Retreadin 2007 Part 2

Second albums are notorious for exposing weak one hit wonder bands. That was the fear as I cracked open the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. To my relief and probably everyone else's that didn't happen. There was joy and happiness. This album is intense and emotional. Pain was put into crafting and molding this. The best part for me actually was months after the release. The Arcade Fire put up that crazy interactive video. Then they had the live performance with 'The Boss'. Basically those two things led me to pick up my copy of Neon Bible and put it back into the player. That's when I realized it truly was one of the great albums of the year.

mp3: The Arcade Fire - Intervention --> buy
mp3: The Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse

Sounds of Silver by LCD Soundsystem is a great album, but it would not be if it weren't for two particular songs. I'm not one to single out songs from an entire album and just repeat them over and over, but that's what I did with this album. 'North American Scum' is a classic. The lyrics are sarcastic(which I like) and somewhat humorous(which I also like). Not to mention the rockin' LCD style through the whole thing. Sometimes their emotion gets lost in the repetitive nature of their songs, but not in this one. Or in 'Someone Great' either. This song is what pushed this album over the top. It's a heartfelt, slow building, electronic anthem. A perfect song when you're driving late at night in the rain. It's not to say the rest of the album falls short---it's pretty good. In my opinion, these two songs took LCD Soundsystem to another level.

mp3: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum --> buy
mp3: LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great