Arcade Fire - Everything Now (July 28,2017) Album • Page 18

To be clear, it may seem like it but I'm not trying to convince anyone to like a record they don't enjoy. I've just thought reaction to the record was interesting. My initial reaction was also lukewarm. I think after seeing them live, watching the beats one interview with Win and repeated listens have given me a new perspective on the record. Especially Win's thoughts on "Peter Pan" and "Signs of Life".

"Chemistry" still not my thing though.

 

Well, I'm not saying that really. I think the record is legitimately mediocre as I'm sure many of the reviewers do. When a band tries to make a statement, it puts more pressure on the material to be good or even great, and when it's not they've opened themselves up to an additional angle of being mocked. I'm all for bombast every now and then, but it raises the stakes. I'd argue doubly so for AF, where it annoyed most rather than entertained.

Also, fwiw, I'd probably agree with the hate being over the top. Imo this record is mediocre, but Chemistry aside not any more so than the many not good songs on Reflektor (and Suburbs, but I know I've got a lot less support on that one and I'm not looking for a 2009 debate).

 

There's an arrogance to the kind of rollout they tried. They really called attention to themselves and the theme of the record (I feel like the "Infinite Content" tracks are only on here to justify the rollout), which meant there was a lot more scrutiny for those things. If you're going to try that approach, I think you really need to be able to back it up with songs that have something to say, but I think the "statement" of the record ended up being pretty shallow and not really going that far beyond what was implied by the rollout. Plus, I feel like they kind of adopted a persona where they were almost judging/mocking their fans in a really cynical, "this is your fault" kind of way.

 

i never got the finger pointing vibe everyone was accusing them of. I feel like the title track is a perfect representation, never felt like they absolved themselves. I feel like the "Creature Comfort" lyrics have been misinterpreted from day one by a number of critics. "Infinite Content" I also see as finger pointing towards streaming services, not the consumer or fans. I find that track to be pretty spot on, even more so with Disney in line to launch yet ANOTHER stand alone streaming service. The beat you over the head repitition of the lyrics fits thematically....maybe it's because I'm getting older, but stretching a dollar so many ways is getting comical. Win stated that "Signs of Life" is autobiographical and that "Peter Pan" is about his dying father.


I get I may be becoming a total AF apologist. But I just see the other side of the coin on this one.

 

Looks like this is gonna take a MASSIVE drop in sales. Last week it debuted at #1......this week it may drop to #40. That's at least according to HitsDailyDouble.

 

Don't worry everyone, this whole Arcade Fire music critic debate thing will become over soon when LCD Soundsystem drops and its just rinse & repeat.

 

I wonder how many American Dream review skeletons are already written paralleling it with Everything Now

 

I actually think Grizzly Bear is up next.

The public takedown of all my formative year bands is just a hard thing to endure I suppose.

Thankfully they spared BSS this go around.

 

The National will be fine tho bc they don't do anything that isn't perfect.

And every review of SWB will name drop every disappointing indie stalwart album of 2017

#content

 

This is true though. The National are perfect.

Arctic Monkeys are probably like fuck this, we'll sit another cycle out.

 

To be clean, I don't think reviewers straight up "lie" about liking albums or anything. BSS reviews are way better than AF reviews bc the BSS album is amazing and EN has issues.

But to pretend like there isn't an extra layer of gleeful snarkiness on twitter or anywhere online when it comes to AF or LCD compared to others isn't being honest. It's all very tiresome.

 

Hug of Thunder is probably my AoTY so far. So I agree.

 

They chastised the same type of person on The Suburbs but no one cared bc the record is so amazing.

 

I think I just find the "finger-pointing" narrative really weird. The album is pretty clearly about clinging on to intimacy and love in an increasingly cold world, which I find to be pretty earnest. And I don't think that's a far cry thematically from Neon Bible or The Suburbs, and certainly not parts of Reflektor. Lyrically, I mean, yeah it sounds like the same old Win Butler. And sonically, it's very much in the mold of Reflektor, which was critically-celebrated at the time of its release... I guess I just don't find it that different from a formula that was so lauded just four years ago.

