THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: *Sights* on 19 Dec 2006, 07:30
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So...has anyone else heard "Intervention" from Arcade's new album? It's pretty good, though i'm beginning to wonder if the new album is going to be exactly like Funeral.
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If you're too lazy like I am to ring up to listen to it you can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ZokV22xgA&mode=related&search=
I'm liking it.
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New album? Thats pretty much awesome, I hope for the best.
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I really like Intervention. It is kind of intense and indie-rock operaish... and I love me some rock opera.
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Leaves more desire for me.
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The album's title is 'Neon Bible?' That's right up there with 'Voodoo Polaroids' for shit titles.
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I think it's not official yet, actually.
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If the new album is anything like the songs they've been playing live, I think it'll be a little bit of a disapointment to funeral. However, my hopes remain high. How their popularity will affect my opinion of them remains to be seen, it didn't affect my loving of Funeral, but we'll see how this new album plays out.
And remember kids. Gryff is 100% correct.
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I just can't see it being nearly as good as Funeral, but who knows maybe they'll pull it off.
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How their popularity will affect my opinion of them remains to be seen
!?!?
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You gotta understand that nobody likes repetitive sounding albums so it's good to see a band change up it's styles in a new album. Whether it's for better or worse we'll see. Take the Blood Brothers as an example - from Rumors Laid Waste to Young Machettes they've switched it up every album and it's working out.
Hopefully The Arcade Fire can do it too.
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How their popularity will affect my opinion of them remains to be seen
!?!?
+1
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I was joking a little bit. Take everything I post in the music forum with a pinch of salt.
Remember, gryff is correct about this particular subject.
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See, here's the problem. It's been three years since their last album, and if they're just going to release a samey-sounding album, then why the hell did it take three years?? This is why I have low expectations for the new Shins album. Their first two albums were fantastic, true, but they were only like a half hour a piece and more or less the same aesthetic. Why the long wait between albums, then??
Of course, then you've got a band like Radiohead, who's release schedule can be termed 'glacial.' Since the release of the last Radiohead album, I saw them live and a few months after lost all interest in them. Maybe I just don't like them anymore, but I think it's more that I'm bored with listening to their stuff for the umpteenth time.
Yet more reason why I like a band like Deerhoof, who've consistently released SOMETHING once a year for however long they've been together.
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I become apathetical about most bands the very instance they become popular.
This happens to me too, to a certain degree. But sometimes i'm left wondering how much popular is too popular...The Arcade Fire was recently namedropped in a sitcom with Seth Green, and even though i still like them, i'd like them more if they had remained unknown. Call it hipsterism, but really, seeing that episode was just like watching that Mike Patton thing repeat itself.
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Well, that's to be expected. He's not God, you know.
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WTH did Gryff even say, that hes so right about
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I agree with Gryff.
Those damn Jews ruined everything around here.
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I say we invade and take the region's knowledge and resources in the name of Jesus!
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You know, pigeons are like the Jews of the sky. We should kill them all as well.
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You know, pigeons are like the Jews of the sky. We should kill them all as well.
10 anal cunts out of 10.
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That's good, right?
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Very much so.
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Tommydski, it could just be me. Most people follow the "oh I only listen to the old shit" motto hence why I like switching it up, but the real independent bands change it up for a reason or atleast thats what I think, but then again what do I know?
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What the fuck, Neon Bible, that sounds like something Green Day would come up with.
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in all likelyhood, they'll be playing most of it here:
http://www.bowerypresents.com/calendar/calendar_200702.html
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Unless I'm very mistaken, the title, Neon Bible, is taken from the John Kennedy Toole book. You know, the fellow who wrote "A Confederacy Of Dunces."
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'A Confederacy Of Dunces' is my favourite book which has ever been written. Everyone needs to read that. I am currently in the middle of reading it for about the 5th time.
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Neon Bible remains an atrocious album title. I will expect it to sound like Girl Talk and be disappointed.
