Anyone else think The Arcade Fire totally blows?

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'Cause I do. I stabbed a guy in the hand with a Bic for playing 'em in his apt. too loud last week. Then I grabbed all his Modest Mouse and Death Cab CDs and put 'em in the microwave and made one hell of a big-ass -BANG-. Everyone on the street could hear him bawling as he slowly rolled away on his skateboard.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

Welcome to 2004.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

I'll tell you something, I reckon those Strokes guys have a little bit too much hype about them for a band with no album out yet.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, right, and like the Flaming Lips are totally daisy-freshness.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

YES THAT IS INDEED WHAT THE ARGUMENT IS, CONGRATULATIONS

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

i think the arcade fire aren't as good as they're made out to be, sure.

talk about a poiseless, pole-stuck-up-the-ass vocal delivery. overly sincere and melodramatic at times without the charisma to pull it off.

that said, i like pretty much all of the songs on the record in one way or another. there is definitely nothing exceptional on there however.

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

I like that one Arcade Fire that sounds like "Teenage Life" with all the fun removed from it.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

http://ilx.wh3rd.net/searchresults.php?board=2&mode=threads&q=&titlepart=arcade+fire&name=&email=&username=&dateafter=&datebefore=&catid=all

SEARCH FUNCTION = FRIEND

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

whats up the vines? they are like silverchair except instead of the lead singer being anorexic hes just an asshole.

― consigliere (consigliere), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

TS: "It's 2006 and I'm still a corny indie fuck" vs. "It's 2006 and I'm still bitching about corny indie fuxx"

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

Gotta be the latter.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

TS: 23 OTHER THREADS ON TIRED-ASS TOPIC VS. LET'S START ANOTHER ONE

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

should have held on one more day!

Arcade Fire’s ‘Funeral’ is one year old today, does it still hold up? (111 matching messages)

For me it's still the best album of last year and hasn't faded at all. I was struggling toward the end of last year to find my favorite album. Albums always hit me over the head and announce that it's my favorite for that year. In 2004 it was a different story as nothing really grabbed me and it was December already. I knew about the hype but didn't get around to listening to it until much later in that year. I remember sitting at my computer, stopping what I was doing and just listen to it. When it came around to the song "Wake Up" it gave me chills on the back of my neck. Of course I kept listening to it and listening to it but never play albums back to back. The one thing that struck me in the early going was that this album really makes the most sense when you hear it from start to finish.
Interestingly enough I starting listening to my second favorite album, of last year, the Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat right after I fully absorbed the Arcade Fire. That album has held up extremely well as well.

-- BeeOK (deons...), September 13th, 2005.

― a rapper singing about hos and bitches and money (Enrique), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

My pathetic attempt at thread-parody has utterly failed. I should have entitled it, Anyone else think The Flaming Groovies totally blow? Then maybe the tip-jar wouldn't be so...resonant.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

haha I wondered

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

the mocker has become... the mock-ed

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

haha... i don't even know who wins this round.

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

I liked Funeral a lot and still play it regularly. I bought Kelley Polar's album at the same time and I listen to that a lot as well!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

the flaming groovies don't blow, like, at all.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

neither do the flaming stars!

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

flaming ohs?

― consigliere (consigliere), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

Nor the Flaming Galahs.

― gentoo (gentoo), Thursday, 14 September 2006 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

Rather indifferent towards Arcade Fire. They are among the weaker acts within a genre that I love, but Flaming Lips and Polyphonic Spree do a lot better.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 September 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

Btw Vines=Supergrass not Silverchair.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 14 September 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

i thought Vines=Superlame?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 14 September 2006 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

haha arcade dire amirite

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 14 September 2006 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

Yeah Arcade Fire are pretty vacuous. I don't think I'm going anywhere near neon bible (oooo nice album name, they're lit as).

― Drooone, Monday, 5 March 2007 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

eeew, don't get it at all. Thanks for asking!

― Saxby D. Elder, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 05:48 (nineteen years ago)

i can imagine liking them when i was a kid. like in a dream academy way. or a wire train kinda way. or something.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 05:55 (nineteen years ago)

no way they are better than the bolshoi though.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 05:56 (nineteen years ago)

50 Canadians + Bono = ICB (Ian Curtis Bummed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGQWnbfFB6o

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 06:05 (nineteen years ago)

I bought the first album because D. Bowie raved about them. This was a peculiar repeat of my trusting the Dame's taste from when he (remotely) persuaded me to look at Placebo back in the day -- except, I did/do like Placebo, but AF... I mean, Wake Up? Yeah. Wake me up when it's over. Not a second before.

(I think the observation that the problem is lack of charisma is OTM. Histrionic bombast sans charisma tends to be incredibly ugly... can anyone cite an exception to this?)

― chrissie_, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

can we create a sticky thread that says their albums suck but they're good live? 'cause I'm tired of reading posts that say "you know, I bought this arcade fire album and I don't see what the big deal is, arrrrgggh matey I just turrrned into a pirrrate"

― Edward III, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

they got bob johnston to produce their new album? that's actually pretty cool. it should sound good anyway.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

I've heard that and I'd like to have an open mind on it. But I just don't like this Win guy at all. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure it's awful of me.

― chrissie_, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

(I was referring to live performances being good, BTW.)

― chrissie_, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

they got bob johnston to produce their new album?

I thought that the Great Satan called him back 70 or so years ago 'cause of mad guitar-chops abuse. Good to hear he's still around and producing New-York-Times-approved artrock.

