Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
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CRITIC REVIEWS
81
Arctic Monkeys’ daring sixth album is a left-turn if ever there was one, but the way Alex Turner swaps witty sleaze for absurdist suave makes it a totally bemusing and fascinating listen.
80
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino feels more like an interlude between AM and a seventh Arctic Monkeys album – a delve into the bizarre, where even the Steinway has its own character.
80
This record feels a lot like gazing into the night sky. At first it’s completely overwhelming ... But when the constellations show through, you’ll realise that it’s a product of searingly intelligent design.
80
Before you write this off as exhausting or pretentious self-indulgence, give it a listen or two. Peruse the lyrics, dissect them and have a laugh. Commitment isn't as scary as you think.
80
The music is stark and edgy, with inflections from doo-wop and heavy rock. Songs are ephemeral, and not easy to decipher without listening to them repeatedly.
80
Once you ditch the notion that AM’s successor should rock like it, and give yourself up to rolling around in the psyche of one of our very greatest songwriters like an olive in a martini, then it’s a riveting and immersive listen – an album-bomb dropped without preceding singles, re-emphasising the importance of a cohesive work, rather than a shuffled, Spotified deconstruction.
80
Anyone expecting another AM, or more songs about taxi ranks and shit nightclubs, is going to be disappointed. Anyone wanting to hear a sad, funny, wordy and imaginative album about paranoia and alienation, however, is in for a treat.
80
The result is a brand-reinventing excursion, a loose concept album full of quirky tangents, quotable lyrics and a startling paucity of tasty riffage.
80
The first listen may be surprising, but repeated listens illuminate that Arctic Monkeys remain progressive and energetic even when style and mood shift dramatically.
80
Should Arctic Monkeys remain cozily in that era forever, no one should fault them. And yet, unlike many nauseatingly nostalgic acts today, it never sounds pastiche.
78
Even for a band who've managed to reinvent themselves more or less with every album, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino sees the Sheffield lads match pace with Turner's lyrics to take a dive down the rabbit hole.
75
Whilst your first few visits to the ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’ may feel alien and unwelcoming, you will gravitate ever closer to its shimmering outer-space treasures with each stay.
75
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is at its best when the indulgences and luxuries of the setting are celebrated.
70
This is a record that is massively of-a-piece, that glides by at a deliberate pace, and on which any given individual track wouldn’t work outside of the musical context that the others around it provide it.
70
The album is audacious in its conceptual conceit, challenging expectations established through the boozy nightlife anthems of the band's earlier work with an experimental approach that's contemplative and unrepentantly abstruse.
70
At a glance, it's impressive, but the slipshod details reveal themselves upon close inspection.
70
It’s not the Arctic Monkeys you might expect, and living inside Alex Turner’s identity crisis can be an occasionally uncomfortable experience, but give it some time and this sixth album reveals itself as one of the most interesting of the band’s career.
70
It's true to say that, as a result of this album, Arctic Monkeys now have as many good-to-great albums as they do mediocre ones, and that this is down to this record's consistency and overall sense of setting.
67
Easily the weirdest record in the band’s catalog, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is a fun, flawed aberration (at least, for now).
60
Written and recorded in a large part by the singer alone in his LA studio, it’s all either genius or the sound of a man unravelling.
60
At turns thrilling, smug, clever and oddly cold, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is only a qualified success.
60
Undoubtedly an album of quality and depth, it takes repeated listens to not hang on for that one earworm moment. In the traditional sense, we’d call ‘Tranquility Base…’ a grower.
60
When the Arctic Monkeys’ career comes to be reappraised, this album could be seen as an outlier, or the start of their next phase. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but sometimes, dividing an audience is exactly what you need to do.
60
There is some lyrical filler here – Turner sometimes seems to free-associate sounds the way Basement Tapes-era Dylan would, waiting until the slant-rhymes lead him to something profound – but at its best Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino offers an unprecedentedly personal look at Turner’s experience.
58
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is the best possible kind of average record, one that goes out swinging. One that goes for it on every level. A record that, although it isn’t great by any typical metric, is extremely curious and entertaining.
50
Despite the huge burden of expectation, Turner and co. sound cocksure on TBH&C. Sadly, this doesn’t equate to anything resembling brilliance.
50
Although Turner cranks up the rakish charm, in the form of falsetto (“Golden Trunks”) and Morrissey-esque, clenched-jaw self-effacement (“She Looks Like Fun”), the album feels unmoored and even plodding due to a lack of structure.
