Electricity at all ages: rock is dead, proof by three

Westminster Abbey has not yet officially sounded the death knell for British rock, or even rock itself, even if the islanders have (almost) always spit out electricity better than their American counterparts… Nobody wants to admit it – especially the last fans – but rock has transformed over the last quarter of a century into Music for nostalgic people and mixes the same half-dozen recipes and references to animate a corpse which still sometimes moves convincingly.

An aesthetic of the living dead, even zombies, therefore. Rock, however, does not take precedence over the “hauntology” theorized by Mark Fisher and Simon Reynolds. The redundant ghosts of the past instill other music, other artistic forms, starting with cinema which uses the same formulas to the limit, at least when it comes to monopolizing the attention of the general public.

For its part, rock can repeat all at once at will its ultra-redneck versions intended to accompany the beer consumption of its most rough aficionados, or else repeat its most perversely arty forms like we like to reenact a Shakespeare play. A sort of tribalism or heritage approach, in short.

Have fun freely

Why not, basically? You have to have fun freely even if you don’t see rock appearing in the 10 most acclaimed or consumed artists of 2024. In the era of Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny and Drake, rock is returning to the nests like a good dog that we like to walk during a festive moment, when we are angry or when we are happy. Just like a rave, in 2025, is worth more for the quantity of drugs ingested there than for the sonic epiphanies that occur there.

“Stay underground”, enjoined NTM and this return to the margins is perhaps better than a first-class burial. Rock could wrap itself in this rediscovered singularity. But he doesn’t want to… Three examples of British survivalism rather well done with three album releases on the same day, this Friday January 10.

Ringo Starr, «Look Up»

Under the dark glasses that he wears on the cover of his new album – around twenty solo, already – we don’t really know where the gaze of Ringo Starr, an 84-year-old ex-Beatle with the look of a sheriff, is going. According to the title of his delivery, “Look Up”, he is contemplating the sky where two of his former colleagues are already waiting for him. But listening to this collection of 11 tracks produced and almost all written by T-Bone Burnett, it becomes clear that the veteran eats his music by the roots, namely country. Flowered on the dungeons, the genre ennobled by the luminary Johnny Cash has become the standard of the class for old rockers and Ringo Starr has excelled there since at least his “Beaucoups of Blues” from 1970. As perfectly rhythmic as a ballad on a old mule, this recording which does not renew anything for the greatest pleasure of those who believe that everything was better before has nevertheless hired the childish Molly Tuttle, a singer of almost 32 years.

Franz Ferdinand, «The Human Fear»

Twenty years after their first album, the Scottish group does it again with a 7^e for the road, “The Human Fear”. Always whipping his rhythms with as much assiduity, Franz Ferdinand also benefits from the voice of his singer, Alex Kapranos who masters the dramaturgy of his refrains with controlled grandiloquence. Coming from one of the last rock booms – the early 2000s, already marked by quotation – the Glasgow band is one of those who have found their own vein even if they are a little forced to reiterate their mark factory. The album made with the Sparks, “FFS” in 2015, left its mark and electronics still remain a temptation (the title “Hooked”) for these heirs of the Talking Heads capable of mentioning the Kinks. In concert at ZurichFebruary 21.

Lambrini Girls, «Who Let The Dogs Out»

La Cité festival-goers have already been able to measure the pugnacity of the Lambrini Girls in 2023. The duo from Brighton, formed by singer-guitarist Phoebe Lunny and bassist Lilly Macieira, does not lack dynamism to serve its punk ferocity at an epileptic pace . Dubbed in their early days by Iggy Pop, the riot grrrl pair who open their concerts by asking gays to come forward release a record that honors their queer and feminist blitzkrieg with titles like “Big Dick Energy” or “Filty Rich Nepo Baby “. “Who Let The Dogs Out” demands this album adjusted like a baton blow from Bobby? The dogs are out with their studded collars. But this album, as sharp and enjoyable as it is, walks on the ground where others have already raised their paw a long time ago. An album excited like a punk on speed from 1980. In concert in Geneva during AntifreezeFebruary 28.

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