Arctic Monkeys

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I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about the Arctic Monkeys on the Internet lately.  This band from Shefield in the UK has been releasing its music on its website in free mp3s and touring a lot.  Then they released two hit singles, I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and When The Sun Goes Down. 

That seems to be the formula these days because when they finally released their debut record, Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I Am Not, it quickly went to number one and became the fastest selling rock album ever in the UK, taking the crown from Oasis.

I didn’t want to wait for the US release which is due in mid February but can be pre-ordered on Amazon so I went out and got the UK record.

You can also find tons of their mp3s on the Internet or you can visit their MySpace page if you want to sample the music first.

So how’s the music?  It’s great.  Very much in the vein of other young UK bands I love like Bloc Party, Hard-Fi, The Libertines, and Franz Ferdinand.  If you like these bands, you’ll really like Arctic Monkeys.

One thing I really like is the diversity of sound on the record.  There’s the in your face, loud driving beat of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, the mellow sounds of Riot Van, the reggae beat of A Certain Romance, or the funky groove of Fake Tales of San Francisco.  All of it is great.

They’ll do a short tour of the US in March and are coming to Webster Hall in NYC on March 25th. The show is apparently sold out.  I won’t be in NYC at that time so I’ll miss it, but I bet it will be a great show.

#My Music