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Arcade Fire announce "The Suburbs"

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big ander said:
I think it's behind Funeral but ahead of Neon Bible. Regardless, I'm supremely happy it won.
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If this is the consensus, I'm happy to join it.

Funeral never seemed like something that could be replicated. Thank goodness they didn't try.

Neon Bible had some excellent tracks but was a huge disappointment as an album, and got less attractive with repeated listening. "Ocean of Noise" is about the only thing I listen to frequently anymore. I prefer the original No Cars Go anyhow. Also, Win got really pissy for a while there, which annoyed me. I've got a bootleg where he tells off the whole crowd because somebody asked him if he was feeling OK. I guess the guy should have just punched him.

The Suburbs sounds like a Roger Waters solo album, but better than any of Roger Waters's actual solo albums. Except maybe The Final Cut. It was probably my #2 album of the year. Not a great year for hugely impactful new albums, I suppose.

Now, The Golden Archipelago was the real album of the year, but still, for the Grammys I'm pretty impressed.
 
I put Beach House's Teen Dream ahead of The Suburbs, but it was still one of my favorite albums of 2010. AF will likely never outdo Funeral, but it'll be interesting to see where they go from here. Yay for the Keys winning too. Still some hope for the music industry I guess.
 
I never respond to the first five songs on Funeral. I just don't get it.
 
smokeymicpot said:
Funeral is their best cd then the Suburbs then Neon Bible.
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Yep. And I'd say it goes Funeral 10/10, Suburbs 9/10, Neon Bible 8/10.

Basically, Arcade Fire at their worst is still incredibly awesome.

Obviously there are so many great albums out there for 2010 that it's hard to definitely call The Suburbs the best out of all of them, but this is the Grammy Awards. Pretty much anything in Pitchfork's Top 50 for the year deserves to win over the other Grammy contenders, so Arcade Fire winning album of the year makes sense for anyone who understands what it means to be consistently top-quality music and not just pop drivel that panders to the masses.
 
Rash said:
Yep. And I'd say it goes Funeral 10/10, Suburbs 9/10, Neon Bible 8/10.

Basically, Arcade Fire at their worst is still incredibly awesome.

Obviously there are so many great albums out there for 2010 that it's hard to definitely call The Suburbs the best out of all of them, but this is the Grammy Awards. Pretty much anything in Pitchfork's Top 50 for the year deserves to win over the other Grammy contenders, so Arcade Fire winning album of the year makes sense for anyone who understands what it means to be consistently top-quality music and not just pop drivel that panders to the masses.
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Same ratings I have for them. If Black Keys got the nom for best album they would of won though. But they both won so it is all good.
 
butter_stick said:
Neon Bible is better than The Suburbs. People will agree in a few years.
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Neon Bible is so amazing, I sometimes think I'm listening to Funeral.
It reminds of the whole Bends OK Computer thing. Street Spirit is SO OK Computer.
 
omg

Drgn4.png
 
smokeymicpot said:
Same ratings I have for them. If Black Keys got the nom for best album they would of won though. But they both won so it is all good.
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Brothers was good, but it wasn't Rubber Factory, so it didn't deserve to beat out The Suburbs.
I have a hard time ranking the AF albums. Funeral is obviously the best album, but I don't know if I'd place The Suburbs over Neon Bible as I liked that album quite a bit.
 
I'll be in the minority in saying that I prefer The Suburbs to Funeral. It's not necessarily that I think it's a better album, but the tone (both musically and lyrically) just appeals to me that much more.

Brilliant news, in any case.
 
Regardless of how you compare the band's past cds, you have to agree that it was certainly a strong contender for Album of the year. My personal album of the year is Tame Impala but this band definitely deserves this award and most importantly: this recognition.
 
Internet Celebrity said:
I'll be in the minority in saying that I prefer The Suburbs to Funeral. It's not necessarily that I think it's a better album, but the tone (both musically and lyrically) just appeals to me that much more.

Brilliant news, in any case.
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Suburbs has a running theme to it that sort of ties the whole album in together. The ideas of growing up in a suburb and dealing with the banality of commercialism there, the struggles of being an artist, and the idea of becoming so removed from where you grew up, but ultimately having a respect for it since that is where you are from.... Those are the themes I hear throughout the album. He even uses lyrics across many songs "first they built the road, then they built the town," etc....

It makes it easier to listen to it as a whole.

While I love some of the songs from Funeral (probably some of my favorites,) I find that I still hunt and peck when listening to that album, and it doesn't carry that same feeling of cohesion that Suburbs does.
 
oracrest said:
Suburbs has a running theme to it that sort of ties the whole album in together. The ideas of growing up in a suburb and dealing with the banality of commercialism there, the struggles of being an artist, and the idea of becoming so removed from where you grew up, but ultimately having a respect for it since that is where you are from.... Those are the themes I hear throughout the album. He even uses lyrics across many songs "first they built the road, then they built the town," etc....

