At SXSW, they give you all these bracelets everywhere you go — indicating you’ve got clearance to enter different venues or VIP sections or whatever — and you can’t really take any of them off till the festival is over, so that by Saturday afternoon, everyone there has a half-sleeve of neon ribbons running up one arm from palm heel to elbow. They’re the same disposable ID tags given to you upon entering any club anywhere, but seeing them stacked like that, on every arm in Austin, reminded me of when I once, way back, let such bracelets accumulate on my own wrist, intentionally — not removing them for weeks, at the risk of getting a rash — because I had seen a photograph of Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas rocking that look, and I thought it was cool as hell. It was like the guy never slept, never stayed in, just spent every night in bars where bands were playing, too busy to bother with any preparation beyond putting on a pair of sunglasses and a leather jacket. Dead cool. Dead fucking cool. So anyway, I was hanging out in the hotel room with Amrit, looking at our bracelets and telling him this very anecdote, and he responded, “Julian Casablancas has a way of making things look cool.”
That’s kind of always been the thing about the Strokes, right? I’m of the belief that, more than any other single entity, that band is responsible for what has become known as “hipster” fashion. I don’t mean to get all Grandpa Simpson up in here (“…so I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time…”), but before the Strokes came along, kids in bands — and kids who listened to bands — just wore, like, bowling shirts, or backwards baseball caps, or old T-shirts with cracked prints that said “St. Joseph’s Track & Field,” or something. After the Strokes, it was all skinny jeans and messy long hair and sharp blazers and $5 Wayfarers knockoffs and beat-up German army jackets. I know correlation doesn’t imply causation, but follow me here: On January 22, 2001, sneaker company Converse declared bankruptcy. Exactly one week later, the Strokes released their debut EP, The Modern Age, in the UK — followed, that same year, by a bidding war and a media frenzy and a debut album. Almost exactly one year later, the Strokes were credited by Entertainment Weekly with reintroducing Converse Chuck Taylors into the rock ‘n’ roll wardrobe. On July 9, 2003, Nike bought out Converse for $305 million, three months before the release of the Strokes’ sophomore album, Room On Fire. And last week, at SXSW, Converse were one of the most prominent and extravagant sponsors of the festival, reinforcing their now-dominant brand to hipster types and tastemaker types and musician types from around the world. You, Stereogum reader? You don’t know a single person under the age of 40 who doesn’t own a pair of Chucks. And you may not think the Strokes had anything to do with that, but if you were to make that argument, I’d argue that you’re wrong.
I’d further argue that the Strokes’ net contributions to fashion have far exceeded their net contributions to music, but more importantly, I’d argue that the “thing” about the Strokes is a good deal bigger than the actual music produced by the band. Which is fine, of course, except that when we’re talking about that music, it can be difficult to do so without comparing it to that “thing.” It’s always been like that. Even before their debut album, Is This It, was released, there were constant and heated arguments about the band, due to the fact that they had received a mammoth five-album deal from RCA, who allegedly beat out “every major label in the States and a handful of independents” in their bid to sign the band. (Cynics were sure the contract had at least something to do with the band’s well-connected parents — specifically Casablancas’s father, who founded Elite Modeling Agency, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s father, a songwriter responsible for numerous top-10 hits). The North American release of that album was delayed — from September 25, 2001 to October 11, 2001 — so its ninth track, “New York City Cops” (…”they ain’t too smart”), could be swapped out for another, “When It Started,” in the wake of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. Even so, the hotly tipped debut album from the NYC band became a soundtrack and touchstone for many after 9/11; it was very much the sound of the city that fall, and the city was both devastated and united in ways that instilled deep meaning in such connections. To anyone who was there around the time of its release, Is This It could not possibly have been heard without at least some of this baggage — the hype, the controversy, the raw, overwhelming emotions — informing the experience.
So what exactly do we talk about when we talk about the Strokes? Comedown Machine is the band’s fifth album, the album that finally closes the books on the legendarily insane RCA contract that gave birth to so many haters a dozen years back. (Coincidentally or not, an RCA logo is the most prominent image on the album’s cover: an old-fashioned tape-reel box drawn up to appear as if it contains the Comedown Machine masters.) With that agreement settled, the band’s members are free to go their separate ways — something that seems like a real possibility right now. When the Strokes did press for their fourth album, 2011′s largely unloved Angles, it appeared there were rifts and communication breakdowns inside the band, according to several individual Strokes via numerous interviews. And the relationship status of the band-unit today is something of a mystery, as there’s a media blackout this time around. (There are also no plans to tour.)
That silence has the potential to create its own narrative, but it’s possible the Strokes are merely trying to release an album that can be judged solely on its artistic merits, rather than yet another where the “thing” about the Strokes is louder than the music. Even if that is the goal, though, it’s probably an unachievable one. That’s not because Comedown Machine isn’t a good album — it’s a really good album, actually — it’s because the “thing” about the Strokes is also a large part of what made us care about them. Even if you could somehow remove the post-9/11 associations from our collective appreciation of Is This It, the Strokes through 2003 were more than just a rock band; they were a gang, a clique: smart, artsy, tough single guys hanging out in East Village bars at 3 a.m. on a weeknight, drinking, smoking, roaming in a pack, an unimpeachable vision of cool. As Jay McInerney put it, in a wonderful and essential New York Magazine feature, in their early days, “the Strokes presented themselves as an enviable social unit, real friends just out of their teens, living the dream of adulthood postponed.” By the time they got together to record First Impressions Of Earth in 2005, though, they were settling down: pairing off, sobering up, having kids, leaving New York City. They grew up, cleaned up, made an album with the mainstream-minded ambitions implied by that record contract … and it was an ungainly mess. (And I actually like it!) Then the band went on hiatus, Casablancas moved to L.A., a few solo albums and/or side projects emerged, largely without ceremony. As mentioned above, when they reunited in 2010 to record Angles, relations were strained, and once it was released, no band member seemed particularly enthusiastic about the album (which was totally adequate if inessential).
