Arcade Fire | Buy Reflektor October 29

“Afterlife,” Arcade Fire’s most recent preview track from their forthcoming album Reflektor, is dancey and depressing and haunting and catchy all in the same earful. It’s a whirling blender of emotion, morbidity and youthful hope in a way ever so characteristic of Win Butler and company. It seeks for the deeper meaning of life and fumbles desperately for a greater significance like a depressed teenager making sense of his suburban surroundings. While this might be true of almost all of their music up to this point, there is something almost foreign about “Afterlife”-otherworldly even.

The Canadian seven-piece is set to release Reflektor in a week and though they’ve provided their fan base with a slew of previews on television talkshows and the like, “Afterlife” and the title track are the only studio recorded songs to have been officially released thus far; sporting similar sentiments. They’re the kind of songs that make perfect sense if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics (which often contradict the bouncy and energetic melodies). Speaking of lyrics: lyrical master and recording genius James Murphy–the brain behind LCD Soundsystem–is confirmed to have produced three or more songs off the album. With so many great musical minds in collaboration, it’s almost as though Reflektor has no choice but to be a top contender for album of the year. Check the single “Reflektor” after the jump.

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It’s summer so basically that means that I am committed to two things: Keeping up with the Kardashians and digging for choonz. Just kidding about that first thing. Music being an obsession of mine, in the summer time I often find myself spending hours scouring the internet for new bands/artists/one-hit wonders. I stumbled across this song yesterday. By now, Canadian natives Arcade Fire ought to be a trusted household name. Despite post-Grammy-victory haters, they continue to do what they do best: make awesome music. They recently released two new singles as a sort of extension to The Suburbs and they’re both pretty good. I’ve linked Culture War below. Check it out.

Culture War

12FV

Although I’m sorry to have had to push the YOLO list to today, I’m pretty glad I did. Last night marked a milestone for indie music. If you haven’t heard already, Arcade Fire took the award for Album of the Year at the 53rd Annual Grammy’s beating Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Lady Antebellum! It took awhile for the magnitude of this to hit me, but the top40s music world just took sharp turn towards open mindedness. I only wish they chose more approachable songs to play to that crowd (i.e. The Suburbs). I’m excited to see where music goes in the coming years and even moreso to see Arcade Fire perform a headlining set at Coachella! If you want to see my post on them with my favorite songs, go here. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to the YOLO mentions this week, because I stumbled on some quality tunes. Here’s to 30 weeks! #proudofmyself #nottwitter

-Skinny Genes

YOLO30

Click here to grab them all.

Arcade Fire – Keep The Car Running (Indie Rock)
Breakbot – Please Don’t (French House)
The Strokes – Under Cover of Darkness (Rock)
Empire of the Sun – We Are the People (TGIK Remix) (Electronic/Indie)
The Killers – Smile Like You Mean it [TGIK’s broken heart mix] (Electronic Indie)
Dada Life – White Noise Red Meat (No Body’s Moombahton Remix) (Electronic/Moombatohn)
Tame Impala – Solitude Is Bliss (Psychedelic Rock)

YOLO Mentions bring attention to special
songs featured in that week’s YOLO List. Get the latest list here!

It’s not often you come across a band with the same effect or level of straight epicness as Arcade Fire. Birthed out of Montreal, Arcade Fire is filled to the brim with seven members: two of whom are husband and wife (which lead the group) and the husband’s brother. A true family affair of talent and passion. The instruments they use consist of the guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy.

Damn, I gotta let that soak in for a minute…another thing is, they are all multi-instrumentalist. So they play whatever they want whenever they want, and sing! Their debut album Funeral definitely ranks among my favorite albums of all time. From beginning to finish it’s probably the most well put together piece in my collection. It has the “conceptual album” feel where you need to listen to the whole thing through to get the full effect, but each track is an individual masterpiece. I’m just hoping that they actually make it on the Coachella bill, because I feel like their live show would be more than just a concert. I feel like it would be a display where music meets theater, but not so much as a musical. I have to be a part of it one of these days.

-Skinny Genes

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Arcade Fire – Wake Up
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Arcade Fire – Rococo

source

So, it’s Sunday, and I pretty much played out last week’s CD. I’m likin’ that we both win on these playlists, because it definitely makes my daily driving a lot more tolerable. A little bit of dance, a little bit of hip-hop, a lotta bit of indie/alternative. Ended up being a pretty mellow list, now that I look at it. You can sleep to this playlist.

Click to Download

Delightful Mention!

Artist: The Muddy Flowers
I’m proud to say that this band consists of a bunch of my friends from home (allllllllllllllllll the way back home……where I’m from). Call me biased, call me whatever, I know talent when I see it. If you’re into the lo-fi/garage rock stuff, there is no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy these guys. A melodic combo of instruments and personalities, driven by the passion of their frontman gives them a very unique sound. I had their last album, “Downer,” on repeat upon its release a few weeks ago. You can pick up a copy at their local shows. Here’s a vid

Flight Facilities – Crave You
I was hooked on this track right when I heard it. It has a Daft Punk feel to it. I’m not sure what it is exactly that gives it that feel, but I’m sure you’d understand. No other voice could be a better match for this track. Lyrics are very important, and for this song, they’re key. We’ve all been there. I tried to find more from these guys after I heard “Crave You.” For the most part, all they have is remixes of the same song. All good.

Artist: Arcade Fire
Ok so Arcade Fire‘s new album just leaked, and it’s been racking up most of my plays for the last week. Funeral, their first album, is definitely one of my top 5 most played. Neon Bible, their second, never really caught on for me. The two tracks are my favorites off The Suburbs so far. I’m gonna leave the rest to BBC (full article):

“…The Suburbs is their most thrillingly engrossing chapter yet; a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. You could call it their OK Computer. But it’s arguably better than that.”

Your week just got it’s own playlist!