It occurs to me that the main reason for the whole Arctic Monkeys hype is the need for the UK music press (which is of course centered in London) to find an English band to take the place of The Libertines in the garage/punk genre. Since Franz Ferdinand aren't English, but Scottish, and The Strokes and The White Stripes from the US, is was necessary to elevate a genuinely English (as opposed to merely British) band to their level. Thus the hype and the 10/10 rating from NME.

my thoughts as well, I like the Hard-Fi album vastly more. What surprised me was that hardly any of the Artic Monkey's songs struck me as memorable, or witty as some critics have voiced - again the Art Brut album excells as being geniunly funny. The AM's album is just a throw away IMO, after next Monday's gig at the 9:30 club, their 15 minutes of fame for me will be up.

Art Brut's album is damn near a comedy album it's so funny. I guess Bang Bang Rock & Roll is not out in the US? A shame.

The only highlight in the Arctic Monkeys album (so far) is that one little weird vocal inflection where the singer over-emphasizes his accent in the last words of each line in the verse. Unfortunately this happens about 25 seconds into the first song of the album so it knocks out any desire for me to listen further.

Anytime I hear "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" I turn and put in Franz Ferdinand's "Michael" which is much better and rhymes "dance floor" with "beautiful dance whore" (as opposed to "1984") which earns it bonus points in my book.

I don't dislike the Arctic Monkeys. They have some good songs. But their appeal is extremely limited. I'd put them somewhere below Hard-Fi but above VHS or Beta.

and yet oddly they are on tour here in the states. Amazon notes that the US street date is April 18th. I love the songs 'Formed a Band' and 'My Little Brother'

so...

I just came back from their 9:30 Club gig and...

I don't get, besides 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' and 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' and the last song (which is escaping me at the moment) all the rest of the set was pretty mundane. The overamplified bass seemed like a mask to the fact that all the other songs sounded way too much of the same. The songs also seem to exist for the moment, they are bombastic and aggressive, but utimately seem vapid and just not memorable. I also found Alex Turner's voice slightly grating - live. As for the show, I noted two video camera and then this:



NPR / WASHINGTON 9:30 CLUB STREAM

Arctic Monkeys are currently on tour in the US and Canada. The band arrive in Washington DC on Monday March 27th and shall be performing that evening at the legendery 9.30 Club. National Public Radio will be there too recording the show. You can listen the show live on NPR.org as part of the All Songs Considered ‘Live Concert’ series. The show starts at 10pm EST.

NPR.ORG


all in all, a tad above average, but not excellent.

Just read their new album is shattering sales records. Didn't care for the first one too much. But the new one is getting some pretty great reviews. Anyone heard it yet?

same here...

out of curiousity what are the sales record numbers?

Can't find that article with the exact sales number. But I did find this:

Indie rockers The Arctic Monkeys' second album became the bestseller so far this year on its release today, based almost entirely on pre-order sales alone.

Online retailers amazon.co.uk confirmed that the album, called Favourite Worst Nightmare, was already their biggest selling album in 2007 based mainly on pre-orders.

Favourite Worst Nightmare outsold this year's previous biggest seller - Kaiser Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob - by a whopping 33 per cent just on pre-sales alone.

The sales boom continues the young Sheffield band's phenomenal record-breaking success. Their first LP - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received critical acclaim, winning the 2006 Mercury Prize.

Based on pre-orders alone, Favourite Worst Nightmare has been top of Amazon's music charts for weeks, and after it went on general sale this morning, they revealed it was the year's biggest seller.

An Amazon spokesman confirmed: "It's our best selling album so far this year. In fact, the previous bestseller was the Kaiser Chief's album, which the Artic Monkeys have outsold in pre sales alone by 33 per cent.

"It's been an ever-present in our pre-order charts, mostly at number one, and now we know it's our best seller so far this year.

"It's not surprising when you think how phenomenally successful the previous album was. You knew this would perform strongly, plus the reviews have been very strong."

He said the strength of pre-order sales meant they rarely sold out when the albums were officially released.

He said: "We always look at the pre-order sales and when they are selling out that quickly then it means we know how many we need when it is released, but also we can make a prediction on how many we will need for more sales.

"We always like to think we will be ready for exactly how many copies we will need."

It's currently on the AOL Full CD Listening Parties. I'm 3/4 of the way through it now. And two thumbs way up.

http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds

there's also a US maxi single for Brainstorm with the non-album tracks:


- Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend

- What If You Were Right The First Time?

It's available on bestbuy.com for $9.99 with in-store pick-up for those interested. I'm listening right now on AOL (thanks for the heads up, Daytripper!)

yeah I noticed that price online, since Best Buy didn't even bother printing this release in their weekly ad.

Its $7.99 at Circuit City this week.

Get it. Worth every cent. I'm on my third listen on AOL. Awesome stuff. Such a good month for music. Amy Winehouse, NIN and now this. Very happy here

I didn't think their first full length was too hot but I gotta agree with Daytripper this is pretty darn good.

Thanks to Daytripper I'm listening to it now and I like what I hear. So, thanks to KV12482 I'll be going to Circuit City after work

Fans, I have very bad news. If you loved the AM's first two albums, I'm not sure if you're going to like their third ("Humbug"). I don't. Yet anyway. While I liked "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not". I LOVED "Favourite Worst Nightmare". I think it's not only only one of the best albums of the decade, but one of my all-time favorites. On "Humbug", gone are all of the terrific melodies and riffs from "Nightmare". I'm not sure I blame producer Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age. Or the Monkeys. The end result though is just a so-so/ho-hum album. Which may or may not grow on me. But upon first listen, the first two words that popped into my head were "Oh no". This article/review sums it up about the same. And I agree that when they head back into the studio for their next album, it will be a return to form.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle6802232.ece

I just pre-ordered. I'll let you know what I think after I give it a listen.

so I guess the album WONT sound like the 'Last of the Shadow Puppets' album which was damn impressive.

I am planning on picking this up right after work tomorrow.

I really really like "crying lightning"

i like 'dance little liar'....but the rest of it just lacks something.....

a memorable tune??

Sigh. Indeed. I've listened to this 10 times now and......nothing. I'm so depressed.

I can't wait to see and read the reviews from the British music press.