It becomes difficult, then, to determine the essence (to say nothing of the essentialness) of Comedown Machine, especially when the band releasing it is publicly refusing to comment on the thing. In Monday’s Comment Party, reader Tim Martinez wrote of Comedown Machine, “After a few listens, I legitimately think this could be their third best album.” When I read that, at first, I laughed: Talk about damning with faint praise! The Strokes’ third and fourth albums have their champions, but even the personnel involved in the making of those albums would admit they are, at best, fundamentally flawed. It doesn’t require much enthusiasm or conviction to proclaim any of the last three Strokes’ albums their third best. But as I thought about it, I recognized the inalienable truth inherent in that statement: “Third best” is the highest ceiling achievable by any new Strokes album. There’s a minority faction that will tell you Room On Fire is better than Is This It (a defensible if incorrect opinion), but even the most randomly contrarian provocateurs won’t argue that First Impressions or Angles belongs in that conversation. And Comedown Machine won’t make the cut either. It can’t. It couldn’t. Perhaps for that very reason, the new album feels like a total reinvention of the Strokes — even though they’re being reinvented as two or maybe even three different bands, not equally successfully.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first: The songs that don’t work as well are generally more drab than they are bad, although a couple have moments that do make them actively irritating. Among that latter group? First single “One Way Trigger,” which borrows the synths from A-ha’s “Take On Me,” but doesn’t bother pairing them with a worthy (or worthwhile) melody. Also in that category: “80′s Comedown Machine,” which is all swoony Casio keyboard washes and pre-programmed rhythms that drone on without getting anywhere — without even really heading anywhere. In the former group? “All The Time” and “50 50″ are serviceable if pointless rockers that feel out of place amidst the summery chillrock that makes up the rest of the album, and aren’t on par with the best chargers on, say, First Impressions, where they would have otherwise fit in just fine (assuming you could actually fit more music on that disc).
Everything else, though, is varying degrees of win. The album opens with the gauzy, Coca Cola-sweet “Tap Out,” an immediate highlight that — refreshingly — wouldn’t fit on any other Strokes album, even as it uses guitar and vocal textures employed by the band since 2001. “Welcome To Japan” matches a disco beat with guitars that alternate between slashing and soothing, and a straight-up divine melody from Casablancas, one of the best he’s ever written. “Slow Animals” has a smooth R&B groove to match its title, and then Casablancas swoops in with a giant chorus that raises the thing two or three notches, from a 6 or 7 to a 9. “Partners In Crime” opens with a drumbeat straight off Is This It, but as soon as it hits the first verse it shifts into a dreamy lite-funk haze — if it featured a different vocalist, it might sound like either Stereolab or … Jamiroquai. “Chances” features Casablancas doing an Antony-esque falsetto — not necessarily a great look for him! — but the melody he’s constructed is so sublime that all his choices are redeemed, rewarded, even. “Happy Endings” is full of pixilated, pointillistic guitars and a manic Casablancas vocal that appears to be spiraling out of control, an appearance belied by the sheer intricacy of the thing. “Call It Fate Call It Karma” is kind of a throwaway, but it’s also kind of a gorgeous little daydream-made-sound, and its blissful airiness pairs well with the rest of Comedown Machine‘s strongest moments, so I’m inclined to put it in the “pros” column.
The problem, if you want to call it one, is that the reinvented Strokes don’t really sound like the Strokes. The common refrain — which I’m repeating here because it’s pretty on the money — is that Comedown Machine sounds like Phoenix. Musically, that’s a good thing: Phoenix are a fantastic band. But it raises real questions about the Strokes brand. Phoenix flaunt and at least tacitly embrace their Yacht Rock tendencies, but the Strokes have always been a “real” rock band. In truth, both are lifestyle bands more than they are representatives of any genre, but the Phoenix lifestyle doesn’t just grow old gracefully; it’s old, period. On the other hand, if the Strokes aren’t repping for hipster kids, for whom exactly are they repping? Hipster dads?
More than Phoenix, even, the new Strokes record sounds to me like the second Julian Casablancas solo album, the follow-up to his strong 2009 release, Phrazes For The Young. Casablancas has always been a terrifically gifted writer of melodies, and front to back, Comedown Machine may contain his strongest to date. But it also suppresses the rest of the band’s contributions, to the extent those guys actually contributed. (And again, who knows?) And if they contributed only minimally, well, that kind of adds up: The young Strokes were always, per McInerney, “a democracy under a dictator,” and Casablancas didn’t allow for much collaboration till First Impressions — or, precisely the point at which the ship began to sink, the record that came after the two untouchable classics.
So where does Comedown Machine rank in the canon (or the Countdown)? On first listen, I had it at No. 4, behind First Impressions, simply because First Impressions has always seemed to me primarily a victim of unrealistic and outsize ambitions, and I’m inclined to forgive such flaws when they’re obscuring good ideas. (Trim that thing to 10 songs, re-record ‘em with Gordon Raphael instead of David Kahne, and suddenly it’s better than Room On Fire, IMO.) A few times through Comedown Machine, though, and … well, I’ll re-quote Tim here: After a few listens, I legitimately think this could be their third best album. Even if it’s not the Strokes of old — the five guys who got us to rock skinny jeans and Chucks and nasty neon ID bracelets — even if it’s not the Strokes at all … yeah, I think I’d slot it third. More importantly, though: Right now, today, it’s the Strokes album I’d reach for first.
You Might Also Like
 HAIM – “I’ll Try Anything Once” (Strokes Cover) |  The 10 Best Strokes Songs |  The Strokes – “Fast Animals” |  The Strokes Comedown Machine Comment Party |
 |
 |
Leave a Reply
Sign in Sign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
One Way Trigger, 50/50, 80s Comeback Machine are some of the high points for me, not the negatives.
One Way Trigger is, so far, endlessly listenable.
lol yeah. one way trigger starts the album for me. i love tap out. but i’m so lazy to press the next button once all the time comes around.
I think One Way Trigger is one of my favorite songs on the album too. After Angles I wasn’t expecting much from The Strokes, but when I heard OWT I got real excited. The album wasn’t disappointing either. It’s good to see the boys back in top form.
“50/50″ seems to be split 50/50 between critics who either love it or hate it. “One Way Trigger” triggers only happy thoughts. I also enjoyed “Chances”—Julian’s falsetto makes it sound like an Arthurian breakup song (see the lyrics and you’ll see what I mean).
Hey Michael, the review makes it sound like you grabbed a copy of the leak where “50/50″ and “80′s Comedown Machine” were flipped by accident. It also sounds like that happened with “Chances” and “Partners in Crime” for you.
Gah! Thanks for the heads up! I’ve amended this in the text.
