CABARET VILLE MAGAZINE. P251
WORLD JAZZ, POP AND ROCK
THE BEST MUSICIANS AND TOP BANDS IN GREAT BRITAIN TODAY
Homegrown music is more
exciting than at any time since Britpop. Who can we thank for this? Our
panel of critics names - and rates for sound, songs, gigs, style and
attitude - the most influential contemporary acts.
1.
The Libertines
The Libertines have had a turbulent 12 months since the release of their
debut album, Up the Bracket. Co-frontman Pete Doherty was awol from the
band when he was arrested for burgling bandmate Carl Barat's flat, and
subsequently jailed. But that's beside the point (except for those still
foolish enough to equate drug addiction and petty crime with bona fide
rock'n'roll credentials). All the credentials the Libertines need are
there on Up the Bracket. Like the Kinks, the Jam, the Smiths and the arty,
questioning wing of Britpop, the Libertines view Britain afresh. Theirs is
an eccentric collage of island life - Boadicea and Chas and Dave, Sherlock
Holmes and Sid James - in which wry cynicism competes with romantic
idealism. It's an assertion of cultural identity that is witty and vibrant
rather than dim and bullish, and it's best captured on the raucously
stirring Time for Heroes: "There's few more distressing sights than that
of an Englishman in a baseball cap. We'll die in the class we were born,
that's a class of our own." The Libertines' strength - and their weakness
- is a sense of barely contained chaos. Their boozy, last-orders punk
thunders along the thin line between swagger and stagger, and the latter
often hobbles their live shows. Whether they become greats or just one of
those great what-ifs that Britain specialises in depends on whether they
regroup, but they have the talent and the belief. Shamelessly intelligent,
stylish, wayward and complex, if they don't shoot themselves in the foot,
they can shoot for the stars.
Sound:19 Songs:19 Gigs:13 Style:19 Attitude:20 Total: 90
2.
Radiohead
The sight of 100,000 people twitching wildly to Idioteque at Glastonbury
this year was testament to how far Radiohead have come. After OK Computer
launched a wave of hyperbole big enough to drown them, the relatively
obtuse Kid A seemed like a retreat to higher ground - but it only
increased its creators' mystique. Radiohead have become emblematic of all
that a world-class rock band can be, balancing success with integrity,
size with intimacy, and always finding a way to escape the long shadow of
their prior achievements. Helmed by Thom Yorke, the quintessential
anti-star, they become more unique and valuable with each passing year.
Sound:19 Songs:17 Gigs:20 Style:13 Attitude:19
Total: 88
3. P J Harvey
It
has been Polly Jean Harvey's ambition, throughout her career, to be
considered not a great female musician but a great rock musician. Of
course, in her contrary way, she has also spent a lot of those years
flaunting her femininity, donning slinky catsuits and spiky high heels,
singing of sex and dresses and bad-hair days. While in the late 1990s
her music was influenced by the masculine sound of US producer Steve
Albini, more recently she has taken her cues from another queen of rock,
Patti Smith. So yes, Harvey is a woman in a man's world - but listen to
her passionate, angry songs, full of hammer-headed riffs and glacial
melodies, and you realise that she is simply a fantastic, inspiring
musician, all on her own terms.
Sound : 17 Songs: 16 Gigs: 19 Style:17 Attitude:18
4.
The Coral
In terms of looks, there is little to differentiate the Coral from any
of the innumerable bands of young lads that Britain churns out.
Musically, however, the Liverpool sextet are worlds apart. Last year's
self-titled debut album reveled in the kind of invention most bands find
frightening: doo-wop harmonies bounced against Captain Beefheart growls,
jagged punk guitars and lyrics that veer from the strange to the
surreal. Where they truly excel is on stage: seeing the Coral live is an
exhilarating experience, offering a rare glimpse of the passion and pop
nous that drove the British invasion all those years ago. Sound:20
Songs:19 Gigs: 20 Style:10 Attitude:15 Total: 84
5.
Roots Manuva
British rap has often been in awe of its American forebear, but Roots
Manuva has changed that. Roots - Rodney Smith to his mum - claims that
Ian Dury and Chas and Dave have influenced his rap as much as Public
Enemy, while his backing tracks mix Brixton reggae with Depeche Mode. So
far, he has only grazed the charts (with 2001's Dreamy Days), but his
influence is incalculable and he opened the doors for the Streets,
Dizzee Rascal et al. Simply, Roots has demonstrated that singing in a
British accent isn't uncool. Equally, he has shown rap a subject-matter
away from US ghettos, sex and guns. His brilliant flows make everything
from drug culture to vagrancy, religion, beans on toast and "10 pints ah
bitta" sound as exotic and entrancing as anything from the US. Sound:18
Songs:17 Gigs: 13 Style:15 Attitude:19