I've heard better Supertramp covers, actually. Still, it's cool that they chose to use my house for the video.
Dude, I lived there and I never saw you. Maybe you were chained up in the basement? Anyway, the place is still for sale.
My childhood home is apparently too obsure for the Arcade Fire video to find. Does that give me indie cred?
Wow. That was depressing.
max
['It's still hip to be suicidal, isn't it?']
3: Same here. Google maps not only doesn't have street view for my parents' house, they can't even find my parents' address in the regular view. It's a named street and everything! (An improvement from my childhood, when we had a box number along Rural Postal Route 1.)
It got the house in Albuquerque where I spent most of my childhood just fine. (The trees at the end were pretty weird in that context.) The trading post where we lived before that, not so much; when I began to type it in it only recognized the community, which is admittedly something, and I didn't actually have enough desire to see the thing again to see what would happen if I entered just that.
I just ran it with my apartment from six years ago. Eh. Does it go on much past the part where they ask you to write a postcard to your former self? With no running time bar, I couldn't really judge whether I wanted to stick it out for however much longer it was going to go on, so I gave up.
No, that part's pretty close to the end.
It has been reaffirmed for me that I am not Arcade Fire's target audience.
I hadn't heard of Arcade Fire before this, which is O.K. as they apparently haven't a clue as to what my childhood home looks like.
Is it worth downloading Chrome to watch it? It warned me that I wouldn't be seeing the optimized jim-jam in Firefox, but, I mean, I saw stuff. Like my childhood home. And other from Google maps. Not knowing whether it's worth the Chrome version is kind of annoying me.
Their stuff totally works on me, and I really did enjoy putting in an old street address and watching it spin the camera. Something about Arcade Fire slots perfectly into a gap in my brain such that I am a complete pushover for anything they do. If that is too earnest and/or lame of me, well, it's probably not even the first time today.
The Chrome version is not much more better than the Firefox version.
My childhood home isn't on street view, so I ran it with the home of a friend with whom I spent summers; his house was shielded by a hedgerow, but when it switched to the aerial view I saw the river at the edge of his backyard and it landed hard.
I don't know why it amazes me that JMQ is from Waverly, NY but it does.
I live 6 minutes from my childhood home and go there all the time, which kind of dulls the romance.
Do you know it? We moved to VT on my twelfth birthday, so I'm only sorta from there, but I have strong, fond memories of that house. I'd be tempted to buy it if there were a better reason than mere nostalgia.
Tangentially related, the other day I was talking to our newish neighbors three doors down and learned that in the 90s they both taught at my high school (in Hinesburg, VT), and the guy also taught at my wife's high school (in Corvallis, OR). What are the chances?
I can't seem to watch the video and I can't say I'm sorry.
The latter condition has caused a lot of problems in my life, but the friends I'm left with understand.
I was led to expect something more interesting from Arcade Fire, whom I hadn't heard, but the song is forgettable.
Actually, I really like football the new Arcade Fire album.
My (low) opinion of Arcade Fire is on record. Also, Mumford and fucking Sons, who were on telly last night and sounded like the fucking Levellers.*
* the shit band, not the 17th century political movement, which would, I admit, be much more interesting ...
That's a well done production, and an impressive display of what can be done in a modern web browser. The interactive aspect is alluring.
I hate the idea of the Arcade Fire (whiny hipsterism for poor little white kids) but like Robust I am powerless to resist them. I doesn't help I'm in a maudlin mood at the moment. I'm a few weeks away from handing in my PhD, and also a few weeks from having a second kid. One has taken far too long to produce. Childhood is the time when everything is potential. I'm reminded that I might have missed my opportunity to turn that potential into something. Sure sucks.
Also, Mumford and fucking Sons,
I only know the one song that gets played on the radio, but it drives me fucking up the wall. The "Hush little Lion Man" one.
I'm a few weeks away from handing in my PhD, and also a few weeks from having a second kid.
Imminent congratulations! Good times!
I keep trying to like Arcade Fire, and I put it on and don't *dislike* it, but it just doesn't hold my attention. So by the second or third song, I change it to something else.
After telling me that I have the wrong browser, that google doesn't know Geneva well enough for perfect viewing, and that this will use lots of processor speed, the damn thing just starts opening mini windows one after another like one of those old school pop-up hell sites.
It's odd that there isn't a Google view of my not-so-rural-anymore childhood street, while my Grandmother's town, which is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere even more so now than when I was a kid, is mapped and recorded in detail.
I'm reminded that I might have missed my opportunity to turn that potential into something.
Sure, if you hadn't spent your time raising kids and earning a Phd, you might be President now, or curing cancer, or doing something really useful with your life!
re: 25
I sort of feel that way for the first one, but after a second or third it starts to really annoy.
I might have missed my opportunity
Paul Levy did his best work in his fifties, and Elizabeth Cotten was cleaning houses before she got recorded in her sixties. And that was years ago, when people decayed quickly and died young more often. Don't be so quick to write yourself off, everybody feels gloomy and fatalistic while too busy in midlife, it's transient.
I'm reminded that I might have missed my opportunity to turn that potential into something.
And Mary Wesley to you.