I was wondering that myself. They’re still mixed up, but now that I know this, the review reads better.
In retrospect, it’s amazing how much of a let down “Room on Fire” was received as at the time. I think the Strokes discography will only continue to rise in esteem with time, especially this record.
The Strokes are fascinating dudes and all, but can we stop labeling introspective pieces on artists as actual evaluations of their work? Only 1/4 of what’s written here is about the actual music on Comedown Machine. There’s obviously value in placing work in the larger context of an artist’s career, but if we’re saying the album is “a total reinvention of the Strokes,” shouldn’t we put more energy into discussing that reinvention than the past that led to it?
(And this comes more from a “I’m really interested in what people think about this record” place than a “I’m a cynical asshole” place.)
I agree 100%. It seems like whenever the Strokes come out with a new album, every website has an article rehashing their entire history. This review should have started at the paragraph “Let’s get the negatives out of the way first…”
Idk if you are new here but most writing on this site has a preamble to it, its the stereogum thang
good point man,so so so many reviews of records end up having 1/4 of it or even less, be about the record
This. I agree with a lot of the points made here regarding the music (I really like the album), but frankly it’s irritating to constantly read about “the Strokes brand” or whatever. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t get the feeling that most other bands are held to this brand standard. Do we talk about The Phoenix Brand? The Black Keys Brand? The X-Band-Here Brand? Maybe we do more than I think and I’m just missing it, I dunno. And anyway, it’s not like Casablancas and co. set out to start some Jay-Z esque business (man) empire. Neither did Kurt Cobain, but suddenly flannel was all the rage (granted, different time, different band).
I think that the radio silence prefacing the album’s release was an attempt by the band to get people to ignore the shit for a bit and just listen to the tunes, but, like, in doing that they just made people over-analyze the silence. There’s a video circa Is This It with Julian/Nick interviewed by the Narduwar guy, and Julian is pissed that people over-analyze the “brand” and have made judgments of the music/band before they’ve heard anything. I would have hoped that twelve years later we’d be able to let the band just release songs and be done with it, but I guess that won’t ever happen? Hell, even the RCA deal: what rock musician WOULDN’T sign a “mammoth” deal like that? (And yeah, okay, I’ll allow for fight-the-establishment DIY acts, but most people, I presume, get into professional music to find an audience and/or money.) It seems to me that the “brand” stuff is misguided–we should be critiquing the media over this, not the band. I don’t see the band doing much to perpetuate this mogul-built idea, but maybe I just like the music too much and therefore miss it. Anyway, once nepotism is mentioned it’s impossible to shake it (sorry, Lena Dunham), so I guess this is the fate the band is resigned to.
tl;dr The Strokes write good music and I think it’s unfortunate that the songs will always be overshadowed by the media-constructed hype machine and by the backlash machine that’s built into it.
Also: Good article and well written, even if I disagree with the general theme.
I want to agree with the “let’s just pay attention to the music” sentiment, but I think there’s so much context here to consider, it greatly influences how we listen to this particular music made by this particular band. With that said, the statement “The Strokes write good music” is debatable by it’s very nature, and especially suspect since 2005, when they started offering as many total misses as they did relative hits (that rarely reached the peaks found on ITI and ROF).
I should have said “I think” before that, you’re absolutely right. (Edit function? Anybody? No? All right then.)
Burke, thanks for the kind words. My point was not that the Strokes should be held to some brand standard, it’s that they can’t not be. As I said in the piece, I sincerely believe the Strokes have made a greater impact on the world of fashion than they have on the world of music, however inadvertently. That’s not meant as a slight. I’m awed by it, honestly. It’s not a coincidence that Converse (not RCA Records) was the biggest sponsor at SXSW, nor is it a coincidence that most music journalism (print and online) is paired with ads for clothing. The two have been conflated in ways we’ve never before really seen, and I think the Strokes are more than a little bit responsible for that. Music isn’t a viable commodity in this century; clothing is. Music can’t sell, y’know, music anymore but music CAN sell an image; clothing is the simplest commodification of that image. Again, not a slight on the Strokes. In fact, I think a real dissection of pop culture in the first couple decades of the 21st century might even reveal that the Strokes are their generation’s most significant cultural influence, or at least a prime mover. But separating their music from their greater public identity is impossible. I also wasn’t suggesting they were the beneficiaries of nepotism, nor that they should have been scolded for signing that deal — I was merely using those examples to illustrate that AT NO POINT has the public ever viewed the Strokes purely as purveyors of songs; their story has always, from before Day 1, been much bigger than that. So it’s frankly impossible now to step back and analyze the songs-qua-songs as if this were a new Aimee Mann record. (Not a slight on Aimee Mann, either!)
Ahh. All right. This makes more sense to me. I’ll admit that I’ve been a little too primed for the image-over-music argument, so I think I jumped the gun on you. I assumed the points being made were meant as backhanded compliments of a sort, or that you were adhering to this belief that they should be held to that brand ideal. I agree that it’s an important part of the band’s history. I guess mine is a more generic/existential complaint of, well, dammit why CAN’T the music be separated from the image? I know the answer to that already (it’s impossible in entertainment, more or less), but it still bugs me. And the nepotism comment was more in reference to, again, the public’s/media-at-large’s opinion (which I wrongly assumed you were subscribing to). Had I read a little more thoroughly I’d have seen the points you were making in the correct light. Thanks for the response!
FYI, I’d like to see that sort of pop-culture dissection you mentioned. Maybe a future Deconstructing.
100% agree, and love the article for those reasons. Well said, Michael.
I think the difference with comparing The Strokes Brand with bands like Black Keys or Phoenix like Burk did above is that those band’s popularity now can almost directly be traced back to The Strokes (especially Phoenix). The Strokes are a brand because, whether their last couple albums have been great or not (remember, Nirvana only did it with a couple albums too), revolutionized modern pop culture. Stylisticall, and musically. So, like you are saying, their brand image will always come into play when they’re in the conversation, whether the band perpetuates it conciously or not.
Again, great article.
