Arctic Monkeys - At the Apollo CD

At the Apollo songs Muse lead vocalist Matthew Bellamy's vocal timbre bears a distinct similarity to that of Thom Yorke, leading some to dismiss Muse as simply a band of Radiohead-worshippers. With ABSOLUTION, however, the UK-based group proves that it's much more than the sum of its influences, delivering a work that revels in the enormity of its ambition, the breadth of its sonic palette, and the intensity of its emotional resonance. Employing a daring mix of classical-influenced piano and strings, metallic guitars, unabashedly strident house-style synths, and the type of production bombast usually reserved for Queen or ELO, Muse often sounds like an otherworldly jam session between Rufus Wainwright, Front Line Assembly, the Move, and Evanescence. Packed with both pop hooks and unusual instrumental textures at every turn, ABSOLUTION invites listeners to expect the unexpected. Recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios, Westmeath, Ireland; Livingstone Studios and Air Studios, London, England; Cello Studios, Hollywood, California; Sawmills Studio, Cornwall, England. Producers: Rich Costey, Muse, Paul Reeve, John Cornfield. Muse: Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chris Wolstenholme (bass, background vocals); Dominic ...

At the Apollo CD music Reportedly the fastest-selling debut in British history at the time of its early-2006 release, the Arctic Monkeys' WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT is a brash, hook-filled album that immediately warrants music fans' attention, if perhaps not all of the pre-release hype. Clearly taking notes on the evolution of U.K. punk, the Sheffield-based band reveal the influence of revered predecessors such as the Jam and the Clash, while most notably evoking the Libertines in their youthful, hood-rat persona. On this hyperactive 13-track set, singer/guitarist Alex Turner is armed with an arsenal of sharply observed middle-class narratives (a la the Streets), which are propelled by wiry guitar lines and formidable rhythms that, at times, verge on funk (see Bloc Party). Highlights of this much-lauded disc include the raucous "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," the woozy "Riot Van" (one of the record's few quieter moments), and the lurching "When the Sun Goes Down." Like Franz Ferdinand's scruffier (and considerably less effete) kid brothers, the Arctic Monkeys prove that the hyperbole of the U.K. music press occasionally has roots in an impressive reality. Recording information: 2 Fly Studio, Sheffield, England; Telstar Studios, Munich, Germany; The Chapel Studio, Lincolnshire, England. Photographers: Andy Brown ; Alexandra Wolkowicz. Arctic Monkeys: Alex Turner (vocals, guitar); Jamie Cook (guitar); Andy Nicholson (bass guitar); Matt Helders (drums). Audio Mixer: Jim Abbiss.

At the Apollo buy CD music James Murphy is well-known as half of the New York-based production duo DFA (who have lent their distinctive touch to songs from artists as diverse as Gorillaz, the Rapture, and N.E.R.D.). Aside from creating the modern template for indie dance music since the early 2000's, Murphy has been busy writing music under his solo moniker, LCD Soundsystem. His sophomore effort, SOUND OF SILVER, picks up where the debut left of, expanding an already diverse set of influences and honing the songwriting craft into a thematically cohesive whole. As wryly noted on LCD Soundsystem's debut 2002 single, "Losing My Edge," in the underground music arms race, aging hipsters are losing ground against young upstarts who are (perhaps) unaware of their own influences. And if influences are the stuff with which post-millennial musicians are made, Murphy has trumped us all. Touching on reference points ranging from disco, krautrock, Bowie, house, and post-punk, to singer-songwriter types, SOUND OF SILVER is a veritable catalog of left-field cool. Leading off with the slow-boil, hypnotic opener, "Get Innocuous"--which sounds a bit like a reprise of "Losing My Edge" crossed with Kraftwerk's "The Robots"--the album moves from dance-floor stormers to plaintive piano numbers without batting an eye. On "North American Scum," Murphy lampoons the often mistaken idea that LCD Soundsystem is a U.K. act; his nasal vocal echoing Jonathan Richman as he declares "for those of you who think we're from England--we're not." As humorously self-effacing as he is, SOUND OF SILVER also shows Murphy's growth as a songwriter. On the album's closer "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," he laments the passing of the old New York, "To the cops who are bored once they've run out of crime/New York you're perfect don't change a thing." It's a fitting tribute that holds up against the countless other great songs written about the Big Apple. Audio Mixers: James Murphy ; Dave Sardy. Recording information: DFA; Longview Farms Studio. Photographer: Mike Vadino. LCD Soundsystem: Amy Kimball (violin); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Tyler Pope (bass instrument); James Murphy (bass guitar); Marcus Lambkin, Eric Broucek (hand claps); Morgan Wiley, Lorenza Ponce, Pat Mahoney , David Gold , Justin Chearno, Nancy Whang. Personnel: James Murphy (vocals, guitar, piano, Clavinet, organ, synthesizer, glockenspiel, drums, percussion, electronic percussion, programming); Pat Mahoney (vocals, drums, percussion); Eric Broucek, Nancy Whang (vocals); Tyler Pope, Justin Chearno (guitar); Lorenza Ponce (violin); David Gold (viola); Jane Scrapantoni (cello); Morgan Wiley (piano).

