Arcade Fire

[Lowbacca]

So... apparently, there's no Arcade Fire thread....








.... until now!


There has to be a bunch of fans here on SmileySmile? If so - remember the good old days of Funeral and Neon Bible?
Those were the kind of quasi-religious musical experiences us 'folk' sometimes yap about. At least to me. (I can't be the only one?) Spinning
those records (especially Funeral, in the beginning) over and over and over again, and nothing much else.
Mid-summer 2010, The Suburbs arrived. Don't get me wrong, in many ways it's a near-perfectly produced album. But as much as it gripped me
in those weeks of August/September of 2010, at some point it let go and floated away for good, leaving me with mere memories of pleasant
summer moments. In hindsight, that's what Suburbs continues to represent to me: the all too pleasant side of Arcade Fire. While it went away,
Funeral and Neon Bible have stayed with me.
As I'm typing this, I'm playing Funeral in its entirety for the first time in months. It still blows me away. As of yet I haven't tried Reflektor,
although I own it since it came out. Footnote: I liked the Her soundtrack, but have only played it once or twice.

[the captain]

I enjoyed Funeral upon its release, although I didn't love it the way some colleagues of the time (a bunch of 20somethings doing a music site) did, where I believe it ended up our album of that year. (I preferred Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat and BWPS, at least ... not sure what else off the top of my head.)

What I liked about it at the time is also what got on my nerves over the subsequent albums: it's earnestness and ambition. They struck me as a Canadian indie Springsteen in band form. In those days, it seemed that ambitious indie music was cynical, and earnest music was small and intimate. This was BIG, and it was refreshing.

But honestly, that just wore on, then grated on me. I don't dislike what they've done since, I just don't really want to listen to it, like, pretty much ever. I should pull out the old albums and listen again, though.

I'll say this, though, the exception is the title track from Reflektor, which I really, really love. That song made my year-end playlist for '13 and isn't even close to boring me yet.

[Rocky Raccoon]

I saw them live at Madison Square Garden on the Suburbs tour, pretty awesome show with Spoon and Owen Pallett opening for them.

[Loaf]

I really like Funeral, but Neon Bible and The Suburbs passed me by.

i was gripped at the end of last year by the single, and video, Afterlife. It really got to me. I decided to buy the album and i love it as much if not more than Funeral. A great evolution for the band, to shed some of their stiff indie rock and embrace a more danceable element. Of course it helps having LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy as the producer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKinnMXuKg

there's a great promo video for the album, directed by Roman Coppola, which shows the band have a sense of humour ("Just what the world needs, another Arcade Fire album")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fFAKrIntzY