It makes it easier to listen to it as a whole.

While I love some of the songs from Funeral (probably some of my favorites,) I find that I still hunt and peck when listening to that album, and it doesn't carry that same feeling of cohesion that Suburbs does.
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Exactly. Even though my favourite song off The Suburbs (Empty Room) is one that arguably deviates the most from the overarching theme, lyrically speaking.
 
oracrest said:
Suburbs has a running theme to it that sort of ties the whole album in together. The ideas of growing up in a suburb and dealing with the banality of commercialism there, the struggles of being an artist, and the idea of becoming so removed from where you grew up, but ultimately having a respect for it since that is where you are from.... Those are the themes I hear throughout the album. He even uses lyrics across many songs "first they built the road, then they built the town," etc....

It makes it easier to listen to it as a whole.

While I love some of the songs from Funeral (probably some of my favorites,) I find that I still hunt and peck when listening to that album, and it doesn't carry that same feeling of cohesion that Suburbs does.
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I generally agree with this. Funeral also has some themes and a narrative running through part of it (the Neighborhood songs) but it's a bit hit or miss on repeat listening. I think their first two albums have some very strong songs to them, but The Suburbs is the most cohesive and musically, I like the style they took.

(On a related note, there are fewer two-part songs in it; in the first two albums, a lot of tracks feel like two songs welded together. In Suburbs, they evolve rather than stop and start. It feels more natural.)
 
sphagnum said:
Really, not even Tunnels? With that ethereal ending?
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yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I appreciate it, but nothing resonates with me. Then it lands on 4 Kettles and I'm onboard until the end, with the exception of Haiti which I just can't stand.

Even the songs I don't particularly like on Neon Bible I listen to because they serve some function in relation to the rest of the album, but there's just something about Funeral that feels so disjointed to me, which is odd because I've since found out the fans talk about it like it's a masterpiece and the band talk about the years it took them to intricately compose. Nowadays I ALWAYS skip Haiti, I just can't bear listening to it anymore.

Neon Bible feels clumsier, but I think it's more human for it. I don't know, I just dig it.
 
oracrest said:
Suburbs has a running theme to it that sort of ties the whole album in together. The ideas of growing up in a suburb and dealing with the banality of commercialism there, the struggles of being an artist, and the idea of becoming so removed from where you grew up, but ultimately having a respect for it since that is where you are from.... Those are the themes I hear throughout the album. He even uses lyrics across many songs "first they built the road, then they built the town," etc....

It makes it easier to listen to it as a whole.

While I love some of the songs from Funeral (probably some of my favorites,) I find that I still hunt and peck when listening to that album, and it doesn't carry that same feeling of cohesion that Suburbs does.
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Totally agree. It's the The Ice Storm of rock.
 
I don't quite "get" Funeral. I like a lot of the songs on there, but others annoy me and I see no masterpiece.

I love The Suburbs and Neon Bible so... who knows?!
 
Poimandres said:
I don't quite "get" Funeral. I like a lot of the songs on there, but others annoy me and I see no masterpiece.

I love The Suburbs and Neon Bible so... who knows?!
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It's one of the things I appreciate about Arcade Fire - they've made three very different albums. So it's not surprising that they speak to people so differently.
 
The Suburbs was my favorite album of the year so I was very pleased with the win.

Probably didn't need to sit through 3 and a half hours of Grammys to get there though (though going out on Ready to Start was win).
 
Blader5489 said:
The Suburbs was my favorite album of the year so I was very pleased with the win.

Probably didn't need to sit through 3 and a half hours of Grammys to get there though (though going out on Ready to Start was win).
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Also, Phil Dunphy rode a bike around the stage with them.
 
These aren't my words, but they do explain perfectly why Funeral is my favorite:
What connects The Arcade Fire so inextricably to Funeral-- and what makes the band so distinct-- is its tone of youthful conspiracy
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I love Suburbs and Neon Bible.
But Funeral elegantly captures the feelings of childhood without romanticizing them. It makes you feel like part of a cohesive whole, this group of idealistic troublemakers who don't know exactly where they are in life or where they're going.
It resonates with me perfectly. I couldn't love it more.
 
Glad Suburbs won it, I love this album. For someone who started listening to the Arcade Fire through this one, is there any logical next step for an album?
 
Every song on Funeral is about the end of childhood, the positive and negative aspects of family, and the necessity/unavoidability and horror of smashing the emotional world you grew up in. Basically, the same themes as on their EP, but developed with much more emotional and musical richness.

