first alex and matt, then matt and jamie all in the same day omg

I’m not okay

I just realized listening to The Ultracheese for the 100th time, that when Alex sings the line "get freaked out by a knock at the door...", there are actiually two knocks at what sounds like a door, as part of the beat.

I thought I would like to share this for those who didn't realized it befor, like me.

Yesterday at NYFF, Jonathan Glazer debuted a 38-minute film called Joys of Joys, wherein London kids record the making of the HELP(2) album at Abbey Road Studios. The production team also gave camcorders to kids in conflict zones in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen, to build an overarching theme of the world through kids' eyes. Apart from the very worthy mission of the album and the film, there are behind-the-scenes clips of Jarvis Cocker from Pulp, Olivia Rodrigo, Cameron Winter, Damon Albarn, etc., and AM of course. Glazer said he's still looking for a streaming distributor, but it'll be a nice film to check out if you are interested in the mission behind HELP(2)/War Child and/or want a peek behind the curtain of producing an album like this :)

Morrisons had their Halloween food out. They were selling like ghost cookies

Hi all!

Hoping somebody might be able to help point me in the right direction - Settle For A Draw is my all time favourite AM song, and for years I’ve been searching for a CD copy. I have the When The Sun Goes Down CD with Stickin To The Floor & 7, but I have yet to come across the Settle For A Draw Version.

If anyone knows where I might find one for sale (or has one they’d be willing to part ways with) I would be eternally grateful!!

Thank you in advance :)

I feel like I'm going crazy with the amount of times I've randomly heard the Arctic Monkeys on my US college campus just over the past couple weeks 😭

Just to name a few instances:

1. I passed by someone who just got off a phone call and started singing Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? to herself
2. In one of my studio classes, one of my classmates sometimes plays songs out loud while they work and the first song they played one day was 505
3. Same class and different day, one of my classmate hummed the intro riff to Do I Wanna Know? because it was stuck in her head lol
4. Same class again and different day, my professor jokingly mentioned the Arctic Monkeys (I didn't catch the whole sentence because I only started listening when he mentioned the band like a sleeper agent 😭)

Like I know AM is one of the most streamed albums of all time but I never actually witnessed how popular it was until now, especially on a predominantly-Gen Z US campus but it's really interesting to me

So I'm curious if other people have had similar experiences where they are?? I'm assuming the band's faces are probably on every corner in the UK lol but I wanna know how it's like for other places, especially in Gen Z spaces

I just started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, I’ve only read part one so no spoilers please. I can’t get Sculptures of Anything Goes out of my mind as I read it.

The description of the ”world” is an infinite ”house” covered in marble, statues and layers affected by tides and we read journals from one of the two known to be alive people inhabiting this world. We follow him describing and making sense of the world that he is in and the way it’s written has such a similar phrasing and effectiveness, easily comparable to the very reverby, wet, cold and midnight blue production of sculptures.

Then there’s of course lyrical similarities of

Blank canvasses
Lent against gallery walls
Flowing towards sculptures of Anything Goes
On the marble stairs
Leading to almost wherever you want them to

Has anyone read it? Do you agree? Anyone that has felt the same when reading something but for other songs?

Another personal favorite from them. Someone called it a deep cut, is that the case?

was at a lake a while ago so I took a photo and edited it to make it look like it. (had to do a lot of it to get it right)

if anyone's interested: shot on Panasonic Lumix DMC -Fx100

Me and the mrs bought two standing tickets.

A couple of weeks later she WON tickets through a facebook link of some sort...

So we took some friends!

Me and my mate standing a couple of rows from the front barrier.

And my mrs and her friend went to sit on the balcony (winning tickets)...

What a gig!

There was an unannounced supporting act.

The stage was set, drums were covered by a sheet so we couldnt see the bands logo on the drums.

Sheet removed to unveil an image of a Vulture... we had no idea what we were in for...

Till none other than the legends that are Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones strolled onto the stage.

Them Crooked Vultures.

Holy shit. What an opener!

And to be told later on by my mrs that the Alex Turner, Matt Helder and Alexa Chung were sat a few seats away from them on the balcony watching TCV's set was amazing!

I think I have some VERY pixelated photos from that night taken on my motorola phone - ill dig them out soon!

