the arcade fire, "arcade fire"

[rone]

Their debut EP manages to be wildly uneven with only seven tracks.  It features "No Cars Go", which was re-recorded for Neon Bible, and boy did it need it, because the original version features a drummer who runs late on about half the measures.  "The Woodlands National Anthem" is a terrible song, and there seems to be something about indie bands that are fronted by a husband and wife where the wife must be a horrible singer (see Sonic Youth for another example).  "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" is the standout track of this disc.  The EP was apparently engineered by someone with a massive hangover; the music sounds like it was played in a high school classroom.  I would only recommend this to major TAF fans.

Comments

[glaucon.livejournal.com]

something about indie bands that are fronted by a husband and wife where the wife must be a horrible singer (see Sonic Youth for another example)

but see Yo La Tengo for a counter-example.

ditto

[notr.livejournal.com]

Timbuk3, of whom I was momentarily glad to be reminded, only to learn that the new album listed on IMDB was not actually by them but instead by a mediocre world-groove gospel group.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i've run into that problem when looking for music by Ilegales (Spanish punk group) only to run into music from Ilegales (some Dominican Latin pop band).

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

I do sometimes wonder how a label can see the big one coming; it may well be that they sign a bunch of bands with promising but uneven debuts and only some deliver.

As I understand it, The Arcade Fire signed with Merge at least in part because Magnetic Fields were already there; how Merge found The Arcade Fire I can't imagine.

(By the way, a very indie thirty-something could do worse than to buy everything released on Merge.)

[dpk.livejournal.com]

I think it's simply that the labels don't much care exactly how good a band will be, since it's not as though labels pay bands much (net) for their music, and the label can keep the musicians in debt indefinitely until they are good.