The Strokes Pt. 1: The Sounds of Modern Rock n Roll

 

                What’s up guys! Hope you are all doing well this week. Last week, I was talking about how concerts and festivals are starting to come back and just these past couple of weeks I got a notice about how the rap festival Rolling Loud will be taking place in Miami on July! That’s actually crazy how fast live music performances came, and I’m honestly happy to see that things are starting to go back to normal. The lineup for that festival is legit one of the craziest things I’ve seen given how many known rappers are going (including Bobby Shmurda). I’ve been seeing so many TikToks about how bad some people wanna go and to be honest, if you’re a huge rap fan and you have the opportunity to go, I say do it. I would however take precautions as this is one of the first festivals to come back after quarantine, so it may be chaotic. I would be careful with who you’re around as I’m sure there will be more substances in use and I’m sure the management will be rusty as well after a year of no operation.

                Another thing I’ve been getting into are the Strokes! I kept going back to their recent album release, “The New Abnormal”, and it made me want to look into their other work. That means that I’m going to be doing another artist spotlight where I pretty much listen to an artists entire discography and give my takes on it. Today I’ll be going over the first EP they released “The Modern Age” followed by their debut album “Is This It”. The first EP was comprised of three songs, and they honestly reminded me a lot about what I know with grunge rock n roll. All three songs have a very ‘dirty’ sound that has blurred vocals from Julian Casablancas followed by a medley of solos and combinations of sounds. The first song ‘Modern Age’ does a great job at creating a very underground atmosphere as you can hear the energy coming out from the guitar in the beginning, followed by some groovy sounds coming later. ‘Last Nite’ is the second song and is personally my favorite from the EP. The chorus is amazing, and I really enjoyed the vibes that came out from this song. The third song, ‘Barely Legal’ again promotes that dirty sound I talked about earlier and is a great song. The project overall is a very fun take on rock n roll as the Strokes uses their amateur image to their advantage as things like muffled vocals and disorganized instrumentals are seen as key rock n roll traits rather than a lack of focus.

                This brings me to the debut album that came out in 2001, “Is This It”. The first song which goes by the same name is a great intro song as it keeps the same blurry vocals from the EP to help create the emotion that the song is trying to portray. The sound from this song is definitely clearer than the EP, sacrificing the roughness for some polish and shine. ‘Soma’ comes after this and does good job at showcasing all the strengths of the band members as I can hear the guitar again with the drums showing amazing versatility. I’m impressed with drummer Fabrizio Moretti’s ability to change tempo to match both the solo guitar and the group’s combined sound. The song ‘Alone, Together’ was where I started understanding the concept of this project being one that’s dedicated to the complexities of adolescence and experimenting with relationships. The song is more aggressive which showcases Julian’s ability to sing in different ways and knowing when to change things up to further the song’s potential. The next couple of songs ‘Hard to Explain’, ‘When It Started’, ‘Trying Your Luck’, and ‘Take It or Leave It’ furthers the concept shown in ‘Alone, Together’ and does a great job at using the chaos in rock music to create a visual for the struggles growing up. Things like love, friendship, and the messy in-betweens can be weird to explain, yet the sounds helped me follow the ideas being presented.

                Overall, this was a great start for the Strokes and I’m excited to see how the group goes from here. I’d give this first project a 8/10 as I was able to understand the message coming through this album, and it was fun seeing how a modern take on rock n roll can help explain modern problems. Next week, I’ll be giving my takes on more of their projects. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great upcoming week!

**ALL OF THE MUSIC MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW DOES NOT BELONG TO ME AND ARE OWNED BY THEIR ARTISTS AND MUSIC LABELS RESPECTIVELY**

 

Favorite Songs: Is This It, The Modern Age, Soma, Last Nite, Hard to Explain, When It Started