Win Butler remixes "Dream Baby Dream" in honor of the passing of Alan Vega.
www.stereogum.com/1888496/win-butler-dream-baby-dream-suicide-cover/mp3s/

Excellent questions. Most would say The Suburbs. You could make a strong case for Reflektor as well. You can't really go wrong with any of their albums.

I would be extremely pissed off.

Butler thinking he is a rock star... definitely not a win(ner).

Where do you get the idea that they're charisma-less bores from?! Seems a weird charge to level at one of, in my mind, the most charismatic bands in the world. I don't think he's "morally outraged" about phones either, one gif and a tongue-in-cheek lyric is all I've heard from him about it. And you just kind of made up all that stuff about downloads.

They seem like the kind of people who would bore me immensely. Granted, it's a fuckwit thing to do, to bring in a musician's personality (or at least what you perceive to be their personality) but sod it, it's done now. 

As to him being "morally outraged" - that was just an unnecessarily flowery way I chose to say phones at gigs irritate him. And clearly, from the GIF above, he must have some strong feelings about them. To do something so damn thoughtless - I'm guessing that person never saw that phone again - he must have. 

To me, Arcade Fire seem to be very into the idea of their own artistry. I'd assume anyway, that yonmon wanting to protect that, was why the person who was brandishing their phone at him instead of just enjoying the show got their phone chucked (certainly, it seems like that was Kate Bush's motive when she banned them for her comeback gigs a couple of years back), but to me, that's no different to the musicians of the last decade who moaned about illegal downloads (who, in some cases, are still moaning - only about streaming services now), or those older acts (like Paul Weller a few years back) who book a couple months of touring, and then just not bother playing any songs anyone actually knows at the gigs. Things like that, that are done in the name of preserving "artistry", but just totally miss the mark, and neglect to take into account their audience's perspective of things, I have no time for. 

And that's basically what I was trying to say when I was going on about illegal downloads. 

I actually got to meet Win and Richard prior to one of the Judson Memorial Church gigs in NYC during February 2007. Only sold 200 tickets, reserving 50 a day for walk ups. So I waited 4 hours outside to be one of the lucky 50. I was #47. I met Win and Richard because the part of the line I was In blocked the side entrance to the church, where the band would enter hours prior to the gig. He was super nice and nursing a throat cold. You wouldn't know it during the gig. They killed it.

I wonder what themes and style they're going to go for on the next album?

Has anyone got any preferences?

I really dig their electronic side. Songs like Sprawl II, Reflektor, Afterlife, Porno, Supersymmetry. Stuff like that. If they work with James Murphy again then I'm sure they will head down that path once more but who knows. They always surprise me.

This really was a rock solid Q&A. If you wanna learn about the history of the band and their formation, check it out. Good stuff. My favorite moments............................................

- Win saying that he doesn't want Arcade Fire to have a defined sound or idea of what the band is. He said that for each album they approach it as a completely new band and you might as well call them "The Funerals", "The Neon Bibles", "The Suburbs" or "The Reflektors". I like the sound of that. I love that they always want to continue to evolve. I'd have been disappointed if they made a Suburbs part 2.

- Win revealing that the band constantly attend shows and clubs of other current artists across many genres for inspiration and to keep the competitive juices flowing. A healthy competition within the music field helps make the music go to the next level. I ALWAYS hated how Noel and Liam seemed so stuck in the past and slagging off every modern day artist as shit. That's a load of crap in my opinion. So many great bands out there. Sure they don't sell millions of albums but the music is still good and worth the time. It might have done Oasis well to feel in awe of other bands and decided to kick it to overdrive. Ok Computer and Urban Hymns should have done that to Oasis.

- When asked about recording sessions for LP#5, Win was extremely tight lipped. Saying the band broke up with a giant shit eating grin on his face. That to me says this album is extremely way down the recording process. New material by early 2017?

Obviously not much to go on there, but that does sound like a fucking sweet melody. 

It does sound sweet. Can't wait to see where it ends up.