My 10 Favourite Indie/Alternative Guitarists

I'm a huge fan of lists. Reading them, writing them, passing comment on them, theorising about them. It surprises me then that it's been some time since I last posted a list on my favourite of anything. So I thought it was high time I picked one of the many lists that floats aimlessly around my head on a regular basis and put it to paper. Or the internet.

Based on my current listening habits, and discussions I often have with myself, I thought I'd share my 10 favourite indie/alternative guitarists. I don't want to get too theoretical about that title by the way. Let's waste no time defining indie and alternative - any of us with any musical sense know in our heart of hearts what we're on about. One key stipulation though is this: there is a difference between what I hold as my FAVOURITE of something and what I regard as the BEST of something. I hold strongly to the truth that, in music at least, there are objective bests. Music that is factualyl, for various reasons, better than other music. But that's a very long discussion for another day. For now, these are my favourites. The ones that tickle my current fancy. Care to share yours after?

10. Alex Turner

As frontman of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner is most often hailed for his songwriting abilities, lyrical genius and eternally stunning vocal delivery - all of which deserve the prasie they receive of course. But behind that, people forget that that, despite the fact that band mate Jamie Cook is officially on lead guitar, Alex is the man behind all of the most beloved moments of Arcitc fretwork. The intros of "A Certain Romance" and "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", the riffs of "Teddy Picker", "Fake Tales of San Francisco" and so many more, the epic shreddery of "Brianstorm". The Arctics were rightly hailed as the best of a new generation of British guitar groups, and the Alex Turner was the one with his fingers changing history on the fretboard.

9. Nick Drake

Now, this is a bit of a cheat. Nick's one of the most famous folk musicians of all time, hardly an indie kid, but I feel he falls firmly enough in an "alternative" kind of taste, and plus, he never gets recognition for his brilliant guitar playing. Like Alex Turner, the focus with Nick is always on his song writing and lyricism, but people overlook the fact he was a stunningly gifted, nimble fingered guitarist. The sound he created with just an acoustic guitar in his hands was mindblowingly beautiful. It was so full, so rounded and always flowed with a seamless grace that, in my mind, is unrivalled amongst folk musicians. "From The Morning", "Cello Song", "Introduction" and "Time Has Told Me" are all gorgeous examples of what this man could do with a guitar. His death at 26 is one of the most tragic musical deaths in my mind, but his legacy has grown steadily over the years, and you can hear his indelible influence in the music of the new generation of folk artists like Laura Marling.

8. Albert Hammond Jr.

If you were creating a list of the 10 BEST indie guitarists, Albert would be a heavyweight contender for a top spot. Back in 2001, The Strokes' exuberant, fuzzy, fresh faced indie rock hammered life into a music scene which was rolling in its own commercialised filth, still hungover from Britpop and grunge. The garage rock simplicity of "Last Nite" set the indie world on fire and the saviours had arrived. With their debut Is This It?, an album based on the insistent riffs and solos of dear old Albert, they changed the face of any guitar rock which has emerged since. The success of any bunch of white kids with guitar in their hands since 2001 is attributable entirely to The Strokes and how, with Albert at the guitar helm, they changed the sound of indie rock. "Take It Or Leave It", "New York City Cops" and "Someday" all sound as fresh as they did 10 years ago, even if their new material doesn't quite measure up. Rarely has someone called Albert ever been this badass.

7. Stevie Jackson

This is probably a name that will illicit a few "huh?"s from a lot of people, even fans of indie music. Jackson is the lead guitarist of Belle & Sebastian, probably the only band who could ever be called "twee-pop giants". Belle & Sebastian have a love-it-or-hate-it kind of sound, but Jackson's squeaky clean, lushly reverberating guitar lines are an instrumental part. People who are familiar with Belle & Sebastian can find it easy to perceive the group as simply "the Stuart Murdoch project", just an outlet for the creative juices of their frontman. Indeed, the first few albums were just that. He is still the drivign creative force, but the band have been growing ever stronger as a unit since 1998's The Boy With The Arab Strap. Whether through his own compositions or the embellishments laid on top of Murdoch's songs, Jackson's guitar work is one of the most defining features of the band's sound. Melancholy, romantic and gorgeously retro, it just hits a sweet spot in me every time - the sublime riff of "I'm A Cuckoo" and the huge sound of the guitar on "Another Sunny Day" are my personal favourites, but his embellishments are so nuanced and integral to the sound of a classic band that picking his best moments is a difficult, difficult task. The sound he's carved for himself has been an inspiration to countless bookish, hopelessly romantic teenagers craving something sweet and clean in the world.

