Review: AM

or

'Arctic Monkeys know how to keep their fans waiting but I just can't be angry at them'

 I've had this baby on pre-order since I can't remember when. Having already played us "Do I Wanna Know" and "R U Mine?" we had a taster of what to expect from the Monkey's fifth record; a more mature, echoey, soulful sound…but with the same razor lyrics delivered in a Sheffield accent as they've had since album #1. Personally I love the new sound - a bit nineties, a bit sixties, well to my ears anyway.

 They might have once innocently proclaimed "don't believe the hype!" but nowadays hype is what this band exist on…they know how to whip their waiting crowd into a frenzy, and then, thankfully, you can count on them to deliver. 

 I want to swoop around my house in lipstick and something fringy to "No1 Party Anthem" sipping a JD. I can already tell I'll be lifting my spirits when I'm feeling low by blasting "Snap Out Of It" (also a personal mantra fyi), and it will take embarrassingly little time before I'm word perfect at "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" (I've loved their previous work but it's not even like I'm a super fan or anything, so lord knows how they're feeling this morning!)

 But it's "I Wanna Be Yours" that is the ultimate little gem with the John Cooper Clarke lyrics (feeling a bit like a northern working mens club, but exclusively for poets and lyricists - it's ok though, youre definitely allowed to bob into for some rum and a dance and maybe Alex Turner will take you home) which fills my heart with arty crafty self referential happiness.

 I'll even forgive that dodgy trans-Atlantic drawl that Mr Turner showcased at Glasto this year. Welcome home, lads.

xoxo

It's alright, Andy! It's just Bolognese!

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'you have literally no idea how hard it was to pick just one quote'

 Every family, I'm sure, has a film or TV series that sums you all up. You all find it hilarious no matter how many times you watch it. It is a family tradition to watch it over and over until you can all quote it by heart. If it's mentioned in other pop culture you all get really over excited. One member of the family might not like it as much as the others, but they put up with it because it's at obsession level now and to voice their unenthusiasm any further than an exasperated sigh "again?" might be detrimental to their health.

 In my family, that would be The Cornetto Trilogy - or, to the uninitiated, Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg's 3 film series - Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and the newly released The World's End (2013).

 My immediate family generally communicate with each other entirely in quotes from these films wherever possible (and trust me, thats a lot more often than you'd think). Hot Fuzz will forever be my personal favorite, but I'll let you know that I went so far as to go to the midnight screening at my local cinema on the night that the third film came out. 

 There's something super special about watching a film with a dedicated following in a room full of those people, who find it as hilarious as you do, who have noticed all the little jokes as you have, and who care about it. I've never been to a Rocky Horror screening, for example, but I imagine its a similar thing. Everyone's seen them before, and everyone loves them to death. So that was amazing. 

We then watched the new one with baited breath - and, sigh of relief, it was fantastic. Same Wright/Pegg tone as the others, but different enough to, yet again be a standalone movie. Highly recommended, I was one very happy fan. I have seen it again since, and it only gets funnier.

PS. It helped that during the course of the night, this happened. 

RETWEETED BY THE MAN HIMSELF. 

PPS the snazzy art at the top is from here.

xoxo