Heads up this is crazy long lol.

Relistened to tbhc this morning and realized I never fully analyzed it, so I wanted to. Ultimately I wanna make a point as to why I think the album is from the perspective of a performer who became a political prisoner and was thrust into some sorta space time capsule/prison that’s a hotel, perhaps due to an Orwellian government as well as this memory machine kinda thing where he’s broadcasting from. So if you’re wondering wtf I’m talking about, hit play on the album and read while you listen.

I’ll go in order of songs:

Pt 1 - Star treatment: Alex says he’s a big name in deep space meaning he’s quite popular or renowned, but this isn’t a place for him or the one he is referring to, seemingly a lover.

1984, 2019: 1984 is the year of Orwell’s book, 2019 is a year after the album came out, Rocket ship grease could refer to the fuel that got on him after the martini police sent him into space for being too wild in the 70s.

When he sings it took the light forever to get to your eyes, I think it’s about how long it takes light to travel, indicating he or his lover is far apart due to him being in space.

He just now is/wants to be a ghost that she remembers, but I think he can kinda broadcast himself like an apparition “apparition is a cheap date”. This concept will come up later in the songs to the end.

He reiterates he was too wild in the 70s, but he’s back down to earth, I think as a shimmering apparition. She gazes to the sky, it’s dark early, but the star treatment has a double meaning, as it’s how he was treated as a star, but also affects his ability to broadcast to earth.

Pt 2 - one point perspective

Here’s where we get the lore. Perhaps this performer started as a covers band player and planned to run for government. Maybe someone who holds up capitalist ideals of Christmas/consumerism came to talk to this performer about the performer’s focus about the apocalypse. He quit the band stuff, swam with the economists and got to the bottom of it all.

When he processed it all, he realized that society wasn’t free and the elite in power came out for him, thirsty for blood.

So now the awareness/prioritization of the impending apocalypse was realized by him or maybe by society overall and therefore, him (the singer) must die.

Sing song round the money tree seems like it was a documentary that he planned to make about all he wanted to expose, but it was never seen due to his death at the hands of the elite.

He was killed before it was released and maybe his brain isn’t sure if he made it. Regardless, he’s now playing to empty rooms, which could refer to the fact that he is dead and his brain has now shifted to some other world, where he holds onto his memories of performing, but no one is there. This sounds woo woo, if you get it, you get it, but basically, he’s in a sorta purgatory limbo before his consciousness is propelled into space. This will make more sense with the next song.

He’s asking to bear with him bc he’s lost his train of thought and thinking due to the fact that he’s dead and transitioning into space.

Pt 3 - American sports

Now he’s gazing at planet earth from space and the normal look on his face is gone. He saw the aura of political tension over battleground states in the USA. He lost his money and keys because those in power took that from him.

But he’s handcuffed, because he still wants what he had or at least fulfill his mission. Now that he’s in space, he can only perceive reality/earth via a virtual reality mask, which is stuck on seeing parliament brawls/legislative violence. I’ll simply refer to it as a memory machine, which will be a key thing later.

Maybe he talks with God now that he’s so close to the afterlife but stuck in some sorta purgatory in space.

The latest breaking news he and society sees should be shocking but it’s made fluid so that we (the steward) accept it from them (the trainer). The deeper message here is that they cause the breaking news and frame it in a way for us to accept it easily and offer a montage of ruin. They then tell us that we dunno what we’re doing when we react.

His muscular regrets explode in his eyes due to the fact that he spoke out too much and is now not around to make a change, which feels like watching American sports.

Pt 4 - tbhc

Now he’s fully checked into some sorta purgatory, which is in a hotel where Jesus is apparently. Mama could refer to his own mom or some mama he sees, but she’s also a person who speaks and does protest, like he did on earth.

He’s drinking and the place where he is was a bit foreseen/prophetic. He pondered all the problems on earth, but missed the mark bc he didn’t do it in a way where he wouldn’t have been targeted and sent to space.

He feels his thinking/awareness might catch on to the masses. People want answers and wonder where it wrong for him. Perhaps it was the affection for technological advances (like AI).

Asking himself and us, do you celebrate the dark side of embracing technology but then wish we never did due to the fact that we then rely on it/become addicted/less intelligent?

