Are there any Arcade Fire fans in the house?

[Guest Low Roller]

This past week-end I had the pleasure of finally discovering "Funeral" by The Arcade Fire. After numerous recommendations from many of my peeps and seeing it around the board, I picked it up at my usual CD haunt in Brighton.

Right from the beginning I was hooked. This album is one of those rare albums that sounds great from start to finish, never getting boring or predictable, and always keeping me guessing. That's what a great album is meant to do (see Coldplay's latest album "X&Y" for the complete opposite).

It makes me mighty proud that a band not only from Canada, but from my hometown of Montréal is making it big in a music saturated market like Brighton. The Arcade Fire give Canadian indie rock a giant boost in global credibility, and I can only hope that we will see more Canadian bands breaking though into the Brit market. (Grand Theft Bus anyone?)

Smart indie rock is alive and well. "Funeral" is a great album and is highly recommended.

[guigsy]

yeah, i love that record. it's huge in every way. driving, epic, emotional, honest. lots of interesting layers to peel apart and listen for, as well.

would love to see 'em live.

[AD]

Yup, Funeral is an amazing piece of work.

They are even better live than on record as well, there's an amazing amount of energy they put into their shows, and exuberance.

Guigsy, go see them at Hillside this summer, I think it's one of their only Canadian dates of the summer.

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[ReDD]

Funeral is actually on of my favourite albums right now. I caught them when they were the musical guest on one of the late night talk shows and was blown away. This album is exciting, intimate and even romantic. There is not one song on it that I don't enjoy. Win Butler's voice is so passionate and at times reminds me alot of David Byrne. At first I felt that Régine Chassagne's voice was lacking and I was really turned off by it. After giving the album a few more listens I fell in love with her vocals. Her voice is so raw and real. In the backseat quickly became a favourite song. There is so much going on musically that you'll never lose interest. AMAZING, AMAZING, album. If you haven't checked these cats out I would highly recommend doing so..

[AdamH]

They're incredible whether recorded or live. Their set at Hillside last year only confirmed this further as I'm sure this year's set will do for many folks.

Can't recommend them more highly. My favorite of the Montrealers at the moment.

[shainhouse]

One of my favourite albums this year as well. The EP is great as well.

[fluffhead77]

agreed, funeral and the EP are both FANtastic

[bradm]

The only song of theirs that I've heard is "Rebellion (Lies)", and I do not like it. It's boring, overly (and uselessly) repetitive, has wall-of-mush production that seems to be based on sonic density equalling emotional impact, and comes across as "I'm so serious about this, that you should be, too", while giving me nothing that comes close to justifying why I should pay any attention to it at all. While there may be better stuff on the album (I hope there is), that song doesn't give me a whole lot of desire to go check out the rest of their music.

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

The only song of theirs that I've heard is "Rebellion (Lies)", and I do not like it. It's boring, overly (and uselessly) repetitive, has wall-of-mush production that seems to be based on sonic density equalling emotional impact, and comes across as "I'm so serious about this, that you should be, too", while giving me nothing that comes close to justifying why I should pay any attention to it at all. While there may be better stuff on the album (I hope there is), that song doesn't give me a whole lot of desire to go check out the rest of their music.

Aloha,

Brad

Wow. I did not expect that at all. I completely disagree with you on all counts. Totally crazy that you would think that, IMO.

Been

Reading

Astounding

Discourse on

Music

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[shainhouse]

Bradm,

You should listen to the whole record mate to get a grasp on the band. It is somewhat of a concept album, detailing life in suburbia, somewhat.

[Esau]

Hey Brad,

Is "Rebellion(Lies)" the song that airs on much music all the time? If it is, then I agree with you.(if not anyone know the tune I am refering to?)I have watched it three or four times now,but latley I change the channel when I see it,doesn't seem to go anywhere and the mono-tonish "I'm depressed" way of singing in the video just doesn't do it, I just can't seem to grasp the hype I guess,especially when I had someone over the weekend driving it into me I would love them,relentlessly too I might add and that really turned me off and another tell me I just wouldn't be into them.Both folks opinions I respect & usually follow their recommendations of music. I haven't really heard Arcade Fire so I can't give a educated review,especially based on one song I saw on TV.But if thats an indication then I don't see myself persuing any of their CDs.

I will however give em a better listen if I happen to be at someones house who has one of the CDs mentioned in this thread,seems alot of folks here also like em & alot I have similar musical tastes with.

[bradm]

Yes, "Rebellion (Lies)" is the one that's in rotation on MuchMusic (and MusiquePlus).

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

Well in this record's case, listening to one song once and critiquing it is like readin one chapter in the middle of a book and saying it doesn't make sense.

Repeated listenings at high volume are neccessary. In the dark, ideally.

Beautiful

Really

Articulate

Descriptive

Music

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[Esau]

Well in this record's case, listening to one song once and critiquing it is like readin one chapter in the middle of a book and saying it doesn't make sense.

Not slamming them or even "critiquing" them here...hence my comment:

I haven't really heard Arcade Fire so I can't give a educated review,especially based on one song I saw on TV.But if thats an indication then I don't see myself persuing any of their CDs.