6. Bill Ryder Jones

Now, our Bill inhabits a similar realm to Stevie Jackson in that his guitar work in The Coral sits side by side the stunning songwriting of frontman James Skelly, being just as integral in crafting the sound of one of Britain's must under appreciated bands of the past 10 years. The band first exploded onto the scene in 2002 with the timeless "Dreaming of You", with Ryder-Jones' scratchy jangles and nifty little solo helping to truly cement the song's magic, to such an extent that his guitar work on the rest of their self titled debut gets overlooked. The sweeping clang of opener "Spanish Main" was a pretty decisive statment about how prevalent he was going to be on the album, and indeed he was. As the band came into their own psychadelic way of doing things on subsequent albums, Ryder-Jones only flourished in crafting a distinctively decorative, warm, jangly sound. Some of the places that his sound shines brightest might be "Put The Sun Back" and "Bill McCai" but, again, his guitarwork doesn't showcase itself in specific moments but in its stunning role in The Coral's overall sound. Shame he left before the band's last album, Butterfly House. I hope he's got more up his sleeve.

5. Jonny Greenwood

Jonny Greenwood is one of those guitarist who you come to describe and you just think "what words are there?" Radiohead are a band who have become so revered that it's hip on the nth level to dislike them, and to class them as one of your favourite bands is often to be regarded as someone with a fairly unadventurous taste in indie music. They're one of the few genuinely huge indie bands of the last few decades, and, whether you think that's a cause for celebration as it demonstrates some mild remnants of taste clinging on for dear life in the vacuous, post-Armageddon corridors of the general public, or a cause for woe indicating how people think all you need is some weirdo dancing like an electrocuted halibut and making strange wailing noises to be artistic, there's no denying that Jonny Greenwood and his revolutionary guitar work have been part of the beating heart of the band. The bleak screeches of "Paranoid Android" still send electric shocks up spines the world over. The scorching wails of "Just" just kick arse every time. Even though there's been an auspicious decline in the amount of obvious guitar work on Radiohead records in recent years, 2007's In Rainbows showed that Jonny hadn't lost any of his guitar finesse whilst he'd been arsing about with that ondes martinot. Even the few splashings of guitar present of most recent release The Kings of Limbs were inspired, and proved, to me at least, that one of the best things about Radiohead has always been the guitars.

4.Tom Campesinos!

Not his real name of course, Tom Campesinos! joins with the rest of his bandmates from Los Campesinos! in keeping his full name a secret, opting instead to mark himself out with a Ramones style mark of loyalty to the band. Los Campesinos! are one of my favourite bands of all time and, for a band who only released their first LP in 2008, the intense love that their fanbase feels for them is terrifying. I think they have the destiny of becoming a true cult classic band and, like many bands in that bracket, their sound is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. It's overwhelming, cacophonous and lyrically as blunt and (sometimes) uncomfortable as being beaten to death by a large, metal-alloy statue of one of your ex-lovers. Tom's guitar lines are at the heart of the band's punchy, abrasively euphoric sound, and they consistently have the kind of earworming quality which causes them to be chanted back to the band at gigs - see "Death to Los Campesinos!", "You! Me! Dancing!", "Straight In At 101" and plenty more for evidence. The band have released 3 albums in 3 years, an astonishing feat in itself, but made all the more impressive by the maturation of their sound on all fronts, including Tom's guitar work. Last year's Romance Is Boring had a stunningly unified sound, with the guitar work underpinning the albums most emotionally intense moments, notably fan favourite "The Sea is A Good Place To Think Of The Future".

