Urban Connection

Infobox musical artist
Name = Urban Connection
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Trondheim, Norway
Genre = Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Years_active = 1996–present
Label = Bergland Productions
Associated_acts = Eldbjørg Raknes
Siri Gjære
Ola Kvernberg Trio
Kjetil Møster
URL = [http://www.urbanconnection.no/ www.urbanconnection.no]
Current_members = Steinar Raknes
Håkon Johansen
Frode Nymo

Urban Connection is a Norwegian Jazz trio. In 1998 the group were awarded the title of “Young Jazz Musicians of the Year” at Norway’s prestigious Molde International Jazz Festival. They have performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Istanbul Jazz Festival, amongst others.

Personnel

Steinar Raknes (Double Bass)
H.M. Johansen (Drums)
Frode Nymo (Saxophone).

History

Formation and early history

Arcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Starting in mid-2003, the current lineup solidified in late 2003/early 2004, when their first full-length album "Funeral" was recorded. Before this an eponymous EP (often referred to by fans as the "Us Kids Know EP") had been sold at early shows. The EP was subsequently remastered and given a full release once the band started becoming more prominent. Arcade Fire is known for its enthralling live performances, as well as its use of a large number of musical instruments. In addition to mainstays guitar, drums, and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, accordion, hurdy gurdy and harp and mandolin. With several able musicians, Arcade Fire takes most of its instrumental diversity on tour and band members switch instrumental duties throughout their shows. The number of instruments, along with a wide set of musical influences has provided a substantial number of resources on which to draw during the recording process. The promise showed by the band in its live shows allowed it to land a record contract with the independent record label Merge Records.

When asked about the rumour that the band's name refers to a fire in an arcade, Win Butler replied: "It's not a rumour, it's based on a story that someone told me. It's not an actual event, but one that I took to be real. I would say that it's probably something that the kid made up, but at the time I believed him." [Schreiber, Ryan, [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/14670/Interview_Interview_The_Arcade_Fire "Pitchfork Feature: Interview: The Arcade Fire"] , "Pitchfork", February 14, 2005.] The arcade in question was the Exeter arcade and bandstand in the town square of Exeter, New Hampshire, where both Butlers attended Phillips Exeter Academy preparatory school.

David Bowie heard the band while on tour and brought them to the attention of label owners. Still without a major label backing, the success of the band and the album "Funeral" has been acclaimed as an Internet phenomenon. After a 9.7 rating from Pitchfork, Merge Records sold out their inventory of "Funeral" and it became the label's first album in the Billboard 200 chart. [ [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/08/il/il22p.html Pitchfork e-zine tells indie fans what's hot and not] ] The band booked small clubs for their 2004 tour but growing interest forced many venue changes, far beyond the band's expectations, and continued internationally into mid-2005 throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the SummerSonic Festival in Japan. Taking much of the summer of 2005 off, the band made four key festival appearances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival, Lollapalooza and Reading Festival in the UK. "Funeral" made many top ten album lists for 2004, with Pitchfork, Filter and No Ripcord crowning it the album of the year. With the release of "Funeral" in 2005 in the UK, Japan and Australia, Arcade Fire also made many top lists for 2005. The MTV2 2005 Review hosted by Zane Lowe named "Funeral" Album of the Year, and NME named "Funeral" Number 2 [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1656637,00.html NME defends album of year poll] , The Guardian, December 2, 2005. Though "Funeral" ranked 2nd after Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm", the [http://web.archive.org/web/20051202040332/http://www.londonist.com/archives/2005/11/scoop_nme_album.php Londonist] blog [http://www.stereogum.com/archives/002137.html charged] that "Funeral" (and other music) had been artificially marked down. They later [http://www.londonist.com/archives/2005/11/scoop_nme_album.php retracted their post] .] in their list of 2005's best albums and "Rebellion (Lies)" the best track. By November 2005, "Funeral" had gone gold in both Canada and the UK and sold in excess of half a million copies worldwide, [ [http://www.nme.com/news/the-arcade-fire/21461 Exclusive - Arcade Fire duet with Bowie released] ] a phenomenal number for an independent release with minimal television or radio exposure. It has also surpassed Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" as the biggest selling Merge Records album to date.

