Put your right foot forward

Back after a bout with the flu -- and my maxed-out credit card, which is why I couldn't buy Neon Bible yesterday like a good indie hipster and had to wait one whole day to hear it.

Is it just me, or does David Bowie endorse bands that sound like him? (I guess it's normal to like the things you wish you had made.) Both TV on the Radio and the Arcade Fire have received his blessing, and their songwriting could totally pass as his. It's probably the grandiose, reckless, genre-defying and -adopting that does it. But whereas I think Bowie does it consciously, the Arcade Fire does in unconsciously. Like Final Fantasy, they just seem to write songs without any regard for the standards of pop and rock music.

I can't figure out why I liked Funeral. In fact, it took me a long time to like the Arcade Fire, mostly because I couldn't pin them down. It was only when I labelled them as "infectious" and left it at that that I could let it go. Neon Bible will no doubt be analyzed to death via all manner of music journalism hyperbole (I'm talking to you, Pitchfork), and all I will say is this: the Arcade Fire are still infectious, but I miss the enthusiastic abandonment of the singing on Funeral.

Arcade Fire website
Arcade Fire on MySpace
David Bowie and the Arcade Fire performing "Wake Up" on YouTube It's pretty surreal to see the celebrities in the audience rocking out to the song.

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Speaking of enthusiastic abandonment, I am currently hooked on the swaggering synth-and-brass disco-march-rock of the Wet Secrets, thanks to their 8-song EP, Rock Fantasy, being available as a free download on their website. It's the perfect soundtrack for my walk to work.

The Wet Secrets website
The Wet Secrets on MySpace