Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Kids grow up so quickly these days. In 2005, Arctic Monkeys were a supernaturally talented teenage quartet from Sheffield, detailing youthful high jinks with a sarcastic wit and cocky insight as tartly evocative of time and place as the Smiths in 80s Manchester or the Jam in 70s Woking. Now, three albums in, they’re sporting long hair and Black Sabbath T-shirts, the interview chat moving from in-jokes to Jimi Hendrix’s impressive musicianship. The pitch for Humbug couldn’t scream “maturity” any more loudly if the record came with free pipe and slippers.

Evolution has been in the air since last year, when singer Alex Turner unveiled his side-project, 60s pastiche the Last Shadow Puppets. Some of its extravagant armoury – strings, galloping rhythms – lingers here, but other changes are more fundamental. With seven of the 10 tracks produced by Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, the transition is from pop to rock, snap and vigour weighed down by a preoccupation with muscle and heft. (Read the Full Review)

Mew -No More Stories

The frenetic percussion and unorthodox time signature of the opening track “Introducing Palace Players” eventually gives way to an upbeat, soaring dance beat and jangly guitars that go on to dominate the rest of the song. The lyrics have an air of optimism to them, which represents a switch from the typically morose vocals Jonas Bjerre usually delivers. As the band is now recording as a three-piece following the departure of bassist Johan Wohlert, and producer Rich Costey is again manning the production on the new album (he also produced the bands breakthrough record Frengers), these new songs manage to maintain the grandiose sound and scope of Mew’s earlier material without ever overreaching. This approach is evident on the propulsive “Repeaterbeater,” which is a driving, seething track that seems to be over far too quickly but oddly ends at just the right time. It is that quirky paradox that not only makes Mew a tough band to classify, but also a tough band to describe. The jarring guitars at the start and finish of “Repeaterbeater” belie the epic, original nature of the track’s other two and a half minutes. And after hearing these two songs, as good as they are, I still have no real idea what the full-length will sound like. (Read the Full Review)

Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive

Ahhhh yes, more thrash. After more than a week of being laid out from strep throat and ear infections galore, I am now psyched to listen to the new Municipal Waste album, Massive Aggressive (is anyone else totally enamored by the delightful titles this band comes up with for their songs and albums? I almost want to giggle with glee everytime I check out the traklisting of a new album). I can’t tell you how hard it is to be a huge fan of metal and NOT be able to listen to your favorites because your ears can’t handle anything more than repeats of the Cosby Show on TV. I digress though, the new Municipal Waste is one album I have been eagerly anticipating for much of the year. The band’s last two albums have received regular rotation on my playlist, and me being a thrash junkie puts them at a higher standard than perhaps some other forms of metal. With that in mind, I hope I don’t turn you off when I say that Massive Aggressive isn’t what I’d exactly been hoping for. Is it good? Yes, but it’s not the monumental follow up to The Art of Partying I had been anticipating. (Read the Full Review)

Matisyahu – Light

The first thing that ran through my head when I first watched Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller) perform his first single “King Without A Crown” back in 2006, sounded like this: “Hmm…a Hasidic Jew rapping religiously over rock/reggae songs…a quite ingenious gimmick.” In such a random fusion of styles, the unusual frontman delineated messages of peace and faith to everyone in the vicinity. I, personally, kept focused on the thought that he looked very peculiar – so peculiar in fact that naturally, such curiosity caused quite a large deal of people to become fans, and those fans to buy the album that really catapulted Matisyahu into the spotlight, Youth. I learn more and more about Miller and his dirt poor past – how he fell into the label of ‘high school drop-out’. This isn’t such a far cry for artists in any sense, but there was no doubt an exotic twist in this case because that artist happens to be a Judaic hip-hopper on a never-ending quest to find God. Donning a broad-brimmed black hat and throwing a yarmulke over his head, Matisyahu is back after a two year break to uplift the downtrodden with his brigade of inspirational lyrics and head bobbing dancehall breakbeats with his third studio album. (Read the Full Review)