indie rock cafe

On Tuesday, Arcade Fire will release their anticipated second full-length album, Neon Bible, on CD and LP.
Check the links below to order and listen to an advance track from the new album

The album's release follows a year of astonishing success for an indie rock band that was little known just a couple of years ago. But after release of their debut album Funeral in 2005, the band quickly amassed a huge fan base and rocketed to heights many bands never come close to after playing for decades.

You can get a sense of a rock group's success from many different angles.

But when a group sells out nearly a dozen shows just minutes after the concert tickets go on sale, you can bet something bigger is happening.

During the past two years, Arcade Fire have sprung to rock stardom, making them one of the hottest and most popular rock groups on the planet.

Tell that to the band members. Until recently, the band members claim they were largely unaware of the full magnitude and reach of their success. On the Internet alone, there are hundreds of fan sites, articles, tabs, chords, lyrics, reviews, biographies, interviews and more.

By now, they can't help but to know they are world famous, even being featured on Time magazine, usually a cover that is reserved for world figures and cultural icons.

The buzz from critics and fans about just how fantastic their music is seems to not affect the guys and gals of Arcade Fire - they appear to be keeping it real - living the "indie rock" lifestyle, and at least suggesting they are not about to embrace the trappings of stardom. It's a refreshing sign at a time when so many bands that started indie have gone big-time and have never looked back.


Members of Arcade Fire are not the kind of band that will brag about selling out an entire concert tour in just minutes. In fact, band members don't care about the high-flying, money-spending lifestyle of rock stars.

They are just as happy playing for 50 people as they are for 5,000. Band members still drive old cars and wear second-hand clothes and they seem genuinely astonished that their debut album so quickly became of the most popular albums of the past year.

The question is: How long can they keep it "real"?

Hard-core indie fans (which are very difficult to define) have watched bands like The Starting Line, Fallout Boy, Bloc Party and The Killers go "Hollywood" by signing on with one of the five dominant record conglomerates (Sony, EMI, Capitol, Universal, Warner Brothers), taking the money and running with it.

The cross-over from a small label to one of the Big Five seems to be what many indie rock fans, writers and critics is what really sets an authentic indie group apart from the rest who claim to be indie/alternative.

The question is: Can a group go Big Five and remain true to the indie and alternative rock fan base, culture and to themselves or do they buckle to managers and record executives, compromising not just their soul, but their music and integrity for fame and money?

That's part of what attracts many fans to Arcade Fire. They are original and make damn good music. They buck the industry trends whenever possible and lash out at any attempt to take creative control of their work.

* Exclusive advanced release MP3 from Neon Bible, "
Black Mirror"

Get more stories on
Arcade Fire and subscribe to the IRC feed to stay updated on AF and many other great indie and alternative bands.

Check out the band's
profile on Merge Records - The deluxe CD version includes a paperboard clamshell box containing a 32-page flip book designed by Tracy Maurice and the Long Play (LP) version is minted for double 180-gram audiophile quality, featuring three sides of music plus an etching on the fourth side.

As an extra bonus, the LP also includes a coupon code for a free MP3 download of the entire album.



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  9:54 PM March 4, 2007   

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Current and upcoming releases (US dates)

12/7/09 Ólafur Arnalds - Dyad 1909
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1/26/10 Beach House - Teen Dream
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2/1/10 Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
2/2/10 Midlake - The Courage of Others
2/9/10 Yeasayer - Odd Blood
2/23/10 Shout Out Louds - Work
2/23/20 Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
3/2/10 Rogue Wave - Permalight
3/2/10 The Whigs - In The Dark
3/9/10 Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
3/9/10 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
3/16/10 Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do
3/16/10 The Whigs - In The Dark
3/22/10 Jónsi - Go
3/23/10 She & Him - Volume 2
5/4/10 The New Pornographers - Together

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Best 2009 Indie Releases

2009 best indie albums
Favorite 2009 indie albums in no particular order; strongly recommend these for your music collection.

Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree In The Ear
Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
Fanfarlo - Reservior
Family of the Year - Songbook
The Middle East - The Recordings of the Middle East
Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Fountain
The Sun - Don't Let Your Baby Have All The Fun
Kings of Convenience - Declaration of Dependence
Foreign Born - Person To Person
Real Estate - Real Estate
Elephantom - Swim. Towards The Sun
Wiretree - Luck
Them Crooked Vultures - s/t debut
Volcano Choir - Unmap
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night,Still Light
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
Ramona Falls - Intuit
Holiday Shores - Columbus'd The Whim
Why? - Eskimo Snow
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
The Dead Weather - Horehound
Portugal The Man - The Satantic Satanist
Port O'Brien - Threadbare
Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part
Headlights - Wildlife
Bango or Freakout - Upside Down EP
The Clean - Mister Pop
Sin Fang Bous - Clangour
Passion Pit - Manners
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues
Spring Tigers - Spring Tigers EP
Sea Wolf - White Water, White Bloom
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Bodies Of Work - Flyers
The XX - XX
The Black Hollies - Softly Towards The Light
Sonic Youth - The Eternal Youth
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next
Generationals - Con Law
BLK JKS - After Robots
White Denim - Fits/Exposion
Rodrigo y Gabriella - 11:11
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Atlas Sound - Logos
The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Califone - All of My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Taken By Trees - East of Eden
Chet - Chelsea Silver, Please Come
Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
Washed Out - Life of Leisure
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Deer Tick - Born On Flag Day
The Clientele - Bonfires of Heath
Iron & Wine - Around The Well
Pete Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing
Conor Oberst & The Mustic Valley Band - Outer South
Paper Route - Absence
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Throw Me The Statue - Creaturesque
The Dodos - Time To Die
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
M. Ward - Hold Time
Deastro - Moondagger
The Decemberists - Hazards of Love
Matt & Kim - Grand
The Antlers - Hospice
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
The Brakes - Touchdown
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
Frightened Rabbit - Quietly Now
We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
The Times New Viking - Born Again Revisited
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar
Pet Lions - Soft Right
Paramore - Brand New Eyes
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware
Bishop Allen - Grrr
Cage The Elephant - Cage The Elephant
Birds of Avalon - Uncanny Valley
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
The Acorn - Heron Act
The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
AC Newman - Get Guilty
Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
Beirut - March of the Zapotec & Realpeople: Holland
The Most Serene Republic - And The Ever Expanding Universe
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada
Wye Oak - The Knot
Vica Voce - Rose City
Pomegranates - Everyone, Come Outside!
Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Akron/Family - Set Em Wild, Set Em Free
Lemon Sun - Run With the Faithless
Eels - Hombre Lobo
Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band
Mellow Down Easy - Cosmisutra
The Mary Onettes - Dare EP
Odawas - The Blue Depths
The Veils - Sun Gangs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
White Rabbits - It's Frightening
Loney Dear - Dear John
The Lonely Forest - We Sing The Body Electric
The Uglysuit - self-titled debut
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Vampire Hands - Me & You Cherry Red/Cuz It's a Beach Funeral


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