I couldn’t agree more, but like “oblivion” said, that is what all the S Gum writers do. It can get really annoying at times.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
didn’t mean “call me back” i meant “Call it fate” fuck, go easy on me
What a pathetic take on the album. It seems it went way over your head. It’s all about the mood in the album. The mood that transits and organically flows. That same mood is maintained while different emotions are targeted. This is more of a solidified Phoenix/Haim take. Plus, since when did Phoenix and Haim reserve 80′s music. Did Duran Duran have a Phoenix influence? No, so stop comparing something that isn’t there. Neither Haim nor Phoenix have the instrumental ability or capacity to even make a Strokes take on 80′s music. They simply don’t possess the musical knowledge to do this. One thing you should notice through Comedown Machine is the signature Strokes guitar riffs and timing. It’s always been mostly a build-up on the Strokes influence itself, only with an 80′s/futuristic touch.
How the fuck is 50/50 your favorite song anyways? It’s good, but it’s nothing new. Shows how awful you analyze the milder details in the other songs, because they are what makes the album
That was a little too harsh everyone! step back from it fo a sec an mellow out ya hear, Pce.
Everyone gettin’ served these days, eh Obliv? ; )
9 out of 100 doctors agree that one stereogum serving per week can be beneficial in the maturation and psychological development of a critically thinking human being, HOWEVER It is unhealthy and NOT RECOMMENDED to exceed this dosage, its science people.
I never understood the beef with First Impressions of Earth either.
Sure, it’s a lot of tracks to digest and some of them are somewhat cringe worthy, but I always feel like an ass when I complain a song has TOO many songs. That was my initial complaint with the new David Bowie album, especially with the bonus tracks tacked on. Over time, I’ve found something I love about each, which makes it a weaker “album experience” but still makes for a great collection of songs. “Electricityscape” is still one of my all-time favorite Strokes songs.
Comedown Machine seems like a very strong “album experience”. I love that 50/50 is in the exact halfway mark on the album (An album sequencing strategy I’ve loved ever since I first heard NaS’s “Halftime”). I think the title of the album plays a lot into the overall feel when listening to it in the context you thoroughly described above: The Strokes are winding down. So to have last track “Call It Fate Call It Karma” as a throwaway makes sense. I feel like this album is designed to help me cope with the inevitable absence of The Strokes rather than giving me a bunch of barn burners (my new favorite term) that will just make me wish they were still making music.
Love the title, love the cover, love the album. I feel like over time I’ll enjoy this album more and more, just like I did with “Angles”. Also it’ll be another A/B side record (given its runtime). Interesting enough, did you know they got all of First Impressions of Earth onto two sides of a record? You’d think they’d have to split that up but… guess it isn’t as bloated as we all remembered.
FIOE is 52 minutes long, which isn’t particularly huge but by The Strokes album. I created my own version of First Impressions that cut it down to 11 tracks and swapped in Hawaii and the demo of You Only Live Once (as an outro) and greatly prefer it to the original, which I think had sequencing problems as well as being too long.
*but by The Strokes standards that’s too much.
I seemingly turned into a drooling idiot at the end of the first sentence.
how did Hawaii not make that album?!?! eff that song is so damned awesome.
if FIOE was just something like: YOLO, Juicy Juice, Heart in a Cage, Razorblade, fear of sleep, ize of the world, evening sun, red light, hawaii and vision of division/electriccityscape (can’t decide between those two)….every review wouldv’e been: “strokes release 3rd straight great album”
Electricityscape ;)
I read somewhere that the album HAD been trimmed to a shorter length, and was being prepped for release, but JC had a panic attack or something and made a last-minute decision to released it with the 14 songs. Can’t remember where I read this, though.
I remember reading the same thing, burke. If only…
It was a pitchfork article about the ten years of Is This It. And I always said it and I know a lot of people, like you, thinks the same: FIOE – Killing Lies – Fear of Sleep – 15 Minutes + Hawaii = masterpice.
- evening sun.
I find the song to be a bit monotonous personally, IDK maybe U dudes don’t, Hawaii was rockin n rollin though.
I’ve never heard “Hawaii”…
How am I just now hearing about it?
I’ve never actually heard it either, even though I have the Juicebox 7″ that has it as a B-side haha. Guess I should go listen to that
for those who haven’t heard it/don’t wanna look it up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSSfcjAfC9w
Love this song.
raptor, have you heard Hawaii yet?
Out of interest, which songs did you omit? Gotta agree that your additions are great.
The tracklist is:
1. You Only Live Once
2. Hawaii
3. Razorblade
4. Heart in a Cage
5. Ask Me Anything
6. Electricityscape
7. Red Light
8. Juicebox
9. Evening Sun
10. Ize of the World
11. I’ll Try Anything Once
Which means Vision of Division (which I don’t mind, it’s like a better version of Metabolism, but just missed the cut) as well as On the Other Side, Killing Lies, Fear of Sleep and 15 minutes(which I feel completely kill the momentum of the album) were cut.
As I look back at it and your omissions, I realize 15 Minutes is really the only song I can’t stand on that album. I like Killing Lies and On the Other Side. Vision of Division would get on mine for the solo alone.
Cool, thanks for that – I’ll give it a try, I’ve created a ‘Second Impressions of Earth’ playlist…
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
You downvoted me to death, lads. Not fuuuuuuuuuun, but that’s life, I guess
I decided to upvote just to prevent this from being rewarded a “Worst Comment” come friday. We don’t need that.
Not overstuffed and needing judicious editing like FIOE, not half-baked and awkward like Angles, this is unquestionably a successful Strokes album.
I think this is their first album since Room On Fire without a single legitimately weak track on it, and I think 3rd place is much more of a compliment when you consider it’s probably a lot closer to 2nd (ROF) than it is to 4th (Angles) and 5th (FIOE).
Way better than the last one at least.
really, really solid article. i was cracking up at the first paragraph as I stole the same look directly from JC. the dude recognizes and appropriates cool, both sonically and aesthetically better than anyone in history.
totally agree that if you chop off a 1/3 of the overlong FIOE, you get a 3rd straight classic album. but when you do that, Comedown Machine still doesn’t touch an abridged FIOE.
i still don’t understand the position that CM sounds like/could work as the logical next JC solo record. i think that’s a very narrow view as CM is stillt he Strokes and would sound like a step backwards if it were the 2nd JC record. it alsoshows a lack of understanding and familiarity with the first JC solo record. that album still sounds years ahead of its time and i hope it gets recognized as such some day.
does anyone have a link to pic of julian rocking that look?
As far as I’m concerned, this is a great article. Okay, not everyone is going to agree 100% with someone else about what songs they find to be the the highlights/lowlights of any one album so I’m not even gonna get into that much (I’d say I’m like 70-80% in agreement with Michael, maybe).
