Arctic Monkeys Side Project The Last Shadow Puppets Arrive in NYC

Though no one could quite remember the name of the band, a few dozen New Yorkers showed up at Brooklyn's Sound Fix Lounge last night for a "surprise" acoustic gig by the Last Shadow Puppets: a collaboration between Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner and his mate Miles Kane from U.K. group the Rascals. The pair worked through unplugged renditions of eight songs from their forthcoming album to a crowd that included Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij. (VW fans will be pleased to know that drummer Chris Thompson is doing just fine after being hit by a taxi in London last week. "He didn't even need stitches," Batmanglij says.) The Puppets' set was decidedly low-key, coming on more like noir-ish Sixties soundtrack music than the loose-limbed Brit-punk of the Arctic Monkeys. Or, as one astute fan noted: "If the Arctic Monkeys are Blur, this is the Good, The Bad and The Queen." The duo's debut album, The Age Of Understatement, is due out April 21st, if that sounds like your cup of tea. For our part, we were impressed.

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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