Oh, wait. "Johnston". Sorry. Carry on.

― libcrypt, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, you know, legendary dylan/cohen/cash/etcetcetcetcetcadinfinitum producer god.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

i was just listening to the two albums he produced for long-forgotten 60's southern folk-rockers *WEST* this morning and then i read that he had produced the new fife & drum album by Arcade Fire. i'm sure he still produces stuff, but i don't hear his name every day.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sorry if yr autism prevented you from getting my very funnie joke.

― libcrypt, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

i get it now!

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

i wasn't really paying the closest of attention.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 2375 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

I would link to the explanation of the bad joke humping the previous bad joke, but I think we're still munching GET URLs.

― libcrypt, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

But I just don't like this Win guy at all. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure it's awful of me.

no, I totally understand why someone would wanna slap the slouch off his doughy hangdog face. cheer up dude, you're gonna sell a bazillion cds at best buy this week.

but the band's energetic, not let's-jump-off-the-monitors-like-rock-n-roll-animals energetic, more like nerdy love-what-we're-doin' energetic. and their arrangements are good. I was braced to hate on 'em on snl but I couldn't do it.

― Edward III, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

I kinda liked that SNL performance, I was impressed. don't think i would buy an album, but i get the appeal.

― Stormy Davis, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, they "totally blow" compared to the tripe that is obsessed over here regularly.

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

BOXCAR

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

They're my cherry Lozengezes. I know it's bad for me. You eat them because they taste red but you know they're never really the remedy. Just good for some sugar.

― mox twelve, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

yeah me too. except whenever i eat a cherry lozenge i choke on it and die in an overly dramatic 11th grade drama club high school kind of way.

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

so eat one

― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

eat this you fat turkeyneck

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

No, they don't blow. But I still don't see them as quite as fantastic as some writers pretend. They may have a masterpiece in them one day, but until now it hasn't appeared.

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 22:58 (nineteen years ago)

I saw their performance w/The Dame at the Fashion Rocks show in '05 (meaning, a DVD recording offa US TV, not actually live), and it didn't thrill me. They did Five Years and Wake Up. I'm willing to admit though this might be a biased impression, because it was DB's first post-heart attack appearance and his nervousness & obviously weaker than usual vocals were bothering me, probably influencing my response to the thing as a whole.

I think I'd like them if Win used a body double a la Milli Vanilli. A voice double wouldn't hurt, either. This guy is a total Charm School dropout. :-/ I hate myself for saying things like this. I bet he does really nice things for fluffy little animals and lots of stuff like that.

― chrissie_, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

'wake up' is one of the single emptiest, most unexciting, plain overrated pieces of music i have ever heard. 'rebellion (lies)' is ok, but jeez if 'wake up' isn't utter, utter shite. the last minute and a half is jaw-droppingly awful.

― unfished business, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:28 (nineteen years ago)

Y'know, a friend of mine, at the time they did Wake Up with DB, said the performance was 'exhilarating'. We have a lot of taste in common and such things make me feel horribly defective and left out. :-(

― chrissie_, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

I like 'No Cars Go' but not much else.

― calstars, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:56 (nineteen years ago)

twice have i stared at metacritic and gone 'OMG EVERYONE IT'S A CONSPIRACY', the first time was the streets' second album, the second time was 'Funeral'.

― unfished business, Thursday, 8 March 2007 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

oh come on, that's every bloody year on metacritic (says without looking) surely?

Sufjan, Joanna etc...

― fandango, Thursday, 8 March 2007 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

oh come on, that's every bloody year on metacritic (says without looking) surely? Sufjan, Joanna etc...

....Kevin Federline

― Drooone, Thursday, 8 March 2007 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

SUFJAN WAS THE THIRD

joanna i heard the first 5 minutes of 'emily' and i was nonplussed

― unfished business, Thursday, 8 March 2007 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

I saw their performance w/The Dame at the Fashion Rocks show in '05 (meaning, a DVD recording offa US TV, not actually live), and it didn't thrill me.

I've only heard that performance, not their finest moment. I'd post some clips but I've reached my quota of cap'n-save-an-indie-band on this thread plus even MORE people have showed up to say "you know, I bought this arcade fire album and I don't see what the big deal is, arrggghhhh I've turned into an orange don't peel me"

― Edward III, Thursday, 8 March 2007 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

Sufjan = Medicine Head with a bible.

― Saxby D. Elder, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

even if you don't think Funeral was great, how can anyone honestly listen to it and think it's pure shite? the album is, at very worst, overrated.

― modestmickey, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:31 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think Funeral was overrated, it was a really good album. However, 'Neon Bible' is a bit of a disappointment - most of the songs are OK, but the magic has been disappeared. Still, it will be able to make them the "Biggest Band on Earth" - there is a vacancy since 'Hail To The Thief', or so.

― zeus, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

even if you don't think Funeral was great, how can anyone honestly listen to it and think it's pure shite? the album is, at very worst, overrated.

you're right. it's not possible not to like that record. anyone who does must be pretending.

― Ronan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

ain't no future in ya frontin

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

you're right. it's not possible not to like that record. anyone who does must be pretending.

Refer to Mark Rich@rdson's post right before yours.

― Drooone, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

u just mad cuz arcade fire is stylin on u

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

Hey, a lot of people don't like bombastic, over-emoting, self-important rock music, so I can understand why they'd hate these guys. But if you're into that tradition, they seem to be doing it very well.

