Nearly two years ago, the Montreal, Quebec indie rock band Arcade Fire released the phenomenal album Neon Bible and began to top charts internationally as well as collect awards and accolades in their honor. February 2008 marked the end of the Neon Bible tour (a total of 122 shows, 33 festivals, and 75 cities), and the start of new endeavors such as Obama campaign shows, live footage concert DVDs, and their next album.

Without missing a beat or straying far from their signature sound, Arcade Fire released their latest album, The Suburbs, on August 3rd off of Merge Records. The album is rich with maturity and emotion, which is exactly what you want to hear if you are familiar with the 7-member, eclectically styled band. Reviews have ranged, critics have taken apart almost every track, and one has even compared the album to William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience”. But for all the Arcade Fire fans out there, The Suburbs is like a new chapter in your favorite book. Though you know what to expect, there are still surprises along the way.

Check out what critics have been saying about Arcade Fire’s latest album:

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Montreal’s Arcade Fire had a difficult task in front of them. Not only were they headlining a stage at Lollapalooza and having a time slot that conflicted with the reunited Soundgarden, but they had to follow The National. Although it seemed like a difficult challenge, the Canadian indie-rockers not only accepted, but they silenced any naysayers in their path.

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Ah, another summer festival to feast our eyes and ears on! Lollapalooza is officially here this weekend and we’ll be there covering the event with interviews, live reviews and photo galleries. Make sure to keep checking back all weekend because we’ll be sharing the musical wealth with all our lovely readers.

If you’re on your way to Lollapalooza and are excited but haven’t exactly pinned your schedule down yet, no worries! To start you off, we’ve listed our top five artists that are a must-see at this weekend’s Chicago festival. Take a look and see if any of your favorite artists are included below!

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Last week, we reported Arcade Fire‘s plan to play a massive concert at Madison Square Garden. The best part about that bit of news is that when they play the place the second night, the entire show will be broadcast live for everyone on a special YouTube channel. Following in the footsteps of The National, this event is bound to be epic. However, we were missing one piece of information on Tuesday.

We had only speculated who could be the director of the webcast. Although we and many others guessed Spike Jonze and Jonathan Demme, it turns out to be none other than the director of Win Butler’s favorite film, Brazil – Terry Gilliam.

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There’s no doubt that YouTube will continue to give us endless hours of entertainment (no matter how much nonsense it can all be), but bands such as Arcade Fire are taking advantage of this free medium for their fans. In the past few years, streaming live events have been have become quite easy with the right equipment whether it’s a heavy duty camera or just a laptop. We’ve seen numerous festivals such as Bonnaroo and Pitchfork Festival reach out to fans around the world with free performances. The National even streamed one of their shows at the famous Madison Square Garden on YouTube and you guessed it – Arcade Fire is following suit.

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There’s no doubt that Port-au-Prince, Haiti is still suffering from the massive earthquake that struck six months ago and Arcade Fire is still urging people to donate what they can. They were one of the first bands to react in a proactive manner and gather people together after the natural disaster and they’re not stopping their good deeds any time soon. Even all the way from Canada, band member, Régine Chassagne, was deeply affected by the event as her parents emigrated from Haiti to Canada.

Now, the Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist and singer and her husband, Win Butler, are finding a way to bring money from Canada and everywhere else to Haiti through a non-profit organization called Kanpe. They’re encouraging everyone to donate just a little so they, in return, can also donate a very large sum on behalf of the band.

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The Suburbs, the upcoming third album by Montreal’s Arcade Fire, is one of the most highly anticipated discs (yes, music still comes on those) of the year.  And, according to Spin and Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler, it’s going to sound, well, weird.

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It’s here! Arcade Fire has finally given us the track listing to their upcoming album, The Suburbs. We’ve heard the good news about the release dates (August 2 in the UK, August 3 in the US) but looking at the list of songs below, it looks like we get one one of their longest albums yet! We’re not sure exactly how long each song is, but there are 16 altogether and it looks like there are two acts to some songs with a “part I” and a “part II. Take a look below!

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After  announcing a dizzyingly varied lineup that range from Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix to a veritable music Axis of Evil (Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Soundgarden), and then adding an extra 60,000 tickets because its not already overcrowded enough, the Lollapalooza 2010 set times and complete lineup have now been announced.

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