My thing with Arcade Fire is that when I hear them on my modern rock radio station next to the likes of Audioslave and Three Days Grace I think “Aw, thank God, finally something good,” but when I hear it compared to the stuff I really enjoy it leaves me cold. They’re a good, undeniably overhyped band. There’s nothing to dislike about them (although sometimes that over earnestness can be grating), but to me, there’s nothing there that REALLY gets my blood boiling. I still own their stuff, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I even felt compelled to give Funeral a listen.

By the way, nice write up on the concert. It’s a shame I missed it.

Part of my unhappiness with neon is in fact the people who are nuts about it. I think the band is phenomenal and the album was great for a few listens but it lacks the originality, sincerity, and pure guts of its predecessor. I particularly have qualms with a certain girl who told me not to play it in the car because she didn’t like the band, then a year later is in Deer Lake park with her friends gloating about how awesome they are for being there. Neon Bible to me exploited the weaknesses of the first album and I think the critics who were late on the bandwagon were trying to make up for it. Spin at one point referred to it as a perfect album.

I still think it deserves mention for 07 that being said.

Radiohead on the other hand is to me a band that exists solely for my pleasure. The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A sit on my list of alltime great albums and Hail to the Thief is half forgettable but half classics. Looking back at Radiohead I see a band that carved their niche long ago and are riding out on a ship of creativity. They continue to be different and unexpected and their music has kept up. I personally think that the B-sides to Iron Lung is a better album than In Rainbows but that is the beauty of this band, they always measure up to a high standard. I can understand them, as any musician outside of Eric Clapton, as a band who not everyone appreciates the same. For me though Radiohead stands very high up the music mountain.

You have me on the Shins and your reply to Spoon has me nodding. I think the National becomes an issue of style as the off beat singing for me is a bit of a hook. I see David triple i above added Califone which I forgot about. Not on my top list but contained some of the best production of any album released last year.

After seeing Blitzen Trapper live I have a brand new respect for a band that I was already in love with. Fleet Foxes however played a perfect 40 minute set. You should read my blog over at tysongibbons.com for my review of the show. I finally grabbed Band of Horses after reading your review and after a bit of a refresher I think Cease to Begin is much better than LCD.

One album you may not know about that I am going to highly recommend (as I liked it almost as much as the Jay-Z record) is Brother Ali. Check him out and tell me what you think.

Blues Control - Blues Control
John Wiese - Soft Punk
Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks
Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release
Meg Baird - Dear Companion
Flower-Corsano Duo - The Radiant Mirror
Burning Star Core - Blood Lightning
Califone - Roots & Crowns
Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
*cough*Feist*cough*
Jana Hunter - There’s No Home
King Ayisoba - Modern Ghanians
The National - Boxer
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Damo Suzuki - Please Heat This Eventually
The Reavers - Terror Firma
Weasel Walter Quartet - Revolt Music

Great analysis on Les Savy Fav.

Take everything you said about Spoon and apply it to the National, Radiohead, Arcade Fire and to a lesser extent LCD Soundsystem and you’ll understand my feelings on them. About Radiohead - they’re a band I don’t really care for (that’s “care for” in the sense of rabid fans who “care” about every move the band makes). I enjoyed In Rainbows a fair bit, it was easily the first time I’ve enjoyed them since Kid A, but I have no soft spot for the band’s sound. It’s a preference thing, and, I really stress this, NOT just me being contrary.

I’ll cop to being a bit contrary to the Arcade Fire. They had some interesting musical moments on Funeral, like when the time signatures would all of the sudden switch for a song’s coda, but all the yelpy emoting gets a bit dramatic. I’m sure I have and will contradict myself on this, but I find that kind of “desperate youth” tears in your eyes singing to be best left for 17-year-olds to listen to.

The Shins album was good, not great. Chutes Too Narrow, in my opinion, is indie pop greatness, Wincing is good and enjoyable and I’m sure I’ll give it the odd listen every few months, but I feel like it doesn’t go past that barrier into something special.

I’m digging that Battles, and I feel like it improves on each listen, but it maybe lacks a certain element that makes it really connect in the way that my top two or three or four albums do.. It might be that human element that I need to embrace it.

I’ve never really felt the need to get defensive about Spoon. I think Girls Can Tell and Kill The Moonlight are certifiable classics, whereas Gimme Fiction was a bit of a let down. Ga Ga Ga was, in my opinion, a nice summary of their career up to this point followed by a song by song improvement on Gimme Fiction. The songs mentioned, especially, rank among the finest work they’ve done.

Also, if I were doing this list now, I would have had to make room for No Age and Om. So these opinions and lists are in constant flux.

What say you?