Arcade Fire won a Grammy for Album of the Year last night. They were up against Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry (fucking seriously?), and Lady Antebellum (who? another 'lady'?).
This was definitely a surprise. I don't think many people expected them to win against superstars like Eminem and Lady Gaga. While I happened to really like Eminem's Recovery ("Going Through Changes" especially), I wouldn't call it one of the year's best. The rest of the nominees are albums I've never listened to, nor do I care to.
Some people were extremely surprised and displeased. Who the fuck are the Arcade Fire anyway? Such reactions on Twitter have been collected on a site, and the result is pretty hilarious.
Who Is Arcade Fire?
Anyway, besides generating a funny internet meme, what does this award mean? I can't pretend this is momentous. I've looked at the history of the Grammys, and they are absolutely fucking terrible at recognizing the best music out there. Even just looking at this year...I mean, great that Arcade Fire are here, and that they won best album of the year, but most of what I would consider to be the best music of 2010 is entirely absent from the proceedings. The Grammys don't mean shit. They're garbage. One Album of the Year title being awarded to a band that I consider worthy, for once, does not change my opinion on this matter.
Congrats to Arcade Fire. If nothing else, this certainly helps to increase exposure for an awesome band. I've seen some people try to amp up the significance of this though, and I just can't go along with that. This isn't some giant victory of indie music over the 'lamestream'. I refuse to acknowledge any significance to this award. If Eminem or Lady Gaga had won album of the year last night, my appreciation of Arcade Fire's music would be exactly the same. I don't feel some sort of legitimacy has been bestowed upon the music I listen to. Nor am I about to reject Arcade Fire, who were already on the brink, and will now be well on their way to mainstream success.
I leave you with this clip from The Simpsons:
The band definitely knows how to pick a theme and stick to it, make it the concept for an entire record. With Funeral, I picked up on a theme of death, life and youth. Neon Bible was about the crooked, corrupt establishment. I don't need to tell you what the theme for The Suburbs is.
01) The Suburbs
I love this song - this is an anthem. The piano line saunters in, kinda like walking into a saloon.
"Grab your mother's keys, we're leaving!"
Win Butler sings lyrics about wanting a daughter while he's still young. "Or if that's too much to ask, too much to ask...send me a son". These lyrics resonate greatly with me. I'm 28 and ready to start a family, but I have no idea when that's going to happen.
02) Ready to Start
This is a bouncy number to get things going after the 'mission statement' opener title track.
"My mind is open wide, and now I'm ready to start".
03) Modern Man
As you might guess from the title, a song about the modern condition - something's off about the way we're living, even if you can't quite but your finger on it.
"Maybe when you're older you'll understand, why you don't feel right, why you can't sleep at night now".
There are some of the surges of emotion that Arcade Fire are known for, but much more subtle, smaller-scale than usual.
The 8 album covers for Arcade Fire's new record The Suburbs have been revealed! Now, they're all essentially the same cover, or at least, the same concept. You have that same car on every cover, just parked in a different suburban scene.
Kinda like "this is the suburbs", whether you're in New York, Florida, California, Texas, Canada, or wherever. Some of the details might be different, but the suburbs across the land all follow a similar formula.
The Suburbs, which seems to be taking its sweet ass time arriving (it feels like AGES since we first heard the title track and "Month of May", drops August 3.
Arcade Fire's third album The Suburbs drops on August 3. The tracklisting is here. Four songs from the album have been released/leaked - the title track, "Month of May", "Ready to Start", and "We Used to Wait".
So what do Arcade Fire sound like in 2k10? Based on these four songs, the sound is less orchestral, more punchy than what we've heard previously from AF.
The Suburbs - The opening track, establishing the theme/mission statement for the record. "You always seemed so sure that one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war". But what are the suburbs, really? Well they're the place where you raise a family. Win sings about wanting a daughter while he's still young, but if that's too much to ask, send him a son. I can relate. I'm 28 and I absolutely want a family, seems like it's getting around the time when I should start. There are two women in my life right now, but honestly, the prospects of starting a family with either of them anytime soon are not good. Sound-wise, this track slowly saunters into the room, and BUILDS.
Ready to Start - You'd think that a song called "Ready to Start" would be the obvious choice for opening track, but no, this is Track #2. I'd say that this is the best bridge between previous and current Arcade Fire. I also feel like this song will be the soundtrack for movie trailers/commercials in the future. "If I was scared, I would. And if I was bored, you know I would. And if I was yours, but I'm not".
Month of May - Arcade Fire have never done a riotous rocker like this before, and I love it. There's a 1-2-3-4 followed by a heavy riff, and away we go. "The kids are still standing with their arms folded tight, kids are still standing with their arms folded tight. Well some things are good and some things are right, but the kids are still standing with their arms folded tight". The message to me is that these days, everyone is too cool for school, the easiest thing to do is to not care too much about anything. But that's no way to live.
We Used to Wait - A piano riff opens and provides the backbone for this track. We used to write letters, we used to wait. A children's choir joins in with Win towards the end of the song, to great effect. I'm not sure exactly what Win was writing about, but what I take away from this song is that things have changed. We used to wait for it. Not anymore.
You can pre-order The Suburbs from Merge here. If you do, you get to download "The Suburbs" and "Month of May" immediately.
In the most basic of terms, when a band releases their 3rd album, it means they've been around for at least a little while, and are still making records. Arcade Fire have been a part of my life since 2k4, that's 6 years now. They've already been with me through multiple stages of life.
There's also the matter of pure volume + variety of songs. When I really love a debut album from a group, I spin it so many times that I'll usually get burned out, and I gotta put it down for a while. But if that's the only record that a band has, that band basically ceases to exist for a time. I played Vampire Weekend so much that I just couldn't listen to it anymore, and I didn't listen to the band at all for 6 months or so until Contra came out.
