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

Bigger than guns and cigarettes, it's alcohol and cigarettes

The year is 2010, I don't think there is a single human being alive (other than those living under a rock, you know who you are) that hasn't heard Oasis' "Wonderwall." To be honest that's all I thought they had until I recently stumbled upon Oasis' earlier recordings, pre-What's The Story their 1995 hit album (it went platinum 4 times in the U.S. and 14 times in Britain). These recordings hit me like a truck, these guys are amazing, they are so much more than their comparably tame "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova."

The first song I stumbled upon was called "Cigarettes and Alcohol," released in 1994 off of the album Definitely Maybe just over one full year before Whats The Story. This track gives off a distinct brit-punk feel (maybe a little bit of a Sex Pistols vibe) with a little bit of George Thorogood style guitar that gives this song some serious bite. It gives off a total high school angst vibe as Noel Gallaghers lyrics read "Is it my imagination Or have I finally found something worth living for? I was looking for some action But all I found was cigarettes and alcohol." Brilliant!


The second song was "Shakermaker" off of the same album. This gives off a very different vibe than "Cigarettes and Alcohol" in that it is far more towards the indie rock spectrum in the same vein as other indie rock groups of the 90's with that little bit of John Lennon like lyricism and vocal tones (in the psychedilic sense). They definitely backed off from the heavy guitar and really just turned the attitude down a notch for this song. It is a little bit of a head-nodder towards the end which I can sometimes appriciate in a song like this.

Clearly I have mis-judged you Oasis. You are far more than as song about a wall and star made of champagne. So this is me issueing my first blog apology (blopology?) for judging you by your #1-hit-singles. Clearly there must be some bands out there whos discography wallows in obscurity under the shadow of a #1 hit.

"Cigarettes and Alcohol" by Oasis from Definitely Maybe (1994)

"Shakermaker" by Oasis from Definitely Maybe (1994)

-S

Dream obscene

I'm sure most people have heard of Chat Roulette at this point. If you haven't its a website that video connects you to random strangers, most are violently sexually assaulting themselves, however once in a while you meet someone pretty cool. I went out to find new music for my radio show and asked people on Chat Roulette what their favorite song was, looking up the songs one by one to see if my interests fell in line with others.

One such band I came across was Placebo. They are an Alternitive Rock band from London. As with most bands from London at the time (1994), they gave off the sound of bands like Oasis and The Smiths (two of the most popular Alt Rock/Indie Rock bands in the country at the time).

Up until that day on Chat Roulette I had not heard of Placebo from a girl in Minnesota, and I'm really glad I stumbled upon them. They do differentiate themselves somewhat from the rest of the Brit Rock scene but they do have the slightest tendency to sound generic at times.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy these guys, I know they have become kind of an integral part of my music library.

"Meds" by Placebo from Live at La Cigarle (2006)

"Special Needs" by Placebo from Sleeping With Ghosts (2006)

-S