Reviews (page 12 of 13)
The perfect album for a teenaged boy that just learned he's allowed to have feelings
The guitars go jun jun jun jun jun jun while the drums go dun dun chick dun dun dun chick dun dun dun chick. To mix it up, sometimes there's a piano that goes jonk jonk jonk jonk or an acoustic guitar that goes chuck chuck chuck chuck. And the guy sings like Springsteen with his balls in a vise. Every song.
I already am not a huge fan of the side of Indie Rock that takes more from more lush and orchestral arrangements, the stuff that sounds "big" as it were, so I knew already I wasn't gonna enjoy what Arcade Fire does and sure enough this album isn't for me, it isn't like the album's music is bad or they put no effort into it but the album just... doesn't really click with me or does much for me with it's sound, which is a shame because it's faster and tighter tracks were good, but the rest I just did not connect with.
The coolest thing about this album was the HTML5 thing they made for "We Used to Wait" that would run a little character through the Google Map of your hometown. My hometown had not been google mapped unfortunately.
De veras, no hay mejor música?, he notado que mis calificaciones son bajas. Mi vara está muy alta, tendré que bajarla tanto?
audiomixing is trash and they like to mumble most of their lyrics
listening to this album feels like getting giving head to a sony music corporate executive. album is probably a 3, but ts pmo
Lyrically and thematically maybe this is interesting but the music sounds so flat and mopey it ends up feeling Ike an endurance test.
😏
The 2010s were a mistake.
I fear this album suffers from being crushed by the weight of its own gravitas. It's fine, but is trying so hard to be meaningful that it comes off as just insufferable.
A little too melodramatic for me, but some great instrumentation.
Really just kind of ok
This was…fine! Dads would love tho!
Sound is nice, not great, bit boring. Nothing original.
Every song (and there’s far too many of them) starts out with an OK melody and rhythm and some cool production, before the loathsome vocalist joins in. Then the song drones on and on with no change whatsoever until the bands drives home the point that they are obnoxious, and only obnoxious. The best song is easily “Empty Room”. Not coincidentally, it’s much, much shorter and has a different vocalist. 1.5/5.0: Bad
Ok album. Very drone like or ethereal.
Some enjoyable bits. 2.5
Ditta var kjedelig!!
5.4/10 Enjoyed a few, not my favorite kinda music. I still appreciate it Added 3
Indie rock is a genre I'll never understand, but at least it's not country.
pretty relaxed, but nothing particular stands out about the album to me, good music, just not something I would return to. Still good music just not my style
Eh
I remember listening to this a decade or so ago when I was trying to get hip to indie rock or whatever this is. Back then I used to think all Indie rock of the mid-zeros was basically high treble songs about spatulas. This album pretty much confirmed my prejudice. Listening again didn't change this impression overall, but it did reveal some nuance. Some good tracks, some stuff worth going back to. Sprawl II is a pretty good track, but it also kind of sounds a lot like MGMT. Not an album I'll go back to, other than to maybe harvest a couple tracks for a "best of the zeros" rock playlist. (That playlist is pretty short).
Sprawl II is a fantastic track but the rest of the album was tough to listen to. The tempo might be decent but the melodies are slow, repetitive and boring. If they were trying to capture the feeling of living in the suburbs then I guess that's a success.
Bis auf wenige Ausnahmen leider sehr langweilig
very whiny but i did enjoy a few songs
Very boring
Eh. I'm sure there's another life where I would have felt this more.
It's all just a little too much. Like your vegan friend who can't stop talking about chicken farms.
Why are there multiple Arcade Fire albums on this list? All of them all sound the same -- surely one would have done
eigentli müesst mer de siech boykottiere, aber willi halt glich es bizli es fundierts review han welle gäh (alles für de journalismus) heds mi glich wunder gnoh wie es ganzes album vo arcade fire tönt… abgseh go «The Suburbs» (s‘lied) hed mi das ganze recht chalt glah, aber ebe das chönt guet am grüsliche nachgschmack ih mim muul ligge, pfui p.s. @ basil: danke für‘s implementiere vomne quiz! han als erst gad a de besagti film müesse dänke aber bim beste wille nöd chönne erinnere wie er heisst also hani‘s müesse google :( sehr guete pull vo dir! 0 pünkt für de noah im quiz und wills rein musikalisch guet wär 2 abgrundeti pünkt für arcade fire
I liked this album. I’m not sure why it made the list, it stays pretty mellow. Good rock, but nothing stood out. Nothing I’ll remember or repeat. The best part may be that it reminds me of a time when I was younger. And my friends were into this band.
I'm a fan of Arcade Fire but this album felt a bit subdued overall
not for me
The Suburbs is an apt title, as much like the suburbs this albums a cruisey enough listening experience with all the nearby essentials you could want at the expense of incredibly homogenised standards and some irritating sounding people. About 5 tracks in I started just checking some of the songs ahead of me to see if anything different or more musically interesting was in store and was left not only disappointed but dreading the rest of this radio filler album.