All of those are pejorative terms, so I would question why anyone would be "into that" or for that matter how anyone could "do it well". But I am hoping that was your point.

― Saxby D. Elder, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

All of those are pejorative terms, so I would question why anyone would be "into that" or for that matter how anyone could "do it well". But I am hoping that was your point.
tortally.

― Drooone, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

No, I can be into that stuff, and I like Arcade Fire. Rock music that goes way over the top can be a lot of fun I think, and sometimes also profound.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

So it has its time and place?

― Drooone, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Think of Foreigner "I Want to Know What Love Is", or Phil Collins "Against All Odds."

― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:42 (nineteen years ago)

Or perhaps 30 Seconds to Mars "Kill (Bury Me)"

― Drooone, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

I like this album. The Broooce this most resembles is Nebraska: a pushy, spittle-hitting-microphone, arena-scaled intimacy. Dismissing Arcade Fire for being overwrought reminds me of that Christgau line about the Pet Shop Boys: "Calling Neil Tennant a bored wimp is like accusing Jackson Pollock of making a mess. Since the bored wimp is his subject and his medium, whether he actually is one matters only insofar as the music sounds bored and/or wimpy--and only insofar as that's without its rewards and revelations."

The AF are compelling, rewarding, and revelatory when, oddly, they avoid specifics -- when their songs embody an ill-defined dread ("Black Mirror," "Neon Bible," "Antichrist Television Blues").

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

hmmm...nebraska...i haven't heard this yet...if it has a song as good as johnny 99 or atlantic city this should be good.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

No songs are as good as "Atlantic City"!

― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:36 (nineteen years ago)

yeah that's a good point.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

No, I can be into that stuff

Oh, no question...

Rock music that goes way over the top can be a lot of fun I think, and sometimes also profound

I might even agree with this in the abstract, but I don't actually see them as going "over the top" in the manner of, say, GG Allin or even the Butthole Surfers or something. If anything, they seem like they are too cool and affected to be bothered to go over the top and I think that is one of the things that sickens me about them.

Think of Foreigner "I Want to Know What Love Is", or Phil Collins "Against All Odds."

On your suggestion, I have, and one thing that stands out is that I can actually remember those songs well enough to sing them back to you. Also, that example doesn't really hold because those were not critically lauded, just commercial hits on a mass level. And I think some people might say, to bring this around to the thread title, that those "totally blow" also.

― Saxby D. Elder, Thursday, 8 March 2007 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

Also, that example doesn't really hold because those were not critically lauded, just commercial hits on a mass level

"I Want to Know What Love Is" topped Greil Marcus' best-of list in 1985. And Christgau, praising R.E.M.'s Out of Time, said there was beauty on the album "worthy...of a massed choir singing `I Want to Know What Love Is."

I'm pretty sure C. Eddy loves it too.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 8 March 2007 23:08 (nineteen years ago)

I don't hate them or think they're shite. And I don't mind that *kind* of music. But certainly, on CD, I feel no response to them at all. Flat, uninvolving, charmless. (I haven't heard the new one, however.)

― chrissie_, Thursday, 8 March 2007 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

i downloaded a recording of some friends-only gig they played in montreal at the end of january, which is mainly new songs, and i was rather underwhelmed ... i adored "funeral" and ended up being quite moved by them live at the QMU two years ago (despite wanting to throttle them at the start of it).

haven't got "neon bible" yet; i will, and i should probably do so before sunday, because i'm still hoping to get a press ticket for the barrowland gig.

i think that if i'd seen pictures of them or read the hype before i heard the songs, i'd have loathed them. but luckily the music got me first and ... look, i'm a sucker for bombast and i don't give a windswept fuck.

― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 8 March 2007 23:32 (nineteen years ago)

i'm a complete sucker for bombast but as saxby has already said, they're really not that bombastic. they aim for a big sound, but they don't have the ambition, the ability, or the bollocks to write truly original, surprising, pulse-racing music. it's all very well piling loads of violins and guitars into a song, but when you actually forget to structure a song in anything like an interesting manner or present the instrumentation with any personality, the effect is lost (on me at any rate). i cannot remember a single one of their songs (except 'rebellion (lies)'), and neither do i want to. i repeat: 'wake up' is forced, dirge-like, wretched bullshit which tacks on a falsely upbeat coda for no fucking reason whatsoever and doesn't do anything i'd even remotely describe as intriguing.

truly bombastic music fucks around with structure, with style, with vastly conflicting emotion (hint to AF: your songs are fucking MONOCHROMATIC), and with instrumentation. the arcade fire make me genuinely angry. sorry, fans, but there's no convinving me any other way.

― unfished business, Friday, 9 March 2007 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

maybe they should try to be boombastic instead of bombastic.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 9 March 2007 00:15 (nineteen years ago)

they are no woodentops.

― scott seward, Friday, 9 March 2007 00:55 (nineteen years ago)

No songs are as good as "Atlantic City"!

"Boombastic"!

― marc h., Friday, 9 March 2007 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

"I Want to Know What Love Is" topped Greil Marcus' best-of list in 1985. And Christgau, praising R.E.M.'s Out of Time, said there was beauty on the album "worthy...of a massed choir singing `I Want to Know What Love Is."

I'm pretty sure C. Eddy loves it too.

