Dig into this week’s Saturday Alternative playlist! The Fitting Room album was Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys, out now on Domino.

When one learns of a new Arctic Monkeys album, it’s generally safe to assume there will be some sort of evolution or reinvention of sound from Alex Turner and company, who skyrocketed to international acclaim with a fiery burst of garage rock over a decade ago. That said, no one anticipated the drastic shift from 2013’s riffy, hooky, groove-driven AM, to the laid-back, piano-centric sounds of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

Mostly composed on his Steinway Vertegrand, the sultry story-teller vibe is one you might expect more from Turner’s other band, The Last Shadow Puppets.  The other Monkeys even suggested he turn these songs into a solo album, but it’s a good thing they didn’t as it’s their creative backdrops that focus Turner’s grand themes and ideas and bring them to life. The album is already dividing fans, but something tells me they already knew that would happen when they decided to release a loungy, sci-fi concept album… and they did it anyway. Regardless of how you feel about the album, you’ve got to respect a band that takes those kinds of risks.

 

 


 

-hour 1-

Lake Erie – Wild Pink – Yolk in the Fur

Numb – Meg Myers

Bitter Red – Pianos Become the Teeth – Wait For Love

Bunny’s Blues – Lost Under Heaven

This Party – Houndmouth

Count It Up – Field Music – Open Here

Little Dark Age – MGMT – Little Dark Age

Intro of Light – FAN – Barton’s Den

Allocate – Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed

Best Of The Best Of Times – Darlingside

Golden Wings – Gabriel Garzon-Montano

Last Girl – Soccer Mommy – Clean

Petals – TOPS – Sugar at the Gate

-hour 2-

The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs – Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

Happy Man – Jungle

Mardi Gras Beads – Parquet Courts – Wide Awake

Orthodox Man – Blaenavon – That’s Your Lot

I Don’t Have To – Sibille Attar – Paloma’s Hand EP

Plastic Skeletons – Jealous of the Birds – The Moths of What I Want Will Eat Me In My Sleep EP

Dance AM – Pinkshinyultrablast – Miserable Miracles

Fair – Animal Flag

Champagne – My Brightest Diamond – A Million and One

All Or Nothing – Reuben And The Dark – Arms of a Dream

Magnetism – Vacationer

Home Away From Home – Cut Chemist Feat. Laura Darlington – Die Cut

Break-Thru – Dirty Projectors

Are You Electrified? – Arthur Buck

MDM – Jo Passed

-hour 3-

Into the Night – Death By Unga Bunga

Pressure – Flasher – Constant Image

Break Me – DMA’s – For Now

It Keeps Us Dancing – The Family Crest – The War: Act 1

Purple Hearts – Jeremey Messersmith

Casanova – Rayland Baxter – Wide Awake

—-FITTING ROOM—-

Star Treatment – Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Four Out of FIve – Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

The Ultracheese – Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Excuses – Shakey Graves – Can’t Wake Up

Cold As Ice – Bekon – Get With The Times

Phoenix – Rhye – Blood

Ringing Bell – Maps & Atlases

Seven Falls – Laura Veirs