Best New Tracks - Pitchfork

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Arcade Fire: "Reflektor" Posted: 09 Sep 2013 12:15 PM PDT Do you seriously think Arcade Fire worry if they're losing their edge? Yes, James Murphy produced the title track from their fourth LP, Reflektor (out October 29 via Merge), but they care about being cool the same way Superman does-- which is to say, not at all. You can't be concerned with the kids coming up from behind when you're fighting for their welfare against the biggest and most fearsome corruptors imaginable-- death, religion, the suburbs, and, presumably on "Reflektor", the possibility that art isn't a shared, living experience but rather a mirror for our own projections and preconceptions. On "Reflektor", Arcade Fire elevate message over medium by relying on their true superpower, a belief that their own music must create a timeless, communal connection. It's a sleek, dark disco epic that doesn't belong to the 1970s, '80s, '90s-- or any decade, really. It takes up the more general cause for those who want music to be more than an accessory or a soundtrack, but rather a matter of literal life or death. The dancier direction isn't an entirely new look for Arcade Fire-- there was The Suburbs' towering highlight, "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"-- but it's more in spirit with something like Daft Punk's "Get Lucky": a band who've been richly rewarded for their populism, giving life back to music with a purposefully monoculture moment that requires the kind of time, resources and talent to which only a very few have access. They know you're probably going to listen to it on your phone anyways, but they'd prefer you not do it alone.

Son Lux: "Lost It to Trying" Posted: 09 Sep 2013 08:18 AM PDT Ryan Lott, aka Son Lux, works at the nexus of several rarely-overlapping Venn Diagrams: classically trained composer who is also an electronic musician who sometimes produces beats for rappers. Here is a brief list of his recent collaborators: Serengeti, Busdriver, and Beans (of the Antipop Consortium); Sufjan Stevens; Arcade Fire mutli-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry; Nico Muhly; These New Puritans; contemporary classical ensemble yMusic. There's no obvious fingerprint to detect in this disparate work, just an intelligence and curiosity about sound, and an ability to populate a canvas with colorful, swarming sounds that tickle but don't crowd the ear. "Lost It To Trying", off his upcoming album Lanterns for Joyful Noise, is a loose rock song of sorts filled with compelling spare parts-- synths that scree high like seagulls, a fidgeting horn section and some chattering flutes; a exchange between a dexterous live drummer and some drum programming. The choral singing is reminiscent of Sufjan, but the sound-- brainy and muscular, propulsive and complicated, mournful and celebratory-- is all Lott's own. Son Lux: "Lost It to Trying" on SoundCloud.