ARCADE FIRE IS THE NEW PEARL JAM.

Arcade Fire is the new Pearl Jam: Everybody wants to sound and look like them for ten years...

What's really strange is that Pearl Jam weren't considered to be "hip" for a long time after grunge (I guess they still aren't)...yet, I actually think that their (fairly) recent number called "the Fixer" is way better/cooler than most of this Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie stuff that all pretty much sounds the same; I never really jumped off a cliff for either of these bands?!

I liked Arcade Fire when they took the world by storm (and I still do) - It reminded me of bands that I enjoy(ed) a track or two from like the Water Walk or the Dream Academy, except more sustainable with more depth (Although, "Life in a Northern Town" was fairly huge). But the thrill is gone and the scene is dying right in front of our eyes: Jared Leto is even coping their schtick for chrissakes! You know - skinny jeans, light scarves, flowers, hankies, tweed jackets with elbow patches, four drummers and (generally) pseudo-artsy to a fault.

With the latest wave of these bands, it's like the hippies have now all got jobs at the library...and yet they STILL can't read the writing on the wall. It's done folks. Are you around 30 and still trying to pull this off? Then I am talking to you. Jared is hovering around 40...but he is hanging with kids ten years his junior. There's nothing wrong with that...but you are a Jared-come-lately, if you are following this lead.

I don't mean to bash Jared - but he's not a true musician. His songs pale in comparison to people that have dedicated their life to the craft. He can sing, But I know he fancies himself as more than just an American Idol prospect...but he is wrong in doing so. He should stick to acting - I liked him in Requiem for a Dream and even in American Psycho...even though it was (maybe) a bit more than a bit part. I hated Fight Club - One of the biggest cop out endings of ALL time...but that wasn't his fault. Anyway...

Truth be told, if it's the Canadian, indie, library-like looks that really gets you going, there was a Canadian band that was doing this type of thing in 1988. In fact, their song and video (below) rivals, if not surpasses, the best of the best of this Arcade Fire-inspired scene...OVER 20 years earlier:



Now that's a song! I shouldn't live in a world in which people can't recognize this...maybe I SHOULD go jump off of a cliff...

...or walk the plank, in this case.

(I sheepishly ask you, "Was that too cutesy?"
Yeah, I know: Amateur hour.)

Anyway, throw the f'n dog a bone: Try to find a way to pay money to acquire this Plasterscene Replicas track. Their music wasn't ALL this good--frankly, none of their other stuff even came close--but this kind of craftsmanship should be properly rewarded...even if it only struck them once.

It's funny...you could even argue that the name of the band itself was ahead of its time by making a reference to emptily duplicated things like (let's say, I dunno) art or music.

Or who knows - maybe they were big Bladerunner fans or something? (That's "Replicants," I know...but still.)

I actually thought about including "the Fixer" in this post as well...but Cameron Crowe's video is heavily guarded against embedding by Pearl Jam and Island Records. Is somebody out there actually purchasing the video single (is there such a thing?) that they have to pull this type of move? They should advertise within the video, if they must...then the more places it ends up, the better off everyone is, no?

No (further) comment.

KW