I’m a big fan of the Strokes, I’d sort of forgotten how much I was almost until I read this! Because I remembered myself having internal debates a few years ago about the likes of First Impressions of Earth and how good it was, and this: “(Trim that thing to 10 songs, re-record ‘em with Gordon Raphael instead of David Kahne, and suddenly it’s better than Room On Fire, IMO.)” was pretty much along the lines of what I myself used to think/wish upon a star would go ahead and magically happen somehow. If First Impressions was better edited and recorded, it would have been a cracking album instead of a bit of a mess with some really strong songs thrown into the mix.
One thing I read a few years ago was that “If Room on Fire had came out after First Impressions it would have been hailed as a return to form”. I’ll never forget that, because there was a some amount of criticism thrown at Room on Fire and I couldn’t believe that at the time, like this writer I felt that was a almost as much of a classic as Is This It was.
Also, what’s said about Converse here might sound ridiculous to some people, but (sadly, perhaps) not to me. My friend, who I immediately sent this article to (not a Strokes fan) is always teasing me because I wear Converse and she always attributes that to The Strokes! I always denied that, laughed it off, but now I’m kinda thinking, you know what, she’s probably been right the whole fucking time. heh.
Anyway I really enjoyed this article, I don’t usually comment but I wanted to say that. Bravo, sir.
I agree. The first pair of Converse I bought were in response to Julian looking baddass in them. I’ll put that out there.
Mine was because of I, Robot.
No, not really. I’ve never had any. :(
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
this band is fucking done
Take it for what it is. We are never going to get another Room on Fire or Is This It and we have to stop expecting it. I think this is a legitimately enjoyable album.
We were spoiled by literally ZERO filler in those first 2 albums (in my opinion), and now we analyze every Strokes song expecting perfection. I think this album gives me another 5-6 good Strokes songs, and 1-2 more that are listenable. I’ll take it.
That’s a pretty defeatist attitude.
strokesmania these past few weeks made me browse ebay to see if i could find an affordable uk pressing of is this it, and it got me thinking: do i want to pay $50 for a vinyl copy of a record i might not even play at all?
i have a hard time with people deifying is this it when they start comparing it with their other albums. honestly, and this is going to count as heresy among those here who cherish is this it, i don’t really think the strokes have ever put out a fully-realized record. that obviously goes for the glut of side-projects as well. first impressions and angles are obvious, but room on fire contains more skippable songs that is this it, which really only has maybe three songs on it i would consider as being not good enough to listen to anymore.
listen, is this it is a great record. i still own my copy i bought near the end of 2001, and i still listen to it sometimes. but i think just because it was “there” during the boom of the ’00s indie movement, people now think it’s somehow amazing and essential, disregarding the fact that there are a smattering of uninspired songs like “when it started” and “trying your luck.”
I disagree with a lot of what you said here, so I won’t get into those details. But your last paragraph plays into the article Michael has written. The Strokes appeal had a lot more to it than simply an album. I personally like Room On Fire more than Is This It, I wasn’t even around for the cultural boom of that debut (see my comment above). But I completely understand the appeal of their inherent “cool.” That’s what shot their music into a revolution.
Oops…the comment I made that I was referencing is actually below (the one with Julian’s mug)
well to be fair, the songs that work on is this it are classic strokes songs, i enjoy them, and there are smattering of great songs on room on fire. i enjoy those as well. and i don’t necessarily hold an album up to classic status by having to define it as absolutely, totally “perfect.” perhaps either of those two first strokes records are “classic,” and i don’t think i’d vehemently troll over anyone calling them that. i’m just saying, over the past decade i’ve become somewhat bewildered by the degree the status of those records, particularly is this it, has been inflated to.
i think it’s important to keep that in mind while everyone gets all hot and bothered over whether this record in particular lives up to the legacy of their earlier work, their first two records weren’t flawless either.
Yea, I can see that. Good point.
What songs are skippable on Is This It and Room On Fire? If they’re skippable to you, you haven’t listened to them enough.
I don’t own a pair of Chucks. They only make them up to size 18.
Shout out to Adidas for selling shelltoes in a 20. I am an Adidas loyalist by, like, genentics.
Neither do I – my “Piece Of Mind” Vans are all I need.
Neither do I – my “Piece Of Mind” Vans are all I need.
I really like this article, and can agree it’s probably the band’s third best. It doesn’t bug me that half of it is about the band’s mystique, because by writing about it your basically proving the point. It has and always will be a giant part of the band’s appeal.
I will always champion Room On Fire above Is This It, but I recognize it’s because of a cultural bias. I had only barely heard of the Strokes in ’01 when I moved to Japan for a few years, and never heard of them again until I returned and Room On Fire was hitting the scene. So, for me, that was the ablum that blew me away. And I’m also very fond of First Impressions. It is probably their most uneven album, but I give it credit because while half of it is comprised of the worst songs they’ve done, the other half is some of the very best. Angles was decent and interesting, just comparitvely boring.
And if I may say so, this is the image that first converted me to the badassery of Julian.
Thriller FTW.
a massive round of applause for this premature evaluation. Do they give Pulitzer’s for these?
Between this and d-tilla’s manifesto in the comment party, it’s been an exceptional week for Comedown Machine coverage here at Stereogum
I keep on considering how I would feel about this album if a) I didn’t know it was the strokes or b) it was actually a different band. I would like it alright, and then forget about it in a month. This one I think actually benefits from association with its superior predecessors, but the real problem, as has been with all of their output since FIOE, is that their signature Strokes “sound” on the first two albums is a better sound and works better with their songwriting. Brand or no brand (ie: even if they were “hipster dads”) I’d prefer shifts in substance, not style – and it seems they’ve been dead set on the opposite.
The Strokes are too good of a band to stay stagnant with style I think. I don’t blame them for trying new things, only this time it seems to finally have paid off, at least for a full album.
Trying to take the catalog comparisons and image hype out of a release is pretty hard. I try to have an outside approach to albums, but in the end, a band carries who they are and who they were with each release, for better or worse. As I listen to this album in the context of “Nameless Band,” I still like it, maybe even more so, because even though the Strokes haven’t revolutionized anything since probably their debut, they still have an original sound. I can’t think of a band that sounds like them. When you hear the Strokes, you know its them. And if this were some other band, I’d think “Woah, this is unique, I dig it.” On the other hand, as “The Strokes” I’m able to appreciate their evolution alongside it and it ends up being a very interesting listen in context.
