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Arcade Fire announce "The Suburbs"

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ha, these are the 8 different covers:

cat_arcade-fire-covers.jpg
 
we also know track lengths now:

1. The Suburbs 5:15
2. Ready To Start 4:15
3. Modern Man 4:39
4. Rococo 3:56
5. Empty Room 2:51
6. City With No Children 3:11
7. Half Light I 4:13
8. Half Light II (No Celebration) 4:27
9. Suburban War 4:41
10. Month Of May 3:50
11. Wasted Hours 3:20
12. Deep Blue 4:28
13. We Used To Wait 5:01
14. Sprawl I (Flatland) 2:54
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 5:18
16. The Suburbs (Continued) 1:27


City With No Children, Half Light and Sprawl II sound amazing along with everything else. The Suburbs is literally continued...uses the same lyrics.
 
It sounds like Month of May and Wasted Hours both use the same lyrics too.

"Want to wash away my sins, Being in the presence of my friends" - Half light II (No celebration)
 
The Arcade Fire sent over this trailer for their upcoming run of shows at Madison Square Garden next month, which is apparently being directed by a well-known, as-yet-unnamed luminary. An extravagant production for such a short clip, featuring sparklers, Win + Regine puppets, and most importantly, part of new The Suburbs song “Rococo.”

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2010/07/20/arcade-fire-traile

Rococo sounds awesome.

...in other words they are going to stream the August 5th MSG show live on YouTube ala The National.
 
I hope DA Pennebaker directs, that National concert was fantastic.


Reno7728 said:
I may (am) be an idiot but how do you get the 30sec clips to play?
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They were taken down because of low quality. Don't worry, they were fucking awesome. :D
 
sweet jesus I'm so excited for this to finally hit... I'm stunned it still hasn't leaked, and happy for them that it hasn't at the same time.
 
jstevenson said:
sweet jesus I'm so excited for this to finally hit... I'm stunned it still hasn't leaked, and happy for them that it hasn't at the same time.
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Stuff doesn't really leak anymore these days. It comes out in little over a week, right? Dayumn. SO SOON.
 
Nappuccino said:
What? Stuff leaks all the time. Menomena's album leaked two months in advance.
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Compared to how often stuff USED to leak? Stuff used to leak all the time, now not so much. Major releases (and this IS a major release) are pretty much locked down until very, very close to the release date. Labels have gotten much, much better at preventing leaks.
 
Who's going to the show(s) at MSG? I'm thinking of going, even though I'd be going alone. Might be a problem with work, since I already requested the 6th off for berghain@Bunker... Well see. I don't mind paying $35-50 for an amazing time.
 
Odrion said:
we should treat music leaks here the same way we treat people playing leaked copies of videogames
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Leave your idiotic witchhunts on the gaming side.

Nearly every single indie album leaks. People listen to it, and the people who actually listen to independent music are most likely buying it/going to shows/buying shirts.

Anyway, anyone in TO planning on going to the Island concert? I'm thinking about it, but my cheap asshole side comes up and tells me I could go to four others for the same price. :lol
 
Whew, saw a bump and though the damned thing had leaked. Woulda drove me nuts to sit here at work knowing I could be listening to it. Can't wait for it to drop. I've avoided all media pertaining to the album save for listening to one of the singles that leaked. I'm hoping it comes with some nice booklets or materials like Neon Bible.
 
Can't wait. I remember back in 07 when Intervention leaked. I burnt it to a CD and spun it at the record store for a loooong time until Neon Bible dropped.
 
disappeared said:
Can't wait. I remember back in 07 when Intervention leaked. I burnt it to a CD and spun it at the record store for a loooong time until Neon Bible dropped.
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but they played Intervention for the first time in 2005. :-P

(I know what you mean tho... I've been listening to the singles, the live bootlegs, and the 30 seconds samples that amazon.de put up... A LOT)
 
jstevenson said:
but they played Intervention for the first time in 2005. :-P

(I know what you mean tho... I've been listening to the singles, the live bootlegs, and the 30 seconds samples that amazon.de put up... A LOT)
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Shit I missed that then. I remember it was a rip of song played on some european radio station, because I remember the DJ saying at the end of the track, "if that doesn't hit you, man, I feel sorry for ya." :lol
 
jstevenson said:
but they played Intervention for the first time in 2005. :-P

(I know what you mean tho... I've been listening to the singles, the live bootlegs, and the 30 seconds samples that amazon.de put up... A LOT)
Click to expand...
What's your verdict based on those samples? Where do you think it will sit compared to the other albums?
 
disappeared said:
Shit I missed that then. I remember it was a rip of song played on some european radio station, because I remember the DJ saying at the end of the track, "if that doesn't hit you, man, I feel sorry for ya." :lol
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It's pretty spectacular, and a bit different (especially since it was acoustic and unplugged):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NETQuiUd_Y&feature=related


Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
What's your verdict based on those samples? Where do you think it will sit compared to the other albums?
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I don't think it tops Funeral... but I think it may be in the ballpark.
 
I cannot believe I did not know this band was coming out with a new cd so soon! By far one of the best bands out.

That said, "The Suburbs" is an amazing song. Just heard it for the first time last night because of this thread :D

Slightly off topic, but I remember hearing about them being slightly involved with the "Where the Wild Things Are" movie soundtrack and how they were going to release a different version of "Wake Up" for the movie, but I can't find it anywhere.

Was it even released or even completed? I know you hear some of it in the trailers.
 
