The 100th Post!

This is my 100th post! For my post, I will review the recent Arcade Fire CD Neon Bible (2007). When I bought this disc, I was in the mood to try something different. A well intentioned but condescending Barnes & Noble salesman pitched a couple of different bands, most of which sounded pretty good (Muse, The Decemberists and some Gypsy Punk Band). But I decided to check out Arcade Fire, the songs I heard from them were engaging and the recent reviews described the current disc as Bruce Springsteenish. I played the song snippets at the listening station and liked what I heard so I picked it up.

Though I could hear some Springsteen in it (occassional rootsy guitars, glockenspiel sounding instruments, lyrics about cars and the night) I actually heard more of the Cure (low slung bass lines, post punk beat and depressed tone). To me. the more accurate description is that Arcade Fire is the Depeche Mode for the new age. Arcade Fire is full of gloomy guses. And yet these comparisions don't do justice to their original sound, a layered composition filled with strumming guitars, marching band drums, sawing strings and swirling synthesizers topped with quivering vocals. They are a unique sounding bunch.

Neon Bible tackles themes familiar to Depeche Mode fans, in fact it reminded me of that band's album title Faith Love and Devotion. That pretty much sums up this album, as many of the songs relate to questioning faith in religion (the organ drenched"Intervention") and other's faith as well (the Joe Simpson potshot "Antichrist Television Blues"). The album follows almost a concept album theme, starting with a desperate search for identity ("Black Mirror" and "Keep The Car Running"). The search leads to what the Fire perceive as empty promises of salvation ("Intervention" and "Neon Bible") and seeing fault in other's faith ("Antichrist" and "Windowsill"). It ends with an unresolved feeling on the dirge like "My Body Is A Cage".

Neon Bible won't win awards for feel good disc of the year, but the heady mix of inventive arrangements and mope rock is convincing and very listenable. The real classic tune here is "No Cars Go", it plays like Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" on speed. While Neon Bible isn't Born To Run, it's a better piece than the Killer's copy by numbers approach to "When We Were Young". So, if you're in the mood for the 21st century Depeche Mode, check out Arcade Fire!

Sooo Inconvenient

This past weekend I watched two films, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Aaron Eckert's Thank You for Smoking (2006). I didn't intend to watch these movies back to back, but they ended up being perfect bookends to each other thematically.

Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth basically states that Global Warming is not a theory, it's real and causing an increasing threat to mankind. Gore makes a strong case, pointing to an increase in natural disasters and dramatic charts that all show an increase in temperature over a span of time. Intercut are bits about what motivates Al to change the world-it all makes for a great election promo except...he's not running for anything.

One of the things Truth unitentionally underscores is the loss of power to uncharismatic politicians. If a candidate is dull and has no personal story to tell, the largely indifferent voting base will not root for that person. That's not to say I'm necessarily an Al Gore fan, but Truth does show an intelligent and motivated politician in the best light possible. But, even when he's talking about the end of the world with fancy computer graphics-he's still boring! As accomplished as Gore is, the one thing we've learned from the last two presidents is that we like guys who party hard. Gore's wife spent the 80's trying to end popular music, so there goes that.

But what was I originally talking about? Oh yeah, the end of all life on Earth. The end of Truth tries to motivate the viewer to make changes instead of disparing but let's face it-if this stuff is true then we're screwed. This doesn't mean the film wasn't inspiring, my wife and I both made some changes to try to conserve a little more energy and the environment. And then we found out you have to pay twice as much money to buy an energy efficient light bulb that can't fit in your lamp and still leaves you in a dark haze once it's plugged in. I know Al said Inconvenient but...dang!

Thank You for Smoking (2006) is a sharp satire about a fictional PR guy for the tobacco industry. Played with savvy by Aaron Eckert, Smoking shows a world where the antiquated vices of American life (smoking, drinking and guns) hire PR firms to spin all information to their side while they callously calculate their daily death tolls. Smoking does take their story a little too far that it loses some plausibility, but overall the movie is an entertaining joy ride of dark humor.

The two movies dovetail (love that word) to show the choice we are given in terms of what's good for ourselves. The real truth is that energy conservation, alternative forms of energy and other green things won't really take off until they are as cheap and effective as energy wasting materials. Or the planet falls apart. Whichever comes first. In the mean time, I'll play a modest part in change but have no intention of giving up the comforts of modern living.

Like the movie says, these are Inconvenient Truths. Well, I'm an American and I don't do Inconvenient. And when the icecaps melt and I have to take a submarine to get to work because my city is underwater, that'll be inconvenient too. I think I better brush up on my swimming!

The Shins and Radiohead

A week ago I bought The Shins recent release Wincing The Night Away (2007), the long awaited follow up to Chutes Too Narrow (2003). Chutes won me over with its lo-fi indie approach, pursuasive melodies and bouyant rhythms. At times a grab bag of styles, The Shins have an infectous sense of adventure in their recordings. After the success of Chutes and a big boost from the Garden State soundtrack (2004) there was a sense of anticipation for their next album.

After hearing the new disc, my first reaction to the CD was...it's The Shins in 3D! Fuller, brighter production adds to the feeling of professionalism on Wincing but does reduce some of their initial indie charm. The songwriting is still effective but not quite as memorable as past tunes, though to be fair it took a month for Chutes Too Narrow to really sink in for me. The single "Phantom Limb" is the song that stands out the most for me, a midtempo pop number with shimmering guitars and rumbling drums. There is a slight feeling of self consciousness to the album, as if it is trying a little to hard to sound like The Shins. This is probably due to the amount of hype preceding it, as the recording process was closely tracked by the media every chance it got. Overall, Wincing The Night Away isn't bad and is enjoyable to listen to but not as memorable as their past work.

An older disc that shows the heights modern rock bands can scale is Radiohead's The Bends (1995). The Bends has emotive vocals, clanging guitars and industrialized beats creating rock music that is both noisy and structured. Like most Radiohead songs, the theme seem to be alienation in the modern world whether it's dealing with "My Iron Lung" or "Fake Plastic Trees". Evocative, emotional and artistically daring, The Bends is every bit as good as their classic OK Computer (1997). A rare album that lives up to and surpasses it's hype.