Rave's Raves Blog

Arcade Fire will brighten the rest of 2010

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs…Detailed reviews are sprouting up everywhere, so let me simply say I feel this is damn good and that I’m liking it better all the time. It’s easily the most anticipated album of summer and might hold that crown for all of 2010.  People really root for these guys. No band has influenced more musicians over the past decade than Arcade Fire.  I’ve written about the immense pressure these guys probably felt while writing and recording.  The Suburbs might not quite match Funeral or Neon Bible, but it gives Arcade Fire an iconic trio of releases.  As they are one of the world’s finest live bands, their tour will be a titanic success.  Many of these new songs will sound amazing in concert.  When a journalist wrote after a recent gig that the new stuff didn’t sound like the band’s imitators, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.  Three of the first four leaked songs were more straight forward and didn’t feature much of the AF uniqueness we know and love.  “We Used to Wait'” was the most inventive, and I found it interesting that song became the UK single while basic rocker “Ready to Start” was selected here in the USA.  Had the band become solid but uninspired?  The full-length contains more formula-sounding music than I’d wished for, but it’s a relief to know they didn’t fully desert the astonishing instrumentation that makes them special.  I wonder if advancing the more formula songs was an effort to mess with us, or if it just happened that way.  I’m really liking “We Used to Wait”, “Swamp II”, and “Rococo”.

Best Coast—Crazy For You and Wavves—King of the Beach…Not only are these two of the most buzzed-about new albums, but they feature LA-based artists who share a lo-fi 60’s vibe.  Best Coast(BC) leader Bethany Cosentino and Wavves king Nathan Williams are also a romantic pair, and I would have loved to have been in on their early chats about 60’s artists they love.  Interesting that Pitchfork gave both albums an 8.4.  How’s that for neutrality?  BC has a real girl group feel while Wavves has a harder party band sound that also hits on Green Day-type 90’s surf punk.  Both albums exude the concept of endless summer, and I’m all for anything new that keeps the 60’s sound fresh and current.  Check-out BC tracks “Boyfriend”, “Crazy For You” and “Our Deal”.  I recommend Wavves’ “Idiot”, “King of the Beach”, and “Baby Say Goodbye”.