MUSIC THREAD

I seriously cannot stop listening to the Arcade Fire record. So deep and rich ... Half Life II and Sprawl II sounds like a cross between today's indie music and the deep synth-driven alternative of the mid-80s. Month of May may be the weakest song on the album, but it's still pretty strong. Best album top-to-bottom that I've heard in years.

 

I went to Wally World yesterday looking for the Arcade Fire CD. They sold out.

It'll be straight in at No. 1 on the next chart.

 

Spoon was a really good opener, but the Arcade Fire just absolutely blew me away. So awesome. If you can get tickets to one of these shows, do it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/ArcadeFireVEVO

edited to add:

Tremendous. The band was great, the visual effects were spectacular, and the crowd was jacked.
Great moment in the encore: About a minute-plus into "Sprawl II," (from the new album, beautiful synth-pop number you will likely hear remixed at a club, drawing many comparisons to Blondie's "Heart of Glass"), Win stops the music to remind us this is live, and a drum machine crapped out. About 10 seconds over, they start over...and damn, Regine sang the living shit out of it, even stronger than before.
Thankfully, they did NOT dedicate "Haiti" to the newly announced candidate for president of Haiti. If we ever have a musician running Haiti, I sure hope it's not that charlatan who did Larry King tonight.
If this is indicitive of what YouTube's "Unstaged" is going to be, fans of the Roots and John Legend have something terrific to look forward to in the coming months.

 

Statues of Liberty, "Mother Fucker":

http://www.statuesofliberty.com/cgi-bin/2008sol/2008_sol.pl?page=videos

 

By the way, "The Suburbs" went straight in at No. 1 on the UK charts. Will likely follow here.

http://www.billboard.com/news/arcade-fire-s-the-suburbs-could-grab-no-1004107722.story?tag=hpfeed#/news/arcade-fire-s-the-suburbs-could-grab-no-1004107722.story?tag=hpfeed

Like "Neon Bible," it gets better every time I listen to it.

"Sprawl II" is too slow BPM-wise to be a club hit. Probably by design.

 

Some enterprising club DJ will take care of that. Hey, if Elvis could have a club hit 25 years after he's gone, why not?

 

Yeah, it's pretty damn awesome (but I think MGMT's "Congratulations" is the year's best album so far).

The album, though, is a grower. Took about four or five spins before I truly got it. Don't know about you, but the first time I heard the title track was a bit jarring; it really doesn't sound like Arcade Fire until Win Butler starts singing.

Anyway, my favorite tracks are Modern Man (dig the time signature shifts/guitar at the end), Wasted Hours and Sprawl II. How about you guys?

 

My hipster doofus confession of the evening:

I just can't get into the Arcade Fire.

I've got all three albums. I've given the new one three plays, according to iTunes.

It's... pleasant. I don't dislike it. I'll listen to it again. But for the life of me, I never understand the acclaim.

I read the reviews and it sounds like something I'd really like. Then I get the album and play it, and it just doesn't work for me.

(My favorites of the year so far: "Chateau Revenge!" by The Silver Seas and "American Slang" by The Gaslight Anthem.)

 

Could someone bootleg me a copy of the "Us Kids Know" EP? I'll have the entire discography.

 

It's okay, PC. I found myself in the same boat after seeing "Deception."
At least AF has two political topics to chew on with Stu - Haiti and Obama (they played Obama GOTV events before the '08 Ohio and NC primaries).
I'd also love to know how Win Butler had basically the same first 18 years of his life as Dubya and turned out so different.

 

I already scratched my new Arcade Fire CD! :'(


It now has a skip in the middle of "Modern Man" and now it's in perfect 4-4 time.