3. Lee Ranaldo/Thurston Moore

It doesn't get much more alternative than this does it? I've cheated a bit here and put the two Sonic Youth heavyweights as one entry, but that's because the interplay between their guitars is so awesome and integral to Sonic Youth's sound that the pair's work is inseparable in my mind. Sonic Youth formed out of the largely pretentious no-wave/noise scene in 1980s New York, and, after trying a few other guitarists, Thurston and his girlfriend Kim Gordon met Ranaldo and were buzzing about the work he'd done with avant-rock afficionado Glenn Branca. Sonic Youth, with Ranaldo in particular, were obsessed with exploring the possibilities of SOUND, rather than just the standard notes a guitar was expected to produce. This meant that they employed heavy use of alternate tunings, which, when the band began to gain prominence as a popular rock group, was fairly off the wall. The band have always been and will continue to be explorers of the sonic world, but their music has always been grounded firmly in song writing, stemming from a love artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Thurston's fetish faves, The Carpenters. This marriage of noise and experimentation with structured and pop influenced song writing essentially birthed altnerative rock as we know it. The ripples caused by albums like Daydream Nation is untold. Whilst their have been more than a few moments where they've disappeared up their own arse, it's all been done in the name of taking guitar music to a new level. There are plenty of great guitarists in the world, but it's very rare that someone comes along and turns the guitar into something new entirely, reinventing it for a new generation. But that's exactly what Thurston and Lee did. The ultimate guitar anti-heroes.

2. Graham Coxon

Choosing between Graham and my number one was a heck of a challenge. There's just nothing I do not love about this man and what he does with the guitar. Again, as the axe man of Blur, he's one of those guitarists who can sometimes get lost in the shadow of the band's front man, Damon Albarn. Graham is, from my knowledge of guitarists, the most underrated of them all. Nearly everything that fell of his fretboard in Blur, and in most of his solo output as well, is just gold. "Beetlebum", "No Distance Left To Run", "Coffee & TV", "Tender". "SONG 2!" Genius. Sheer, unabashed, irresistible genius. Even album cuts like "Bank Holiday" or "Badhead" have this subtly magical charm about them. He never blasted out with neanderthal like solos like Noel Gallagher. He preferred the wryest, most cleverly placed bits of fretwork, which Damon Albarn described as "more like anti-solos". His solo material however has proved that he can wail with the best of them - "Spectacular", "You & I" and "Freakin' Out" all being beloved, punk influenced gems. He's even demonstrated his terrifying dexterity with an acoustic guitar on 2009 album The Spinning Top. Graham's sound has had such an influence on British indie bands in the past 10 years and, even if it hadn't, it's never anything less than a joy to listen to.

1. Johnny Marr

Well, here we are. I said at the start that I resolutely distinguish between the BEST of something and my personal FAVOURITE of something but, in this case, my favourite is also the best. There is not another man who can ever be said to have more of influence on indie guitar music. Ever. Being part of The Smiths, our Johnny is probably top of the class when it comes to putting up with the reputation of your frontman, but that never seemed to stop the two of them creating indie music as we know it. Inspired by the likes of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, Jonny engineered a trademark "jangly" sound which could soundtrack every area of The Smiths' emotionally panoramic catalogue. I very rarely agree with Noel Gallagher, but one of the few times I have was about Johnny Marr: "There's nothing he can't do with a guitar". The Smiths (well, Morrissey) possess that strange aura of being both at once romantically understated - the backbone of the indie aesthetic - and subtly flamboyant. That's as evident in Marr's guitar work as it is in Morrissey's lyrics and personality. The dexterity of the guitar parts on songs like "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", "Ask" or "This Charming Man" is just sensational, yet never exhibitionist. "How Soon Is Now?" has one of the most cataclysmically bleak and massive riffs ever, and yet somehow, through Johnny's magic, heavenly touch, it never becomes overbearing. His sound is just so engrossing and enveloping, whilst still being technically unrivalled in modern music. Morrissey's introspective and terrifyingly clever lyrics were the beating heart of The Smiths, but Johnny Marr's guitar work was the flesh and bone that wrapped it up and gave the band form. Without The Smiths and without Johnny Marr, no-oe on this list (apart from predecessor Nick Drake and contemporaries Sonic Youth) would have ever started making the music they do. The Smiths are, like many acts on this list, a love-or-hate kind of band. I'm firmly in love but, even if you're not, there is no arguing, in any sphere of existence, theoretical or otherwise, that Johnny Marr is the greatest indie guitarist of all time. As well as my favourite.

