It’s been one year since the release of Arcade Fire’s breathtaking Grammy award-winning masterpiece The Suburbs (although I’ve listened to it enough times to constitute 10 ), and to celebrate Spunk are releasing just 1,000 copies of a very limited deluxe version. This edition includes two brand new tracks (‘Culture War’ and ‘Speaking in Tongues’ featuring David Byrne), an extended version of album track ‘Wasted Hours’, Spike Jonze’s short film Scenes From The Suburbs, and an 80-page booklet featuring film stills, behind the scenes photographs & album lyrics.
The 30-minute film, inspired by The Suburbs, was directed & co-written by Spike Jonze and co-written Will Butler and Win Butler. This companion piece to The Suburbs follows its narrator living in a suburban dystopia, trying to piece together fragmented memories and experiences from his youth.
Arcade Fire The Suburbs Deluxe Edition is out today in bricks-n-mortar record shops only.
All hail the indie underdog! Today is a good day for credible and creative art everywhere!
Canadian innovators Arcade Fire have beat out the sugary pop of Katy Perry (who we must confess to secretly loving), the attention seeking style of Lady Gag-gag, the rising crossover stardom of Lady Antebellum and the mass hip-hopping appeal of Eminem to take out the coveted Album of the Year Award at this year’s Grammy Awards.
I thought everyone loved it when the underdog comes through at the last minute to knock out the big league players and upset the apple cart of glory? Apparently not! Particularly when no-one knows who the underdog is (or at least a great deal of twitter users watching the Awards didn’t). At least there was a web-savvy genius somewhere who decided to capture the twittering of some serious twits who had never heard of Arcade Fire or that band “The Suburbs”. Hilarity ensues: http://whoisarcadefire.tumblr.com
I can’t decide if this hilarious or terminally depressing but I’m leaning towards ROTFL hilaaaarious! Ah middle America, you’re a large and special group. But don’t worry, you were in good company: I’m pretty sure Barbara Streisand had never heard of them either:
All hail Arcade Fire, the indie underdogs who were just introduced to a lot of new fans (and obviously some haters)!
Here’s what some fellow artists had to say on the controversy:
Rohan Sforcina – Oh Mercy “I find this is a great reminder of the divide between “mainstream” and “indie” artists. Just like my lack of knowledge of people like Justin Bieber when he came to Australia and caused all that hysteria last year, its great to see some cross pollination of the two factions. Will this continue to happen or will Arcade Fire simply become one of the “mainstream” now they have been exposed to the masses?”
Alexander Burnett – Sparkadia “Arcade Fire represent everything that is beautiful about music. Their live shows are like a religious experience without the preaching, their songs continuously grow on you and they have never pandered to the masses or industry conventions. That’s worth a Grammy!”
Jake Stone – Bluejuice
“I think it’s wonderful that a band like The Arcade Fire, a group whose career is long and seriously creative, can be honored and respected by the upper reaches of the American pop music scene.
I think the time has come for the general public to celebrate the artists we music fans and practitioners look to as the most influential of our time.“
We’ve trawled our offices for exclusive, signed and money-can’t-buy items to be auctioned off and raise money for the devastating Queensland Flood Relief and come up with some real treasures.
This is a rare and great opportunity to bid for that valuable signed album from your favourite artists including limited edition vinyl, CDs, posters and other exclusive items which have unearthed in the search for this much needed cause.
“ALBUM OF THE YEAR so far in 2010.. an incredible epic.”
- Fez (our fave Springsteen-broadcasting Promo Mgr), 27.07.10 2.12pm
“And 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.” - Mike Diver (BBC), 21.07.10
Having had several days to live with Arcade Fire’s newbie The Suburbs (did you attend our listening session earlier this week?), we’ve come back to our senses after madly swooning, wiping tears, and air-violining to tracks like to Rococo and Suburban War. It can now be confirmed with a level head that this album is one of the highlights of the past decade. And we wish to witness the opus live.
Fortunately, Arcade Fire are live-streaming their entire NYC Madison Square Garden performance globally on August 5. Tune into their VEVO channel on youtube.com/arcadefirevevo to witness the event:
The show is not just any old gig+webcam combo… we’ll be able to switch between multiple cameras to watch from alternative vantage points and front row to backstage. And if you’ve submitted your suburban photo to the band in time, it may be featured on stage during the show, which will be directed by film maker Terry Gilliam (he created the Monty Python animations and directed 12 Monkeys).
If you witnessed Arcade Fire’s last run of Australian shows in 2008, you’ll know just how integral the spectacular visuals are to the performance. Everything from Win’s glowing blacklight shirt to footage of a ranting television preacher at the summation of Antichrist Television Blues, were integrated into electrifying performance.
Speaking of live shows… all you festival-goers who were stuck in 6hrs of traffic on the road to & from Splendour couldn’t have missed this little grass stain…
Those two words send shivers down the spine of innumerable anticipating music aficionados worldwide. Grown men boast about how they wept during their last Arcade Fire performance. Some months back when the new album was announced, audible squeals of delight were heard around the office.
You will have heard bits & bobs from Arcade Fire’s third album The Suburbs on the radio and online, however today we’re inviting you to come and listen to the album in full, loud, and on repeat. With copies of the album. And free drinks.
To attend the listening party we’re throwing with Faster Louder in Sydney on the evening of July 27, enter the competition on FasterLouder.com.
I’m counting down to soaring string sections and mourning Win Butler vocals. Oh yes.
If you’re on twitter and not following @Coldplay or @LilyRoseAllen… well, frankly I don’t believe you.
@Coldplay has just hit 1,000,000 followers – more than any twitterati ex-USA – and they’re celebrating right now…
@LilyRoseAllen pulled off a huge twitter hunt around Sydney, giving away 3 pairs of tix yesterday – resulting in serious scuffles and one winner with a broken finger. That’s dedication… The Nova drive team hunted Lily down too, begging her to call in via re-tweets. Obliging Lily gave ‘em their scoop. All the fuss made Lily top dog on the @happn_in_sydney hashtags for the day.
WOW! For one week only – Pitchfork are streaming the new Arcade Fire DVD – Mirror Noir.
Arcade Fire: Miroir Noir
Not just another concert movie, this experimental documentary mixes live footage with intimate in-studio bits and bizarre infomercial-esque scenes to create an intriguingly unnerving atmosphere. The 70-minute film is featured in its entirety.
My most anticipated film of the last 18 months has to be Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are. Rumours of the whole project falling through and the entire film being re-shot have thrown childhood hopes and dreams of witnessing Maurice Sendak’s classic tale on the big screen into question.
But who cares about all that now!? We have a release date. We have a soundtrack penned by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. And we have this magnificent trailer featuring none other than Wake Up from the Arcade Fire (a newly recorded version no less).
Using Wake Up is almost cheating your way to epic-ness. U2 walked out on stadium stages to it during their Vertigo tour. It’s the song that breaks down audience defenses and has grown men weeping during headline shows.
Spike Jonze is also close to many hearts. His resume includes some of the most iconic clips ever created… Chemical Bros – Electrobank, Daft Punk – Da Funk, Weezer – Buddy Holly… the list goes on.
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