Also, it’s just like that MBV album. Both of these bands were so culturally revolutionary in their sound, so even if you imagine this being another band, I would have a hard time doing so without thinking “Nice, this sounds like The Strokes” anyway. You’d almost have to imagine a world where the Strokes never existed in the first place to appreciate that imaginary perspective. Takes too much brain power.
I would debate you on a few points: 1) I think this is actually the least Strokes-sounding album yet, and if you heard many of the album’s songs at random you wouldn’t be able to quickly place them. Collectively, it’s better than Angles, but still less “Strokes-y.” 2) The MBV album was a great example of a band exploring/evolving/expanding their style without ditching it. The same can be said about most successful bands. There is a definite thread of style that weaves each album to the next, which makes it seem like the band is being considered, not fickle. The Strokes, on the other hand, seem fickle with taste and style. Unfortunately, it seems to me that their songwriting benefits the most from their early style/sound. I should note that I’m not one to knock stylistic shifts or outright departures (Radiohead’s Ok Computer to Kid A transition is the best example I can think of), but I don’t think these guys are good enough to pull it off – which is not to say that the last three albums are bad, they’re just not nearly as good as the first two and would benefit greatly, in my opinion, from the same treatment (a bit more editing, a bit more nonchalance, a bit more distortion, a bit more drunk Julian).
Yeah that makes more sense, I see your point better now.
I think the band has been guided by the hype machine a little too much. After Room On Fire, people started knocking it as Is This It 2 (ironically, now that’s all people want…audiences are definitely more fickle than the band) so they’ve been trying to change it up a bit ever since. I actually think Room On Fire is a much better album (yes..MUCH) and if I’m being completely honest, I probably reach for First Impressions more than I go for Is This It. Its a less consistent album but the highlights are so much higher (and to be fair, the lows lower).
Anyway, I don’t mind the change necessarily. But, I can agree with your point that their original sound is what they’re best at.
…am I the only person who sees that this review is simply “0″? Is this some huge Stereogum inside joke that I’m missing out on?
look at the front page, EVERYTHING is “0″! uh oh…
We are having technical difficulties. Everything should be back soon. I hope.
Always knew we could count on you Phil Collins….
As you can see (I hope!), the review is back now. Apologies to all who came here to read it and found a “zero” in its place (which was I presume a binary code thing and not at all a reflection of my feelings about the music!).
Woah weird. There was a review there before…
I didn’t realize that this was their last album for RCA. This certainly makes things a bit interesting. The band is now at a crossroads. Could we be listening to the last Strokes album?
Yeah, the cover just got a whole lot cooler with that fact in mind.
First I’d like to say that this is, hands down, the best piece I’ve ever read on The Strokes. Most writers tend to dismiss the connection that people have to The Stokes as simply a connection to Is This It. While that may allow for a more fair and objective review of a work, it simply doesn’t work because it isn’t true. We all know that our adoration for this band is beyond logic and reason but it is a full on infatuation whether we want it or not. I don’t think I need to compare any of their output to their first two albums, but I’ll always take into account who the band is because it makes anything they do, for some reason, enjoyable to me for the simple reason that they are The Strokes.
Second, I think that Call It Fate is a genius album closer and would have been perfect if the album had followed a more constant arc. It also could be called the new single from Little Joy (who I think needs a new album).
i effing love the little joy LP. BUT, i’d prefer the strokes keep it going come out with their first non-RCA labeled LP sooner rather than later.
First I’d like to say that this is, hands down, the best piece I’ve ever read on The Strokes. Most writers tend to dismiss the connection that people have to The Stokes as simply a connection to Is This It. While that may allow for a more fair and objective review of a work, it simply doesn’t work because it isn’t true. We all know that our adoration for this band is beyond logic and reason but it is a full on infatuation whether we want it or not. I don’t think I need to compare any of their output to their first two albums, but I’ll always take into account who the band is because it makes anything they do, for some reason, enjoyable to me for the simple reason that they are The Strokes.
Second, I think that Call It Fate is a genius album closer and would have been perfect if the album had followed a more constant arc. It also could be called the new single from Little Joy (who I think needs a new album).
What I found out with these last two albums and the solo projects is that under all the hype, the aesthetics and the leather jackets, there are five pretty talented and creative musicians (well, 4 maybe… don’t know what to say about the bassist). And as much as I liked this last record, I think The Strokes as en entity is stifling that individual creative potential. Angles sounded like a bunch of songs (some of it pretty good though) thrown together in a poorly organized playlist, but we cannot say the same about CM. To me, despite its heterogeneity, it seems like a coherent record that could only have been made by a band working together and fully cooperating, sharing a common vision. But even in those favorable conditions, I think this is probably the best they can get under the Strokes’ signature at this point of their careers. I would rather now to listen Casablancas expanding his sound without any kind of restrictions, Albert Hammond Jr keep making perfect songs and records like the undervalued Yours to Keep, maybe Valensi grabbing the catchy and simplistic vein of the first records…The Strokes are the band of more than one generation (i’m twenty, and a lot of thirtysomethings probably feel the same) and if they split up they would probably never reunite again, and they won’t be as big by their own as they’re now as a band. So yeah, it’s sad (CM has a very nostalgic/melancholic vibe indeed), but I think this could be a succesful farewell in the wake of a more rewarding musical future, and in the end, as I think they’re trying to demonstrate with this “no press” thing, music is all that matters.
(This was supposed to be in reply to the above comment by petercarper ^)
Where is the review? All I see is a “0″ underneath the album cover.
yeah same. and the upvotes/downvote buttons are gone
I think One Way Trigger is one of my favorite songs on the album too. After Angles I wasn’t expecting much from The Strokes, but when I heard OWT I got real excited. The album wasn’t disappointing either. It’s good to see the boys back in top form.
If your last Strokes album review is a “0″, then it’s the best.
This album is a grower. There’s such a strange, sexy vibe to it. I think All The Time is the catchiest, but 50/50 definitely moved me too. Go and stream this, if you haven’t already. http://smarturl.it/StrokesCMStream
Really loving this album. Not comfortable placing it above Room on Fire, but I think that in the future if I want to listen to the Strokes and I don’t want to listen to Is This It, I am going to listen to Comedown Machine. Room On Fire is so similar to Is This It that when I want my Strokes fix, I just listen to the superior album. It’s been said before but Comedown Machine is something completely different than the band has done before and now serves as the only other good Strokes album with an identity all its own.
