Sound of the week - Baby Shambles

Looking for an alternative to Modest Mouse/Franz Ferdinand/the Killers? Check out Baby Shambles. The title of their 2-song US import EP is unprintable, and frontman Pete Doherty screams at the end of the title track "They'll never play this on the radio..." Not true in the UK as they are in the top 10 and Doherty and his band enjoy a fanatical following. This 2 song EP is their only US release to date.

Doherty, one half of the embattled duo at the heart of the UK's The Libertines, has been recording and touring with his "other" band, Baby Shambles, since splitting with the Libertines last year due to his unpredictable behavior and excessive drug use. I saw the Libertines at the Paradise last fall, and without Doherty they lacked the exhilarating presence and back and forth vocal energy of their recordings.

Doherty definitely brings an aura of wildness and self-destruction to this recording, and based upon media reports and fan blogs, to anything he touches. With brash, treble-heavy guitars that sound like they were recorded at 2 a.m. just before the boys had one too many, barely in control vocals, and Blur-like verses that resolve into a feel-good chorus, “F*** Forever” has me eagerly anticipating more US releases. Baby Shambles is one of those bands that makes no attempt to hide the fact that they are riding the thin line between brilliance and self destruction, and that’s a huge part of what makes this EP great. $6.99 for 2 songs? Money well spent.