From one literal throwback to 70s music, now to one that’s a throwback in style if not in the time it was recorded. Fontaines D.C., a five-man post-punk group out of Dublin, fall right in line with a separate scene from Marvin Gaye’s world of the 70s. Fontaines are hard-hitting, loud and obnoxious, evoking feelings of Joy Division, The Clash and even maybe a little bit of that early-U2 fervor.

I first fell in love with Fontaines by listening to KEXP 90.3 FM, my favorite Seattle-based (but more prominently available online) radio station. They received equal airplay to the station’s #2 album of 2018, Idles (#16 in my Top 31 of 2018), and were often played back to back with that band despite not releasing their album until April 2019.

If you’re a fan of guitars, barking vocals, and music with a message, then Fontaines DC are right up your alley. If you liked Idles’ Joy as an Act of Resistance from 2018, then you’ll especially love it. Give it a listen now.

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27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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2009-2018 Top 31s

Coming in at just over 22 minutes, this new video from Arcade Fire is more like a sketch comedy show than a music video. It was directed by Roman Coppola, and has cameos by a slew of people, including Bono, Ben Stiller, Michael Cera, Aziz Ansari, Eric Wareheim, Rainn Wilson, Bill Hader, Zach Galifianakis, and I’m sure many others that I’ve already forgotten. But in the end, it’s still a delivery mechanism for some new music from the band, off of their forthcoming album Reflektor, which is due Oct. 29. The songs “Here Comes The Night Time,” “We Exist,” and “Normal Person” can all be heard within the video.

I wasn’t a huge fan of The Suburbs, the band’s last album, but from what I’ve heard already, I’m very excited for this new album.