Idolator: arcade fire

Idolator Presents Five Not-All-That-Ridiculous Ways To Celebrate Rocktober

Maura Johnston — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Congratulations, world! You somehow made it all the way to Oct. 1, 2008, which means one thing: It's time for Rocktober to start. How will you celebrate? Some people are linking to YouTubes of Who songs. Others are hoping that you'll have a hankering to hear the Divinyls and Foreigner within the same span of time. One guy who got the coveted domain name "rocktober.com" is even saying that we should bring back Metallica Monday, although I know of a few people who might disagree with that idea. Which is why I have five Rocktober-celebration suggestions of my own, all of which are located after the jump.

1. Listen to your entire iTunes library, A to Z. Surely most of the readers of this site have 31 days' worth of music around their house, if not on their hard drives. (OK, a recent cull caused my iTunes timer to drop to 28.2 days, but I have more than enough CDs that I haven't yet imported to make up the gap.)

2. Travel through the David Archuleta corn maze. Sure, he's about as "rock" as the OneRepublic guy, but this maze, located in David's home state of Utah, has an undeniable appeal, thanks to kitsch factor of getting lost in his eyes being way too high. If some metal fan would like to step up to the plate and make, say, a maze out of the Slayer logo, I'll be happy to spend a chilly October night fighting my way through that instead.

3. A weekend getaway to Kate Pierson's motel. The rooms are pretty cheap (the six-person Lazy Lodge, which has its own swimming hole (!), will only set each of your friends back a hundred bucks), the toiletries are collected from Kate's jaunts around the world with the B-52's, and the kitchens have all the cocktail fixings you'll need. And the upstate New York location is especially good for those of us who missed All Tomorrow's Parties a few weeks back, cough cough.

4. Open a pool based around betting on which awful musicians with new albums coming out will warble "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" during the baseball playoffs. A glance at this page of upcoming releases reveals that baseball fans will probably be greeted by the vocal chords of Kenny Chesney^*, Chris Cornell, and the Hinder guy soon, while AC/DC and Oasis are among the "not bloody likely, but wouldn't it be awesome" contenders.

5. Spend all your waking moments obsessing over what music's "October surprise" will be this year. A year ago last night, Radiohead coined the phrase "the Radiohead model" by digitally releasing In Rainbows 10 days after it was done. A few weeks later, OiNK got turned into crispy bacon by the UK authorities. So what's going to happen this year? Will Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen, and the Arcade Fire announce a mini-tour in support of Barack Obama? Will Thom Yorke let the world know that he thinks Sarah Palin is "not all that bad, plus she's got right nice glasses"? Is Apple going to call the major labels' bluff and shut down iTunes? Or none of those things? Let's play futurist!

^* Trust me on this one. He's a lock. I would put down money on it in a heartbeat.

Oh, and one other thing: note this slice ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Oh, and one other thing: note this slice from the MySpace page of the Arcade Fire, who, because they're on an indie, can't use the embedded Amazon MP3 widget and are stuck with Snocap for commerce purposes. Did you guys know that Stephen Pearcy was a member of the Arcade Fire? I mean, I know they have a lot of members, but... [MySpace]

The Top Ten Not-Bonos

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:30:00 EDT

The social conscience and strident voice of Bono has influenced many a singer over the last few decades. The U2 frontman successfully melded the earnest social conscience of Bruce Springsteen with the self-glorifying pomp of European arena acts, realizing that both the Common Man and King Dick were below Jesus on the food chain. Sure there was precedent, but Sting is handicapped by his ego (and jazz bass), while Ian McCullough wanted to be a romantic poet/sex object more than the messiah. Here are ten singers who, at their best (or worst), have aspired to the Almighty's throne.

1. Chris Martin (Coldplay)

Will he fail the music industry or will the music industry fail him?

2. Stuart Adamson (Big Country)

Dude thought he could be Bono and The Edge. Rest in peace, Icarus.

3. Brandon Flowers (Killers)

Bono took arena rock from the Boss. Tonight, we're taking it back!

4. Mike Peters (The Alarm)

National Lampoon made this, right?

5. Jim Kerr (Simple Minds)

Ok, he still makes the top ten. Christ, does he ever.

6. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

Bravo for all the bleeps'n'creeps that have cloaked the origin of Thom Yorke's reaching voice and political outspokenness, but you can still see the holy one lurking behind those abstractions. And all those bands that have tried to rip Yorke off wind up aping Bono eventually.

7. Cinjun Tate (Remy Zero)

Once upon a time, kids, someone actually bothered to rip off Pop.

8. Ryan Adams

Damn, Ryan, why didn't you stick with this? If more people had bought your Bono move, would you have still made 18 albums about Jackson City Nights In Tennessee With Mary Lee or would you have chilled for a year before calling up Eno and Lanois? Who am I kidding, you would have done both.

9. Mike Scott (The Waterboys)

The missing link between Bon-Bon and the Arcade Fire.

10. Win Butler (Arcade Fire)

See?

Ryan Adams: So Alive [The Late Show] [YouTube]
The Alarm - Spirit Of '76 [YouTube]
Arcade Fire - Rebellion [YouTube]
Big Country - Where the Rose is Sown [YouTube]
Coldplay - Speed Of Sound [YouTube]
Read My Mind - Killers [YouTube]
Anyone Can Play Guitar [YouTube]
Remy Zero - Save Me [YouTube]
Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking [YouTube]
Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon [Youtube]

Arcade Fire Slowly, Wisely Backing Away From New Richard Kelly Movie

Anthony Miccio — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Did you ever see that '80s Twilight Zone episode where a financially strapped couple is given a box and told if they press the button on it, they'll receive a lot of money but someone far, far away will die? Thirty minutes later, did you think "wow, I'd like to see this expanded into a movie by the guy who directed Southland Tales, with a soundtrack by the Arcade Fire?" Neither did Win Butler, who sounds a little annoyed about the recent press his band's received about allegedly working with Richard Kelly, the unwelcome bastard child of David Lynch and George Lucas, on the score for The Box.

From the Arcade Fire's website, which could use a little less slow-ass animation of birds laying eggs:

Hi everyone. Just to let you all know that (Internet-based fact checking aside) Arcade Fire is NOT doing the soundtrack to any film. We are all off for the summer, writing songs, reading books and keeping our plants alive. Regine, Owen Pallet [violinist Final Fantasy] and I may do an instrumental piece or two for Richard Kelly's new movie...we met at a show this year and hit if off, but we are not planning on doing any major work for a while, and this would not constitute a soundtrack or a release."

Translation: We were all "dude, you did Donnie Darko!" when we met, and then we netflixed Southland Tales and, well...no reason to interrupt summer vacation for this.

Arcade Fire [via The Playlist]

Twee Gets Tough Thanks To Barack Obama, Arcade Fire, Iron Man, You?

