ALBUM REVIEW: Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

8.9, but that's besides the point.

Um, Arcade Fire? Your fans called, they found your cred in a discarded limited edition lunchbox half buried in dirt behind Merge Records. ZING. Really guys? Number 1 album in America AND United Kingdom? Come the fuck on! You’re supposed to be indie. Have you forgotten what that means? Do you even know what you’re doing? How am I supposed to chat up the barista at my local independent free trade coffee shop about the new Arcade Fire album if everyone on the fucking block knows what I’m talking about? So you played the Daily Show, huh. You think your some big fucking hot shots, huh. Well listen up, I know I’m not the only disgruntled hipster to say “Y’ALL SOLD OUT.”

Listen guys, you were like, the idols of our generation (and my “our generation”, I mean “my indie rock loving yuppie culture”). You were our lowest common denominator. If I was checking out some hottie’s facebook page, and he quoted “Laika” in his About Me, I totally knew he was chill. He was of my kind. You guys were like the safe word into the underground indie den. For example
A: “Oh, you like Neon Bible?”
B: “Neon what?”
A: “Fuck off.”

Versus

A: “Oh, you like Neon Bible?”
B: “Yeah, but like, Funeral was so much better”­
B: “Come on in, the vinyl’s spinnin’ and there’s beer in the fridge!”

But now… good lord, NOW WHAT? Arcade Fire, you’ve broken me. I want to love you, The Suburbs, but you’re making it dang near impossible. I’ve written poems, painted portraits, made miniature rock sculptures, etc about previous Arcade Fire albums. Now I can’t even stand to think that my stepmother heard about you guys on NPR earlier this week… and not even in one of those underground music spotlight shows, it was on fucking “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” I’m not even going to dedicate a full paragraph to explaining why The Suburbs is actually one of my favorite albums of the year. How the lyrics are cross-referenced among tracks, how the pounding drums make me tap my foot to literally every song, particularly while driving, how I get all choked up after Régine’s first note on “Sprawl II”, how the harpsichord at the end of “Rococo” makes me feel like I’m at goddamn Versailles circa Louis XVI.

The power and beauty of the interlacing songs mean nothing now. If I can’t awkwardly mention it to my parents, followed by the phrase “Uh, this band you probably don’t know,” then what’s the point? So you’re number 1 in the world, eh? Unless I get a private show for me and all my friends*, you’re not cool enough for me anymore. Sorry bros.

*No but seriously, you can contact me via email (arimygatt@gmail.com) if you want to arrange something.

ALBUM REVIEW: M.I.A. - /\/\/\Y/\

-3.2

The entire staff here at THIS BAND IS AWSM is really disappointed with M.I.A. We were all dying to hear the most recent release from, truly, our favorite exotic popstar. Arular, Kala… these are great albums! These are albums I can run to at the gym, my feet pounding on the treadmill to the quickening beat of high school band tunes in XR2. Or U.R.A.Q.T.? Her honest (although admittedly both adorable and frightening) approach to modern cell phone technology is revolutionary. Regardless of her political messages, this sort of critique on modern culture really hits home with the less newspaper-oriented crowds.

And don’t get me started on Paper Planes. The circulation of that song alone is enough to turn the music industry inside out. I mean, we obviously all knew about it when it was just a fun indie-pop track on Kala. But when that song hit mainstream radio and MTV a year and a half later, it succeeded at bridging the gap between us and them, you know?! The popular kids were blasting Paper Planes out of their cars at the mall; M.I.A. concert crowds could fill Madison Square Garden, and with a significant overlap of fans from Dave Matthews Band and Pussy Cat Dolls shows alike! It was a beautiful thing.

But seriously M.I.A., who the fuck do you think you are coming back with this /\/\/\Y/\ bullshit? Where’s the universal track? Where are the dance beats? I mean, I’ll bump and grind to “Teqkilla” if I have to, but I’d really love another option. What are you even DOING!? Are you trying to change? Are you producing something different from other albums? I really don’t think that’s a good idea. For starters, this low-production concept seems pretty garbage. Granted, I didn’t bother to download the hi-quality version before reviewing this, I figured the radio rip leak from a month ago was adequate. But honestly, did the producers even bother listening to it before packaging it and leaking it on rapidshare? There’s noise rock, glitchs, synthy riffs, pounding, buzzing… I don’t know what to say other than that those noises all suck, and M.I.A. really should have picked up on that.