Top Records - March/April 2011

I said the same at the start of my last review of my listening habits for 2011, but I'm utterly terrified by how fast the year is moving. It's a matter of weeks until my school life is finished, mere months until I fly the nest and head off to university. Yikes. But let's not think about that just yet!

2011, however fast it's gone for you, has continued to rack up some brilliant releases. There are some releases I've been excited about for months, others I knew nothing about when I first came to them. Here's what's been tickling my musical fancy so far this spring!

Build a Rocket Boys! by Elbow

Ever since discovering them through their last album, The Seldom Seen Kid, my heart has been fluttering in rib breaking anticipation at the thought of this album. I wrote a review of it back in March and my glowing opinion hasn't changed. It's bettered if anything. The whole album just keeps on giving. Words like "beautiful", "startling" and "gorgeous" just really don't seem to do it justice. The whole thing just aches with emotion. It feels so REAL. I think it ultimately comes down to Guy Garvey's heartbreakingly colloquial turns of phrase that make songs like "Dear Friends", "With Love", "Lippy Kids" and "Jesus is a Rochdale Girl" feel so sublimely real that it's as if he's sat across the table from you, sharing a reminiscent, teary eyed pint.

What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? by The Vaccines

The Vaccines were always going to find a mixed reception with the album. Discovered and hyped up to the nth degree by the NME, that's always enough to turn a vast amount of the music loving community against a band. However, at the end of the day, all the pretentious twits who want to occupy themselves with over analysing the relevance of guitar bands in 2011, or get hung up on their middle class backgrounds can carry on doing so. I'll be over in the corner singing along to an album where every single song is, quite simply, a cracker. I can't remember the last time I heard an album where every song was as gloriously captivating and singalongable as this. The already popular "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" and anthemic "Post Break-Up Sex" speak for themselves, but even the album cuts soar, especially my personal favourites "A Lack of Understanding" and "Norgaard". Best of all, they manage to perfectly nail catchy guitar pop without ever sounding stoopid or convoluted. Just fun and free. Death to the haters.

Belong by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

I never really got round to The Pains of Being Pure At Heart when they first emerged in 2009. However, the level of excite surrounding the announcement of this, their second album, made me determined to give it a go. My oh my! It's a strong departure from the sound of their debut, anyone could tell you that (and for some, that's enough to put them off of it) but, as far as I can see, this record is, for lack of a better word, majestic. Gleaming walls of keyboards, pounding and and drums, cataclysmic buzzing guitars - this record is huge. It really reminds me of The Cure, circa Disintegration, except with a heck of a lot less self loathing. The breakneck, euphoric energy of tracks like "Heart in Your Hearbtreak" or "Terrible Friend" make this an album to play with the windows down and the speedometer up. It's a relief really that a band can make music in 2011 that's showered in sentiment, distortion and breathy vocals but still sound as if they have some substance.

Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li

Lykke Li was another act I never really got the first time round. She always seemed like a bit of an also-ran to me, though I don't know why. Therefore, when the excitement around the release of her second album reached mouth-foaming levels, I was pretty intrigued and thought I'd give her a second chance. Well folks, it's albums like this that make me think giving acts a second chance is still worthwhile. This album is full of stunningly penned songs, primarily exploring the darker side of love. The first track I heard was the pounding "Get Some", which storms along over fat, swung drum beats which instantly reminded me of big band classic "Sing Sing Sing". In fact, a lot of this album sounds pretty retro, and I can just imagine it flowing out of a crackly wireless somewhere in the 50s - especially my personal favourite track, the ballad "Unrequited Love". Despite the sadness and melancholy that hangs over the album, Lykke Li always manages to sound effortlessly alluring and sultry - "I Follow Rivers", "Jerome" and the aforementioned "Get Some" being cases in point. This album could become a classic my friends.