May I ask what impenetrable prose Greil used to support his choice? Plus, wasn't there a Mekons and/or Scritti Politti album out that year that he made a subsequent living out of championing? And was Kix not active then?! Xgau, whatev. (no cred)

I will admit, I actually like that song a bit too, but it's complete crap. The point is you can sing it in the shower or at karaoke. I am predicting no Arcade Fire karaoke nights anytime in the future... It is actually sad just how wrong I could be about that.

maybe they should try to be boombastic instead of bombastic.

I would be happy with bomtastic!

― Saxby D. Elder, Friday, 9 March 2007 05:28 (nineteen years ago)

the arcade fire make me genuinely angry. sorry, fans, but there's no convinving me any other way.

oh please, isn't there *something* we can do?

nick sylvester resurfaced in the phoenix this week, he lurvs the new af.

― Edward III, Friday, 9 March 2007 07:02 (nineteen years ago)

Well if Big Nick likes it...

― Drooone, Friday, 9 March 2007 07:12 (nineteen years ago)

SAY NO MORE

― Edward III, Friday, 9 March 2007 07:15 (nineteen years ago)

I maintain that this band is pretty darn good. I do recommend that people who don't like them all at least try their best tracks a few more times, because I really don't think it's emptiness behind the bombast; they have really great songs too, my favourites being "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Crown Of Love" - these are truly exciting tracks to me! The bassline in Rebellion and the pounding string outro in Crown Of Love are both first-class hooks.

― aaron d.g., Friday, 9 March 2007 07:35 (nineteen years ago)

Okay. "Wake up" just invaded my speakers via some girl's myspace page. I haven't heard this thing in a long time, and the chorus does come in all awesome and bombast but then Win's voice looks up from its rockingchair and
booo.
Maybe there is sincere in his quiver but he's asking me to dig deep for something empathy
share the sincerity and I'm like
no.
not today.
I don't have a cold, and I'm not even going to glance in the guitar case to see how many have taken pity and let you connect them.
Yeah, I don't blame them
but I don't really feel like buying them, either.

-----
they are no woodentops.

scott seward on Friday, 9 March 2007 00:55 (11 hours ago)

yeah, and I'd much rather be hearing "Special Friend" right now, too.

― mox twelve, Friday, 9 March 2007 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

"i repeat: 'wake up' is forced, dirge-like, wretched bullshit"

I was listening for "forced" actually, because I WANT to call them forced, but the worst part about them is that the "sincere" quality does not seem, at least, completely forced. It's more like...a sincerity that doesn't know that it lacks sincerity. Because I think they might believe that they are sincere. And it's not an ignorance. It's like, they're thirsty for something particular from childhood, like warm milk and molasses. And they've tried that shit in the now and they know it does not tast fond. But they refuse to acknowledge that and instead keep stepping to the memories of their five year old. And they also are sincere, but they desperately want you to know they're sincere, like, there's no subtle hide and seeking here, so that degrades the quality of their heart. And before you know it you thought it was about you and them and this awesome bond and comraderie, but in the end
it's really all about them.
or something such as this. if it's forced though, it's like
gentle forced.

"which tacks on a falsely upbeat coda for no fucking reason whatsoever and doesn't do anything i'd even remotely describe as intriguing."

haha true

― mox twelve, Friday, 9 March 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

so yr saying they're passive-aggressive :-D

― unfished business, Friday, 9 March 2007 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

"Win's voice looks up from its rockingchair..."

I know it's cruel, but: LMAO.

;-)

― chrissie_, Friday, 9 March 2007 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

I don't typically read Newsweek for its music coverage, but something is seriously wrong with this sentence from an item on Arcade Fire:

"This week Arcade Fire's new CD 'Neon Bible' arrives, and the band has built buzz with typical small-scale panache..."

Oh, like Saturday Night Live, features in major daily newspapers, multiple sold-out shows in churches on two continents? Is that what's passing for small-scale these days?

― MC, Monday, 12 March 2007 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

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Mark G on Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:12 (5 days ago)

jeez everyone, ease up a little!

still unsold on neon bible, waiting to see the new stuff live - i strongly suspect it'll aaall make more sense then.

― CharlieNo4, Monday, 12 March 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

Coupla things—
The NYT mag piece really made me feel, I dunno, vague resentment toward them. I hate articles that try to sell you on the music by presenting the lifestyle of the musicians as indicative of the sound.

Second, my petit-indie pastor roommate just gave me a lecture on how grand the first album was and how the second one is still good, but fails to live up to the promise of the band (since he's been streaming it on Rhapsody). Since I thought the first album was OK, but just DID NOT GET the sort of "this will change your life!" shit (wow, it's orchestral Canadian indie rock. They sure minted new coins with that one!), I can't imagine that I'm going to feel all that het up about the second one, at least to the point where I can't ever imagine spending money on it.
But hey, some people manage to get into fights over Wilco, which I also find baffling. Perhaps if I got some of those square glasses, I'd get it...

― I eat cannibals, Monday, 12 March 2007 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

"Sincerity" is so, SO irrelevant -- eg, I believe the Flaming Lips are sincere, and their last 6-7 years are maxi-hateable -- and hence doesn't enter into my judging Funeral to be pretty good (haven't heard new one yet).

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

Can we stop saying things like "the Arcade Fire are sincere" or "that song is forced" and start saying things like "the Arcade Fire sound sincere, and here's why" and "that song sounds forced, and here's why"?

Also: we all get that "hipsters" like this band. And that some fans can be overzealous. Duh. Can we move away from that aspect, which has been done to death?

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

They should just collaborate with the Polyphonic Spree and get it over with.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

I hear Schwartz's Deli closed. That should be good for half an Arcade Fire album of emotions.