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:30:00 EDT

In Britain, twee involved wispy wimps who loved their jangle and liked to put it on cassettes (so I hear). "Their clothes are asexual, their haircuts are fringes, their colours are pastel. Cuties like Penguin modern classics, sweets, ginger beer, vegetables, and anoraks." Now America has belatedly responded with "tough twee," which finds its form in the Barack Obama campaign, movies with a "big indie heart" like Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow having a fugly freakout, and angry bands like the Arcade Fire. "Just look at Owen Wilson, Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes and Miley Cyrus, all once Twee, now post-Twee." I never thought of it this way, but Tom McGeveran's "American Cutie" captures the evolution of C86 in a way no rational human being ever could.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy hit the Twee nail on the head. A great battle is taking place, and by a series of unfortunate circumstances, the little Hobbits have gotten involved.

J.R.R. Tolkien described the race of tiny creatures he invented thusly: They are "unobtrusive." They "love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-farmed countryside was their favorite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill or a hand-loom, though they were skillful with tools." They are "shy of the Big Folk." Hobbits were Twee Pioneers. But at least they took on Sauron frontally and beat the crap out of him.

And they look a lot like the kids in that Arcade Fire video, except these modern-day Hobbits are armed with laptops (possibly engineered by steampunks or Wes Anderson types so that the plastic keys are replaced with old typewriter keys).

It's not hard to see how Hillary Clinton failed with the Twee Folk. Her tactic, which was to call Barack Obama naïve, simply backfired.

You'd have to inject LSD into Greil Marcus's eye sockets to make him free-associate like McGeveran here. To be fair, the Arcade Fire's Win Butler appears to be through the looking glass as well.

"I'm sick of fine presidents and good presidents and mediocre presidents. I'm sick of Rutherford B. Hayes and James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore. We got Barack Obama! Barack Obama, for crying out loud!"

I always knew that Win wasn't born the same decade I was. Here's a photo of Gwyenth Paltrow's heels that McGeveran believes is symbolic of how "cutie has been replaced by duty," just to make this post more bugfuck than it already is.

The past decade, during the Bush years, post 9/11, even with the background of the war in Iraq, has been a conservative social revolution: Settling in and marrying young; setting up 401(k) plans; leafing through Martha Stewart for "ideas." Fueled by advice gurus like Suze Orman, they put people first, then money, then things. Which category does going out at night fall under? "Clubbing" for this set is something you want them to stop doing to seals. Carrie Bradshaw can go suck an egg.

The soundtrack for this way of life is nothing new. If you have ever not muted a Target ad, you've heard it. Think Nico's voice over a Phil Spector song. A few songs written from a kid's point of view. And all over an air of pleasant, suggestive insubstantiality, suburban neighborliness and nostalgic pastiche.

Suze Orman. Belle & Sebastian. The unpopularity of Carrie Bradshaw. It all makes sense!

Too high, too high.

American Cutie [New York Observer; HT Kate Silver via Matos]
Mighty Lemon Drops - Too High [YouTube]
[Gwyneth Paltrow photo: WENN]

Obama Using Indie Rock To Get North Carolinans To Vote Early

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:45:00 EDT

In order to promote North Carolina's new One-Stop Early Voting program, which allows voters to register if they haven't already and cast their ballots at the same time, Barack Obama's campaign will be giving out free concert tickets in several counties during the early hours of Thursday, April 24 . The shows will feature North Carolina's own Superchunk and everyone's favorite Canadians, the Arcade Fire. I'm trying to imagine a politically energizing Superchunk set that doesn't involve "Slack Motherfucker," but I just can't do it.

Senator Barack Obama's campaign today announced two concerts to headline the campaign's One-Stop Early Voting drive. Featuring Arcade Fire and Superchunk, the "Change Rocks" concerts in Carrboro and Greensboro will highlight the campaign's effort to encourage One-Stop Early Voting at college campuses and other locations across the state.

Tickets can be picked up in Forsythe, Guilford, Randolph, Alamance, Orange, Durham, and Wake Counties during early voting hours starting Thursday April 24.

"This is a defining moment for this country," said Win Butler of Arcade Fire. "We want to encourage people to get up, get out, and go vote."

"People are incredibly excited about this election and this primary," said Mac McCaughan of Superchunk. "Our music is a unique way to get people involved and participating."

The shows are free. All you have to do is show up and vote early. One per voter, so vote often, scalpers!

Arcade Fire and Superchunk Playing Obama Early Vote Rallies in Greensboro, NC and Carrboro, NC on May 1 & 2 [Merge]

Environmentalism Is New/Old Tiresome Trend In Music

Dan Gibson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:30:34 EDT

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the next big thing among music artists from the Arcade Fire to Michael Stipe to Jack Johnson is enviromentalism, which means we can expect to hear the word "green" prefacing nearly everything we used to enjoy for the foreseeable future, as well as a number of cryptic metaphors trying to explain complex issues.

While I got no beef with Mother Earth, if these quotes are an indication of the future, tediousness will be rising faster than the oceans.

Recent years have seen the beginning of a watershed moment, as such acts as Arcade Fire and Jack Johnson are not only championing the environment but also writing songs about it. And artists across the timeline agree that there is no issue more universally important....

Now, Arcade Fire and Jack Johnson are among the current crop of acts writing to fit the times. ''No Cars Go,'' from the former's 2007 album ''Neon Bible,'' says, ''We know a place where no planes go. We know a place where no ships go. No cars go'' and then ''Let's go!''

Just as Seeger wrote a ditty called ''Garbage'' and sang it on a ''Sesame Street'' album with Oscar the Grouch in 1974, Johnson put his voice and acoustic guitar to use in a children's song. ''The Three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)'' appeared on the 2005 soundtrack to ''Curious George.''

Guster guitarist Adam Gardner, whose company Reverb oversees the greening of major tours, says Johnson ''is truly combining [it all into] an environmental campaign ... It's an environmental campaign simultaneous with a Jack Johnson rock tour. That's just who he is.''

But is it an issue for blue-state bands? Red-state bands? ''It has to be nonpartisan. I think we need to be green states; I'm pushing for that,'' [Roger] McGuinn says. He believes music ''is becoming like a little plant coming through the crack in the sidewalk now; the green things are breaking through the cracks. I would love to see it get greener and less paved over, like the Joni Mitchell song.''

''It may be the rising of the oceans [that is] the wake-up call the whole human race needs,'' [Pete] Seeger says. ''The harder you bounce a ball down on the sidewalk, the higher it bounces. Whether a Republican or a Democrat gets in, I think some of the best things are going to happen in the next few years.''

Please make it stop. Is that too much to ask? Musicans and causes are always a dangerous combination, whether it's saying they're not playing Sun City or the worshiping Barack Obama, but environmentalism allows for a very specific type of preachiness that tends to result in more high-minded posturing than actual converts to the cause. Even though Live Earth brought us the return of Xuxa, the entire project has disappeared into the ether of memory less than a year later. It's another dollar added to ticket prices for "carbon off-setting", it's a concert for the dying icebergs, but really, it's just boring.

Third generation of 'green' songwriters finding new ways to color the issue [Chicago Sun-Times]

As several Idolator commenters have pointed ...

