Personally, I love the Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. Both their second albums were better than their debuts. (Don't get me wrong, 'Is This It' was great, but I like 'Room On Fire' more). I also like Kings of Leon, and I love the White Stripes.

My 2 cents.

I like The Strokes a lot. Not sure what the hell they're going to do for their next album but I feel confident that they'll turn out some good stuff.

I think I am of the small percentage of the population that actually prefers Room on Fire over the debut, although they are both exceptional.

I heard the new single "Juicebox" the other day and I am somewhat surprised that there is such a widely negative reaction to it. I actually thought it was a decent song and kind of laughed (in a good way) at the hypercharged bass riff that starts the whole thing. It was pretty thrilling the first time I heard it. However, on the other hand, I'm not surprised by the negative reaction because critics have been waiting to slam these guys but haven't had much of an opportunity to do so. Someone has to tone down the Stroke love-fest I suppose.

lol, "Stroke love-fest". Sounds like fun.

I've heard the album,and its really out of this world. It's absolutely amazing. It is my favorite album of the 2000's thus far. Buy it

Well I'm sure lots are wondering if they want to go to their local record shop this week to get the Strokes new highly anticipated 3rd album,First Impressions Of Earth. Well let me start off by saying this is their best effort yet. But I have to disclaim previous hype about it being highly different compard to Is This It,and Room On Fire. It is definitely a few steps in a different direction,but it still has the 'stroke sound'. It just sounds like a little bit more futuristic version of that sound. So if you're going into this thinking you're picking up Kid A,dont. But no matter what the sound is,the songs are here on this album. It kicks off with opener "You Only Live Once". This makes you do some air guitaring right off the bat,and you get the feeling you are in for a ride. First single "Juicebox" follows with its loud and right at your face bassline. "Juicebox" is the weakest track on the record(I still dont know why that is the single). "Heart In A Cage" is maybe the most Strokes sounding track on the whole album. The guitar work by Hammond and Valensi gives the song a pulse though. "Razorblade" has radio hit written all over it. It's led by the Julian Casablancas unforgettable line "My feelings are more important than yours". "On The Other Side" is led by a powerful bassline delivered by Nikolai Fraiture. "Vision Of Division" I guess you could say is the most intense song on the album. It has a very aggresive attitude compared to other tracks. It has a rocking middle eastern guitar solo in the middle,that will make you shake yourself like an Arabian dancer. Just when you think it can't be weirder,"Ask Me Anything" comes through. It is just a mellotron played by Valensi,with Casablancas on vocals. It has a spirit to it,and gives you a warm and touching feeling inside. "Electricityscape" is basically a rush,with almost a U2 type of feeling to it. "Killing Lies" is a simple song with a drum beat(that is similar to a Donkey Kong game) and guitar noises hear and there. "Fear Of Sleep" is a big song that could be radio friendly with its anthematic chorus with Casablancas screaming "you're no funnnnnn!!". "15 Minutes" is a dreamy song that builds up into a fantasty. "Ize Of The World" is perhaps the best track on the whole album,with an eighties guitar solo in it(nods to Blondie)."Evening Sun" is a nice relaxing song,that connects the album to its peak known as "Red Light". I take back what I said before about "Ize Of The World" being the best song. "Red Light" takes the crown. It almost has a "12:51" sort of guitar. It perfectly completes a masterpiece,known as First Impressions Of Earth.

In the other thread somebody said that the reviews that bashed Room on Fire were indie backlash reviews. I can't speak for them, but *my* problem with it was that it was kind of a repeat of their previous album, kind of flat without new ideas.

But, I'm still going to buy First Impressions of Earth, and from what I've heard about it so far it should avoid the same kind of bashing Room on Fire got. (Except maybe by Pitchfork).

quote:

"Juicebox" is the weakest track on the record(I still dont know why that is the single).

Because it's the weakest track on the album, of course!

see i actually like Room On Fire. I dont know if they could of made too many more of those,since Is This It and Room On Fire were quite similar. But at the time and still now,Room On Fire is good to me. And I'm very interested to see what Pitchfork says,they did say "Juicebox" and "Heart In A Cage" were both 2 star tracks. we'll see soon....

quote:

Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
In the other thread somebody said that the reviews that bashed Room on Fire were indie backlash reviews. I can't speak for them, but *my* problem with it was that it was kind of a repeat of their previous album, kind of flat without new ideas.