Revising a book and creating new editions is serious business! So you want to make sure to really add albums to this that live up to “albums you MUST listen to before you die”. 2010 produced a lot better than this, and though this has more accolades than a North Korean general, this book also has the gift of hindsight to look past that and see it in full context. Instead of choosing a great album that stands the test of time like Diamond Eyes or a very influential and groovy one like Innerspeaker we get the most middle of the road album possible. It’s well performed but my god this shit is BORING Highlights: Half Light I, Deep Blue, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
it doesnt suck ass like the rest i had to listen these past few days but its not good either
The auditory equivalent of watching paint dry. This is possibly the most boring album I've ever listened to. A lone star wouldn't be fair, because I don't think there is anything bad about the music. It's just incredibly dull, so two stars all I'm willing to give.
Eh
hacia falta que dure 4 horas el album
Very average … a couple of good songs stand out at the start but then fizzles out and I was bored by the end. There are better Arcade Fire albums.
Felt like the most of the songs were reaching some great peak but then it fizzles away. I think the music is fine just forgettable.
at least is better than Wilco. Sounds like old rock pop to me. Nothing original, nothing interesting.
Tja. Gaat een beetje van hot naar her, begin was super saai, einde was wel wat beter. Zou ‘m niet nog een keer luisteren.
this is fine. i'm just not in the mood for this at all. completely fine album. nothing much to say
As with the previous album by this group in the list, this wasn't bad, but sonically it just didn't appeal to me. The music and lyrics didn't manage to awaken an emotion or to make some sort of a connection with me.
First 3 songs made me think I was gonna really enjoy it, but fades into being totally un-noteworthy after that.
It was alright. Didn't get me vibing much
The sexual misconduct and general wankiness really make me like this album less than I used to, and I didn't used to like it that much.
This is a record from 2010, yet it sounds at least a decade older. I get that you want to include newer albums on this list, but really, include records that actually fit the sound design of that year.
Wait, this is the GOOD Arcade Fire album? Some good moments, but overall a snorefest
Derivative and overly dramatic yet bland. Not my cup of tea.
fine.
Peppy but not good voices. A tad emo. 2/5
la concha de tu madre arcade fire
Meh
This album floats on waves that don't rock my boat. Most important word is ok. This is ok and particularly end part of album. First part of album starters yawn me so much that I started cleaning the house.
This is an album I knew I was biased against before even listening. This album came out when I was in high school, and it signaled the end of radio being worth listening to. My favorite alt-rock station (ClearChannel owned of course) was all too thrilled that Arcade Fire and the Black Keys were such big Grammy contenders that year. So much so that they played those two artists basically every third song on the air. I was sick of it. I thought the music was nothing special, and Arcade Fire specifically sounded whiny. This was my first time listening to the actual album, and it was fine. It wasn't really good or interesting. The songs just kind of chug along, and most of them seem averse to having a catchy melody. I'm sure the lyrics are part of the appeal, but the overall product was so boring I couldn't bring myself to care. I tried, but I can't get over the bias, this music is just okay at best.
Really tried to get into this but couldn't. Some decent sounds overall but nothing really jumped out at me.
En keksinyt mitään mielenkiintoista tällä albumilla, en jaksanut edes viimeisiä kappaleita kuunnella kaiken geneerisyyden jälkeen.
Its ok but not as unique as their earlier stuff
This is definitely an album and there are definitely songs on it. I believe I listened to the whole thing, but I have absolutely no memory of any of it, because it is somewhat like a less interesting U2 album.* Nothing was bad, I don’t think, but it was purely background music. Like for a movie. But not a very good one. And there was an hour of it? In retrospect, the album is titled The Suburbs, so I guess it has the appropriate level of excitement. * I have never found anything U2 did to be terribly interesting and have always been confused by their fame and notoriety.
fine
5/10 Totally baffling that this is my third AF album in a list of 1000. No chance they are that significant, but I’m not reviewing the list Another Arcade Fire album that did nothing for me. Their music leaves me cold - it is like a simulacrum of anthemic stadium rock, but is so calculated and soulless. It’s like they listen to the likes of U2, Coldplay etc and say “let’s bang out 4 of those type of songs per album”. To be fair to this one, production was well-executed, it was dense musically, and the use of strings was good. Don’t like the vocals very much - the female led pop banger was easily my favourite Best: Sprawl II
Boring.
Den sidste vi havde med Arcade Fire var en positiv overraskelse, fordi jeg troede de lød meget mere som det her. Den slags indie jeg forbinder med Starbucks, ikke for mig! Også for lang. Stadig en stor 2'er
Boring, predictable indie pop with no soul whatsoever.
Saai
Sounds pretty new to me. Loved a couple songs. Seems like im starting to explore new genres
tröttnat, pallar nt ens lyssna klart
Pretty good. I have heard of this band but never listened. It was better than what it had imagined
I don't know what I was expecting, but this was not even remotely close to whatever this was. I understand that Arcade Fire was highly influential, but this didn't resonate with me at all.
I never listened to Arcade Fire intentionally; this album showed me why. There's nothing in it for me, no head bobbing or foot tapping.
14 years later I still don’t like arcade fire
2.5 decent songs. Not a huge fan of the mix. Pretty muddy and the vocals got completely lost at times
This album is about as exciting as living in the suburbs. There are some bits, and pieces I enjoyed, but it drug on way too long(sorta like spending too many years in the suburbs). Favorite Song: "Sprawl II(Mountains Beyond Mountains)".
it was fine, confused as to how this is so highly rated
The beginning of the album starts out poor and muddled, the instrumentals seem to drown out the lyrics on most songs. easy music to ignore. though for some reason I'd like to continue to listen past today. I think it is because I like the later songs in the album better. fav songs: empty room, deep blue, sprawl II
Almost completely forgettable aside from Month of May.
