Welcome back from our hiatus. On the last edition of Your Music Sampler, I discussed the epitome of smooth, soulful contemporary R&B, Frank Ocean. This week, we return to a certain Mr. Alex Turner, this time with his side project: The Last Shadow Puppets. Formed by Alex and his friend, fellow British rock star Miles Kane of the Rascals, the band has released two extraordinarily different studio albums, both of which have been critically and commercially successful. Because of the lack of material, I’ll get the rest of Alex Turner’s discography out of the way and analyze his one solo piece: the soundtrack to the movie Submarine. If it isn’t clear yet, Alex Turner is my favorite musician of all time. Whether it be Arctic Monkeys, The Last Shadow Puppets, or his own individual work, I believe that Mr. Turner has cemented himself as one of the most talented individuals in music today. He is certainly one of the best lyricists of all time; his songs are like poetry with rock and roll over them. Anyways, enough rambling. As always, at the end you will find overall song suggestions if you don’t feel like reading the breakdowns.
The Age of the Understatement- 2007 found Alex Turner on top of the British indie music world, having just released the Arctic Monkey’s second album Favourite Worst Nightmare to great success. Apparently looking for a change of pace, he joined with friend and opener for the Arctic Monkeys Miles Kane to form The Last Shadow Puppets. Wikipedia classifies TLSP’s music as “baroque pop” which is insanely accurate. It is essentially 60s-80s pop music over beautiful orchestral pieces, resulting in an utterly unique sound. On some songs, TLSP is a ghost of the Beatles, while at other times Alex does his best David Bowie impression. Regardless, The Last Shadow Puppets’ first album is a beautiful piece of music. Fun fact: The Last Shadow Puppets even tour with a full orchestra to achieve maximum effect. It really does make you wish more bands incorporated more classical-sounding music into their work. Best songs: The Age of the Understatement, Calm Like You, My Mistakes Were Made for You, The Meeting Place
Everything You’ve Come to Expect– It only took them 8 years, but Alex Turner and Miles Kane would finally reunite for the first time since their debut in 2016 with the release of Everything You’ve Come to Expect. In classic Alex Turner style, not much is similar to their debut other than the incorporation of an orchestra (thank God). Expanding into some Tame Impala-esque territory at times, and at others unleashing full, emotional ballads, the album is all over the place in a beautiful way. “Miracle Aligner” is my second favorite song of all time. And the last verse of “Sweet Dreams, TN” gives me chills every. Single. Time. I still find nearly every song on this album heavily in my rotation today. Listen to it, you won’t regret it. Best songs: Miracle Aligner, Everything You’ve Come to Expect, The Element of Surprise, Sweet Dreams TN
Submarine EP- Alex Turner’s only true solo piece, this album is the most chill piece of music you’ll ever hear. Seriously. If you listened to the Arctic Monkey’s first album, you would never be able to guess that Alex was capable of making the kind of beautiful, tranquil music found on this album. If you have trouble falling to sleep, this is the piece for you. More importantly, it is the platform upon which Turner shows off his greatest asset: his lyricism. These songs are beautiful. “You look like you’ve been to breakfast at the Heartbreak Hotel,” he sings on “Piledriver Waltz.” Stuck On the Puzzle find him speaking to his love, “I’m not the kind of fool who’s gonna sit and sing to you about stars, girl. But last night I looked up into the dark half of the blue, and they’d gone backwards.” This is just a really beautiful piece of music that you everyone should hear at least once. Best songs: Stuck On the Puzzle, Piledriver Waltz
Overall best songs: Calm Like You, My Mistakes Were Made for You, The Meeting Place, Miracle Aligner, Sweet Dreams TN, Stuck On the Puzzle