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Arcade Fire
Indifference71
Chicago Posts: 14,736
Recently got into Arcade Fire and all I can say about this band is WOW! All 3 albums are unbelievable. Funeral has quickly become one of my favorite albums of all time. I can't believe it took me this long to get into these guys. Shame on me.
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Funeral is indeed a modern day classic. Ive always been drawn to AF's fairy tale imagery. I think when the history books are written and we look back on what was known as the hipster scene or the indie scene of the 2000's, AF are going to figure prominently in the telling of that.
Plus this is a band in its prime. 3 albums in, and every single one has been recieved in a Radiohead like way.
You joined at a good time, but you missed some good times my friend! In 2004/2005 when the band was just becoming known, there was an electricity and excitement in indie rock in canada and the uk, that i miss terribly and want it to return. seemed like Montreal was the new Seattle. You had new guitar groups out the wazoo. There was an excitement to the band, to AF back then, if you ever have a few hours to kill try and track down old blog posts, from indie rock blogs from way back then. People were FREAKING out. The bands audience grew slowly, and soon David Bowie and David Byrne were both personally giving out copies of Funeral to friends and family, and Chris Martin calling them the "greatest band in history".
if you havent already, check out any of the other big montreal bands who are often associated with arcade fire and that time. The national are good friends with arcade fire. They are one of the most solidly consisent bands in indie rock. Broken Social Scene shares the 9 member group aspect of arcade fire, and i think they are a band i'd assocate most closely with arcade fire. Their album Forgot it in You is up there with Funeral as one of the best albums of the 2000's. Several offshoots of that would be Feist, for some great singer songwriter, easy going music, music you'd hear at starbucks but still great stuff. And Stars a side project of several members of BSS. Wolf Parade, their album Apoligies to Queen Mary is another classic. Godspeed you Black Emperor is another influential band out of canada.
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i love that the band also serves both my anglophile and francophile cravings. i enjoy all the bits of french thrown in the songs.
as i mentioned above they have an almost childlike view of the world, and i could picture their songs being made into a harry potter type series or something.
Streetlights all burnt out, your eyes are shooting sparks
my family tree is losing its leaves, my whole life ive been learning to drive
talk about expressive and emotion filled lyrics. i can SEE those lyrics.
Something filled up, my heart with nothing, someone told me not to cry, now that im older my heart is colder i can see that its a lie
Alexander our older brother set out for a great adventure, our brother bit by a vampire for a year we caught his tears in a jar.
Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is, so lift those heavy eyelids, people say that youll die faster than without water, but we know thats just a lie, scare your sons scare your daughters
And if my parents are crying then ill dig a tunnel from my window to yours, yeah a tunnel from my window to yours
ice has covered up my parents hands dont have any dreams dont have any plans, kids are swinging from the power lines, nobodies home so nobody minds.
I can see these lyrics. They paint a picture in my mind.
its more than that.
it puts every band to shame. ive sort of lived off the high i got from those shows, for years. If you do see them live try and get the first couple rows, i did not have great seats in 2007, but win invited people to rush the front rows a couple songs in so i was maybe 8th row. In 2010, i got in line an hour and a half early for a GA show, and was way back in line, this line stretched around the arena, onto the sidewalk. I guess every single person in live went to the seats, because i ended up getting 5th row. They are great from any vantadge point, but if you can, try and get up close. I may see you or be battling to get up close with you the next show! Something about the first couple rows with diehards who are singing along every single word, screaming out loud every single word, freaking out. Most shows you just want to get lost in the music and let the band take over. AF demand you are part of it. The crowd joins in and its like some sort of religious revival or something. I swear ive told this a million times but the portland 2007 show, that i was at, that stone, members from modest mouse and the shins, and members of death cab were at, i looked back, up to the top of the balcony, and it seemed like it was going to topple down, because people were that into it, even in those balcony seats.
unfortunately seems like the days of them going into the crowd and singing a song are over with. In portland in 2005, i missed it, but they played their last song and started leaving the arena asking the audience to come with them, they played a few songs out on the street in front of the venue, and cops had to be called. Wake up was often times performed in the crowd, they'd bring the drums and mics on the floor, set up and they'd be surrounded by people and they'd play. Or they'd play a song in the lobby of the venue afterwords. Those days appear to be over sadly, thats what i was getting at. They are the best live band on the planet, but it seems like those shows in 2005/2006, and i missed those concerts myself, were on a whole other level.
Heres Neon Bible in a elevator, and Wake up in the middle of the crowd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-5XK-2Ufd4
wake up in the chruch they recorded neon bible in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbjf7OcpCio
power out paris 05, watch for will going nuts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwHdrY_pbJI
I learnt about them via myspace, and on the same week I read an article about them on the Argentinian edition of the French Magazine Les Inrockuptibles, it was about Funeral, that would be around 2004 or 2005. I checked the song on myspace, those were so good, then I realized they put out a record... my first purchase was neon bible, on vinyl, I got the the merge edition, with the download coupon, so I learnt a lot about them and other bands, but arcade fire is my fav from merge catalogue...
