Released: 02.21.2006 (Today!)
Label: Domino
Website: http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/

Arguably the most hyped band of late 2005/early 2006, you’ve probably heard them mentioned somewhere. The first time I heard Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, I was put off by the thickness of the lead singer’s accent. However, once I got over the fact that I could cut through it with a knife, I realized that there are a slew of very catchy and danceable songs on this album. The first single from the album, “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor,” is a very strong representation of the whole album. Other standouts include “Dancing Shoes,” “Mardy Bum,” and “When The Sun Goes Down.”

I really don’t know what else to say about this album besides the fact that it is consistently good. If you like one track, you’re likely to enjoy them all. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a lot of variety in their songs—there is—the whole album just has a very cohesive feel to it. I think that Franz Ferdinand’s labelmates definitely live up to all of the hype.

Since someone only gave us whole stars for ratings graphics, I’m going to give Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not:

(However, it would really be more like 3.5/4)

At the time of writing this, the entire album was available for listening on the band’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys).