Arctic Monkeys

One Liner: Fabulous rock and rollers with a recent lounge act bomb

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, garage rock, post-punk revival
Home: Sheffield, England

Poster Position: 1
Day: Sunday at 8:00
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: Man.  I mean. come on, man.  I've been excited about these dudes coming to ACL ever since I figured out that they might be coming in my earlier predictions.  If you've been reading me for a while, then you know I loved 2013's AM and in general enjoy these guys quite a bit.  And then they had to go indulge some weird lounge-act fantasy/fetish thing and drop a super weird new album that entirely leaves behind the reasons I love them and leave a foul taste in my mouth for this show.

I've been turning this over in my head for a while now, trying to figure out how unprecedented it is for a headliner act to take a big fat dump on the charts just before they headline a major festival.  I mean, these guys are the number 4 band on the lineup.  And they're on top of several other lineups this summer.  This should be a very exciting get for the festival and a big show, but it feels less so now.  And after worrying it in my brain for a while, I realized that it happened just recently for ACL.  Mumford & Sons.  Mumford's first two albums were classics, igniting a wave of other banjo-toting, earnest Americana lovers to make albums in their wake.  Then they put out that rock-tinged turd Wilder Mind and fell from grace like an empty topo chico bottle knocked from a hipster's grip.  Then they came and played ACL.  To some extent, the same could be said for The Killers and Jay-Z last year as well, being that their albums released just before ACL were some of their weakest after years of good music.  So I guess this is a semi-normal thing, where bands release albums as usual and maybe happen to drop a dud right before a big appearance is scheduled.

I've run through the new album 8 times today, just punishing myself with it.  I just want to see if there is some redeeming quality that pops out after really really really giving it a fair shake.  The answer for me is a resounding no.  I'm all for bands exploring new sounds and all that, but if they've made their living based on a particular thing, then I want them to continue it.  Maybe I'm in the wrong, but a guitar band should keep using their guitars.  And its not like they haven't explored other sounds on their old albums - a single song interlude of chilled lounge music would be fine.  But a whole album?

Let's take a look at some magazine review excerpts:

• Pitchfork: "Arctic Monkeys’ daring sixth album is a left-turn if ever there was one, but the way Alex Turner swaps witty sleaze for absurdist suave makes it a totally bemusing and fascinating listen."  8.1 out of 10.
• SPIN: "There’s little to be found here with the immediacy of yore, but this ends up working in the album’s favor: the more you give in to these vibes, the more the vibes give back." 4 out of 5 stars.  [vomit - the "vibes give back" - puke...]
• Consequence of Sound: "Easily the weirdest record in the band’s catalog, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is a fun, flawed aberration (at least, for now). Even in failure, there’s enough to explore within Turner’s thicket of lyrics and the haze of this inviting, yet not quite fully realized sonic setting to warrant a few active listens. Getting chemically altered and listening to this in some headphone on a very dark night might be a solid way to pass the time. Just don’t expect to be humming anything you heard later on." B-
• Rolling Stone: "But the meandering LP can’t bear the weight of the man at the piano’s indulgences ... So even a nice classic-feeling pop melody like the one for “Golden Trunk” devolves into a lurching drag. After a whole record in his wee small hours, you might want to hop the next space shuttle back to Earth."  2 out of 5 stars.

I'm with the RS fuddy duddies on this one.  Not surprisingly, the playcount on this new album runs directly downward almost throughout the playlist.  About 14 million for the first song, 13 million for the second, 10 million for the third, down to about 7 million for the last few.  The one aberration is the single "Four out of Five," with 21.3 million streams.

I guess it at least has guitar in it?  Even if they are entirely understated guitars without any balls?  The whole album just feels like a lark that got taken too seriously and now is an actual part of their musical canon.  Which is a bummer.  If I have to pick a favorite from the album, I think I'd go with "Science Fiction."

BUT!  There are five old albums in their catalog, none of which sound like this pompous crap!  So, maybe they'll be playing the old stuff and just break out the moon-pop-sleaze a few times?  Per this recent setlist, it looks like we'll get five or so songs from the new album, well spaced out so that we can talk to our friends at random intervals during the set.

Let's go old school.  But first, let's talk about who these dudes are.  Four guys from Sheffield, with Alex Turner being the front-man and heart-throb.  "Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album.  The band has won seven Brit Awards – winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for three Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007 and 2013."  They even know that the new album is a curveball, with the guitarist saying “I was blown away by the direction Alex had gone in,” Cook says. “It took a few listens to even begin to, like…” he trails off, smiling. “It was just, like, ‘Shit. What do we do with this?’”

2013's AM is their best album.  I feel like it was my favorite album of that year, because I actually went out and bought the CD.  When I only buy a handful of CDs a year anymore, that means something.  AM has multiple songs that, five years after release, still get a ton of radio play.  Although I know this is going to make this blog post irrationally long, lets get into those tunes.

First, the biggest hit, "Do I Wanna Know?" with 502.8 million streams and continuous radio play on rock and alternative stations.

Kind of sly, a creeping dread that matches well with the lyrics of worrisome hopefulness.  Trippy video too.  Next, the second most streamed tune is the rock-forward "R U Mine?" which jams way harder (and therefore I like even more).  241.0 million streams.

Rock and roll, baby.  The still for the video up above makes it look like they are going to sink their car in water and keep singing, so I watched the whole video waiting for that moment, and now I know it was just a bad video camera or effect.  Anyway, that one jams.  The third most streamed single is "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" (yet another song title ending in a question mark?  What does that MEAN?).  235.8 million streams.

But then my favorite of the singles from this album, the most rockingest of these four I'm presenting you, is "Arabella."  143.3 million streams.

Hello, boobies!  Great tune, I love the build up they do that releases in a rock squawk.  More of that please, without the lounge act crap.  Thanks.

Prior to the excellent AM, there were a bunch of other albums, and I have to admit that I never listened to 2011's Suck It and See until just now.  Good stuff, although the earlier three albums are better.  I'll take you back to their initial hit, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," from 2006's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.  105 million streams.

Big difference from then to now.  Their look is so scruffy and unassuming (compared to their slick, manufactured cool now), and the sound is very scruffy as well, raw and messy, insistent and urgent.  And heavily accented - you know these dudes are brits.  We will almost certain be treated to that tune in the Fall, but only one other song from that original album ("The View from the Afternoon") is making their current setlists.  Other count, FYI:

• Tranquility Base - 5 songs
• AM - 5 songs
• Suck It - 1 song
• Humbug - 3 songs
• Favourite Worst Nightmare - 4 songs
• Whatever - 2 songs.

So it looks like I'm not off base by not knowing their 4th album, they don't much like it themselves...  We'll do one more tune, this one is the most listened to other than the ones from AM.  "Fluorescent Adolescent," with 191.2 million streams.

CLOWN WAR!  Oh yeah, I remember that one.  Good tune.  Cleans up their sound for that second album, aims a little closer to the newer sound, but the brit accent is still thick.  This album (Favourite Worst Nightmare) is probably my second favorite of their albums.  Highly fun rock and roll.

I'm gonna go watch this show.  I mean, unless they are up against Metallica or McCartney, I'm gonna go check this out.  Even though they'll try to play lounge act garbage for a part of the show, I need to go check this out.