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Johnny, you posting on this thred proves that you are not currently, this very moment reading 'A Confederacy Of Dunces'. Go do that.
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If you're too lazy like I am to ring up to listen to it you can find it here:
You really ought to do the phone call, man.
The number is 1-866-636-6242-53 and it is kind of fun and yet kind of creepy.
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Yeah, but a lot of albums I like have genuinely bad titles. Like Spiderland. That sounds like some awful goth/metal album.
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Saw Arcade Fire play last night on the first leg of their world tour- In Dublin
Have to say they kicked ass- first part of show was all from Neon Bible, then the rest was funeral. Almost nobody know the Neon Bible tracks cause it just got released, but the theatre went nuts for funeral. The main male lead singer climbed onto the amps and ran through the balconys- until the security caught him and threw him back on stage. Follwoed by a triple encore.
I never noticed how sexy the female singer was until I saw her dance- GODDAM,GODDAM,GODDAM she danced fine!
One weird thing was the main lead singer kept mentioning George Bush- though it was hard to hear what exactly his opinion was through the crowd shouting- apparrantly hes from Texas or something.......... anywayssss
:mrgreen:
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They played the whole thing on the radio and, umm, I hope it grows on me? None of the tracks really stand out, I taped it but haven't bothered going back and listening to it again. I'm kinda more excited that I got Ben Folds' prepared piano cover of Such Great Heights on the start of the tape than that I got Neon Bible on the rest of it.
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Not to take away from the main subject of this thread, but what about a Ben Folds prepared piano cover? First off, anything on any type of prepared piano is awesome, and I'd love to hear his cover.
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Neon Bible is really god damn good. I was scared it would be either too much like Funeral or too different from it, but it's perfectly familiar and new at the same time. I think I might like Neon Bible better, come to think of it, because it's less emotionally exhausting than Funeral. Every song doesn't reach a huge, grand, majestic peak, which has always been my one beef with their debut.
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No Cars Go I think is one of the best tracks on the new album :mrgreen:
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They played the whole thing on the radio and, umm, I hope it grows on me? None of the tracks really stand out, I taped it but haven't bothered going back and listening to it again.
What did you think of the debut? Interestingly, i didn't care much for Funeral but it did eventually grow on me and is now one of my top indie albums
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To be completely honest, I disliked Funeral.
I like Neon Bible though.
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Yeah, but a lot of albums I like have genuinely bad titles. Like Spiderland. That sounds like some awful goth/metal album.
Spiderland is a goth/metal album.
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Neon Bible and Funeral are two of the first Indie Albums I have started listening to and I can definately see how you would say they have the same kind of sound, when I put it on random in Itunes I really couldn't tell the difference between the 2 albums except for a couple songs, either way both are really good music.
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Neon Bible is a fine album. I like some of the songs better than others, but there isn't anything that I feel the need to skip. 'Intervention' and 'Ocean of Noise' are probably my favorite tracks, though. It took a few listens for the songs to really sink in for me. The thing that I like the least about this album is the title; I haven't met anyone who thinks that 'Neon Bible' is a good album title yet.
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I find it very confusing that anyone thinks Neon Bible is a bad title. It's not one of the greats but I don't see anything remotely bad about it.
It must be people who are too young to remember the entire decade of silly-named things that was called the '90s. Pavement? Olivia Tremor Control? Christ, based on their name I imagined Neutral Milk Hotel would be absolutely dreadful. Elf Power? Elf Power is infinitely more silly than Neon Bible.
Hell, naming your band Final Fantasy is kind of insanely goofy, let alone calling the album He Poos Clouds.
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I like the hologram on the front.
And the flip-books. I like the flip-books too.
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I really need this album. How does it sound in comparison to Funeral?
