European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday april scene stars and s t r i Page 13 new on cd Neon Bible Arcade fire merge dont worry if Arcade fires Neon Bible leaves you feeling jumpy because the band sounds anxious too the Canadian group masterfully manipulates tension its songs ranging from taut to tauter always on the verge of snapping fittingly Neon Bible is an escalation in pressure from 2004s acclaimed funeral As front Man win Butler earnestly tries to make sense of the world religion War human nature you name it six band mates and a Host of guests boost his tall order using Broad and driven sonic experiments with an imaginative array of support including Hurd gurdy and pipe Organ Harp and horns orchestra and choir Neon Bible flows like one highly histrionic piece of theater individual tracks working better hooked together than singled out and Analysed however the release is front Load de with a few individually Strong songs of note the storm first brews with the ominous tone of opener Black Mirror which Butler claims cares not about your then comes a gripping keep the car running followed a couple of tracks later by the bombastic Rock pathos of intervention r a Power Ful one two punch of drama that redeems any shortcomings else where on Neon myth takes Warp its hard to grasp the concept of the name which is supposed to be pronounced As any three repetitive sounds especially Chi Chi but its get a handle on the sound of the Brooklyn byway of California band that liberally draws on influences fro Rrt a spectrum of disparate sources to create an inventive aural brew accessible to just about anyone the results Are unshakable delicious on myth the groups followup to 2004s Louden up bands use elected Nice for example has Broad reach Cap Cable of pulling in fans of the will accept deviations from the calculated nature of its style As Well As fans looking for an Edge and even hipster Rock ers who can appreciate the spontaneous feel gets from its multiple guitar multiple Horn Multi Percus assault myth takes is also a Model for Retro mashups listen and hear traces of Atrock ranging from old talking Heads to modern Beck techno from Yello to moby and maybe even the hint of a Bass line from a classic heart song or a Gary glitter Riff for their part the lyrics Are mostly wry pseudo Adliss that add a charmingly disposable counter Point to the vital Energy however the Appeal of i is More primal than language based Chuck big and bad successful but critics hate acts like Nic Kelback few bands inspire such intense hatred As Nic Kelback the Post grunge Canadian quartet has been trashed bashed and hated on by countless critics music snobs and other like minded souls so have much maligned acts like hinder a Rock band from Oklahoma the grammy win Ning Black eyed peas who have spawned infectious rap hits my humps and dont Punk with my and Britney Spears who in her heyday ruled radio but was condemned for everything from her voice to not writing her own songs yet these acts have sold millions upon millions of albums so Are the critics wrong do music buyers have bad taste is this karmic payback to All the haters there Are some bands that lets face it Are said Nathan Brackett a senior editor at rolling Stone like there Are some movies that Are critic proof nobody is really Reading the reviews for you know and nobody Reading Nic Kelback reviews that might be a Good thing Nickel backs All the right which debuted at no 1 on the charts in the fall of 2005 and was still number 16 this week was called hard Rock ridiculousness by the new York times and unspeakably awful by even the late nirvana frontman and grunge icon Kurt Cobain would disapprove suggested rolling Stone which called the disc so depressing youre almost glad kurts not around to hear Young people who Are introduced to these bands on the radio they dont have a lot of Brackett said a lot of kids dont care if an act you know kind of took their guitar sound from some other Post grunge outfits like Nic Kelback and hinder continue to be popular or wreak havoc whatever your opinion in part because they Appeal to the oestrogen set said Craig Marks editor in chief of blender Magazine a slightly hipper band will sell More albums to Guys than girls he said there Selling a lot of records to very casual music fans who dont buy a lot of Marks said when youre a photos Nic Kelback consists of from left Mike Kroeger Chad Kroeger Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair there trashed and bashed by critics and music snobs but much maligned acts like Nic Kelback and the Black eyed peas sell millions of cd Selling 5 million albums like Nic Kelback or 2va million like hinder and especially when youre making your Mark with big ballads that Are kind of wedding songs then youre Selling records to both males and females and that often How you get from Selling 1 million records to Selling 4 or 5 million when teenage girls or tween girls like an artist that often a sign that the artist int said Marks who also gives Spears As an example you know my Little sister likes advertisements music reviews and fashion trends Tell us that Cool is an edgy rapper an Upan coming hipster band or a British chanteuse like Amy Winehouse Cool is not Nic Kelback or the Black eyed peas there not so uncool that there Cool like fountains of Wayne there just in a word uncool Chris St Peter 26 of new York witnessed this hatred years ago at a concert in Boston where Nic Kelback was opening for another band in front of an indie Rock crowd they threw batteries at them which is also terrible but also really St Peter said Nic Kelback represented everything i think they though he didst hurl any batteries the Black eyed peas pose who the award for Best hip hop video at the 2006 mtg video music awards St Peter gives the band a thumbs Down i Hope they go the same Way As like Creed and they just sort of but for every hater theres a Lover like Jaclyn Hafenstein 30 from Madison wis dont they trash them because their music is considered simple not unique she wrote in an email to the associated press Why is that bad whatever it is there doing it makes me Bob my head and sing along i cant say that for every band whether i like them or often bands that Are popular in places like Wisconsin get dissed by snobs on the coasts theres a real danger with writers being in their kind of music critic clique you know in either new York or la or san fran Cisco and kind of ignoring these bands just because All the critics they know and All the kind of so called Cool kids Are ignoring these Brackett said he Points out that classic acts like led Zeppelin the doors and Billy Joel were at first ignored by critics then again he said there Are a lot of times when music critics Are acts hoping to collect both Money and respect would do Well to study an it band like fall out boy which Sells heaps of records to teen girls while delighting the critics too they dont take themselves too seriously unlike say the killers in their latest incarnation or again Nic Kelback it All comes Back to Nic Kelback Doest it at least there now big enough to headline their own shows and that Means no batteries will be hurled Only verbal ones from outside the venue you know you have to be really popular in order to Corral that sort of Marks said its the Best Ball player on the visiting team who gets booed during the introductions no one Boos the Guy off the Bench but you always boo the Star of the other team you know it is a tribute to their Suc o q o 13 Cess
