Don’t Believe The Hype

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“We’re Arctic Monkeys and this is ‘I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor’. Don’t believe the hype,” croaked Alex Turner way back in 2005. Way back before the quiff and the leather jacket.

Arctic Monkeys photographed by Esquire (2014). Image taken from here.

The song stuck in my head for several days, and the entire album would always be on my repertoire of alternative music in the 00’s. Arctic Monkeys delivered catchy tunes with explosive lyrics, along with their original Yorkshire accent. A few British bands I know that still keeping their accent while singing (remember The Libertines?), just because they feel weird to sound American-ish. It is funny because their last three albums were made in the US and the foursome (Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Nick O’Malley and Jamie Cook) have moved to LA for some time. Hanging around with model girlfriend, shipped martini, and wear sunglasses indoor. American-ish is a common word they’re now associated with. Something that you won’t believe the lads would do on their early years. Back then, they were famous for turning down interviews and awards, they went to award ceremony dressed in costume, be it a Wizard of Oz or The Village People. One of my favorite live performance of the band is when they dressed in a clown attire in Jonathan Ross show singing Fluorescent Adolescent. Now, with five albums on the rack and lot of awards to collect, they still ask us not to believe the hype.

Their début album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006) is great, focused on Sheffield nightlife and even prostitution (When The Sun Goes Down), they gave such powerful rock performance with some tunes that we can still dance around. But they really got me with their last song titled A Certain Romance. A song that clicked me for about 8 years or so. A song that contained the word ‘romance’ but not about ‘love’. NME ranked it no. 10 on their 100 Songs of the Decade and it would always be on my list of songs of the decade too.

The original formation of Arctic Monkeys (2006). Image taken from here.

Arctic Monkeys’ latest album AM (a rip off out of Velvet Underground’s VU) sounds way different from any other records they had. Mixing hip hop tunes and R&B, with falsetto backing vocals and lusty lyrics. The very proof that the band is not a one trick pony. I first listened to it on my way to the office and I’ve been hypnotized for the whole ride.

Most of my favorite Arctic Monkeys songs are still the ones from 2006 – 2007, but I’m glad that the band evolves musically through time. AM is not the first time you’d be blown away, their third album Humbug (2009) is definitely the game changer. Like I said before, the 00’s is a good decade for alternative/rock music and Arctic Monkeys might be just another indie band that flourished after the birth of The Strokes. In early years, Turners tried so hard not to sound like Julian Casablanca and The Strokes. You should watch them covering Take It or Leave It. But with the birth of Humbug (and Josh Homme’s helping hand), I daresay Arctic Monkeys just becomes some milestone of the history. Watch this awesome video of them performed Humbug’s track on Web Transmission. I guess at some point, you just don’t want to hear the duplication of their debut album over and over again. A point that made the monkeys survived the hype.

The band is also famous for their B-side tradition, sometimes I found it more appealing than the ones on the album. Songs like Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweetheart, Temptation Greets You Like Naughty Friend (they sang this song feat. Dizzee Rascal in Glastonbury 2007), and The Bakery, are gold.

AM is a big hit in the US, they gained a lot of new fans with their new sound. Some that would Reblog post on Tumblr, making Alex Turner the rock god, changing his status from ‘shy and adorable’ to ‘sexy and dreamy’. To be honest, I miss him with sweaters and those wild messy hair. Oh, by the way, I always think that Humbug hair is the best hair.

Arctic Monkeys circa Humbug (2009). Image taken from here.

Fans from early days sometimes loathe the band because of their current appearance, the Elvis-esque accent critics from Glastonbury 2013 and the Brits Awards 2014 speech are enough to split fans from calling them either legend or some jerk getting drunk. Nonetheless, they’re still playing good music and they still love their home and family (Turner got Sheffield flower tattoo on his arms, Helders got Mum heart tattoo, and earlier the two of them was photographed in a wedding of one Andy Nicholson, the band former bassist). Maybe, they’re not jerking around that much.

Now, with songs lyrically powerful as Arabella, catchy sounds as R U Mine?, and B-side as good as Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You, at least you know that they’re still going to be around for some times without bothering question of “Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys?”.

And yeah Turner is still writing the same exciting lyrics I’ve known really well. One of the main reasons why I love Arctic Monkeys and the reason why I promise myself to write about his outer space lyrics someday. Catch the miraculous lyrics here.

PS: Written to some desperation of missing a chance not watching them live at Summersonic  2014 :)) Sending good luck to the one mate, M. Insan Kamil. Ayo Insan, kamu pasti bisa!

You Were Not Lost

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Halfway around the world.
17 in count.
Hundreds and thousands of hearts.
Million eyes.

All souls are never lost.
They just wander and finally, return.

Have you seen the technicolor coral, under the sea?
Have you seen the aurora, be it the Borealis or Australis?
Have you seen the North Star, high above?
Have you seen the rainbow’s end?

Whether you’ve seen one or not, you’ll be seeing more there.
More obnoxious beautiful things.