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It has a grander, more orchestrated sound to it then Funeral. Songs like 'Intervention' and the new version of 'No Cars Go' are really bombastic and intense. Lyrically it's also a lot broader. While Funeral was very personal, Neon Bible is more of a political album, attacking war and the church, among other things. I'm fairly sure it's a better album than Funeral but I'm not entierly sure at this point. Either way it's really really excellent.
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What did you think of the debut? Interestingly, i didn't care much for Funeral but it did eventually grow on me and is now one of my top indie albums
I loved Funeral right off the bat.
Also, it looks like I destroyed that tape somehow. It played fine when I was making sure it was the right one, but rewinding it seems to have put this really loud high pitched noise over the tape.
But some digging turns up this: http://idents.tv/blog/?p=356 (http://idents.tv/blog/?p=356), which also free of the tape stretch my copy had.
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I would say that Neon Bible sounds quite markedly different from Funeral. It's a different kind of album in almost every way - and this is a great thing. Neon Bible is more of a conventional "rock" record - as everyone has noticed, it has a massive Springsteen influence. The first time I heard it, before anyone else even said "Springsteen", that's what I thought when I heard songs like "Keep the Car Runnin" and "Antichrist Television Blues" and "Windowsill". And I honestly think "Intervention" is one of the top 3 songs I've heard so far this year, and that's saying a lot because there have been about a dozen fucking insanely good albums that have come out in the past 3 months, or are coming out in the next month.
2007 is looking to be an epic year for music. For real. It may even rival 1998.
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'Neon Bible' isn't a bad title, but it just seems off somehow. I know the album has religious lyrics, and the cover of a neon book is cool, but it's just sort of...off. Funeral is a good title because it's so simple and so apropos to the album. Anything to do with religion is a loaded subject and there's a kind of awkwardness to the phrase 'Neon Bible.' It doesn't strike me as interesting or provocative so much as like something someone a hundred years ago, after seeing a neon sign for the first time, thought up.
It's also taken from a book that the author thought was too amateurish to publish. So then he wrote A Confederacy Of Dunces, killed himself, and years later his Mom published A Confederacy Of Dunces, which became so popular that some book company published Neon Bible against her wishes.
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It's darker and better with every listen. I am finding this.
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I just downloaded and listened to it, and its certainly different from Funeral. It's different in a good way though, its not like you wanted the same album over again, right? It certainly has a fuller sound with more "oomph". It also has bit of a Springsteen influence, which is totally ok with me because he's one of my favorite all time artists. My only beefs are the cover is pretty lame and I did not like the closer. Otherwise it's great and definitely rivals Funeral.
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'Neon Bible' isn't a bad title, but it just seems off somehow. I know the album has religious lyrics, and the cover of a neon book is cool, but it's just sort of...off. Funeral is a good title because it's so simple and so apropos to the album. Anything to do with religion is a loaded subject and there's a kind of awkwardness to the phrase 'Neon Bible.' It doesn't strike me as interesting or provocative so much as like something someone a hundred years ago, after seeing a neon sign for the first time, thought up.
It's also taken from a book that the author thought was too amateurish to publish. So then he wrote A Confederacy Of Dunces, killed himself, and years later his Mom published A Confederacy Of Dunces, which became so popular that some book company published Neon Bible against her wishes.
It's only taken from the book 'Neon Bible.' It's not a reference to anything else. This was always obvious but the lyrics booklet that comes with the cd confirms this. The book, however, is set in a rural southern town and features a young protagonist who comes to learn "the painful lessons of religious, racial, social and sexual bigotry, and comes to perceive the need to defend himself, a reluctant outsider." The book has been said to "chronical an awakening." If you listen to Neon Bible, a lot of these themes are present. While racial and sexual bigotry are not addressed, there are certainly religious and social issues addressed in the lyrics and an "awakening" to the evils in the world and a desperate outrage against them isn't an innacurate way to look at the lyrics in Neon Bible.
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While Arcade Fire never really *clicked* with me (i think they're a bit too dark for my tastes), I have been surprised by something with this new album.
