Up the Bracket

VINYL FORMAT. The first British band to rival the garage rock revival sparked by the Strokes and White Stripes in the U.S., the Hives in Sweden, and the Datsuns in, er, New Zealand, the Libertines burst onto the scene with Up the Bracket, a debut album so confident and consistent that the easiest way to describe it is 2002's answer to Is This It? That's not just because singer/guitarist Pete Doherty's slurred, husky vocals sound like Julian Casablancas', (with the added bonus of a fetching Cockney accent), or that both groups share the same tousled, denim-clad fashion sense; it's that virtually every song on Up the Bracket is chock-full of the bouncy, aggressive guitars, expressive, economic drums, and irresistible hooks.