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| From | "Michael Bennett" <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire |
| Date | Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:52:59 -0500 |
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I'll step up to the plate here --
1. Modest Mouse -- I'm just starting to delve into their music, thanks to
an intern at my office who has been trading some stuff with me. I've
listened to the new album a few times and heard some stuff off of the prior
one. I'm pleased that a band that's a bit quirky like this has been so
successful.
The Modest Mouse songs that really float my boat sound something like Chuck
Cleaver of Ass Ponys leading a band heavily steeped in Talking Heads (Fear
of Music/Remain in Light era), not something I would have ever thought was a
ticket to the top. The music tends to layer just a bit of melody over a
mid-tempo groove. Generally, it's not a very 'pop' approach, though "Float
On", their big hit, is a terrific pop song.
I'm probably not the best person to defend them, since I don't know their
work too well. I do think that Modest Mouse is a good band, but not a big
Audities-type band.
2. As for The Arcade Fire -- first and foremost, they are one of the best
live bands on the planet. I'm going to see them in three weeks. I saw
their second Chicago gig ever at the 250 capacity Empty Bottle. These folks
tear into their material with joy and ferocity. There's lots of percussion,
accordions, violins, guitars and total abandon. There are lots of great
passages for singing along. This gig was right after the Pitchfork review
of Funeral, and the buzz had built. The crowd was totally into it, and the
band had so much energy that the crowd was into it from the beginning, and
the band fed off the crowd, who fed off the band in some form of a rock
perpetual motion machine (which, until that night, I thought could never
properly function). They topped it off with a sweet cover of Talking Heads'
"This Must Be the Place".
And the Heads are also a reference point for some of the best Fire tunes --
it is again a groove thing -- Remain in Light and Stop Making Sense are
great reference points for some of their most pulsating material. One other
reference point, that became quite clear on Neon Bible, is Bruce
Springsteen. Not only do a couple of songs have a chugging Boss gone
rockabilly rumble feel, but the Fire are all about the big music with ample
drama and over-the-toppedness. Heck, any band that builds things to
emotional crescendos fits. Just try to imagine Jellyfish if they were: a)
less poppy and b) had a real emotional investment in their music, instead of
showing off. (Okay, that's really just a cheap shot at Jellyfish, though I
stand by it -- my point is, if you like stuff that really amped up and
baroque, maybe this will have some appeal).
Moreover, they have some great songs. Indeed, for whatever is 'different'
about them, a lot of the songs themselves are pretty conventional. One song
that comes to mind immediately is "Crown of Love" on Funeral. For the first
few minutes, this is really just classic '50s style rock balladeering -- a
killer melody that brings home the devotion that Win Butler is selling in
the lyrics. That the song then moves into a string driven disco beat
breakdown is just part of how the Fire operates. One song that kills me on
the new one, is the album closer, "My Body Is A Cage" -- it's kind of a
gothic blues tune, performed with just the right amount of foreboding
heaviness.
Butler's vocals may be a turn off for some. Not for me, but for some. I
find The Arcade Fire's music to be about as inspiring as anything currently
out there.
Mike Bennett
Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/mrhonorama
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
Find out about Chicago shows:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/chicagopopshowreport/
>From: "Josh Chasin" <jchasin@nyc.rr.com>
>Reply-To: audities@smoe.org
>To: <audities@smoe.org>
>Subject: Re: Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire
>Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:52:47 -0400
>
>Thank you.
>
>No exposure to Modest Mouse, but I bought Funeral when it came out. It
>just didn't speak to me. I ended up trading it out on Lala.
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "AssociationWorks"
><AssociationWorks@comcast.net>
>To: <audities@smoe.org>
>Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 11:50 PM
>Subject: Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire
>
>
>Can someone explain to me the appeal of these two bands?
>I just don't get it.
>
>Jeff
>
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