Arcade Fire

[j44ke]

I like their stuff, but I just got their newest album and well, it is pretty much crap. Sounds like the album a band makes to fulfill the record requirement on a contract they want out of. I don't think I even heard Regine Chassagne, and her voice against the monotone of whathisname's voice was what made those earlier songs really soar. The production isn't even right. Maybe she's buried somewhere in all that. Muddy and dull. The lyrics, which admittedly have always been simple as in subtle with meaning, now are just kind of meaningless. And some of the music feels un-artfully spliced together in the studio. Like scotch tape on a window. There's even a song where you can hear a mistake, and if it isn't a mistake, then it is a bad decision in syncopation land. Just kind of confusing and curious. I think they ran out of gas.

But everyone else seems to effing love it. Of course. But I think everyone else is 15 and gets stoned every day before school.

Little early for Thursday......

[zetroc]

I think the only new song I've heard is "Reflektor" and I admit it's growing on me. Metacritic seems to like it.

I did like The Suburbs a lot.

[chasea]

I hate to be negative without any substance, but that band sucks.

The Washington Post summed it up pretty well.

[lukasz]

You go to the washington post for your music reviews? Come on brah.

But I concur.

[chasea]

You go to the washington post for your music reviews? Come on brah.

But I concur.

I do for this review, brah.

Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’: Still devoid of wit, subtlety and danger, now with bongos - The Washington Post

[corko]

oh no the backlash begins...... liked the 'burbs...

[Nierman]

Listening to Arcade Fire is like welding new rear drops onto your Softride. It may sound perfectly good, but some folks are gonna give you shit about it.

[C.Dyer]

I do for this review, brah.

Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’: Still devoid of wit, subtlety and danger, now with bongos - The Washington Post

Right? Thank you.

I'm happy to see the review you linked, Chase. This new joint has been getting really great press, but I just can't find a place to grab on to it. It doesn't move me at all. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. Pitchfork (I know, I know) gave it one of the highest ratings they've given anything all year, save for maybe Yeezus and the Disclosure album. Oh wait, I kind of hate those too...

[davids]

Funeral was good.

[j44ke]

I'd like to say the other albums had a writerly quality. There was subtext to the lyrics. Political innuendo even. But on this new album, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there is no there there. Or Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing - except that it isn't really even full of sound and fury. Sometimes I think bands don't quite understand why their songs were hits or what made their music appealing. They don't get their own stuff. And if you don't know what it is, you can't figure out what it could be. Driving without the steering wheel bolted on. Oh well.

[ABiCi]

I've loved their previous albums. I loved the single. The whole album, though, did not grab me like the previous ones. I think part of that may be due to the over-hyped publicity, my expectations kept getting raised. Still, only listened to it a couple of times through, it may take a while to grow on me.

[chasea]

Do it. You know you want to.

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...ted-24183.html

[ABiCi]

Do it. You know you want to.

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...ted-24183.html

Not quite ready just yet...

[Brandon White]

Funeral was good. I really liked Neon Bible, but that was a pretty good point in my life when I was listening to it a lot. I never got into Suburbs and doubt I'll like Reflektor.

[davids]

Funeral was good.

I'll expand on this: On Funeral, they seemed like they were capable of all sorts of things. The record pulsed with possibilities. But they've ended up mucking around trying to recreate 70s-era anthem rock. I got bored fast.

[j44ke]

I'll expand on this: On Funeral, they seemed like they were capable of all sorts of things. The record pulsed with possibilities. But they've ended up mucking around trying to recreate 70s-era anthem rock. I got bored fast.

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell.

[echelon_john]

I was just writing to a friend who asked what I thought of it and my impression is that the sound/production has gotten so dense that there's no airiness or 'room feel' to the vocals which the other albums had in spades, and it makes for a sound that's more 'impenetrable' compared to both rockers like 'No Cars Go' and ballads like 'My Body is a Cage.'

The other albums also had a more 'Lennon/McCartney' feel to them, too, where the female vocals of Regine let them explore different territory more creatively.

I just can't find a way in to this album yet, and maybe ever. Reflektor the song is pretty good, but things go downhill from there.

[chasea]

Just gve the title track a listen. Its over 7 minutes. And a dance track. Then I recognized the drum sound; hats particularly.

And then it clicked.

James Murphy is James Murphy. And he had a great avenue for that; his band. I now wonder whether disbanding LCD Soundsystem was a mistake or a mercy killing. I pray he doesn't get to produce a Spoon record.

Reflektor isn't going to be an album. Its a Texan and his Canadian band trying to keep the LCD Soundsystem tent in the air when its maker has already kicked out the poles. This is going to be some fan-boi idol worship shit.

I am going to hate-listen to this album.

[Nierman]

I saw AF during their Neon Bible tour and LCD Soundsystem (just James Murphy this show) opened. I wasn't too familiar w/LCD at the time, and thought it was pretty much just noise. Now that he's produced this last AF album, their stuff is sounding more like noise, while I've come to enjoy listening more to old LCD stuff. Not sure where I was going with this, other than we change (tastes) along with musicians & styles. The person you marry in your 20s may be your perfect mate at the time, but you have no idea how the other will handle being a parent, or deal with separate career paths and other personal goals on down the line. It's ok to part ways. But trash talking on your ex just makes you sound bitter, so I won't do it. I'll just move on...

The Decemberists, though... That Colin Meloy is a whiny little bitch.

[Brandon White]

Can we just create an "Indie" or "Alternative" music thread so we can bitch about new bands we love/hate?