Jess Harvell — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:15:31 EST

As several Idolator commenters have pointed out, the Arcade Fire are more than likely S.O.L. when it comes to taking legal action against Fox Sports using their song "No Cars Go" for its NFL telecasts' bumpers; the Daily Swarm has posted a reminder of the last time Fox pulled a similar move on a band that may not have necessarily wanted to be associated with the Murdoch organization, a 2005 Eagles game where the network used a Minor Threat song in a bumper by claiming (the quite legal) "ephemeral use." [Daily Swarm]

Fox Sports Is Down With The Arcade Fire (So Much They Swiped One Of Their Songs For An Ad?)

Jess Harvell — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:30:24 EST

So while the rest of us were busy reading books/playing Yahtzee/waiting for The Wire last night, those music geeks actually tuned to the Super Bowl may have noticed, as Pitchfork did, that this "NFL On Fox" promo is backed by the big finish of the Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go." Turns out it wasn't such an outre choice; the AF song fits the grunting gridiron heroics almost a little too well. And perhaps Fox's clever ad department didn't want to spoil the chocolate-into-peanut butter combination of epic Canadian indie rock and epic American sporting events by bothering to get the required go-ahead to use the tune?

We knew these guys were sports fans, but would Win, Regine, and the gang really sell their music to Rupert Murdoch so that he could advertise his football television program?
No, no they wouldn't.
Turns out Fox never even asked the band if they could use their song, and they certainly weren't given permission to do so.

Oh, News Corp, will you ever learn! Though Pitchfork, who we're assuming talked to the Arcade Fire's nebulous "people," claim the legality of the clip is currently up in the air, some trigger-happy tabloids are already talking lawsuit, and though I'm no great fan of the AF's particular rumpus, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Win (and the folks at Merge) eating a little better over the next 12 months thanks to a Fox-funded out-of-court settlement.

Yes, That Was An Arcade Fire Song In A Super Bowl Ad [Pitchfork]

If you haven't already tired of The Arcade ...

Kate Richardson — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:45:34 EST

If you haven't already tired of The Arcade Fire and their shameless mariachi antics, they've launched a Web site that just might put you over the edge! Rorrimkcalb.com offers a grainy, sepia, oh-so-artsy accompaniment to "Black Mirror" that gives viewers the option of eliminating tracks, the idea presumably being that fans can participate in the profound artistic process that yielded the murky, boring song. Really it's just kind of pretentious and not particularly interesting after you've fiddled around with it for about thirty seconds. [Rorrimkcalb.com]

Indie Rocker And Emo Doofus Want You To Get Out And Vote For The Guy You Were Probably Gonna Vote For Anyway

jharv — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:45:09 EST

The Obama campaign can finally relax, because two of the most important musical voices of two distinct generations have officially come out in favor of the '08 prez candidate and gawky dreamboat, and they're committed to spreading the good word to two very crucial voting blocs: "tweens with no vote (and Maura)" and "NPR listeners/Pitchfork readers who already vote Dem unless there's a wacky third party."

First the opinion of the more subdued, casual Mr. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy:

"I've been an Obama supporter from day one," says Wentz. "After watching the New Hampshire primary, I couldn't just be an observer anymore - I had to act. Barack is the first politician who's ever made me feel like our voices actually matter."

And now the slightly more impassioned Mr. Win Butler of the Arcade Fire:

Barack is the first candidate in my lifetime to strip some of this bullshit away, and I just hope we don't blow this chance. man if we miss this opportunity we don't deserve it...how bad does it have to get?
fuck!!!!!!!!

Yes, it must really be terrible up there with your socialized medicine and ample basketballs. Don't waste all those government-funded exclamation points on us, defector.

Who's in for Team I Supported Obama before Pete Wentz Endorsed Him for Little Girls [icecreamheadcahes]
Arcade Fire [Official Site, but you gotta click "Win" and then "Win's Scrapbook" because of course the Arcade Fire are too frou-frou just to have a damn blog]
Related: The Indie Rock Presidential Primary [torr.typepad.com]

The "AV Club" Is Totally Nerdy For The Arcade Fire

mjohnston — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:30:26 EST

The Onion's AV Club launched its best albums of the year list today, and it's topped by the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, with the National, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and Band Of Horses bringing up the top five's rear. The usual-suspect-studded full list is after the jump, but for now, some initial reactions...

THE GOOD: Tegan and Sara's sharp, spunky The Con (No. 8) is a nice addition to the top 10, which, if I didn't mention before, is full of the usual suspects. (Let the fighting over Wilco resume!) Also, I think this might be the first Feist-free list I've seen yet.
THE BAD: Band Of Horses over Kala? Really?
THE WHAAAA? So along with each ranking album's spot on the chart, readers were made privy to the number of points each record received, as well as how each critic broke down his ballot. Critics were allowed to give each album they voted for a maximum of 15 points, and the albums in the Nos. 24 and 25 slots—the Murphy/Mahoney FabricLive36 and Iron & Wine's The Shepherd's Dog—each received 20 points from two voters. Which illustrates an eternal critics'-poll conundrum, and it's only accentuated by the fact that 2007 is shaping up to be a pretty lackluster year as far as critical consensus goes: Nos. 21-25 on the list (which also included Grinderman, Bat For Lashes' Fur And Gold, and Fall Out Boy's Infinity On High) certainly represent more interesting choices than the swath of rock-critic-beloved meh ahead of them, but if they were voted for by two or three critics out of a 19-critic panel (which each of them were), are they really among the "best," or were they just the most beloved by a select few (with good taste)? I guess this is where Matos' Enthusiasm 40 comes in.

25. Iron and Wine, The Shepherd's Dog
24. James Murphy & Pat Mahoney, FabricLive 36
23. Fall Out Boy, Infinity On High
22. Bat For Lashes, Fur And Gold
21. Grinderman
20. Rilo Kiley, Under The Blacklight
19. Against Me!, New Wave
18. Ted Leo, Living With The Living
17. Low, Drums And Guns
16. The White Stripes, Icky Thump
15. Les Savy Fav, Let's Stay Friends
14. PJ Harvey, White Chalk
13. Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
12. Jesu, Conqueror
11. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
10. Bloc Party, A Weekend In The City
9. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
8. Tegan and Sara, The Con
7. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black
6. M.I.A., Kala
5. Band Of Horses, Cease To Begin
4. LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver
3. Radiohead, In Rainbows
2. The National, Boxer
1. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

The best music of 2007 [AV Club]

Forget "In Rainbows": "Q" Still Loves The Arcade Fire

jharv — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:00:18 EST

Brit rock mag Q gives countrymen Radiohead the gas face (by daring to stick them at No. 4!), choosing 2007's first universe-altering rock release, the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, as the best album of the year. Their picks for ~~more or less every middle-of-the-road rock album released in 2007~~the Top 50 albums and the Top 10 singles of the year are after the jump, but first a quick survey of the fallout from this bold snubbing of In Rainbows.

THE GOOD: Roisin Murphy's second solo album, the dizzying disco-pomp of Overpowered, sneaks in at No. 29, with Robyn, PJ Harvey, M.I.A., and a handful of others doing their best to keep this list from being entirely made up of boring-ass, dude-centric indie rock.
THE BAD: The rest of the list is nearly all boring-ass, dude-centric indie rock. And they don't even bother to include Wilco like every other similar list this year!
THE WHAAA?: Once again, Justice are a rock-friendly publication's token dance pick, i.e. why even bother pretending to keep an ear to the clubs? And speaking of blatant tokenism: Hey, there's Common, way down at No. 36! That fills the annual quota for one acceptably "conscious" album made by a black person. We guess C was Q's clever way of avoiding the default Kanye inclusion.