I buy all my arcade fire stuff from merge records, the first ep is from 2003, and was rerissued on 2005 by merge records after funeral, cold wind is not a b side, is the first merge records 7" and it's b/w brazil (the brazilian popular song) and those song are only available on that 7", you can still get it from merge along with the three others 7" singles from neon bible, except for the second version of power out and the singles from funeral, they are available only on the arcade fire website, except neighbourhood #1 (tunnels), only 150 were made, you can get it from time to time around 200 USD or more, the b side is the same as neighbourhood #2 (laika), but the artwork of tunnels is superb, plus they are only 150...
the last song of the ep is entitled "vimpire forest fire", very very cool tune, but my favs are "the woodlands national anthem" and "headlights look like diamonds"... no vinyl or 7" for this ep, nor for the suburbs, you could get a promo 12" from merge or arcade fire site for the suburbs b/w month of may, but now your chances are on the bay or discogs, I got from the bay a special edition from portugal, the suburbs CD, the regular one, + the promo one sided 7" of we used to wait, and sprawl II won a prize in canada, don't know which one, and it was released as a split 7" but I don't remember the other artist... neon bible has a special edition on CD, and the suburbs deluxe reissue is awesome...
Wake Up is a great song. Reminds me a little of the Flaming Lips somehow. But that and a few others are all I can tolerate.
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Its kind of hard to describe what arcade fire is like in a live setting. And especially in that time period of 2004-2007. The pitchfork set knew who they were, but they werent a well known band. In fact until Pitchfork gave them that now legendary 9.7 out of 10 review, they werent known to anyone really. And during that time period, it was so bizaare. you'd have people telling you to go see this band, who played unbelievable live, and you'd see them and the fans at the show would be SO into it, and then you'd exit the show and no one else in town would know who they are or were.
And i think thats what makes Arcade Fire, and music in general so important. i think we all want to feel a part of something. a movement. a community. a scene. to feel connected. and i think Arcade Fire are adept at fostering such an experience.
The pitchfork review, which i think is their finest ever, talks about our generation, spiritually bereft and bankrupt, violence, war, Bush, 9-11, terrorism, and how its so hard to find meaning in ones life, for our generation, to find something to believe in. And i think the review seemed to suggest and i would agree, this is a band that does both, they create meaningful art that directly and or indirectly discusses our generations struggles and also is that band to believe in.
Its been said by press way better than i could, stuff like "arcade fire isnt talking to us, they are us", and describing an arcade fire show at coachella 2007, as a watershed moment of our generation. to quote the la weekly after the show
"Instead, it was the look-inside-yourself call to arms I heard at Arcade Fire that spoke to me. Like a good preacher, Butler got our attention first, then asked us to act. “Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is. Sleeping is giving in, so lift those heavy eyelids” (“Rebellion”).
I left the show with my eyes open, and decided to move outside my musical comfort zone, heading to raver dance tents and hip-hop rap-offs, to see if the feeling would transcend. It did, for rest of the festival. I felt that oneness. I felt a wave rebuilding. The machine is so broken now, it’s almost redundant to rage against it. What’s left is to fight the power in our own quieter lives".
that ending couple sentence is among my most favorite.
Ultimately i think, people age. they grow up. the feelings of a band describing your life or an album defining your life, seems to fade as people age and grow old. when was the last time you heard someone 50 years old saying a current album or band defines their 50's or their life? I think with Arcade Fire, you have a band that is the band we have all been waiting for, the band that changes or changed our lives. a band that defines our complex times. this is that band. a band that writes mythical stories in the form of songs for our times.
In 2004/2005 they were big because they gave us all something to believe in again. In 2012, they are still that band. now they just have 2 more albums under their belt. I eagerly await album 4 and the life changing tour that follows.
i definitely agree in a certian degree. byrne is pivotal both to the bands early success and because AF sounds alot like Talking Heads, and the TH are one of those bands who are important and influential but are underrated.
with arcade fire, seems like they are way more popular than the TH.
Much is made on this site of my love affair with indie music. and if all thats remembered about this scene, thats lasted what 11 years now, from Is this It, to now, is Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs, i think thats a pretty damn good legacy to have. i couldnt be prouder to be associated with a scene, movement, that has that as its legacy.
Piggybacking off my last post, rare is the band that makes classic and timeless music, rarer is the band that makes the listener feel wanted, loved, special, understood, and that the band is something we can believe in, in a world of lies and deceit.
I also think Arcade Fire is a gateway drug to the magic that is indie music. Im jealous of anyone who is getting into them just now, for the first time, and then spirals out, to the other canadian indie bands, and to indie bands in general.
People always decry rock and current music. music seems fine to me as long as bands like AF are still recording and touring
http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
http://www.spin.com/2017/05/arcade-fire-everything-now-rumors-posters/
https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/06/arcade-fire-premiere-new-single-everything-now-co-produced-by-daft-punks-thomas-bangalter-listen/
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
LOOKING FOR A SINGLE TICKET TO MSG NIGHT 2
http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
LOOKING FOR A SINGLE TICKET TO MSG NIGHT 2
Only bummer is they didn’t play Keep the Car Running.
Great dance party and I like how they left the stage through the audience with everyone singing and swaying to Wake Up.
Like them much more after last night that girl can really wail on drums!
-Seattle,Wash-Key Arena-9/22/9 -Pemberton,B.C-7/17/16
-Vancouver,B.C-GM Place -9/25/9 -Seattle,Wash-Safeco Field-8/8/18
-Vancouver,B.C-Pacific Coliseum-9/25/11 -Seattle,Wash-Safeco Field-8/10/18
-Misoula,MT-Adams Field House-9/30/12