Hey now, ripping off The Cars for "12:51" was a new idea for them.
This is by far the most overhyped band in the last 10 years.

quote:

Originally posted by joebob282:
And I'm very interested to see what Pitchfork says,they did say "Juicebox" and "Heart In A Cage" were both 2 star tracks. we'll see soon....

Didn't they trash "Juicebox"?

EDIT: I heard Juicebox a while back, and I thought it was really mediocre.

I've found the two previous Strokes records to be home to a couple of ace tracks and a lot of filler. I don't have high expectations of the new one, but I'll check it out.

As for Filmore's claim that they are the 'most overhyped band of the last 10 years'...I don't know. The hype died pretty fast...the indie backlash hit hard.

My pick for most overhyped band in recent memory: the White Stripes, with Franz Ferdinand and the Arcade Fire close behind.

For reference, I don't imply that 'overhyped' means bad, merely that they get too much overly fawning press, although I don't like either the White Stripes or Arcade Fire myself.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:

quote:

Originally posted by joebob282:
And I'm very interested to see what Pitchfork says,they did say "Juicebox" and "Heart In A Cage" were both 2 star tracks. we'll see soon....

Didn't they trash "Juicebox"?

EDIT: I heard Juicebox a while back, and I thought it was really mediocre.

I couldn't agree more, ripping off Franz Ferdinand for the verse and then doing the half hearted Strokes wail for the chorus really threw me off. Plus the fact that they put in that ridiculous bassline to start the song made me wonder what was going through their heads when they wrote the song.

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:

quote:

Originally posted by joebob282:
And I'm very interested to see what Pitchfork says,they did say "Juicebox" and "Heart In A Cage" were both 2 star tracks. we'll see soon....

Didn't they trash "Juicebox"?

EDIT: I heard Juicebox a while back, and I thought it was really mediocre.

yeah they did trash both,i said they gave both 2 stars out of 5 stars.

I thought you meant two star tracks as in two standout tracks. A hyphen makes all the difference.

It's being recorded by Sugar Ray's producer. It's gonna suck.

quote:

Originally posted by Filmore Holmes:
It's being recorded by Sugar Ray's producer. It's gonna suck.

I have that feeling too. I don't think I'm even gonna bother looking into this album unless it gets a lot of good reviews.

How did they go from Nigel Godrich to Sugar Ray?

quote:

Originally posted by Filmore Holmes:
How did they go from Nigel Godrich to Sugar Ray?

I've often wondered: do bands get to choose their producers, or how does that work? Do producers ever choosea band whose record they want to produce? Or do the recored labels match up artist and producer?

I've been through the album more than a couple of times and I have to say while it has good songs on the whole it's really a letdown. They took a decision to make themselves serious and while songs like "Heart in a Cage", "Ize of the World" are great songs in their own right the album on the whole isn't so great and theres not alot of that laid back greatness that made them phenomenal in the first place. And the lyrics at time are like something out of a prog-rock opera gone shitty. Check out "Ask me Anything" to see what I mean. I remember something along the lines of "Don't be a coconut God has bigger plans for you"

Why does it seem that a lot of people seem to bash "Room on Fire". I thought it was a great progression of the band, they got darker in that album, instead of writing a bunch of hits they decided to explore a little. The end result was a different album, not an inferior one.

I'm listening to the third album right now. I went out and bought the "limited Edition" which I don't suggest killing over; just different packaging. When I see "limited Edition" I expect a DVD or something -they had one with "Is This It"- so i'm dissappointed.

What a pointless ramble...

Last Impressions On Earth is getting weaker reviews than I expected. But it's hard to tell how much of that is honest letdown and how much is just hype backlash, since just about every review I've read spends a paragraph on the enormous expectations preceding Is This It.

I'll probably be picking it up today. Except..well, I'm stuck at home until these people who are looking at a potential structural issue in the condo, and it's supposed to snow really hard in the afternoon. So..if I'm free to go before the snowstorm hits..yeah.

Listening to First Impressions of Earth gives my brain a pain, the sort of aural equivalent to the stinging, blinding, tearing pain of a fist planted squarely in my nose — which is still less painful than a kick in the balls (anything with a Ben Gibbard or Doug Martsch vocal credit), but not something I'm looking to repeat.

Edit: I should know better when it comes to fact checking.

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