The Arctic Monkeys - Black Treacle

Rock meets Indie meets English droll - and you have the Monkeys' new single.

You know what's so great about this track? It's so chilled out! It's so I-don't-give-a-fuck-let's-just-have-another-beer. It doesn't have higher purpose or even (in some parts) coherent meaning. It's whimsical, it's effortlessly sing-along-able and man, I like the guitar riff in the chorus!

(Listen to the track on YouTube here.)

And yet, it's not a synthetic bubble-gum pop song (with all respect to you, Ms Spears). There's a gruffness about, an honestly about it, that warms it to you.

When the Monkeys broke into the big league in 2005, it was an unconventional release of an even more unconventional album ("Whatever People Say, That's What I'm Not). They spent almost no money on promotion, because by the time they signed with a record company and the album released, the internet was flooded with their material, hosted off mostly fan sites.

I think the reason they got so many hits, though, was because in a world of increasingly manufactured music, this was a refreshing change. The Arctic Monkeys aren't trying to look like Madonna, dance like Michael Jackson or sound like Oasis. They're just honest. And I think that's where their appeal lies.

(Of course, I could be completely wrong. This could be a cleverly orchestrated farce, and secretly, they're as manufactured and managed a band as the rest of them!)

Apparently this is the forth single off an album already released last year ("Suck It and See It"). Mental note to self: Download IMMEDIATELY.

I was afraid that the Arctic Monkeys would remain one of those hidden musical treasures that only the island of the United Kingdom would ever know. Lucky for us that that's not the case. May they spread their I-don't-give-a-fuck-ness to many a shore!