Since this seems to be the next BUZZ band...
November 18, 2005
Rock Review | Arctic Monkeys
Punk, Funk and Singalongs, Dwelling on Life in Clubland
By JON PARELES, The New York Times
The Arctic Monkeys' first single, "I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor," zoomed to No. 1 on the British pop charts when it was released in October. A month later, the group was already braced for a backlash when it performed at the Bowery Ballroom. As the band played barreling punk chords in its Wednesday night show, the first words Alex Turner sang were, "Anticipation has a habit to set you up for disappointment."
The only disappointment on Wednesday night was the brevity of the set: less than an hour of snappy, articulate, precisely constructed songs, with no encore. The Arctic Monkeys draw on brittle late-1970's post-punk the way fellow British bands like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Futureheads do: switching between punk strumming and funk riffs, slowing down occasionally for a Beatles chord change, and rationing every note to hone the staccato momentum.
The Arctic Monkeys have built an audience the way 21st-century bands do: placing their demos on the Internet for free downloading. They're hardly the first band to do so, but the Arctic Monkeys' Internet exposure quickly snowballed. More than an album's worth of songs are now circulating so widely that even at the band's New York debut, voices were raised in full verse-and-chorus singalongs through most of the set.
The Arctic Monkeys' songs are hardheaded and smart, with no fear of five-syllable words. The band packed variety into three minutes or less, sometimes setting one verse as punk and the next as funk, with a pop interlude in between. Many are chronicles of clubland, an unromantic place full of competition, posturing, unattainable girls and unforgiving bouncers. One difference between the Arctic Monkeys and the band's late-70's models, like XTC, is how many of its songs revolve around that scene. For every song like "Mardy Bum," a closely observed song about romantic strife, there are three or four about night life.
Mr. Turner, who was busy strumming and picking his part of the two-guitar counterpoint with Jamie Cook, rarely courted his audience; he sang with weary, matter-of-fact vehemence in each explosive song, then quietly retuned his guitar and sipped water in between. Apparently contemplating the music business, Mr. Turner sang, "All you people are vampires, and all your stories are stale/ And though you pretend you'll stand by us, I know you're sure that we'll fail." If he's this cynical about his career now, imagine what he'll be like after actually releasing an album. It's due early next year.
Sharing the bill was Kapow, a Brooklyn band reviving late-60's pop-rock, full of "la la la" choruses, vocal harmonies and garage-rock riffs - old-fashioned, but frequently irresistible.
The Arctic Monkeys are scheduled to play tonight at Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Boulevard, Los Angeles, (323) 662-7728, and tomorrow night at 330 Ritch Street, San Francisco, (415) 541-9574.