― Mr Noodles, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

???

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

where did you hear those lies

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

you must be thinking of bens

― s1ocki, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

"Oh, like Saturday Night Live, features in major daily newspapers, multiple sold-out shows in churches on two continents? Is that what's passing for small-scale these days?"

Apparently, yes.

― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

I hear Schwartz's Deli closed. That should be good for half an Arcade Fire album of emotions.

They say it fades if you let it,
Lox was made to forget it.
I carved pastrami across my table,
you pray for rain I pray for bagels.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

I've only heard the album a couple times, as a very passive coffeeshop listener. Don't own it. Haven't "studied" it. My relationship with the last one is pretty much the same: heard it enough to get the gist, liked it, but didn't follow it any farther than that.

That said, this is a good record. I don't get the impression that I'm being asked to buy into any cult of sincerity bullshit. Maybe a little, but to a tolerable degree. And the music/arrangments seem far from "monochromatic" to me. Neon Bible does settle into a rut after 5 or 6 songs, but there's quite a bit of variety in the opening salvo. Enough to lodge a few good hooks in my head. Enough so that I actually remember several of the songs, though I was hardly paying attention when they passed.

"The Black Mirror" sounds like an Eno version of ELO, and the buried piano on the chorus sets up the vocal hook beautifully. Such an unexpectedly cold and creepy way to open the album. "Keep the Car Running" and "No Cars Go" are ridiculously anthemic, in a fist-pumping, "Born to Run" kinda way, and normally that'd make me gag, but they're both great, memorable, affecting songs. And I love the shades-of-Siouxie stylings on "Black Wave".

Is it a referential record? Yeah, and they're a referential band. Hasn't been talked about much on this thread. In addition to the above, I hear traces of The Fixx, Roy Orbison, U2 (of course), among a bunch of others. Doesn't seem like theft or laziness, so it doesn't bother me. But playing spot-the-influence is a big part of the appeal -- for old fucks like me, at least...

― Pye Poudre, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

I was underwhelmed by the Saturday Night Live appearance. I see that Sasha F-J at the New Yorker has it at no. 1 on his blog, and Jody Rosen liked it alot too(in Ent. Weekly I think). Eh, I don't agree with those guys as much as I used to.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

Not just spot-the-influence, but also what they actually do with these influences, which I think is a lot less straightforward than the reviews so far seem to have made out.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

it's pretty hard to think arcade fire sounds that "sincere" or "overblown" when i'm listening to "close calls w/brick walls" by andrew WK.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

When I was younger, I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation a lot. One day, my good friend told me that it had the same feel and structure as a soap opera, and I couldn't watch it any more without constantly being reminded of that (I'm thinking of going back to it b/c of its soap opera-ness).

The 'monochromatic' comment upthread had a similar effect for me. I can't really listen to Neon Bible w/o thinking MONOCHROMATIC now -- it put a finger on something lodged in the back of my head that was bothering me. Thanks?

― vermonter, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think they blow at all, but I think Win smashing his guitar on SNL was the most forced ridiculous act I've seen any rock band do. He did the same thing when I saw them at Summerstage a few years ago. Really turns me off.

― tornup_andhurt, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

Win smashing his guitar was a perfect illustration of my major problem with this band - a problem that seems more evident on Neon Bible than it does on Funeral. When I first heard Funeral (in winter 2004) I really liked it and thought the emotion was genuine, even if it was occasionally over the top.

With Neon Bible, the emotion feels canned and intentional, like they're trying to fit their own image in an artificial way. It's like the album that you'd make to parody the Arcade Fire, but it's not funny. It's just disappointing. When Win smashed his guitar on SNL, I finally understood why I can't get into Neon Bible: he wasn't smashing his guitar because he wanted to. He was smashing it because that's what Win Butler does.

― Nathan, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm...how does the distinction between canned and genuine emotion work, though, in terms of what you're actually hearing on the record?

― Mark Rich@rdson, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Anyone who smashes a guitar more than once should be hung by their own strings.

I mean, once, I'm almost willing to put down to momentary rage, but dude. Nice that you can afford all these guitars to smash up. It makes me cross, it's just such an... obvious thing to do.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

Haven't seen 'em live or on the teevee. That said, the guitar smashing bullshit sounds like bullshit. But still I don't see how it takes anything away from the songs on the new record. Which are pretty damn good.

― Pye Poudre, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm...how does the distinction between canned and genuine emotion work, though, in terms of what you're actually hearing on the record?

Oh, I'll be the first to admit that it can be a pretty subjective distinction at times. But I think that there are a couple of good (and pretty objective) examples. Intervention's a good example because its lyrics are positively cringe-worthy - specifically the lines about "tasting fear" (how trite!) and "working for the church while your family dies" with the glockenspiel and strings in the background. Oh, and the line, "every spark of friendship and love will die without a home." There's just no subtlety to it, as if Win set out to write an emotional song instead of writing a song that's naturally emotional.

So that's an example of what I'm actually hearing. But the outside factors - Win's smashing of the guitar, the fact that a Phillips Exeter graduate is writing songs like he's the champion of the working class - are inextricable from what I'm hearing in my overall experience of the album.

― Nathan, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

i watched that SNL show.

to me, it looked like he was upset that he broke his strings and maybe was having technical difficulties or something.

i dunno, john hiatt wouldn't approve. that was a perfectly good guitar. i'm mostly anti-guitar smashing.

but it didn't seem pre-planned.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

Eno version of ELO

Eno crossed with ELO would be emo!