Somehow i doubt that, as most of the songs I've heard by them on this new album have been kinda forgettable.:/

I'm still hyped up for it though.
 
DanielPlainview said:
we also know track lengths now:

1. The Suburbs 5:15
2. Ready To Start 4:15
3. Modern Man 4:39
4. Rococo 3:56
5. Empty Room 2:51
6. City With No Children 3:11
7. Half Light I 4:13
8. Half Light II (No Celebration) 4:27
9. Suburban War 4:41
10. Month Of May 3:50
11. Wasted Hours 3:20
12. Deep Blue 4:28
13. We Used To Wait 5:01
14. Sprawl I (Flatland) 2:54
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 5:18
16. The Suburbs (Continued) 1:27


City With No Children, Half Light and Sprawl II sound amazing along with everything else. The Suburbs is literally continued...uses the same lyrics.
Click to expand...

i can already tell it looks too long
 
The Fly First Listen:

Inspired by frontman Win Butler’s upbringing in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, they focus on their by now trademark urban and apocalyptic themes throughout the record, but the band’s lyrics are more complex, theme-ridden and intricate than ever and the music is reflective and more diverse than they have ever dared to attempt. Elements of folk and even electronica pepper their indie rock sound this time around.
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Heavily conceptual with an airy finish. Experimental and varied yet resolutely sticking to the gorgeous melodies they are renowned for. And hugely uneasy lyrically yet utterly catchy at the same time, ‘The Suburbs’ is a thoroughly modern and intelligent work that sees Arcade Fire once again hit classic status. An awesome achievement.
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okno said:
Who's going to the show(s) at MSG? I'm thinking of going, even though I'd be going alone. Might be a problem with work, since I already requested the 6th off for berghain@Bunker... Well see. I don't mind paying $35-50 for an amazing time.
Click to expand...

I'm going Aug. 4. GA too.
 
Spin Mag's 4.5/5 review:

On an album full of moments when hope turns haunting, the ghosts hang heaviest on the spellbinding "Suburban War," which comes roughly halfway through Arcade Fire's blazingly intense third album.
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There are no wrong turns.
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Radiant with apocalyptic tension and grasping to sustain real bonds, The Suburbs extends hungrily outward, recalling the dystopic miasma of William Gibson's sci-fi novels and Sonic Youth's guitar odysseys. Desperate to elude its own corrosive dread, it keeps moving, asking, looking, and making the promise that hope isn't just another spiritual cul-de-sac. After all, you never know who might be coming in the next car.
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The reviews are gushing all over it, but going by these clips I'm not getting the same feeling for it that I got for the other two albums. Then again, it's kind of hard to tell with 30 second clips; they're not even focusing on the best part of We Used to Wait, for example.

But I still like most of what I'm hearing. Empty Room and Sprawl II sound awesome.
 
The Suburbs is a directly inspired by La Jetee, one of my favorite sci-fi films ever:

Why this title because? "When I was younger, with a friend, Josh, we write a science fiction movie in which two commuter towns met." Move the time on this project, which contained many of our dreams of youth. Last year, I've reviewed La Jetée of Chris Marker and it reminded me this very strange film we had written. I decided to again me. "I found a true simplicity in these ideas of youth", explains Win Butler. "This disc is the soundtrack of a film that will probably never exist", continues Régine Chassagne.
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amazing.
 
The Quietus track by track review:

After one listen to Arcade Fire's third album The Suburbs, John Doran reckons that Arcade Fire have played a blinder by ditching the faux apocalyptic Springsteenisms of Neon Bible and allowing their songs ample room to breathe. All hail The Suburbs . . .
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Clash Music gives it a 9/10 (review seems to be have taken down):

Taking their perennial themes of loss, fear, control and time they’ve re-woven their epic art rock around their fascinating suburban theme that literally lies on our own doorstep. Album reviews are often littered with hyperbole yet ‘Suburbs’ flattens them like the demolition balls that have so shaped their urban subject matter. Growing old gracefully with their existential angst they’ve once again captured yet more amorphous facets of the human condition in not so much a labour of love, as a labour of life. Further proof that The Arcade Fire may indeed be the best band on the planet.
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The Vine:

Fortunately it's the band's musical leaps of faith - the majority of which are stunningly realised - that best breathe life into this towering monument.
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This is a diverse, hypnotic and damn great record.
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The songs that make up The Suburbs translate as apparitions from town Everywhere, a warped patchwork of fuzzy memory, imagination and adolescent longing. And just like those weird personal recollections, many are surreal in their vivid, emotionally sharp recall, while a handful remain blurred and fleeting, distant and beyond effect. For all its minor faults and major successes (even just democratically - that the song remains king, that no one here overplays, nor goes unnoticed, in a seven piece band, is a feat in itself), The Suburbs is the sound of a band stretching themselves - artistically and musically - whilst attempting to revisit their roots. Or as drummer Jeremy Gara said in a recent interview: "The underlying theme is where you grow up, where you come from. And given that we’ve been through the craziest life possible for the last five years, it was only natural for us to think back to how things were. That’s the concept – but we just fall short of it being a total concept album." He's right. While it's slightly disappointing that there's no narrative arc to knit all this together (though it won't stop fans and critics trying), they've still managed to produce a fantastic set of thematically linked tunes that sound quite like nothing else. Not even them. Sure there's a few ideas that don't last, there's moments of indecision, morphing identities, thrills and fleeting confusion. Glorious growing pains.
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