Albums
1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
3. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
5. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
6. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
7. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
8. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
9. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
10. Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
11. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
12. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
13. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob
14. Cherry Ghost - Thirst for Romance
15. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
16. Manic Street Preachers - Send Away the Tigers
17. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
18. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
19. Björk - Volta
20. The Rumble Strips - Girls and Weather
21. Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards
22. The Coral - Roots & Echoes
23. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
24. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
25. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
26. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
27. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
28. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
29. Roìsìn Murphy - Overpowered
30. The National - Boxer
31. Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land
32. Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
33. Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
34. M.I.A. - Kala
35. Hard-Fi - Once upon a Time in the West
36. Common - Finding Forever
37. Robyn - Robyn
38. Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
39. Joni Mitchell - Shine
40. Field Music - Tones of Town
41. Keren Ann - Keren Ann
42. The Enemy - We'll Live and Die in These Towns
43. Patrick Watson - Close to Paradise
44. Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
45. Lucinda Williams - West
46. Sigur Ròs - Hvarf-Heim
47. Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
48. Justice - †
49. Jamie T - Panic Prevention
50. Stereophonics - Pull the Pin

Songs
1. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Umbrella
2. Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
3. Kate Nash - Foundations
4. Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running
5. Klaxons - Golden Skans
6. Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Is Not Enough
7. The View - Same Jeans
8. Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
9. Mark Ronson feat. Lily Allen - Oh My God
10. Mika - Grace Kelly

Here come the warm jets (VII) [some will look at me and vomit (warning, embedded music)]

That Arcade Fire viral-Internet-video thingy ...

mjohnston — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:45:49 EST

That Arcade Fire viral-Internet-video thingy from a few weeks ago had a total production budget of $15,000. Cheaper than a video? Sure. But surely I'm not the only one who wondered, upon reading that, if not learning Flash actionscripting back in the early part of this decade was all that smart as far as career moves go. [Reuters]

Arcade Fire May Want To Call On The Sheriff Next Time They're In Nottingham

mjohnston — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:45:48 EDT

If they ever decide to return to the British burg after last night's show, that is. Apparently an audience member at last night's Nottingham Arena show decided to get up close and personal with frontman Win Butler, throwing a projectile at him during the performance of "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)."

"He dropped his guitar, the mic fell over and he flicked the Vs in the general direction of the thrower," says DiS scribe Rob Webb, "before continuing with the song. He even adapted the lyrics to 'where'd you go, no, seriously, where'd you go you fucker'."

Heading offstage before the encore, the band returned to another missile as they ran through 'Rebellion (Lies)'. Win stopped playing, promised that the band were "never fucking playing Nottingham again" before finishing the song and exiting back into the bowels of the Arena.

According to a commenter on This Is Nottingham, the first projectile thrown was, in fact, a shoe, and one that could travel long distances at that:

It was a shoe rather than a bottle, and it was hurled from a way back in the crowd. Security found a guy with one shoe on at the end of the gig and he denied all knowledge of the incident. They didn't give him the missing one back. Two more projectiles landed on stage after that, which is when Win said "one more thing and we're never playing in Nottingham again". Fair enough. Apart from that, fantastic show.
p_j_f, London

I can't help but wonder if the guy's friends throw the later projectiles in a half-hearted effort to get their pal's shoe back. But either way, this sounds like a whole new arm of the "Hey, Asshole!" museum needs to be built ASAP.

Arcade Fire boycott Nottingham after missile attack [Drowned In Sound]

Before They Were Famous, The Arcade Fire Were Just These Guys Who Opened For Chromeo

mjohnston — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:35:11 EDT

While cleaning out his archives, Gawker's Jim Lehnhoff unearthed some video that he shot of the Arcade Fire all the way back on April 11, 2004, at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. (They were third on the bill, playing behind the Unicorns and freakin' Chromeo, and in front of The Ponys.) Anyway, he donated it to us for "research" purposes; while Win Butler does engage in some flopping around the (teeny!) stage during this performance of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," this clip is notable for the fact that the band doesn't really need Christmas lights, mariachi bands, or Web 2.0 trickery in order to put on a pretty damn compelling show. Ah, 2004—were we all that much more innocent then?

The Arcade Fire Obtain Modicum Of Success, Feel Naked Without Twee Lighting Design

Kate Richardson — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:15:53 EDT

Of all the bands to come out of the scary blog hype monster, The Arcade Fire is really not so offensive. They are, though perhaps irritatingly quirky, a pretty damn decent band, and they certainly do put on an enthusiastic live show. But a recent article in The Guardian suggests that at least one member of the band still doesn't have his perspective screwed on quite right.

Randall's Island sits in the middle of New York's East River, a vast, characterless, landfill-augmented field, surrounded by straits given the kind of alluring names that New York's outer boroughs seem to specialise in: to the east there's Hell Gate and to the north, Bronx Kill. If it's not quite as ghastly as the waters around it suggest, Randall's Island certainly doesn't exude much in the way of charm, even in the sunshine of an unseasonably hot autumn afternoon. It is, concedes Richard Reed Parry - Arcade Fire's affable red-headed multi-instrumentalist sometimes known to play a crash helmet with a drumstick onstage - a far cry from the venues at which the band are renowned for performing: the churches that seem to echo the quasi-religious fervour in their music, the "aesthetically inspiring" spaces in which Parry has claimed they play their best. "We wanted the whole place hung with carnival lights," he sighs sadly, "but the city wouldn't let us do it." Instead, for the event they are headlining, Arcade Fire have attempted to stamp some quirky personality on the field by erecting a small stage to its rear on which a mariachi band play unamplified. Alas, the mariachi leader ends up singing his heart out and talking about how grateful they are to be here to a scattering of nonplussed punters, pausing only momentarily on their way between the hot dog stands and the Portaloos.

Maybe affable red-headed multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry is being misrepresented in this article, but it seems kind of like he's whining about how mom and dad want to cut down his awesome tree house to put in a swimming pool. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly tragic that The Arcade Fire no longer have total control of the preciousness of their venues, but the sad-eyed lament of New York City's strict anti-carnival light policy is just a bit much. And what's more, they've dragged an innocent mariachi band into their futile attempts to quirkify Randall's Island. Tweeness is not a victimless crime!

The audience thronging Randall's Island, meanwhile, is conspicuously light on the kind of whey-faced indie-kid blogger whose early support earned Arcade Fire that most noughties of labels, the Internet Phenomenon. Instead, there are baseball caps and shorts and Gap casual wear in profusion: this is very much a mainstream American rock crowd.

