Arctic Monkeys #25 - Have you got your strange?

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Op vrijdag 14 augustus 2009 21:39 schreef TC03 het volgende:
Ik vind Red Right Hand toch wel een heerlijk nummertje hoor.

Om de één of andere reden moet ik wel steeds lachen om de manier waarop Alex 'guru' zingt.

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Arctic Monkeys: Humbug

Gareth Grundy
The Observer, Sunday 16 August 2009

Kids grow up so quickly these days. In 2005, Arctic Monkeys were a supernaturally talented teenage quartet from Sheffield, detailing youthful high jinks with a sarcastic wit and cocky insight as tartly evocative of time and place as the Smiths in 80s Manchester or the Jam in 70s Woking. Now, three albums in, they're sporting long hair and Black Sabbath T-shirts, the interview chat moving from in-jokes to Jimi Hendrix's impressive musicianship. The pitch for Humbug couldn't scream "maturity" any more loudly if the record came with free pipe and slippers.

Evolution has been in the air since last year, when singer Alex Turner unveiled his side-project, 60s pastiche the Last Shadow Puppets. Some of its extravagant armoury - strings, galloping rhythms - lingers here, but other changes are more fundamental. With seven of the 10 tracks produced by Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, the transition is from pop to rock, snap and vigour weighed down by a preoccupation with muscle and heft.

Cream have been name-checked alongside Hendrix and alighting on the disorienting end of vintage rock makes sense, at least in principle. It's in keeping with the surreal side of Turner's word play, as well as their tendency to wig out (see 2007 single "Brianstorm"). "All the pretty visitors came and waved their arms/ and cast the shadow of a snake pit on the wall," croons Turner on "Pretty Visitors", the circling keyboards suggesting a malevolent carnival.

The problem is that, for the first time, Turner's words are more memorable than the tunes. It's jewels such as: "Puffed your chest out like you've never lost a war" ("Crying Lightning") that stick in the mind, not those tracks that sound like the Coral have splashed out on bigger amplifiers.

There's still plenty to enjoy, not least Turner's Sid James-quality double-entendres on "My Propeller" ("I just can't get it started on my own!"), but, in the end, Humbug feels like a great band nervously feeling their way forward, like baby steps towards something bigger. The next one should be a cracker.

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Op zondag 16 augustus 2009 16:02 schreef tim. het volgende:
"I Haven't Got My Strange" . Niet echt briljant, gewoon een lekker licht nummer . De single in zijn geheel (artwork, A-kant en B-kant) vind ik niet echt een geweldige 'comeback' na anderhalf jaar afwezigheid. Dat was "Brianstorm" wel .

Heeft iemand de single al? Is er weer iets gegraveerd in het vinyl?

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Op zondag 16 augustus 2009 18:47 schreef Aisumasen het volgende:
Eh, ok...

Ik blijf er bij dat de productie totaal 'overdone' is voor een liedje zo goed als Fire And The Thud eerst was. Skip 'em elke luisterbeurt.

Ps: Ik ben lid geworden van de Alex Turner Hyves

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Op zondag 16 augustus 2009 19:40 schreef TC03 het volgende:
Hyves is niet indie!

Persoonlijk skip ik alleen Pretty Visitors en Crying Lightning af en toe.

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Op zondag 16 augustus 2009 16:02 schreef tim. het volgende:
Heeft iemand de single al? Is er weer iets gegraveerd in het vinyl?

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Op zaterdag 15 augustus 2009 22:38 schreef Jacobuspower het volgende:
ze hebben er alweer 2 festivals opzitten. nog geen setlist gevonden, ben benieuwd of er nog iets is veranderd ten opzichte van de eerdere festivals

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1. Pretty Visitors
2. This House Is A Circus
3. Brianstorm
4. Still Take You Home
5. Crying Lightning
6. Fluorescent Adolescent / Only You Know
7. Cornerstone
8. The View From The Afternoon
9. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
10. Potion Approaching
11. If You Were There, Beware
12. Red Right Hand
13. My Propeller
14. Do Me A Favour
15. Secret Door
16. 505