I work at a local Barnes and Noble, in the Music Department. And the demographic that's so far been looking for Neon Bible the most? 50-60 year old Men. Not exactly the typical indie rock crowd, eh?
So whil ei don't really have any insight into why that's happening, figured i'd share it, maybe someone else might.
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I am actually rather glad they took this long to make it. It is an awesome follow-up to Funeral where I was expecting some big budget crap. I have been waiting for 3 years for this, and it is better than I could have hoped.
They make better use of the range and variation of instruments and voices, there is a lot more backup support than in both the self-titled EP and in Funeral and I particuarly like the new version of "No Cars Go."
As for the mentioned demographic, I dont find that surprising at all, frankly when I listen to this album, that is almost what I who I would expect to buy it given the content.
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I'm in love with this album.
I've been listening to it nonstop since it came out. I love the wide use of instruments especially the organ.
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I work at a local Barnes and Noble, in the Music Department. And the demographic that's so far been looking for Neon Bible the most? 50-60 year old Men. Not exactly the typical indie rock crowd, eh?
Oddly enough I was just speaking with a friend who said that his middle-aged dad had heard some of the record on satellite radio and loved it. Honestly I feel that Arcade Fire make the kind of honest music that can speak to people regardless of age, and it's interesting to see how the demographic of consumers of independent music in general is changing. I introduced a friend of mine who listens almost exclusively to top 40 and classic R&B to the new TV on the Radio album and he flipped for it. Perhaps I'm being overly idealistic, but given the absolute shambles that is the state of mainstream music (and what I feel is a renaissance in creativity as far as independent music is concerned) bands like the Arcade Fire can achieve recognition and be enjoyed by people outside of their pre-supposed fan base.
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Honestly I feel that Arcade Fire make the kind of honest music that can speak to people regardless of age,
It is good, honest music played well by men that people can believe in
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you need not worry about the singing
i will have that covered
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Funnily enough, my local paper had a feature on "indie bands making it in the mainstream." The three albums they talked about were the new Shins, Bloc Party, and Arcade Fire albums. My Dad read it and has all but demanded I let him borrow my copy of Neon Bible.
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My mom, who generally dislikes most music in the "indie rock" genre, and who listens almost exclusively to blues and classic rock, thinks Neon Bible is a great album. I personally think it's the best album I've heard this and last year, hands down, and my tastes tend to go towards ambient drone and instrumental rock. I think that's really saying something about how well crafted this album really is.
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FROM THE HAUNTED LOINS OF THE FEVER WITCH, KAI AND SR SPRANG
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Never say that my hair is like a gay Mexican car.
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I am going to use my first post on this fine forum to declare that "Keep the Car Running" and "(Antichrist Television Blues)" are two of the best songs I've ever heard.
Also, "Intervention". Hot damn. And the new take on "No Cars Go". And...well, basically the whole album apart from "My Heart is a Cage".
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I'm really loving Neon Bible the more I listen to it. It's not as immediately great and WOW like Funeral was but it gets better and better withe very listen. Keep The Car Running, Intervention, (Antichrist Television Blues), and No Cars Go are definitley the stand out tracks here. The problem with it when comparing to Funeral is that Neon Bible actually has so-so tracks like Windosill or Neon Bible.
Like I said though, incredibly good. It's definitley best of the year caliber, but I don't know if it beats Menomena's new one in my mind.
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I do not consider "Windowsill" or "Neon Bible" to be so-so tracks whatsoever.
The only track that is less than amazing is "Black Waves/Bad Vibrations".
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Neon Bible is easily my favourite album that's already released that I've heard so far this year. I think it's a good deal better than Funeral, to tell the truth. The organ on some of the songs is imense, and I think the songwriting skills have taken a big step forward. I've read a fair few reviews that call My Body Is A Cage the album's weekest song, and a mistake, but it's my favourite song on the album.
