On Friday Paste Magazine posted 12 Fantastic Fan-Made Videos and I thought I would share with you all some of my favorites from that bunch.
Snow Patrol – “Make This Go On Forever”
The Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”
Sleigh Bells – “Treats”
Frightened Rabbit – “I Feel Better”
Indie superstars Arcade Fire were the big winners last night at the Grammy’s, which understandably shocked everyone watching. I’m really curious to know how and why they won. Not that they weren’t the most deserving of those nominated, I’m still confused as to how they were nominated to begin with. A band like Arcade Fire usually doesn’t get recognized by the Grammy’s.
I was already shocked by the inclusion of artists like Mumford and Son’s and Ray Lamontagne. And I found the performance by the Avett Brothers delightful, but also uncharacteristic. It just makes me wonder if this was an intentional ploy to garner more interest from the hardcore music fans. Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Suburbs. It will definitely be in my Top Ten List for 2010 (if I ever get around to posting it), but it’s probably not in my top 5 and in fact I haven’t seen it at the top of anyone’s list. So this album isn’t the best by the hardcore list-making obsessive indie music fans, and those watching the Grammy’s have never even heard of it. I’d like to say this is the first step in a positive trend by voters to start recognizing music that actually has some depth to it. Something with more than just a catchy hook that will stick with us longer than last night’s dinner. But it just seems to me to be a publicity stunt to gain some attention and turn the indie hipsters into viewers in 2012.
Intentional or not this has definitely gotten people’s attention. Less than 24 hours now from the announcement and a new Tumblr page titled Who Is Arcade Fire which is racking up the hits by posting a collection of hilarious Twitter reactions to Arcade Fire’s victory. It has provided a great deal of entertainment to me today. Here are a few of my favorites.
“Congratulations to all 10 people in the world who have ever heard of arcade fire before…”
“How can this group get album of the year when they didn’t even have as many top 10 as Gaga? Did this group even have a number 1 hit?”
“The grammy people lost their mind…who are the Suburbs and how in heck did they win album of the year…smh”
“Who the he’ll is that Fire who ?”
For those who have put off purchasing The Suburbs and are suddenly motivated to hear what all the fuss is about, right now you can a premium quality digital download for just $3.50. on their web-site.
Here’s a fun little remix might have gone unnoticed without it’s title.
The Hood Internet – Arcade Fire vs. Blondie mashup
The Arcade Fire and Spike Jonze have teamed up to create a short film that was inspired by the band’s latest album, The Suburbs. The film was written by Jonze and band members Win and Will Butler. It is a 30 minute short film based on the album and will premiere this weekend at the Berlin Film Festival. According to Consequence of Sound the film is slated to be released on DVD in May along with an expanded reissue of The Suburbs. Below is the trailer for the film that also serves as a music video for the title track.
One of my favorite songwriters of the past several years has been pretty active the past few months and I just realized that I had failed to make mention of him here on the blog. Alex Brown Church has been making some of the best and most inspired indie rock music under the pseudonym Sea Wolf. I highly recommend his 2007 debut, Leaves in the River. But today I want to point you to what he has been up to in 2009.
First he offered up a free sample, with the single “Stanislaus”, to give us a glimpse of what we could expect from his forthcoming sophomore effort, White Water, White Bloom. Which has since been released and received with much acclaim. White Water was produced by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk), and sounds like a stripped down and slightly less energized Arcade Fire record. It has become the antidote to my disappointment with Neon Bible.
Then last month, along with several other beloved indie rock bands, Church too contributed a track to the New Moon Soundtrack. How they managed to get so many great artists to give to this miserable series, I will never know. Nonetheless, Sea Wolf has a great track on that stellar soundtrack as well.
And most recently, he has released a ghastly video for the single “Wicked Blood.” I apologize for not sharing this with before Halloween had rolled on by. Hopefully you will still enjoy it, even though the time has passed.