Additionally, M.I.A. has even gone sloppy with naming. All the slashes in the album titles make it really hard for bloggers like us to talk about it without copying and pasting, which can get rather frustrating. A decent artist would put out an album with a memorable title, for obvious PR benefits.

Tons of other renowned musicians worked on this album, from Diplo to Sleigh Bells. We love Diplo and Sleigh Bells(!) , but their contributions to this M.I.A. album just aren’t what we’re looking for. Listen, guys: we want the pop trax we know and love from our Indian sensationalist, none of this “Born Free” bullshit. Srsly. /\/\/\Y/\ is overall too slow and too b0ring. Maybe next time Maya, maybe next time.

[That would be a negative 3.2 rating, btw]

For more on M.I.A.’s new album read music blog Pitchfork’s spot-on review here.

ALBUM REVIEW: Justin Bieber - My World 2.0

9.7

It doesn’t happen too often, but one of the greatest-feeling successes in the music discovery and sharing process is finding a gem where you least expected it. I was recently sent Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0 and laughed at the sad little package sitting on my desk. I won’t deny that I thought out loud “They sent me this?!” The other students in the mailroom wondered what I was talking about. Irregardless, after ignoring the album for over a week now, I decided to finally give it a chance. I can’t even begin to express the combination of surprise, pure joy, and teenage girl tears it gave me within the first 10 minutes of listening. I really recommend you purchase the album asap and set it as a background to your reading of this review. There really is no other way for you to understand.

The album starts off with Bieber’s powerful pre-pubescent vocals paired with Ludacris’s distinguished diction on “Baby”. If I could listen only to any single series of songs for the next week, it would be solely comprised of these two artists collaborating on some epic 18 track rock opera. Ludacris expertly relates to all audiences in his verse, reeling in both 14-year-old girls and middle aged 9 to 5ers as well. Bieber has really stepped back and grown from 2009’s My World. He has successfully readdressed whom he wants as an audience, and he ought to expect soaring respect levels.

“Baby” is also My World 2.0’s first released single, and not surprisingly. It certainly is the best track on the album, but the rest follow closely with a collectively-tied second. “Eenie Meenie” is one of these track that cannot be ignored. Sean Kingston successfully adds flavorful Jamaican exoticism to the track, forcing Bieber’s previous critics to reconsider his multi-genre talent.

The album as a whole fruitfully supplies a creative assembly of pop piano, reminiscent of Ben Folds, and assorted unconventional sounds from triangles, to raised-edge wood blocks, to synth violins. As a result, Bieber doesn’t have to concentrate of dragging fans in through weak but catchy lyrics. Instead, the 16-year-old boy is able to relate profound and creative choruses. His maturity level is unrivaled amongst his peers. Subsequently, Bieber is able to believably relay his message to the listeners through his all-knowing lyrics, such as in “Runaway Love” when he cries, “I’d give it all up for us / never be enough / I won’t stop until I find / My runaway love.”

My World 2.0’s ability to seamlessly flow between 2010 club hit and The Hills commercial backtrack really shows Bieber’s growth not just as an artist, but as a writer. He daringly crosses conventional boundaries of male/female vocals, raising himself to the likes of Antony Johnson and Prince. His confidence doesn’t end there. He proves he’s for real in this album, and that he’s got the attitude to continue to put out stellar records for years to come. He doesn’t give a shit if his songs all follow identical simple formats, or that he repeats the name of the song too many times throughout each 3-4 minutes. He also defies norms when using the letter ‘u’ in “U Smile”. On World 2.0, Bieber has gained enough confidence to say, “Hey, fuck you critics. Fuck you English language. This is my sophomore album, and I’m gonna do whatever I want.” I’m not exaggerating when I say that is one of the largest flaws with today’s music industry: not enough pure, adolescent attitude. Maybe if Arcade Fire or MGMT would get some fucking backbone they’d get this kind of praise too. Until then, I think Bieber is certainly leveling the playing field.

I know many of you are reading this and are like “this chick is batshit.” But seriously, have you ever even listened to it? I seriously doubt you have. You maybe have heard a track ironically playing from a car driving by you out on Driggs, or playing in your little sister’s room in between episodes of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, but I really doubt you have actually considered Bieber as a potentially respectable musical artist. Moreover, I seriously encourage you to give him a chance. It’s like that time Fall Be Kind leaked and I was all “ugh, but Animal Collective is like sooo overrated!” and then I listened to it a bunch of times and I was all “Oh hey fuck, this EP is incredible!” It’s just like that.


[Originally posted at Pretty Much Amazing in April, 2010. View poste here]