the arcade fire

[flockey86]

funeral is probably the only album other than aeroplane about life/death that's worth listening to, and its pretty damn good too. what do you all think about it?

[pulkmeh]

good, but shouldn't be the #1 album of 04 on everyone's lists.

[Bearsfan3440]

Ive seen Arcade fire twice

Great great live band

Funeral is sweet but I dont think it's close to Aeroplane, in my opinion

[birdman]

i was suppose to see them, had tickets and everything, then i had a flight change to the day of the concert so i could no longer see them. i was very sad.

[flockey86]

what "should be" then, pulkmeh?

[thelatebphelium]

good show...
got to play with them in lexington.
really sweet people too.

[Salman]

I saw them a while ago playing in front of 20 people. It's really strange how much they've exploded since I saw them in some little scrawl place.

Anyway, they put on a decent show but there music isn't too great.

[Bearsfan3440]

Yeah, the first time I saw them they opened for the Unicorns in a small loft on the west side of Chicago. I was impressed then.

[sashwap]

Originally posted by flockey86
funeral is probably the only album other than aeroplane about life/death that's worth listening to, and its pretty damn good too. what do you all think about it?

what a weird -- and wrong -- thing to say. eels' electro-shock blues is just one of many worthwhile life/death albums

[airplane]

blueberry boat sounds icky. its so self-conscious and awkward.. and completely lacking in soul. i can't listen to it. i'm sure it was fun to make though. but i'm not sure.

funeral is relatively more "deserving" of this whole hype thing. what it lacks in adventurousness it makes up for in soul, and in song. it isn't amazing, but its good.

[flockey86]

hey i never said anything about this being the "best" album of 2004. i just have some weird views on death and dying and such, and aeroplane and funeral are of the very few works of music i've come across that i feel sort of speak the same language as i do.

anyway i was sort of probing to hear about some other albums that seem totally focused on the same kind of subject matter.

[flockey86]

and i'd have to disagree with you spiritualdishwasher, rebellion is probably the best song on that album. i wouldn't say it's groundbreaking or entirely inventive, but music doesn't have to be any of those things at all for it to be good. u2 is pretty terrible, and rebellion sounds absolutely nothing like a u2 song. don't get me wrong, original is good, just about all of the time, but nothing needs to be entirely original to be good. in any art, without refrences and nods to our past and inspirations, we would never get anywhere. something that's so tastefully done, no matter how 'derivative' you may find it, can still be good.

[flockey86]

double post

[Edited on 1-3-2005 by flockey86]

[airplane]

the thing about funeral is that it has this emotional energy, which is really the distinctive thing about it (as opposed to its slightly retrogressive new wavey sound). i don't hear the U2 thing at all, sorry. or the bright eyes thing. they sound more like Pulp to me.

i just love the violin bits and string arrangements. they are consistently breathtaking. the one on "rebellion" is beautiful.

[airplane]

i say the way their songs build up and explode into this danceable beat is very Pulp-ish.

if i had to criticise funeral i wouldn't say its derivative or anything. that's hardly the problem. its main flaw is that its badly arranged and doesn't flow as an album at all, and has all these climaxes in the middle of nowhere.

[flockey86]

Originally posted by airplane
i say the way their songs build up and explode into this danceable beat is very Pulp-ish.

if i had to criticise funeral i wouldn't say its derivative or anything. that's hardly the problem. its main flaw is that its badly arranged and doesn't flow as an album at all, and has all these climaxes in the middle of nowhere.

some people might see that as a good thing.

[topdownjimmy]

I agree with spiritualdishwasher...no matter how good Funeral is, when it comes time to say "Best Album of the Year," you're speaking in a different context, one that has to take novelty and innovation into consideration. Which is why I think Sung Tongs is probably more deserving of that title: beautiful and revolutionary and almost universally accoladed. At the very least, there would be a lot less controversy about that album topping everyone's charts, and that's saying something. Funeral is very good, and very touching (although I think it's far from deep in its emotiveness (see: spiritualdishwasher's Bright Eyes comparison))...but really, in five years, which will be remembered more: Funeral or Sung Tongs? I think people let their emotions get the best of them on this decision. And consider this: if Funeral had come out when Sung Tongs did, and vice-versa, which do you think would have been topping the lists?

For the record, "In the Back Seat" gives me chills every time I hear it.

[call me hi]

i just can't seem to get into funeral. it just seems a bit too dramatic and triumphant. every time i listen to it i feel a little guilty and honestly can't decide if i hate it or love it.

[airplane]

Originally posted by topdownjimmy
I agree with spiritualdishwasher...no matter how good Funeral is, when it comes time to say "Best Album of the Year," you're speaking in a different context, one that has to take novelty and innovation into consideration. Which is why I think Sung Tongs is probably more deserving of that title: beautiful and revolutionary and almost universally accoladed. At the very least, there would be a lot less controversy about that album topping everyone's charts, and that's saying something. Funeral is very good, and very touching (although I think it's far from deep in its emotiveness (see: spiritualdishwasher's Bright Eyes comparison))...but really, in five years, which will be remembered more: Funeral or Sung Tongs? I think people let their emotions get the best of them on this decision. And consider this: if Funeral had come out when Sung Tongs did, and vice-versa, which do you think would have been topping the lists?
oh, i agree. sung tongs!