Welcome back, beautiful faces.
Until we meet again, you will all be missed.

Mute Crayon Box

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We used to have different opinions. The ones that is passed through hours or days of reading, discussing, and analyzing things. The ones you believe it as your truly opinion. Not as other’s which you agree because it is well written passages without grammar mistakes.

It is good that information spreads instantly, minutes, seconds, milliseconds. But we’ve created a mute crayon box. Ones that just passed a button of Like or Share.

Fate of a nation will be decided sooner, kings will rise and fall, leaders will speak louder at nightfall. Among all that chaos, pen is still mightier than explosive. Especially pen that writes well written passages without grammar mistakes.

Put on your war paint.

There will come a day that you don’t need to break crayon sticks to color a picture. There will come a day that you’ll stint one another to understand better. Exchanging colors and get darker, or brighter. Clearly for sure, richer. Richer in knowledge, richer in perspective. The terms is getting better, the speculation is becoming smarter, the rumor is spreading faster. Those intelligent bastards, I see why you’re there now, with all that power. But we’ve already put on our war paint, and maybe we’ll see. Who will be releasing the doves at the end.

Have a good Sunday, sky arches.

and there goes February

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Good night, universe.

Standing with hundreds of people everyday, sometimes give you random thoughts about life.

Maybe I gaze too much to the street, maybe I’ve missed some beauty among them. Repeated cycles and routines are not there to make you cyborg. It teaches you to color your life among things that already there. The earth, the galactic, you’ve never wished them to stop rotating, yet stars collide everyday. Maybe, you should try to be those stars. Even for a short second, you’ve got that excitement. That burning colors that tingles you. The speed that explodes you.

If someday I ever have a chance to write a column of a magazine, I know exactly what I am going to write:

TV Series recommendation

As much as I love feature film, those silver screen, I have highly appreciation to TV shows. Ever wondering why the header of this blog even shaped like television? (ha!) It is sometimes contradictory to my cynical thoughts to national television, but then again I believe there would be time those public frequency would become ours once more.

So, try Brooklyn Nine Nine.

Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live veteran, plays Jake Peralta. The childish detective, solving case by case with the absurd police squads. There is Detective Diaz with the anger issue, the ambitious Amy Santiago, the freaky and loveable Detective Boyle, the mental secretary Gina, the first gay police captain, Captain Holt, etc. The comedy is light and I must say it is more enjoyable than The Office. Brooklyn Nine Nine finished its first season not so long ago, and so far, they’ve won the Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy on Golden Globes 2014 and surprisingly enough Andy Samberg won Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, beating out crowd favorite, the one loveable Jim Parsons from Big Bang Theory.

Since I’ve found this website, I am hypnotized. The website tries to explore lyrics and it is exciting seeing how people trying to interpret lines from songs. Maybe it is the real meaning of the song, or maybe it’s not. Obvious lyrics try to make thorough messages, poetic lyrics sometimes try too hard to be… just poetic. It is delightful to know that a song titled Butterfly is actually from a musical called Madame Butterfly. Deciphering a line is a tough stuff, you think you know it. But maybe, there’s where you wrong.

I grew up with rock and alternatives music as the soundtrack of my life. And I still think those rock music bring the same romance vibe as those 7 octaves pop song when it comes to deliver a love song. So yeah, don’t be surprised sometimes in the future you’ll be hearing all those baritones range voices and high pitched song plays on my wedding day :))

And speaking about wedding. A lot of friend are getting married, some just got a baby, it is nice seeing people you know from high and low is entering new life. Sometimes it is weird, imagining they’ll be taken somewhere else, speaking different languages than silly conversation or culture jokes. Staying out from the cinema, not buying cheap crackers anymore. But then again, those cycle and milestones do exist. Maybe a world I refuse to see until now is coming closer. Whatever it is, do keep this on mind.

I bet that you look good on the dance floor.

Whether it is climbing a career or raising a child. Whether it is pursuing degree or building a business. Whether it is enjoying life, or financing a house. Whether it is traveling across the world, or helping your parents. You’ll all be wonderful. You’re all still those magical little wonders I know back from my younger life. Those beautiful sparks.

Good morning, universe :)

We’re All Liars Here, and Everyone of Us Is Better Than You

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Arctic Monkeys at Glastonbury 2013

Tonight, the floor of Webster Hall is a sea of illuminated rectangles, with fans shooting video for minutes on end. Turner is ready for the crowd and the cameras now – he puts his guitar down to strut and dance, drops to his knees for solos when he does play, flirts shamelessly with the female fans (he introduces the band’s early hit “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” with an almost Beasties-ish cry of “laaaaadies!”).

It’s a very unnatural environment to be in, up on a stage,” he says later, admitting that his early shyness never really went away. “So you put up defenses to hide. Like looking at the ground with your hair in your eyes, or being tightly wound and quite aggressive and uncooperative, as I used to do.” His newfound showmanship, he suggests, is just a better way to hide.

How Arctic Monkeys Reinvented Their Sound by Brian Hiatt (October 24th, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone)