The Strokes Pt. 2: The Transformation of the Hopeless Romantic

 

          Hey guys! It’s here, it’s arrived and it’s fresh. The second part to the Strokes artist review is finally here where I listen to their projects in order and give my takes on them as I progress through their music. For this part, we’ll be going over the albums, “Room on Fire”, “First Impressions of Earth”, and “Angles”. That being said, lets get right into this shindig ohhh yeah.

                So the first album we’ll be going over is “Room on Fire”. Right off the bat, we’re given the song ‘What Ever Happened?’ that has this groovy sound and some Rockstar-like vocals from Julian Casablancas. The distorted sound is still there but less than the last album. This isn’t important now but after listening to the next two albums I realized that this is the transition the Strokes are taking as they continue their discography and try new things. The garage band sound that was introduced with this band is starting to shift as we have more catchy, melodic choruses such as the one here. The next song however, oh boy. ‘Reptilia’ I’ll say right now is my favorite song of the day after listening to all these projects. The reason for this is solely because of the guitar riff in the bridge of this song. LIKE HOLY SHIT!!! It’s just such a vibe with the DU DU DUN DU DU DUN DU DU DUN.. you get my point. This song instantly made me smile and I knew I was in for a ride. It was until the third song ‘Automatic Shop’ that I wanted to also give recognition to the group for allowing certain members of the band to show off their skill set as time goes on. The guitarist Nick Valenci is an amazing guitarist, and he always gives me get goosebumps every time I hear his solos in these songs. This album as a concept is similar to the last couple of projects that have themes that revolve around teen angst and the frustrations of life. The name ‘Room on Fire’ implies internal chaos as we’re given songs that go over young love, the conflicts that sprout from relationships, the anger that comes from seeing people change, and finally the pains of the past. I thought this album was really nice and was personally my favorite out of the three as we get a more clarified sound of the group even though it sacrifices some of the gritty sound. In return, we do get some experimental songs like ‘Between Love & Hate’ and ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ that takes a much more aggressive, rock n roll like sound. Overall, this album was pretty good as I’d give it a 7/10.

                The next album that comes up is “First Impressions of Earth” and there’s a good amount to say about this. Upon the intro song ‘You Only Live Once’, you can immediately hear the clarity in the voice of Julian Casablancas and the group overall as the studio production shows instead of the older garage band distortion. Instead of a garage band, I felt like this album was trying to say that they’re now a studio band that wants to send clear chords and musical progression for their audience. In ‘Juicebox’, we hear more of the rock n roll inspired sounds and by the third song, ‘Heart in a Cage’ you can cement the idea that the Strokes now do not sound like before. Whether this was good or bad, I couldn’t really tell as I enjoyed the sounds coming out of this album, but later realized it wasn’t as much as their prior projects. The concept of this album was interesting as the fourth song ‘Razorblade’ made me get the idea that the sound of the band no longer represented teen angst and frustration but rather the hopes and struggles of a hopeless romantic. This is probably due to the amount of clarity I sensed in the beginning of this album, making their message loud and clear for the public to consume. This is why I mentioned the clarity of their sound in the prior paragraph because we can see that this band is growing as a group through their decisions as musical artists. ‘On the Other Side’ furthers this idea as this was the song that pointed out the studio production the most and honestly made me feel like the Strokes were trying to give a new set of ‘first impressions’. ‘Vision of Division’ furthers my concept of the hopeless romantic as Julian Casablancas shares his dramatic vocals towards romance. The line ‘how long must I wait’ still rings in my head as I’m writing this.  The songs ‘Ask Me Anything’, ‘Fear of Sleep’, and ‘Red Light’ also contribute to this unique setting we’re given, and I thought it was a noble attempt. As I didn’t enjoy it as much as the projects before, I would still give this a 6/10.

                Finally, we get to the album, “Angles”. This album came out in 2011 while the one before it came out in 2005, giving the group 5 years before they came together to make this album. If there’s one thing I know about hiatuses, it’s that whatever happened before will be completely different to what’s going to be coming out after. And that is exactly the case with this album. The first song ‘Machu Picchu’ was a completely new sound coming from the Strokes as I listened to an 80s inspired song that made me feel like I was relaxing on a Florida beach in the summer. There’s a lot less moodiness shown, and we’re given a more pop-like sound with loud bams with the talk of shams. The second song ‘Under the Cover of Darkness’ is very similar to the first with another upbeat sound. By this point, I felt like I was listening to the other side of the coin from the previous projects with Julian Casablancas giving much more uppity vocals and making this fit the vibe of a summer tune. The fourth song ‘You’re So Right’ furthers this newness with added experimentation through electronic sounds to amplify the existing sounds of the group at this point in time. I was really surprised by the lyrics of Casablancas in this album because it seemed to take a whole attitude change. ‘Taken for a Fool’ is a great example as we have him delivering vocals that doesn’t share his perspective on his life but rather on someone else’s issues in life. I found this interesting and a little refreshing as we hear new sounds in songs like ‘Games’, ‘Metabolism’ and ‘Life is Simple in the Moonlight’. This project gave me more of a Muse vibe as the sounds we hear from the band in this album remind me a lot of their contemporaries in the genre. Overall, this album was cool, but again I just personally prefer their older work, giving this album a 6/10 as well.

                So there you have it, the second part of the Strokes review. In the third part, we’ll be going over the final projects “Comedown Machine”, “Future Present Past”, and “The New Abnormal”. Thank you guys for reading this and I hope you guys have a great upcoming week. Peace!

Favorite Songs: 

Room On Fire - What Ever Happened?, Reptilia, Automatic Shop, 12:51, The End Has No End, I Can't Win

First Impressions of Earth - Heart in a Cage, Razorblade, On the Other Side, Vision of Division, Electricityscape, Killing Lies, Ize of the World, Red Light

Angles - Machu Picchu, You're So Right, Games, Call Me Back, Life Is Simple In the Moonlight