This album dragged, nothing was remarkable, and I assume I will have forgotten this album by mid-afternoon today. I was going to mention this is the first time I've ever listened to Arcade Fire, but my history proves otherwise and tells me I listened to another album of theirs on this list months ago...which only supports my current impression that this music is entirely forgettable and uninteresting. It sometimes seems to me the intent of indie rock artists is to purposely make boring music.
Zzzzzzz.
While I have heard of the band I have never listened to them and now i know why. The music isn't bad but at the same time its not something that appeals to me at all. Slow pop rythms that almost put me to sleep by the second song. Not bad but not for me.
Fine, might actually like it more on a relisten
Not a huge fan. Rococo is when the album got less bad. The whole nostalgic sad-boy themes didn't do it for me. Sprawl II was decent, but that's about it. The best songs featured the female vocals. Not sure what else to say. Not the worst, but not great either. Anyways, that's my review!
Wasted Hours is right.. this one feels hours long.. It's not that they don't have anything valid to say, or don't sound sonically interesting at times... it's just that this shit is boring, bloated, and pretentious.
A French Canadian indie rock band. Huh. I went into this album with very little knowledge of Arcade Fire, having only heard a few radio singles over the years. I found this album to not be unenjoyable to listen to. Sonically it’s pretty standard indie fare, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. My biggest gripe with this album is that Modest Mouse already exists, and makes far more interesting music. A lot of the vocal styles almost channel Justin Haywards work with the Moody Blues, which is in fact a huge compliment to the not actually Canadian, and apparently sex pest, Win Butler. The title track is worth another listen, but aside from that I think most of this almost is generally forgettable. Not bad, but not groundbreaking by any means. I’d give it 2.5 stars if I could, but unfortunately we live in a world where I can only dream of half stars.
Unfortunately, just like "Neon Bible," I found this album very boring and "one note." I was hopeful when listening to the first two songs on "The Suburbs," as they had an almost alt-country feel and a bounce to them. However, after those, the rest of the album continued in just one block of sound that I found very unappealing and dull to listen to. Neither the vocals or music ever surprises me or seems to have any dynamics to "wake me up."
The era feels like a weird spot where I wasn't listening to at least the swath of bands like this that hit it big. Kings of Leon, Alt J, etc. At first I was feeling it overall, some good tracks, but the album then just kept going. This album feels every minute of its length. I don't hear where it really pushed any particular thing sonically either. This is a miss for me personally.
It really feels like they didn't know what modern albums to add to the list so they just closed their eyes and threw darts randomly
I like Arcade Fire and was expecting to love this. But after the first song (which is fantastic), the rest were sort of meh
mid 2/5
This album just doesn’t grab me. The songs are well crafted, solid arrangements with some interesting uses of orchestration for an indie rock/pop band, some thoughtful lyrics, honestly a pretty well designed and out-together album. Despite that, there’s nothing that really excites me or is particularly memorable to me. It’s fine to listen to, it just leaves no impression on me.
Not my taste
First record great. This record was overwrought and trying way too hard to be deep and it comes off flat and pretentious.
Individually the songs are okay. It's only when listened to all the way through that the full banality becomes clear.
I just find them boring, not much else to say. Mopey but not in a fun way.
Pretty boring and bland but easy listening
i remember really liking this album in the past. but this go around it didn’t really hit. the first song is fucking magic tho
Whiny. Which is interesting, because if you say it a little oddly, that could sound like "wo ai ni", which is 'I love you'. Which makes no sense, because there is nothing to love here.
It's a genre I like and it's fine, it's a 3 or 4 for listenability. But there's not a single memorable song and once it's over it vanishes, that brings it down to a 2.
More yawn indie rock. I don’t hate it but pure background music for me
Somehow boring, should be my type but it just doesnt move me⅖
Meh.
Eh. Okay then
..
“Oh my god what is that horrible song they’re singing” is a great self reflection. “I feel like I’m living in a city with no children in it; a garden left for a ruin by a millionaire inside of a private prison” is one of the worst sentences and maybe the most tortured metaphor I’ve ever heard. “The Sprawl” is like if Radioheads “exit music for a film” was run through a Christian content guard website and was also shit. The music is good enough. The fast songs are just how many downstrokes on a guitar can you do. The slow songs are teenage poetry put to odd time signatures (which is at least better than regular time signatures) or something that sounds like a modern military march. It’s simple but gets the job done. I did like the post-rock style buildup in “The Suburban War”; made me want to listen to more of that though rather than the rest of this. I can see why they’re successful; the music matches the moods of the songs and it’s got a groove most of the time. The lyrics and the singing really throw me off though. They really ruin the whole thing. Ultimately if I’m going to listen to this kind of rock I’ll probably put on The Strokes, and lyrically I’m probably just a shitty old man that doesn’t get it.
