybe 250-300 of the new album. And those are just the ones that I can see, there may be more in the back room. Haven't bought one of those yet, myself, though.

iloxr:

The 156,000 number -- should it hold -- rockets passed the first-week sales of the band's "Neon Bible," which bowed with 92,000 copies sold back in March of 2007.

Yup, I saw that.

What about Funeral?

i doubt funeral sold nearly as well on release, most people i know who love the arcade fire now weren't listening to it until after neon bible was out

i still think funeral is a huge notch above their other stuff - better hooks, better production, more deftly arranged, more rhythm, fewer embarrassing lyrics - but i wonder if that's just a function of hearing it long before the others and while i was still in my impressionable 'indie rules' phase

while i was still in my impressionable 'indie rules' phase

misread this as "while i was still in my objectionable 'indie rules' phase" and lol'd

Merge only shipped 10,000 copies of Funeral upon its release in September 2004, so it wasn't able to make a dent on the chart in its first week. (Link is Billboard's first recorded mention of the band, if you don't count this.)

The album's debut on the Billboard Top 200 was in January 2005, presumably after it appeared on year-end lists, and it peaked at #131 in the February 5 issue.

As of December 2009, it had sold 466,000 copies.Neon Bible had sold 420,000.

So The Suburbs is officially #1, but just barely: Eminem is at #2 with 152,000.

So to stay on top, Arcade Fire needs to make a video where they dress up like Osama Bin Laden and the Jersey Shore cast.

Even better -- the Arcade Fire and the Jersey Shore cast swap roles for a week.

where's markers? Did he pass out at the record store?

ok the real "holy shit" thing for me is that Avenged Sevenfold had a no. 1 album last week

where's markers? Did he pass out at the record store?

― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:16 PM

yo

this is a good read as well:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/08/merge-cofounder-on-arcade-fires-no-1-debut-the-whole-chart-thing-is-kind-of-like-sports.html

It took only 21 years, but Merge Records finally accomplished something label co-founder Laura Ballance never thought was possible: A No. 1 record on the U.S. pop charts...

Merge is definitely making an impression in 2010. The label has had four top 10 albums in its 21-year history, three of which have been released this year. The Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" joins Spoon's "Transference" and She & Him's "Volume 2" as some of the label's hottest-selling efforts.

It was a good read. To be accurate, though, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga also debuted in the Top 10, pushing Merge's total to five.

Christgau really likes it:

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/Maturity-for-Modern-Kids/ba-p/3173

this record reminds me of a good sam lipsyte line:

Pretentious mediocrity must have a place in this world, or why would Nature allow for it?

I still think this is pretty good. it's too long though. as far as indie rock records go, it's fine; I am increasingly feeling very detatched from this sort of music these days.

In contrast, they've currently stocked, oh, maybe 250-300 of the new album. And those are just the ones that I can see, there may be more in the back room.

I'm pretty shocked that any store is stocking that many physical copies of any album now let alone selling that many. that's kind of cool.

I like Christgau's explanation in that review of why he's a Neon Bible man. I share his politics, though I still think The Suburbs is a better record.

I share (most of) his politics yet find it impossible to view these guys through this prism. I don't hear "militance" in NB at all. Urgency isn't militance.

As several reviewers have remarked, the music "breathes"‑-a verb that oddly enough also appears in the publicity bio.

Gotta love Xgau's not-so-subtle jab at lesser critics (e.g., almost everyone).

Great piece, btw.

xpost. xgau definitely makes Neon Bible's politics seem much more focussed and coherent than they really are - it's more like general apocalyptic dread with occasional topical references. But I don't mind a critic projecting a little too much. One thing I admire about xgau is his resistance to kneejerk cynicism. If his claims for Arcade Fire or MIA are a little wishful then they're still a useful counter-balance to acres of jaded bullshit from pricks like Hipster Runoff.

wish critiques of their lyrics were a little more in-depth than: "lol he says The Kids a lot" cuz honestly most of the ones that get quoted aint bad at all compared to Bruce Springsteen or Mike Scott, etc

I haven't heard this yet; is its talk of "the kids" comparable to Mott's talk of "the dudes" in the early 70s? b/c Ian Hunter was older than Win Butler is now when they "broke".

also was thinking of the Who but I suppose Pete updated things w/ Quadrophenia.

I gave Neon Bible a few listens but I haven't really listened to AF since my hardcore Funeral phase 5 years go. But I'm really, really liking The Suburbs. I think "City With No Children" is the stand-out track so far.

I just don't hear the growth or whatever that Christgau ascribes to them.

It's hard to place what he means by "the kids" because he moves between the past and the present so much. They're only really mentioned in Month of May, Rococo and Ready to Start and the gist seems to be frustration at cynicism and lethargy rather than lionising them. Key lyric from Month of May:

"So young, so young
So much pain for someone so young, well
I know it's heavy, I know it ain't light
But how you gonna lift it with your arms folded tight?"

"it" = barbells.

"it" = crate of vintage vinyl.

^^^ winner

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

Arcade Fire + Google Maps + Your Old Address = Make your own Garden State indie movie moment.

I thought it was pretty awesome, actually.

id even gi

something's not loading at my end I think

it was creative, I'm just goofing around.

xpost

Fire it up in Chrome?

That's pretty cool. My hometown is a bit too lo-res on the overhead shots though.

should've probably switched to chrome -- thing just spawned seven child windows

Pretty damn neato.

that video may be neat but the fact is that it's super lame.

http://www.thirteen.org/riffcity/lost-in-the-suburbs-how-we-failed-arcade-fire/

someone wants to know why critics are talking about themes and ideas instead of The Fancy Chords, time signatures, and mic placement

neat, and hokey as hell. so very fitting for the arcade fire.