The Strokes definitely made an effort with Comedown Machine. Critics like to suggest they don’t try or even appear to enjoy creating music (see the Letterman performance of “Take For A Fool”, where Letterman asks if Julian was “okay”), but that’s the Strokes’ aesthetic and appeal. Comedown Machine is one of my favourite albums primarily because they’ve stepped out of the expectations placed on them after Is This It.
they’re too old, let go.
and nobody listen to techno
Where did the review go? There are no words once the page loads up…
MAKE IT COME BACK!!!
Review is simply just a “0″ and there’s no ratings on comments as of right now. Is this because of the website’s crash earlier in the day?
There was a full (and lengthy) eval yesterday which called this the third best Strokes album, although it seems to have been lost in the Interwebz
The least you can do is add a video of a monkey peeing into his mouth
Must have been something in that review the Strokes camp didn’t approve of.
You just don’t mess up with Yacht Rock, maaaaan
don’t dare to say a single bad word about ‘Dan, I’ll ruin your dick
even 2003 Steely Dan album is better than this shite
but at the same time Room on Fire of course is better than that album
so..
Is This It – 9.8/10
Room on Fire – 8.4/10
FIOTE – 5.3/10
Angles – 5.7/10
Comedown Machine – 2.2./10
Can’t Buy a Thrill – 8.0/10
Countdown to Ecstasy – 8.4/10
Pretzel Logic – 9.4/10
Katy Lied – 7.5/10
The Royal Scam – 8.3/10
Aja – 9.9/10
all others are shit
I don’t know of many people who’d slot The Royal Scam in above Katy Lied, dog – that’s a mad questionable choice. And Gaucho is pretty decent – I certainly wouldn’t dismiss any album with “Hey Nineteen” as simply “shit.”
ok, I just actually haven’t heard it yet but it’s not that critically acclaimed as all their previous albums so I thought it’s bad. I’ll check it out
It’s back!
Great article and analysis! It really explains why high emotions and sturm und drang accompany any conversation about the Strokes. The Strokes represent so much more than just their music. They are a brand, an aspirational lifestyle, and nothing less than the saviours of rock and roll! That’s why a new Strokes album comes with so much needy expectation from believers and dismissive cynicism from apostates.
I doubt their music will ever be able to satisfy us because The Strokes are saddled with so much expectation and leftover nostalgia from when Is This It was released. Maybe it also explains my total embarrassment and weird disappointment at Julian Casablancas, once the epitome of cool, when he was captured on Conan dancing awkwardly, looking like a scared kitten, and at one point pretending to roll a dice. How the mighty have fallen. No one can live up to the expectation of being a god, but it’s funny how, when they fall, we hate them for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUVo1nLF-EE
Mike Nelly is a god.
^^^ Where’s the upvote button when ya need it?! ;-)
lol now instead of upvoting and downvoting, there will be hundreds of comments saying that they would have liked to have upvoted or downvoted the comment if the buttons were still there which will in turn plague the site even more with nonsense!
IT NEVER ENDS GUYS.
At least the trolling would die
The more I listen to this album the more I wonder why One Way Trigger and All the Time were released first.
Mike, this is a fantastic History of The Strokes, and the way you unpacked the Strokes’ cultural influence was great — but one thing I wish you went into even more was their effect on the New York music scene, beyond being THE sound of a post 9/11 NYC. Weren’t they a huge reason why Williamsburg became what it is now? Also, once the band left NYC as a collective and dispersed to LA etc (how many of them live here anymore?), they failed to match the pinnacle of This Is It. Do you think not being here had something to do with it? Or is it more about RCA and all of them getting older and sober?
Sharon, absolutely regarding the whole Williamsburg thing. Michael is dead on too. NYC was pretty much a musical graveyard leading up to 2001. There were perhaps six or so bands that had something relevant going on. What remained were mainly washed up Funk and faux Punk bands. The Strokes, The Realistics, Moldy Peaches, Mooney Suzuki, Radio 4 axis was the start of it all. Most of them began playing the circuit around ’98 and it was a special time for those who were there, a real sense of camaraderie. No one from that scene ever imagined it would blow up the way it did. The jig was already up once The Strokes signed with Rough Trade. Almost immediately, NYC was bombarded with hundreds of new hopefuls from across the country. Groups seemed to form overnight; all racing to be the next big thing, mimicking the local formula and claiming to be “from NY.” There must have been 60 bands that sounded like Radio 4 alone. The Strokes, Moonies, Realistics (and The Charade before them) were rocking that leather jacket, skinny tie, Elvis Costello, blazer look way before it was remotely fashionable (again). This all translated globally once the NME jumped in. By the time Is This It came out there were what seemed like thousands of bands from all over the world moving to Williamsburg.
As for not matching their former glories, I think they just got too big. They kept touring up to ROF so those songs had a chance to develop on the road in the same spirit as their earlier material. They lived with it and still had that impenetrable group bond. Once they had a moment to breath and smell the roses it’s probable they started to drift apart…. famous girlfriends, money, egos…. classic story. The good life was handed to them on a golden platter. In turn, the chemistry that propelled them was gone. It’s inevitable the music (or recordings depending on how you look at it) would begin to suffer. They lost the fire that got them there.
Thanks, Sharon! I considered including a section on Williamsburg in here, but it’s already pretty long, and frankly, I’ve got no evidence that any Stroke has ever set foot in Brooklyn. One of the things, though, that sets the Strokes apart from any scene is their connection to several at once: At first, they were lumped in with the White Stripes (Detroit), the Hives (Sweden), and the Vines (Australia) as being part of some garage-rock revival. But they were subsequently one of the faces of the emergent NYC scene at that time which had NOTHING to do with garage rock (Interpol, YYYs, TVOTR, LCD Soundsystem, the Walkmen, the Rapture, the whole electroclash thing, and the long-forgotten likes of Stellastarr and the Star Spangles, etc.). I do think the Strokes’ prominence helped to make NYC an attractive destination for young folks in search of a new bohemia, but there are just way too many contributing factors to credit the Strokes or any band with being major players in the gentrification of Williamsburg. I do remember a listicle in Blender in early 2003 that ranked the “Top 30 Rock N Roll Hoods” or something, and Williamsburg was at No. 1 I think the real turning point came when established bands deeply associated with OTHER cities started moving to Brooklyn (the Hold Steady from Minneapolis, the National from Cincinnati, and Conor Oberst from Omaha come to mind). I really recommend >>>this great book< << if you want some insight into the gentrification of Williamsburg; I can’t recall any mention of the Strokes in it, tbh. That said, though, they certainly were attractive representatives of NYC at a time when all eyes were on NYC, and an exciting band to follow at a time when American popular culture was at a nadir.
