Arcade Fire

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The Hunger Games Soundtrack: Five Things You Need to Know

​As you may have gathered from all the relentless hype and advertising and media anticipation, The Hunger Games movie is finally out today. And, yes, despite our vaguely dismissive tone, we're actually thoroughly excited about the whole thing. Especially since Rolling Stone just told us to "relax" ... More >>

Awkward! The Top Five Most Uncomfortable Grammy Moments

​This Sunday, Rihanna and Chris Brown are both going to be present at the always-prestigious Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. It's been just three years since they both were forced to drop out of the show last minute, due to Brown having beaten the crap out of Ri-Ri on their way over. We kno ... More >>

President Barack Obama Likes Arcade Fire and the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, Really.

​Yesterday, we found out from a British music news website that, like Santa Claus, Barack Obama keeps a "Nice" list -- or rather a list of people he wants to have supporting him in his re-election campaign. We've seen the list, and alongside all of the alphabetized politicians, business and sports ... More >>

Here Is Video of Arcade Fire's Entire Set from the Bridge School Benefit

Arcade Fire's Win Butler at Bridge School yesterday.​ Missed Bridge School? We did, too. But now, instead of sighing deeply and conjuring overly rosy daydreams of what we missed by skipping the trek down to Mountain View this past weekend, we have YouTube to actually show it to us. After the j ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Bridge School Benefit 2011 Lineup: Dave Matthews, Arcade Fire, Eddie Vedder, and More

Neil Young at the Bridge School Benefit. Photo by Christopher Victorio.​ The lineup for this year's Bridge School Benefit is out, and it's as solid as ever. No big reunions -- we got Buffalo Springfield last year, sigh -- but the acoustic shows Neil Young and his wife, Pegi, put on to benefit ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Outside Lands Edition

Outside Lands 2011: Phish, Muse, Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Deadmau5, and More

Three days of this for 2011!​As promised, Outside Lands' avatar Ranger Dave announced the lineup this morning for the festivals fourth incarnation, to be held August 12-14, 2011. Your headliners: Phish, Muse, and Arcade Fire. Also playing: the Black Keys, Deadmau5, MGMT, Girl Talk, Decemberists, a ... More >>

The 2011 Grammys, A Timeline: Lady Gaga's Boob Armor, Who Is Lady Antebellum, and What the Hell is Cee-Lo Wearing?

In which we sit through three and a half hours of Grammys twaddle, so you don't have to: 8:01 p.m.: Show opens with an Aretha Franklin montage. Okay... 8:03 p.m.: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Yolanda Adams, and Martina McBride perform "Natural Woman" together, then take i ... More >>

Arcade Fire's Grammy Upset: Indie Kids Win the Big Award

​When Arcade Fire, led by gregarious frontman Win Butler, won Album Of The Year at the 53rd Grammys in an upset last night, it sparked a firestorm of online discussion and sent the indie community, led by tastemaker publication Pitchfork, into a virtual priapism. The Best Album Grammy usually ... More >>

The Jealous Guys Talk Love, Sample Clapton on New Mixtape

Yuri Bond​In honor of this cloudy, rainy Valentines day, S.F. rap duo The Jealous Guys are releasing The Love Mixtape, their first collection of tracks made available to the world. If the mixtape's title wasn't enough of a giveaway, they dedicate seventeen songs to the L-word, with no-nonsense, b ... More >>

5 Things To Spend Your Coachella Money On Now That It's Sold Out

Guess one man really shouldn't have all that power.​If you're wondering why twenty-somethings all over the city are sulking and moping their way through today, it's because they hesitated to buy tickets for yearly Coachella music festival and yesterday it sold out, denying them an opportunity to s ... More >>

Noise Pop 2011 -- The Films: Arcade Fire, Feist, José González, the Making of Noise Pop, and More

The Flaming Lips in This Is Noise Pop​S.F.'s annual Noise Pop Festival is mostly known for bringing a week of awesome indie music shows to the city. But the fest usually pulls in a pretty good selection of new films for music nerds -- and this year is no exception.With film subjects including the ... More >>

Welcome to the Music Industry, 2011: Records Don't Sell, Touring Can Make Bank, and Major Labels Are (Mostly) Useless

​For whatever reason, today seems to be the day that the music industry reminds us that it's still in total upheaval. Soundscan tells us that relatively few people actually bought music in 2010, unless they were fans of Eminem and Katy Perry. Dave Matthews spent the last 10 years collecting $500 ... More >>