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I like this album! I have had nothing but an old stereo and Neon Bible for the past 3 days, and I have listened to it repeatedly since buying it. I like the hologram and the flip-books! (Although I'm not sure it was worth the extra $10 I payed for the limited edition. I flipped the books the wrong way for the first hour, then I figured it out.) Now I am listening to it on good speakers, and it is nice. Thank you The Arcade Fire!
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Since Kieffer posted a link a few weeks ago I have been obsessed with this album. I went out and bought it!
My favorite tracks are No Cars Go, My Body is a Cage, and especially The Well and the Lighthouse! I don't really know why; I guess it just strikes me as "classic Arcade Fire," what with that dang ol' time change and all.
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I'll admit Neon Bible(the song) is growing on me alot since I first heard it, but I just can't get in to Windowsill. Oh and Black Wave/Bad Vibrations is one of my favorites as well.
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Two things:
1) This is definitely the best album of '07 so far.
2) I love every song on Neon Bible and actually think 'My Body Is A Cage' is a brilliant way to end the album. It's rare that I hear a great album and don't find at least one song I don't like or wish was left off.
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(Antichrist Television Blues) is really, really fun.
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The ending of that song angers me! I am expecting mooore, but it just ends!
IT JUST ENDS.
MAN.
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I actually really just don't like Neon Bible all that much at all. the working of No Cars Go is pretty cool. Intervention has hella organ. But.. eh.
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I don't know what to think of the album. Right now, my favorite tracks are "Neon Bible" and "My Body is a Cage". I need to give it a couple more listens, though.
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Where as with Funeral I can easily skip 'Haiti' and 'In The Backseat', the only track I've been skipping is 'No Cars Go', that's only because I thrashed the shit out of it on the Arcade Fire EP. Other than that there is not one bad song on this album. Favourite song though? Has to be 'My Body Is a Cage'. Goddamn that's some sexy Deep Purple sounding organ.
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In many ways I think Neon Bible is a *better* album than Funeral. It reminds me a lot of my reaction cycle to Wincing The Night Away. At first, it's a mix of "this is a new album by one of my favorite bands", "this is pretty different", and "well, it still sounds like them." Step two is "hey, this is actually really good." The third and final step is "this is the best thing they've ever done."
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I like Neon Bible more than Funeral, but it's not quite the best thing I've heard all year. Maserati, Do Make Say Think, Boris and Ghost albums are all slightly better. Even the new Jesu, actually.
It's the best conventional pop/rock album I've heard all year, though, definitely.
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Neon Bible is a good album, but vocally it's a bit repetitive and it doesn't stand out nearly as much as Funeral.
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I like Neon Bible more than Funeral, but it's not quite the best thing I've heard all year. [The] Do Make Say Think [album is] slightly better.
I don't know if I agree with that. Don't get me wrong, I love Do Make Say Think. In fact they are in my top 5 favorite bands I'd say. But this new album, while very good, is probably their weakest, excluding thier first. Now it certainly has a lot of really great songs and on its own I'd love it but I find myself comparing it to earlier DMST albums and I just think it's lacking a certain something the other albums had. As a result, I like the album less than I may have. Whatever the reason, I'm finding it a little weak and finding Neon Bible unbelievably good. I've heard a lot of this year's albums (modest mouse, menomena, explosions in the sky, eluvium, maserati, the shins ect.) and Neon Bible is the one I really keep going back to.
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I desperately want this album because I have played the shit out of Funeral. Reading this thread, though, all I know is that all of your parents are way cooler than mine. They haven't cared about music since they were like sixteen.
Seriously, my parents are just completely uninterested. It'd be pretty straight if I could get my dad to listen to Arcade Fire, though. Alas.
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Hey Darling, I gotta ask. Is Us Kids Know your favourite arcade fire output too?
The original 'No Cars Go' was perfect.
