Arcade Fire’s ‘Funeral’ is one year old today, does it still hold up?

I like the two songs I've heard quite a lot, seems to me they might be a bit histrionic for a whole album though, maybe I should get it.

Tom, the histronics (I know exactly what you mean, even if I rather like it) don't continue over the whole album.

I am actually so glad I heard their music before ever knowing what they looked like since every one of them, Regine excepted, looks extremely punchable in that theatre major art-school student way.

you could of course cheat - it's my hmoth album of 2005 cos it only came out in the uk in february...

And while some people might find it a little too peculiar a take, their live version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" was really, really electric for me. I wasn't expecting them to do anything more than a competent cover but (while a lot of people seem to dislike it,) I find it fascinating how they've turned the song sort of inside-out, changing its footing, and making it something else.

Man, my favourite band, four years in a row. Who'd-a-thunk.

"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"
" Rebellion (Lies)"

I can listen to those three tracks over and over.

If this helps, 'comfort' not in the sense of soothing but in the sense of knowing what you're getting, a criticism I could easily apply to Bloc Party as well. The loudest metal ever can be comfort music. Hell, Merzbow can be comfort music.

That's your boy...

Kanye

also OTM to whoever said the 'theatre school' vibe thing.

OH TEE EM.

-- adam (hexenductio...), September 13th, 2005. (adam) (later) strangely sooo otm

Still the best album of 2004, though.

But then, this is about as enthusiastic as I get for indie, so there must be something there.

As for Bloc Party: there's really no comparison. I like the album a lot and will probably be listening to it in December, but it's a job well done, 'comfort food' (to toy with Sir Ned's usage) rather than something truly impressive.

that makes it sound maudlin and somewhat depressing. i see/hear it as more of a wake - a triumphant celebration of fulfilled lives lived, with a bloody great party going on, the likes of which i'd hope would happen at my own passing. in my dreams.

hmmm... really? they make me want to drink water and have yoga.

Anyway, I really like the record, a lot more than I did last year, and it surely would have made my top 10 over at least a couple of those I picked. When I interview Craig Finn a few months ago he noted how when he listened to "Funeral" for the first time - as a latecomer - there really seemed to be something special about the album, more than just hype. Which is why the distant above comparison to Violent Femmes is so OTM. I can imagine "Funeral" being to kids today what the first Violent Femmes album is to, um, kids today, too.

Death Cab are so airless they're almost painful to listen to. Their live shows are like exercises in stasis, and not in a good way. At least Arcade Fire bring the spazz.

I find this attempt at value judgment comparison deeply humorous.

I can imagine "Funeral" being to kids today what the first Violent Femmes album is to, um, kids today, too.

I find this attempt deeply horrifying.

If I were forced to compare these guys to anyone, I'd go with Elbow before the Violent Femmes.

Truer words were never

There's a DVD torrent making the rounds at dimeadozen and the Us Kids Know site of Arcade Fire live on French TV. As far as performance, set list, and spectacle, it's a high watermark. Grab it if you can....

Arcade Fire vocal stylings more in common with Born To Run-era Springsteen than they do with the Violent Femmes. Although I grant that AF may represent some sort of plateau of nerd rock not scaled since They Might Be Giants.

And someone please point out any common characteristic between AF and the Talking Heads. You don't need to reference the Talking Heads every time you talk about music.

I've not made any direct correlation between the two groups but I do think the AF sounds like something Brian Eno would produce if he were trying to cash in on the current 80's revival. They actually kind of remind me of a collage of Eno groups. Roxy Music but without the charisma or personality of Bryan Ferry, the pretentiousness of U2 at times and the oddball intellectualism that I think is what reminds some people of the Talking Heads. That's the only thing I think AF and the Talking Heads have in common.

Agnostic Front and Talking Heads = both bands from NYC that played at CBGBs!

I think they should have printed JtN's name in bigger letters, and perhaps horizontally. That annoyed me, slightly.

Kudos to Alan McGee for pointing out the similarities between The Waterboys and the Arcade Fire. I remember it taking people forever to imagine the proper reference points for this band.

ha, that's otm, i had never thought of that

just starting to get into this album

Suggestion: The Arcade Fire are to the 00s what the Violent Femmes were to the 80s, Q: Who are the 90s equivalent in terms of cult / niche appeal ?
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, September 13, 2005 8:56 AM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao....so not otm

Still don't understand the fuss and probably never will.

they have a lot of great songs... theyre a great stadium band honestly. i remember working in the kitchen at one of their shows for the suburbs, taking a break and walking out and being really deeply moved by "Laika," which never stuck out to me before... really like i was walking to get ice or something and just stood there looking at the jumbotron in a trance... incredibly moving song.

At the time of Funeral it was mostly the freshness that drove the initial enthusiasm, IMHO. A bit like when The Pixies suddenly exploded onto the scene with their first EP and album. Black Francis sounded a lot more like the dude from Violent Femmes though :-)

rrrrrrrrrrreally not looking forward to the thinkpieces this year

ugh this record

love this record, can't wait for the thinkpieces.

I've only heard this twice but both times it felt like the worst aspects of Modest Mouse combined with the worst aspects of Sufjan Stevens. And I like both of those!

only time i've been in Montreal was the week this album came out, saw this show

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/arcade-fire/2004/the-salvation-army-citadel-montreal-qc-canada-53d49389.html

for a long time, my record would skip and replay the "our mother should have" part in laika where regine and that other due are kinda yelling over the top. it was annoying.

i don't blame them for that, though

ok fine i do

find it sad that The Arcade Fire are the midnoughties indie band who've made it through, and the Fiery Furnaces have become a music-critic footnote at best

haiti -> rebellion (lies) -> in the backseat is the good run on this album, but I would rather listen to the fiery furnaces. fiery furnaces albums definitely also sound better, and I'd rather listen to them. I think the stadium rock quality of arcade fire has brought them more success. I get the feeling that you hate stadium rock qualities.

was thinking the same thing :( i forget about them all the time. but blueberry boat is so fucking amazing

well FF are way more proggy too. Although I really like their first couple releases, the EPs and first album

you say 'proggy' like a cuss

find it sad that The Arcade Fire are the midnoughties indie band who've made it through, and the Fiery Furnaces have become a music-critic footnote at best

― Who whom kissed? (imago), Friday, June 6, 2014 10:15 AM (13 minutes ago)

spent a good deal more time w the furnaces (mostly c blueberry boat), but not deeply familiar w/invested in either. have the sense that arcade fire deliver their material like, "i am really FEELING THIS THING for you people RIGHT NOW," where FF are more, "this is an interesting idea, and i wrote a weird song about it." the former generally tends to sell more.

I like Fiery Furnaces, but had a low-key lol at the idea that it could have been them selling out Madison Square Garden and winning Grammys.

that wasn't a knock imago it's just something that tends to limit mass/stadium appeal. as does their more cerebral nature, as contenderizer points out. I find AF's perpetual over-emoting earnestness really irritating personally

this has to be one of my first threads ever on this board. i know a Moose thread was first but this has to be like second or third or something.

and you never looked back.

I'd say The Dears were the also-rans more than The Fiery Furnaces. Epic, orchestral, super-ambitious Montreal rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCjrRMwv7I8