The Top 10 Best Big Concerts I Saw in 2010, with Gaga, Green Day, Sir Paul, Pavement, and LCD Soundsystem

It just didn't seem right to lump in Oracle Arena and HP Pavilion fare with the cozy goings-on at S.F. dens like Bottom of the Hill and even Great American Music Hall. So, in search of an even comparison, I'm breaking it up: Today, here are the best concerts I saw with more than 5,000 of my fellow h ... More >>

Stopping piracy: How ultracheap downloads could save the music industry

Music-based dating site Tastebuds doesn't work for the iPod generation

Saturday Night: Arcade Fire Hurls Mics, Swordfights with Drumsticks, and Remembers Grandpa Vino at the Greek Theatre

Christopher VictorioArcade Fire's Win Butler looking stoic during "No Cars Go"​Arcade FireCalexicoOctober 2, 2010@ The Greek Theatre, BerkeleyBetter than: Living in the suburbs.Drumstick battles, microphones hurled into the crowd, pianos turned into standing platforms, a rolling tom-tom that ... More >>

S.F. Startup Offers All the Free Music You Can Download, Legally -- For Now (But Is It a Scam?)

​What's the biggest missing feature from most online MP3 retailers? Duh -- the ability to get unlimited downloads for a flat fee. But Zaptunes, a new San Francisco-based startup, aims to fix that, with a new model based on a flat $25 per month fee for unlimited, DRM-free downloads of the more than ... More >>

The Arcade Fire Announce Greek Theater Show Oct. 2

​You were scared there for a while, weren't you? You checked the tour dates on the Arcade Fire's web site a while back, saw that the last ones scheduled were for the East Coast and Europe, and worried that the band would neglect to play out here on the West Coast anytime soon -- that it ... More >>

Album That Time Time Sort Of Forgot: Desaparecidos' 'Read Music/Speak Spanish'

Bill Sitzmann​Today sees the stateside release of the Arcade Fire's third full-length album, The Suburbs, which supposedly kicks ass. Not having heard it, I will instead ruminate on another album about suburbs: Read Music/Speak Spanish, the first and only record by Omaha's Desaparecidos. The ye ... More >>

We Read the Arcade Fire Reviews (And Collected Their Best Lines) So You Don't Have To

Are you a yea, or nay?​I came this close (<-->) to committing my own gushing, laudatory thoughts on the Arcade Fire's new album The Suburbs (out today) to type. Then I saw how many other gushing, laudatory thoughts had already been published, blogged and tweeted. So rather than walk you ... More >>

Owen Pallett’s ambitious pop compositions

MP3 of the Day: Rademacher

MP3 of the Day: Birdmonster

Tapes 'n Tapes

Walk It Off (XL)

Cloud Cult delivers cathartic, emotional climaxes and transcendent orchestrations

The Weekend Hitlist: Antique Road Show, Maker Faire, Norway Day, Cinco De Mayo

British Sea Power

The Police, Daft Punk, and DethKlok Among The Top National Concerts of '07

SF Weekly Best Albums of 2007: Michael Leaverton Weighs In

My Tunes: Intro

LastNight: Arcade Fire Ignites Indie-Rockalypse at Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA.

Treasure Island Fades as Halo 3 Launch Looms:SFWeekly In Review 9.17-21

Treasure Island Fades as Halo 3 Launch Looms:SFWeekly In Review 9.17-21

Final Four of Fun: Air vs. Arcade Fire vs. Diplo vs. Morrissey

Arcade Fire Request Deerhoof Audience Prior to Shoreline Date with LCD Soundsystem

Elliott Smith and Arcade Fire: RIAA Safe

Two! Hyped! Bands! In! One! Week!

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible (Merge Records)

Misc. Reviews

Band-name watch: Gettin' Grizzly

Sound Team

Movie Monster

Music videos: First they were all the rage, then they were all but dead. Thanks mainly to Apple, they're back.

Maple Leaf Boogie-Woogie

A cheat sheet of bands from the new Seattle -- that's right, Canada!

Another Serene World

The Most Serene Republic Underwater Cinematographer

Group Hug 2004

It's been a shitty year on a number of levels. Here's a mix CD to cheer you up.

Great Balls of Fire

The Arcade Fire's vast, spastic music will have you confused, thrilled, and begging for more

Marathon Man

If I can make it there – at the CMJ Music Marathon – I can make it anywhere

The Arcade Fire

Funeral