When Arcade Fire dropped their sophomore release Neon Bible, that was my fucking album. Funeral is the better record, and will be very difficult for the band to top, but Neon Bible came around right at the height of my obsession, and perfectly fit my state of mind/state of being at the time. It is rivaled only by of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? in number of plays on my iTunes.
Anyway, the point is, I had pretty much worn out both Funeral and Neon Bible. A third album is very much needed from the group. At this point their collection of songs will 'graduate' into a full catalog. After I play this third album to death, I should be able to alternate between records and each will remain fresh.
As a general rule, a third album is also enough time for a band to progress and develop, and then release a record that is truly great. The classic example for this would be Radiohead's OK Computer. I suppose an exception to this would be Weezer, for whom many fans would be happy if they just stopped after sophomore release Pinkerton and left it at that.
Finally, a third album can often be a time when a band achieves a new level of commercial success and recognition. LCD Soundsystem's recent release This Is Happening seems to be a good recent example. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I believe the record 'charted' more and got more 'mainstream' recognition than Sound of Silver did when it was released. Spoon would be an exception to this rule - I believe it took their 5th or 6th album before they got to the level of awareness they have now.
Arcade Fire seem poised to follow this rule, however. They're playing Madison Square Garden in upcoming shows, holy shit! Their third album drops on August 3. It's called The Suburbs.
Here's the tracklisting:
01. The Suburbs
02. Ready to Start
03. Modern Man
04. Rococo
05. Empty Room
06. City With No Children
07. Half Light 1
08. Half Light II (No Celebration)
09. Suburban War
10. Month of May
11. Wasted Hours
12. Deep Blue
13. We Used to Wait
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16 . The Suburbs (Continued)
You can pre-order The Suburbs from Merge here.
Last.fm is an awesome service that keeps track of the music you play. It does other stuff too I guess...like you can listen to radio stations based on the music you like to listen to. But outside of Pandora, I have no interest in investing in other radio stations, really.
But it keeps track of what you play! And gives you all your music stats, makes recommendations on what you might like.
My top 30 artists on last.fm as of 4/21/2010...
01. of Montreal - 3,846 plays
What can I say? I love me some of Montreal. It's not even close. They were my definitive favorite band for several years. I listen to a lot of other artists now, but they're still one of my faves.
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and Satanic Panic in the Attic are amazing albums, some of the best to come out in the past decade. Skeletal Lamping and The Sunlandic Twins are fantastic as well. They have multiple albums pre-Satanic that are of a different style...I've heard it described as twee. It's interesting stuff, but for the most part, I dig Satanic and beyond.
New album later this year! Dying with anticipation.
02. Deerhunter - 1,899 plays
Deerhunter have risen in the ranks! Microcastle reeled me in, and I am totally hooked. I think Bradford Cox is one of the most compelling songwriters we have out there, and dude's got a beautiful voice. I've heard their music described as "ambient punk", and that's a pretty good descriptor. Their music creates an atmosphere - certain tracks on Cryptograms, Microcastle and Weird Era Cont. are purely noise - but noise that comes together and sets the scene. Then in the midst of the scene are rockin' tunes like "Cryptograms", "Nothing Ever Happened" and "Operation".
03. The New Pornographers - 1,678 plays
The new New Pornographers record Together has just leaked. Go find it. Only listened to it once so far, but it sounded pretty rad. I love certain parts of Challengers ("All the Old Showstoppers", "Myriad Harbour"), but I'll concede it's their weakest album. This is better.
The New Pornos are power pop personified.
04. Arcade Fire - 1,672 plays
I got totally obsessed with this band when Neon Bible came out. Then I got a little burned out and put 'em down for a while. Really excited for their third album though. And Funeral really is incredible, holy shit.
05. Spoon - 1,215 plays
Spoon are motherfucking dependable. Some people have twisted this quality and suggested that Spoon are boring. In a way, I get it. But in a lot of other ways, I totally don't get it, because Spoon are awesome.
I didn't love Transference as immediately as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or Gimme Fiction, but it's growing on me. When you cover all their albums, they've built up a rock solid body of tunes. Can't wait to catch them live again.
2009 has been a great year for music. It looks like 2010 is gonna pretty sweet too. There are a bunch of albums I'm looking forward to in the new year...
Spoon - Transference
The last LP we got from Spoon is 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, with fantastic songs like "Don't You Evah", "The Underdog", and "Don't Make Me a Target". This year we got an EP from Spoon called Got Nuffin. It turns out that EP was an appetizer for the new album, with the title track "Got Nuffin" showing up on Transference as well. I didn't think too much of that track at first, but it's definitely grown on me. And now we have the piano-based single "Written in Reverse", which I'm loving. It sounds vaguely menacing and has a cool groove to it. Spoon have been producing solid albums time-after-time for many years now. I don't expect this effort to be any different. One interesting tidbit that I heard is that the band produced this album themselves for the first time.
Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Yeasayer's Odd Blood is the album to beat for 2010, so far. How can I say that? Um, because I've listened to it 7 times already. It's a funny world we live in now where albums are leaked out onto the internet months before their official release. But you've gotta draw the line somewhere, and my Best of 2009 list is already written. This album has a little less folk and world music influence than Yeasayer's All Hour Cymbals, and a little more electro pop and funk. I love All Hour Cymbals, but I don't need another one. I'm happy with the direction Yeasayer have moved in. These are catchy, incredibly listenable tunes. "Ambling Alp", "Madder Red", and "ONE" are early standouts.
