Arctic Monkeys - Snap Out of It (2013)

Arctic Monkeys - AM (2013)

AM is the fifth studio release in seven years by the Arctic Monkeys, a pretty impressive feat for a band these days, while as an album it is their most diverse yet if not being the most un-Arctic Monkeys of their releases. On this new album the band have moved head first into a completely new area of music far removed from the indie rock sound which made them one of the best British bands of the 21^st century so far. The music on AM is heavily influenced by hard rock, contemporary R&B and even hip-hop which ensured the listening experience for me was in many ways one of confusion. At times I could have been mistaken for thinking this was the new Queens of the Stone Age album, with a strong current of heavy guitars, pounding riffs and high falsetto vocals scattered throughout the album. Interestingly enough Josh Homme does in fact make an appearance on this album as a guest backing vocalist, and of course helped to produce the bands third album Humbug.

The album stars in a very heavy fashion with opening track “Do I Wanna Know?” a guitar driven psychedelic rock track and “R U Mine?” a fast paced song reminiscent of classic Black Sabbath. The influence of Sabbath and hard rock continues on “Arabella”, a song that includes a seismic-like guitar riff during the chorus that thunders through the speakers at you. At this point I found myself thinking since when were the Arctic Monkeys influenced by heavy metal, an influence that continues on “I Want It All” which contains a very heavy guitar riff in the vein of early Metallica. After an incredibly fierce start to the album, the middle section is much softer and melodic. “No. 1 Party Anthem” is a John Lennon (circa 1974) sounding song that features acoustic guitar and piano accompanying what is quite a beautiful soulful vocal delivery from Alex Turner. I would bet my bottom dollar this will be a cigarette lighter in the air song during concerts. This song is followed by “Mad Sounds” which is the softest song on the album a midst a haze of heavy rock and R&B styled tracks. This song to me felt like it could have come from David Bowie’s “Young Americans” and has an underlying Philly soul feel to it complete with a chorus full of ooh-la-la’s. The final section of the album begins with my favourite track the poppy psychedelic stomp “Snap Out of It” with its hand claps and incredibly catchy chorus, “Knee Socks” which as a song has a new wave feel to it with echoey guitars and yet more falsetto vocals, and finally album closer the R&B laced “I Wanna Be Yours” which is my least favourite song on the album and where I had a what were they thinking moment.

As far as criticisms go, there are a few aspects of this album which did not do it for me namely the R&B/hip-hop influences which in my opinion did not suit them and hopefully will not be seen again on future albums. I also found myself at times getting annoyed by the falsetto vocals which are dotted across the album. Yes they work well on several tracks, but I do feel they ended up overdoing this a bit across the album as a whole. Finally, I also think this album is over-produced especially with the layers and layers of heavy guitars and multi-tracked vocals, which together at times feel like they are battling with each for supremacy on a particular song. There is a lot going on, on most of these songs and I feel many of them could have sounded better had they been a little less busy in places, and if the band had focussed more on getting the timbre right rather than the production.

So far AM has been well received by the critics on its release and has garnered plenty of positive reviews and ratings, with many in the music press commenting on the albums musically diverse nature and incorporation of styles that you wouldn’t usually associate with the Arctic Monkeys. Some have even gone on to say it is the bands best album, something I would not agree with as I still think their last release Suck It and See was better. However I do applaud the band for trying to evolve their sound and attempt new things on this release, even if the results are not always perfect. There are some very good songs on here and a lot of interesting things going on in what is by in large a consistent album, but all in all I am yet to be completely sold on the bands new sound. Despite this, I still think overall AM was an interesting listen and I would still recommend it if at least to see where the Arctic Monkeys are at after five albums, and what direction they could potentially be heading in the future.

B

- Sam

Ministry of Sound vs Spotify: Is making playlists ok?

Spotify has been in the news a lot recently, especially after Thom Yorke’s comments around whether up in coming artists get any significant financial reward from having their music available to be streamed on the site. And, just this last week, I was intrigued to read that dance music empire Ministry of Sound is suing Spotify for copyright infringement due to users of the online streaming service creating playlists that mirror Ministry of Sound compilation albums. When I first read this I was quite amazed as I had never heard of a case quite like it in music. Copyright issues have become more and more common within the music industry in the last decade or so, from the early days of digital downloading to just last month when members of Marvin Gaye’s family got embroiled in a copyright dispute with Robin Thicke over the song “Blurred Lines” of which they argued copied Gaye’s song “Got To Give it Up”, but suing a company because their users made playlists which copied official releases is something new all together.

The success of this particular case will be dependent on whether a case can be made for compilation albums to qualify for copyright protection because of the effort that goes in to arranging the track listing and putting the albums together, while also whether the actual order of tracks on a compilation album can be copyrighted. Compilation albums are a significant money earner for the mainstream music industry, especially if they are compiled and released through a major label or a brand such as Ministry of Sound. This makes me believe that in pursuing this case against Spotify, Ministry of Sound are simply out to protect their financial interests with no real care for the satisfaction of the casual music fan, users of Spotify, and indeed it seems Ministry of Sound fans.