The horror! Regular people instead of blog zombies! Luckily frontman Win Butler has enough good sense to recognize that he's got to at least pretend to appreciate the Gap casualwear crowd:

In an air-conditioned dressing room backstage, however, Butler is inclined to disagree. Slumping his 6ft 5in frame into an armchair - somehow he looks even bigger in mufti than in his onstage costume - he protests that there has been little hand-wringing about Arcade Fire's burgeoning mainstream success: for one thing, he says, success means it's easier to refuse to do things you don't want to do. Nor is he particularly sorry to see the back of playing small venues: indeed, he prefers playing Randall's Island or the Hollywood Bowl to the euphoric, wildly acclaimed performances they gave at London's St John's Church and Porchester Hall in January. "This tour is the opposite of the sell-it-out hype thing. It's more about letting people who want to see us, see us. That feels really good. A lot of these shows have been more intimate than the warm-up shows we did in the churches because they were so overwhelming and press-centered."

Now if he would only put a muzzle on this mofo...

...they'd really be in business.

Arcade Fire discuss the bitter taste of success [The Guardian]

That Arcade Fire Web Site: There's Not Really Much To Say Other Than "It Launched"

mjohnston — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:30:27 EDT

After all that hype and hope that the Arcade Fire fans of the world would, one day, be able to turn Win Butler into a vampire, beonlineb.com opened its virtual doors on Saturday. The site wound up being a ~~reminder to critics that Neon Bible came out this year~~ Web-site-as-interactive-video, with a lot of actionscripting that allowed you to drown Win and play with a pair of disembodied hands and wonder if you weren't missing something the first, second, and sixth times you clicked through the thing. (Hence the pranksters on Brooklyn Vegan who claimed that certain click patterns would result in winning tickets to a "secret show." Maybe that was part of the "art"?)

Perhaps it's because I worked at a site that had its launch party way before its launch date (which, funnily enough, eventually got pushed back to 2127 or so) during the first dot-com boom, but the site reminded me of a glorified splash page for a site that was "coming soon." Although given the band's announcements that they would be taking some time off before their next tour maybe the announcement was really supposed to be "coming never." (Also, launching a site that essentially is a click-magnet time-waster on a Saturday? I know they wanted to beat the In Rainbows blog torrent, but even those people who weren't heading out to Randalls Island on Saturday have things called "social lives.")

The Arcade Fire presents [beonlineb.com]

The Big Arcade Fire Surprise: What On Earth Could It Be?

mjohnston — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:03:07 EDT

Lost in all the In Rainbows hoopla earlier this week was the fact that the Arcade Fire—who, you may remember, put out the most important album of 2007 first—would be unleashing a huge surprise via the Web site BeonlineB this Saturday. Speculation over what the site, the name of which is derived from an anagram for Neon Bible, would be launching has run rampant over the past few days, with most of the guesses using the words "remix," "b-sides," "remixes," or "James Murphy." But what if the ever-innovative Canadians are going for something completely ... different? Something with a little bit of le Web 2.0 flair?

Think about it. Sure, "BeonlineB" suggests that the project would involve b-sides or remixes or some other cast-off type of thing that will conveniently remind writers readying their end-of-year lists that, oh yeah, Neon Bible came out waayyyy back in the beginning of this year, but doesn't "BeonlineB" also suggest to you some sort of ... command? Like, "be online and stay online ... through our all-new, Arcade Fire-themed social network?" Right? And you can post blogs about the Arcade Fire and play Scrabble using only Arcade Fire song titles and bite your friends while being dressed up as Win Butler Zombies and compare the members of the Arcade Fire on judgments like "best dressed" and "best public speaker" and "more likely to do a favor for me" and ...

OK, OK, it's probably a remix album. But admit it: Some of you out there got a little pang of excitement when you thought about the prospect of meeting a bunch of new AF-loving pals, especially from the comfort of your own computer.

BeonlineB [Official site]

Listening Station, Part II: Arcade Fire Brings Its A-Game To Its B-Sides

Brian Raftery — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:00:16 EDT

Arcade Fire's "Broken Window" is a vinyl-only B-side from the band's recent Ne-Yo Bible sessions—which means that it was only a matter of days before someone digitized it and sent it to our inbox. Listeners should be patient, as it starts off real quiet-like before becoming all gloomy n' doomy. And by the way, is it just is, or is that Times magazine picture starting to look familiar?

~~Arcade Fire - Broken Window (Vinyl Rip)~~ [MP3, link expired]

Song-Loving Surgeon Finds Arcade Fire To Be Effective Anesthetic

Brian Raftery — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:43:35 EDT

Today's New York Times profiles Dr. Atul Gawande, a well-respected surgeon and author who brings his iPod to the operating room:

On a recent day, when he took out a gallbladder, two thyroids and what was supposed to be a parathyroid gland but maybe wasn't, the playlist included David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, the Decemberists and the Killers.

The music wasn't turned up high, but it rocked sufficiently that the anesthesiologist bobbed his head, the O.R. nurse tapped her toe, and the member of the team in charge of all the clamps and retractors drummed his fingers on the instrument tray. "It all depends on who's in the room," Dr. Gawande said of his selections. "You can't play anything hard-hitting if there's anyone over 45."

Hard to argue with the reporting here: If there's one thing that rocks merely sufficiently, it's the new Killers record. But forgive us if we find Dr. Gawande's methodology disturbing, as we prefer our invasive surgeries to be clean and quiet, without any downbeat Paste-rock songs serving as a distraction; after all, if something were to go wrong, the last thing we'd want to hear before we die is Regina Spektor.
Atul Gawande Rocks in the O.R. [NY Times]

The Great Arcade Fire Sale Returns To Craigslist

mjohnston — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:35:31 EDT

New York City's "creative"-centric offices experienced a plummet in productivity at around 10 a.m., when Arcade Fire tickets for a few shows in May went on sale—and people once again turned to Craigslist to either avenge their slow mouse-trigger fingers or make a quick buck. While we haven't seen any sob-story contests break out quite yet, we did notice that some people may have to sell a lot of plasma in order to get into the show:

Silly me! I "accidentally" bought 4 Arcade fire tickets for the 5/8 show, forgetting that I hate humanity and all that is good about music. It really pisses me off when indie bands make a special effort to play at intimate venues, but I sure do love taking advantage of their fans' devotion. So, I am selling 4 seats, which may or may not be will call (I hope you like surprises). The price is the national debt for my two orchestra seats (price is per ticket), or the GNP of Burundi for my third mezzanine seats— great view of the ceiling from there!

The sad part? He's already received 135 responses offering double his asking price.

Misanthropic Sociopath Selling Arcade Fire Tickets (4) - $666 [Craigslist]
Earlier: New York City Arcade Fire Fans Rush To Debase Themselves On Craigslist

Liner Notes: Courtney Love Finds Her Twelfth Monkey

Brian Raftery — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:58:10 EDT

- Courtney Love and Bruce Willis were spotted making out last week at an Amy Winehouse concert, where the two also discussed the possibility of having Billy Corgan ghost-write Bruno Returns...Again. [Gatecrasher]
- Alexandra Patsavas, the woman responsible for soundtracking The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy, has signed a deal with Atlantic Records for her own imprint. The label's first release will be a compilation of Keane songs covered by Jem. [Billboard via The Washington Post]
- The Arcade Fire has canceled nine European dates due to illness; the governing members of the EU are expected to quell their citizens' fears with a press conference tonight. [NME]

LCD Soundsystem Is Playing To A Mouse, A Mouse

Brian Raftery — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:40:37 EDT

It's a registration-required article, alas, but today's Wall Street Journal looks at the boom in rustic or makeshift music studios:

In the last two weeks, about half of the new albums with featured reviews on Pitchfork, an independent-music Web site, were recorded either in makeshift studios or professional ones in pastoral settings. Arcade Fire bought an old church outside Montreal to record last week's "Neon Bible," which has since sold 92,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Brit-rock band the Kaiser Chiefs recorded their second album, "Yours Truly, Angry Mob," which comes out March 27, at a country manor in Berkshire, England. (Rustic is relative: The manor includes a professional studio and advertises its gym and heated pool.)

