Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
heavy mate i'm 'avin it
If Radiohead is the best band in the world, Arctic Monkeys are easily my favorite, well,..them and Radiohead. The Sheffield lads returned in 2009 with their third release - all three brilliant in their own right. Humbug marked what's thus been their most mature sounding album to date. Probably darkest too, at times sludging (a made up word), like an angry stomping English monster. Erie!
Someone told me by email he loved the "understated sound of experience", which I thought was an incredible way to explain the slightly different direction for Humbug.
The Monkeys came out stateside to record in the Arizona desert with Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme. More a classic rock-Zeppelin feel than Jam or Clash, Humbug is a riff-filled, heavier attempt at their version of what made Britpop what it is to this day, see under Oasis, Pulp, Blur, etc. - Humbug seems to not quite be in a rush to go anywhere. It's less aggressive and an overall darker tone than their previous 2 records. Humbug beyond a shadow of a doubt proves The Arctic Monkeys have staying power.
The song Potion Approaching is a riff-heavy groove that blazes classic Monkeys sound -
I was biting the time zone
and we embellished the banks of our bloodstreams
yours is the only ocean
that I wanna swing from
-Alex Turner howls in his ode to a crazy girlfriend - wishing he could be someone else. Humbug is sure to not make every critics top 10 list. That's OK, for a band that was as hyped up as they were in 2006, it's a wonder they didn't eat themselves. They followed up their '06 debut with a gem in '07 and have been able to again, repeat the feat with another solid record.
Standout track - #7 Cornerstone & #1 My Propeller
No comments:
Post a Comment