arts // no. &

 

  

A detour of cosmic
proportions

> ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ album review

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

kkekkx

A fter a five-year hiatus, The Arctic
onkeys have finally released
their highly-anticipated new album.

The band’s sixth studio album,
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, was
released on May 11 and has since
received mixed reviews from fans
and critics alike. Whether you love
it or hate it, there is a single thing
that everyone agrees with—it’s
not your average Arctic Monkeys
record... or music record in general.

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
is a concept album, where the concept
combines “Space Oddity” and “Hotel
California” for the strangest mashup
in modern rock to date. It answers
the age-old question, “What does a
hotel on the moon sound like?”

Lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner
plays the character of a washed-up
hotel lounge singer who croons about
technology, social media, current
political climates, and disco lizards.
The album debuts a more mature
sound that is probably the truest to
themselves that the band has been since
their debut album, Whatever People
Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006).

Despite being focused on the
present, Tranquility Base has the
sound of lounge music from the ’50s,
‘60s, and ’7os. I think that this was
deliberately done to play around with
those generations’ focus on science

fiction—a common theme on this album.

For those who hoped that this
record would be the last hurrah for
rock and roll, you'll be mistaken but
not disappointed. Heavy piano use has
replaced the cutting guitar of older
albums, causing Tranquility Base to
have a lounge sound throughout all

of its tracks. The change keeps the
music fresh and shows off Turner’s
chops at tickling the ivories.

He learned how to play the piano
for the album and it paid off, somehow
bringing the instrument into the
songs without making them sound like
showtunes. The sparse drums, guitar,
and bass throughout the tracks pop
when they are used, complementing
the slower tempo of the songs. The
guitar riff in “She Looks Like Fun”
comes to mind as an example.

Turner's vocals are very impressive
on this album. He switches between
voices depending on the song, showing
the wide range he has. For example,
for “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”
his voice is a near perfect match to
David Bowie, while the second song,
“One Point Perspective,” showcases the
highest his voice has ever gone. It’s as
if he brought the falsettos from AM to
the umpteenth level for the new album.

The lyrics have the same tongue-in-
cheek quips that have become a staple
of the band, with lyrics like “Swamp
monster with a hard-on for connectivity”
from the track “Science Fiction,” and
“Tl sell the fact that I can’t be bought”
from “Batphone.” However, what makes
the lyrics particularly challenging to
take in is that most of the songs barely
have a chorus in them and could read
as free-verse poetry. It takes multiple
listens (or a quick Google) to actually
understand exactly what Turner is
singing about due the unique way the
songs are written. Although it sounds
like complete nonsense at first, after a
few listens you can start to get the idea
more, and they end up being some of
the strongest lyrics Turner has penned.

It appears as if the Arctic
Monkeys aren't slowing down
anytime soon—despite the reduction
in tempo. Tranquility Base Hotel &
Casino is a challenging, thought-
provoking album that I'll definitely
be giving multiple listens.

Promotional photo of Arctic Monkeys

theotherpress.ca

Classic Music Videos:
Some of the best new
videos on YouTube

> Summer hits around the world

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

usicians have been releasing

music videos that get people
talking about a topic or make fans
excited for their next album. As more
of these videos are released, they get
better every time. There has been a
surge of exciting music videos released
in the past two months and many
of them are worth talking about, so
here are just a few of those videos.

Ariana Grande - “No

Tears Left to Cry”

The music video for “No Tears Left

to Cry”, Ariana Grande’s first hit

single from her highly anticipated

next album Sweetener, was released

after the terrorist attack that took

place during a concert she held in

Manchester last year. Before I watched

the video, I thought that it would

be sad because it would reference

the incident, yet it is a positive song.

There will be another song on the

album that will address the attack.
The music video tried to top

the video of the Taylor Swift song

Delicate, and Grande did that with 222

million views on YouTube compared

to Swift’s 174 million views (take

that, Taylor!). “No Tears Left to Cry”

has a lot of mind-blowing moments

and visual imagery: The world of

the video looks like the Paris scene

in the film Inception (2010) with

Grande going upside down, a moment

that looks very 1980s, and a scene

reminiscent of the cover of Kings of

Leon’s recent album WALLS (2016).

Childish Gambino -

“This Is America”

As shown in Donald Glover’s
monologue from when he hosted
Saturday Night Live this season,

he can do anything. He performed
this song for the first time on SNL

as Childish Gambino, and at the
same time the music video of the
track was released, which is, to me,
the best music video this year so far
because it shows the current state of
America. It talks about gun violence
in the US, with multiple references

to recent gun violence throughout.
While the scenes where Glover shoots
people may shock you, they do make
a powerful point. I like that a lot of
things are happening at the same time,
as well as Glover’s unusual dancing.

AKB48 - “Teacher Teacher”
While everyone in North America
may be talking about the Childish
Gambino music video, everyone in
Japan is talking about the “Teacher
Teacher” video. AKB48 is one of the
most famous groups in Japan and some
of their hit singles have a 60s and ’7os
sound. Their recent hit single, which
has Yui Oguri taking the lead, is their
most electronic song to date. While it
looks like K-Pop, it’s not—it’s actually
J-Pop, although the most K-Pop
moment in the music video is at 2:03
and it reminds me of Moulin Rouge.
The spinning shots in “Teacher
Teacher” might make you dizzy,
though Japanese boy band Arashi
did that better in the music video
of “Wild at Heart.” If you are a fan
of AKB48, you ll know that they
are doing an election right now to
determine who will be in their next
hit single, and the beginning of the
music video sets this premise up.

 

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