Arctic Monkeys Busy On Second Album

Rolling Stone's Smoking Section reports:

...And though the band is currently hibernating in a London studio, they let only the Smoking Section into their basement lair, where they’re happily slapping out new cuts like “D Is for Dangerous” and “Fluorescent Adolescent.” (As far as an album title goes, drummer Matt Helder reports that, sadly, they’ve lost faith in calling it Lesbian Wednesdays.) Some claim the studio is haunted. “It’s said that a young girl, ‘Elsie,’ haunts the chamber, and unexplained faint whispers have appeared on recordings in the past,” says Alex Turner, who recorded many of his vocals in there. So when the record drops in April, listen for phantom voices and expect more brilliant, kick-ass rock. “There’s also a bit of organ on there,” says Turner, “but nothing to worry about.”

While we all get pumped for that, the praise has been pouring in for the Monkeys' much heralded debut, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." The record has garnered album of the year honors from NME, Crossbeat, Hot Press, and none other than TIME Magazine, who had this to say:

They ripped off the best bits of Franz Ferdinand and the Strokes-speed, swagger and hooks upon hooks-but instead of hipster navel gazing, Arctic Monkeys' singer Alex Turner looked at the world with a working-class smirk and turned a number of memorable phrases. ("There's only music/ So that there's new ringtones.") The first rock album in ages that feels dangerously smart.

Dangerously smart indeed. The punchy dance beats of "Whatever People Say I Am" led the band to making British chart history a year ago. Here's to looking forward to what they have in store for us in 2007.