The Strokes
Is This It (2001)

review by: Matthew Scrivner
Date: 11/27/01

When I first heard the Strokes I thought it was a joke, I thought some DJ had slipped in one of his old post-punk LP's between the regular material. I tought, 'yeah, this must be something old,' I figured maybe it was something from the 80's and that maybe some Hollywood schmuck had thrown it into his movie so it was the latest craze and the soundtrack was getting airplay as marketing for the film.

But was I listening to a Velvet Underground track? Or maybe something by Television that I had never heard? Or maybe really early U2 circa Boy or October? 'No,' explained the excessively pierced and tatooed freak working at the record store, 'these guys are new. It's their first album.' And apparently the weird raw retro is all theirs.

What do I mean by retro? Well, it's hard to describe. The Strokes are drawing from a musical tradition we haven't seen alot of, especially in the past ten years. Maybe Velvet Underground, or some of the Ramones, or some of the Rolling Stones. All the music is fast and basic, verse-chorus-verse, but the driving guitar rhythms, minimal distortion, and unusual chord use and progression gives it a twist. It's clever and catchy rock 'n roll in it's most basic, almost garage, form. The problem is, I am not sure if it's merely a gimmick sound or if there is something new occurring here.

Now don't misunderstand, this is one of the few albums recently released that I can listen to from beginning to end without snagging a bad song and I hit the skip button. It's the kind of album I pop into the CD player and drive through traffic and bop along with. Nothing intellectual here, nothing heavy, and certainly not anything that requires my undivided listening attention.

But all the songs are short, under 3 minutes, and as a consequence the album is only about 35 minutes long. I guess if I am shelling out fifteen bucks I hope that I'll get more than 35 minutes of music.

So the verdict is mixed. I like it, what little there is tight, raw, and refreshing. But there isn't alot of material from which to really judge.

Don't have too much to add here because I pretty much agree with Matt. But I don't have a problem with the record being 35 minutes. If you've got 11 good songs, why not serve up 11 hot 'uns instead of 11 hot 'uns and 2 cold slices. Record companies should charge accordingly, but don't blame the band.

Also - HUGE Velvet Underground influence here, but not as self-conscious or cold. These guys seem to be kinda happy about the music they're making. And it's more uptempo too. No blues, so no Stones, and not fast or silly enough to be the Ramones - just a cool retro thang.

Definitely one of the better debut albums in the past few years.