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arcade fire

“What interesting and unusual music are you listening to these days?” my Uncle asked me during Sunday dinner of bar-b-que and beans.

Good question.

I may be falling into that mid-30s rut where your musical tastes are locked into the bands you loved in college and shortly thereafter (or just straight through college, depending on how long it took you) Following in that thread, The Arcade Fire just released a new album entitled, appropriately for our current situation The Suburbs.

I don’t own it yet, I’m having a quick internal debate about whether I should buy the MP3s on Amazon for $3.99 or if I should order the Vinyl + Digital Download direct from Merge Records.

Anyway, say what you will about Pitchfork, they just nailed me into a corner with this observation in their review of The Suburbs:

This is another 2010 example of a Boss-indebted band (see also: the National and Titus Andronicus) making epic outpourings of modern disillusionment and disappointment for people who can commiserate and return to fretting about their jobs and bank accounts once the house lights go up. But just because the concerns of The Suburbs are at times mundane, that makes them no less real. And that Arcade Fire can make such powerful art out of recognizing these moments makes our own existences feel worthy of documentation. By dropping Neon Bible’s accusatory standpoint, The Suburbs delivers a life-affirming message similar to Funeral’s: We’re all in this together.

I love the National! And who is this Titus Andronicus?

Guilty as charged.

Update: I’ve purchased the MP3s. Instant gratification. Merge’s store appears to be down at the moment and I didn’t want to wait to find out how much the vinyl is.

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