The Voice

Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

	Favourite Worst Nightmare Arctic Monkeys Domino Records

Best Tracks

• Brianstorm (CD track 1)
• Fluorescent Adolescent (CD track 5)
• Old Yellow Bricks (CD track 11)

Who the F-k Are Arctic Monkeys? was the title of an EP released by the subject band between Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not- the fastest selling debut album in British music history- and their new full-length. A solid record all the way through, Favourite Worst Nightmare is comprised of dark, industrial tunes that pop and twist harder than the drunkest skank on the dance floor. Fittingly, more than a handful of Arctic Monkeys songs are about those very skanks.

These young lads are giving a good name to rock from the U.K. It sounds unlikely; the four troublemakers from just outside Sheffield learned to play their instruments only a few years before releasing their first album. That initial effort was promoted, unbeknownst to the band, on the Internet through Myspace and other file-sharing programs. When people showed up to gigs and sang along with songs before the official albums were even released, the musical primates were quick to voice their approval for the public's methods of promotion.

The band's support for the common man is evident in their style. Arctic Monkeys have a very middle-class appeal with smart-aleck story-telling and blue-collar lyrics that seem even more clever when delivered by primary songwriter and vocalist Alex Turner's prominent Yorkshire accent.

Uncommon in bands so young, there's a clear knack for song composition on this album. Many of the stories are written in an almost stream-of-consciousness style, with words crammed together to somehow form a rhyme. Who knows what's being said on "Teddy Picker," but ultimately, comprehension doesn't matter much. The messages are never heavy-handed in the slightest; shenanigans are the goal, a young man's observation is the key. The few lyrics that are discernible ("Do the bad thing/ Take off your wedding ring") are enough to make a point.

There's no steam lost in the transition between freshman and sophomore records, evident in the first harder-louder-faster-more-drums-now track "Brianstorm." This and others ("This House is a Circus," "If You Were There, Beware") make the album sound like a spy movie soundtrack, complete with the kind of songs that James Bond would listen to if the iPod had been invented in the sixties.

Lilting background pipes on the dreamy "Only One Who Knows" are about as soft as the Monkeys get. The light stuff is momentary- the rest of the songs are almost non-stop madness.

Eschewing the control of a major record label production, it's amazing how good so many of the tunes are. "Old Yellow Bricks" is so brilliantly easy to nod your head to, while "D is for Dangerous" is a witty, catchy espionage groove. "Fluorescent Adolescent" is a fun bouncer that would be great to sing along to, if only Americans understood what the hell the lyrics are. Maybe the English get it.

It's obvious that Favourite Worst Nightmare is not a step further on the path to adulthood. With the hyper crusher "Balaclava," the live-like-a-kid, don't-succumb-to-suits mentality that defines the attitude of the British boys is spelled out: "It's wrong, wrong, wrong but we'll do it anyway cause we love a bit of trouble." And that's who the f-k Arctic Monkeys are.

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