I feel like most of the criticism stems from disdain for the album rollout, which was this weird world-building exercise in order to set the scene for the record which (clearly) didn't totally land. Frankly, I found most of it annoying. But even still, I think it's important to block out all that noise and just focus on the album itself. Otherwise, what are we actually criticizing here? The album itself, or the band for being annoying? Utilizing the promotional rollout as a justification for criticism of the album, particularly when the themes of said rollout have not only been misconstrued but then posited as the themes of the record, is more than a little problematic.

 

I wasn't crazy about Reflektor either, I enjoyed it more than the new one, but it still felt like a drop in quality to me after their first three incredible albums.

 

<Hits blunt> What if the statement of the record was intentionally shallow and wasn't supposed to go beyond what was implied by the rollout?

(I don't believe that's the case)

In all honestly though, for a band this big and five albums in, if you give me a new album with 3 or 4 songs to add to the live show I'm happy.

 

Strange.. Track 3 on Neon Bible is currently showing up as

"Neon Bible / Everything Now (continued)"

 

On Spotify, that is.

 

Man, I really love Peter Pan. Haha

This is a good bike ride album.

 

It's like he was reading this thread.

 

To be honest I don't think the issue is that critics aren't honest about disliking the album (although I do see where @radiodead is coming from in that some - not all - critics or even just people seem excited to not like the album. Like they've been waiting to be able to hate on AF.) I think the bigger issue I've seen recently is the way people have decided their opinions about an album before even hearing it. To an extent it makes sense - if I hear 3 songs from an album before it's released, I love those songs, I like the theme the artist has been laying out in their rollout, and I'm already a fan of their previous work, then it's not crazy at all to assume I'm going to love the whole album. And 9/10 times I'm right. The opposite holds true too. The problem I think is admitting you were wrong that 1/10 times. If I assume ahead of time I'm going to love an album, even when I'm disappointed by it it'll probably take me a while to admit even to myself that I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. And same goes if I like an album more than I thought I would. I don't know I think we're just too eager these days to decide immediately where something ranks - whether within an artists discography, on our EOTY lists, or just against other albums released that day - instead of spending time with the album and letting it become a part of our lives, and streaming is to blame. Considering I have like 99% of all the albums I would ever be remotely interested in hearing literally in my hand as I type this, I just don't have time to waste listening to albums that I don't think are great, so I decide immediately: is this worth it? But it's just not always that easy to tell.

Well holy hell I've rambled. I know this has all been said before, but it seems like the underlying issue we're discussing. Maybe I'm off but it seems like what radiodead observed was that critics had decided before the full album released that this was not a good album, so when those reviews came out, it did feel a little enthusiastic. Probably most of them really didn't like it - I don't think anyone's lying about their opinions. I just question whether they would even know themselves if they really did end up liking it.

 

I mean, for better or worse, what you do throughout the rollout matters. Sam's Town is still the most backlash I've seen against a band/album since I started actively paying attention to music, and while I think it would have gotten some of that anyway because of the change of sound, I think most of it was do to Brandon Flowers making arrogant comments that were kind of off-putting.

It's a similar thing here: I think a lot of people were annoying by the band throughout the rollout, and I think that bled into the album a bit. The core difference, for me, is that I think Sam's Town is a legitimately great album and this is not.

I also think "clinging to intimacy in a cold world" is only part of the theme. That creeps in toward the end, when the record gets a little more personal and a little less guarded. But overall, I think it's about how we're letting technology and the information overload define our lives and destroy human connections, and I don't think it's drawn in a particularly empathetic way throughout the first half of the record.

It also doesn't help my perception of this record that I got the new Noah Gundersen LP the same week, which explores a lot of the same themes with a lot more empathy, humanity, and vulnerability.

 

Don't mean to steer this good discussion in a different direction but,

I'm still a relatively new fan of this band. Funeral was the first record of theirs I loved and even that took MANY spins. Over the course of 10+ years.. I remember being so confused when The Suburbs was being talked about like a masterpiece because I genuinely disliked it. I love it now of course, and think it deserves all the praise that it gets.

Neon Bible just never clicked with me though. At a certain point I gave up on being able to enjoy it. A couple weeks ago everything changed though. I cannot stop listening to it. I might even say it's my favorite at this point.

It's crazy how music the ability to do this. It's a beautiful thing.

 

Neon Bible took the longest to click with me too. Love when it happens though, and it might also be my favorite of theirs.

 

There's really not a sliver of fat on the whole record. The 1-2 punch of "Ocean of Noise" and "The Well and the Lighthouse" is just so. fucking. good.