(Alphabetically speaking)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

OH COME ON GUYS HE JUST SMASHED A GUITAR.

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

Are we really going to talk about this record in terms of the "authenticity" of the emotions/sentiment and the one time Butler smashed a guitar on SNL? I mean I get that the guitar-smashing is clichéd and "obvious" but it seems like you guys are under the impression that there's "authentic" (non-performative??) guitar smashing and then "forced" guitar smashing and there's NO WAY that Win Bulter, EXETER GRAD, could POSSIBLY HAVE FELT ENOUGH EMOTIONS to make his guitar-smashing "AUTHENTIC." Give me a break.

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

I mean unless you guys are against all guitar smashing, PERIOD, including, say, Hendrix and Townshend and Cobain and even, like Mingus--in which case, I take it back.

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

I only support staged file deletion on one's laptop while performing.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

i spilled a beer onstage on saturday nite!

i felt bad about it, not because i care about stuff but because i wanted to drink it.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

AND AHHHH NATHAN clichéd & trite & unsubtle lyrics =! inauthentic emotion!!! I mean jesus have you ever read livejournal poetry? Is that emotion inauthentic as well?

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

I only support staged file deletion on one's laptop while performing.

Now THAT'S RAWK-N-ROLL.

― max, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

Oh fuck yeah. < / lazy hipster >

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

I mean jesus have you ever read livejournal poetry? Is that emotion inauthentic as well?

Mood: depressed
Listening to: Bright Eyes
30 GOTO 10
RUN

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

― tornup_andhurt, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

ps. I find Regine to be immensely annoying, for evidence watch the second song they played on SNL where win DOES'T break his guitar

― tornup_andhurt, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

The first album didn't seem to be so Win centric. That is the problem with Neon Bible. It sounds like it's Win's album, as opposed to a collective effort. the music is much more straight forward than Funeral and seems to be built around his vocals, which is unfortunate because there are so many terrible lines in the new songs.

You could listen to Funeral without really paying too much attention to words. Most of the time they were unintelligible. Here, you want to ignore them, but you can't. I want to like this album, but there are so many portions of it that just plain annoy me.

― Benjamin H, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

wow this album is really boring. I liked the first one a lot (for a while, but I burned out on it eventually....it still sounds good though when I happen across songs from it on shuffle or hear someone else playing it), but this just has no spark to it at all. and the best song on it is from an old EP. Death Cab did this on their last album too. Fuck off, lazy indie bands! Just because you buried your best songs on EPs doesn't mean you get to recycle them again on later albums (and rerecord them to their detriment)!

― akm, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 22:35 (nineteen years ago)

and there's NO WAY that Win Bulter, EXETER GRAD, could POSSIBLY HAVE FELT ENOUGH EMOTIONS to make his guitar-smashing "AUTHENTIC." Give me a break.

I didn't say that being an Exeter grad had anything to do with authentic/inauthentic emotions. I just said it was incongruous with the theme of working-class strife.

AND AHHHH NATHAN clichéd & trite & unsubtle lyrics =! inauthentic emotion!!! I mean jesus have you ever read livejournal poetry? Is that emotion inauthentic as well?

There are important distinctions to draw between Neon Bible's lyrics and LJ poetry. For one, LJ writers aren't crafting their work to be featured on MTV and the radio. Secondly, LJ poets are mostly bad writers, not good writers who are suddenly bad. Finally (and I think most importantly), people on LJ don't have an "image" to live up to or a particular brand to market. Funeral was known for being a sort of dark and moody album, and I think Win picked up on that and consciously decided to keep marketing that "brand" on Neon Bible (whereas the "darkness" was presumably natural on Funeral.) I thought Funeral was a good album with lyrics that were much better than Neon Bible's. The fact that Neon Bible's lyrics are clichéd and unsubtle is a sign to me that Win wasn't going for anything real. He was much more content to write "Arcade Fire lyrics" that would seem moody and dark enough to fit the band's mold. To me, they come off as lazy, insincere, and unappealing.

That's why the triteness of the lyrics is a telling factor. There's a difference between writing a song that is emotional and setting out to write an emotional song. Funeral became a success and made the Arcade Fire notable for the former. Neon Bible, in a conscious attempt to continue that success, smacks of the latter.

― Nathan, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

1. Notorious BIG - Greatest Hits 99,490
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 83,165
3. Daughtry - Daughtry 80,811
4. Akon - Konvicted 75,704
5. Gary Allan - Greatest Hits 70,454
6. Relient K - Five Score & Seven Years Ago 70,405
7. Norah Jones - Not Too Late 61,403
8. Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High 58,976
9. Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke 49,539
10. Korn - MTV Unplugged 49,339

― deej, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

wow, akon's name is really:

Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam

that's a cool name.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

gary allan's full name is gary allan herzberg. he's a mormon.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

are relient k horrible?

"In 2004, Relient K released a book entitled The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind. The book clues in the confused male Relient K fans on some of the inner works of the female species. The band gives advice on the opposite sex through personal experience, stereotypes (including Rocker and Vanilla Pudding), and Biblical advice—presented in the fun attitude found in their music. The title of the book is taken from the last line of the song "Mood Rings", which is found on their third album, Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do."

