Ten years ago today, Arctic Monkeys released Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. This is one of the most solid albums ever released by any artist. Literally every tune on this album has a five-star rating in my library.
The music is so urgent and passionate, the lyrics are so vivid and alive, and the delivery is so direct and earnest. It was such a breath of fresh air when this album was released. It was just in time for a period of new music discovery in my life and it was one of the two albums that I gave to a friend who was seeking out cool new music from that point of view that "there's no good music coming out any more". The other album was Stars' Set Yourself On Fire.
The album has lasted so well for me, with the songs having not become tired or dated. There are not many albums that come forth from a young band so fully formed and vital. Take a listen to the big singles from the album along with live performances of every song on the entire album. You can see just how close to their live sound Whatever... is when you listen to them live. Awesome.
Arctic Monkeys just announced that their new album, called AM, will be released September 10. Here's the first track from the album, "Do I Wanna Know?" It starts off with the drum beat from "Closer" and then uses a smooth lick to transform into a downtempo groove.
I posted the track "R U Mine?" back in April of last year.
Does anyone think that their choice of album title, along with Beady Eye's recent BE, is part of some global conspiracy?
Here's a great, classic performance by Arctic Monkeys on SNL. What a great young band they were. The track is "A Certain Romance" from their 2006 début Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.
I guess it's hard to come up with new concepts for an art/advertising form that's been around for so long. Arctic Monkeys latest vid was filmed while they listened to the radio début of their new song "RU Mine" on Steve Jones' (of Sex Pistols fame) radio show.
I had seen the band name The Big Pink floating around the Interwebs recently, but hadn't heard any of their music. I saw a post over at Artrocker that echoed my feelings about the name and its origin with The Band. Artrocker posted this video and I think it has a great sound and a great hook. Go to The Big Pink's site and they'll trade your email address for an MP3 of "Dominos". The album, A Brief History of Love, is due out September 15. Emusic has some singles, so I'm hoping they'll get the full album.
Spinner has the ten Polaris Prize nominated albums available for streaming until the prize is won on September 21. Go check it out.
James has recently put up a free mp3 on their site. It's for a song called "Not So Strong" and they say it's semi-legendary. "Not So Strong was first performed during a low-key gig at Hoxton’s Bar and Kitchen in June 2007, and became a regular feature on the setlist throughout the rest of the year. It quickly established itself as a fan favourite, and many of you expressed shock and disappointment when it did not appear on Hey Ma." Great song.
If you're interested in the history of Canadian music, you may be interested in two new documentaries from the CBC. By the time of this post, you've missed the first airing of the first episode, but it looks like there are repeat airings on CBC Newsworld.
I've been enjoying the new single, "The Fixer" from Pearl Jam. They have another new one called "Supersonic". I kind of lost track of Pearl Jam around the time of No Code but it looks like I'm catching up with them again. Backspacer is out September 20. If you pre-order the album from iTunes, you get "The Fixer" right away.
Well, everyone's been freaking out about Them Crooked Vultures (pictured above). They are the newest supergroup comprised of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and based on the videos linked below, a couple of other guys. Youtube has bits of a couple of songs from the official TCV channel. There's one called "Elephants" and a short and long version of "No One Loves Me and Neither Do I". Stereogum has live videos in features 1, 2, and 3. After listening, I can hear what the fuss is about. They rock hard. They also played with Arctic Monkeys. Spinner's got the scoop on that show.
Think it's too early in the year for lists? Never. Pitchfork has a feature "P2K: The Decade In Music". Highlights include the "Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" and the "Top 50 Music Videos of the 2000s". Stereogum's got some good analysis.
And R.E.M. has a great sounding live version of Accelerate's "Living Well's the Best Revenge". More info on the coming live album on remdublin.com.
As I posted previously, Arctic Monkeys have a new album called Humbug coming out August 25. The first single is "Crying Lightning" and they've released a video for it.
There was also a track called "My Propeller" out there but it seems to have been taken down. If you're really interested in previewing the new tracks, there are several live versions floating around the 'net, including on youtube.
Arctic Monkeys is one of those bands that grabbed me. When I first heard Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not when it came out in 2006, I was instantly hooked. The band was tight, the songwriting was instantly appealing while being unique, and the way the stories were told was engaging. I remember their awesome performance on SNL, too. I still love the album and it certainly has one of the largest number of five-star songs from one album in my iTunes library.
Favourite Worst Nightmare came out in 2007 and although it had a massive success to follow on, it was a great album, too.
Their new album is called Humbug and the first single is "Crying Lightning". The single's available from iTunes right now and the album is due out August 24th in the UK. Probably means that we'll see it in North America on the 25th.
Check out the tune below.
Arctic Monkeys will be touring North America in September and October. Dates are below.
SEPTEMBER 14th September - Soma, San Diego 15th September - Hollywood Palladium, LA 16th September - Fox Theater, Oakland 18th September - Wonder Ballroom, Portland **FREE SHOW** 19th September - The Showbox @ The Market, Seattle 20th September - Malkin Bowl, Vancouver 22nd September -In The Venue, Salt Lake City - w/Airborne Toxic Event 23rd September - Ogden Theatre, Denver - w/Airborne Toxic Event 25th September - First Avenue, Minneapolis 26th September - Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee 28th September - Newport Music Hall, Columbus 29th September - Kool Haus, Toronto 30th September - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
OCTOBER 2nd October - House of Blues, New Orleans 3rd October - House of Blues, Houston 4th October - Austin City Limits Festival, Austin 5th October - The Palladium Ballroom
And for your listening and viewing pleasure, here's a gem from the first album - "A View from the Afternoon".
Edit: July 16. I just finished reading a great article on Arctic Monkeys and thought it turned out better than my article, primarily because the writer had access to the band themselves. Enjoy.
