arctic monkeys - favourite worst nightmare

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heard this a couple of times now thanks to the power of the internets.

some very random thoughts on it - the riff on brianstorm sounds a bit throwaway, the type of riff the AMs could come up with in their sleep. there arent many 'big' or as catchy songs, as that article in the guide yesterday pointed out. track 5 is the closest this album seems to come to the last one (my favourite track so far) and also probably the 'happiest'.

the ballads, au contraire to the mojo review, are pretty bad IMO. not a fan of that killers-type effect on his vocals. makes the songs sound like well, the killers. also sounds like theyre quite into the klaxons on 1 or 2 songs (one song starts out part hardest button to button by the white stripes, part magick by the klaxons).

overall, its a good album, the songs dont seem as well thought out or have as many parts as on the last one, which is a bit disappointing, but its a good second album. doesnt sound deflated like say, the second strokes album. i like the way theyre subtly integrating some new styles here and there into their sound.

the one thing i noticed, or think i noticed, is that it doesnt seem as muscular as last time. im wondering if their bassist leaving has anything to do with that as the bass/drums dynamic doesnt seem as heavy. that might just be the songs though. its more supple, more danceable even.

basically, the last one is still better. this is slighter, not as much to get your teeth into, but still interesting - gets better with repated listens. seems like its been, not rushed, but done pretty quickly. maybe therell be a new one in about a year again.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 15 April 2007 10:30 (eighteen years ago)

out of curiousity what were you expecting?

― The Macallan 18 Year, Sunday, 15 April 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

is this the same drummer?

― cutty, Sunday, 15 April 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

same drummer, yeah

― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:44 (eighteen years ago)

the drummer for the arctic monkeys is not the drummer from the video where its all drums, right?

― cutty, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

and if so, why?

― cutty, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:46 (eighteen years ago)

no idea, sorry.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 15 April 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

no one?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 16 April 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

It was someone else in the video. I don't know who, and I don't know why. He isn't, and hasn't ever been (as far as I know, so not that far), the actual drummer in the Arctic Monkeys.

― Bocken Social Scene, Monday, 16 April 2007 13:29 (eighteen years ago)

http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/alexispetridis/story/0,,2060965,00.html

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 20 April 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

Bit of Autotune on the old vocals here, methinks.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:36 (eighteen years ago)

hmm...brianstorm is a bit of a mess

― Gukbe, Friday, 20 April 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

I must say I was quite a fan of t'Monkeys' first LP after I read a rather excitable review in the NME. I rushed straight out and bought it ammedietly, in spite of the rather vile artwork depicting a "chav" (UK media speak for a person of working class descent). I dare say it blew me away, so rather looking forward to this one, hopefully i'll be able to blag a promo copy for the Uni magazine.

― Ethan Gaymead, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

all the reviews for this are so predictable. not one iota of critique really. i dont mind that so much, just cos it is a very good album, but some of the reviews just seem a bit desperate - like they need the album to be better than it actually is.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 20 April 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

Well they're alot of critic's "last great hopes" if you will. I just wish people would enjoy the music and forget about the mystique.

― Ethan Gaymead, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:01 (eighteen years ago)

but its like theyre not reeally listening to the album, theyve just come up with these tropes of what a good 2nd album is meant to be and stuck those in the review. im thinking of the Q mag review really and the ones in papers that i read today. zzz.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

cf room on fire

― acrobat, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:10 (eighteen years ago)

As with virtually everything released in 2007 thus far, I just can't get that excited about it one way or the other.

Maybe they should have released an album a month last year, in an expanded Wedding Present style.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

track 5 is really quite brilliant. apparently it going to be the 2nd single. i just hope i dont hear it everywhere and get sick of it. also hope all the great uncritical reviews dont make them get complacent.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

also, theres quite a few songs on this album where theyre IMO more derivative then theyve been before. maybe thats just them getting to grips with some new territory, but theres one song on the new album that has a bit too much of that early 80s edge/u2 via bloc party sound to it.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

Track 5 is catchy, the rest is lacking in hooks, inspiration or dynamics. So it's one good track, and 10 forgettable b-sides.

― paulhw, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:09 (eighteen years ago)

"lacking in hooks, inspiration or dynamics"...
seems to me they get criticised for too little or too much of these. they're never going to win but the kids'll keep loving them for all the right reasons.

i like track 7

― whatever, Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

AM are just like Bloc Party...they have a an occasionally stellar rhythm section but no range at all. You hear a track after a while and think it sounds decent then you hear the rest and they're all a bit nothingy.

― Mister Craig, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

i keep reading how the slower songs show how alex is so mature and all that, but to use simon reynolds alex-dizzeee analogy, a fair amount of both AT and DR's attempts at sounding world wise seem a bit hollow to me, like theyre trying to be mature er immaturely.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 22 April 2007 17:50 (eighteen years ago)

the AMs are better than BP in every way btw.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 22 April 2007 17:50 (eighteen years ago)

More of the same as the debut. OK, I guess, but next time around they need to reinvent themselves like Franz Ferdinand did already on the second one, slowing down the tempo, adding some ballads and some sonic details.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 22 April 2007 18:00 (eighteen years ago)

bloc party's drummer is better

― whatever, Monday, 23 April 2007 10:57 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

the single matador sounds a LOT like battles.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 29 June 2007 22:50 (eighteen years ago)

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