― scott seward, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

i think reliant k is one of those christian bands that try to fool you. i saw them playing on some christian grammy type things. you gotta watch out for that shit, scott.

at least with petra i knew where i stood.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

I don't care if he broke a guitar string and was furious, to pointless destroy the guitar on national television is just stupid, especially considering the type of music they make, which I'm assuming is supposed to be taken as serious

tornup_andhurt on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 4:57 PM (5 hours ago)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So "serious" artists (how do you define that) don't break their guitars?

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

Or maybe you were joking. I hope Nathan was as well when he suggested upthread that "a Phillips Exeter graduate is writing songs like he's the champion of the working class," and "I think Win picked up on that and consciously decided to keep marketing that "brand" on Neon Bible." Plenty of university grads like to champion the working class. And as for him consciously trying market a brand of lyrics, I think you're reaching (and I'm not even a fan of the group).

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 02:38 (nineteen years ago)

It doesn't seem so far-fetched to me. He found a formula that sold records, made him a rock star, and earned him critical praise, so he decided to run with it. If people think about the Arcade Fire and associate them with a particular sound, mood, and style of lyrics, then Win can milk that for fame and profit. When I listen to Neon Bible, I get the impression that he is doing just that, and it makes the music difficult to enjoy.

― Nathan, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 03:15 (nineteen years ago)

― Scott CE, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 03:40 (nineteen years ago)

Also, dude, is it possible you are projecting like a motherfucker and you have ZERO IDEA what is going on inside this guy Win's head? I am not a huge fan of either record, but you seem to be assuming a LOT of stuff here.

― Scott CE, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

Nathan--do you think maybe it's possible that, uh, Butler just kept writing the same lyrics he always has, and this time you interacted with them differently? Like, just because you find them worse doesn't mean that all of a sudden he doesn't feel them (alternately, maybe he's never "felt" the lyrics!).

― max, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

I think the essence of what Nathan's saying is that the dude's realised the album (its style) is profitable, so making an album of that same style equates to more Bunsen Burner Nice Little Earner.

the fame and success were causal, not coincidental to the samey songs. I think Nathan really wasn't saying "And the second album was "fake" somehow because he got popular in the interim" at all.

Not what I believe, but y'know, whatever.

― Drooone, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 04:07 (nineteen years ago)

the flaw of course is that both albums are awful npr fodder.

― Jack Cole, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 07:49 (nineteen years ago)

YOU KNOW WOH ELS IS OVER-RATED. THE BEETLES. ONLY OLD PEOPLE LISEN TO THE BETELS.

― max, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 08:48 (nineteen years ago)

haha, so your argument is that the dude had a style, and he released an album that was genuinely based on that style. Then he became popular (relatively) as a result of that style. Then he released another album in the same style. And the second album was "fake" somehow because he got popular in the interim. Do I have that right? - ScottCE

No.

Nathan--do you think maybe it's possible that, uh, Butler just kept writing the same lyrics he always has, and this time you interacted with them differently? Like, just because you find them worse doesn't mean that all of a sudden he doesn't feel them (alternately, maybe he's never "felt" the lyrics!). - max

It's definitely possible. But I do think that they're a lot worse, and that there's a reason behind it.

I think the essence of what Nathan's saying is that the dude's realised the album (its style) is profitable, so making an album of that same style equates to more Bunsen Burner Nice Little Earner.

the fame and success were causal, not coincidental to the samey songs. I think Nathan really wasn't saying "And the second album was "fake" somehow because he got popular in the interim" at all. - Droone

Yes, that's basically my argument.

I don't think this is projection or speculation or craziness - as I said before, it doesn't seem far-fetched to me that Win would recognize he had a money-making songwriting formula and want to continue writing those kinds of songs instead of what he'd write if he weren't trying to earn money/praise. The result is a blander, less sincere version of mostly the same kind of music.

― Nathan, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

I wish I could read minds. On the other hand, it seems to spoil music for people who can.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

my suspicions re:the jobs that we call blow are always raised when a band a)gets seemingly universal criticial hosannas and b)are compared to bruce springsteen. sooner or later I'll give it a listen anyway.

― m coleman, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

This is why I hate them bullshit pictures like this

http://www.avclub.com/content/files/images/Arcade_Fire-hf.homepage_featured.jpg

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

I wish I could read minds. On the other hand, it seems to spoil music for people who can.

Noticing differences in the quality of music and trying to understand why != reading minds.

You've got it backwards. I didn't try to "read" Win's mind and then become disappointed with Neon Bible. I was disappointed with Neon Bible and, in an attempt to figure out why it wasn't as good as Funeral, offered an explanation based upon Win's possible mindset. I can't imagine why this bothers people so much.

― Nathan, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

Intentional Fallacy

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

What people are forgetting is that the first album was shit too.

― Scik Mouthy, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

OTM

― unfished business, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't say the album was bad because it lacks meaning. I said it had trite lyrics, bad arrangements, and no subtlety - criticisms which are all rooted in the music itself. I said that the cause of these might be that the songs are formulaic and meaningless, but whether they are or not doesn't change the fact that I don't think they're very good. I like Funeral because I think it's well-written, and I don't know if it is ultimately meaningful to the writer (but I have a hunch it is.)

― Nathan, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

southall, jagger, my office, monday morning at nine.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

'rebellion (lies)' is a good song but one swallow doth not a bukkake session make.

― unfished business, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

Nathan's talking about intentionality. It's a perfectly valid way to look at why art succeeds or fails. Sure, it's not objective, and for that reason risks confusing projection with analysis, but we shouldn't put the intangibles totally off-limits.

