Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype from the British press, the Strokes prove to be one of the few groups deserving of their glowing reviews. Granted, their high-fashion appeal and faultless influences -- Television, the Stooges, and especially Lou Reed and the Velvets -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. But like the similarly lauded Elastica and Supergrass before them, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them -- they remake them in their own image. On the Modern Age EP, singles like Hard to Explain, and their full-length debut, Is This It, the N.Y.C. group presents a pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk, complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat. However, their songs also reflected their own early-twenties lust for life; singer/songwriter/guitarist Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band mix swaggering self-assurance with barely concealed insecurity on "The Modern Age" and reveal something akin to earnestness on "Barely Legal" -- a phrase that could apply to the Strokes themselves -- in the song's soaring choruses. The group revamps "Lust for Life" on "New York City Cops" and combines their raw power and infectious melodies on "Hard to Explain," arguably the finest song they've written in their career. Nearly half of Is This It consists of their previously released material, but that's not really a disappointment since those songs are so strong. What makes their debut impressive, however, is that the new material more than holds its own with the tried-and-true songs. "Is This It" sets the joys of being young, jaded, and yearning to a wonderfully bouncy bassline; "Alone Together" and "Trying Your Luck" develop the group's brooding, coming-down side, while "Soma," "Someday," and "Take It or Leave It" capture the Strokes at their most sneeringly exuberant. Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and ock & roll and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again, the Strokes may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent Is This It from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut when those are few and far between. [In light of the World Trade Center disaster, the track "New York City Cops" was pulled from the U.S. release].
the following is one of the Strokes' earliest gigs, at Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado on October 9th, 2001. Jules uses the word "fuck" in its various forms about 267 times, and the band sounds perfect. Like most of their early gigs, they play all of the songs from Is This It in consecutive order, with the exception of "When It Started", which they play after "Is This It" ("When It Started rep...
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i was bored, thinking about another mog topic. and then i thought of it: what was I listening to this time last year?so i checked out windows media for the little collumn that says the date you add songs. so exactly one year ago, i was listening to:mos def...ghetto rockcommon....gothe strokes....juicebox (and cd is this it)so...i wasn't listening to much, but it was something. looks like a had ...
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this album is pretty amazingi mean, you have to think about it..it's their debut cd and it's aweomse! alot of artists arent this great even after their 3rd or 4th albumso yea, this album rocks, in my opinion..it's the 2nd best from the strokes (the first is Room On Fire)comment me
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If I could just put this whole album on, I would, because every song is the best song, no kidding. Had to choose, so here's Barely Legal. Until a good friend left this in the CD player so I could have more of a listen, I'd known something was missing from my life and this was it. And, coincidentally, the album is called "Is This It?'. So I'd have to say 'well, yes, thank you, dear Strokes,...
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I had a craving for The Strokes today just before heading out to pick up my daughter at school. Then whoever was on my favourite Sirius Satellite Radio channel, Garage, played Razorblade. Just for me. Thanks! I don't have that album, so back home I'm playing Is This It instead:
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Check out these guys' other vids too, they all kick ass.
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i was bored, thinking about another mog topic. and then i thought of it: what was I listening to this time last year?so i checked out windows media for the little collumn that says the date you add songs. so exactly one year ago, i was listening to:mos def...ghetto rockcommon....gothe strokes....juicebox (and cd is this it)so...i wasn't listening to much, but it was something. looks like a had ...
More >
the following is one of the Strokes' earliest gigs, at Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado on October 9th, 2001. Jules uses the word "fuck" in its various forms about 267 times, and the band sounds perfect. Like most of their early gigs, they play all of the songs from Is This It in consecutive order, with the exception of "When It Started", which they play after "Is This It" ("When It Started rep...
More >
this album is pretty amazingi mean, you have to think about it..it's their debut cd and it's aweomse! alot of artists arent this great even after their 3rd or 4th albumso yea, this album rocks, in my opinion..it's the 2nd best from the strokes (the first is Room On Fire)comment me
More >
Our countdown of the '00s continues with the presentation of our favorite albums and singles of 2001, a year that will always have a futuristic glow in the eyes of 20th century children since this was the year that usually signified the future in sci-fi literature and cinema.The new music that dominated in 2001, however, was anything but futuristic. The main influences of the new rock
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Is This It |
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| 2 The Modern Age |
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| 3 Soma |
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| 4 Barely Legal |
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| 5 Someday |
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| 6 Alone, Together |
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| 7 Last Nite |
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| 8 Hard to Explain |
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| 9 When It Started |
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| 10 Trying Your Luck |
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| 11 Take It or Leave It |
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 "Is This It")
