Music Endorsement

Generally, I dislike it when people purport to tell me what kind of music to listen to. It's pompous, it's usually condescending, and, frankly, what if I simply don't care for the musical stylings of whatever new hipster band is gracing the iPods of Williamsburg's trust-fund finest?

Now that I have that out of the way, I'm going to turn the tables and contradict myself, all in one fell swoop: I think you should seriously consider purchasing Arcade Fire's newest album, Neon Bible. I've been listening to it for the past several weeks, and it's beautiful and catchy and moving and all of the things a good album should be. It reminds me of buying an influential album on cassette tape at age 14 and listening to it over and over on my Walkman. I dig the religious undertones, the good lyrics, and the nice mix of slow and fast.

Clearly, I am not a music critic, but this is the album I keep selecting on my iPod to listen to on my way to work. When I hear it, I sometimes feel like I'm sitting down over coffee at Steak 'n Shake with someone from my Midwestern hometown, talking about all the megachurches and their crazy billboard-like signs, and what it means to us now. To me, it's worth the $12 price tag to have that experience.