This weekend I’m trekking to Minnesota with one of my besties, Steph, to see Arcade Fire.
As I’m writing this the weather threatens to get sketchy, but if the weather prevents me from driving to Minnesota for a SECOND concert this year, I’m going to be supremely pissed, especially since the tickets to this show were a bit more than the $20 I spent on tickets to the Jeremy Messersmith show I missed because the road to Minnesota was CLOSED.
Confession: I actively HATED Arcade Fire for years.
I could not get past the female vocalist because I had a background in choral music. She sounded so whiny and that drove me nuts; this sentiment coming from the person who loves Billy Corgan.
Side note, I should create a feature for “awesome bands I used to actively hate” because I’ve got a pile of them.
I’ve been listening to Arcade Fire on vinyl all week, thanks to Steph who’s given me a bunch of their albums. I noticed something spectacularly geeky about their LPs: They put a little snipped of looped noise / music right next to the label. I never noticed this before because my old turntable automatically moved the tone arm back to its holster when the record was done (long before the label). Since I got a new turntable (which I never blogged about because the rest of my setup is kind of embarrassing right now), the arm does not return automatically, so it will sit on the spot next to the label until you pick it up. For all you people (likely everybody!) reading this that didn’t get that, basically there is a little Easter egg of music on all sides of their vinyl that you don’t get if you have MP3 or CD versions of their albums. The designer in me thinks their foresight to add that bit to their LPs was beyond brilliant — it adds value to a product based on the product and its end use. It’s especially nice because the album has like 3 tracks per side, so you have to flip and change it every 20 minutes or so (like a lot of new vinyl), which drives me NUTS and is why I always prefer vintage vinyl over new vinyl if given the choice.
Sorry. That was a geek moment.
Now that I’ve come around and decided I like Arcade Fire, what I enjoy most about them is their complete artistry. They are not limited to music, and, in fact, they have a longer-length video for one of their latest songs (see below). They costume their stage presence. They’ve also worked with some really fantastic artists. Their last album, Reflektor, included bits by David Bowie and was produced by James Murphy (formerly of LCD Soundsystem), who are both musicians I love and respect for their artistry as well.
I’ve gathered some Arcade Fire tunes and artistry for you to check out today. Enjoy!
Coincidentally, I did not even include Arcade Fire in this week’s playlist for Not Your Dad’s Radio Show. I noticed a couple of other DJs playing a lot of extra tunes because they were going to the show as well, and figured I would back off because one thing I hate about radio is overplaying artists or songs, even if it’s for a short period of time (you’re welcome, Ames). Not everybody has the same taste in music, and I know no matter how much I love David Bowie or Michael Jackson, I would never subject the general public to a full hour of either of those artists (although I would love to!).
Here’s my entire show with banter, weather, and the whole nine yards. Another band I discovered I love this week is Sleater-Kinney, but I think that’ll be a post for another day.
What band would you see live if you could?
Bands I would love to see live that I have not seen (whether or not they’re touring, together, or even alive): Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Pixies, Queen, CHVRCHES, St. Vincent, David Byrne (and / or Talking Heads), Iron Maiden … I could go on.
