Arctic Monkeys Go Breakbeat

Expect a good dose of funky beats along with rocking riffs on the Arctic Monkeys' eagerly anticipated second album.

"We've tried to experiment - that's a bit of a dangerous word, but we've tried to push on with that," singer Alex Turner told NME.

"We'd be in soundchecks and it would be, 'F*cking hell, what's that (sound) about?' So we'd record it on a phone. We ended up with breaks almost. I've always been into beats, we were into that before we were into The Strokes."

The Sheffield lads have been recording the follow-up to the massive 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not' in London as opposed to their home town and say the change of scenery has also had an impact on their dancier new sound.

"For the first album we locked ourselves away in the middle of nowhere, whereas this time we've been out in the Smoke, going out and stuff. I think that's reflected in the songs a little bit," Turner said.

As for themes on the new tunes, Turner added, "We still do a lot of the same things as we used to do: hanging out or whatever and we're still involved with girls and stuff. But I wouldn't want to write about the same things again."

Interesting. And with rumours the boys have also roped in the talents of Mercury Music Prize-winning rapper Dizzee Rascal, we can't wait to hear the results...

Expect the as-yet-untitled album to hit the shops in March.

SLJ