I'm sorta like seafoam in that I think these guys are only capable of 3-5 really good songs per album (which is why I was immediately bitching about the LENGTH of The Suburbs) A few listens in and I'm still undecided...not surprisingly though since I never really caught the flow of the last one even though I tend to always like when a song off of it comes up on random or Pandora or whatever.

BUT, I threw on the debut this morning for some perspective and I gotta say that they still haven't written a song as powerful as "Neighborhood #1" and that's far from me being Ned Nostalgia: it just flat out kicks ass.

Still waiting to hear this.

I like the album, heard it a couple of times in the last weeks but I thought from the first listen on that it's gonna "wear thin" quite fast. It has a good vibe, which was intended, but there's neither real strong and outstanding songwriting musically nor the already mentioned power of the debut.

This is quite good...

Even though "The Suburbs" doesn't have any songs that immediately hooked me like their previous two did, overall it's probably their best album. "Ready To Start" and "Month Of May" are the highlights so far, and nothing made me reach for the skip button. I'll be getting the LP this week for sure.

definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. dying to see them tour this year.

i saw them last night. i haven't heard the new album, but i guessed that anything i didn't know was from the suburbs. i didn't hate any of those, which is a good sign. it was a very good show overall.

Well, Suburbs is the #1 album on the Billboard chart with 156,000 copies sold in it's first week.

http://pitchfork.com/news/39720-arcade- ... umber-one/

I saw them Tuesday night at the Ryman, and they were just incredible. For me they have the characteristic of being on the tightrope: immense control while simultaneously almost falling to pieces.

that's fucking awesome for them and for Merge.

Trying to decide if I want to download this or not. I liked NB well enough. Based on the previews I heard on emusic, I'm still kinda meh.

For sure. I work with Merge's attorney, and they're stoked.

this is password protected, and it ain't Dale's usual.

guh?

haven't read the thread, but was only able to get through 12 songs. so i think it's about 5 songs too long, because some of them are pretty good - but as good as the broken social scene record? not sure, and i don't really love that either – but as a whole it's damn tiresome. nothing will help the fact that funeral was a perfect album in a time and at a place.

funny thing is, the first 2 and the last 4 songs are the best.

Month of May is pretty great.

half the songs are great. the other half are ok...

be jealous - i am downloading the new iron maiden rekkid. word!

mikkisays.net

FYI, they're about to play on The Daily Show.......

I really like this album. It wasn't a huge departure from their previous work and I definitely enjoy it more than I did Neon Bible.
I don't think it will ever match Funeral, but this one has definitely grown on me.
I wish that they would have played with Spoon at the Maha Festival in Omaha last month, but it just hasn't reached that sort of status yet.

"So for the new album, we had each of the 16 tracks mastered to a 12 inch lacquer and then transferred back to digital format so that the CD and digital version of the record sound just like the vinyl."

agree with this pretty much verbatim, except t I'd say they have been capable of more like 2-3 really good songs per album so far.

this new one, i just don't know. don't hear anything that really stands out and I keep switching it off about 5 or 6 songs in. however, it is pretty damn dense so I may just need to listen a bit more (or it just sort of sucks).

I'm gonna get Monty-esque in my clauses here...

I do most of my music listening at work these days and as such have to deal with interruptions/pauses roughly every 5-6 songs, which does not suit an album like this well at all and I've only been able to get through the first half with any sort of concentrated thought. But on the first half "Ready To Start," "Modern Man" and "City With No Children" (especially that one) have stood out as very good-great songs, and I've got the very strong "Month Of May" waiting for me on the second half without any familiarity with the rest. So I'm optimistic that this is going to find a lot of favor with me. Seems more cohesive and less anxious than "Neon Bible," which bodes well.
More to come.

I'm loving this still. And they're the best tour going right now. They fucking destroyed when I caught them this week, as usual.

After reading this thread, I forced myself to listen to this entire album again.
Complete shit.
Focus on a piece of glitter in a turd.

These are the same people who listen to Wilco.

good post/username