The upcoming third album by Arctic Monkeys shall be called 'Humbug'. The album shall be released on Monday 24th August 2009 in the UK.

Arctic Monkeys are pleased to announce they will be releasing their 3rd album, 'Humbug' on Monday 24th August 2009.

Produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and LA, and with James Ford in Brooklyn, the album features ten new Arctic Monkeys songs.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. My Propeller
2. Crying Lightning
3. Dangerous Animals
4. Secret Door
5. Potion Approaching
6. Fire And The Thud
7. Cornerstone
8. Dance Little Liar
9. Pretty Visitors
10. The Jeweller’s Hands

The album will be available on CD, vinyl and via digital download.

VIDEO ON PAGE
Have you ever had one of those insanely weird dreams, where one part flits into the next and it seems impossibly unreal but absolutely amazing at the same time. Well editing the footage for this View From, was like i was in control of this surreal dream. Cutting at the truly bizarre and merging into the wonderfully sublime. I'm not really sure if i could accurately summarise the video here, like i normally do and still do it justice. I can't really think of a suitable word to describe it. I always keep coming back to Wow.
So there you have it. Wow.
Normal service will now resume.
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We touched down in a chilly New York, late Sunday evening (15th March), tired and groggy from the long flight; the final destination was Brooklyn. The taxi driver who provided the transportation to the hotel can only be described as a loon of the highest order. He insisted on singing at the top of his voice, clicking his fingers in a Doo Wop style and hurling a foul mouthed tirade of profanities at every passing car. He also threatened to throw the band out of the car on several occasions, on account of them pressing the many buttons in the back of the car. It seems they had developed a nose for misadventure on the flight over, but I'll come back to that a little bit later in the blog.
 

Monday (16th March) was recuperation day and a chance for everyone to stretch their legs and explore their new home for the next few weeks. Within hours of embarking on this new adventure, Nick, Jamie and Matt were found freewheeling through Brooklyn on 3 shiny new purchases. BMX's. I once took a nice pic of Matt on one during the first album recording sessions, which I will try and dig out for you. Matt insists that "The BMX is the best form of travel"...I'm not so sure.
 

Tuesday (17th March) was to quote Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords "Business Time". The daily commute made easier by the E.T style procession of 80's bikes. Less than a week in the Big Apple and the lads are in trouble with the law. Matt puts it down to looking too rad on their new BMX's. NYPD puts it down to riding bikes on the footpath. Cautionary warnings issued, we were sent packing. Despite the drama, everyone is in agreement that Brooklyn is amazing.
 

It's too early in the recording process to give a good analysis of the new material, but so far everything is going and sounding great. In the breaks between recording, we've been catching up on the latest and perhaps most ridiculous reality TV shows. Until Matt brought them to my attention I was unaware of them, and still can't believe shows like this actually exist. "Tough Love" follows women really that are desperate for love (and fame), and then there is "Tool Academy", the horrendous irony of the title and the shows �ber macho content must surely be intentional. Nick put it the best "They're really shit and depressing, but I can't stop watching them!". If you have access to these shows, go and see just how unspeakably bad they are.
 

To round up this episode, I'd like to play a little game of spot the difference. Unfortunately, it's just for fun and not a competition.
 

Tut Tut. Shame on you Mr Diddy. Get your own ideas for blogs.
See ya later alligator
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Like a well known seasonal generic chocolate egg slogan, how do you eat yours? It's a very tenuous link, but I was just curious to see if you carefully unwraps these blogs, taking the time to read the words before savouring the video. Or do you dive straight in and greedily gorge on the video, paying attention to the wrapper later? On this occasion I would recommend watching the video now. The rest of the View will make more sense if you do.
What did you all make of Lady Ga Ga's Poker Face cover or the short clip from one of the new songs? It's quite an epic one and will sound absolutely amazing live. For knowledge boffins amongst you, the ivories in the clip were being tinkled by Mr. John Ashton of The Last Shadow Puppets fame, and long standing front of house guru for the Monkeys over the past four years.
The rehearsal space has a good vibe, plus there is a great little coffee shop up the road which does a mean Tuscan bean soup. This particular rehearsal studio seems to be a popular place to be if you're in a band. It's a friendly musical community, where bands busily beaver away and pop in to each others studios for a chat.
With songs finely honed and flight cases packed, team Monkey moves camp to New York to record the last bunch of tracks for the 3rd album. Excited? I am. I'll be chatting to the band via I-Chat when they are out in New York over the next few weeks to find out how things are going, and report back to you all. Hopefully as the album goes into the mixing and mastering stages we'll get some juicy titbits for you.
Anyways, I have to go now. I have to climb over the fence and recover those crocs that Matt binned. Turns out he had Cookie's pair on and he went spare when he found out.
Bye for now.
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"We're Gonna Sco-o-ore Tonight"
It's an indisputable fact that bowling never looked cooler than it did in Grease 2. Kingpin tried it, so did The Big Lebowski. None of them ever came close to matching the style of Michelle Pfeiffer in her Ray Bans, maybe it was the ridiculousness of the wind-milling arms before the release of the ball, or the not so subtle double entendre of "scoring" that appealed to my adolescent sense of humour. It's something that has stayed with me to this day and I can still remember most of the words to the song. When I was informed by Matt that "tonight we bowl”, understandably, I was most excited.

