The Strokes - "Angles" LP/CD
[UPDATE: Just re-linked "Gratisfaction" (also known as "GRANTisfaction"), the best track on the new Strokes album Angles]
The Strokes – “Gratisfaction” MP3/download
I kept going back and forth on this one: Do I write about the new Strokes album today, or do an Album As Art post on that pizza-box Dissonance 2XLP?
I decided on The Strokes, mostly because I’m not only able to share the full album with you via the link above, but I’m also so familiar with Angles I’m going to go ahead and offer my thoughts on this new record right HERE AND NOW.
I like lead single “Under Cover of Darkness,” but not enough of it sounds fresh — there are recycled tricks and tracks here, which led me to believe The STRIZokes might be tankin’ it on this one. Hell, Julian Casablancas released that solo album, went on his own tour, all that plus all the success and hype … who knows, right?
Two songs from Angles assure me this is not the case. The first is “Gratisfaction” (buried, as are most of my favorites,deep in the tracklist), a frolicking tune that comes off like a picnic with Billy Joel and Thin Lizzy coated in a thin, crispy modern sheen. LISTEN TO IT ABOVE and tell me you don’t feel like you wanna give these blokes another chance to diddle your ear-ogenous zone. Eh? Eh?
The other is “Life is Easy in the Moonlight,” the final cut on a record with an equal share of studs and duds. It starts with a solid progression, as per usual, from the twin guitars, then graduates to a higher plane with the chorus jumps in like Quick Kick (for you G.I. Joe-ers out there). It’s a subdued/subdude way to close the record, but on a Strokes album you know at least one of the tunes will be a little sappy, a little sentimental. And this one is among the better examples of such in their discography.
“Gratisfaction” and “Life is Easy in the Moonlight” aside, this is a fairly dicey ride through Strokesville. The quintet gamble, at their own peril, and succeed about 50 percent of the time, a winning number if you’re a meterologist but not if you’re looking to reestablish yourself as a force to be reckoned with on a rock scene that may or may not exist anymore (is anyone even keeping track at this point?).
They’re lucky I’m so into them; a stauncher snob wouldn’t give them so much leeway, but I consider it my duty to back up groups I believe in. And, perhaps unfortunately, I believe in The Strokes.
I believe in:
- their dippiness
- their flippant ways in some instances, overtly cautious in others
- their ability to force new themes into their music, even as they know what everyone expects from them
- their knack for, if nothing else, eternally excite via the intricacies of their tandem guitar assaults
- their love for music of the past, which shines so bright they often forget outright imitation isn’t the same as paying respect
- their viability as a rock band
No complaints here….yet. I’ve only heard 3 tunes off the LP and I dig em! Especially the single! I couldn’t stand First Impressions On Earth, so I guess anything sounds better than that release.
J
god, that’s weird because I liked First Impressions on Earth and I might have been the only one … they’re one of the only halfway-commercially viable bands I like (perhaps the only one, period) so I just have to give them love when I can … I wish other popular bands sounded nearly this good!
what did you think of “gratisfaction” in particular? I’d like to change its title to “Grantisfaction” but i’m not sure if they’d go for it.
dude, i’m going to do a post on the new KK stuff as soon as i get a few minutes to really do it up right. you deserve no less …