arcade fire

Last year came the news that Arcade Fire‘s leaders and married couple Win Butler and Régine Chassagne were planning to open a contemporary Haitian restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

The pair were assisted by successful Toronto restaurateur Jen Agg and her artist husband, Roland Jean for the restaurant, which is called Agrikol, meaning “agricultural” in Haitian Creole.

Unfortunately the restaurant has been receiving some pretty damn nasty Yelp reviews, indiciating that perhaps their venture into the food business may not be quite as successful as their musical careers.

One customer, known as Ahn N., noted that the food fell flat, describing the meat as flavourless and too small, and rice as “overcooked, watery and pasty.” “Did i mention that by the time the waitress had came to our table to take our order, we had waited 1 hour for her? We were drunk before even ordering our food.” In a final grim conclusion, she said “I came for the food but left hungry. Not a well 175$ spent!”

Another diner, Einrika S., complained that the food took two hours to arrive at her table, and that they even managed to run out of rice. “a haitian restaurant without rice or griot is like a sushi place only serving seaweed salad and tempura shrimp…”

While most agreed that the service was friendly and the atmosphere was highly enjoyable, almost every review complained of the wait time – with some customers forced to wait outside in the freezing streets of Montreal.

Perhaps Butler and Chassagne should stick to obscure indie rock after all.

IMAGE: Montreal Eater

It’s always fun to hear what musicians have to say about their contemporaries – even when it doesn’t involve an epic smack down from Nicki Minaj.

This week, Arcade Fire were invited to rate some popular songs over the decades and had to decide whether it was a “jam” or not. Win Butler, Regine Chassagne and Tim Kingsbury weighed in on everyone from Justin Beiber to Bryan Adams with some interesting results.

It turns out that The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face was barely recognised, and even then almost sent Chassagne and Kingsbury to sleep, while the chart dominating hit Uptown Funk barely fared any better. The only modern song they enjoyed was surprisingly Justin Beiber‘s Where Are You Now which got the nod of approval with Kingbury saying it was the best Justin Beiber song Diplo had ever produced. Meanwhile the B-52’s Love Shack to no surprise passed the test.

Watch their reactions below:

The game was part of the promo for their upcoming documentary The Reflektor Tapes and an expanded edition of the same album with six new songs.

Luckily for us, they have also recently stated in an interview with NME that they’re on their way to a new album, although they are relishing the lack of schedule.

“We’re all itching to play music together and start recording things. We’re basically in the demo and play together phase, and historically that’s led to realising that, surprisingly, we’re 30 per cent into a record, so we’ll see if that happens.”

“It’s a bit different this time because everyone’s older and fatter and lazier, so it might take longer, but we’re playing music together. Win and Regine got a place in New Orleans so I think we’ll spend some time there, because why wouldn’t you? But apart from that we’re in the old HQ. We’re not terribly good at schedules and luckily we’re in a position where no-one can ever tell us what to do, so it’s good.”

Butler has recently predicted the album could drop in February 2017.

In between opening a Haitian restaurant and releasing a trailer for their upcoming feature-length documentary The Reflektor Tapes, Arcade Fire are now set to unveil two previously unheard tracks titled Get Right and Crucified Again. The songs will be released on a limited-edition black 7-inch vinyl that’s sure to be yet another piece of memorabilia for fans of the Canadian six-piece.

Both tracks were recorded during sessions for the band’s most recent album Reflektor, and didn’t make the final cut, but they’ve been performed live multiple times. Check out a fan-recorded Get Right below.

The songs are featured in The Reflektor Tapes and if the first ethereal and throbbing trailer is anything to go by (featuring the groovy and glitchy and very sleek Porno), we’re hoping the studio versions of the tracks will be just as polished. The new documentary, which comes out September 24, is “almost like a remix record, just in its way of thinking about film, thinking about our music,” said Butler in an interview with Billboard.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire’s new seven-inch release comes out just a day after the doco, and we can’t wait to experience both in all their glory. They last visited Australia at the beginning of 2014, where they headlined Big Day Out.

Arcade Fire are set to release their first feature film into Australian cinemas on September 24. Almost two years on from the release of their fourth studio album, Reflektor, the film looks set to chronicle the massive tour that accompanied the double album. Kahlil Joseph, a Special Jury Prizewinner at Sundance 2013 for his short film Until the Quiet Comes, featuring music from Flying Lotus, compiled The Reflektor Tapes with the band. Joseph is no stranger to working with musicians, having also previously worked on Nick Cave‘s 20,000 Days on Earth, as well as LCD Soundsystem’s Shut Up and Play the Hits.

Arcade Fire introduced a short trailer for The Reflektor Tapes, which includes footage of the band in Haiti, as well as the band members discussing their music. Here’s a look at it: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq1fAL24Xho]

The band has well known connections with Haiti, where Régine Chassagne‘s parents are from and where she and Win Butler have campaigned alongside Partners in Health to eradicate disease in. An extended 8 minute trailer centring on the song Porno,  places the focus largely on the band’s time in Haiti before a traditional drumming beat is matched to elements of the Arcade Fire show in a transcendental account of the nature of music. It is well worth a viewing:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCH6Oeo8So]

The band said of The Reflektor Tapes:

“There were parts of the Reflektor tour where I think we, Arcade Fire, came the closest in our careers to putting on stage what we imagined in our heads. We were insanely lucky to have Kahlil Joseph documenting from the very beginning.”

The movie promises to be another ambitious production from a band that seeks to give fans a greater experiential awareness through its music. The rhythmic drumming alongside the powerful image of Butler in an almost trancelike state of consciousness really illustrates that Arcade Fire are so much more than simply a band. Hopefully The Reflektor Tapes will be a further confirmation of Arcade Fire’s perfectionist desire to exceed their music.