“I’ve got no evidence that any Stroke has ever set foot in Brooklyn.”
ah, if you only had the investigative genius to just check out Julian’s twitter:
https://twitter.com/Casablancas_J/status/309906438866731008
He lives off the Bedford L!
Oh wow, I used to live right there, too, on N. 8th and Bedford. Ships in the night! Anyway, I was being overly clever; my point was that it would be strangely presumptuous to credit the Strokes with the gentrification of Williamsburg when they were at that time, pretty famously associated with the East Village (unlike say TVOTR who were very much a part of the North Brooklyn landscape).
I’ve never been to New York so I can’t comment on the bulk of this thread. But I like what you said about the Strokes being lumped in (unfairly?) with the garage rock revival. Yet another way in which their revolution mirrors Nirvana’s, to me (them being tagged with “grunge” because of their geographical origins, yet sounding more punk than the rest of the grunge acts).
While I think The Strokes helped usher in the garage “cool” because of this label, I always thought of them as ushering in that sort of new wave/80′s sound more than garage rock. A little of both I suppose.
Didn’t MTV ask them to perform with the Hives and the Vines as part of a “nu-garage revue” on the VMAs or something (which the Strokes wisely turned down)?
Ha I think you’re right. “Nu-Garage”
Deconstructing NYC/Williamsburg in the cards?
I hadn’t considered it but that could be an interesting article, actually. If I can find time to do it (and do it justice), I’ll do it.
Room on Fire is better than Is This It.
I kind of prefer it too.
Agreed
Agreed. And not just a little bit.
I disagree, but I can see why some people would think that.
The guy just below us made a great comparison to Radiohead I didn’t think about. Is This Is and Room On Fire have the same debate as Ok Computer and Kid A it seems. (Thought it’s a little less down the middle with the Strokes…seems a big margin tend toward Is This It)
Also that Is This It and Room on Fire are much more similar than OK Computer and Kid A. I checked my completely SCIENTIFIC rankings in the ol’ iTunes of Is This It and Room on Fire, and I have every song on Is This It as 5 stars, and all but two on Room on Fire as five stars.
If I go head to head by track:
Track 1: Is this It over What Ever Happened, but more because Is This It (title track) is actually a departure for The Strokes, while What Ever Happened is CONCENTRATED pure Strokes.
Track 2: The Modern Age over Reptilia. The Modern Age might be my favorite Strokes song because of the tiny Angus Young Who Made Who style guitar breakdown/solo. This is a tough one because Reptilia is awesome.
Track 3: Soma and Automatic Stop- tie. Both awesome.
Track 4: Barely Legal over 12:51- not that close
Track 5: Someday loses out to You Talk Way Too Much
Track 6: Alone Together by a smidge over Between Love & Hate
Track 7: Last Nite vs. Meet Me in the Bathroom- this is a cage match. I love both.
Track 8: Hard to Explain barely loses out to Under Control
Track 9: When It Started barely loses out to The Way It Is
Track 10: Trying Your Luck loses out to The End Has No End- but how good is Trying Your Luck?
Track 11: Take It Or Leave It vs. I Can’t Win=push
Is this It-Room on Fire-Ties by track
4-4-3
I think they are extremely close.
I was planning to reply with a reason why this is all backwards, but then I realized some of those trakcs really are pretty close. I’d still take Room On Fire any day though. And 12:51 all the way! But damn…Barely Legal jams
Also…Between Love & Hate>>>>>>>Alone Together.
12:51 and Under Control are actually my two favourite Strokes tracks, but back to front Is This It is pretty much a perfect album. Also NYC Cops > The Way It Is > When It Started.
I always wondered what Phrazes for the Young would have sounded like electric with the band instead of electronic. I know the sound on this new Strokes is called Phoenixy, but Phoenix’s massively buttoned down tightness has as much to do with The Strokes as anything, so I think we can just say that this hybrid between Julian’s solo gig and The Strokes’ sound is really them just working in different shades.
I just threw on FIOE, and it’s pretty good. YOLO is one of their best, and I quite like “Fear of Sleep” but it seems that that song slept with everyone’s girlfriends or something.
I quite enjoy Comedown Machine so far, and I think M is wrong about “80′s Comedown Machine” (it is good). I’m not sure I will like any song on Comedown Machine as much as “Machu Picchu” though. The Strokes have no bad albums, just disappointing perhaps. Think of the albums in this order: Angles is their “Pablo Honey”, FIOE is their “Bends”, Is This It is “OK Computer” and Room on Fire is their “Kid A”. If Comedown Machine is their “IN RAINBOWS” that’s pretty good. It is hard for anyone to be excited though when you end up coming out of the gate with OK Computer and Kid A and the next albums are not those albums.
Good points with the Radiohead comparisons. In fact I agree with your entire blurb here. If those Voting Hands were back I’d upvote the hell out of this.
I just don’t get how you could pick FIoE over Angles. Great point on the shoes, though.
After a listen or two I like this, but I don’t know where I place it – ahead of First Impressions, though.
I didn’t dislike anything on it, though I doubt I’ll ever get over the “Take On Me” aspect of “One Way Trigger”.
I don’t get the A-ha comparison everyone has seemed stuck on. The first 3 or 4 notes of the riff are the same. After that, the notes, the rythm, and especially the rest of the song around it have no resemblance to A-ha.
I agree—everyone jumps on one bandwagon and neglects to form their own opinions. The comparison was definitely not an “aha” moment.
That “Yacht Rock” article you linked to? It put Steely Dan in the same musical musical context as Toto and Hall & Oates. I call shenanigans.
Oh and on a side note, yeah, this album’s pretty damn decent.
They’ve always sounded very much like The Cars to me with song structure and synths. This album less so.