Stopped. Not bad but not feeling it
Meh
Gear: Meze 109 PRO Artwork: Visionen von Visions Mix: etwas luftig unten rum - oben dafür umso flirrender (also nicht so meins) Musik: cooles Konzept mit starkem Antritt aber wenig langem Atem Wertung: 🏡🏡(🏡)/5
I know everyone gets excited about Arcade Fire but I find them pretty dull.
it was as boring now as it was when it came out. I didn't like it then, I don't like it now.
Meh. Not my genre.
Liked this better than their first album, but not by much. Not interested in listening to this again. 2/5
Genuinely surprised to see how well this album did in its day. Every song sounded the same. And was as boring as the one before it. And the one after it. Wasted Hours really spoke to me. Given I just wasted one.
Like the 'burbs... boring and completely uninspired
There isn’t a single thing this album does better than its predecessor, Funeral. Therefore, outside of being a little recession time capsule, I don’t think this album will age with grace. It doesn’t have edges, it’s so soft. My real gripe with this album is once again within the context of this list. There is no reason for this to be on here, taking up a spot when I’m sure funeral already is on here. It’s milquetoast Grammy fodder for 30+ year olds who want to look back on their privileged suburban life fondly. Twinkly, sweet moments that are otherwise washed over by drab blehhhhh
2.06. Nothing here really.
Again: Good album but neither I was a die hard fan at that time nor am I know praising this as a major milestone
I read the five star reviews for this and think I must be hearing a parallel universe version. I don't think it's terrible but it does feel like an awful lot of not very much.
Thanks I hate it.
I'm not really the biggest fan of orchestral instruments in rock songs (strings, etc)
Meh
Jeez this is a bit depressing!? Finding a lot of albums quite good musically but really not enjoying the vocals. This is one of them, I just can’t get into his vocals. Kinda just wanted it to be over if I’m honest!
Kinda boring, it's not terrible and I get why people like them, just not for me
Boring imo
Classic 2000s indie
sanat kaikunut korvilla.. arcade... fire... jännittävästi kutkuttanut.. eka albumi paska.. noh ei mitään.. nyt toinen... ja paskaa... kolmas tulossa vielä.. britti indie rock 80 luku eiku eiku ei mitä 2010 vuosi ja kanada.. vähän jälkeenjäänyttä porukkaa eh buddy?tämän bändin toinen albumi tällä... ja voin turvallisesti sanoa, että ne ovat helvetin tylsiä. vain mutkittelevaa, merkityksetöntä paskaa. se ei vain lopu, mutta se ei myöskään koskaan mene mihinkään. mitä paskaa. vittuun PRENTENTIOUS YOU ARE FUCKING PRENTETIOUS IF LIKE THIS!!!!!! aluekehityksestä yksi piste lisää the suburbs
it was fine to have on as background music. the male vocalist much stronger & better than the female vocalist. but is this an album I must listen to? nah
Ok music
Sounds a lot the same
Otro más? Cambiaría este por uno de Los Prisioneros, Café Tacuba, Charly Garcia o algun otro. Es que las tres primeras canciones son estupendas, pero después de aquellas el disco se hunde como no he visto en ningún otro. Nada memorable viene después, ninguna canción es recordable.
not my vibe broski
No spark from Arcade Fire on this album. It improved as it progressed, but no hit songs - kinda soft (2.2*s)
It's a fine album but I'm not sure why it is held in such high regard. Nothing stood out as a hit. I'm sure there is a deeper meaning to it that I didn't pick up on. Decent background album but nothing more for me. 2.4 stars
Second album from group and I have the same thing to say. Fine to listen to but nothing stood out. I looked up the 20 best albums of that year, 2010 because I wanted to know what I was listening to instead of Arcade Fire....KOL, Ye, The Black Keys and Dead Weather. I don't believe I'm enough to like these guys.
Boring.
Eh.
It's polished and they are clearly of a kind well liked but I can't get past how flat and uninteresting I find them. Just never grabbed me.
Sprawl II is by far the best song on this album, the rest was not that impressive
boring
Mid
OK album
A super bloated album that tries to lean way too hard into nostalgia. There are a few tracks that have a nice reflective nature. However, a lot of lyrics end up feeling quite narrow-minded. Musically there are good ideas but a lot of them feel drawn out. There are some great tracks that get lost in the drudge around them. Needs cutting down a bunch.
Forgettable imo. Did not enjoy the instrumentation too much — boring, old, nothing new. Sounds derivative, but could be because indie acts soon followed the sound they created here. This band and their records are so hyped up that I had high expectations coming in. Can't say I hated it totally — I think Ready to Start, Modern Man, and Rococo were enjoyable songs. The record front to back sounds too similar and homogenous.
Nice music, but doesn't light my fire.
In a word, boring. I kept waiting for something to catch my interest, but it never happened.
Not for me. 2/5
Not terrible…could listen to 3-4 songs if I heard them on a playlist or XM.
I couldn’t get into this one. No songs grabbed me
meh
2.5 I don’t need any more mediocre rock albums
Forgettable imo. Did not enjoy the instrumentation too much — boring, old, nothing new. Sounds derivative, but could be because indie acts soon followed the sound they created here. This band and their records are so hyped up that I had high expectations coming in. Can't say I hated it totally — I think Ready to Start, Modern Man, and Rococo were enjoyable songs. The record front to back sounds too similar and homogenous.
This was as bland as I remember it being...
No
It all pretty much sounded the same.
