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Jon Timbrook
Hi everyone!
Today I want to take some time to talk about musical influences, and share with you an article (copied below) about the Artic Monkeys album "AM" and why it is such an important piece to the legacy of Rock n' Roll.
With all that is going on in music today (Kanye, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, etc.) it can be feel hard to keep up with all of the new music we are bombarded with daily.
My specific musical tastes have always been a little "heavier" per say, which leaves me listening to a playlist full of the discographies of Tool, Jack White, and Arctic Monkeys for the past 5 months. Ever since middle school, Godsmack, Disturbed, Slipknot, and System of a Down were what made the hair stand up all over my body and still do to this day.
After spending a week with my brother waking up at the asscrack of dawn to run, eat healthy, talk about music, and read, I now have a new playlist of Audioslave (Rage Against the machine's band plus Chris Cornell of Soundgarden), Temple of the Dog (Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder on vocals) , Mylene and the Sons of Disaster (southern hard rock), and Velvet Revolver (Slash), which Trent highly recommend I check out considering our musical tastes have always not been far from each other.
What keeps me coming back to the Arctic Monkeys is hard for me to explain because I love everything about them. Specifically, the combination of Matt Helders' insanely different approach to rock drum beats and altering of rhythms that, in combination with Alex Turner's melodic and syncopated poetry-like lyrics that tend to smoothly weave their way through the space of the song and keep you listening to every word. It makes sense that Alex Turner has said that one of his big influences has been rap music, because his songwriting show it. Me and my old friend and old roommate James Freeborn would have long discussions about our love for the Arctic Monkeys that usually ended along the lines of "nobody is doing what they are doing" or "they just kick ass"
This combination of musical aspects is something that we have not seen much of lately and I think will be the framework for a new generation of musicians (like myself) who really enjoy the idea and sound of a full band creating an full length album using rock n' roll instruments that is something vastly different than anything that has come before. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and check out the album by the Arctic Monkeys "AM" and see for yourself the vast musical elements that come together to tell the story (then go get all of their other albums).
Check out Royal Blood and Dead Poet Society as well if you enjoy some good old fashioned rock n' roll but are looking for something new and upcoming**
Cheers
