The dorks at Pitchfork seem to like them a good bit.
Seem kind of generic to me.
I'm thinking that might have something to do with Pitchfork liking them as much as they do.

i vote crap, doesn't do anything for me

Theyre a decent enough band. I have seen them before live (pre-hype or before I knew about the hype anyway), and they certainly deliver the goods.

The night I saw them though happened to be the wildest night of my life, so there might be some bias here.

chet wrote:Theyre a decent enough band. I have seen them before live (pre-hype or before I knew about the hype anyway), and they certainly deliver the goods.

The night I saw them though happened to be the wildest night of my life, so there might be some bias here.

They also delivered when I saw them. They were very good. Good enough I almost bought their disc!

But I was wise to buy 3 more beers instead.

In the final instance, they are a forgettable band. Their music is insipid-chic -- enough modulated keyboard warbling, shrieky singing, and changes to signify artiness and/or street credit, but anthemic enough in the way of Springsteen and the Arcadian Flames to secure college radio by its tighty whities.

Bleh.

Crap 3 for the live show and b/c their silly anthemic hits exude a kind of youthfulness and are almost pleasant if only heard once or twice.

On a sidenote, I am curious about this nouveau-optimistic-"heart on fire"-"rock n' roll"-anthem-thing of a lot of Canadian bands are up to: Constantines, Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, New Pornographers, Weakerthans, Broken Social Scene. . . it's refreshing in a few instances, but, where does it come from? This will to make the Heartstring Rock Anthems?

At this point, any band with "wolf" in the name gets a crap from me.

Very tired of the lupine theme in band names, and of animal names more generally. Wolf Parade, Wolf Eyes, Guitar Wolf, AIDS Wolf, Wolfie, We are Wolves, Bear Claw, Grizzly Bear, Deerhoof, Arctic Monkeys, Animal Collective . . . I greatly enjoy a number of these bands, but for fuck's sake, enough already. How about more bands employing crayola colors in their names? Or the names of baseball players, or of sports? Foods and food groups, anyone?

That said, I like Wolf Parade quite a bit. Like Modest Mouse, except with songs. And excellent use of keyboards.

Yeah, I've known Dan (vocals/guitar) for a long time and he's always kinda bugged me with the 'artier than thou' thing... That being said, he's got some very strong songwriting skills, and has the charisma to be noticed on stage.
Arlen is another aquaintance and is truly the real deal. A very good drummer and all-around nice guy. My wife has known him since they were kids.
Live, I think that they put on a solid show, although I didn't find it THAT great... Overall, they deserve the attention that they're getting... they're a good band, and MUCH better than most.
I sometimes have to double-check myself when it comes to the 'getting popular' bands, 'cause it's so easy to get a bit jealous/jaded... I remember these guys coming to my shows. Same with the Hot Hot Heat guys.

Not Crap.

Somehow I downloaded the new album. Not crap, so far. The last track is fucking good.

I heard the first record and it did nothing for me.

They're crap in my book.