4 posts tagged “arcade fire”

Biggest let down:
Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

Honorable mentions:
The Almost – Southern Weather
Will Stratton – What The Night Said
Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This

The List:

10. The Rocket Summer – Do You Feel

Bryce's music is catchier, bubblier, and more emotion-filled than ever.   

9. Klaxons – Myths of The Near Future

Not much to say here except this is the greatest dance album of 2007 with some damn impressive bass work and vocal harmonization

8. My American Heart – Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather

These guys don't get enough credit from critics.  Despite what some may call a weak and unoriginal sophomore album, Hiding Under the Horrible Weather is actually a great step-up from The Meaning in Makeup, and it was perpetually in my car's CD player this summer.  Awesome drum patterns, strong lead guitars, and, well the vocals have always been amazing.  Plus, it's nice to have a young talented band reppin' Southern California

7. Shout out Louds – Our Ill Wills

Every, single, song, on this album is amazing.  I feel like the producers could have done some more work with track arrangement, but other than that it's an amazing sophomore album.  "Impossible" sounds like the Shout out Louds got in a fight with Architecture in Helsinki, and won... and I love it!

6. Against Me! – New Wave

Probably the most out rightly politically driven album I've heard in a while.  Brash, honest, and loud.  Just an all around solid "Punk/Rock" album. 

5. Blonde Redhead – 23

If I were to ever do acid or any sort of hallucinogen, this will be the album I'd do it to.  I challenge anyone to listen to this with some big headphones in a dark room; if you don’t feel like you’re getting transported into some different dimension, let me know.  And, that, just about sums this album up for me.

4. Anberlin - Cities

Wow, I totally don't know how I forgot about this album when I made the list.  Suffice to say, when I remembered, it bumped AiH off the list, and everyone below 5, down the list.  Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say; this album just means a lot to me.

3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

After the success of Funeral, I wasn’t sure what Arcade Fire had left up their sleeves…but, they really just took it up a notch.  I don't know how they did it, but it seems like Arcade Fire were able to fit about another twenty instruments into the mix of things.  Plus, I was a changed person after I saw them completely get a crowd of 25,000 kids to sing the melodies of "Rebellion" long after the lights went out.  Granted, Rebellion was off of Funeral, but this is my list so suck it.

2. Paramore – RIOT!

This album just reached Gold status two weeks ago.  It's also the reason the band received recognition from Dave Grohl, and the reason Hayley received and accepted the invitation to sing vocals with Jimmy Eat World, her favorite band growing up, at KROQ's Acoustic Christmas.  It's also the reason John Mayer is completely now totally infatuated with Hay--the band.  It's also the reason Paramore's nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy.  RIOT! has probably led to all the things the band has ever hoped for, and more.  Above all, RIOT! is just a damn solid piece of work that makes me so proud to have seen these small town Tennessee kids when they were still setting up their own equipment and re-wearing the same jeans and dirty baseball t-shirts.

1. Tegan and Sara – The Con

Five justifications:

5. The title track is one of my top 10 songs of all time; I was Married and Nineteen follow in the top 50, which is saying a lot
4. Chris Walla did a ridiculously amazing job producing the album -- making sure each song was mixed to perfection and that the whole album played out like a good book from start to finish.  To seal the deal, Jason McGerr laid down some amazing drum work
3. The whole album is a giant leap of lyrical and musical progression from So Jealous
2. Each track seamlessly coalesces with the next, even though the tracks were written separately and individually of one another
1. The album literally bleeds emotion

master of: synths, bass, guitar, percussion...

and I guess now we can add the english language.

thank you, will butler. <3

Long overdue + one recent review(s).  Not as comprehensive as I'd like them to be, but I don't really have the time or patience to do that right now.  So here's a list of pros and cons for all three shows. Enjoy.

Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Blonde Redhead @ Randall's Island
(+)
- Randall's Island felt like someone had pulled up-rooted the Indio Field for Coachella and plopped it down on a far off island next to Manhattan
- Blonde Redhead was amazing...in my opinion, showing up LCD Soundsystem (who were playing a homecoming show)
- LCD Soundsystem - Trials & Tribulations
- All of the Arcade Fire - the lights, the set, the special effects, the glowsticks, the instruments
- Drummer from Arcade Fire climbing at least a good one to two stories up on the side of the stage while drumming to Rebellion (and I'm pretty sure he wasn't wearing a harness)

(-)
- getting to and back from Randall's Island
- asian lady who threw a hissy fit at me and gave me the dirtiest look ever and said "uh, can you please stop pushing me" to which I, still cross-armed and very stiffly-stanced replied, "um, sorry but i'm actually not. there are 25,000 other people here who are all trying to get to the front of the stage" to which she replied "sorry, i'm a stupid whore; please forgive me" (last quote may be fabricated, but she did shut her mouth and avoid me the rest of the night)
- like Coachella, dust clouds everywhere

Stars, New Buffalo
(+)
- Mr. Campbell and his jacket
- " and his clear disregard for other peoples' personal space
- "The Big Fight" which almost brought me to tears (and let's be honest, that has only happened to me twice: transatlanticism at the wiltern round 1, and then paramore playing 'franklin' in south hackensack)
- Stars' set decorations - old paintings and both paper and fresh flowers (which they threw into the crowd); looked like a scene straight out of an old french novel (like I know what that even means)

(-)
- The girl from New Buffalo is very talented, but if she wants her career to take off she needs a real drummer and some energy on stage; she failed to announce her name until either the second to last, or last song. Also, I swear "New Buffalo" and maybe one more sentence were the only words she muttered throughout her whole thirty minute set

The Academy is, Armor for Sleep, The Rocket Summer
(+) 
- New Rocket summer stuff sounds amazing live
- Bryce never ceases to have an incredible stage presence; he could have put on the crappiest set, but I would have enjoyed every second of it if he still played with his intensity
- Even though the Rocket Summer is essentially Bryce's band, his band mates, especially lead guitar, all play with as much passion as he does.  Its like they really are a family, and not just musicians for hire
- TAI played a good amount of old songs, which was great because I really only like about maybe half of what's on Santi
- Beckett actually talked a lot to the crowd, something I've never seen him do in the past four or five times I've seen them play

(-)
- Armor for Sleep crowd not as great as I thought it would be; I guess the 14 year olds just weren't having any of it
- 16 year old girls who had evidently gotten some dude-bro to buy them some cans of budweiser before TAI's set
- same girls trying to push their way to the front to get in William Beckett's pants; one even yelled "I just want to touch him"
- same girls talking very loudly about how "all the girls in the front are ugly fat bitches" and don't deserve to be up by the barricade
- me not getting the huevos to punch both girls in the face

Alrite, that just about briefly sums those three shows up. Peace and love.

Perhaps some in-depth reviews of Paramore and Tegan & Sara to come in November. Hollerrrr

http://www.beonlineb.com/click_around.html

enough said?