I sometimes see fans requesting recommendations similar to Arcade Fire. I thought I'd compile a list of artists that I frequently consider in tandem with AF. I've included some key tracks too (linking to YouTube to ensure accessibility). Avoiding some of the more obvious overlaps in listeners (Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes etc). In no particular order,

Broken Social Scene: "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl"; "Ibi Dreams of Pavement"

Camera Obscura: "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"; "Eighties Fan"

Stars: "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"; "Elevator Love Letter"

Black Country, New Road: "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade"; "Track X"

Grizzly Bear: "Ready, Able"; "Foreground"

Alvvays: "Dreams Tonite"; "Pharmacist"

French Kicks: "Trial of the Century"; "Sex Tourists"

Wolf Parade: "Shine a Light"; "Yulia"

The Walkmen: "Heaven"; "Thinking of a Dream I Had"

Angel Olsen: "Spring"; "All The Flowers

The New Pornographers: "Letter from an Occupant"; "The Bleeding Heart Show"

Have they ever played this song in a stripped-down setting, maybe without percussion? Thanks for any tips!

(I promise I tried my best googling!)

https://preview.redd.it/3iri0jdf1k6e1.jpg?width=962&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4122c5f9dff37ec825313e5cc33f933b3e98bd2a

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/the-best-movie-soundtrack-songs-of-2024/

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2024/12/11/richard-reed-parry-pietro-amato-scoring-dylan-southerns-the-thing-with-feathers/#google_vignette

And it has aged really well. Funeral on the other hand has not aged well. Suburbs is great still, but Neon Bible is nice to just throw on in any context. I have found myself coming back again and again to Neon Bible, whereas when I first got into the band, I had listened to the album for maybe only a week at most in 2017 and hadn’t touched it much again until recent years where it’s one of the few albums of theirs I find myself craving to listen to.

I had a dream I went to an elaborate AF album release party at a lighthouse with a ton of celebrity guests (the Obamas were there) and it was very fancy and a very good time. Unfortunately I woke up before they got through the whole track list but they did reveal that the new album would have Surf City Eastern Bloc and then also a collaboration with Stevie Wonder! It sounded really good in the dream. I’ve had prophetic dreams before and honestly I don’t think it would be that weird of a feature for them so I just wanted to put it out there in case Apolo gifted me.

I'm 37. Really, I was on the perfect time horizon for them to be my "coming of age" band. And I guess they were in way, but kind of later on. It was Coldplay that took that title. A Rush of Blood To The Head came out when I was 16 and being someone who grew up playing piano I was a goner after hearing Clocks. Funeral was released in '04, which would have been my sophomore/junior year of high school.. but here's the thing:I didn't even really KNOW about them until like '09-'10 as a college student. I probably could had listened to Neon Bible live or somewhat close to after hearing people recommend them to me. The first time I can remember really locking in and becoming obsessed was late 2009/early 2010. I was a college student at the time in Washington,D.C. That was my senior year. In my freshman year somewhere around '07, the song Rebellion(Lies) was used as one of my curtain calls as a freshman showcase (I was a drama major) but I didn't fully appreciate this until way after the fact. So here I am, sitting in my single dorm room listening to Tunnels after DC has a sort of snowpocalypse and gets like 4 feet of snow, and I'm isolated. My life is never really the same. The Suburbs ( my favorite album of all time) releases shortly thereafter, but I DON'T REALLY NOTICE IT AT THE TIME. I graduated in May of 2010 and my life was in shambles. I decided to live off campus at the time with a girl I was dating and just wasn't in a good place. Somehow this came and went and I didn't really take notice. I worked at place called Kramerbooks/Afterwords Cafe in Dupont Circle which was like an independent bookstore with a restaurant attached to it and I have vivid memories of seeing a TV at the time with the Suburbs playing on like the music station. This also would've been around the time of the Grammys and the whole "WHO IS ARCADE FIRE" thing after they won. Still just a casual fan.

I end up moving to NYC in March of 2012 and that summer I get really into them. The Suburbs really speaks to me. I have some sort of epiphany listening to Speaking in Tongues. I am a full time student in a 1 year acting conservatory and waiting tables in Union Square when REFLEKTOR comes out and like.. I don't even know how to describe this, it just like became the score for my life? I'm walking 14th St. to the A train subway and listening to this amazing album. Like it's late 2013, fall/winter. Reflektor gets released as a single and I don't know how to feel about it because it's so different. Then the album drops. HER is being released and from then on nothing else is ever the same. Like.. how was I not a superfan up until this point? This was the conversion.

My first live experience ends up being Panorama in 2016. They were the headliners. I wasn't living there anymore, but my best friend who is also a fan was and we experienced it together. It was still fresh enough off of Reflektor and early enough before Everything Now to be something special and it really was. It was after David Bowie had passed so they paid him tribute, but it was absolutely magical seeing them. I saw them at MSG in 2017 after Everything Now and again in 2018 in Philly but nothing was as magical as that first show. After that MSG show in '17 , Will had a show at a dive bar in the East Village right after and I got to sit right behind him and talk to him a bit which was pretty damn awesome. But somehow 2016 was like the sweet spot for them where they were still very high in demand to be headliners and kind of like "mysterious" in a way? I don't know if that makes sense.

So I've lived through a whole lot of things that should have been cancelled before the whole getting cancelled era became a thing and remember what life was like before we were able to carry the internet with us all the time. I don't know if they'll ever really recover from all this stuff. I also don't even really know if their music can achieve what it did when Will was there, when Owen Pallett collaborated with them. I know this is long but I don't really have anywhere else to let this out. And I'm in a nostalgic headspace and I didn't know who else to share this with. I will alway love them. Sometimes I can't believe it.

Just came across this through insta but I'm not entirely sure what it is ¿?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDNCBvothNq/?igsh=eThlNmRwZ2tycHVk

Based on this post, it seems Lorne Michaels of SNL asked the band to perform. Which is somewhat reassuring that he didn't view it as too "controversial" of a move to have them perform.

https://preview.redd.it/fhbbk5oi4a5e1.png?width=826&format=png&auto=webp&s=0293b246b2892fc549a1c8b4f25b9ad277b35c64

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2024/12/04/arcade-fires-richard-reed-parry-scoring-duke-johnsons-the-actor/

Richard down front and wow, the Museum of Natural History looks amazing for the gala!

https://open.spotify.com/wrapped/share/share-d12286b4f1604388a51359c465b916e0?si=8TtL2L1SR-G_951XFIIPeA&track-id=2B24vh3fl3TXpwBlOYlygV

The Safest Place - Asleep at the feels

My top 5 bands this year were Arcade Fire, Noah and the Whale, Coldplay, LCD Soundsystem, and Vampire Weekend.

What should I check out this next year?

^(Surprised War on Drugs didn't make the cut, but that's my current jam.)