Meh
Preferred The Funeral and Neon Bible. Too bad the lead singer is a creep.
Every morning when I see what album I have, I screenshot it and text it to my wife. We had extremely different upbringings, and have wildly different musical tastes, so it's fun to get her reactions of excitement, dislike, or even confusion for bands she's never heard of. Today's reply: "Meh." Nailed it. This album is aggressively mediocre. Most the songs sound pretty identical and it's so damn tedious. This album is what beige sounds like. It's inoffensive, sure, but goddamn. Do SOMETHING.
I really like Funeral but have liked this band less with every subsequent album, stolen basketball, Disney collab and sex pest allegation. Trying to listen to The Suburbs today with unbiased ears, it’s okay. A bit too bombastic and pompous. Sprawl II is a good song. All in all, if it isn’t Funeral then I’d rather just skip it.
Hm ja, wat moet ik hiervan vinden? Het vorige album van Arcade Fire was prima. Dit is dat ook, er springt voor mij persoonlijk niets uit en ik heb niet echt een mening over hun muziek. Het vorige album had Intervention wat het voor mij echt redde omdat dat een heel mooi nummer is, dit album heeft niet zo'n nummer dat er zo uitspringt. Ik geef het 2 sterren, omdat ik er gewoon niet zoveel aan vind. Het voelt nogal 13 in een dozijn.
Que decir. Me aburrí. Ni.
Jovial album. If you don’t dig them in high school though I don’t think it sticks. I loathe the last song too because Spotify plays it constantly as a recommendation when an album ends.
Couldn't finish it. Just can't stand this genre
chill chunky rock grooves, 00s optimism, would be a really good road-trip zone-out album on a sunny day, sounds like a less quirky vampire weekend, movie music. eh.
Indie rock vibes, but like didn't stand out to my ear.
Can't get into Arcade Fire. Not sure why
The album suffers from trying to hard to be indie when it wants to be a rock record. The best parts of the album are when they ditch the over done annoying indie vocals and just stick to making rock music.
I've tried to listen to this album before... it seems like something I "should" like, but I just can't get into it. I listened to it again, and it again just became non-descript background music... nothing particularly memorable, except maybe the "I used to wait" song from that old HTML5 chrome project...
Every song sounds the same to me.
Quite boring in the beggining, and the end feels like the beggining. A cool album though, very well produced, I Just can't seallow Indie stuff yet. 2/5
Wouldn't call myself an Arcade Fire fan - as I've not listened to their music before. The Suburbs seems kind of pointless. I liked Wasted Hours, but having read the other reviews, I just don't get this album. I thought they were a bit more rockier than this sentimental, simplistic, laconic nonsense. Also, far too long.
Didn’t like it, too so and forgettable. First song is good, surprised by how popular they were 2/3***
I was underwhelmed by this album when it was released and haven't listened to it again until now. Trust me, it isn't half as good as you think it is, and then half as good as that. Overhyped.
Bella la struttura dell'album, per me troppo monotematico. Month of may vince migliore canzone ho deciso
cool rhythms on "Modern Man", other than that not very memorable, it's not bland or anything, just not really my cup of tea, they definitely do have their own sound
On kyllä harmitonta ja väritöntä rokkia. Ei tästä mitään jää mieleen, ei hyvässä eikä pahassa.
Songs mostly blend together, Deep Blue stands out
Meh
Uneventful Indie Rock.
Absolutely forgettable album. It's not bad; it's just meh. All the tracks sounded relatively the same and blended together.
Absolutely forgettable album. It's not bad; it's just meh. All the tracks sounded relatively the same and blended together.
Ihan ok. Kakkosbiisi vei kyl suoraa 2010 rumaan
Semi kedelig indie rock
There were a couple of good songs, but a lot of the album seemed experimental with odd time signatures and unique chord progressions. For the most part it was not enjoyable to listen to.
Un tanto soso y falto de chispa. Muchas canciones me han parecido similares. No lo escucharía.
Has some good songs, but bloody hell is it long. I'd rate it 5/10 if it would let me
it’s fine it’s just a bit too theater kid for me
Not my jam, kind of forgettable
Fav Song: Rococo, Empty Room, Suburban War Nicht mein Musikgeschmack Zu langsam, zu wenig Abwechslung Album könnte auch halb so lang sein Ne nett gemeinte 2 von 5 wird es denke
I like a few songs (especially sprawl) but this was mostly boring and too long. 2.5
Not really my thing
I feel like I'm suppose to like Arcade Fire but that makes me not like them, and there's nothing wrong with them.
Feels very "safe" without much edge. Can't say most of the songs grabbed me. Modern Man was a stand-out though. Probably won't make it into a rotation for me, but found it inoffensive.
Much of a muchness - plenty of albums that are similar or better than this
I don't get the hype. So many songs lacked any dynamics, eventually sounding like a wall of noise. Nothing memorable or catchy, and so much repetition of simple beats (bang on every quarter note!) or chords/notes. Just... blech.
I used to really like this album. Unfortunately I was very bored by it on this listen. I guess tastes change
Not really my taste, but I liked Rococo, Empty Rooms, Month of May, and Sprawl II.
Not my style of music but not the worst
Have we already listened to an Arcade Fire album in this project? I can't really recall. They sound like if you asked ChatGPT to create a sound for an indie rock/pop/alternative/sensitive-type band. ho-hum.
