The Strokes - Under Cover of DarknessAlbum: Angles [2011]
equally inspired by classic tunesmiths like buddy holly and john lennon and the street-smart attitude and angular riffs of fellow new yorkers television and the velvet underground, the strokes were also equally blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype - particularly from the U.K. music press, whose adulation for the group rivaled their fervor for oasis in the early '90s. barely in their twenties by the time their debut album, "is this it", arrived in 2001, their success wasn't quite of the overnight variety, but it still arrived pretty swiftly. their december 2000 dates at the mercury lounge and the bowery ballroom not only gained them a manager, but also helped strokes mania reach critical mass in new york. on "is this it", it was 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". the new album is much the same, though they've grown up a lot of the span of a decade. this album features more electronica, which isn't neccesarily a bad thing - most of the time, like on "under cover of darkness", the beats fit well with a wonderfully bouncy bassline. the album is exciting, exuberant and rarely slows down. in the end, it's a return to form.
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