REVIEWS

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs : Few bands have achieved the status where the release of a new record feels like an event. Radiohead, Wilco, The White Stripes, and more recently Animal Collective are examples of bands who have reached that level. These are groups with fanbases rabid enough to go out and buy the record the day it comes out to have the communal experience of falling in love with a new record by their favorite band at the same time as all the other fans. Arcade Fire inspires this type of devotion. The Suburbs is a sprawling double-album focused on the John Hughesian disaffection of growing up in the cultural void of mainstream America. Although that's not exactly an unexplored theme in indie rock, it marks a departure from the group's more political outlook of Neon Bible. The record begins with the title track, their most unassuming album opener yet, a lackadaisical but tuneful scene-setter with a melancholy undercurrent. It isn't until the fourth and fifth tracks, "Rococo" and "Empty Room," that we get the group's trademark epic fury and bombast. There are still touches of the last record's Springsteen influence, particularly on "Modern Man" and the charging "Month of May." Other highlights include the synth-driven/Regine-sung "Sprawl II" and side-three opener "Suburban War," which has my favorite line of the record: "The music divides/Us into tribes/You choose your side/I'll choose my side." The band has more room to stretch out on this record and they let the tension build gradually over the course of the record, which may make for a less immediate impact, but one that resonates longer over multiple listens.

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Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty : Big Boi of Outkast has finally released his first proper solo album, Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty. Although the first disc of Outkast's two-disc set, The Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, essentially was a Big Boi solo album it did feature Andre 3000 on it, which this new album does not. The intended advance track "The Royal Flush" (which featured both Outkast members) was unfortunately left off the album due to label politics. Despite this, Sir Lucious is a great, tightly focused hip hop record with 80s synths and Big Boi's complicated flow effortlessly directing the record. If you're an Outkast fan, or just hip hop fan, you need to hear this.

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Chemical Brothers - Further : The Chemical Brothers return with Further, their most straightforward dance record in years. It's a welcome change from the guest-spot heavy, big beat approach of the last ten years. Not that they haven't always worked with or referenced other groups; but their records were beginning to sound like copies of one another, gradually sounding more and more like production settings for featured guests. This new one is theirs alone, and none of the tracks sound like they could be used in a beer commercial. Highlights include the euphoria of "Another World" and "Swoon." The Brothers are more willing to risk some louder, squelchier, and less crossover-friendly sounds than on more recent records which yields a more dynamic sense of tone.

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