Arcade Fire was featured on the April 4, 2005 cover of "Time" magazine's Canadian edition, and hailed as a band who "helped put Canadian music on the world map". On May 1, 2005, the band performed to approximately 15,000 fans at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival; their performance is often viewed as the highlight of Coachella 2005. Fact|date=February 2007 In May 2005, the band signed a short-term publishing contract with EMI for "Funeral" and in June, the band released a new single, "Cold Wind", on "", the second soundtrack album to the popular HBO series "Six Feet Under". The BBC used the track "Wake Up" on an advertisement for their autumn 2005 season and the tracks "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" on adverts in January 2006. On September 9, 2005, the band appeared on the UK/US TV special "Fashion Rocks", where David Bowie joined them for "Wake Up". This recording, as well as recordings by the collaboration of Bowie's "Life on Mars" and "Five Years", were made available on the iTunes Music Store in a virtual live EP. The same trip to New York City took them to the Late Show with David Letterman and a concert in Central Park. The Central Park Show had a surprise appearance by Bowie, and capped a great touring season for the band. On September 11, 2005, Arcade Fire appeared on the long-running BBC music series "Top of the Pops", performing "Rebellion (Lies)" — on what was one of the band's first mainstream UK television appearances. The band also performed to a TV audience in Paris for Canal+, and the show was later screened on UK television's Channel 4. The band has scored two number one songs on MTV2 (UK) NME Chart Show, with "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and a three week run with "Wake Up". However, this success followed Rough Trade Records's (the label that distributes Arcade Fire's music in the UK) decision at the last minute not to release "Wake Up" on CD, and only on 7" vinyl.

Arcade Fire's album "Funeral" and their single "Cold Wind" were respectively nominated for Grammys in the best Alternative Rock Album and Best Song Written for Television, Film, or Other Media categories ("Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends"). On April 2, 2006, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Arcade Fire received the Juno Award for Songwriters Of The Year for three songs from "Funeral": "Wake Up", "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)". [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060427191030/http://www.junoawards.ca/06_2006_nominees.php#songwriter Songwriter Of The Year (sponsored by SOCAN)] ] The band was nominated for, but not awarded, three BRIT Awards; Best International Group, Best International Album and Best International Breakthrough Act.

Arcade Fire made an appearance on the BBC show "Later with Jools Holland" on May 12, 2005, performing "Power Out" and "Rebellion (Lies)".

On December 27, 2005, "Funeral" was ranked #1 on MTV2's "50 Greatest Albums of the Year" in the United Kingdom.

"Neon Bible"

On June 26, 2006, Win Butler announced on the band's [http://www.arcadefire.com journal] that work had been progressing on their new album and the band had committed 15 tracks to tape, using a wide variety of new instruments. These apparently include a pipe organ, and some recording took place in the living room of Win and Régine. [ [http://pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/37144/Arcade_Fire_Spill_Droplets_of_Album_Info#37144 Arcade Fire Spills Droplets of Album Info] ] Butler also announced on his online diary, [http://www.arcadefire.com/yope.html Win's Scrapbook] , that the new album would be self-produced, saying that "after trying to decide if we should work with any producers we kind of realized that we already know how we want things to sound so we should just run after that sound as fast as we can and not rely on someone else to guide the good ship Arcade Fire." He also said the band was working with the engineers Scott Colburn and Marcus Dravs.

