Now Our Lives Are Changing Fast

It seems The Suburbs, the fantastic 3rd album from the Texas/Montreal conglomerate Arcade Fire has won the "Album of the Year" Grammy.

Just take a moment for that to sink in.

While it would be really easy to hold up this information as proof of the "mainstream" embrace of a decidedly "non-mainstream" band, and I'm sure there will be many who do just that, this actually has caused this blogger to lose some long-held cynical thoughts on the subject of indie-vs.-popular. As has been observed many times already in various forms of media, thinking of music in terms like "indie" and "mainstream" is an increasingly outdated mindset. What many think of as "indie" music isn't always independent, and is increasingly popular (how else do you explain Arcade Fire's successful stadium tour?). The term seems now to exist only as a way of denoting perceived quality; if it's good, it must be okay to call it indie.

With this Grammy win, we are now able to completely commit to our new reality. The Grammys are still a bloated, overwrought, self-important ego-fest that amounts to not much more than a televised concert with way too many commercial breaks, but now they're OUR bloated, overwrought, self-important ego-fest. Hopefully, given the show's recent forays into booking more groundbreaking artists (M.I.A., Janelle Monáe, and of course Arcade Fire, to name a few), we the people will be able to more effectively cast off the shackles of music-taste-based judgement.

Even though lots of people started to leave the Staples Center while Arcade Fire revelled in the glory of their Grammy win by playing "Ready To Start", it's probably not because they were disappointed. The show was really long, and on a Sunday. Regardless of what kind of music people like, they still have more important things to do than analyze those preferences. And in our new reality, the disposable music that has always been the opiate of the masses (and continues to be a driving force in the record industry) is just another option in the diversified musical landscape.

INDIE IS DEAD - LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL


{The following is my original review of The Suburbs, written for the CD Plus Facebook newsletter}

I'd like you to think back for a little bit. Think back to March or so of 2007. More than 3 years ago. A relatively insignificant quantum of linear space/time, this 3 years. But in the world of popular music, quite a large portion indeed. 3 years ago the world barely knew the names of the Jonas brothers, Miley Cyrus, or Taylor Swift (not to mention couldn't have known the names Lady Gaga, Susan Boyle, Justin Bieber, LMFAO, Drake, or Ke$ha...or even Vampire Weekend who wouldn't release their debut album for another 10 months). Lil Wayne had yet to release his massive cross-over success "Tha Carter III", an album lauded from every side of the music press, and the lift-off point for the global superstardom of spaceship Weezy. George W. Bush was president of the United States, and it would be another 7 months before a young Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama announced his intention to run for that position. The world was a different place.

At that time, the Arcade Fire released their much-anticipated sophomore album "Neon Bible". They had achieved so much acclaim from their debut that they had already galvanized the record-buying public. You either cared about Arcade Fire, you didn't care as a reaction to their fame, or you didn't care simply because you had never heard of them (which is still a sad segment of the populous). Despite what their detractors have to say, it's my opinion that as opposed to most other acts in music today (including all of those mentioned in the previous paragraph) Arcade Fire have something increasingly rare: staying power.

My point has been proven by their fantastic 3rd album "The Suburbs", available now. While not as immediate as some of their earlier work (I'm looking at you "Keep the Car Running" and "Rebellion (Lies)"), this music is by no means difficult to understand. From the opening foot-stomper of the title track, to "Half Light II (No Celebration)" (a song which sounds wistfully reminiscent of Bowie's "Heroes") to the raw rock of "Month of May", the band are proving their prowess at crafting classic tunes. They will soundtrack your epic summer nights this year, and your bitter regret next year (and your eventual reconciliation in the years to come). It's music to listen to, it's music to live to. 

Thematically and lyrically, this album has a lot to do with being young, with being modern (try the new drinking game of taking a chug each time that m-word pops up in a song), and with the forces that drive our culture. The tune "Rococo" laments the ignorance and conformity synonymous with youth, deriding a culture where kids "eat right out of your hand" with "their colours all the same". In "We Used To Wait", however, Win Butler captures the yearning so typical of teenagers, wishing that "something pure can last". 

With "The Suburbs", Arcade Fire have proven that their brand of anthemic music is that something.