It's a mistake to chalk the forced inentionality [Nathan thinks he perceives*] in Neon Bible up to "success". That's where the projection comes in. All we can say is that we perceive this kind of intent-to-seem, or intent-to-be, or whatever. In general, it's best to describe intentionality as something that arises from awareness. When the band made the first record, they didn't have a clear idea of what an "Arcade Fire record" was. There wasn't an established set of rules for such an object in the world. Same goes for the lyrics.

Now that Funeral is out there, however, the playing field has been delineated. The Arcade Fire are now painfully aware of what is they do. And it's perfectly reasonable to think that art fails due to a slavish imitation of its own conventions. Lots of artists seem to ossify in the shadow of what they think they're supposed to do. And it's hard to say why or how, exactly, in purely objective terms.

***

* I disagree, but that's beside the point.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

I learned one thing from this thread:

Arcade Fire makes people retarded.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

The amount of ill-informed pretentious bilge on this thread is mind-boggling.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

no shit.

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:25 (nineteen years ago)

Hey, if anyone's got a problem with the cog-psych intentionality I'm talking about, just address it. If not, then carry on...

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

Your comments are just an obfuscatory way of saying that you think that the second album isn't as fresh as the first because now they know what they're doing. Consider them "addressed."

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not talking about intent to seem, i'm talking about shitty songs and a shitty image

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

Nobody's talking to you.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

i was talking to pye poudre, sweetcheeks

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

The thing is, nobody's talking to you.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

oh wait, are you doing the grumpy thing again?

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

you should warn us when you do that

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

However, nobody's talking to you.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

But Marcello, I don't think this a worse album than the first. I think it's better. I don't think it suffers from intentionality or anything else. In fact, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that it's a great album (listening to it now, for the third time in a week).

I was presenting (perhaps pretentiously) a dictionary-style definition of "perceived intentionality" for Nathan's benefit, 'cuz I thought that's what he was getting at but failing to actually say.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

perhaps?

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

dude you just rewrote the bullshit manual on writing about music

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

Neon Bible was never going to be Funeral II, and I suspect would have sounded an awful lot more contrived if it had tried to do so.

It's different and bigger but not necessarily in a bad way. The Springsteen comparisons have perhaps been overstated generally but they are relevant - just not in the sense that critics initially seem to have thought (and I would estimate that everyone has missed the point of "(Antichrist Television Blues)" which isn't a Born In The USA pastiche, but more of an enlargement of the ceaseless running away, even from one's own body, at the heart of that equally misunderstood record).

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

yeah dude have you heard the Nebraska demo verison of Born in the USA???????

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

"dude you just rewrote the bullshit manual on writing about music"
- Mr. Que

I talk rong? Okay, fine. I can live with that. If you've got issues with the content of what I said, then lay 'em out. But fuck off if you just wanna zing me for the tone.

FWIW, I regret the word "painfully". In retrospect, that, more than anything else, seems pretentious. And a cliche besides...

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

Lots of artists seem to ossify in the shadow of what they think they're supposed to do. And it's hard to say why or how, exactly, in purely objective terms.

Because they found a winning formula and they can make a living off it? And ditch their artistic side and just become another cog? Not really hard to see here.

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

Hell hath no fury like an indie kid scorned.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but "sell out" accusations are usually just assumptions. And none of what you said sounds particularly objective, esp. with regard to the Arcade Fire.

Anyway, it's probably hard for the naysayers to point out the objective differences between the lyrics on Funeral and those on Neon Bible. I'm just saying that while I don't perceive any sudden lack of "sincerity" in the material (it seemed kinda insincere before, it seems kinda insincere now, and I don't give a shit), I'm not offended by the opinions of those who do.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

That last post goes out to the esteemed Mr. K, obv.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Everyone misses the obvious Springsteen-ripoff parallel: "Keep the Car Running" sounds exactly like John Cafferty's "On the Dark Side."

― Matos W.K., Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

Make me feel so crazy, make me feel so mean . . . On the dark side! Aw, yeah-ah-eah-ah! On the daaaark side!

― Matos W.K., Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

Fair enough - we didn't get Mr Cafferty here in Angleterre.

― Marcello Carlin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's uncanny. And kinda hilarious. Still love the song. "Keep the Car Running", I mean, 'cuz the John Cafferty thing makes me wanna tear my hair out.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

Sam's Town was never going to be Hot Fuss II, and I suspect would have sounded an awful lot more contrived if it had tried to do so.

It's different and bigger but not necessarily in a bad way. The Springsteen comparisons have perhaps been overstated generally but they are relevant - just not in the sense that critics initially seem to have thought (and I would estimate that everyone has missed the point of..

er.... sorry.

I keep getting tricked by the radio too :/

― fandango, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

you must be thinking of bens

REALLY??? I am so much happier now. Ben's might be worth a song on EP, but not to me.

They say it fades if you let it,
Lox was made to forget it.
I carved pastrami across my table,
you pray for rain I pray for bagels.

If you still want meat, please give smoked meat,
the pastrami has fallen from me.
If you still want meat, please fork smoked meat,
because St Viateur is not within reach.

― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

at the end of the day,
all this arcade fire business just means
mac from superchunk is countin' mad bank.

and there ain't a thing wrong in the world w/that.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

i agree with that!

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

He can finally whoop it up in a hot tub on blow.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

at least Radiohead don't have all that worry about being the biggest rootin' tootin "most important" band in the world anymore...

― fandango, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

What will Thable Thom do now?

― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

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