A tour in support of the new album was announced in December 2006. A five night residency in London, UK, took place from January 29 to February 2, 2007: three nights at St Johns Smith Square and two nights at Porchester Hall, both unusual venues for a "rock" or alternative band, as both venues are associated with classical, sit down concerts. These dates sold out within two minutes of going on sale. [ [http://www.nme.com/news/the-arcade-fire/25392 "Arcade Fire promise more tickets for UK gigs"] , "NME", December 8, 2006. Accessed July 23, 2007.] On 20 January, the band played a mostly secret show at a church in the Mile End neighborhood in their hometown of Montreal, Quebec, and between February 6, 2007 and February 10, 2007, the band played five shows at Ukrainian Federation in Montreal. These shows marked the first public performances of the band in their hometown since November 2005 when they supported U2 at the Bell Center, and the first headlining shows in Montreal since April 2005, a three-night stand at the Corona Theatre. Starting February 13, 2007, Arcade Fire performed five sold-out performances at Judson Memorial Church in New York City to promote "Neon Bible". [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/arts/music/15arca.html?ex=1329282000&en=233fe9c17f9aa5f3&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Testing Faith in a Church] ]

Arcade Fire played on "Saturday Night Live" on February 24, 2007, performing "Intervention" and "Keep the Car Running". [ [http://snlarc.jt.org/ep.php?i=200702248 SNL Archives | Episode ] ] Owen Pallett wasn't present because he was recording for his own project, Final Fantasy. During the performance one of Win Butler's guitar strings broke prompting him to rip the strings from his acoustic guitar and smash it on the floor until it shattered. On this guitar, "sak vide pa kanpe" was written in duct tape across the front. A Haitian proverb meaning "that which is empty cannot stand up" in Creole, this was a reference to the extreme poverty of Haiti, the country of origin of Régine.

Arcade Fire's European tour was scheduled to take place between March 3, 2007 and April 3, 2007, and included dates at the London Brixton Academy and the Paris Olympia. [ [http://www.twistedear.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=506&Itemid=33 Return To The Neighbourhood - Arcade Fire album, single and tour] ] Win and William Butler appeared in an interview on the BBC TV "Culture Show" programme about the band, shown on April 20, 2007. Part of the show was recorded at the Brixton Academy where the band played the title track from "Neon Bible" and a previously unheard version of The Clash's "The Guns of Brixton", performed as a tribute to the venue. On March 24 the band announced on their website that they were canceling the rest of their 2007 European tour due to Win suffering from "a sinus and bronchial infection."

Arcade Fire's North American tour lasted from April 26 to June 2, 2007. David Bowie selected Arcade Fire as one of the first acts for the High Line Festival in New York. The festival was curated by Bowie himself, and ran from May 9 to May 19, 2007.

Discography

* "Urban Connection" (April 15, 2001)
* "French Only" (March 23, 2002)
* "UC 3" (December 13, 2005)

Trivia

*The band has performed with Michael Brecker.
*Win Butler has expressed displeasure at the popularity of internet-distributed MP3s labeled "2001 Demos" and another called "Arcade Fire Christmas Album". The demos do not represent the work of the current band, and the "Christmas Album" was taped at a holiday party with friends who played carols in a parody of Arcade Fire style, and only part of the band was present.
*In 2005, both Win and Regine contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?".
*They have the same manager as Björk [ [http://www.quest-management.com Quest Management ] ] .
*When performing singular songs on television (on talk shows, for example) the band often tried to add something unique to each performance: on the 2005 MuchMusic Video Awards, a marching band played 'dead' until the closing chorus, in which all the players got up and escorted Arcade Fire members off-stage and along the edge of the crowd while playing the closing of the song. On talk shows, band members who don't have as much or any singing to do during a song will be especially eccentric on stage.
*Following the release of Arcade Fire's second album, Neon Bible, the band took the top 8 spots on Last.fm's weekly top 10 tracks chart, knocking The Postal Service's Such Great Heights out of the Top 10 for the first time since the site began.
* The song "Rebellion (Lies)", from the CD "Funeral", has been used as the background music in a three-minute-long video to promote Centrist French presidential election candidate François Bayrou in his largest public meeting so far, in Paris-Bercy in front of 17,000 people in April 2007.

Notes and references

ee also

*MaiJazz
*Music of Norway

External links

* [http://www.urbanconnection.no Official Site]
* [http://www.berglandprod.com/html/artists.htm Bergland Productions site]
* [http://www.ballade.no/nmi.nsf/doc/art2001112010500141951476 MIC Profile (Norwegian)]