Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

For their third studio album, the best of the hooligan Brits actually get a little nutty. Hiring Queens Of The Stone Age leader, and all around freak-out desert tripper, Josh Homme to produce and contribute. About the sessions and his peyote use, Homme said, "...I didn't tell them, so there were just a few days when they were like 'Why are you being so weird?' I didn't think it was weird, I just said the word 'Ham' 4,000 times."

The album kicks off with a bastard of a Nick Cave desert western movie opening credit kinda tune. "My Propeller" even has a vaguely Robert Pollard-esque (read: drug-induced) lyric: "Coax me out my low and have a spin of my propeller"

They further the desert feel for the sound and video of the first single, "Crying Lightning", while I continue to be both baffled and impressed with the lyrics. And the theme keeps repeating itself with "Dangerous Animals", although this time, I become a little annoyed with the letter spelling repetition.

But other than that, I really can't say enough about the lyrics. I'm very much a man of words. And when you cram as many vague ideas into 3-4 minutes spaces as the Monkeys do, you give yourself the opportunity to either, like the Beatles, paint a picture that whether or not you identify with all the pieces, you can still somehow get it. Or you can, like other psychedelic followers, just create a ridiculous fingerpainting mess. "Potion Approaching", which has a riff so Queens-like, I can't believe that Josh didn't co-write it, is a great lyrical example of the former:

Then we fell asleep in the car

Until the bumps woke me up in your grip

And the tide took me to your mouth

And then swept me back down to your palms

The album shows a real progression and I'm glad Josh brought it out. "Pretty Visitors" is the lone track that stays completely true to the Monkeys post-punk roots. All in all a great release that shows musical and songwriting growth. The songs lay a foundation of earnest trippiness while the lyrics show a real imagination towards the romantic. (4 of 5 stars)

Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend

The co-leader of The Raconteurs proves that he's the most retro influence in that group with this solo release. My Old, Familiar Friend is littered with pop elements straight from your 1970s A.M. radio. Whereas the Racs seems to take these pieces and fuse them with Jack's modern indie-rock brilliance, Brendan here stays all pop all the time.

It actually seems a little too specifically derivative at times. While all originals, "Eyes On The Horizon" for example, sounds like it was lifted off a Todd Rundgren album. "Gonowhere" sounds so much like Wings, that I think that he might be stealing a riff from Band On The Run.

The opening track, "A Whole Lot Better" employs an Attractions-like organ, but moves along on its own, and I can totally get behind the manic-mind-love tune lyrics. The similarly new wavey "Poised And Ready" should get your hipster party jumping.

The only modern sounding track is "Don't Wanna Talk". Unfortunately, it sounds like Brendan's version of an uptempo Shania Twain song. The only rocker of the bunch is the closer, "Borrow". So- overall, the album plays up the pop too much and has little to offer the average rock fan. If this is your bag, by all means, Have A Nice Day. (2.5 of 5 stars)

The Rumble Strips - Welcome To The Walk Alone

I have no idea what Cobra Starship sounds like, but reading as much as I have about them makes me think I will hate the record they released this week. So, I'm going for an unknown instead.

Mark Ronson (of Amy Winehouse fame) produces the second album by this UK rock band. The criticism around the record is that it's made too slick, polished and well, Ronson-ed for the ruckus that the Strips apparently showed on their first album (which admittedly, I didn't hear). I'm going to disagree. I was pleasantly washed over by the American soul production on the otherwise Kinks-inspired brit pop-rock.

"Not The Only Person" is a great example of what I'm seeing throughout the record. The verses have a snarl about them, not punk but not Coldplay either. Then the chorus swells like the Animals at their best to include a booming vocal and understated mix of horns and strings backing. See video below.

A couple songs about the fellas are distracting, you may skip them. "Daniel" and "Douglas" both tread water but to me like little more a time to get in a piss and a beer.