I had no idea how competitive they all were, everyone was desperate to win and mind games came into play. Strike was matched with strike and at one point both lanes we had booked had three-way ties. In the end it was very close, however there could only be one winner. I don't like to brag, but needless to say it will probably be the first and last time I'm invited to play. Below is a sweet Bowleroid photo (pun courtesy of James O'Hara) that I took of the bowling team.

 
We finished off the night round at Al's with a bottle of whisky and a couple of wasted hours playing the pun game. For those not aware of this late night distraction, it is a word association game and the rules are simple.

Rule one - Take one subject - i.e. The Sea.
Rule two - Combine rule one with a quote/band/artist etc. to form a pun.

E.g.
Hake That?
Sand-y Shore?
Half Manatee Half Biscuit?

Matt killed the game with a pun, which nobody could top.

Buoyancy Knowles.

With the first week of rehearsals over and some brand spanking new songs worked out, I rendezvoused with the band at their rehearsal space. I was treated to a run through of the fruits of their recent labour, a real mixed bag of up tempo bangers and slower melodic tunes. Already the album is shaping up to be another stunning piece of work.

Unfortunately my last video blog, The View From The Orange Stage..., was deemed in violation of the Youtube terms of use due to the split second of nudity. We have replaced version 1 with version 2, which substitutes the offending clip with a censored version. It's a shame because we lost the stats for over 20,000 views and a couple of hundred comments and ratings. Feel free to watch again and repost your comments, it will make me feel better if nothing else.

Good News. Next Monday is a date for your diary, we will be bringing you a video View from... , narrated by Matt from the rehearsal rooms. There will be the usual hi jinx from the band and a healthy dose of Mattire (Matt's Satire). Perhaps I should have put a consumer health warning in the pun game rules, that playing may impede your ability to converse without punning?

Kali Nichta
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Greetings, how are you all? Hope you all made the most of the snow days? We were extremely lucky in that none of our flights were delayed on the way home from Australia. All the trains and tubes were running, so I made it home in one piece and on time. Once home, a mixture of the snow and jet lag forced me into some sort of hibernation, so it's been a while since my last update. After Australia everyone dispersed to spend a bit of time at home and compose their thoughts in anticipation of what will probably be a very manic 18 months to come. Hopefully there will be a View from... your neck of the woods when the band hit the road again, and it would be really nice to get more interaction with the fans- a bit of guest commentary perhaps? Just come up and collar me. I'll be the one holding a camera.
 

Thank you for all your comments and emails over the last few weeks. Some of you were a little concerned about my bust up with Alex in the View From The Orange Stage, unfortunately the cameras had stopped rolling for the worst of it, I lost a tooth and Al got a shiner. We had to be pulled apart by the rest of the band and security. We have attempted to reconcile for the sake of the blogs, but rest assured you can cut the tension with a knife.
 

OK so technically I wasn't at the awards ceremony on Wednesday night... but I did watch some blurry webcam footage of it at home, so I felt a part of the whole event. A big congratulations to the Band, Richard Ayoade, Warp Films, and everyone else who was involved in the production that resulted in bagging the gong for best DVD. Congratulations must also go out to The Last Shadow Puppets for scooping the Best Video Award. TLSP's links with the Monkeys don't just start and finish with Alex; they also share record label, management and lots of the same road crew who all deserve kudos.
 

The good news is that winning awards isn't the only thing stirring in Monkey's loins, just because they aren't touring at the minute doesn't mean the machine is sitting idle. As of this week they are back on active duty and have returned to a practice room for a couple of weeks. I hope to bring you a video View from... narrated by Matthew from these very rehearsal sessions in the next couple of weeks.
 

See you when I see you.
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