The re-recorded version made me want to puke. There's this one part of the song where my eyes sting and I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my heart and all my joints lock up and shit happens I'd rather not talk about.
"No cars GOOOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOAAAAAWWOOOAAAAAH!"
I gave Neon Bible about 3 full listens before deciding to listen to some other band. But the mainstream press is calling it the best album of the year. The artic monkeys apparently had the best album EVER. So this new arcade fire album must be great, I've just missed something.
Yeah I'm skeptical. Still.
But I kinda like all you guys. So I'm gonna give this album a second chance to grow on me. Otherwise I'll go back to that old small sounding EP. The one that reminded me of being a child.
Eveisdawning? My dad is pretty interested in all the music I like, he just can't find the time to listen to them properly. I think that he liked the singles from the last cursive album. He checked them out after he heard I was going to see them. He thought funeral was 'Okay'. He thought the EP was 'fun, lots of potential'. He called the new arcade fire stuff 'Nothing special, only okay'.
Then again, my dad likes Keane. He doesn't know crap.
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I remember when I heard the opening stanza of Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) after buying the Funeral album just after it came out. Gods it gave me a shiver.....you know, that excited shiver of anticipation?
Neon Bible didnt give me that.
I am not gonna say anymore that it is a better or worse album...I think it is a great piece of work, among the best I have seen in a while, and I do love it.
As for all the talk about "No Cars Go," well, they had to rework it to fit with the rest of the album. Love it or hate it, if they would have used the EP version, it wouldnt have fit.
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I still say:
Flipbooks=Best part of the album.
Actually, the flipbooks are in a close competition with "Keep The Car Running" but I think the flipbooks might be winning.
Unless y'know, we're judging on musical merit. Than the flipbook just has that little fwooshy clicky paper sound, so "Keep The Car Running" might still win.
On a serious note, for me, I actually think that the newest Modest Mouse that's coming out is better than "Neon Bible." Which might just classify me as "crazy" but I'm just putting it out there.
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Anyone think the start of No Cars Go sounds exactly like the Start of Rec and Play by I'm From Barcelona?
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I actually think that the newest Modest Mouse that's coming out is better than "Neon Bible." Which might just classify me as "crazy"
Indeed good sir, I'd say it does. In all seriousness though, the new MM is pretty good. It's just not Arcade Fire. And Dashboard makes me cringe every time I hear it. Literally cringe.
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But I kinda like all you guys. So I'm gonna give this album a second chance to grow on me. Otherwise I'll go back to that old small sounding EP. The one that reminded me of being a child.
I was almost certain that the universal consensus on the EP was "crap." I mean, "No Cars Go" and "My Heart Is An Apple" were both good, and I don't really like the re-recording of the former song either, but I still think Neon Bible is better.
People calling this one "Album Of The Year," be warned: Low's new record is really damn good.
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Quick side question on that note: anyone know how good Low is live? They're playing nearby in April or May.
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Indeed good sir, I'd say it does. In all seriousness though, the new MM is pretty good. It's just not Arcade Fire. And Dashboard makes me cringe every time I hear it. Literally cringe.
I actually kind of like Dashboard, but to each his own. But saying something like "It's just not Arcade Fire" frankly just doesn't even really mean anything to me.
They have one full-length album (edit: before "Neon Bible" that is). One. That doesn't exactly gaurantee that anything they come out with will be absoloutely godly. That's like comparing some new album to "A Bigger Bang" and saying "It's just not The Rolling Stones." I mean. Sure, "Exile" and "Let It Bleed" are absoloute classics, but just because it's the Stones doesn't say much about "A Bigger Bang."
Or say, whenever Foo Fighters came out with "One By One" and somebody might have said (And probably did say) "Well, it's Foo Fighters" just because the first three albums were pretty good. Even though that album was complete shit.
