Im currently revisiting my rather small collection of Arcade Fire tracks*, after the ump-teeth person tried to tell me their music was in some way strange or bizarre, a claim which has not ceased to amaze me. Bizarre? them? no, Stockhausen is bizarre, Xiuxiu is bizarre, but these guys? The first time i even listened to the group i nearly dismissed it all as being too kitch, too pop, all melodies i'd heard before, but maybe after Broken social scene and Animal collective as an indy benchmark, i may have been a little harsh.

Dare i quote myself. **

I was expecting more of an adventure and I ended up with a sort of bus tour, with a comfortable seat that looks out at interesting things through the safety glass of the rock tradition, [edit] things that you never quite get to.

and i still feel that way, but now, looking at it from a brighteyes perspective, or whatever, i can see how their re-hashed 50s-esque ballades in 3/4 could seem a little unusual. Granted i don't know their entire opus, i could be missing out on some fun radicalism that's hidden behind the regular harmonies and mildly expanded instrumentation.

Alright, i'll stop spitting venom. I dont deny these guys have talent, they do, and i know they're capable of creating something great and there are already moments of sheer beauty in their work, a passage in The backseat, for example. But strange? eccentric or even close to the avant garde? i have yet to hear it. Again, i could be just not hearing the right works, so im going to have to listen to this perceived "wierdness" from their own computers.

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*(9 tracks currently, i used to have more, but i remember was bored with a lot of them and got rid of many)

**linkie!