Music Fan’s Mic Presents: 20 Albums That Define The Decade – #9-12

words: Jamie Milton, Ben Ross, Gareth O’Malley
editorial: Jamie Milton

Part three seems to set free some of the bigger names from the list. What all four of these artists have in common is their ability to change the face of music. It’s of our opinion that all four of the albums below did just that; changing different faces of music but changing them completely. ——————————————————————————-
mp3: Untitled 4
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mp3: Someday
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mp3: Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi
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Visuals: Arctic Monkeys – Cornerstone

mp3//

This music video will either go down as one of the most iconic of all time or it’ll be laughed off in a flash. Alex Turner stands alone, tape recorder in hand, sporting a red turtleneck jumper and dark grey trousers. Girls will collapse, boys will squirm. It could assist ‘Cornerstone‘ in becoming one of the most famous songs in Arctic Monkeys’ back-catalogue when those of us look band in decades to come. It deserves to be. So admire this pretty boy eyeing the camera up for three and a half minutes.

Arctic Monkeys: Humbug

Debate is filtering in as to whether ‘Humbug’ is a stepping stone, a stumbling block, or a cause for celebration. Three Music Fan’s Mic writers discovered that they had three differing opinions and they decided to share them with each-other. Gareth O’Malley sees it as their best record to date, a complete triumph. Jamie Milton is a little more skeptical, declaring it a sign of maturity by deeply flawed, and Edward Perry doesn’t dismiss the merit of the record but can see much room for improvement…

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Review #1 – Edward Perry
Arctic Monkeys team up with guitar god Josh Homme, camp in the desert and produce their third album, ‘Humbug’. The resulting noise should be nothing but pure modern musical genius, right? Wrong. Yes, music is all about opinions, but ‘Humbug’ never reaches more than middle-of-the-road, drab rock (not exactly the post-punk/ psychedelic effort we were promised). We may expect as much from James Morrison, but Arctic Monkeys are meant to be the band of our generation that gave music a kick up its complacent back side.

Crying Lightning is not immediate, unlike previous ‘Monkeys singles, but with time is catchy, but again there is nothing to it to make you want more. The same can be said for the remainder of Humbug. It should be said that none of the songs are overly bad, but nor are they particularly good.

‘Humbug’ is perhaps a victim of hype and yet, it will still sell handsomely, but hopefully it is not sales Alex & co. are looking for. I hope they dream of an album that stands the test of time and a body of work to make them the Gods they could so easily be. They have missed the boat with this one, but I shall remain waiting with anticipation for their fourth effort. ‘Humbug’ is a pleasing listen, but not anything more.

6.6

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Review #2 – Jamie Milton
‘Humbug’ is without doubt, a step forward for a band who could only really mature. Alex Turner remains the crux of everything; his lyrical content, now sexually undertoned, more intelligent, testing and cryptic to a listener, will come under much scrutiny from fans and critics respectively. His vocals remain youthful, limited in range but all the more for it. He evidently stays put as the brains behind the bulk of the Arctic Monkeys sound.

When compared to predecessors, ‘Humbug’ falters as something perplexingly mid-tempo, nearly devoid of testosterone and cheek. Uninspired, maybe? The counter argument is that the band have found a new muse, calming down in the process. Brief glimmers of originality and inventiveness keep the album afloat and the down ‘n dirty, bass-heavy sonics are undoubtedly and rightfully encouraged onwards by producer Joss Homme. Change is apparent and change should be welcomed. A band with the whole of Britain’s expectations on their shoulders continue to appear free-thinking, which is wholly surprising and should be commended.

7.4

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Review #3 – Gareth O’Malley
They say that change is hard, but staying the same is torture. Arctic Monkeys must obviously have been aware of this when writing ‘Humbug’, as this is a clear step away from the first two albums. Casual fan is not going to find much to enjoy here past single ‘Crying Lightning’. An Arctic Monkeys album not stuffed with hooks!? Shocking!

Shockingly good, too. Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age fame produced the bulk of the material on offer here, and he’s had a clear influence on the new direction: ‘Dangerous Animals’ and ‘Pretty Visitors’ are up-tempo rockers that are definitely QOTSA-inspired. There are slower moments here too, such as ‘Dance Little Liar’, which features one of the best choruses the Arctics have written to date, and the hypnotic second half of ‘Potion Approaching’, which shuffles along, driven by Matt Helders’ drumming (the man has seriously upped his game here, and he’s talented indeed) before reprising the opening riff and skidding to a halt.

A markedly different side of Arctic Monkeys is on display here, on an album that may, in time, be considered their best. Patience is the key here. Much like the boiled sweet of the same name, as Alex Turner himself said, ‘You’ll just have to suck it and see.”

9.0

mp3: Arctic Monkeys – Cornerstone

Initial Thoughts: Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Exclusive Initial Thoughts Review: Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Words: Gareth O’Malley

One thing becomes clear when you’re listening to the new Arctic Monkeys record, and that thing is that it is going to split their fanbase in a major way. Whereas the casual listener, or the fan of the band’s poppier material, would find most of 2007’s ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ to be right up their street, they will be left feeling disappointed by ‘Humbug’, for it is songs like ‘If You Were There, Beware’ (a song quite different to anything on that album and a world away from just about anything on ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ – except ‘Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But…’) and quite a few of that record’s b-sides that have influenced the band’s shift in sound.