"Back Bone" on the other hand is like a James Bond theme. Ronson keeps the strings swirling in the background like we're afraid of the villain entering the room before Bond has freed himself from the laser death contraption.

All in all, I think Ronson very effectively captured some great songs and contributed his style accordingly. It's certainly a different application of Ronson's talents to throw on what would otherwise be pub rock, but I'm glad it was done. Bottoms Up! (4 of 5 stars)

Marmoset - Tea Tornado

"Minds aren't really that sacred" kicks off the simple lo-fi acoustic first track of Marmoset's new album. While it continues with the wimpy-dirge of "Empty Room" - "the more I try to talk, the more I just get lost" - I search for something that will bring the band to life. I like the fact that their songs come in and out without overstaying their welcome, but haven't been grabbed so far.

"Strawberry Shortcakes", for example, has the beginnings of a great song, but restricts itself to a bass rhythm (not even a melody). The vocal melody projected could easily have been incorporated throughout.

Track 5, "Come With Me" is actually the first song that does the job. If they just got off the reefer and downed a beer, this could blend very well into a GBV tune. As it stands, it sounds like a giddy Thurston Moore singing very optimistically about taking the "last chance". They follow it up proper with "Toy" which is timidly produced, but a jam nonetheless. (see below)

Some other tracks worth a spin, but sound too eerily similar too each other, are "Musing", "Gretchen" and "I Love These Things". Sure, "Baby, I can smell your illusion," is a dumb line, but there's a certain Afghan Whigness in their dance-ability.

At the end of the day, I may want to love this band, if they could only get their singer to wake up before recording vocal tracks. The lazy-indieness of them just doesn't carry them to the finish line. (2 of 5 stars)

Toy - Marmoset

Owl City - Ocean Eyes

There was VERY little released this week as a new recording. I had to search. And between Ashley Tisdale, J'Kwon, George Thorogood and something I've never heard of; I'm going to be listening to something I've never heard of. Even if it is synthpop and I just read a negative review of it.

First things first... I hear a sugary-sweet synth riff to a simple dance beat that reminds me of hearing the Human League at the Water Bowl in the summertime of Muncie when I was a kid. The first line of the first song: "Please take a long hard look through your textbook 'cause I'm history" tells me I'm going to be old and grizzled to get through this whole thing. But I press on.

Now, in vast contrast to the other electronic album I just recently heard by Son Lux, this guy loves his lyrics. He's actually very wordy. But this can be a bad thing too. We're mostly treated to teenage romance fluff like "I am the bird. You are the worm/We are made for each other" or "I'd rather pick flowers instead of fights". Other times, we get nonsense adult(?) things like "Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer/I fall asleep in hospital parking lots and awake in your mouth" (Someone will have to explain that shit to me) Also- "It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep 'cause everything is never as it seems." (What does that mean?) Not to mention - "If speed's a pro, inertia must be a con 'cause the cold wind blows at precise rates when I've got my ice skates on"

The entire song "Dental Care" for example, leads in sounding like a clever-for-kids metaphor for having a positive outlook on life- and then just devolves into a trip to the fucking dentist.

It's all one-man synthesizer and vocoder. This Adam fella has a voice that sounds like a poppIER Ben Gibbard, all Cher-like and vocoded. What amazes me most about the project is that it's apparently huge and I've never heard a thing about him. A search of Owl City on youtube has just under 8,400 results. A search for "Sammy Hagar" has 2,500. I may have found somewhat of an answer when I got to the end of the record. "Tidal Wave" is a hugely optimistic, vaguely Christian tune that may have got some audience rallying around in those circles. And yes, that could totally exist in big numbers outside of my radar.

My point: your pre-teen will love this. It'll annoy you, but it will make her think that there are dreamy sensitive boys out there, which will make the prospect of falling in love that much easier to accomplish. As for me, I'm too old and grizzled for this. (1.5 of 5 stars)

Tidal Wave - Owl City