Post by ryan on Jun 29, 2005 2:19:57 GMT -5
Jeff and I had a short conversation about The Arcade Fire and their album, Funeral, earlier today, under a different thread. I said I thought they were the best new band in the past year, if not the past decade. To which Jeff replied:
I thought the conversation belonged under its own thread, so here it is. Hope nobody minds.
So, to continue, Jeff, I also had a strong first reaction to the album. I reacted to it, upon first listen, the way I reacted to Pretty Hate Machine, or Siamese Dream, or The Bends, or Ten. It enveloped me. The last album that did that was The Meadowlands by The Wrens, but that album had more of a "sneak-up-and-take-you-by-surprise" effect on me.
I got a copy of Funeral from my friend Zach, who lent me his burned copy of the disk. I hate to pirate music from bands I like, but lately I've been too poor to gamble $15 on a CD I haven't heard. I'd been hearing a lot of good things about the album, so I was excited to have a copy.
I uploaded the album to minidisc, and the next day I took it with me when I ran to Wal-Mart to buy my groceries for the week. I believe I heard only the first two tracks on my way to the store, but I was already engrossed. The opening track reminded me of the Tears For Fears song "Head Over Heels," with its huge soundscape and modal refrain. The lyrics I could make out through my truck's coffee-can speakers really struck me. About the time I pulled up in the Wal-Mart parking lot, the second track, "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)," thumped into its opening groove, and I was hooked. I grabbed my headphones, unhooked my minidisc player from the car-stereo, and headed into the vast Commercial Wasteland that is Wal-Mart.
I wish I had the words to describe for you how surreal it was to wander the grocery-aisles of Wal-Mart at midday, listening to this album through headphones. As I meandered and collected items into my little cart, trying not to look like a bozo with my headphones on, I was totally swept up into the storytelling aspect of the CD. I felt the lyrics of the album reflected in the cross-section of humanity swarming around me. It was a very strange and happy feeling -- as mind-altering an experience as I've ever had, and I've had a few. I actually drew-out my shopping activities so that I could finish listening to the entire album before I left the store. It was a great experience.
After that, I played the album nonstop for probably two weeks. It was like a drug, and I was hooked. At work, I'd find myself humming a particular track. On my break, I'd escape out to my car, and listen to the track I'd been humming, and maybe a couple more. It was truly insane.
And then, as always, the album grew old to my ears, and I put it away. I haven't really listened to it since then. In order to keep listening to a great album, you have to be able to turn your friends on to it, and you have to talk about it. "Funeral" was already old news to most of my friends, and those who hadn't yet heard it just weren't struck by it when I played it for 'em. So, that's how it goes. It's such a strange thing when an album takes you over like that. I always wonder if other people have similar experiences with albums they like.
Jeff, you asked what I would call the band's vibe? Your suggestion, "The New Sincerity," certainly fits, but it's probably not what I would've come up with. The album definitely has a sincere quality -- that's something everyone I've talked to has picked-up on. And I can see where the "new" part comes in, because "Emo" was championed for its sincerity before it was gobbled-up by the mainstream and turned into a caricature of itself.
Maybe The Arcade Fire is Neo-Emo? Or "Nemo?" Ha ha! That's so utterly ridiculous! I don't know. I find it hard to take this "name the genre" game seriously. To me it seems kind of artificial. Sincerity isn't a genre, after all. It's just a quality that something either has, or hasn't.
But the fact that you would coin a phrase like "The New Sincerity" suggests to me that you've noticed a thread of sincerity shared by many of the best recent albums. And that's something I can agree with. Every great album in my recent memory, from Funeral to The Meadowlands to Grandaddy's Sumday, has shared an authenticity of voice, a certain lack of pretense which disarms me and allows me to forgive these albums their (admittedly few) mis-steps.
This new wave of musical sincerity is a cultural phenomenon, I agree, and I think it's probably important to recognize it as such. It emerged, no doubt, in the wake of 911. But is it the result of more bands making sincere music, or is it the result of sincere music selling better, because that's what people want to hear right now?
Ah, this is turning into a Pandora's Box. My point is simply that, to me, the "New Sincerity" thing might be a movement, but it's not a genre-label that could describe any band's music. Let's get back to the subject.
The question remains, how do you describe the sound of The Arcade Fire? I'm not sure a genre-label could do it -- but, to be honest, I don't think a genre-label really suits any serious band. Genre-labels are marketing-tools invented by the recording industry. But there is this label under which I file most of the music I listen to these days. It's simply "College Rock." To me, this genre encompasses every rock/pop band that makes music for both the heart and head.
However, it's been drawn to my attention by some of my close friends that "college rock" is regarded by some as the category into which bands like Hootie and the Blowfish and Matchbox 20 fall. Yeegads! Perhaps a new term is necessary. You know, I've always liked the connotations of the word "Independent..."