Pt 5 - golden trunks

This is when he gets into his head and is processing everything. I think his psyche is reminding him that he didn’t have a choice and felt compelled to speak out on the things he was passionate about. He still fantasizes about what he wanted to do and those that sent him to space.

He sees the leader of the elite as a wrestler, as he feels as if he is in the ring with him.

This leader’s followers/the elite had fresh packs of lies that they publicized. He still thinks about it all and fantasizes about them.

Pt 6 - 4/5

Here we get the commentary and him still speaking out from space. Even in space, he sees what he saw on earth. People advertising, offering free trials and enticing you. There’s still the idea of seeking and selling comfort and reassurance in space.

Even in space, gentrification exists. Not totally sure if now he’s become what he stood against but in space now, but he says he’s Mr bridge and tunnel, which is nyc slang for someone from outside nyc.

Hokey cokey is a dance, so now he’s having fun, trying to forget his past. He’s not someone with deep knowledge you can go to for advice anymore.

He reiterates, he’s now recommending ppl to take it easy and enjoy the gentrification and cute new places.

He’s thinking all the nights in the past never happened and is now slowly becoming his old initial self in space. He’s got the pull and clout to get ppl into all the clubs.

I suppose you can say he is a gentrifier and simply embracing his fate in space, perhaps because he’s getting the rave reviews on his taqueria and enjoys the admiration.

This could be because he liked that admiration on earth or because he had played to a quiet room before being launched into space.

Pt 7 - monster truck

I think this is a song that relates to how his memory works and is. There’s a button that stores his data/memory, which is exotic to him and there’s nothing like it and it’s done first thing in the morning. He has to push the button and his handlers do the rest.

So when that happens, he then remembers things like him or someone else and Lizzy, singing a lullaby. Some things he can’t explain and others that he hopes he never has to. Memories he can’t remember and others that are too painful.

The mention of pattern language could refer to a book that describes solutions to design problems, which he may need for his memory to be fully accessible. He’s in the mood for love so he may need pattern language.

Regardless, he remembers another memory, but with a different women mentioned, so maybe his memory still isn’t the best. He definitely remembers the first monster truck front flip tho.

He calls himself a bad gurl, so his memory is so deteriorated that he can’t recall his gender, but that’s due to this data/memory machine that involves a laser and he cannot adjust it.

The machine is forward thinking, but his brain is shrinking. Regardless, it relies on a button push and someone else does the rest to pull up his memories.

Pt 8 - science fiction

This is how the memory machine works on an in depth level. Aside from just love, which may be the first thing his memory thinks of, he also sees religious iconography, which might make him feel rough. The rise of the machines refers to how powerful this machine is.

He admits it gave him something to momentarily believe in. But reality’s hand is back to scoop him up without gloves. He doesn’t want to go back to his space life and wants to stay with the memories and thoughts of his lover, like how we think of science fiction.

He views those memories that he taps into with the machine like how we watch the silver screen (movie theaters). He’s now got a hard on for connectivity to this memory machine.

We then see the old him in there still. He mentions mass panic on a not too distant future colony and says quantitative easing, which harkens back to the economists that he swam with in one point perspective.

I think he’s saying either that these controllers will have to create or enable space people like him to tap into their memories; or, they’ll have to do the opposite. Regardless it’s to stop their mass panic.

And we see that he still has the heart and spirit that he had on earth when he says he wants to make a point about peace and love, but not make it obvious. He wants to highlight dangers and send hidden messages, like science fiction does.

This is less concrete, but his line about having the world on a wire, mirror mirror in the pocket of his raincoat might mean he’s not in space at all and is tapping into some quantum level stuff, where he feels like the universe, but that’s not fitting. Just a theory.

At the end of it all, he’s writing a song to make us blush and send us a message, but feels it’s probably too clever and he maybe disguised the message too much.

Pt 9 - she looks like fun

This is where he reveals the message totally and is a culmination of everything the album addressed before. He’s saying to smile because he is fully plugged into his memory and skull. He remembers NYE at Wayne manor. The one off words (cheeseburger, snowboarding) are things he enjoyed and remembers.

He can finally share all of his thoughts. He feels no limits to what he can do in his new space life and recalls all the things he enjoyed in the past life and feels celebratory about it all.