Over the years, I really grew out of love with Arcade Fire’s music. What once spoke to me now seems mundane, uninteresting, and pretentious.
I like the sound of the first track but the rest of the album sounds the same to me
Very blah. Reminds me of Imagine Dragons.
Aside from "The Suburbs", this was surprisingly boring to me. I liked their other album "Funeral" more. I actually didn't manage to finish this one because I just really wanted to listen to something else instead...
Some good songs, very outdated musical aesthetics
Not really my cup of tea.
It’s nice but not normally what I look for 6.5
Dull and pretentious...the James Murphy stuff is clearly much much better
Really boring. I might have tolerated this more if it was like a half hour shorter.
Just a bit bland
I have never heard of Arcade Fire before, but when I started listening to this album I wish I had because the song "The Suburbs" is an excellent piece of music and probably one of the strongest starts to an album so far. Ready to Start and Modern man were also really good, I was thinking this is going to be an all timer but then you realise the album is very and I mean VERY front loaded and the album loses steam very quickly. I don't think it's bad and they can make nice sounding instrumentals I suppose but man the lead singer can only really sing in one kind of way and whenever the lady got to sing it was probably the most skippable songs in the Album. There's also not a lot of variety here which is a shame. I was originally going to give this 3 stars but the biggest problem is the Album out right disappoints you. While the album started well Arcade Fire just feel like one of those band that people claim to love as real music while saying The Beatles are overrated or something.
I am a big fan of this genre and I do have quite a few albums of this caliber in my library and yet, this just didn't do anything for me. It's well produced sure but every song was just a tad too slow. It's a shame too because the first song was setting me up for great songs that just unfortunately didn't quite get there. Sorry guys
Nothing to recommend it besides Sprawl II.
Back in the game now..
Nothing special. Overhyped imho
Maybe with additional listens, I’d appreciate this album more, but on first listen it reads as whiny suburbanization apologia. The instrumentation is solid, but everything else is not really to my taste.
i’ve always had an irrational dislike for arcade fire and i feel like it was justified here. uninteresting both musically and lyrically, feels like it was designed in a lab for gen x to feel nostalgic towards
Sounds quite nice, the songs all sound the same after about the 3 or 4 song. Got very repetitive after awhile.
While the nostalgic vibes were there, I could not get into it. All of the songs sounded the same, and the lyrics which were supposed to be "hauntingly beautiful" were rather mediocre. The songs went on for too long and seemed meaningless. There are maybe 1-2 I enjoyed, and the rest fell dramatically flat. The fact that this won AOTY is shocking, as all four other albums were more deserving. Genuine Ranking: 3.5/10
I’ve liked some other Arcade Fire tunes but this seems boring and all the same. I wondered at first if that was some brilliant social commentary on “The Suburbs”, but I think not.
Why? The only band I've ever fallen asleep watching live... This was marginally less rubbish that I expected. Marginally.
Not my sweet spot. Agha I thought I liked the band, some sounds are good but a whole album is aaahhh, what the word? To closed and constrained ? kind of flat homogeneous and featureless and I suppose no life to it... 3 stars... That kind of serious music you hear and think "what's this?". Sounds interesting, but then after a few songs nothing seems to happen. Yes, worthy, good background atmosphere cool stuff but I'm not getting it.
Worth a listen, Empty Room is pretty damn good. I cooked a curry while listening to this and other than Empty nothing stood out, I didn't get hooked as it were. The words are interesting, but as with so much 21st century pop music it flatlines, there's no vertical movement across the stave, it's all horizontal. So an ok album which is not doing anything special.
Never been a big fan, but didn’t mind this. Really loved Month Of May, which is the only track here that gallops at a clip & could have belonged to a punk outfit. A lot of this has a dreamlike feel about it. The tracks do reflect the subject matter in a way I can’t really explain. But I have lived there.
Described as anthemic, grandiose, dramatic, sweeping, cathartic, emotional, oh, how the critics swooned. I am so bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, boringly bored, bored, bored. I am so bored, I can't even be bothered writing a new review. This is recycled from the Arcade Fire's Funeral album, which at least had the song Wake Up on it. Nothing as catchy as that on here.
Really not my style but average.
Nice, but really boring
I don’t get them.
This sound is a dime a dozen. The first song sounds like a commercial, it feels like I'm being sold something. This album/band is not horrible, it's just nothing special. I personally find it tiring to listen to. And they've completely lost the fucking plot with Rococo. There's like 30 more minutes of this shit, nah I'm good. 2/5.
Boring, left no real last effect on me
Very bland
These fuckers. They're like Danny DeVito's Penguin in Batman Returns twirling an umbrella at Christopher Walken's character, who asks if the umbrella is supposed to hypnotize him. The Penguin replies, "No, I'm just trying to give you a splitting headache."
Not a fan of these guys at all. I feel like we already did this one, but then I realize that was a different Arcade Fire album, which makes me realize there are more than one.
Ok
There's a few decent songs and moments but overall it's too long and too dull. At the very least I found it slightly more enjoyable than Funeral, but not by much.