At the Apollo album for sale Facing the third album blues, the Arctic Monkeys turned to Josh Homme, the Queens of the Stone Age mastermind renowned for his collaborations but heretofore untested as a producer. On first glance, it's a peculiar pair--the heirs of Paul Weller meet the heavy desert mystic--but this isn't a team of equals, it's a big brother helping his little siblings go wayward and get weird. Homme doesn't imprint his own views on the Monkeys but encourages them to follow their strange instincts. Wading into the murk of HUMBUG it becomes clear that the common ground between the Monkeys and Homme is the actual act of making music, the pleasure of not knowing what comes next when an entire band is drifting inside a zone. Since so much of HUMBUG is about its process, it's not always immediately accessible or pleasurable to an outside listener, nor is it quite the thickly colored freakout Homme's presence suggests. The Monkeys still favor angular riffs and clenched rhythms, constructing tightly framed vignettes not widescreen epics, but they're working with a darker palette and creating vaguely abstract compositions, sensibilities that extend to Alex Turner's words too, as he trades keen detail for vivid scrawled impressions. Every element of the album reflects a band testing its limits, seeing where they could go next. Recording information: Mission Sound, Brooklyn, NY; Pink Duck Studios; Rancho de La Luna. Photographers: Mark Bull; Justin Smith ; Chapman Baehler; Guy Aroch. Personnel: Alison Mosshart (vocals); John Ashton (keyboards, background vocals). Audio Mixer: Rich Costey.

At the Apollo CD music If most recent indie music is suggestive of a stylistic revisionism from the very recent past, Brooklyn outfit Yeasayer stretches far and wide to vast musical vistas--combining various pre-modern and pan-ethnic traditions into their own volatile brand of psychedelia. ALL HOUR CYMBALS, the band's debut release, hints at the spiritual possibilities of ritual music. Gospel-inflected chorales, chants, and whirling drones meld into powerful multi-part harmonies. But rather than succumb to cheap ethnocentric tropes, Yeasayer imparts a highly personalized aesthetic and symbology to their sonic omniverse. A sense of existential dread and apprehension toward the hereafter characterizes vocalist Chris Keating's lyrics. On the Celtic-folk dub number "2080," Keating confesses, "I can't sleep when I think about the future I was born into." While interlocking polyrhythms and modal guitar create a dreamy tapestry of hazy psych-folk atmosphere, the chorus billows into a furious communal chant. But the album's luminous spiritualism is best represented on the opening track, "Sunrise." Tumbling tribal percussion and ominous organ drones create an unsettling atmosphere that eventually gives way to a transcendent, gospel-inflected vocal part. Reveling in music's transformative, cathartic power, Yeasayer have crafted a bold, astonishingly original take on anthemic rock. Yeasayer: Luke Pasano, Ira Wolf Tuton, Chris Keating , Anand Wilder. Additional personnel: Ben P, Anton S, The Mystic Gaeltacht Singers, Suckers (vocals); Pan (trumpet); David A. Miller (trombone, tuba); Louey Simon.

At the Apollo buy CD music After two intense, ragged releases that showed developmental promise, Comets on Fire truly arrived with their third effort--and Sub Pop debut--BLUE CATHEDRAL. The group's blend of razor-edged garage raunch, Echoplex-fueled psychedelia, proto-metal riffing, and indie-noise cacophony culminates in heavy-rock nirvana here, with the overdriven guitars, swirling keys, and octopus-armed drumming going every direction. Though Comets on Fire's sound is unapologetically retro--following in the footsteps of 1960s pioneers the Stooges, Blue Cheer, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and Cream--the influences are sublimated in a way that is artful, energized, and fresh. There are prog-rock touches on "Pussy Foot the Duke" and plenty of feedback-drenched dual guitar solos throughout (note the interlude on "Whiskey River") to keep the music circulating in the stratosphere. The surging processional "Brotherhood of the Harvest" and the minstrel-esque "Wild Whiskey" prove the band's penchant for textured, heady atmospherics, but heart-thumping, hair-raising noise is the band's real strength. The building thrash of opener "The Bee and the Cracking Egg," for example, is an appropriate signpost to the territory that lies beyond. Adventurous rock fans ready for something punishing, hypnotic, gutsy, and fun are encouraged to take the plunge. Recording information: Tim's Louder Studios, San Francisco, CA (2004). Personnel: Tim Daly (saxophone). Audio Mixer: Tim Green .