Surprised?
I spent the better part of Fall 2001 and most of 2002 listening to The Strokes’ debut album ‘Is This It’. Needless to say, this LP was near perfection.
Subsequent album releases from the band have proven to be disappointing and I was sure that they would either fade away into obscurity or go on to do mediocre solo projects. It’s probably still too early to tell. Either of those could still happen, but this single by Julian Casablancas is hopefully a sign that I’m wrong.
With a synthy Phoenix-type pop aesthetic, it’s dancey and still has some rawness that goes so well with Casablancas’ voice. I’ll admit it… I’m caught off guard by how good this first single is.
Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension
Phrazes For The Young gets released Oct 19 in the UK and Oct 20 in North America. Go get it.
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Yup, I like it.
Super stoked.
“I was sure that they would either fade away into obscurity or go on to do mediocre solo projects”
ummm yes ITI is their best album but FIOE was way ahead of its time and ROF was a solid follow up to their debut…. and the Strokes in general have such a huge international following this side of Radiohead…so fade away into obscurity isn’t even a possibility buddy…if they broke up tomorrow they”d be a chapter in the history of Rock music (see Post Grunge Garage Rock) not a footnote….
whoa easy superfan. i wasn’t slagging them.
I love the strokes but I must say jbruns, your history of rock must have a lot of chapters in it.
im not a super fan but tell me another band that stands out in the late 90′s garage rock as much as the strokes Crafty Tap?…yeah yeah yeahs? someone correct me because I was under the impression that they mainstreamed the genre…and if YOUR history of rock music doesn’t have chapter for NYC based garage rock your book is too short…
Little Joy, Albert Hammond Jr. & Nickel Eye are hardly (mediocre) solo projects. Quite the contrary in fact.
depends on who you ask… and i did say it’s too early to tell.
Jeez, you strokes super fans are a little touchy. I for one haven’t written a history of rock music but if I did I doubt I’d have a chapter on NYC garage rock in it’s own right. Maybe I’d have one on the garage rock revival of this early decade which would include some titbits about the Strokes or the White Stripes and maybe a few other bands. The Strokes were good for their time but if this next album or the next one after that is blah then they won’t go down in history in my humble opinion.
Gotta agree with jbruns, obviously most people consider “is This it” to be their best album cos of the impact it made. IN england in 2001 / 2002 every band going wanted to sound like the strokes and every indie kid listened to the strokes. Room on fire was the same but better produced and alot more musical. FIOE was half amazing and has some of the best work on it. They have lost popularity but have a massive cult following these days , and any indie disco you go to in 2009 they will still play more strokes songs than any other band
!!! IMHO the strokes arrived on a huge wave of deserved hype. This is it rescued pretty much everyone from the rave era and brought mainstream music back towards the rock direction. their follow up was awesome. Their third album was a disappointment to me, although I still think it has some great tracks on it. The band took a break which they sounded like they needed. Now that people have been deprived of the the strokes they are again pretty hungry for some more. All of their side projects have reminded people how good they are. Everyone loves the strokes still although they are not at the forefront of the general public’s conscience right now. I think Julian’s album is going to be really good as well as the new strokes album and everyone will be happy and love each other and not argue over who loves the strokes more or who is the most OG…. cause the answer is me, I loved the Strokes when they were Link Wray
Fuck you all. Strokes are THE SHIT.Go ahead and say it!
I just dropped in to share my two cents on the strokes:
cent 1-They’re definitely at a crossroads, career wise, that’s undeniable. but to me it’s solely because of their lack of output, which surprising given that they’re so talented and also happened to have TWO winning formulas(Is This It styled 70′s punk, or Room on Fire fashioned New Wave-punk)
cent 2-The strokes might not neccesarily get a chapter, but garage rocks’s revival most certainly would, there’s just too much great music that spawned from that time, even if it came from various sources, and bands like the strokes, the libertines, and the white stripes will play large parts in that chapter. at least in my book.
-sorry for the runonsentences lol