5/10
Second Arcade Fire album in a month, and the annoyance I felt listening to Neon Bible only seems accentuated on this one just a few songs in. I tried, I really did and will actually do a little cut/paste from the previous review because I feel *almost* exactly the same - some relevant snippets that apply to The Suburbs: • I have tried for years with this band - I wish I could figure out or better-explain why it is I don't like them. • I think there's a *lot* around the muddy mix [especially with close listening to 2 of their albums within the last month I think it's by design and I hate it] where I can't really hear the individual instruments very well. This seems to tire me out, aurally. Overly/aggressively compressed? Either way it's a stylistic choice - go for it - but it's hard for me to listen to. • perhaps [no question about it this time - this is a big reason] the overly-faux-eager and not good lead vocals** irritate me. ** big big exception on the vocals is with "Empty Room" which obviously the lead is sung by someone else (Régine Chassagne). They 100% should have given her at least half the songs because I liked this one - knocking off Win Butler (a bit extreme - perhaps retiring him) would have probably bumped this album up a full star for me. • ...or [TL;DR] - it's just that I don't connect with many of these songs whatsoever. I could see how one could make the case of this being this grandiose album but I hear it as utterly overblown and overwrought pablum. • generally it is a bit of a chore for me to get through although I'll reluctantly admit that the middle part of the album is *not bad* - damning with faint praise. And in the end I do think it's a little better than Neon Bible. I know the band is listening to me and has never had success /s so here's my blueprint for success: 1) get rid of that lead singer, or at a bare minimum go 50-50. 2) try your next album with a clear mix, these albums sound awful - take the dishcloths off the drum kit and also try letting some goddamn dynamics of sound onto the record. I think I'd actually like it. 5/10 2 stars.
vond arcade fire vorige keer ook niet heel booming dus niet echt goed geluisterd, maar ook weer niet booming
Weer zo absurd saai, alles klinkt voor m’n gevoel hetzelfde en daardoor kan ik nu niet vertellen waar ik precies naar heb geluisteren en of er überhaupt iets voor mij uitsprong
Oersaai
rhythm section is clunky, monotonous, and painful to listen to
Decent writing/music, but singer’s voice diminishes the songs.
Ready to Start is fun but the rest is forgettable.
I found The Suburbs very bland, it's inoffensive modern radio pop, and does nothing to suggest my thoughts of them being decidedly overrated were wrong. 2.
They should've just ended with Neon Bible
Minimal amount of joy in this one.
Not in my edition of the book! 2 stars, borderline 2.5. Canadian Deacon Blue but without the tunes. Noisy, meandering hipster noodling with no redeeming features. A couple of decent tunes but not much else.
This is the second Arcade Fire album I've gotten. I wasn't a huge fan of the first one but I am hoping that I enjoy this one more. I'm always looking for new music to listen to, and I haven't listened to the radio in years so I don't know too much about current music except what my already favorite bands are up to. Indie rock just isn't my thing sadly, I can appreciate the musicianship that went into writing and performing this album but it just doesn't grab my attention or make me feel anything in particular.
Technically proficient but no spark. Boring.
pretty dull. 2.
Meh
I never understood the appeal of this band. I was bored listening through it.
I should have liked this album. I like the first two Arcade Fire albums and I never really explored their discography after that. This just felt so long. Maybe I need to let it grown on me but I did not like this. 2.5/5
1st listen ------1----
I quite liked how the early tracks segued into one another. This gave the album a collective feel. It didn't last long. This was a DULL listening experience. Maybe it was because I was streaming? It felt like it was a chore to reach the end of the stream, rather than enjoy the music for what it is. Which isn't much cop tbh... I'm surprised that I made it to the end. The Suburbs is far too bloody long at over an hour from start to finish. Thirty minutes might have held my interest. It was saved from one star by the Régine vocals.
Arcade Fire in my mind is synonymous with hipsters, so let's see what this is all about. I liked Ready To Start and Rococo so far. The rest of them have been fine, but a little... not necessarily boring, but easy to kind of blend into the background. Nothing catching my attention, and it makes it really hard to focus on the music.
Pretty good.
Jingly jangly Pop not my thing
I found "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire to be very mediocre. The mixing between instrumentals and vocals felt off and made it difficult to hear what was being sung. When I did look up the lyrics, they were generic and unmemorable. This album is good for background noise at best, not for a focused listen. The only two songs I might listen to again are Sprawl I and Sprawl II.
I never understood all the hype about this band. On one hand: they're Canadian so YAYY Canada! On the other: they're at the forefront of the musical shift towards more whiny/broody/quirky indie bands of the early aughts / 2010's that was so annoying. All these "sensitive" and "artistic" hipster personas these bands adopted just reeked of disingenuous posturing. And on my third and final hand: Win Butler is another low life sexual harassing piece of shit. I have such a hard time separating the art from the artist and you know what? I'm very okay with it. If I like you, I like you and if I don't you can go fuck yourself. It's my rating system, I decide. Final verdict: Arcade Fire is guilty of sucking in the first degree. Sentenced to this 2-star rating and 600 hours of community service.
Fine I guess. Middle of the road 2.4
OK.
Favorite part was when they mentioned Houston. Didn’t particularly enjoy this album. Feels like music I would have enjoyed when I was 10-12 years old getting over my first crush.