[LCD Soundsystem]'s well-reviewed new album, "Sound of Silver," will come out Tuesday, at the same time as "Living with the Living" from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, which was recorded at the same countryside studio in North Brookfield, Mass. There, the 100-acre Long View Farm Studios operates like a bed and breakfast — with recording studios in a barn and a 19th-century farmhouse. (Nightly room rate, with recording sessions: $1,000 to $2,000)...

One reason for the recent wave: Smaller and less expensive digital production tools have allowed producers and bands to set up studios in unusual places. (Rock outfit My Morning Jacket has recorded in a Kentucky grain silo.) Moreover, music's sales slump has put many studios out of business, and their equipment has flooded the market, according to Mark McKenna, general manager of Allaire Studios, a facility in New York's Catskill Mountains. "The whole business is becoming decentralized," he says.

There are several creative advantages to working in an off-the-beaten-path locale, including less noise, fewer distractions, and a "we came here and we gotta do this" sense of purpose. Plus, you can grow your own drugs, thus eliminating the middle-man, and allowing you to spend your weed per diem on boondocks prostitutes.

'Great CD — Loved the Crickets' [WSJ, registration required]

Rock Concerts: Now More Annoyingly Annoying Than Ever?

Brian Raftery — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:10:59 EDT

Today's Guardian music blog questions whether concert guest-lists have grown out of control, using a recent Arcade Fire concert at Brixton Academy as an example:

...even Arcade Fire, bastions of creative integrity, have become victims of a success they cannot control. First off, it didn't bode well that the queue for the complimentary tickets and guest list at the gig almost equalled that for standard tickets. A large number of complimentary tickets usually means a great deal of handouts from sponsors to, dare I say it, people who are only there for a free night out, as opposed to the thousands of people who tried desperately to pay for tickets only to be left disappointed when the band's UK shows sold out in a matter of minutes. Sure enough, on entering the stalls, I realised I was surrounded by people who didn't really care very much about being there, certainly not half as much as they cared about getting the next round in and fiddling constantly with their mobile phones.

There was almost constant chatter, embarrassingly obvious between songs and, even worse, after some of the band's lesser-known album tracks (Haiti for example) many of the people around me didn't even bother to clap. A couple in front of me, clearly not well acquainted with the band's material, gave up on enjoying the music after the first song (which was, by the way, a particularly jubilant performance of Keep The Car Running) and nattered on uninterrupted throughout the show, only pausing for breath, curiously enough, when the band did.

There are a lot of assumptions at work here, so let's pull back a bit: First off, a time-of-release show by a band with as much attention as the Arcade Fire is going to be a chattering, nattering zoo of assholes no matter what; that's just the way concert-going works nowadays (we're not condoning it, mind you, but just about any show you go to nowadays is going to be packed with fans who see concerts as less of a musical experience and more of a ~~musical~~ social experience). Secondly, considering how few gigs the band is playing in the U.K. this month, you can expect that a large portion of the guest-list crowd consisted of radio-station employees and—ahem—music journalists. And certainly, we can't start taking away the press members' plus-ones anytime soon, can we?

Finally, anyone who's ever been comped for Brixton knows that the will-call line there is shite. It's like one little old lady working out of a hut around the side of the building. No wonder everyone who survives it winds up drunk and screaming into a cell phone.

Freeloaders are killing live music [Guardian Unlimited Arts Blog]

Who Charted?: The Arcade Fire Is Big, But Not Quite B.I.G. Enough

Brian Raftery — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:33:57 EDT

It's a notable week on the charts, thanks to the combination of Christian rockers, a dead rapper, and the greatest band of all time in all history of mankind and earth.

Biggest Debuts: Where to begin? Half of the top-ten entries are debuts, with Notorious B.I.G.'s Greatest Hits in the peak position, scanning 99,000 copies, according to Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan. He's followed by Arcade Fire's Neon Bible (No. 2, with 92,000 copies); Gary Allan's Greatest Hits (No. 5, with 70,000 copies); Relient K's Five Score and Seven Years Ago (No. 6, with 64,000 copies); and Korn's MTV Unplugged (No. 9, with 51,000 copies).

Biggest Slides: We were betting on Daughtry for this, but in a crowded week, he only slipped 9%, selling 82,000 copies. Damn you, Daughtry! We'll have to save our punchlines for next week, when Robin Thicke starts creeping on you even more.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: We're going to go with Korn. We realize that nu-metal was a blockbusting genre that retains large pockets of fans around the country, but we just can't believe anyone takes that dude seriously anymore, especially now that he's looking more and more like Snidely Whiplash.

Notorious B.I.G. Scores Another 'Great' On The Billboard 200 [Billboard]

Phoning It In: R. Kelly Has The Arcade Fire's Number

Brian Raftery — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:49:28 EDT

A few months ago, the Arcade Fire set up a hotline to promote their recent Neon Bible album. Now, R. Kelly has established a number of his own, which he will use to not only shill his record, but also to hand out to the lesser-fly honeys who try to get his digits. We were lucky enough to set up some time for the two artists to speak via their respective phone lines.

(rings)

R. KELLY LINE: Hello?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Uh, hi. Could I speak to R. Kelly please?
R. KELLY LINE: Who's this? Is this your body callin'?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: What? Oh, no...it's the Arcade Fire calling
R. KELLY LINE: Oh, right. Cool. What's up? Is this all of you?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: No, just the members whose last names begin with A through L. Just the seven of us.
R. KELLY LINE: Damn. That's a lot! I mean, Public Announcement rolled deep, but you guys are like, I dunno, like the White-Tang Clan!
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Ah, yeah.
R. KELLY LINE: Sorry. Is that an old joke?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: We get it a lot. You'd be surprised.
R. KELLY LINE: Cool, cool. So you all got a new album, right? What's it all about?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Ooh, boy. That's kind of hard to answer....it's sort of a song cycle about death, and religion, the perils of celebrity.
R. KELLY LINE: Do you have any songs about marshmallows?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: What? No. I mean, if people want to think the songs are about marshmallows, that's fine. It's just that—
R. KELLY LINE: On my new album, I have three songs about marshmallows. The first one, "Confectious," is about these girls that I meet a club, and who I take back to my room and cover with marshmallows. Then there's "Fluffin'," which describes, [laughs], you know...it describes what happens after we're done with the marshmallows. And then at the very end of the album is "Stay Puffed," which summarizes parts one and two.
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Wow.
R. KELLY LINE: Yeah. Boy, do I love to freak with marshmallows. You Arcade Fire cats ever do that?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: (Pause)
R. KELLY LINE: Sorry, you dropped out. You Arcade Fire cats ever like to get your nut off while—
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Alright! Well, this has been great.
R. KELLY LINE: Oh, are we over?
ARCADE FIRE LINE: Yeah, sorry. Gotta run!
R. KELLY LINE: Cool, cool. Hey, maybe we can all get together some time? Maybe play around a bit, R. Cade and R. Kels, and see what happens? I got a grotto here, and some canola oil and a coupla stenographers—
ARCADE FIRE LINE: (Click)

