Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Hmm, you know, I actually quite like this. Sometimes people tell you something is shite so often that by the time you actually listen to it you expectations are really rather low, and actually you are pleasantly surprised.
The Arctic Monkeys started a little like The Streets as the voice of everyday life in Britain and almost instantly tipped just the wrong side of whatever fine line it was that they were apparently treading. Somehow, both bands ended up sounding just a little bit too self-conscious, pretty much the moment we became aware of them, almost as if the labels they were given upon their breakthroughs immediately throttled the relaxed spontaneity you need to pull off the particular brand of artful social realism* they employed. Certainly they both lost their early casual looseness and their music became just a little awkward and contrived.
As such, the departure into stylised, cinematic croonery with the Last Shadow Puppets seemed to be a much needed break for Alex Turner, bringing a little more freedom and spontaneity to his music. Stylistically this album is a pretty clear mixture of the Arctic Monkeys’ indie rock and the swooning orchestral pop of the Last Shadow Puppets and it works pretty well, generally.
I am not going to go and insist that this record recaptures all of their earlier zest, but it’s not too bad either. Certainly I think the inflections of Shadow Puppetry improve on the music of their previous album, although that was often closer to this kind of sound than you’d think.
I look back at liking the first Streets album, and the first Arctics album as well, and they both seem kind of like guilty pleasures in retrospect. I’m not sure why. Maybe because they were on the edge of what I like and both so quickly tipped over the edge into territory I really don’t like that I allow that to influence my memories of the stuff I actually did enjoy. It all reminds me of liking albums so very much of their time that out of that context it can feel like you were just a little duped. Play by Moby might be another example – music of a certain style that crosses over just enough to be embraced by people not traditonally in that particular audience, and even small changes seem to remind you of that, because the same balancing act can be next to impossible to pull off again. I like all of those albums, but I feel slightly weird about all three.
So, not really an informative album review I’m afraid, more tangential verbal diarrhoea. It’s not a bad record, this, I’m actually kind of enjoying it. No more than that, I’m afraid, but that’s still more than I really expected.
Arctic Monkeys – My Propeller
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*Yes, I know that this is pretty much a contradiction in terms.
Seriously? Fucking hell.
i like this also…..
lets gang up on DC!!!!
Well, it’s hardly brilliant, but I am finding it quite enjoyable. I do have my doubts about how long it will stick in the memory. Never mind ganging up on DC, Chutters, I think I sit somewhere in between the two of you.
i just said i liked it!
Not sure whether I actually like the album or not as yet, but I think it’s quite nice (and a bit strange at the same time) hearing the Josh Homme production tricks on some of the tracks. Never would have of thought of putting those two together…
the two songs aint too bad. i like toad because i have a tendency to ignore UK music and it helps remind me some of it ain’t too shabby. and i feel exactly the same about the streets guy. i wonder how much the novelty of a white boy brit rappin’ played into my enjoyment of that first one. i still think it’s good but his following lps didn’t quite interest me enough. and i still hate the fleet foxes.
Like I said, seriously?
Yes, DC, there’s nothing offensive about this, even if you don’t enjoy it too much, surely? They’ve backed off a little from that charicature of themselves which they threatened to become on the last album, which helps, and basically I think this is alright.
This, I believe, is actually more of a step backwards than them becoming that Roobarb & Custard band. The juxtaposition between the musical composition vs. the murky production vs. the singing voice is really awful in my opinion. I tried with it, but, nah. The street vernacular, I believe, is Fail.
They blow their wad a little early on these two tracks for me.
I was thinking “Hmm.. His voice sounds good in that slightly lower register, rhythm’s interesting, okay…”, then both songs completely failed to go anywhere.
I’m hesitating to write off the album becasue there are sounds here that are appealing, but these two tracks are ‘filler, not killer’.
gosh!
Dylan does have a point actually. I still kinda like the album, but I wouldn’t argue with him.
I think Dylan nails it with “doesn’t go anywhere”. Following on from LPS & the AM stuff I was really expecting something of a statement from this album to mark a new direction, set them apart again from the pretenders out there who have more or less stolen their thunder — this hackneyed welding of 2 styles, with very little oomph, really wasn’t it.
Well it certainly doesn’t augur well for a band hoping to make a bit of an era-defining name for themselves, which it seemed like they might have been capable of when they first emerged.
I’m with Dylan on this one, at least as far as My Propeller went. The other one didn’t interest me at all, but My Propeller at least seemed like a tune that had something a bit different to it. Vaguely reminds me of the New Pornographers, though i’m not sure why. Both are aiming at intelligent, lyrical pop songs I guess.
I have very few preconceptions about the Arctic Monkeys in general, not having attempted to listen to much of it at all- this stuff makes it sound plausible that they’ve got a good album in them, but probably this isn’t it.
SERIOUSLY?
This is fucking awful. Give me a solid reason why I should like it, beyond “it makes me feel nit so bad” and I’ll give you two solid reasons why it’s lazy garbage put together by producers and not musical artists.
xoxo
Fair enough Tart, I’m not particularly inclined to defend it, beyond pointing out that I found it fairly pleasant to listen to and not as offensive as people had led me to believe. I’m not trying to tell you that it’s all that good.
Well ok, sorry for flying off the handle there. I’m obviously having a sort of defensive reaction. Of course you should like it if you like it. I’m the last person on the Internet who should be calling people out for that sort of thing. I adore some really shitty music just cause I do
apologies, sweets xoxo
Well I barely like it all that much, christ people calm the fuck down. Given the reactions I heard from a lot of people I could and did imagine something so much worse than this, that’s all. This is just not great, as opposed to bloody awful.
I like the album too, or at least some of it, though it feels like there is a huge gap where a soul should be on this and the second album. Something big is missing since they did the first one, their energy and wit has turned to thuggish, lumpen riffs and dull innuendo.
But at the same time I still kind of enjoy it.
Very well put indeed.
I 100% agree with Milo’s first statement.
mathew – you should marry it if you love it so much. please stop going on and on about how much you love this album and think its the greatest thing since the pizza slice. you may think it’s album of the year and perhaps the greatest album this decade but please stop pushing your artic-monkey views on us. there are other bands out there you know.
There are two c’s in Arctic.
Bloody Americans.
that’s how we spell it here; like airoplane, dolophin, and led zepplin.
Aluminum
And arse.
Arctic Roll is far superior in all ways.
arctic roll ftw.
I agree with Milo to a degree. To me the album is like a negative photo of it’s predecessors. The lower tones they already had inclination towards are emphasized whilst the beautiful colours lay hidden beneath the surface. The soul is present but unrecognizable until seen live.
This album has some decent songs on it, even if they are a bit different to their old albums- songs such as my propeller, crying lightning, potion approching and pretty visitors. But… something appears to be missing. I don’t know what that something is but the something that was there on every song on ‘whatever people say i am…’ appears to be missing on Humbug.