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Band Members
Jules - Vocals
Fab - Drums
Albert - Guitar
Nick - Guitar
Nikolai - Bass
Tracklisting
1. You Only Live Once
2. Juice Box
3. Heart In A Cage
4. Razor Blade
5. On The Other Side
6. Vision Of Division
7. Ask Me Anything
8. Electricityscape
9. Killing Lies
10. Fear Of Sleep
11. 15 Minutes
12. Ize Of The World
13. Evening Sun
14. Red Light
When a little band called the Strokes (Vocalist Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti) emerged from a basement in the East Village, the whole media world lauded them as the new saviors of rock - throwing laurels of stardom at their Converse-clad feet. ‘Is This It’, their debut album, made its impact with retro fuzz and evident echoes of their new wave forefathers. Throwback copycats? Talentless private school kids? Accusations were slung left and right, but in the rock arena of 2001, nu-metal was a growing epidemic. And the Strokes? An antidote.
The album kicks off with title track ‘Is This It’, a lazy opener with quiet melancholy in the chorus. Is the question a shallow rhetoric, or at the core of our modern existences? In ‘The Modern Age’, the tremulous slurs and stuttering guitars whoosh by in a Television homage that is, shall we say, uncanny. ‘Someday’ is both sugary sweet and epic, an indefinable slice of pop perfection. By the close-out, ‘Take it or Leave it’, the Strokes’ most aggressive song on the album by far - Julian’s warble rises to a jerky clenched-tooth shout along. Only the foolish would leave it.
The viscerally grabbing effect of 'Is This It' combined adolescent bravado with detached ego, to the tune of 3.5 million albums sold worldwide as of 2007. It has also received something of a cult status amongst many other bands; the fledgling Arctic Monkeys have stated the Strokes changed their lives, and London punk-urchins the Libertines claimed that the only reason they were really signed was that “Pete Doherty looked a little like Julian Casablancas.”
Sophomore release, 2003’s Room on Fire, was unleashed on the waiting public to fairly good reviews. Produced again by Gordon Raphael, after a debacle over the “soulless” production of Nigel Godrich, the Strokes were back on top form with the kicking rhythms and angular guitar that made them famous.
Having picked up cues from influences such as Blondie and the Cars, the album is still New York through and through - by turns indifferent, caustic, and demanding. In ‘Reptilia’, the clean and slick glide of the guitar under Casablancas’ animalistic growl allows the chorus to fly along, full of latent virility. “Please don’t slow me down/If I’m going too fast/you’re in a strange part of our town/” he emotes, with every ounce of pent-up passion and crackling intensity possible. However, songs like ‘You Talk Way Too Much’ and ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ stagger the smooth minimalism the album builds itself upon, positioning themselves with awkward lyrics and often striking only as grievous filler. ‘The End Has No End’ is a twitchy pop song with the crunching and soaring of a repetitious chorus, easily making it one of the highlights of Room on Fire. With a melody akin to beeps from a video game and a sing-along charm, it is of classic Strokes sensibilities.
The Strokes had, at this point, made a career out of their hit or miss ability. These songs were razor-sharp and nostalgic all at once, stylish and stylistic, inapproachable and accessible. With a devil-may-care attitude and a spiky sound that had Tom Petty bitching, the Strokes were undoubtedly capable of being either second-rate or glee-inducing. This is the verge where listeners were breathlessly kept, waiting for the all-important third album.
After a year in production, the Strokes returned in 2005 with First Impressions of Earth, an experimental new album with many an influence crammed into its meaty 56 minute frame. However, this time, those influences swerve dangerously near to worrisome. The album has a schizophrenic feel to it; a medley of cacophonic guitars, exploding rhythm sections, chaotic and nearly collapsing song arrangements, along with sunny solos and vocals that range from a deathly monotone to a roar of anger. Despite being hard to appreciate as instantaneously as its predecessors, First Impressions stands alone. Its supporting backbone is its singles – from the toe-tapping cheer of ‘You Only Live Once’ and the sinister almost-metal of ‘Juicebox’ to the darkly brooding vision of ‘Heart in a Cage’ – they form an interlocking web that keeps the album from falling apart on it’s pure unpredictability.
New producer David Kahne, previously having collaborated with artists like Regina Spektor and Sublime, brings the true sheen out in Casablancas’ vocals – disregarding the notion that he must sound like he’s singing from a beat-up phone booth on the wrong side of town.
Highlights also include ‘Ask Me Anything’, (a track without drums or guitar – simply with Valensi on Mellotron,) and ‘Vision of Division’, an energetic number with squalling vocals and a tricky guitar solo courtesy of Hammond Jr. ‘Red Light’ is also a favorite, with a 50s’esque vibe heavily dependent on the rhythm section as well as Casablancas’ cool musings – “an entire generation that’s got nothing to say.” Several downfalls do mire the proceedings, with the tediously monotone (‘On the Other Side’) and the painful (’15 Minutes’). Unfortunately, Casablancas’ tendency to sound drone-like vocally and the hollow fury of songs like ‘Ize of the World’ come up short against the Strokes’ earlier pop hooks and stubborn detachment. Lyrically, Casablancas’ attempts to sound abstract wind up overdone and mildly uncomfortable.
Although there are many possibilities for fresh new direction in this band, there are just as many that may allow it to flounder. Only time will tell. The Strokes are currently taking a break, but plans for the new album are said to be underway. Originally set for an early 2008 release, the album had to be delayed due to guitarist Albert Hammond Jr’s announcement of the follow-up to his solo debut, ‘Yours To Keep’. The Strokes fourth album has therefore been thrown into the realm of a more distant future.
“We could drag it out/but that’s for other bands to do/” sings Casablancas in ‘Ask Me Anything’, and regardless of his ambiguous meanings – First Impressions itself has said comatose quality. That being said, it also shows how evidently talented, shatteringly catchy, and enjoyable they can be. An album with a personality disorder it may be, but The Strokes are a force to be reckoned with in the current collection of modern rock bands. If only they still have a few more tricks up their vintage sleeves, the future is a welcome thing to these New York revivalists.
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