Limping To The Top: Which Album Will Be Your Next No. 1?

mjohnston — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:55:12 EDT

According to the often-disputed industry tip sheet HITS, there's a three-way fight brewing for the No. 1 spot on this week's album chart between Christian rockers Relient K, late New York hip-hop legend Notorious B.I.G., and the most important band in the universe. We're thinking that Relient K will pull out a narrow victory here, if only because we always underestimate the power of Christian bookstores, but we'd like to know what your thoughts on the whole matter are. (Related question: Will any of them break the 100k mark?)

Rumor Mill [HITS Daily Double]

One Last Thing About Arcade Fire, Before We Close The "Bible" Forever

Brian Raftery — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:50:42 EST

The Arcade Fire? So yesterday, we know. But we couldn't resist a final item about the band and its just-released Neon Bible album, as the record's chart success will no doubt be analyzed to death by admirers and detractors alike. So, factoring in the two-months-ahead leak, the Saturday Night Live appearance, the current place atop the iTunes charts, and the loyal fanbase, just how will this thing do?

The Arcade Fire: Where Are They Now? Like, At This Very Moment?

Brian Raftery — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 17:37:32 EST

The clock is slowly ticking on our day of Arcade Fire fandom. And as the world spins and springs on the group's collective whim—anxiously awaiting its next move—we're checking in to see how the band members are biding their time:

Win - Attending overalls-fitting session.
Regine - Watching the Libby verdict.
Richard - Watching Regine watch the Libby verdict—from afar.
Kristine - Talking to the mailbox.
Lefty - Trying to get up in this blog game.
The Sugar Twins - High-fiving, and kind of recklessly.
Jon-Jon - "Accidentally" bookmarking haporn.com.
"The Gooch" - Desperately fishing for 2006 receipts.
Xenu - Preparing the armada.
Professor Hurdy-Gurdy - Tidying up wine cellar.
Rashelle - BitTorrenting Air album.
Slurry Joe - Chillin'. Also: Slurrin'.

Liner Notes: How Are The Arcade Fire Celebrating Their Moment Of Undeniable Glory?

Brian Raftery — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:10:52 EST

- By going on tour! [NME]
- By comparing the record-making process to the filmmaking process! [Chicago Tribune]
- By burning! [Asu Web Devil]
- By fizzling! [The Diamondback]
- By quoting Dylan! [Edmonton Journal]
- By being immortalized in very, very long opening paragraphs! [New York Times Magazine]

Entire Music World Observes News Blackout In Honor Of "Neon Bible" Release Date

mjohnston — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:23:48 EST

And here we thought we were making a big deal out of the Arcade Fire.

music [Google News]

Wake Up! Today Is The Greatest Day Of Your Indie-Rock Existence!

Brian Raftery — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:43:06 EST

A note to our readers joining us so early in the morning: Good morning! And also: Just what the hell do you think you're doing?

Don't you know what day it is? No? Well, then, put down your Klonopin Karrier™ and roll over your desktop calendar, as today is March 6th—a date that should be emblazoned on your brain and tattooed on your inner thigh. For not only is it the joint birthday of both Tom Arnold and Shaquille O'Neal (you can send one card, they don't mind sharing), but it's also the release date of the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, which is only the most important record of the year coming out this month.

That's right. After months of playing coy with all of those leaks and streams and SendSpace files, you will now be faced with a mass-distributed, legally obtainable copy of Neon Bible. Which can only mean one thing: You will have to form your own opinion about it. Will you go the non-questioning devotee route, testifying to the album's greatness, all the while secretly wishing the band had maybe cut down on the Springsteen shtick just a little? Or will you be a naysaying contrarian, dismissing the album and its fans, even as you listen to the newly recorded version of "No Cars Go" at the gym?

Or will you do something crazy, like giving the album a few listens before rendering an instant verdict, and maybe judging it on its own merits? (Have fun with that, killjoy.)

So enjoy your day of Canadian multi-instrumentalistsness. We'll provide periodic updates and news flashes throughout the morning and afternoon, helping you celebrate what is looking to be, all hyperbole aside, the most wondrous day of your entire life. That is, until the new Wilco record comes out.

[Photo: New York Times]

Idolator's Record-Review Round-Up: Opening The Arcade Fire's "Bible"

Brian Raftery — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:00:46 EST

- "Arcade Fire mines classic U2 and Bruce Springsteen far better than the Killers recently did. And Arcade Fire didn't lose its own voice in an attempt to sound bigger and grander. There are still plenty of its trademark noisy crescendos and old-fashioned accents like harp and hurdy-gurdy." [New York Times]
- "Unlike the cathartic Funeral, Neon Bible operates on spring-loaded tension and measured release. As such, it could strike some listeners as a disappointing follow-up, but the record's mix of newfound discipline and passion will likely imbue it with a long shelf-life." [Pitchfork]
- "Like almost everything on Neon Bible... 'No Cars Go' is excess with a point: We are drowning in the unspeakable and running out of air and fight. If only everything else on Neon Bible made that point with the same dynamic overkill." [Rolling Stone]
- "Titles like 'Oceans of Noise' advertise the immensity of the sound, and you can detect the influence of such past masters of sonic grandiosity as U2, Phil Spector, and, in the monstrous pipe-organ drones that well up behind 'Intervention,' that 18th-century wall-of-sound specialist, J.S. Bach." [Entertainment Weekly]

People Really Do Find Love (Or, At Least, Guest-List Filler) On Idolator

mjohnston — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:56:22 EST

Remember that Craigslist-trawling music writer with an Arcade fire guest-list spot and a jonesing for a good Valentine's Day story? Well, he found his plus-one, and she was good enough to leave us a comment this morning:

I was the lucky lady selected from the nut jobs who responded to his search for a valentine. evening was utterly enchanting.
my valentine is a stellar guy.

I bought him a Heineken.
he provided backstage passes.
drew barrymore + spike jonze were there together —- lovey dovey style.
adam sandberg from SNL was there.
I talked to the violinist, red-headed guitar player, and both french horn players.
I ate the band's chicken tikka masala.
the lead female singer smiled at me.
the lead male singer (l.f.s.'s husband) was wearing green suede + brown leather boots.
we rode the A train off together into the brooklyn night...

Unfortunately, the lucky lady didn't give up the writer's name, so we're still left wondering who the mystery man might have been. After all, we probably expanded his applicant pool a bit—you'd think we'd at least get a thank you.

