such a gluey, borderline offputting listen at first. but "american sports" was the first for me to burst open and spill out a load of hooks and glorious bits and pieces - the second verse is wedged in my head.
flipping through the lyrics, i can see where the accusations of smugness come from, but shocked at how he's really scratching a top tier itch and the bowie, walker, mark e smith, nick cave comparisons are not necessarily hyperbole. shocked, i say.
― matt h, Sunday, 13 May 2018 16:05 (six years ago) link
everything about this album invites massive scrutiny of the lyrics, which is, ceteris paribus, a commendable ambition for a guy in his position. I'm not gonna comment on whether they hold op or not, but did MES ever do that in such a way? or even Bowie? You could argue that they both contiuously had other, both implicit and explicit narratives underpinning and driving forward their records.
This record is certainly much harder to pin down than any of their previous work which can make it sound like A. Turner really doesn't know what it's about. That he perhaps stumbled on to an core idea of this distant, enigmatic, dreamlike aesthetic, and put himself, or rather distorted and reshaping perceptions of himself in there and kept feeding it with lyrical imagery and wit.
Either way, I don't really know what to make of it but I find it appealing so far and certainly not ready to write it off.
― Milton, Sunday, 13 May 2018 17:53 (six years ago) link
so who ya gonna call?the martini police?
― Simon H., Sunday, 13 May 2018 17:54 (six years ago) link
I'm so full of shiteI need to spend less time stood around in barsWaffling on to strangers all about martial artsAnd how much I respect them
^^^ operating close to nigel blackwell levels here
― devvvine, Sunday, 13 May 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link
I'm amazed y'all think this is their best
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 May 2018 22:35 (six years ago) link
Its easily their best
― well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Sunday, 13 May 2018 22:37 (six years ago) link
Their second is easily their best.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 May 2018 22:39 (six years ago) link
i think this record tries pretty hard to be their best, and succeeds
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 13 May 2018 22:49 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Es-8FfATo
fantastic
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 14 May 2018 01:15 (six years ago) link
xxpost
off the money for me. Humbug is also better than Favourite Worst Nightmare
― Bee OK, Monday, 14 May 2018 03:03 (six years ago) link
― Simon H., Sunday, May 13, 2018 10:54 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
love this lyric and i need alfred to get on this album's wavelength bc of it
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 14 May 2018 16:50 (six years ago) link
I like that one!
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 May 2018 17:57 (six years ago) link
I can't wait to hear this now!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 14 May 2018 18:16 (six years ago) link
can't really listen to this album but that Alex Turner spotify playlist is really good ✓
― Number None, Monday, 14 May 2018 18:16 (six years ago) link
Overheard it this morning and thought it was a Pulp song.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 14 May 2018 18:17 (six years ago) link
and in response to what you whispered in my eari must admit, sometimes... i fantasize about you too
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 14 May 2018 19:01 (six years ago) link
^ the melody behind those lyrics is so exquisite, feels like descending a spiral slide
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 14 May 2018 19:05 (six years ago) link
was thinking of other recent albums that do so much in service of such a singular vibe and remembered that Matt Helders played drums for Diddy Dirty Money on uk tv
― devvvine, Monday, 14 May 2018 19:33 (six years ago) link
When Alex first sings "Take it easy for a little while" on Four out of Five, I expect the next line to be "I like to watch things on TV".
― triggercut, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 06:47 (six years ago) link
― devvvine, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:27 (six years ago) link
Ugh sorry pocket posted
― devvvine, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:29 (six years ago) link
.... and that's u unheard of
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 15 May 2018 10:59 (six years ago) link
oh wow that video is great!
― Bee OK, Thursday, 17 May 2018 23:52 (six years ago) link
well maybe not great but goes with the song so well.
― Bee OK, Thursday, 17 May 2018 23:55 (six years ago) link
man is this album addictive. i seem to play it, it finishes and i play it again. today on Spotify it was seeing what i have been playing and recommended Pulp's His 'N; Hers, since i know that album by Pulp the least i played it. it really does sound similar to this new Arctic Monkeys record. very good pick up Spotify.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 19 May 2018 00:30 (six years ago) link
Muso question: is all the melodic bass stuff a bass or a baritone guitar?
