The Age of the Understatement-The Last Shadow Puppets

In May, Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of the Rascals teamed up as the Last Shadow Puppets and released their first LP The Age of the Understatement, which spurred on to a large spread outbreak of Arctic Monkeys fans and Rascals fans, but still has not gained much recognition for the dynamic duo from "across the pond."

The record starts out with the title track of Age of the Understatement, which dragged me into the record from the start because of its attractive up-beat tempo with its techno-esque intro, and then takes it just a bit slower in the second track Standing Next to Me which combines a little bit of up-beat acoustic but still has that dark side to it that is so familiar in Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys', 2007 release) and Rascalize (Rascals', 2008 release). Which is why they're one of the most perfect combinations because of the mutual darkness in their style of music. It keeps up that same pace all throughout the record, but the song that truly stands out is the fourth track Separate and Ever Deadly which is hard to explain, but it's seemingly a perfect rock ballad.

The record has its downsides. It sounds like all Arctic Monkeys songs, despite having one of the Rascals, and although consistency is not a bad thing, it gets a little old because the band is basically using the same material and putting a new name on it. Not that it isn't good, it's just nothing new. Although, there were a few changes to the music itself, they still had the basic Arctic Monkeys sound. Even though the record has its advantages and it is a great record, it's not perfect, and could use work in a lot of areas. The duo has not quite mastered the sound, but they're close to accomplishing it, and they'll get it if they release a sophomore record."