[call me hi]

i also agree about sung tongs

[willoldham_rules]

I love funeral and sung tungs, but I think Joanna Newsum's The Milk-Eyed Mender has to get my vote for album of the year. It gets better with each listen.

[Well Respected Man]

I can't stand the happiness. :(

[aorta47]

I like their self-titled EP better, but I guess that's because I've listened to it more.

I saw them play live once to a small audience and it was a really great live show.

I love the booklet for Funeral They give thanks to Wolf Parade, which is another great band. I have two of their EPs. I think they are going to release an album on Sub Pop this year, so look for that to be big.

[cigarettetricks]

for anyone interested, i found a live video of the arcade fire doing "neighborhood #3 (power out) sometime last year:

http://stream.qtv.apple.com/qtv/toolshed/merge/arcade_100.mov

[uncle eggma]

yes, sung tongs far and away the best record of the year in my opinion!

[DannyGloverLookAlike]

Originally posted by aorta47
I love the booklet for Funeral They give thanks to Wolf Parade, which is another great band.

I like how they gave thanks to the Unicorns, too. I feel sorry for the 'corns. Their Arcade Fire is kinda like their kid brother, and they're getting much recognition than the first born.

[William]

I downloaded "Funeral". Its sounding good. I might buy it. It has a nice rock opera desperate childhood innocence feel to it. I avoided it till now based on the gushing about it.

A definite Broken Social Scene/Bright Eyes feel to it.

Overall okay.

Actually maybe I won't buy it....:cool:

[Edited on 1-23-2005 by William]

[el topo]

Well, I hate Bright Eyes, but I love Arcade Fire (just got Funeral a few days ago and can't stop listening to it). Their influences are all over the map. One song sounds like Talking Heads. So I don't get the Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons (which should be banned anyway, nobody's like NMH!).

[kartoonz]

I love Bright Eyes and I hate The Arcade Fire. I definately wouldn't compare the two.

[Salman]

I hate Bright Eyes and the Arcade Fire.

Well, I like the feel of Funeral, but the backbone is lacking. I'm a huge fan of 'take a bunch of cool ideas and toss them in the pot' writing, but there should be some sort of underlying choice at least vaguely present or implied, even if it's just 'this song makes no sense' or 'here are some cool ideas (read: Fiery Furnaces)'.

The band certainly has potential, but something tells me Pitchfork wouldn't have gave them so much praise if-
1. They were better. or
2. There wasn't the whole blurbable 'bunch o' death' story happening.


Here's a live show (mp3 source) if anyone is interested:

http://www.bradleysalmanac.com/2004/11/live-arcade-fire.htm

[Edited on 1-23-2005 by Salman]

[Little DiSH Z]

a) while sung tongs is very very very very VERY awesome....I dont think it's the best of the year. NAy, that distinction goes to none other than "the power out" by electrelane.

...in my opinion.

b) I dont consider "funeral" to be anything more than a solid, solid debut. They sound like a band that has been around much much longer for a year, and for that i give them credit. But all the hype that's going on around this album is, for me, way way way overblown. Maybe i just dont get it. I dunno.

c) one can not talk about albums about death without mentioning Eels' electro shock blues. Quite simply the best death album i have ever heard.

[William]

They were on Late Night with Conan O'Brien last night. For some reason I was suprised and started having a laughing fit. They were pretty good. I have no strong feelings about them.

[vandsmith]

i enjoyed the arcade fire's first album (self titled) a bit more than funeral but i think it's definitely deserving of top 5 of '04 for sure. my #1 probably was iron and wine's endless numbered days though.

of course we could all point to faults, or things we dislike (true about every record, yes even nmh), but as for "new music" i.e. stuff 'we don't already own' i think it's a solid record. that's just me.

there's also some new(er) material on a cbc radio 3 website

a.s.

[Edited on 2-17-2005 by vandsmith]

[Harnk]

I give Funeral a 6/10. I don't find it all that genuine, or I should say not as much as it's been given credit for. I think it has about 4-5 corkers and a whole lot of unremarkable indie cookie cutter broccolido.

[Harnk]

Originally posted by aorta47

I love the booklet for Funeral They give thanks to Wolf Parade

That's childish.

[Salman]

I find the Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene to be the U2 of independent rock.

And, I hate the fact that the Arcade Fire are being lumped into the whole Montreal collective thing. They have zero affiliations with any Constellation bands.

[icarus]

I listened to clips of Funeral and I really didn't like it.

[Plastic_hero]

I really like the Arcade Fire. I was lucky to find it by accident just before the hype started. I've gotten tired by all the hype now though, so I don't like it as much as I used to. I don't think I would like it very much if I'd heard it for the first time now. Hype's a bitch.

[$]

Funeral's got three great songs and the rest is boring. I don't get all this number-one stuff.

I thought it was funny though how Pitchfork made this whole new top albums list just because they realized it wasn't cool to like Arcade Fire anymore