Neon Bible is mostly hard, bitter, whiny, and bafflingly apocalyptic to little effect. Win takes on hilariously pointless targets like Jessica Simpson's dad and inner-city political fundraisers. Intervention has some wonderful moments ("singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart"), but what's it about, a mob-affiliated Catholic? Who cares. Windowsill does so much right ("a house on fire or a rising sea?"), but "I don't wanna live in America no more" breaks the "show don't tell" rule and really sours the song for me. Ocean of Noise and The Well and the Lighthouse are an oasis of grace in the middle. I like the album, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Also, if you're going to steal a John Kennedy Toole title for your album, you shouldn't release such a monotonous and humorless album.

The Suburbs keeps mostly the same tone, but ratchets down the melodrama, takes on more meaningful issues, doesn't caricature the "bad guys", and is just so much better constructed and more satisfying. That said, I've only listened to it some twenty times, so it can't have grabbed me that much...

I really object to the back-benching of Regine, though.
 
NGAMER9 said:
Glad Suburbs won it, I love this album. For someone who started listening to the Arcade Fire through this one, is there any logical next step for an album?
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Doesn't really matter, but Funeral is a must-listen.
 
As someone who had never heard of Arcade Fire before I gave it a listen and I'm glad that I never came into contact with such shitty music before.
 
jgkspsx said:
Every song on Funeral is about the end of childhood, the positive and negative aspects of family, and the necessity/unavoidability and horror of smashing the emotional world you grew up in. Basically, the same themes as on their EP, but developed with much more emotional and musical richness.

Neon Bible is mostly hard, bitter, whiny, and bafflingly apocalyptic to little effect. Win takes on hilariously pointless targets like Jessica Simpson's dad and inner-city political fundraisers. Intervention has some wonderful moments ("singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart"), but what's it about, a mob-affiliated Catholic? Who cares. Windowsill does so much right ("a house on fire or a rising sea?"), but "I don't wanna live in America no more" breaks the "show don't tell" rule and really sours the song for me. Ocean of Noise and The Well and the Lighthouse are an oasis of grace in the middle. I like the album, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Also, if you're going to steal a John Kennedy Toole title for your album, you shouldn't release such a monotonous and humorless album.

The Suburbs keeps mostly the same tone, but ratchets down the melodrama, takes on more meaningful issues, doesn't caricature the "bad guys", and is just so much better constructed and more satisfying. That said, I've only listened to it some twenty times, so it can't have grabbed me that much...

I really object to the back-benching of Regine, though.
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See, I'm not really a lyrical kind of person. They could be singing random syllables and the songs would probably affect me in the same way. I'm all about musically implied landscapes rather than retrofitting a piece of music and melody with a story via the actual lyrics. In that sense, I really appreciated Neon Bible. I wasn't in it for "OH LORD I'M A GOOD CHRISTIAN MAN", but I'll be damned if I didn't like Antichrist Television Blues as it starts derailing itself and spiralling toward its ending.

Black Wave Bad Vibrations is similar for me. I don't know what the song is lyrically about, but to me it's an amazing 'he said, she said' husband and wife piece.

Funeral has less leg-room for me, in that regard. I can't project on the music as much because it is so specific, for better or for worse, in its ambition.
 
Rez said:
See, I'm not really a lyrical kind of person. They could be singing random syllables and the songs would probably affect me in the same way. I'm all about musically implied landscapes rather than retrofitting a piece of music and melody with a story via the actual lyrics. In that sense, I really appreciated Neon Bible. I wasn't in it for "OH LORD I'M A GOOD CHRISTIAN MAN", but I'll be damned if I didn't like Antichrist Television Blues as it starts derailing itself and spiralling toward its ending.

Black Wave Bad Vibrations is similar for me. I don't know what the song is lyrically about, but to me it's an amazing 'he said, she said' husband and wife piece.

Funeral has less leg-room for me, in that regard. I can't project on the music as much because it is so specific, for better or for worse, in its ambition.
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I can see where you're coming from, but I meant the music as well as the lyrics and vocals. Even the songs on Neon Bible I beat up on, I do like... I guess I just don't respect them ;)

The "Bad Vibrations" part is the only thing on the album that I find really musically repulsive.
 
Eyemus Lutt said:
As someone who had never heard of Arcade Fire before I gave it a listen and I'm glad that I never came into contact with such shitty music before.
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Which songs, stuff from The Suburbs?

I actually remember that I didn't like Arcade Fire at all when I first heard them. But the first songs I heard were from the EP and the demos, so that's not surprising.

Then I heard Wake Up, thankfully.
 
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