Proof that love's not only blind but deaf

When I think of current British Indie, I cannot help but think of The Arctic Monkeys of Sheffield, England. They have such a quintessential British sound, it is unbelievable. Almost a parody of the genre itself. However I find myself oddly drawn towards Alex Turner's vocals, crooned in his incredibly thick British accent. They do have the slightest tendency to sound very similar from song to song due to Turner's somewhat inflexible style.


Since, for the most part, their songs tend to sound similar I will just give you one of my favorite Arctic Monkeys song just to give you the gist of the band (mind you I mean that in the nicest way possible, it's not that they don't have variety, they just have a very rooted sound that they manage to work in to all of their songs). The song is "Fake Tales Of San Francisco" off of their freshman album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. The song gives off a complete punk rock feel with an air of alternative rock to it. They are a band on a road that has clearly been paved by bands like Oasis and The Sex Pistols (Johnny Rotten meets Liam Gallagher-if that is even possible). Things to look out for on this track is the great drum beat as well as the guitar intro that is so incredibly somber while rocking at the same time.

Overall this is a great band. After forming in 2002, they are supposedly at work on a fourth album-it'll be hard to top their debut album though (fastest selling album in history in the UK). Their newer stuff seems to have a little bit of a played out sound, but I'm still not getting tired of it.

"Fake Tales Of San Francisco" by The Arctic Monkeys from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)

-S

Don't waste your words I don't need anything from you

So oddly enough I stumbled upon this absolute gem just around Easter. I know I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon, but I have fallen in love with "I Am The Resurrection" by The Stone Roses. This song really rocks.

You get classic British indie in the beginning of this eight or so minute ballad with a pounding drum beat and a soulful guitar riff that flows throughout. Around 2:45 the guitar kicks it up a notch to lead the song bravely in to a seemingly endless instrumental around 3:30.

This has nothing to do with the Stone Roses or even Jesus for that matter

The instrumental starts a little like Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" and the comparisons end there.

It sounds great with a gleaming sound that echos throughout. There is nothing you can really do to stop yourself from getting lost in this song. John Squire (aptly named of course) really just kills this song setting it apart from some of the other music of the time (some of my favorites of 92': Pavement and The Mountain Goats, at least in terms of Indie Rock).

Anyway this song is just amazing and should definitely be a staple in any sweet playlist you might be working on. For some reason listening to the 4ish minute outro just gets me going.

"I Am The Resurrection" by The Stone Roses from I Am The Resurrection (1992)

-S