Neon Bible

[Cryabetes]

I guess it leaked.

hxxp://senduit.com/8f5a54

edit/yeahduff

[Yeahduff]

Been putting off listening to this because they were selling a song for charity (Intervention, I believe). But I don't know if I can resist this.

[Yeahduff]

Since you brought it up, what does everyone feel about Arcade Fire, anyway? Orc Pop saviors? Overhyped mediocrity?

[Cryabetes]

I was pretty much in love with Funeral for about six months (dec 05-may 06) but the self titled EP just seemed bland, real mediocre.

I think the band has a lot of potential.

but I'm not seeing it on Neon Bible.

[PortableNuke]

I like them. I don't think they are as revolutionary as some people think they are, but they are a solid band who deserve all of the acclaim they got for their first two CDs.

There are actually more highlights for me on the EP then on the LP. The stuff is just catchier.

I wasn't aware that orc pop needing saving. I just figured that it had it's own weird little corner of the indie rock world, and good albums sometimes escaped. I mean how do you measure them against the Starlight Mints, The Apples in Stereo, and the Flaming Lips. Then there is post-rock stuff like Tortoise, Stereolab, and then there is avant-garde jazz stuff. I don't really have any expectation of them, and their potential is mainly determined by which way they go. I may be totally off base with all this, but this what I come up with.

[Cryabetes]

Funeral sounded like if Godspeed You! Black Emperor wrote pop songs. I think that was the main thing I liked about it.

[Yeahduff]

They always seem really uneven to me. They have an amazing amount of potential, though, and the highs are really fucking high. Rebellion, Laika, Tunnels, Power Out, No Cars Go, Headlights Like Diamonds, those are all about as good as songs get. Better earned hype than, say, Wolfmother, I think.

And yeah, I meant saviours in the form of orc pop. Orc pop's doing quite well these days I think.

[PortableNuke]

It is doing quite well. It's not just for indie pop anymore.

Which reminds me, I didn't mention the Cardigans and Mercury Rev. I don't know there is a lot of stuff that has come before them, and it has built up to where they are now. I also just thought of AM radio from the 60s and 70s. Phil Spector, the Carpenters, that sort of thing.

Yeah, they earned the hype when they put out those two CDs. There's nothing that I'm really looking forward to.

[Yeahduff]

I'm not really up on my orc pop history myself. I just know lots of people seem to want to pit them up against The Decemberists, which doesn't seem to be a partiularly valid comparison.

[PortableNuke]

Neither am I. Those are just bands that come to mind that I would say are similar in sound, or have done something similar before.

I don't really see the connection there either. I kind of like pitting The Decemberists against Wilco.

[Col]

Funeral was alright. The thing that kept getting to me was it seemed like their songs would be at a slow tempo for most of the time, and the suddenly pick up speed and get really bouncy at the very end of the song. I'd keep getting excited with the beat would get faster, and then it just ends. It felt like the climax kept arriving but hardly had a chance to really breathe. Otherwise, it's not bad.

[Yeahduff]

The only song where the tempo shifts really bother me is Wake Up, but it's more the songcraft that I'm kinda lukewarm about than anything else.

I heard Black Mirror on the radio the other day. Didn't blow my mind or anything, but these guys work slowly on you. I feel the best pop music typically does.

[Cryabetes]

I think i've given this a good second listen- Intervention is pretty and the rest of it is not too shabby either. I guess it grew on me.

[Yeahduff]

I really need to give this another try, but everytime I go to my stereo/iPod I put on Elvis Costello or PJ Harvey instead.

But yeah, Intervention is great. No Cars Go might be my favorite Arcade Fire song.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Neon Bible is okay. I don't listen to it very much though. It kinda of bores me for some reason.

[Yeahduff]

Maybe cuz it's Spring, or maybe because of the Springsteen influence, but yeah, I just don't wanna listen to it.

[Cryabetes]

yea the arcade fire is much more of a winter band.
Let's just listen to animal collective and piss the summer away.

[PortableNuke]

It's not significantly different from other stuff they've done. They could have gone the Low or Spiritualized route and created a really sparse record that verged on being a sadcore Brian Eno.

They also tried to be political, but they seem like the kind of people who would dogmatically pound away about how eating meat is murder, even though I know this and really just do like hamburgers. This really hampers their song writing. It's not bad to be political, but it is bad to be ham handed about it. The key is to be clever about, anyone can write a protest song, 60's folk anyone, and they rarely are. Windowsill comes the closest to this, but Win loses it about midway through and the song gets trite.

The inclusion of No Cars Go, which was a great song on their EP, makes me think that they are really out of ideas. This version isn't significantly different then the other version, except it's somehow worse. I was thinking they would have a different version, like a much more slowed down and stripped version with more orchestral touches, but no it's like a not so great cover.

I keep thinking this is what the Cardigans were aiming for on their last couple of albums. Except that the Swedes are better at pop arrangements.

Anyway... The Amps are my summer band.

[Yeahduff]

Yes, Summer's a fine time to do psychotropic drugs.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Yeah, if you're gonna have a message or agenda, being subtle is the best way to go. The E.P. version of No Cars go sounds better to me too. I can't seem to find my cd though.

I don't really have a summer band. Though I guess Piebald beings back some nice sunny memories. As does Elvis Costello. Though I can't listen to Alibi without cracking up now. God I want some cheese....