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  • From: Baby Messy <bilboa AT baggins.con>
  • To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Arcade Fire. I'm not insane.
  • Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2007 12:31:08 -0500

I watched them on SNL the other week and thought..."this is it?...why
all the hype?" and I really thought I was missing something in my old
age. I mean, as soon as you heard Radiohead you KNEW, love it or hate
it, that there was something special there. So maybe I needed to dig
deeper, and through the magic of Youtube, etc. I tried. Lord I tried.

My fave CD review cite, warr.org, reviewed them thusly:

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (2007)
I wanted to get this warning out as quickly as possible: this Montreal
indie septet is possibly the worst, most overhyped critics' fave band
I've ever heard. I mean, at least the guy from TV On The Radio can sing.
Lead "singer" Win Butler has no range or projection - he sounds like Lou
Reed without the accent - and he's probably the best thing about the
group. Pretension factor is through the roof with turgidly deep lyrics
(title track) and pompous orchestrations (the pseudo-Springsteen "Black
Wave, Bad Vibrations"). Meanwhile, musicianship is beneath the
floorboards, with rote chord progressions ("Keep The Car Running";
"Antichrist Television Blues") and plodding tempos ("Intervention"; "My
Body Is A Cage") - the band members play a zillion different
instruments, but find nothing interesting on any of them. The two
passable tunes are the typically overblown "No Cars Go" and the uptempo
Franz Ferdinand-style rocker "The Well & The Lighthouse": they're still
worthless melodically but at least have some energy. (DBW)


So whew. I'm not insane. Drinks on me!!!!




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