50
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino will be written off as a daring diversion for the Arctic Monkeys, a bold career move that deliberately spells out commercial suicide. It's not the first time a band of this stature chooses to find their confidence by taking it slow. But neither is it too daring or too unhinged; in fact, sans the slower, more methodical tempos, many of the songs still fall under their common pairing of doo-wop chord progressions and piercing guitars.
50
With Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, Arctic Monkeys aim for an admirably weird space-age lounge sound, but often the execution leaves something to be desired.
40
Whilst it matters not that guitars have taken a back seat on ‘TBHC’ ... 11 tracks of tepid lounge-pop that veers towards elevator jazz means the four-piece’s next installment is remarkably underwhelming.
40
Arctic Monkeys are a great band who've made a ton of good music and in the tradition of lodestars like Cohen, Bowie or Lou Reed, who certainly weren't without making the occasional ill-considered left turn, they've tried a stylistic change up that doesn't quite work. No shame in that. Sometimes restless artistry has a price.
EDIT: I like this better than AM. Both have a distinct theme, but I feel this has stronger song writing overall. Ironically I think they compliment each other on each song better than any of their previous albums, considering Alex pretty much wrote this whole thing. I think the biggest complaint you can have would be the lyrics. They're pretty bold and all over the place, but after a few listens I began to dig it.
Favorite Tracks: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Star Treatment, She Looks ... read more
Favorite Tracks: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Star Treatment, She Looks ... read more
it feels good to get back to my queue. i've been lost in the merzbow sauce for so long, it's been a while since ive sat down to review a good random fuckin album! i think though, to get through my queue a little faster, i'll be making these reviews just a little shorter than normal, so i dont feel so overwhelmed with writing them. tell me how the new style works, i'd love feedback. if you guys dont like the shorterish reviews i'll go back to writing long ones. i enjoy both!
so this is quite ... read more
so this is quite ... read more
Although a welcome change of pace from their typical sound, Arctic Monkeys' latest album is a whole lot of fluff with no meaning whatsoever, ultimately ending up an exhausting trip into the world of cheap horror film callback music and mainstream alternative radio anthems.
One of, if not the most, lyrically cringe worthy albums I've heard since Pure Comedy, Alex Turner basically spends 40 minutes writing a meaningless screenplay of bland imagery that goes nowhere. Usually when music is ... read more
One of, if not the most, lyrically cringe worthy albums I've heard since Pure Comedy, Alex Turner basically spends 40 minutes writing a meaningless screenplay of bland imagery that goes nowhere. Usually when music is ... read more
EDIT 2: ony a week and this album seems so smooth
I love the esthetic.
With the time , i tried To forget the old albums and as an unity , even if i prefer the older works, this one grew on me a lot.
EDIT : firt listen = i really appreciate the majority of the tunes.I thought the production was pretty awesome , the guitar arrangements are Well worked.
In my opinion , it is maybe too underwhelming, it feels like an Alex solo album and so it lacks of energy.
Theres still an energy made in ... read more
I love the esthetic.
With the time , i tried To forget the old albums and as an unity , even if i prefer the older works, this one grew on me a lot.
EDIT : firt listen = i really appreciate the majority of the tunes.I thought the production was pretty awesome , the guitar arrangements are Well worked.
In my opinion , it is maybe too underwhelming, it feels like an Alex solo album and so it lacks of energy.
Theres still an energy made in ... read more
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END OF YEAR LISTS
| #1 | / | Q Magazine |
| #1 | / | The Observer: Kitty Empire |
| #2 | / | MOJO |
| #2 | / | NME |
| #2 | / | The Independent |
| #3 | / | Uproxx |
| #4 | / | BBC Radio 6 Music |
| #4 | / | Gaffa (Denmark) |
| #5 | / | Entertainment Weekly |
| #5 | / | OOR |
| #6 | / | Gigwise |
| #6 | / | Vulture |
| #10 | / | The Guardian |
| #11 | / | Far Out Magazine |
| #12 | / | God Is In The TV |
More Lists
MISC LISTS
Track List
- Star Treatment
- One Point Perspective
- American Sports
- Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
- Golden Trunks
- Four out of Five
- The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip
- Science Fiction
- She Looks Like Fun
- Batphone
- The Ultracheese
In Library (275)
Contributions By
kiantwo, alegonzriv, AndreManfre93, thisisabtlgrnd, Felindie, Baja Frecuencia, davecoop18, Leo Aguilar
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Added on: April 5, 2018
