Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Published in 2007

Wikipedia

AVClub - Best of 2007 #1 

Timely!

Yeah, I am writing this in the week after Arcade Fire won Best Album at the Grammy's, thus lending it a tiny sliver of legitimacy.  Also, the fact that the Beibs got shut out is apparently big news in the more annoying misspelled rants segments of the population, so there is that.  Threatening a young jazz artist for beating your teen heartthrob: smart!  (Also, this is much the same population that got so upset at the Taylor Swift thing, but now, since it is the white kid who got cheated out of best new artist, it's fine for them to go after the black girl.  Awesome.)  I think Mr. Bieber handled himself with poise and grace, and his fans are going through that awkward period before they grow shame.  Also, I didn't watch any of this shit, and I don't give a shit about it. So there is that.

Anyway, you know what is a great band?  Arcade Fire.  You know how I know?  Because once you put on one of their records, you'll find it hard to turn it off.  It has a sound all of it's own, and it just works. The songs are unique, interesting, and well done.

I actually hadn't listened to Neon Bible that much before this week, because I am pretty sure Funeral is one of my favorite albums of all time, which isn't saying much, since everyone ever loves that album.  You could prove that people don't, and I won't believe you, to paraphrase Ford Prefect.

This album is a perfect continuation of that legacy.  It's exactly what I enjoyed about Funeral, put back into another group of songs, which are spectacularly beautiful and incredibly well made.  The sounds are clear, the vocals are amazing, and it's got an interesting lyrical grasp.

The theme of the album is some sort of manipulative religious groups theme, but it isn't so overt that you can't just listen to the music, and isn't incredibly wrong.  The album, though, should be judged on the musical merits, of which there are many.

Remember last week, when I complained that TVOTR was flat?  There is no problem with that here.  The wash of sound is given a place and it is highly defined.  Your ear can seek out individual lines inside the whole with no problem, and you can even hear the major movements without any real direction.  The music is deep and the individual parts are awesome.

This is a band that I would love to just see recording, because I have a feeling that it is an incredible process.  I imagine beautiful music coming from a gothic monstrosity, new from old and this is going off the rails, I need to stop this.

It's actually somewhat hard to talk about this album because it is too good.  I know I say that a lot, but you people keep suggesting awesome albums that I don't have a lot to say about, because they are too good to talk shit about.  So I have to look for some way in, and that always seems like a contrivance and a dumb thing to do.

Neon Bible is, as with all Arcade Fire albums, not optional.  Get them, listen to them, enjoy them.  Be happy you did.  Thank me.  Name your firstborns for me. 

"God said to Abraham, give me a son."

Matt

Want to see some words about whatever you like?  Suggest something in the comments or on facebook or email me or whatever.  Also, the more comments we get, the more you will deprive me of beer money, thus depriving me of more beer gut, thus making me lose more money!  Give Phil Five!

PS. My album of 2007 is In Rainbows, by Radiohead, because.

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Published in 2007
Wikipedia

Of course, first and foremost is giving thanks to the person who suggested this album to me, both this time and the first time I listened to it. So, thank you Kristin for suggesting that I do a write up on them and getting me into them in the first place.

Queens of the Stone Age is one of my go to bands on my iPod. They are one of the bands that no matter what I am doing right then, I can find one of their songs and find something that will pump me up or slow me down. They have made some great albums, and have a constantly developing sound, that always is consistantly good. Their production values are always high, and their experiments are few and far between. I don't think I have heard a song by them that I haven't appreciated, and I find them to constantly have good albums. I'm a fan, and that makes it difficult to approach writing this from any other position but the fan position.

Actually listening to this album without my fandom in mind reminded me about how much I miss when I just put it on and forget about it. It's a surprisingly deep record for a band that is known for really driving rock. Lots of very meditative tracks, that are all over the spectrum. It fits together well though, for two major reasons. 1. It always seems like they are writing a song. What I mean about this is that they don't have the problem of figuring out where the song is going to go, or how it's going to get better than the last one or different, it's just one song at a time. This allows the parts to develop on their own, and you end up with something that has a shared heritage while not trying to connect too much. This is no rock opera.

2. Josh Homme has a voice that could melt the panties off a corpse. I think this one is self explanatory.

I actually want to justify that last statement. One thing that Kristin has always mentioned about QotSA is how sexy the music is. I agree, but every time I pin a track as sexy, she always tells me another one is more sexy. It's a strange thing. What we both can agree on is that the man can sing, and he knows where his voice is best. It's a strange breathe-y whisper that just can make some real cuts emotionally. The man knows how to make you feel the burning desire that he wants.

Actually, to go a little meta on this, I think that were I pressed into best voices of my generation, Josh Homme and Brandon Boyd would be two at the top of the list. They both are just great vocalists. And of course it helps that the band backing them up is so fucking awesome too.

Having listened to this album so much, I actually was getting a little bored listening to it. But then I was struck by why I was bored. It was just so good that I had kind of gotten used to how good it was. I was trying to find flaws because I was enjoying it too much. It's a good fucking album, and it fucking rocks when it wants to rock, and pulls back when it doesn't.

You want some great QotSA tracks off this album, may I suggest that you immediately try out Make It Wit Chu and 3's and 7's. They are two of the tightest tracks off the album, and they both are just fucking awesome. I hope later in the project to come back to some of the older QotSA albums.

Anyway, up next is The Black Keys - The Big Come Up, which I have never heard before.
Thanks again Kristin and I love you,

Matt

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Published in 2007
Wikipedia

First, I must thank Alex C. for suggesting this, it's exactly as eclectic as I expected from you. Your other request is on the list, but it's a bit further down.

You know what I'd love to do? Watch The White Stripes record an album. It must be a facinating fucking process, because I have no idea how they do it. Sometimes it seems like they have prepared these songs that have coaleced from the vapor, that are just these incredibly powerful forces of nature kind of songs, that make you sure that these guys kick ass more than anyone else. And sometimes it just sounds like they are tooling around, figuring out whatever they are playing as they are going along.

They have tons of Character though, and that is the word that would describe this album for me. This is not an album that you listen to and could think that anyone else was making it. Even other Jack White projects don't sound the same as the White Stripes do. This is an album that is permeated with the sound of the White Stripes.

One of the weird things about them is actually identifying what that sound is in particular. They used to be a rock band, or something like a rock band. But now we have mariachi horns, weird western country influences, and a lot of heavy guitars. Oh and some piano, some bagpipes, and weird other sounds. Once you think you have pinned them down, they shift up on you. They aren't just anything anymore. Once again, watching this process must be amazing.

I'm not sure if I like this album as a whole. Some of it is great, and some of it just left me cold. But I find that the good outweighs the bad. I think that for every experiment that goes off the tracks, they have two that usually hit well for me.

One thing that I will say negatively is that I miss when they were just a guitar and drums band. I have a weird enchantment with completely broken down simple bands, that cut it all the way down to two people, and I miss the driven rock of Elephant on this record (Another candidate for my first contribution is Death from Above 1979's first album, which was made with a bassist and a drummer). This sounds like a band that is growing it's sound into other areas, and I think that Jack White has trouble being confined to one sound.

What more can I say, I wasn't enchanted, but it's a solid album, that I'm glad to have added to my library, this one just didn't grab me and pull me in. There is a lot there, and a lot of good songs, but it's just not my cup of tea.

Up next, Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age
And they have a plan,

Matt