Submarine by Alex Turner

Now this isn't exactly an album, but it's still featured extensively in my listening over recent weeks. Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner penned the soundtrack for the recent film Submarine (which I saw - brilliant!), directed by Richard Ayoade, who's directed several Arctic music videos in the past. I posted about my reaction the first track made available from the soundtrack a while ago, and it suffices to say that the rest of the songs didn't disappoint. The breathy and sensual "Stuck on the Puzzle" is a perfect showcase for Turner's ability to highlight the tiny little details in life which are loaded with potency, possibility and personality. The whole song is wrapped up in carefully placed layers of details and metaphor which you can pick away at and think about for hours on end. The other tracks leave Turner alone with just an acoustic guitar, and that's always been a treat over the years. His storytelling knack is as strong as ever on the enchanting "It's Hard to Get Around The Wind" and the gorgeously romantic "Hiding Tonight" perfectly captures the mood of impetuous, impossible promises made in a teenage romance. Not bad for background music eh?

Honourable Mentions
Daydreams & Nightmares by Those Dancing Days
Blue Suicide by Coma Cinema
Smoke Ring for My Halo by Kurt Vile
Tomboy by Panda Bear

There's been plenty of older stuff that's I've had on repeat as well:
- Talk Talk Talk by The Psychedelic Furs
- Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel
- Paul Simon by Paul Simon
- The first 3 Kings of Leon albums. Those were the days.
- Prolific returns to the Arctic Monkeys back catalogue!
- Blonde on Blonde era Bob Dylan. Perfect for these new sunny days.
- The Carpenters. So much Carpenters. One of the best bands ever, so I was reminded!

There's plenty more stuff to come this year - the new Arctic Monkeys album springs to mind first of all. But there's plenty of unheard of stuff to be discovered. And hey, time may be moving fast in 2011, but we're not even half way yet!

Arctic Monkeys: The Plot Thickens

Well this is my first post in a couple of weeks, after my gallivanting around the USA. If you're bothered, I had a wonderful time. We spent a lot of time singing "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green and, for some reason, "Loving You" by Minnie Ripperton. Well, I did at least. Got a funny look from a rollercoaster engineer for the latter. Go figure.

Anyway, when I returned, I was immediately greeted with something I had been hotly anticipating for some weeks: a new Arctic Monkeys track and video. One tipped to be the first single from the band's forthcoming album, now revealed to be named Suck It And See.

I was worried as soon as I heard about it. I hope you read two of my most recent posts, one about how bloody awful the first track revealed from their new album was, and the other about how sublime Alex Turner's solo soundtrack for the film Submarine (saw it - brilliant) was. The highly disparate quality of the two left me feeling a tad uncertain about one of Britain's most important bands.

So, heart fluttering in desperately hopeful fanboy anticipation, beads of sweat forming under my collar in the harsh, unforgiving glare of the Surrey sun, I sat down to watch and listen to "Don't Sit Down' Cause I've Moved You Chair".



Now, I can't speak for you, but my reaction upon hearing that went something like this:

YES! YES! SODDING YES! THANKYOU BOYS! AAGGHHHHHH!!!

I was overjoyed hearing this. Over the moon. Just like with their last album, Humbug, there's gonna be a whole army of jaded, close minded indie fans who are still stuck in 2005 and never wanted the Arctics to progress beyond the sound on their debut who hate this track and the forthcoming album with no real reason behind their dislike. The band have adapted again, they've moved, it would seem, into even heavier rock territory than on Humbug , but that's not inherently a bad thing. It failed horrendously on "Brick by Brick", but on this track it comes off sublimely well, thanks largely, I think, to Alex's hilariously surreal and nonsensical lyrics. There's something very British about it all. I had a bit of trouble being able to enjoy the "YEAH YEAH YEAH!" of the chorus first of. But it won me over. In a big way.