To me this case is just another attempt from a music mogul to control how music is distributed, and in doing so control that distribution process so it is favourable to them and their financial interest, interests that are worth within the multi-million dollar range annually. Music streaming is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways in which people are listening to music in an increasingly diversified music listening landscape. And with sites like Spotify offering their services for free, or cheap subscriptions, major labels and other influential organisations such as Ministry of Sound will become more concerned as to whether their historically strong monopoly on music distribution will remain. Such concerns will only increase if they believe that the popularity of online streaming and other ‘free’ or cheap listening music services will affect their record sales and therefore the profit margins of the big global conglomerates.

This brings me back on to the issue of making playlists, something that is very popular amongst users of Spotify and iTunes. At the end of the day one must ask what is actually wrong with music fans compiling their favourite tracks into playlists for their own pleasure. Music and the act of listening to music is one of the most pleasurable experiences one can have, and if a music fan has the opportunity to enhance this experience through making themed playlists then surly that’s a good thing and should be encouraged not prevented. People have been compiling music for their own personal use for decades, you only need to think of bootlegging and tape making for starters, while ITunes is also in the business of allowing users to make their own personal playlists. The mind actually boggles as to where Ministry of Sound is coming from on this issue in what to me is simply an attempt by them to control how music fans listen to music, and from Ministry of Sounds point of view how they listen to their music. Surly they should be happy people are listening to their product in the first place and indeed getting enjoyment from it through the act of making their own playlists. Spotify and music streaming in general is just the latest example in a long list where music fans have beaten the moguls to the pump in changing the music listening and music consuming landscape. When these moguls realise their financial interests are threatened they target the copyright loophole that tends to come with the distribution of information online in an attempt to try and stamp out such activity, forcing people to resort to traditional means of acquiring music, which in the case of Ministry of Sound  means buying their fifty-thousand compilation albums.

At the end of the day the major players in the music industry have for too long now been behind the times when it comes to music distribution and the news ways in which people are getting their music today. Ultimately it is their responsibility to catch up with the developments of things such as music streaming and other forms of online music distribution in the digital age, because  If they don’t they will continue to lose out financially and the music fan will continue to rule the roost as to how and where they listen to music. Ultimately it is about options and giving music fans more diversity in how they can listen to their music without restricting what they can and can’t do. Making playlists is a harmless activity and should in reality have no significant effect on the compilation sales of Ministry of Sound. But when you consider the profit over product and capital over culture ideals that exist amongst the hegemons of the music industry, a harmless activity such as making a playlist on Spotify can evidently get heads turning.

- Sam

Franz Ferdinand - Love Illumination (2013)

Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions (2013)

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions is the newly released album by Scottish indie-rock band Franz Ferdinand. It is their forth studio release overall and first since 2009, a long gap between offerings when you consider that most indie bands release an album every two years at the very least. I must say that since their second album You Could Have It So Much Better, Franz Ferdinand drifted off my musical radar and were seemingly ready to be forever known to me as the band who released that really artsy video in 2004 accompanying arguably their most well known song “Take Me Out”. However I found myself pleasantly surprised after listening to their latest release, in what appears to be a very strong comeback for the band.

The sound of this album is not to dissimilar to their last album which had an underlying dance feel to it, although all in all the band tends to mix up the material between traditional indie-rock and dosses of 80s new wave. Album opener the guitar driven “Right Thoughts” is probably the track which resembles their earlier work the most and is notably accompanied by a “Take Me Out” inspired music video, while “Evil Eye” has a sort of 80s post-punk feel to it including a thumping Duran Duran bass line. There are shades of Bowie on “Love Illumination” which channels his 80s work along with latest release The Next Day and includes driving guitars, a catchy melody and even drowning-like horns; there is no doubting that “Love Illumination” will be a live favourite among fans, whilst it is also for me a candidate for best track on the album. Other tracks that stood out for me on the album included the Supergrass-sounding “Bullet” with its high pitch vocals and surfer guitar, and the Beatlesque “Fresh Strawberries” with its lovely harmonies and glowing melody. “Fresh Strawberries” appealed to me as it is not your typical Franz Ferdinand track in that it is a slower more mellow number and is less guitar-driven.  Another candidate for best song on the album and nice to see them try something different. The only real negatives for me on this album were the tracks “Treason Animals” and “The Universe Expanded” of which both seemed to me as being annoying exercises in psychedelic synth pop. For me these were clearly the weakest tracks on the album and definitely don’t fit in with the up-tempo and melodic nature of the rest of the material. However, at ten songs it is a very short album and therefore a couple of lesser tracks can be excused. Yes they don’t add anything to the album, but at the same time they don’t take anything away from the rest of the material.

So far this album has been well received by critics with many giving it four stars and 8/10 ratings. I definitely concur with the critics and view the album as a strong comeback for the group especially after their last album was a bit uneven in places. I also probably view this release more favourably as I wasn’t expecting much out of it and was tossing up whether to even bother listening to it. In the end I’m glad I did and the surprise in the form of some quality songs was well worth it. I do recommend this latest offering from Franz Ferdinand especially if you enjoyed their earlier work, or are simply just an indie-rock nerd. I would also recommend it to those people like myself of which Franz Ferdinand had drifted out of consciousness within the overcrowded scene of indie bands that exist these days. You also might just be pleasantly surprised like I was.

B+

- Sam