Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

I hope I didn’t overdo it…though I probably did. I love how you can find completely different sounding stuff and how it all hits so many different moods and vibes for you. This album by Arctic Monkeys, their first one, is probably one of my favorite albums of the entire past five years because of how much energy it packs inside its walls. I remember being entirely compelled at how freakingly loud and intense “The View from the Afternoon” was/is: it absolutely just rips your face off if you do it right. And by the time the whole thing soaked through, I was convinced that this was a bad-ass album. So it’s awesome how one can switch it up and still be just as thrilled by it all – as corny as that sounds.

I think the most impressive aspect of the album is how it’s a deeply substantial amount of music packed into thirteen thick tracks. There’s these heavy guitar sections that trade off between the vocals and the bass, there’s some parts where they explode with amazing drums and there’s a lot of shifts, modifications and twists all over. “Mardy Bum” is like that song that if I ever learned how to play guitar, I’d love to play over and over. It’s got such a lovely melody and in three short minutes, it’s progressed from a soft guitar part into this soaring story about a loving couple. And the best part is how the sparkling guitar is always heard throughout, shimmering on top of everything.


Speaking of guitars, the way they sound on “When the Sun Goes Down” has to be some kind of perfection on its own. There’s the way the drums hit around the 50 second mark and the way the guitars trade off for about fifteen seconds before the bass licks in, that everything sound so intense and just so right. From there, the song’s about how everything seems to change a little bit when the sun goes down and how everything seems to say that it changes once that time of day hits. It’s a pretty honest aspect of life and one that most will either admit or deny but it’s seemingly true. The music’s downright blistering with every single rush of sound pouring out of the band – it’s easily one of the best explosions I mentioned earlier – and the beginning and closing guitar sadness is definitely memorable. – Bryan