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Vote For The Arcade Fire, Don't Make Me Beg

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Coonstar:
I really really like Wound. That song just makes the album win in my eyes.

Plus, although it's mediocre in the overall Pumpkin repetoire, I still enjoy it more than I've enjoyed any Nirvana album.

Misereatur:
I dont know. Nirvana is one of those bands that you can only enjoy when youre young, stupid, and not aware of the fact that there are loads of better grunge bands out there.

Merkava:

--- Quote from: TrueNeutral ---Am I the only person who thought Funeral was boring?
--- End quote ---


You're not alone. The Arcade Fire's only strength is their live show, but you can't ignore the mediocre material. With the level of performance talent The Arcade Fire has, a person could sell a coil of shit at a hardware store, but that doesn't mean that when a person gets home, all they have is a piece of shit in their hands. This realization came to me about the Fire about a week after picking up the album. While their material is by no means shit, it isn't that great. The fact is, the songs are built around one basic idea, and the band has no understanding of dynamics, unless a song is written to be soft. When I listened to the album, I realized all the songs sounded the same and that all the impact a song like Wake Up could have had was lost. If that concept had been written for an album that doesn't work at it's level the entire time, it would have been a highlight, but since all the songs try and convey the same idea, it just fell through for me.

You see, loud and raucous isn't the only way to convey emotion. If they were more creative, they would find ways of bringing in some variety into their music, otherwise, it ends up coming off loud and obnoxious. They have nowhere to go, since they are forced to stay at that extreme level. If they stray from the level, they have to drop their energy, which then causes them to lose their effect. Their emotion works amazingly well on a stage and can be beautiful and affecting, but only if used in bursts. They're a machine gun. You hold down the trigger, and what happens is the gun fires way off target. Bursts. Please.

But, really, when they go up on stage, you realize that the music fits their live show. The Fire are some of the best damn salesmen I've ever seen. They sell their blah material and make it work live. The music is so full of energy, that their material doesn't matter. It's an experience watching them live, and I understand that, but to compare them to The Doors, who happen to excell in both places is just silly to me.

Doors > Arcade Fire

IMO

Johnny C:
I don't see how not utilizing "loud-soft-loud" dynamics means that your music doesn't have as much impact. Bands like Weezer, Sloan, Death From Above 1979, Nirvana, Pixies - the latter two being bands considered to have pioneered loud-soft dynamics in modern rock music - all have a number of songs that just start loud or soft and don't progress past that. It does nothing to limit the intensity, emotion or immediacy of their songs.

"Wake Up" reduces its intensity for the verse, and boosts it for the wordless chorus, and then speeds up in shift towards bouncy energy and excitement in the coda. "In The Backseat" is a slow burn leading up to a musical release. And if the problem is that their intensity remains the same, I don't think any band should be expected to slip into a laconic state, especially if that's not the nature of their music.

Spinless:
VOTE FOR ZAPPA AS WELL.
SAME THREAT APPLIES.


THIS IS MY THREAD NOW.

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