The Marquis de Sade published Justine when he was 51 (and old enough to know better).
Elizabeth Cotten was cleaning houses before she got recorded in her sixties
Specifically, the Seeger family's ancestral home, which gave her a bit of an in with the folk music crowd.
He was old enough to know better, but he couldn't resist it when it happened to him.
16: Not from there, but I've spent every summer not too far from there since I was a kid, and am a big fan of the (former) NY Route 17.
Oh right, that's come up before. So if you've been through Waverly on the old 17, you've been by the house.
I'm with Apo on Arcade Fire, though I did think the video was fun. I'm also on record as loving Mumford and Fucking Sons, though I don't really hear the Levelers connection.
ttaM, is it something about those bands in particular or do you generally like things anthemic and earnest? How you feel about, say, Frightened Rabbit or The Frames?
I only know the one song that gets played on the radio, but it drives me fucking up the wall. The "Hush little Lion Man" one.
How do you feel about the Avett Brothers' "I and Love and You"?
Unsurprisingly, I've seen a lot of this, since I work in the vicinity of the Chrome engineers. But the address thing is strange for my childhood, since the house (triple-decker) I lived in as a child has been moved across the city, and there's now a large university building in its place.
How do you feel about the Avett Brothers' "I and Love and You"?
Can't stand it.
And here I find out that heebie-geebie and I don't actually have the same musical taste. Intriguing. We can still listen to Pit Bull together, though.
I've got the definitive taste in music.
The Mumford and fucking Sons thing is cracking me up - on our holiday we have spent a lot of time in the car and listened to a lot of music. On Tuesday we finally got round to the M&FS album - which C and Kid B really like, but I hadn't heard. Christ, I hated it. Kid C usually sits up front with us, and we sat there pulling faces and commenting to each other about how awful it was, until C got annoyed and turned it off. He likes the Levellers too.
I think it's like "pulling shapes" while sitting down.
42: FWIW, you and I apparently have a substantial overlap in musical taste. (I like both "I and Love and You" and "Little Lion Man", although it confuses me a bit that the latter is getting airplay on the local "modern rock" station.)
although it confuses me a bit that the latter is getting airplay on the local "modern rock" station
My theory is that Tough Rock Dudes like it, because they hear the lyrics as a guy putting another guy in his place. Sensitive Rock Dudes like it, because they hear the lyrics as a guy reflecting to himself.
It's more the instrumentation that causes the confusion. I mean, *I* like string band music, but it's not a sound I would have expected to catch on with modern rock radio programmers.
I love the style in indie rock where the song is almost disco and seemingly channeling Blondie. Some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric and that "Solid Gold" song, and a bunch more songs like those. I love it.
I love the style in indie rock where the song is almost disco
I think this is what you're trying to say.
Any songs of theirs I'm mostly likely to know?
You bet I don't think that, or that I don't like disco? I do like quite a lot of disco, actually.
re: 55
I suspect Apo mostly brings the P-Funk.
57: You've probably at least heard something off Danse Macabre. I bet you'd like 'em, and they were on my mind as Pandora recently reminded me of them.
The lines between funk, soul, and disco can get pretty blurry.
You bet I don't think that, or that I don't like disco? I do like quite a lot of disco, actually.
I assumed you didn't like it. I tend to assume our tastes are mutually exclusive, except that we hate the same things, like Christmas songs.
I just listened to "I disappear" and "Agent Suicide" on youtube and they didn't grab me. Sorry, Stanster.
64: I'm not personally hurt, I assure you. I just had the thoughts "heebie likes disco beats" followed by "band I recently recalled that uses disco-y beats" and figured I'd mention it.
It's okay to show you care, Stanster.
"Agenda Suicide" is one of the best songs of the decade.
re: 62
Yeah. There's a lot of cross-over.
Speaking of soul, heard this on the radio the other day, and hadn't heard it before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xta_3jIiTSE
[probably my favourite female soul singer, ever]
Disco is fantastic. Who doesn't like disco? So weird.
Heebie, let me join the chorus of "hey what about this band?" by asking you about !!!
Is !!! a band? What's their signature song? That's the least searchable band name ever.
re: 73
They often get billed as chk-chk-chk, for searchability reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaqQYetCH8U
[probably my favourite female soul singer, ever]
Mine too, and she's coming to town next weekend!
I have a !!! CD in my list of music to buy, but looking back at the bookmark I can't remember what song prompted me to add it.
(heebie, you want to search for "chk chk chk". Why it's not "bang bang bang" I don't know.)
re: 75
The production on those singles, from that period, is always pretty spine-tingling too. Very jealous that you are going to see her. She's so much better -- so much better the comparison is ridiculous in many cases-- a singer than a lot of the much-respected big-name 'soul' artists.
Why it's not "bang bang bang" I don't know.
76.2: I always figured it was supposed to be pronounced as three alveolar clicks.
I listened to the one in 74 and the "When the going gets tough" one...I dunno. I have pretty conventional, poppy taste in music, I suppose.
80: But isn't "I and Love and You" a pretty conventional poppy song? I think heebie only likes music she can dance to.
I second the sentiment in 29 re: The Arcade Fire.
