NME
Pete Doherty has confirmed his plan to reform The Libertines to play UK festivals in 2010.
The Babyshambles frontman told NME.COM that he had already convinced former bandmates John Hassall [bass] and Gary Powell [drums] to reunite for gigs, and that as soon as Carl Barat agreed, dates would be finalised.
Barat had previously told NME.COM that he and Doherty had “left it as next year” in terms of Libertines plans.
“It’s going to happen [The Libertines playing festivals], you know,” Doherty said. “I spoke to John Hassall, he’s well up for it.” Referring to Powell, he added, “He said he would [play the shows].”
Band: Lovely Feathers Label: Equator Records Release: 2009
Comments: This, the third studio album from the Montreal indie rockers certainly was a crucial record, in my opinion. The group won my attention with their spectacular 2006 release Hind Hind Legs. Hind Hind Legs was heavy on the synths and almost what I would describe as “glam-folk.” Every song had a great quality, whether it was “Pope John Paul” (funny, heavy), or “Rod Stewart” (funny, pop). Fantasy of the Lotstarts off with “Lowiza,” a Hind Hind Legs-ish song filled with irresistible vocals and great drums. “Long Walks” sounds like dark faux postpunk at first. It’s sort of hard to classify the Lovely Feathers as anything “officially” because they combine so many different sounds. The middle of “Long Walks” changes to something more powerpop based before going back to what it originally was. Returning to the light-hearted jangle folk that I loved so much on past records is “Fad.” Think Paul Simon meets Jens Lekman meets traditional calypso. “Gifted Donalds” features a lullaby-esque piano sequences, yet manages to be persistently upbeat. “Finders Fee” has the bass-line, for starters, to be a significant track. It follows through on all notes to be exactly that. The title track doesn’t exactly suck…it just doesn’t stand out. It never picks up. “Family That Doesn’t Know the Game” is pure Lovely Feathers. “Ossified Games” has a notable “woo-ooo-aaahhh-ooo.” I love those. And a pres Asian little guitar riff. “Argotaker” has a bit of a Canadian folk thing going on. “Loading Dock” is a bit meh. The last track “Vaulted Precedents” is psychedelically slow but amusing.
Final Comment: Overall, I think the Lovely Feathers toned things down a little bit. The music seems more serious than it has in the past. Slower. More experimental than ever. The sad part is there aren’t any tracks that stick out besides “Lowiza.” By the way this thing came out in America today.
You can eschew the title, I simply employed that as an attention grabber. Is rock dead? Well, that’s for you to decide, because it means something different to everyone. I suppose. Anyway, the point of this brief rant is actually about the rise and fall of good, mainstream music. Now, I know there was plenty of fantastic music before the dawn of Rock and Roll, but you have to start somewhere and I’m starting with Rock and Roll in the 1950s. It was new, rebellious and danceable. Hell, it even broke the color barrier. Whether it was Chuck, Dick, or Elvis that kicked off the whole show in a big Fucking way is another story. As we move into the 1960s, the bubblegum remains, but it’s still passionate. The Brits invade and take over the charts, Americans fight back. The music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and dozens of others becomes the soundtrack to a youthful Revolution protesting Western Civilization… and just having a gooddd time, man. By the 1970s, things start to become too commercialized. Right around 1973. Then tons of shit is splattered at us! We have dealt with shit before (see Patti Page), but not to this extreme. This begins, what Pete Townsend once declared “the fall of the Roman Empire.” And ever since then mainstream pop music has been more or less dominated by shitty, overly mersh music. The 90s did have various stellar mainstream bands (Smashing Pumpkins, RATM, STP, etc.) riding the wave Nirvana reluctantly christened. But, it appears to me that we will never again see the days of music with soul, integrity, and passion in domination as we did in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. But, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the great music for you is unmainstream, if there ever were such a label. There have always been underground movements and especially uprisings against the corporate ogre and status quo which make Rock and Roll fun and exhilarating like it supposedly was in the early days. Right now could be the best time for music; in fact most of the best music I listen to is from the past few years and yet 90% (probably more) of people haven’t heard of it. I advise anyone and everyone to not get caught up in that phony, retro trend of thinking that most of the great music was from the 1960s and 1970s and today’s music just sucks ass. It is true that the “better” music was popular and dominated the radio back then and modern radio bares no resemblance to that, but don’t get sad, go out and discover new bands or dare I say start your own! Good Luck!
P2K: The Decade In Music…Seriously? They are already naming their top 500 songs of the 2000s, but wait…it’s only August! There’s still months left of awesome music. They say that in early 2010 they will make additions, but can’t they just wait? And the randomness of songs 500-201 tell me this list is going to be disgusting.
