arcade fire bonus tracks 'speaking in tongues' & 'culture war'

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The deluxe edition of Arcade Fire's Grammy winning The Suburbs will be released August 2nd. Among its bells and whistles, a DVD of the Spike Jonze short Scenes From The Suburbs, an extended version of "Wasted Hours (A Life That We Can Live)" and the two tracks you can hear below.

The BBC's Zane Lowe debut them on his radio show today, and listenbeforeyoubuy was quick to rip them to the web.

"Speaking In Tongues" is the well publicized collaboration with David Byrne. Perhaps collaboration is the wrong word, as his presence is only really felt near the end:




"Culture War" is as maudlin as you'd expect and Arcade Fire song entitled "Culture War" to be:




I can't believe Arcade Fire was shut out at the Billboard Music Awards last night. Does a Grammy mean nothing to you people?

Just kidding...  I mean look at this list of winners. Makes me feel delightfully out of touch. 

arcade fire vs slim shady

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Arcade Fire's run at the top of the charts was short lived. The Suburbs was a surprise chart topper in its first week of release, but sales inevitably fell off once every emo kid had it synced on their ipod. This week, the planets have realigned and Eminem has claimed his rightful place atop the Billboard pop chart.

Even so, it's an impressive step forward for Win Butler and his band of Canadian misfits. If you haven't yet given The Suburbs a listen, you're missing out on a clear favorite to end up on most everyone's year-end list.

After the minimalist turn on Neon Bible, Arcade Fire's third album takes the grandeur and conceptual structure of Funeral and stretches it out with the maturity and confidence of a fully realized band. The added texture and expanded instrumentation is evident throughout, particularly on tracks like "Half Light II":

Half Light II (No Celebration) by oldwaver

However, all this sobering reflection on lost youth and fear of growing old hasn't turned Arcade Fire into an introspective bunch on stage.  As their recent "Unstaged" series attests, their reputation for a dynamic and even interactive live show remains intact:



So despite making a dime-sized-hail dent in the pop culture consciousness, Arcade Fire is poised to make a slow build to an arena near you. I mean, if Kings of Leon can do it...