Produced by James Ford (who worked on ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’) and a man you might have heard of, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, ‘Humbug’ is a natural progression for the group, quite ‘full-on’ at times, as they hinted it would be. It contains some of the heaviest songs the band have written, and also, at the other end of the spectrum, some of the most delicate. This reviewer is pleased with the results. I wanted them to write more songs in the style of ‘Brianstorm’ and the aforementioned ‘If You Were There, Beware’, to rock out a bit more, and they have. There are only a handful of what you would call ‘immediate’ tracks here, and I find that to be a good thing, as I love a record that reveals itself to you over time. I find that every aspect of the band’s sound has improved, particularly Alex Turner’s lyrics, as you’ll see below.

Shuffled///

Reviews of three randomly-selected tracks from ‘Humbug’

#1 – Dance Little Liar

Boasting one of the strongest melodies on the album, and a track on which focus shifts to the rhythm section – Matt Helders’ drums are quite impressive here – ‘Dance Little Liar’ is probably my favourite song on the record after a few listens. “I’m sure it’s clear and plain to me, it’s not an alibi you need,” is the choice lyric here. The soaring chorus gives way to quite an impressive guitar solo. A final repeat of the chorus, and the drums take centre-stage as the song gradually fades out. A contender for the best thing the band have written.

86%

#2 – Cornerstone

Clearly influenced by ‘Fluorescent Adolescent b-side ‘I Wish You Would Have Smiled In The Bakery’, ‘Cornerstone’ is an obvious choice for a single. Built around an acoustic guitar, this is also another new direction for the group. The song contains what, for the moment, are the best lyrics on the album, namely these lines: “I elongated my lift home / Yeah, I let him go the long way ’round / I smelt your scent on the seatbelt, and kept my shortcuts to myself”. Wonderful, and the delivery is great, too. It’s easy to see that The Last Shadow Puppets influenced this album somewhat, as I doubt tracks like this and ‘Secret Door’ would have emerged from the recording sessions otherwise.

80%

#3 – Dangerous Animals

“Pinned down by the dark…” An a capella introduction heralds a fantastic riff that draws you in straight away. Of the album’s first three tracks, this song is the most upbeat of the three. It showcases an altogether darker side to the Monkeys than what we’ve heard before. “Fighting with my sheets / I’m nearly crying in my sleep,” Turner admits, in a voice that has definitely changed, influenced, no doubt, by the time he spent working on his The Last Shadow Puppets side-project. Nick O’Malley’s bass is quite prominent in this track, but the focus is clearly on the lyrics. “When the arcrobat fell off the beam, she broke everyone’s heart” is the pick of bunch. I’m not too sure about Turner spelling out the song title during the chorus, but the rest of the song is good enough for it not to bother me much.

84%

The Final List: Act of the Year

So to close off the list’s section of MFM prior to Christmas, we have to leave you with a nice, friendly award that won’t cause too much controversy, we hope.
Most acts won’t be remembered for their actions in 2007, but we picked out a few that could have been. We then went on to ask around on the likes of last.fm, drownedinsound and word of mouth to see who came out on top as everybody’s favourite on the basis of what they did in 2007, and how they did it most importantly.

The nominations were:
Foals – growing in popularity daily from summer 2007 onwards, best new band

Battles – original math-rock/dance album that changed a lot of people’s musical outlook

Radiohead – the ‘in rainbows’ campaign and success after its release

Beirut – a short space of time between latest album and debut, matching its predecessor in quality.

Animal Collective - critically acclaimed record plus solo records from members also receiving great recognition.

LCD Soundsystem – ’sound of silver’ topping most critic’s top 10’s and a workout soundtrack. Didn’t keep quiet for one second.

M.I.A. – Making her songs hits with the help of brutally brave album, ‘Kala’.

Arctic Monkeys – A glorious follow up album after one year and a headlining set at Glastonbury.

Klaxons – Mercury prize + getting as big as everyone hoped they would get.

So people voted in their masses (well….) and at first, various names were scattered around, neck-and-neck. But eventually one act in particular emerged as the act that did that little bit more…

RADIOHEAD

Words: Jamie Milton
The surprise we got on October 1st, 2007.
Every now and then, deadairspace would be updated with an odd post made to confuse you for days but suddenly we had this album announcement and I personally, remember being in complete disbelief. Reading all these news publications and discovering it was actually true, it wasn’t a typical day.
And neither was the day of its release, October 10th where fans were up from 5 in the morning refreshing their email to see if they’d received the new Radiohead album. Eventually, everybody that wanted it had it, no matter what they paid for it, on October 10th there was something in the air. There was this sense that everybody was excited, hearing it for the first time, I remember spending the day either in college or on drownedinsound discussing the record song-by-song and people were genuinely thrilled with it all. It was an eye opener that leaking an album months before the official release makes that official release date complete pointless and loses an awful lot of excitement for the actual music. For the first time, I really despised the way music and the internet co-operated and Radiohead changed my opinion on it all for good.
Of course, the music industry was shaken too. And that was probably the best thing about the release of ‘In Rainbows’. Everybody that knew about it was made to think differently about the way music was distributed and heard. An action that simply shouldn’t be taken with a pinch of salt. Radiohead therefore are a deserving act of the year, doubtless.