I'm sorry I didn't see the Arcade Fire's shows at Madison Square Garden on August 4th and 5th. From what I've read, the shows were anywhere in the range from very good to great, and while I'm generally positive but far from super-enthusiastic about The Suburbs, live is apparently how you need to get this band.
I'm not going to review the album. Rob Harvilla from the Village Voice has written a review that neatly and smartly encapsulates many of my views about both the band and the album, which for me is another in a series of epochal "good but not nearly great" albums in the tradition of Ok Computer, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Is This It?, Up The Bracket, the entire Spoon catalog, and more - music whose praise has me listen and listen and listen, only to end up scratching my head at what all the fuss is about. I'd love to ascribe it to my contrary nature, but I yearn for consensus about the great far more than I yearn to make everyone else wrong.
And while it'd be nice if the herd of independent thinkers had a more consistent ability to discern the truly great from the good, the success of the Arcade Fire is heartening in that it shows that there is a demand, even amongst the too cool for schoolers, for music to be something more than one's private, nichefied pleasure. Just imagine if the Arcade Fire's songwriting chops matched their ambition. Now that would be something, because Springsteen comparisons or no Springsteen comparisons, Born In The U.S.A. this ain't, rhythmically, humor wise, in insight or any which way. But there's always the next album, and I guess I gotta see 'em live.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Arcade Fire Beyond Niche
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Thanks Ben. I've been wondering if I was the only one not getting the "masterpiece" as it's being crowned almost everywhere else. I loved the 1st 2 albums, but Butler's half baked lyrics leave me wondering what the hell he is really going on about. "Now I'm ready to start?" Start what? "I'm moving past the feelin'" Okay? "Makes me feel like something don't feel right" Really Win? I grew up in the Suburbs and I could probably give you a detail or two if I was going try to sum up my time there.
It's probably gonna be tough for a couple of Bruce fans to excuse such laziness. Then again Win says "Kids" about as much as Bruce used "Kiss" on The Rising. But Bruce is an old millionaire so I've learned to lower my expectations. C'mon Win you're a young millionaire throw us a little protein in with the stew. Great blog Ben!
I bet Allow me to guess exactly what your own City Of Wonder city appears to be right now. It's small canada goose outlet, a few residential UGG Sale, market and cultural buildings and struggling to make your wonders. Am I right? Or are you still struggling via the levels at a snails schedule UGG Sale, trying to find money and looking to keep everyone happy in your game? I'm not shocked. As simple as this game might appear Cheap UGG Boots, it's a pain during the butt to play the application properly and even then it is typically overwhelming trying to create a useful city-ing plan that takes advantage of the time you spend on the overall game. You've only got many hours right? So moncler jackets, how do you take benefit from them as best as is possible? Sounds like a really difficult question canada goose, but the truth is that we now have hundreds Discount UGG Boots, if not thousands of ways of blast through City Associated with Wonder content 10 times faster than you can anywhere else. And I've come round the ultimate way to do it canada goose parka, City Of Wonder Champ. This new guide Cheap UGG Boots, which just showed upward in my inbox person UGG Sale, has been turning this social gaming scene on its head for the last few weeks and players world wide revolutionize how they create their citys. It's changing everything people ever thought you assumed about City Of Wonder and you also don't even know concerning this yet.
It's very great article and i find a nice game plese click this web site.elo boosting
This was a lovely bllog post
Post a Comment