I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in this series so i thought i'd press on. If you have read the previous two entries and have never heard of the bands/artists that i've mentioned then i'd seriously urge you to look into them; i'm not mentioning them to try to alienate you, i really think that they are acts that deserve recognition and that they are artists that can be seen as being at the top of their game in terms of what they do.
The Arcade Fire are a 7 piece band from Montreal and rose to prominence with their album 'funeral'. They became known for their incendiary live shows and for their distinctive brand of indie rock and have won numerous award including a grammy in 2005 for best alternative album (for funeral). Back in 2005 i worked in an indie record shop in England and I found myself immediately drawn to the seemingly handmade album artwork and found myself intrigued by the band. We originally stocked the album in low numbers so i'd find myself playing the album in the shop and having to turn it off mid-way in order to sell the record to a customer that had been attracted to Win Butler's distinctive vocals and the intricate orchestral workings of the bands. Arcade Fire's album 'Funeral' was influenced by the deaths of many a band member's family and friends and through such events the band were able to compose a masterful album based around death, the cold and an apocalyptic view of the world that appeals to pessimists like myself. They followed up 'Funeral' with the album 'Neon Bible' in 2007 and I was still working for the record shop. So once again, I played the album to death and it sold well, it lacked the immediate urgency of their previous album but the band had introduced an odd element of impending doom and bleak imagery cemented the 'Neon Bible' as an album that would prove to be as unsettling as it was exciting. When I think of the Arcade Fire I generally think of 'Funeral' and the incredible songs that feature on the album, at the time it was completely unlike anything else out at the time. 'Funeral' is an album that needs to be listened to in full, there are countless singles on the album but when separated from the other songs they lack the cohesive sense of impending dread tinged with optimism that the Arcade Fire have made their trade mark.
Songs to listen to: Neighbourhood #3 (power out), No cars go, wake up
Anyone that knows of Sam Cooke will claim to love him, that is a scientific fact. In my view he has possibly the greatest voice that has ever been recorded and the majority of songs were recorded (and released) in a musical period in which pop music genuinely offered profound and beautiful opinions about life. Sam Cooke was a soul singer that possessed a voice that could resort even the hardest, crazed maniac to tears after listening to just a few bars of his songs. His most well known song is 'wonderful world' and I think that it has featured on both singstar and lips karaoke games, my girlfriend seems to love this song a lot and I (modestly) think that it has something to do with the fact that this is always the song that i choose to sing whenever the family pull out my dusty microphones. Sam Cooke sang songs about love, pure, distilled love and he managed to show an awareness of the awkwardness of teenage relationships in his songs that are very rarely successful (especially in modern pop songs). Out of all of the artists that I plan to (and have) write about Sam Cooke is definitely the most difficult to explain; he is simply the greatest thing about pop and soul music to have ever existed. Please listen to my recommended songs and then accept that Sam Cooke will forever be a part of your life.
Songs to Listen To: Wonderful World, Bring it on home to me, a change is gonna come, good times
Back in the early 90's there was a band called Uncle Tupelo, when this band imploded Wilco formed from the ashes. Wilco are an American indie band that can not be typecast easily. Their first album A.M. is a pretty rudimentary and deceiving introduction towards what the group would eventually produce and offered a generic, run of the mill set of alt country songs. With each album that Wilco produced the band began to grow and display their particular strengths; culminating in one of the greatest albums ever 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' in2002.The songs on this album are, in my view, incredible, and show Jeff Tweedy(and the rest of the bands) ability to invert a topic and to create songs based around the fundamentals ofthe greatestever pop-songs (heartbreak, alienation and accessibility) whilst adding a pioneering variation comparable to Radiohead on the other side of the Atlantic.
Songs to listen to: I am trying to break your heart, radio cure, ashes of american flags, I'm the man who loves you
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