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"I pledge allegiance to the ego" - This guy

Arcade Fire have a new video for the song “Sprawl II.” Have you seen it? Heard about it? It’s kinda weird I guess. You watch the actual video all normal like (which is below) or you can choose to “interact” with the video. I’m not even sure what that last part even means because apparently you have to have a webcam hooked up to your computer to do it. I do not have a webcam hooked up to my computer so I’m not sure what happens when you do. Click here to go try the interactive video.

I have seen the normal video though. I like it. It has some weird people dancing in it. And some epilepsy inducing cuts but it’s still pretty cool. Check it out:

If you do the “interactive” video tell us how it goes.

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"I pledge allegiance to the ego" - This guy

As an exercise in “everyone else is, so might as well” here are a couple new Arcade Fire songs that you can also find on every single music blog site in the entire world. Except for the blogs dedicated to Prince. Those blogs only have rants about how Prince won’t let them post anything (anything!) about Prince on the interwebs.

You can check out two new Arcade Fire songs, from the upcoming “from the Suburbs” film, right here. The sings are titled “Culture War” and “Scenes From The Suburbs.” The later features David Byrne.

Also, Prince is a great artist and all but I have the sneaky suspicion that he’s a dick.

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"I don't like these odds" - All of the dudes in this picture

Yesterday I spent the whole day hatin’. Why? Well, as the internet meme goes, “Haters Gotta Hate.” Today is a new day. No hating today. Maybe. I actually make no promises because who knows where the day will take us. But at least right now there isn’t any hatin’ going on because we have a new video from Arcade Fire and it’s great. Great I say!

The video was directed by Spike Jonze so that right away tells you that it has a stronger likelihood of not sucking. Jonze tends to make some good videos and this is no exception. And I’m thinking that we shouldn’t call this a music video. We should probably call this a short film. The video features a rag-tag group of kids just being kids while living under an oppressive regime. Or something. I’m not sure. I’m not a short film expert so whatever. Just watch it.

“The Suburbs” Video:

That was great. Great! I’m glad someone out there (both Arcade Fire and Jonze) is still trying and not just phoning it in.

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"My beard is better than your beard" - The dude with the beard

I happen to enjoy it when bands have fun with their own songs or their “sound.” I may not always like the output but at least it shows that the band doesn’t take themselves too seriously. A lot bands should not take themselves so seriously. I’m looking right at you Arcade Fire. I love you guys but… seriously. I think sometimes you guys just need to chill a bit.

Along those lines (the not taking themselves too seriously lines) Built to Spill has rerecorded a couple of their songs on synthesizers – all 80’s style if you will. The results aren’t always awesome but they are kinda fun.

You can check out the songs on the MySpace page for the project here.

The songs are part of The Electronic Anthology Project and will be released on an EP that is only available at Built to Spill shows so if you are into this then you’d better hit a Built to Spill show soon.

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"He's still touching me" - The dude on the left

Arcade Fire have released a new video starring your house. Or at least a house that you enter the address for. I guess you could enter that dude/chick’s address that you’ve been stalking for the last couple weeks and it would look like Arcade Fire is stalking them too but… what? I don’t even know what that means. I’ve never stalked Kel… um, how about those Bears?

Anywho, this “video” is kinda neat. Arcade Fire teamed up with Google to make a “video” for their song “We Used To Wait” using some crazy new technology. Want to see it? Well, click here and enjoy.

In unrelated news, Kelly, if you are reading this you should water your Laurentii ‘cus it looks like it’s dying.

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Hey! Did you know that we posted two (yes two!) new reviews this morning? I know it’s Wednesday and things are a little slower than normal but it totally happened and you should check them out. Now is probably a good time to check them out because you’ve had a couple cups of coffee, probably some lunch and you’ve done everything you needed to do today so you can dick around for the rest of the afternoon. And what better way to dick around than to read two new reviews!

First up is a review of the new Arcade Fire album. The first draft of the review that I got from Revdog would likely have pissed off every hipster and music listener that takes themselves to seriously but… Revdog warmed up to the album. You can read his positive review of The Suburbs here.

Next up, I review one of my favorite albums of the year so far: Lost in the Trees’ All Alone in an Empty Room. The album is a string section nerd’s wet dream. You can check out that review right here.

We’ll have more next week so stay tuned dear readers!

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"Look at this shadow puppet I can make. It looks like Arcade Fire!"

Yesterday I realized a terrible truth. I suddenly realized I was sitting in a coffee shop, writing on a macbook, texting on my iPhone, wearing an ironic T-shirt, and listening to the new Arcade Fire album (yeah, I got it early… it pays to be in “the biz” sometimes). I know! In my defense, even though I realize there really is no defense for all that, I was wearing a baseball hat for a team that I actively root for and can name the starting lineup and my shoes were Star Wars shoes. So I may have looked and acted like a terrible hipster douche bag but at least I had a little jock douche bag and dork thrown into the mix.

But that’s all stuff I have to deal with on my own. And rest assured, I will deal with it. The important thing here is that Arcade Fire has a new album coming out tomorrow and I’ve heard it. In fact, I’m listening to it again right now. And you wanna know what? You can listen to it right now too! Whoohoo!

NPR is streaming the new Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs, in full right now. That is tits (as the kids say). Click here to head over to NPR and to grab yourself a listen.

The song “Suburban War” is a top candidate for “song of the year” in my book. But time will tell. Let us know what you think.

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For this week’s bout we’ve pit two of the biggest names in alternative rock against each other. Why? Well, they both have album coming out (one tomorrow and one next month) and… well, because. Do we need a reason to run two bands against each other? No, we don’t. That’s what we do here. That’s part of the mission statement. I think. We never really go around to writing the mission statement.

Anywho, we have Interpol versus Arcade Fire. Whew! What a match. Unfortunately we had to use a video from Arcade Fire’s last album because they haven’t released a video for any of the new songs yet. Jerks.

So go, watch and vote.

Last week’s winner, Frightened Rabbit, has been sent to the winner’s circle.

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"Yeah, that's our egos up there. Magnificent aren't they?" - These guys

Arcade Fire continue to leak tracks from their upcoming album, _The Suburbs _. Today we have two more new songs; “Ready to Start” and “We Used to Wait.” After a couple listens, I can say that “Ready to Start,” while a little more poppy than we are used to from these guys, is a really good song. And “We Used to Wait” isn’t too bad either. I think I am now officially really looking forward to the new album.

Anywho, check out the new tracks here:

“Ready to Start”
RTS by a435927

“We Used to Wait”
Used by a437915

The Suburbs comes out Aug. 2.

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