As I said when I was negatively reviewing "Brick by Brick", one track can't give an indicator of the quality of an entire album, but I'm hoping to high heaven that this one does. Then we'll be in for a treat.

There's also been a wee bit of controversy about the newly unveiled album cover for Suck It and See.

It's been variously called lazy and genius. Some people love the simplicity and think it's a bold statement, bidding you not to judge it by it's cover but just "suck it and see". Other's think it's a cop out. I think everyone just needs to chill out. So they've opted for a minimalistic album cover. And? There's plenty worse out there folks.

Alex Turner - "Piledriver Waltz". Hope Restored!

In my last post I was pondering whether there's cause for concern about the musical future of Arctic Monkeys after the release of their worst track to date. I've been nursing knots in my stomach ever since, and - being part of the generation whose introduction to indie music rests almost solely on the band - the fear of them disappearing up their arse hasn't been far from my mind since.

However, over the weekend I was gifted with a tasty - if small - morsel of hope which I have since been nibbling affectionately.

It was announced some months ago that Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner would be making his first foray into a solo career by providing five songs for the soundtrack for British comedy film Submarine, directed by Richard Ayoade (best known to us as Moss from The IT Crowd)

Ayoade and Turner have come together several times before, Ayoade having directed the music videos for "Flourescent Adolescent", "Crying Lightning" and "Cornerstone" (the former is just one of the best music videos in the last few years)as well as the videos for "My Mistakes Were Made For You" and "Standing Next To Me" from Turner's side project The Last Shadow Puppets. For someone who plays such a supremely inept geek like Moss in The IT Crowed, Ayoade has a formidable indie rep - he's directed for Vampire Weekend, Kasabian, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs too. Never underestimate the geeks folks.

But back on track, over the weekend I came across one of the trailers for Submarine , soundtracked by the song "Piledriver Waltz". Have a cheeky listen why don't you:



I can't tell you how much I loved hearing that track. It's drawn me right back from the brink of my doubts for the new Arctic Monkeys album. Obviously it's not an Arctics track, and as The Last Shadow Puppets showed, Turner can deviate pretty strongly from "traditional" Arctics fair when he wants to. However, it proves that Turner's still got it. He's got it in spades. The song just oozes that indefinably sensual nature in his songwriting which has been growing cheekily since Favourite Worst Nightmare and really flowered on Humbug. The drawl, the croon, the delivery. Gorgeous. It send shivers up my spine. And I'm a bloke.

The song itself, disregading for a moment any Arctic Monkeys related speculation, is gorgeous. Once again, very Scott Walker/Burt Bacharach like in the vein of The Last Shadow Puppets, but quite similar to "Cornerstone" from Humbug. The lyrics are, as we'd expect from Turner, sublime. A lot of people have found his ability to write ballads like this something of an anomaly, but he's been cracking them out since day one. Their early EP Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? contained the two beautiful ballads "Despair in the Departure Lounge" and "No Buses", tracks which were knocking around back when Andy Nicholson was still playing bass. And since then we've had the gorgeous "Only Ones Who Know" - one of Turner's best ever songs as far as I'm concerned - as well as brilliant B-side "The Bakery" and a few others.

I can safely say that the new Arctic Monkeys album won't sound like this track, but that's not the point. This track has reassured me beyond any doubt that Turner still has a firm hold on his songwriting and lyrical abilities - something which "Brick by Brick" knocked my confidence in. This isn't necessarily a universal indicator that the new album will be brilliant. But there's hope.

I'll definitely be getting a hold of the rest of Submarine's soundtrack. Might even give the film itself a whirl.

Arctic Monkeys: Cause for Concern?