Earlier: Anonymous Music Writer Looking To Add A Non-Scary Lady To His Guest List

Anonymous Music Writer Looking To Add A Non-Scary Lady To His Guest List

mjohnston — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:59:14 EST

Someone sent us a link to this find from the "Arcade Fire tickets" section of Craigslist's personal ads:

So, I have an extra guest list spot to the Arcade Fire show at Judson Church on Wednesday. I need a date, but think a Valentine's Day invitation is a bit too intense for any of the women I've been seeing of late...

Plus I just got back from two weeks of traveling in California and Norway, and have slacked on making plans.

I'm 32, work in music (journalist & own a record label), and am reasonably attractive & personable — this Craigslist post notwithstanding.

I'm looking for a lady 25-35 up for an adventure. Ideally, you'll be able to have fun on a random night out with someone you may never see again; you'll be smart, and read books and stuff; and you won't be a scary, drugged-out too-cool-for-school hipster. (You should be cute too! I know, I'm asking a lot here.)

Shoot me an entertaining email with a picture and we'll take it from there. Maybe we'll get all crushed out on each other; or maybe not. Either way it should be fun...

Ladies: If you don't have plans for tonight, fire off those e-mails now! And if you do get picked, be sure to let us know who the writer was—although we'll probably figure it out, since his review will no doubt be full of oblique mentions of your date.

Arcade Fire 2/14 ticket for a date - 32 [Craigslist]

Arcade Fire Tickets Are Still Available, Though There May Be A Catch Or Two

Brian Raftery — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:24:52 EST

Tomorrow night, the Arcade Fire will start a five-night stint at New York City's Judson Memorial Church, and it's easier to gain passage to Kabul than to get tickets. But that hasn't stopped various Craigslisters from scheming and dreaming like crazy, doing everything they can to be your plus-one.

At this point, there are very few "for sale" listings remaining—meaning that most of the Craigslist posts are from die-hard fans who really, really want you to get them into the show. There are several methods for doing this, the first being to appeal to the ticket-holder's sense of music-community karma:

(Light My) Arcade Fire - Help an Old Lady on her B-day - $1
Reply to: sale-276536845@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-02-10, 12:58PM EST

Aging hipster, probably old enough to be your mom, desperately seeks a ticket for any night of AF @ Judson. Help bring a little joy into my life as I slip into senility. Used to be young and hip like you; I knew Tom Verlaine when you were a zygote etc. Promise I'll lurk in the shadows so the crowd will still be young/hip. Thanks in advance.

A word of warning: This poster could very possibly be Patti Smith, and she gets pretty cranky around the second encore. But while a self-proclaimed "aging hipster" can probably afford a ticket with a $300 mark-up charge, most indie-rock fans are living hand-to-mouth-to-bong—thus the time-honored "if you give me a ticket, I will give you all sorts of random shit that's lying around my studio apartment" approach:

Wanted Arcade Fire tickets-Money + 2bottles Champagne and much more - $1
Reply to: sale-275934497@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-02-09, 10:47AM EST

I need Arcade Fire tickets to any night, I'll give money(reasonable) plus two bottles awesome Champagne(pierre gimonnet 1er cru) 80 dollars in store, 1 six pack Sierra Neveada, 1 used diesel denim jacket, 1 signed 1st edition paperback of Patrick Mcgrath's Asylum, 1 new heavy vinyl record of White Light White Heat by The Velvet Underground and 1 beautiful painting I made (its very good I promise)..
Thanks

Paintings? Gothic fiction? Lou Reed records? Actually, maybe this poster is Patti Smith.

Another popular technique is to offer entry into some other, less popular show—the idea being that someone out there accidentally bought an Arcade Fire ticket, when what they really wanted to do was see Grizzly Bear. This swap-offer struck us as especially desperate:

Selling 2 Silverchair Bowery Ballroom - $1

Reply to: sale-276479080@craigslist.org

Date: 2007-02-10, 11:06AM EST

Have 2 tickets for Silverchair at Bowery Ballroom on Monday and I can't make it. Will sell them for the best offer over $100 for the pair or would trade them for 1 Arcade Fire ticket for 2-13 or 2-14...let me know!

Come on. This would have been a bad deal even back in 1995, when the Arcade Fire didn't even exist, and Neon Ballroom is no Neon Bible.

Finally, when all else fails—when you're out of money, and nearly out of time—there's one last desperate measure:

Will trade for Arcade Fire at Judson- any night - $1
Reply to: sale-277108773@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-02-11, 4:22PM EST

I have tickets to almost every good show in NY. Will trade for one (or more) Arcade Fire ticket. Let me know what you want. I'm also a Yanks season ticket holder if that's your thing. I can trade some big games (Sox, Mets, etc). Let me know. I also have screen legend Anthony's Quinn's undershit, which I swiped from him as he was doing sit-ups in the park. I'll be willing to part with it for a ticket.

It's possibly the best deal to be found: A great concert will last you only a few hours, but a dead celeb's undershit will be a conversation piece for years.

New York Craigslist :For Sale/Wanted [Craigslist]

If An Arcade Fire Record Leaks Without Making A Sound, Does It Exist?

mjohnston — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:35:50 EST

After finding out Friday that Neon Bible, the forthcoming album by the Arcade Fire, had snaked into a few of the Internet's less reputable pipes, we were fully expecting to see the
Hype Machine and elbo.ws charts light up with MP3s from the album this morning. But the aggregators have been curiously low on mere mentions of the band, the album, and whether or not Win Butler was still answering the 866 number. So what happened? Did the muddy quality of the leak—which got it removed from a few "high-bitrate-only" filesharing sites—cause people to bide their MP3-posting time? Was there fear that the Web Sheriff would show up and show off his gunslinging ways? Or did bloggers actually show a little bit of restraint?

Results for: arcade and fire [Hype Machine]
The Arcade Fire [elbo.ws]

The Great New York Arcade Fire Sale: So Much For Those Sob Stories

mjohnston — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 15:14:32 EST

The above note is from the Web site for Bowery Presents, which is putting on the run of New York City Arcade Fire shows that sold out in a blink this morning. Whether all of those saddoes who are pouring out their lives on Craigslist feel kinda dumb now, we don't know, although we do know that there are still some people out there who are hoping to prey on the desperate, naive, and "hot." (Would a "Wake Up" joke be too much here? Probably.)

The Bowery Presents [bowerypresents.com]
Earlier: New York City Arcade Fire Fans Rush To Debase Themselves On Craigslist

New York City Arcade Fire Fans Rush To Debase Themselves On Craigslist

mjohnston — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 11:34:55 EST

Tickets to the Arcade Fire's five-night string of shows at New York City's Judson Memorial Church sold out almost immediately after they went on sale this morning, sending bloggers into despair and fans with burnable disposable income to Craigslist. One enterprising (or cruel) insider who somehow snagged his tickets a week ago decided to hold a contest to give them away:

Any way here goes—I have tix for all 5 NYC sows [sic] at Judson—they are not for sale—I want to give away 2-3 pairs to real fans. These are not for sale—I want somone to just tell me why they love the band.

The offer didn't get any responses until this morning, when out-of-luck fans realized that there was no way in hell they were going to get a ticket without foregoing their rent payments for the next month. And now, the race is on:

for sale / wanted: search for "arcade fire" [Craigslist]