Basically, what I'm saying is, those two bands actually have more of a reason to have that assumption made. While Arcade Fire is really still a mostly untested and young band. Granted, I think "Neon Bible" passes the test. But still, going into "Neon Bible" and thinking "It's Arcade Fire. That's all there is to it." might be the wrong way to go about it.
So really... maybe I should be saying "Well... 'Neon Bible' is good, but it's just not Modest Mouse. And 'My Body Is A Cage' makes me cringe everytime I hear it."
See what I'm saying? In a very long manner?
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Okay. I'm back.
This sounds exactly like the arcade fire, they haven't changed or developed their sound at all.
If they had, the new recording of No Cars Go wouldn't work. It does.
Not all the tracks are particularly very interesting, but the (majority) that were are just as good, if not better than the songs on funeral.
The album is lacking the intensity in the performance that funeral had. This makes it feel more subdued. Imagine Win Butler belting out these songs live you'll soon forget about funeral. Nobody can argue that funeral was bad. Nobody sane anyway. But a perfectly good argument is that it wasn't very interesting. Simple songs, simple lyrics for the most part. Songs that have been written a thousand times before. This would be a bad thing if the arcade fire didn't perform them so well.
I prefer this new arcade fire album to funeral. I still think the best track on funeral is the acoustic one that everybody hates.
If you loved funeral, and don't like this as much, that's because you're just disapointed that the band isn't tearing their voices to shreds to sell it to you.
The Arcade Fire EP sounds awful. But I love it. JC, you forgot to mention 'headlights look like diamonds'. The best songs from that EP are the Arcade Fire's best songs. Save for that light one from funeral. It's worst tracks are no worse than the worst tracks from the full length albums.
The main weakness, perhaps the only weakness of that EP is that the production makes some perfectly good songs sound a little like filler.
EP: Some great songs, some okay songs, shitty production ruining it.
Funeral: One big block of simple rock songs that would be boring if anybody else was playing them. Impressive as a whole.
Neon Bible: Some great songs, some filler. Great songs better than Funeral's. Lacking in the intensity that funeral had.
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I think their sound has changed a lot. Funeral, I've grown to enjoy, but I still feel they rely a bit too much on bombast. On Neon Bible, it seems like they have chilled out a bit, but still find a way to make their music powerful. Win doesn't need to risk snapping his vocal chords in his higher register, and not all the songs explode into your ears. The organ can be a bit much at times, but I'm getting more and more used to it. It /really/ works on "My Body is a Cage", but its a little overwhelming on "Intervention".
Also, I really love the kind of feelings the name Neon Bible evokes. It's that beautiful hollowness and darkness, or a perversion of something that is considered sacred that can inspire some really good art. And it has here.
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I am really disappointed with this album.
And I will fully admit that it IS because the band isn't shredding their voices to sell it to me.
The songs on Neon Bible don't GO anywhere. They just sit in the same couple of riffs, stay within the same dynamics and when they build they don't build very far or to any particular place. Funeral was ENERGY. It was vibrant and attacked you and jumped all over the place. It was intense and fun and made you wanna dance around with your hands in the air screaming "I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO ADJUUUUUUUUST" at the top of your lungs. Nothing on Neon Bible makes me want to do ANYTHING. I just sit there and nod along mindlessly and am kind of bored.
I wish they had gone and shredded their voices to sell it to me, their passion and energy was what made me an Arcade Fire lover in the first place.
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I think their sound has changed a lot. Funeral, I've grown to enjoy, but I still feel they rely a bit too much on bombast. On Neon Bible, it seems like they have chilled out a bit, but still find a way to make their music powerful. Win doesn't need to risk snapping his vocal chords in his higher register, and not all the songs explode into your ears. The organ can be a bit much at times, but I'm getting more and more used to it. It /really/ works on "My Body is a Cage", but its a little overwhelming on "Intervention".