Other bands did it better
There isn't anything bad about this album. It's clearly the work of intelligent, talented musicians, doing clever things. But there just isn't anything I want to go back to having reached the end. It all feels flat somehow. Like a technical demonstration of writing 'important' music.
This was OK but nothing really stood out
Du rock indé un peu générique. Un bon fond musical quand tu travailles / conduit, mais aussitôt une chanson écoutée, aussitôt elle est oubliée. Production « lo-fi » / « sale » qui fait vieillissante et qui n’est pas interessante. Conclusion: j’ai déjà oublié toutes les chansons mais j’ai pas saigné des oreilles. C’était juste chiant.
Funeral was a great album, that is a five for sure. This album... well let's just say that Win Butler didn't really 'win' me over with his voice. I just could not unhear it even after it ended. Going back and listening to Funeral, I was shocked at how much his voice didn't bother me. I think that the choruses on some of the songs overshadowed his vocals. Also of note, Funeral had some great raw power and great riffs. Neighborhood #3, for example or on Wake Me Up.. on and the bass line from Rebellion gave all of those tracks more depth. The Suburbs attempts to capitalize on the singer and it was just a complete turn off. I was lucky enough to see AF at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005 when they opened up for David Byrne. Though David Byrne had teenage boys dancing around in tiny silver lamé shorts which was kinda weird, the show was great. There were probably like 30 people in the band and they all did their part. You know what the best song of this album was... ? Sprawl II because I didn't have to listen to Win whine. The Suburbs relies too much on one person perched on top of flimsy music. No thank you.
Eh it was alright, only liked a couple of tracks.
Ok
I wouldn’t actively seek out this album, but I enjoyed having it on in the background. I couldn’t make out the lyrics over the instruments, but that could’ve been because of the speaker I was using. I might have enjoyed it more if I could’ve understood the lyrics.
very meh
A bit something and nothing.
3 stars? ug these songs are so boring might be 2 stars.
Meh. Not a fan really. Early 2010s hipster drivel.
I really like Arcade Fire and I actually felt disappointed. The album felt monotone which is not what I expected from them. I wasn’t familiar with this album as a whole, just a few songs—and admittedly not my favorites. I wouldn’t venture to saying it is a bad album. It just wasn’t interesting. Not even from a manspreading perspective.
2/5 Wasn't a very big fan, don't mind arcade fire but this just wasn't my thang.
I just do not care for indie rock. I do not know what the big deal of this album is either. It is not the worst album on the list but there is no need to listen to it again.
Kind of boring but some ok stuff.
I know a few people who are really into Arcade Fire, but I wasn’t really hooked in by this one at all.
Dull, too long, got bored of it before the halfway point and realised there was still over 30 minutes left. Really not my style and this album clearly influenced a lot of other stuff I don’t like from the 2010s.
They're still subjecting us to this garbage
A band forever ruined by Win Butler's behaviour. Some absolute gems on the album (Mountains Beyond Mountains for example) but I can't separate the music from the musician.
Another bland boring crap album. 1/5.
boooooo
This album was an absolute travesty. The falsetto vocals on every song lacked emotion and the lyrical content was bland and meandering. Sonically everything sounded as if it was some soulless pop rock garbage that was repetitive and uninspired. Lots of members in this band for not a lot to be going on in the music.
Not special
"Arcade Fire" is some bullshit. Arcades are cool. Why would I want to picture one on fire? Failure right out of the gate. This is vapid crap to shop around Target to.
Boy have I learned to hate this band from this list. Funeral and Neon Bible were atrocious. This one, while surprisingly a little better at times, continues on that path. The bulk of the album just drags, and the length doesn't help this. Pretty typical for how I feel about most indie from this era.
Nope not doing it
"They heard me singing and they told me to stop / quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock" — band that bought a church and outfitted it with vintage gear to use as a studio
"Oh my dear God, what is that horrible song?" I gave it a fair shot. But it's too boring. Too bland. Too polished. Too repetitive. Too white. It's a statement from a lifestyle that I once envied when I was younger, but I now despise. I do not want to hear about Win Butler's uneventful, uninteresting middle-class Mormon upbringing. I know many people love this album and this band, but I can't get into it. Two weeks into my 1001albums journey, this is easily the worst experience I have had listening to anything on this list.
no me gustó, no es mi estilo
didn’t get through it. shitty indie music (a genre i don’t usually mind) but like actually shit
fairly standard 2010s indie rock. rococo is straight ass, genuinely one of the most boring, uninventive imagine dragons ahhh songs. empty room was ok but felt like an imitation of earlier 90s/0s bands with little to no originality. seem like a slightly less awful coldplay but the bar is in hell. sprawl II and the suburbs were decent.
I’d got this far without ever listening to Arcade Fire and frankly, I wish I’d got further. It’s like The Strokes if they were shite.
More boring than watching and waiting for dry paint to peel away from the wall
BORING
God, this sucks.
Indie-rock from this era pisses me tf off is what I'm finding out. Like I'm bored as hell, every song just blends together! I feel like a lot of people love this sound and i really wanna know what I'm missing? All I could think about while listening to this is how I would prefer to be listening to several better versions of these songs by other artists. Also the audacity for 2 of their albums to be within the first 11 albums generates is wild, but at least i'm 2/3 done with them in this project. Top 3 (gun to head): 1) Month of May 2) City with No Children 3) Sprawl II