It's been pretty much non-stop excitement for Arctic Monkeys since 2005. They become one of the first bands to truly make their name on the internet. They sell out the London Astoria before they even release their debut album. Their first single, "I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor" goes straight in at #1 and showed that indie music in the UK was alive and kicking. Their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not become the fastest selling UK debut in history and gets a 10/10 review in the NME. Instantly, they were the biggest and best band in Britain.

Second time round, their album Favourite Worst Nightmare received almost unanimous critical acclaim, even though most people were saying it wasn't as strong as the debut (something I flagrantly disagree with, and struggle to understand in a lot of ways) Then they headline Glastonbury. On their second album.

The mood changed on their third album Humbug however. It was an even stronger departure, a lot of folks said, than Favourite Worst Nightmare. Alex Turner revealed that during the recording process they'd been listening to Hendrix and Cream, and were decmaping to the Mojave Desert to record with Josh Homme. There was a palpable change in the wind in the British music press - the NME especially. It was full of spiteful accusations of the band disappearing up their own arse. "Fans" all over the place were infuriated that the band had "betrayed" their original sound and aesthetic. I was livid at that. Anyone who had listened with any thing approaching an attention span to Favourite Worst Nightmare would have seem Humbug coming a long way of - a stunningly natural progression of the band's sound, which also saw some of Alex Turner's deftest and most eloquent lyrical turns. Matt Helders' highly publicised bromance with P Diddy may have put a few off but hey, let's keep our eyes on the prize here.

So I have utterly adored everything Arctic Monkeys have ever turned their spry little northern hands to. If you'd asked me a few weeks ago, I would have said the band had never written a bad song. They're one of those bands, as far as I'm concerned, where even the B-Sides are of unspeakably good quality.

Then... this happened:



Now, on numerous levels - by the band's own standards and as a song on it's own - that is crap. Genuinely crap. It's not the worst song ever - it's not Justin Bieber or Cliff Richard. But by the standards of one of the most adept, eloquent and able bands of my generation, chanting "I WANNA ROCK AND ROLL" over mediocre thumping just does NOT cut it.

I have no issue whatsoever with the band further maturing and adapting their sound; I've never been someone who refuses to move on from the first album. As far as I'm concerned, the band have gotten better with each album. Also, I have no problem with them being influenced by classic rock acts like Hendrix, Cream and The Doors. Sure, there's plenty of bands around who influenced by those bands and suck like a malnourished calf at it's mother's glorious teet, but there's also been an unhealthy aversion to being openly influenced by those kind of bands in modern indie music.

However - "Brick by Brick" sounds brainless and crass. It sounds like something off the new Beady Eye album. It sounds lazy. It's Matt Helders singing the verses, not Alex Turner, but when a band containing one of the generation's greatest lyricists releases a song containing a refrain of "I WANNA ROCK AND ROLL!", I'm not having it. It's not a carefree, youthful expression of energy and abandonment. It's crass, pure and simple. The chorus is catchy and a tad lush, I'll give them that, but beyond that it's formulaic and makes you think that there may be such a thing as too much Queens of the Stone Age. At the end of the day, they're still a bunch of skinny white northern lads from Sheffield, not drug addled lone rangers traipsing through the American West, re-enacting Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with LSD naturally running in their blood (a lesson someone should probably taught Kasabian a couple of years back) If they delve into the kind of territory I'm worried they might, I quite simply don't think I'll be able to take them seriously.

But let's remember of course, this is just one song. A song that isn't even going to be a single. And a song that's not even led by the band's lead singer (and may bot have even been predominantly written by him). I desperately, desperately hope that it's not indicative of the overall nature of the album. I have a strong suspicion that the band are on unfathomable cart loads of drugs, which could result in a terrifying lack of quality control or a psychadelic masterpiece. I have a deep rooted faith in Arctic Monkeys, and I hope that this track is just a forgettable album track (even though, in my mind, they've never written one of those before) I've loved watching the band's progression, and even if this album is crap, I hope it won't herald the end of them, but that it will become a mediocre building block in the legacy they should end up leaving behind that makes me appreciate the other blocks all the more. Or maybe it will be awesome. Again.