Given and Taken in Ink

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs [preview]

Posted by Greg , Thursday, June 17, 2010 8:10 PM

I've been a little slow to write about this (or anything else, really), but I think I can reasonably blame my wedding and honeymoon for that.  (As an aside, my wife and I were very disappointed that The National did not show up.  They didn't even respond to our e-mail invitation!)

Anyway, Arcade Fire have been releasing teasers for their new album, The Suburbs.  You can check out a pretty damn cool preview of their recent 12" single of "The Suburbs"/"Month of May" on their website.  My favorite part?  Press pause while either song is playing.  (OMG!  Sounds just like vinyl!  It's sad the stuff that makes me happy.)  I never got into Funeral or Neon Bible, but for some reason these new tracks have me really excited for the new album.  "The Suburbs" shuffles along at a carefree, easy pace, while "Month of May" hits a little harder.  It's kind of a goofy punk song, but the band pulls it off well.

The actual 12" was released in limited supply at various independent record stores.  (My local shop was selling it for something like $25.)

This week saw the premiere of two more tracks, "Ready to Start" and "We Used to Wait," which are available all over the Internet, such as at one of my favorite music blogs (where you can find mp3s of all four songs).  I think these are rips of an Internet broadcast, so you'll have to wait until August 2 for the real thing.