The Strokes - Is This It

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The Strokes have been hyped by the U.K. press as one writer succinctly put it "…let’s be blunt and say The Strokes are the coolest motherfuckers around right now." As with any new act with glowing press clippings and short on material, it begs to be ripped to shreds, and the anti-Strokes contingent has already begun, all this even before the release of the bands first album. The Strokes seem to be poking fun at their detractors by titling their debut album Is This It? All but one of the band members were born and raised in Manhattan, making them the quintessential NYC band. When Albert Hammond Jr. relocated to NYC from Los Angeles for film school at NYU in 1999, The Strokes were complete. The band seems to split their musical identity between the Velvet Underground, Television, John Lennon, Roy Orbison, and Buddy Holly all while songwriter and lead singer Julian Casablancas' does his best Lou Reed impression.

The record starts out simple enough with the sound of a tape fast forwarding, before going into the lead track, "Is This It." "Is This It?" is a slower spacey track, an odd choice to open the album.

"The Modern Age", "Barely Legal", and "Last Nite" are holdovers from The Modern Age EP which started all the hype that surrounds this promising band. When listening to the tracks it’s easy to see why there has been so much interest in the Strokes, the songs are well crafted three minute bursts of pop rock at it’s best.

"Soma" pretty much previews what to expect from the rest of the album with it’s shimmering simple guitar hooks and steady snapping drums. "Someday" keeps things moving along with it’s upbeat tempo and sing-a-long chorus of "Oh, my eyes there’s a lacking in depth/I will do my best/You say you wanna stay by my side/Darling, your head’s not right" with Casablancas stretching out the last word in each line.

A driving drum beat coupled with some funky guitar riffs introduce "Alone Together." When Casblancas sings the third verse he takes on almost the same vocal delivery of "Love Potion #9" of all songs. "Hard to Explain" is one of the new songs that seems to match the intensity of The Modern Age EP. It’s drum machine like beat moves the song along before being accompanied by an unobtrusive guitar lick, then going into Casablancas croon. The true highlight of this song is the vocal hook, rather than the guitar hook. Casablancas draws you in with the drawn out beautifully sung pre-chorus of "Friends can care alike now/I’m not like that/Trying to remind her/When we go back" before launching into the wordy chorus which is to long to be typed out here, but it works out beautifully and is definitely the highlight of the album.

The punk tinged full throttle rock of "New York City Cops" is a live favorite of the bands fans with it’s simple chorus of "New York City cops/New York City cops/New York City cops/They ain’t too smart." The song is meant to make you laugh a little and doesn’t seem to be mean spirited in anyway however in light of recent events the band has chosen to remove the song from the US release of Is This It? and replace it with a newly recorded track "."

"Take it or Leave it" starts off with the title lyric repeated over and over with the guitar repeating the same note over and over it gets a little repetitive as the song build to a reckless close of squealing guitars.

If you like late seventies new wave this is the updated version of it. It’s a good album, from a band with a fairly unique sound, which will please those who like music delivered with passion and energy.


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