Our look at the closing lines of the week’s biggest new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to Humbug, the third album by onetime Next Big British Things the Arctic Monkeys: More »
Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy, the Prodigy, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the acts playing this year’s Reading and Leeds Festivals, the twinned festivals that will be held in the UK during the last weekend of August. The Guardian notes that unlike other outdoor extravaganzas in the UK, Reading and Leeds are not sowing the oats of nostalgia, picking for its headliners acts that have actually had albums come out during the latter half of the ’00s. Progress sure looks funny these days! Full bills after the jump.
Nominations for the NME‘s annual addition to the bonfire of British awards shows, the Shockwave Awards, were announced today, with longtime darlings Oasis scoring seven nods—including a Worst Band nomination—and Arctic Monkeys/Last Shadow Puppets frontman Alex Turner amassing six. Of course, the biggest belly-laughs come in the Hero and Villain of the Year categories. The lights of positivity in the NME‘s world are Turner, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Brit comedian Noel Fielding, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher… and Barack Obama, while the big bad guys (and gal) are Amy Winehouse, George W. Bush, Gordon Brown, John McCain, and Pete Doherty. (Obama, sadly, is the only Hero contender who didn’t also get a “Best Dressed” nod; he’s replaced in that category by some British “it girl” who isn’t Kate Moss or Sienna Miller.) Full slate of nominees after the jump.
How could we allow this to happen in America? The Klaxons have been accused of keeping an award won by the Arctic Monkeys at the NME Awards USA last month. The Next Big Things behind “Fluorescent Adolescent” couldn’t make it out to the LA event, so a Klaxon and Mark Ronson ambushed the stage when model Agyness Deyn announced the Monkeys had won Best “International” Album, swiping the trophy and shouting “We’re up for it and we’re having a laugh!” When I ask how could this happen in America, I’m not saying we don’t allow people to jump the stage at award shows. I’m noting that an stateside award ceremony controversy involving Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Ronson, and a model named Agyness Deyn obviously breaks the Third Amendment. Throw a Shawn Colvin or a Kanye in that mix, NME, or keep it on your damn island.
What we’re currently missing at this evening’s Brit Awards thanks to the almost-up-to-the-minute magic of the Guardian’s (snoozy) liveblog: “20.10: Despite actually showing up this year, and doing so in fancy dress, Take That just won Best Live Act over the Arctic Monkeys.” Ah, sweet justice. More »
– The Verve is reuniting, with a few catches: Guitarist Simon Tong will not be performing, and on select dates, Richard Ashcroft will be replaced by John Ashcroft. More »
The Arctic Monkeys’ Favourite Worst Nightmare is making history on the charts across the pond, and it’s currently at No. 3 on the US edition of iTunes and No. 6 on Amazon. More »
Thanks to the new rule governing the UK charts that counts single-song downloads alongside “proper” single releases–and the fact that the singles charts across the pond count 200 tracks, instead of the States’ paltry 100–the Arctic Monkeys are on the cusp of making chart history once again. Every song from the NME darlings’ new album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, is set to make its mark on the UK singles chart:
The midweek sales figures show that 10 tracks from Favourite Worst Nightmare, released this Monday, are already in the top 75, while the remaining two – The Bad Thing and If You Were There, Beware – are at 77 and 114 respectively.
Every week, we round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Today’s entry is Arctic Monkeys’ just-released Favourite Worst Nightmare: – “The new songs are more melodic and even more meticulous than before. More »
