Comments | rockmarooned: Rock + roll progress report, spring semester 07

rockmarooned

Rock + roll progress report, spring semester 07

May 15, 2007 11:57

Lots of passing grades this year but few overachievers so far.

Arcade Fire
Last Album: Their first, the awesome Funeral, one of those albums that would've been in my top two or three of the year had I actually listened to it the year it actually came out.
This Album: I admit it: Neon Bible isn't as good as Funeral. The lyrics strive to face ( Read more... )

palomar, arcade fire, album round-ups, fountains of wayne

Comments 5

sortahuman May 16 2007, 02:55:10 UTC

My take (like you asked ( ... )

rockmarooned May 16 2007, 03:28:51 UTC

Ooh, yeah, "Strapped for Cash" is good -- love that Billy Joel-ish "ack-ack-ack-ack." But I don't really get their weird obsession with hippie culture. Sometimes I think they're making fun of it and sometimes I think they're half-buying into it. Like on Utopia Parkway there's "Go, Hippie" which is this really sharp character song, good job. Then on Managers they have "Peace and Love," which may or may not be sarcastic (I usually don't think their songs are sarcastic but this one would otherwise be so meaningless that I assumed it probably was)... and now "Planet of Weed," which, again, sounds like it might be sarcastic or that they might be indulging their hippie side. But if they are being sarcastic, they aren't saying anything very incisive about pothead culture. And if they are trying to be hippies, they're not doing it a very convincing job. I find that whole situation very odd.

Let me know what you think of Bjork when you get to it..

Bjork technik4 May 18 2007, 15:32:56 UTC

Hey, the only album I got off your list was Bjork's. I like it, though not as much as Post, Homogenic, and Vespertine. I think it's a little more listenable than Medulla, but not as ambitious. I mean, some of the songs are really simplistic, which I don't think is a bad thing, but they just don't have the relistenability of some of her older stuff.

That said, I still like it and she still comes up with some good lines and music that ultimately doesn't sound quite like anything else.

Re: Bjork rockmarooned May 18 2007, 15:35:20 UTC

Yeah, even her weaker stuff always has high points. I actually really dislike Vespertine, probably more than any of her other albums... but I can pick out good songs from it nonetheless. You might enjoy Arcade Fire.

Re: Bjork technik4 May 18 2007, 15:58:03 UTC

I've been recommended Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse many many times, but I don't really like either band (maybe a song or 2 from MM, nothing from Arcade Fire really resonates).

I put Vespertine on before I fell asleep for like a year, so it always makes me tired, but I still like some of the songs (and concepts) a lot. It was different enough from Homogenic to make me happy, but still bjork enough that it felt like a sequel.