If they can pull off something as good as Funeral again they will definitely be in the rarefied air for me. I am certainly rooting for them. When I first heard Funeral I felt the same as when I first heard Pablo Honey and Pretty Hate Machine--though I haven't liked NIN nearly as much in the last decade. Still, all of these acts made me think that something new was happening musically. What would you call the Arcade Fire's vibe if you had to name it? I've talked to Justin about "The New Sincerity" but he is rather skeptical.
I thought the conversation belonged under its own thread, so here it is. Hope nobody minds.
So, to continue, Jeff, I also had a strong first reaction to the album. I reacted to it, upon first listen, the way I reacted to Pretty Hate Machine, or Siamese Dream, or The Bends, or Ten. It enveloped me. The last album that did that was The Meadowlands by The Wrens, but that album had more of a "sneak-up-and-take-you-by-surprise" effect on me.
I got a copy of Funeral from my friend Zach, who lent me his burned copy of the disk. I hate to pirate music from bands I like, but lately I've been too poor to gamble $15 on a CD I haven't heard. I'd been hearing a lot of good things about the album, so I was excited to have a copy.
I uploaded the album to minidisc, and the next day I took it with me when I ran to Wal-Mart to buy my groceries for the week. I believe I heard only the first two tracks on my way to the store, but I was already engrossed. The opening track reminded me of the Tears For Fears song "Head Over Heels," with its huge soundscape and modal refrain. The lyrics I could make out through my truck's coffee-can speakers really struck me. About the time I pulled up in the Wal-Mart parking lot, the second track, "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)," thumped into its opening groove, and I was hooked. I grabbed my headphones, unhooked my minidisc player from the car-stereo, and headed into the vast Commercial Wasteland that is Wal-Mart.
I wish I had the words to describe for you how surreal it was to wander the grocery-aisles of Wal-Mart at midday, listening to this album through headphones. As I meandered and collected items into my little cart, trying not to look like a bozo with my headphones on, I was totally swept up into the storytelling aspect of the CD. I felt the lyrics of the album reflected in the cross-section of humanity swarming around me. It was a very strange and happy feeling -- as mind-altering an experience as I've ever had, and I've had a few. I actually drew-out my shopping activities so that I could finish listening to the entire album before I left the store. It was a great experience.
After that, I played the album nonstop for probably two weeks. It was like a drug, and I was hooked. At work, I'd find myself humming a particular track. On my break, I'd escape out to my car, and listen to the track I'd been humming, and maybe a couple more. It was truly insane.
And then, as always, the album grew old to my ears, and I put it away. I haven't really listened to it since then. In order to keep listening to a great album, you have to be able to turn your friends on to it, and you have to talk about it. "Funeral" was already old news to most of my friends, and those who hadn't yet heard it just weren't struck by it when I played it for 'em. So, that's how it goes. It's such a strange thing when an album takes you over like that. I always wonder if other people have similar experiences with albums they like.
Jeff, you asked what I would call the band's vibe? Your suggestion, "The New Sincerity," certainly fits, but it's probably not what I would've come up with. The album definitely has a sincere quality -- that's something everyone I've talked to has picked-up on. And I can see where the "new" part comes in, because "Emo" was championed for its sincerity before it was gobbled-up by the mainstream and turned into a caricature of itself.
Maybe The Arcade Fire is Neo-Emo? Or "Nemo?" Ha ha! That's so utterly ridiculous! I don't know. I find it hard to take this "name the genre" game seriously. To me it seems kind of artificial. Sincerity isn't a genre, after all. It's just a quality that something either has, or hasn't.
But the fact that you would coin a phrase like "The New Sincerity" suggests to me that you've noticed a thread of sincerity shared by many of the best recent albums. And that's something I can agree with. Every great album in my recent memory, from Funeral to The Meadowlands to Grandaddy's Sumday, has shared an authenticity of voice, a certain lack of pretense which disarms me and allows me to forgive these albums their (admittedly few) mis-steps.
This new wave of musical sincerity is a cultural phenomenon, I agree, and I think it's probably important to recognize it as such. It emerged, no doubt, in the wake of 911. But is it the result of more bands making sincere music, or is it the result of sincere music selling better, because that's what people want to hear right now?
Ah, this is turning into a Pandora's Box. My point is simply that, to me, the "New Sincerity" thing might be a movement, but it's not a genre-label that could describe any band's music. Let's get back to the subject.
The question remains, how do you describe the sound of The Arcade Fire? I'm not sure a genre-label could do it -- but, to be honest, I don't think a genre-label really suits any serious band. Genre-labels are marketing-tools invented by the recording industry. But there is this label under which I file most of the music I listen to these days. It's simply "College Rock." To me, this genre encompasses every rock/pop band that makes music for both the heart and head.
However, it's been drawn to my attention by some of my close friends that "college rock" is regarded by some as the category into which bands like Hootie and the Blowfish and Matchbox 20 fall. Yeegads! Perhaps a new term is necessary. You know, I've always liked the connotations of the word "Independent..."