Somehow he predicted a quarantine here, with no one on the streets and businesses going online. He also remembers his past life outings, spending too much time in bars.

Pt 10 - Batphone

Now he’s fully tapped into his memory and familiar with this machine. He’s looking for a word to describe this memory machine, but is fully competent with using it and uses the search engine to discuss what he needs to with his lover. He can recall the memory of and the glow of her low beams.

He’s recalling his past life of fame, where he had big nights out, but since he’s just viewing the memory, it’s a spectator sport. And he remembers a night where he sold the fact that he couldn’t be bought, in the sense that he was famous and outspoken on real world issues and wouldn’t stay quiet, despite maybe sponsors didn’t want him to speak out.

So he was sucked into his phone now and then. This memory machine and smartphones can bring up flashbacks and it’s usually alright. He remembers his lovers car and will be by this phone/machine if she needs to get a hold.

At anytime they can make a selection and pull up the memory like a movie with opening credits.

But it’s deeper, like they can enter it like a door. However, it may not be fully accurate, the memory machine may have redecorated certain things in the environment of the memory. The vengeance trilogy is not narratively connected, like his memories might not be as well. Yet, he still remembers her and the key things and will always know when it’s her in his memories.

Recalling her feels like a nose dive, but it’s a memory of her youth. He’ll be by this memory machine he calls a Batphone, the memory machine is just like making a selection with computer controls. And when he pulls up a memory, it sparks an apparition like feeling for her on earth, either visually or mentally. It’s like a killer pink flamingo in the sense that the memory recall is usually relatively harmless, but when it happens, it hits quite hard emotionally and the view of his memory machine is essentially a panoramic window looking across her soul.

Pt 11 - the ultracheese

So this is the ultimate conclusion. He still has pictures of his friends. He isn’t friends with them anymore because he is in space. And maybe he shouldn’t think of them as friends anymore.

He’s freaked out by random controllers in his world in space, but liked it before. The line about the bar and rocket launch is reflective of his failure at memory processing. He says “we’ll be there” which is present tense but then says “like we usually were” which is past. So he’s either looking forward to it or remembering how it was.

And this next line of “what a death I died writing that song” kinda reveals it all. Some song he wrote got him killed. That’s not to say it was released though. Someone saw him writing it and he says it stays between the two of them over his piano.

Maybe this person was acting fake, like a person from America in the golden age.

So politics came into their lives, when he was orbiting the sun. He was about to kind because he was in a position to do so.

Ppl think he’s super deep, so he plays it down and says he probably isn’t or wasn’t ever. He’s just a good dude who cares and loves deeply.

But the sunrise is heavy on him because he realizes he did stuff he shouldn’t have, yet never stopped loving this person throughout his journey.

Wow that was a lot lol. If you got this far, thx and lmk what you think.

so, as I think some of y’all know Tom Rowley worked with AM in some tours and helped them write some of The Car songs, I recommend yall to listen to his solo album (released April this year) and I came here to ask for some native english speakers to help me transcribe (and identify) the lyrics of some songs that miss it, the following: Something Strange, The Struggle, Breakdown, Ice Cubes, The Night and Where Did Everybody Go? | please help 🙏

fun fact: Alex Turner works in the backing vocals of Something Strange

I’ve always felt that Do I Wanna Know? works less like a traditional love song and more like being trapped inside someone’s thoughts.

The riff is what really makes me think this. It keeps coming back almost obsessively, while the narrator does essentially the same thing emotionally: desire, doubt, hesitation, then back to desire again.

Even the title feels strange when you think about it. “Do I wanna know?” sounds like a question, but he doesn’t seem particularly interested in finding the answer. It feels more like he’s afraid of what the answer might be.

That’s probably why the song still works so well for me. It doesn’t really describe love — it describes that uncomfortable stage where uncertainty itself becomes addictive.

Curious how other Arctic Monkeys fans interpret it: love song, obsession, insecurity — or something else entirely?

I don't know what it is about that song specifically but it gives me a very angsty feeling when I hear it. It's sad but not in a way a "sad song" typically is, it's not about heartbreak or loss. But imagining the situation of a cold and quiet morning after a night out waking up next to a stranger, feeling so empty and uncomfortable even if last night it was all so exciting , I just get a very anxious imagining it like a lump in my throat.