And I am not dismissing that I wouldn't like em either,just if the rest of the songs are similar to "Rebellion" then I don't see myself enjoying them.Seems to make sense to me.

[bradm]

The problem, though, is that that one single was released, on its own, for people to hear. I've heard it, and what I've heard doesn't sound good to me, and certainly doesn't make me want to go buy the album (recommendations of friends and people whose musical opinions I respect might, though).

If that one song can't be evaluated on its own, it shouldn't have been released on its own.

And note that I'm not critiquing it for not making sense*, I'm critiquing it for not sounding good, and for the production and arrangement getting in the way of (or masking the lack of) the content.

Aloha,

Brad

* Your chapter/book analogy is a bit off, I think: if I were given a chapter of a book to evaluate, it probably wouldn't "make sense", because I didn't have what came before it or after it, but I could still evaluate the quality of the writing, including the dialoge, the imagery, the phrasing, what I could make of the characters, the plot changes in the chapter, etc.

[AdamH]

I think the critical acclaim is well-deserved even when the hype and media spin (A Time magazine cover?) has been out of control. A listen to the full album would convert a few who've heard Rebellion ad infinitum on the radio and seen it on television.

Without drawing too many parrallels I'd wager that if the Talking Heads are your sort of band than these guys could be too. Their lead singer's voice is very much Byrne-insppired but what sets them apart is the richness of the instrumentation and there's certainly less repetition or "straghtness" that Fear of Music always bothered me with.

Their live show is very heavy and very intense but yeah they're not going to be for everyone.

[guigsy]

where's kung when you need him?

Wake Up is my favourite song on the album, and it really is an album that needs to be listened to front to back, [color:purple]slightly loud, and then again. different songs are going to appeal to different people, its music, but the album is a work of art, and to appreciate that work of art you have to take on the whole thing.

[AD]

The record company released the single. The artists made the art.

As far as 'it not sounding good, and the production,' I think it has remarkable clarity. There are drums, keyboards, percussion, 2 or 3 guitars, 4 or 5 vocals, violins, accordian, and I can hear them all. I don't hear any of this 'wall of mush' you speak of. Maybe cuz you were listening to it off MuchMusic?

As for the chapter analogy, well fine. I just don't think you can be given one event out of a series and have any idea where the rest of the series goes.

And my conclusion: Given that you have only heard one song, on a TV with accompanying (probably annoying) visuals and most likely bad sound, probably while doing something else, I strongly urge you to give this album 2 or 3 full listens. If you still don't like it, well, I'd argue that you've spent too much time looking at the phrasing and the dialog to see the beauty.

And if you don't like it then, bonus, more room for me at their shows.

AD

[AD]

If people are looking for analogies, here's one that fits...

What if I said I didn't like Bob Dylan because I thought that Bank of Montreal commercial was bad?

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[AD]

If you look closely, you'll see Ottawa's own Jeremy Gara on drums. You may know him from the excellent band Kepler, among others.

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[shainhouse]

I love how their populariprimary has positively affected the Canadian Indie-scene. Them and to a lesser extent, Hot Hot Heat have done wonders for our scene in the UK and abroad, in my opinion...

Still, it's funny that Win Butler, the lead singer and primary songwriter is from Texas... He just went to McGill.

[deranger]

I had heard of them, but never heard a single note played by the band prior to scoring a ticket to their sold out Danforth Music Hall run in May in TO. They really are an incredible band doing some amazing things. I've never heard a band like that before. My friends and I have decided its easiest to describe them as Godspeed! with melody. The fusing of classical sounds and orchestration with rock is nothing new, but holy crap do these guys do it well. I highly recommend any and all music lovers to give them a chance.

[meggo]

love arcade fire.

thanks d rawk.

and thanks low roller for this thread, inspired me to throw on that disc for the ride to work this morning, had me bopping (almost) the whole way.

:cool:

[Tonberry]

I My friends and I have decided its easiest to describe them as Godspeed!

This is the only positive thing said about the band that I have to disagree with. You don't see the Arcade Fire busting out 20 minute instrumentals with a full orchestra sound.

Still, though, the Arcade Fire are a fantastic band. Rebellion (Lies) is one of the more mediocre tracks on the album, and I must admit, I was pretty disappointed in the video. With such a talented band, you would think that they could come up with something a little more interesting than them walking through a street, even if it does fit the concept of the album.

Anyway, if you want to see what they're all about, non-believers, I suggest trying to track down a torrent or link to their live performance of their song Neighborhood #2 (Laika) from Conan O' Brien on February 2nd (or 1st... one of the two). That's a much better snapshot of what the band is all about than some video that was made for MTV (and the song's a better one to boot).

Then again, maybe you'd just rather not 'get them', just like me and Modest Mouse.

[bradm]

Was that the Conan appearance with one member wearing a motocycle helmet with (I assume) MIDI pads that was bashed on by another member? Because I also did not like that, at all; "much sound and fury signifying nothing" was the phrase that came to mind.

Edit to add: If that was The Arcade Fire I saw on Conan, then "Rebellion (Lies)" is not the only song of theirs I've heard, as I (mistakenly) said in my first post in this topic.

Aloha,

Brad

Edited June 6, 2005 by Guest