YOU PEASANTS

Sugarplum Fairy, "Far Away From Man"
Mando Diao, "You Can't Steal My Love"

The thing that seems to have already gotten lost about the Libertines 2002 debut album Up The Bracket, which seems to have fallen by the critical and commerical wayside in favor of the band's 2004 self-titled swan song, isn't that it's a great album or even a significant one, but that it's an incredibly commanding album. Part of the reason the Libertines always commanded such a strong reaction from the throng of haters is that it's mighty hard to just have their music on in the background; this shit's on, you're paying attention, hate it or love it. I, of course, am a raving lunatic for this album; if I were a list-making type (and I assure you I am), the only album it would be trailing on my list for this decade would be the Strokes' Is This It, which is probably as appropriate a 1-2 punch as I could ever come up with consciously. Both bands, for all their faults, are unparalelled at sounding like they're putting the least amount of effort into their songs, which only ever pushes an album's cool factor into the stratosphere when you get as much out of their music as I do.

It's also significant that both bands got tagged very quickly and VERY erroneously as the first of a thousand new aesthetic cuts. To call either the Strokes or the Libertines a "garage band" or even an "indie band" is like calling Frampton Comes Alive a "rock album" - the only way you can prove yourself right is to make it abundantly clear that you've bought into a lot of marketing. Most people, for instance, take the "rough & unpolished" sound of Up The Bracket like it's just a gimmick to stand out on the radio - not an unreasonable suggestion, I hasten to add, but fuck, check out the lyrics of a song like "Time For Heroes" or "What A Waster" sometime and tell me Doherty and Barat were just shrugging this stuff off. When I listen to Up The Bracket, I don't hear Those Damn Kids reveling in making a loud thunderous noise for the consumption of Those Damn Kids - I hear a bunch of young guys bursting out of the gate after holding the album's contents with their breath for a long, long time.

Unfortunately, even more than in the case of the Strokes, the Libertines got trapped in a swamp of bands eager to cash in, most of whom were perfectly allright if immediately and utterly forgettable. I guess that's what happens whenever a band makes people pay attention; the copycats can't get past the "pay" part and leap onto the bandwagon. By now, the jig is pretty much up; the only band from the Rhythm Factory crew to really make a dent so far has been the majestic Art Brut (unless you count Babyshambles, obviously not a fair move), and the zeitgeist seems to have shifted irrevocably in favor of the Paul Epworth skinny-tie crew. Which is just fine as far as I'm concerned - it's always more fun to go looking for lost gems than work yourself into a panic trying to stay ahead of the pack.

I couldn't help but think of Up The Bracket today while listening to the DISASTROUSLY slept-on Sugarplum Fairy debut, Young & Armed. I mean, yes, it's pretty obvious that the latter wouldn't exist without the former, but it felt more like a case of deja vu than a case of Chris Farley Show-esque "Hey, remember that album?" A lot of what makes Up The Bracket so mercilessly effective on me comes down to the arrangement of a song, which going by the post-Libs solo project seems to be the greatest strength of the band. Arrangement is all about drawing your attention to specific bits in songs, which is why that synth stab in "Hollaback Girl" is so earth-killing; lord knows the Libertines had it in spades, and lord knows Sugarplum Fairy knows how to take aim just like they did. I mean, "Far Away From Man" is put together almost exactly like "Time For Heroes", but that's exactly what makes it effective on me - I know how well that song structure can work when you're writing something regretful and unsure, and clearly so do Sugarplum Fairy.

And then there's Mando Diao. Hurricane Bar, their second full-length album which came out earlier this year, isn't anywhere near as satisfying or compelling as Up The Bracket, but only because the songs rarely cut straight to the quick of whatever lead singer Gustaf Noren happens to be singing about. Well, that sure isn't the case with "You Can't Steal My Love", a recent mix-CD mainstay of mine; by the second verse he's not even trying to rhyme anymore ("I said 'Hey girl have you seen that film/With those kids from New York in the eighties/Oh you have/Well can I watch it with you ANYWAYYYYY?!'"), and by the time the song winds down he's just HOWLING against gale-force winds. If it's an act, then count me among the fooled and impressed; this song can't compete with Doherty's crackhead sophistication or Barat's gleeful don't-give-a-fuckery, but it sounds as much like one of those sublime moments in pop music where a young artist finds themself momentarily equipped with the best of 'em to express themself through pop music, in this case LOUD LOUD LOUD CATCHY CATCHY CATCHY pop music. It's absolutely my favorite Mando Diao song, and that's probably saying more than my dismissive realism might let on.

(Click here to buy Young & Armed from Amazon.co.uk)
(Click here to buy Hurricane Bar from Insound)
(Click here to buy Up The Bracket from Amazon.com)

Elsewhere: I'm not really that big into Myspace bands, but I was enormously excited to discover Maps has a page, as they are mighty good. They offer up three songs from their hotly-tipped 10" debut - definitely worth checking out.