I've only ever, to my knowledge, heard one Mumford and Sons song. I believe the title is "Blank White Page". I absolutely hated it. The harmonies, the pomposity, the structure, and most especially the lyrics. It made me want Mumford and every last one of his sons to get hit with a pie in the face, followed by a chair. YMMV.
I think heebie only likes music she can dance to.
If you'd ever seen heebie's ass, you'd understand.
I think heebie only likes music she can dance to.
This is probably spot-on. I often describe music that I don't like as flaccid.
According to Jackmormon you can dance to anything.
84: You know, with respect to most of his ouevre, "Human Nature" is pretty flaccid. Just sayin'.
I am as one with the Apostropher re the Arcade Fire. It's not that I really hate them, I just find them kind of boring and I don't really like their aesthetic or the hype surrounding them. As I think I've said here before, I've kind of used them as an excuse to turn off most recent white people indie music, which is probably to my own detriment. But so much recent stuff seems to suck in the same kind of not exactly bad, just boring way. I also find The National super boring -- not bad, exactly, just incredibly boring.
the hype surrounding them
It's true that I probably wouldn't find TAF nearly as annoying if everyone stopped gushing about them.
It undoubtedly says something about the unbearably hipsterish nature of my social circle that I have a sort of automatic anti-anti-TAF reaction, because most of what I experience is friends doing excessive eye-rolling about them. Anyway, the gusty bus, as always.
According to Jackmormon you can dance to anything.
That statement is good for a few moments' thought.
There was a recent NPR segment that made me realize that top-40 music really is at a kind of all-time low right now (for my taste), what with autotune and glossy production and everything sounding like it could be a video game theme.
I do kinda like that "I'm in Miami trick!" song.
OK, this list, which I just looked up, is pretty awesome. Somehow "I'm in Halifax trick!" just doesn't have the same force.
88,89: Stanley gushes about TAF every morning.
I do kinda like that "I'm in Miami trick!" song.
"[T]rick"?
everything sounding like it could be a video game theme.
Which genre I predict will come to be viewed as one of the most significant and interesting of the late 20th century.
That sounds pretty implausible to me. What is the video game theme song that you have in mind?
Speaking of gumdrop pop, what's weirder: (1) that Taylor Swift has a line of greeting cards or (2) that I just bought one for my mom's upcoming birthday?
I kinda sorta like Taylor Swift, I have to say.
49: Avett Brothers will be playing at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate the first weekend of October for free, along with many other awesome bands. I can't go, because I have to be in a wedding. (The wedding is a good thing, but HSB always feels like SF's personal birthday present to me so I'm peeved about that.)
I feel that Taylor Swift is not the worst thing that you could listen to. But to my ear her voice does not measure up against other female country singers.
But I love The National (great in concert! Alligator is my favorite album of theirs - I'm not as big of a fan of Boxer), so I probably can't be trusted. And I enjoy Arcade Fire.
It's not like I'm saying she's Emmylou Harris or anything, I just find something moderately appealing about her.
104: Oh, I know. But as previously stated in these forums (embarrassingly enough), I listen to a lot of contemporary country (and alt country and old stuff, etc) and while I like her songs her inability to hit the notes begins to wear thin, especially when you're consistently hearing her next to far superior singers. (And I'm very forgiving about bad singing - cf. love of The National, hers just bothers me for some reason.)
Alligator is my favorite album of theirs
I think I first heard "City Middle" from a mix someone posted here, and then I listened to it to death for a while. That's a really nice album. I've been totally unable to get into High Violet.
I thought The National were highly engaging live. The multi-instrumentalist guy in particular, just fascinating to watch work. It was also at The National, which, come on, that's kinda rad. Also, the concert was during a less-jaded age, pre-election 2008, so when the singer dedicated "Mr. November" to "Barack", it still gave you warm tinglies.
Me too! There are elements that I feel like I should like a lot, but I can't just put it on repeat and go, as with Alligator. (Which I have listened to so much that if it was a physical copy it would probably no longer play.)
I think Stanley and I saw them around the same time. I found them fascinating to watch as well.
(And, I, uh, normally get bored in concerts. Just saying. I have no ability to just sit and listen.)
You know, with respect to most of his ouevre, "Human Nature" is pretty flaccid. Just sayin'.
I make exceptions for good flaccid songs. Duh.
Pandora is reading this thread(!); it just started playing "Agenda Suicide".
96: That sounds pretty implausible to me. What is the video game theme song that you have in mind?
Banjo-Kazooie. Slightly more seriously, the prediction is for 50-100 years from now. Not sure what particular music will survive (I like various things from Zelda, Final Fantasy, Halo and stuff I don't even know where it is from), but I think the progression through various technology constraints plus the tie in to interactivity and mood will be viewed as pushing the music in interesting ways (and will probably focus on the even earlier simple stuff than I what mention).
114: The chiptune version of "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" on this album certainly always makes me happy.
I knew one of the National guys in college, and caught them a couple of times on the way up, including once in the back room at the Knitting Factory with all of a dozen other people in the audience. It was great to see their last tour, in the great big Wiltern. Alligator's my favorite.
52 is very different from 54.