Bass!
Also this album is excellent, I feel that anybody who thinks it's Arctic Monkeys' best.. doesn't like Arctic Monkeys? Alfred is right, their second is their best
This album is extremely cut-from-the-same-cloth as Alex's immediately preceding album (the roundly maligned but imho often excellent second Last Shadow Puppets album)
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 19 May 2018 01:21 (six years ago) link
i like most of their records! this one feels special idk
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 19 May 2018 02:54 (six years ago) link
I think this new one is their best but I'm one of those people who doesn't like them usually
― bunny slopes, Saturday, 19 May 2018 02:57 (six years ago) link
my favorite album before this one was humbug if that helps
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, 19 May 2018 03:33 (six years ago) link
Big into this
Bee ok is a quality poster as well!
― Ross, Saturday, 19 May 2018 03:51 (six years ago) link
Sipping vodka and apple juice. Good album with that mix
― Ross, Saturday, 19 May 2018 07:29 (six years ago) link
Something great about records where someone picks up a new instrument and approaches it with vigour. See also white chalk and you are free
― Ross, Saturday, 19 May 2018 07:51 (six years ago) link
awe, <3. thanks Ross. i love ILM and do what i can.
― Bee OK, Sunday, 20 May 2018 00:06 (six years ago) link
<3
― Ross, Sunday, 20 May 2018 00:06 (six years ago) link
― Ross, Saturday, May 19, 2018 2:51 AM (eighteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah, I'm a total fan of this. R.E.M.'s "Green" has a lot of this, too.
― Prefecture, Sunday, 20 May 2018 02:59 (six years ago) link
Word prefecture!
If I was asked to describe this album to a layman I would say it sounds like a whole album of five years covers with the Benny n the jets backing band. Easy listening injected with some fire
― Music is confidence (Ross), Sunday, 20 May 2018 04:02 (six years ago) link
I've always sort of ignored these guys but I bought this yesterday and really enjoy it. It is legitimately weird.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 12:55 (six years ago) link
And of course Sting's "The Dream of the Blue Turtles." Such vigor.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 12:57 (six years ago) link
maybe i was a little too wild in the 70s
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 15:35 (six years ago) link
Excuse me man, I lost my train of thought
.....
― Music is confidence (Ross), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 15:36 (six years ago) link
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 15:38 (six years ago) link
give it a listen alex, it's dope
― Music is confidence (Ross), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 17:49 (six years ago) link
i've not heard a single lick of their music before this, knowingly
― Music is confidence (Ross), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 17:50 (six years ago) link
oh y'all weren't lying, this fucks
― lowercase (eric), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 20:58 (six years ago) link
The 'fastest selling album on vinyl in 25 years'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-44174112?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
― piscesx, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 21:28 (six years ago) link
dance as if somebody's watching... cause they are...
― devvvine, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 21:54 (six years ago) link
― Music is confidence (Ross), Wednesday, May 23, 2018 7:50 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Same. Tried to avoid (stupid name, lol-england lads etc, feared an even worse than Kaiser Chiefs rip-off) but I have to admit the Bowie references are making me slightly curious. If someone throws in a 'not unlike late 60s Scott Walker'-ref I will have to bite the bullet.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 22:50 (six years ago) link
it is not unlike late '60s scott walker
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 22:54 (six years ago) link
Took my car to the garage today. The loan car didn't have a CD player (and I wasn't organised enough to have taken an MP3 player). Ended up flicking through various radio channels including Radio 6. There were Arctic Monkeys songs played on the journey to and from work. Anyway, I was kind of reminded of Robbie Williams in his "trying to be clever" mode.
― djh, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 22:54 (six years ago) link
maybe that applies more to the last last shadow puppets record with the thickening strings. can still hear him in tranquility base though xp
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 23 May 2018 22:57 (six years ago) link