Also, I really love the kind of feelings the name Neon Bible evokes. It's that beautiful hollowness and darkness, or a perversion of something that is considered sacred that can inspire some really good art. And it has here.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Nearly every song on Funeral feels like it's in a giant fight for its own life and it gets exhausting to listen to too much. Neon Bible is almost compulsively listenable, an album with the same emotional heft and bombast Arcade Fire made their name on, but with more restraint and subtlety.
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I think their sound has changed a lot. Funeral, I've grown to enjoy, but I still feel they rely a bit too much on bombast. On Neon Bible, it seems like they have chilled out a bit, but still find a way to make their music powerful. Win doesn't need to risk snapping his vocal chords in his higher register, and not all the songs explode into your ears. The organ can be a bit much at times, but I'm getting more and more used to it. It /really/ works on "My Body is a Cage", but its a little overwhelming on "Intervention".
Also, I really love the kind of feelings the name Neon Bible evokes. It's that beautiful hollowness and darkness, or a perversion of something that is considered sacred that can inspire some really good art. And it has here.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Nearly every song on Funeral feels like it's in a giant fight for its own life and it gets exhausting to listen to too much. Neon Bible is almost compulsively listenable, an album with the same emotional heft and bombast Arcade Fire made their name on, but with more restraint and subtlety.
Indeed.
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Hi guys, I have never heard Arcade Fire before, But people that I trust say they are good. Is there an album that I should start with as a good introduction to them or something?
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Funeral is the place to start. Neon Bible has gone downhill in my mind a fair bit. Still a good album, but I look back at thinking it was better than Funeral and think I must have been crazy.
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I always found Neon Bible to be more accessible, so I'd really give that a crack over Funerals, but Funerals is such a fucking fantastic album you'll have to give it a crack eventually anyway.
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Funeral is by far their best work. Neon Bible is more accessible if you are in love with reverb.
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I enjoy some of the songs on Funeral, but I really can't stand the production on the River.
Erm
I mean 'Neon Bible'.
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The River > Neon Bible
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Neon Bible didn't do it for me. At all, really. Kind of like that new Arcitecture in Helenski album.
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Funeral is by far their best work. Neon Bible is more accessible if you are in love with reverb.
I have had sex with reverb in my dreams.
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A good introduction is that old old beginning EP? Mmmm, maybe not. If given a choice I think I would've begun with Funeral.
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With only two albums and one EP it's not all that much of a head scratcher.
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Except if you do it from anything other than Funeral you are likely doing it wrong.
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I <3 arcade fire! I can't wait for them to get their asses down to Sydney but Neon Bible is weaksauce in its album form. They (the band) seem to be stuck on the notion that they can keep reusing the EP's format. So after they use it 2 times and they then try it on Neon Bible the impact has become minimal and boringly formulaic. I found the best way to listen to it is by having it on shuffle with "Broken Window" and "Surf City Eastern Bloc" thrown in for good measure.
Instant Miracle!!!!
The album is now its own thing and not a darker, more baroque Arcade Fire EP!
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Win and Regine showed up at a Bruce Springsteen concert the other night.
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/video/bruce-springsteen-covers-arcade-fire-joined-by-win.html
Thought some people might get a kick out of this.
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I heard awhile back and thought it totally awesome. Pitchfork was overly excited and factually incorrect in their news post.
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I prefer the version of Wake Up that Arcade Fire did with David Bowie to the original.
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Man I didn't like Neon Bible very much at all but that song was probably the best on the album. Thank God for that video.
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I tend to like the first album that I hear from an artist the most so I like Funeral more than Neon Bible. Its good to see that other people share that opinion however, and it isn't just me being weird.
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I'm gonna break the mold and say I like them both EQUALLY.
why isn't that an option? :-D
But in all seriousness, yes, I like them both and see Neon Bible as a change. Change isn't necessarily bad, and it's not necessarily good either. In this case, I'd have to say given a toss up between the two, I'd take BOTH.
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Anyone heard Broken Window or Surf City eastern block?