The Libertines Up the Bracket Rough Trade released in 2000 brought to you by Steve May Just as Silverchair and the Vines took a crack at being the Australian Nirvana, the Libertines are quite intentionally The British Strokes. Which is to say that they’re British, and otherwise scruffy, streetwise, annoyingly young-looking young men who are simultaneously astonishingly and annoyingly astute at welding the sound of their generally less accessible, hopelessly street-cool pre-punk/punk/post-punk/indie predecessors onto the tight, quasi-danceable pop structures of New Wave’s most commercially viable wing (occupied by the Knack, the Cars, and Blondie, among several others, the majority of which featured the definite article ‘the’ in front of their names). Being as they’re blokes, the Libertines couldn’t resist the urge to toss a few Brit-pop staples into the mix, most obviously the Kinks, the Jam, Blur and Supergrass, and were shrewd enough to recruit Mick Jones of the Clash to produce. There are, necessarily, other differences in approach between the two groups. Whereas the real the Strokes are detached and wise-beyond-their-years, the Libertines are youthful and exuberant to the point of being a bit over the top, like I Should Coco-era Supergrass. Whereas the Strokes sound a bit like they might rather be doing something else (like drugs, or young women, or both), the Libertines are so clearly excited, they have gone to the trouble of building vaudevillian sing-along choruses into some of their songs (call it Blur-by-way-of-the-Kinks). Even if Up the Bracket boasts nothing as great as "Last Night" or "Someday," there is a ballad ("Radio America"), a more varied pace than the Strokes have delivered, and six or seven good, tough, B+ rock songs fused over the aforementioned tight, quasi-danceable pop structures, with highlights in the blistering "A Time for Heroes" and the annoyingly good, catchy quasi-"Do Ya Love Me" remake "Boys in the Band". As with anything the Strokes have given us thus far, it isn’t particularly original or substantial, but it tastes very, very good going down. The verdict: Nothing less than a truly British This Is It worthy of its spot next to the British-import copy of This Is It in your record collection. Metric Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? Goldfrapp Black Cherry Fleetwood Mac Say You Will DJ Dara Breakbeat Science Exercise 01 The 88 Kind of Light The Kills Black Rooster EP The Libertines Up the Bracket Jettatura Squadra Fantasma Tone Ambient Metals The Streets Original Pirate Material Grand Buffet Cigarette Beach Roni Size Touching Down Rolling Stones 40 Licks Brendan Benson Lapalco Anticon Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop copyright © 2000-2005 - www.stellargirl.com