I think a lot of people use "indie" as a definition of genre now, as opposed to the size of a band's label. "Indie" now seems to mean what we used to call "alternative"(before alternative went mainstream in the 90s) or "college rock". There are a lot of artists recording for smaller, independant labels you wouldn't classify as "indie". Merle Haggard's last release on Epitaph comes to mind. Merle Haggard. Indie God.

Personally, I like to think of 'indie' as music that is sub-television and sub-that modern rock radio station that you totally hate. I know this isn't accurate at all, but I think it's a more valuable distinction than whether or not an album was released on an indie. We can all name plenty of artists that are on majors but that relatively few people know about (most importantly, this allows us to still feel elite when we listen to them). The indie/major distinction can be totally unimportant (i.e., Radiohead, Wilco) or crucial (i.e., Sony putting the rootkit on "Z," which was released on ATO and distributed by BMG; Duncan Shiek being street-teamed). And what makes a label indie anyway? Is Sub Pop an indie, or a major that bands go to when they want to have it both ways? I guess RIAA membership is a good differentiator. Perhaps the super-genre now called 'indie' should be renamed and the term indie restored to its proper meaning.

There is the Debate thread for all of these points about what "indie rock" is, quit posting in here because this thread is for "The Strokes" not for "Franz Ferdinand" or if RIAA membership classifies as indie. go there that is a good thread.

Thank you so much for finding that for us.

Woo, my thread ..... While Im here, the Strokes are on the cover of New York magazine. There are several pages covering the new strokes and the new album. Julian finally quit drinking and the band is finally settling down.

Your welcome Filmore Holmes, debate is healthy and interesting and that is the place for it. I would really love to see where the debate goes. With the Strokes new album out this thread should start to go away. unless this turns into "The Official Strokes Thread" what do you think Stranger?

quote:

Originally posted by Gender Bombs:
Julian finally quit drinking.

So no more Heineken in videos, huh? That won't help his already feeble lyricism any.

This is what I really think-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.thestrokes.com/
styles: indie rock, garage punk, new wave, dispassionate cool
others: The Stooges, Interpol, Television


First Impressions Of Earth
RCA (RIAA), 2006
rating: 2/5
reviewer: filmore mescalito holmes


I know I’m not the only one who thinks back on the arrival of The Strokes in Western pop culture not unlike The Shitty Beatles explosion. And like the meteoric rise and fall of that twice mentioned Wayne’s World band [“They suck.”], the backlash against the heralded saviours of indie rock was swift and bittersweet…and getting increasingly bitter as time goes on. I can’t help but wonder if RCA Records’ longstanding R.I.A.A. membership –making all Strokes releases about as far from indie as you can get– might have had something to do with it. Regardless, I loved The Strokes well before I heard anything about them, thanks to the world’s finest post-Napster download service circa 2001, AudioGalaxy.

They blew up fast, as you well know. I bought a membership in their fan club as soon as it was available. In fact, I’ve still got the exclusive “Elephant (demo)” seven inch and the laminated Wyckyd Sceptre all access tour pass, among other trinkets. As soon as they came to the nearest town of some 500 miles roundtrip, and I could afford it, I dragged my best friend, his girlfriend, and my cousin to the show. It was then that I began to notice something wrong. This was, after all, the New York hipsters’ third visit to Vancouver in fourteen months and they still had never given an encore to anyone. Which is more, compared to the opening set by the hardworking Canadian icons of Sloan, they seemed totally disinterested and refused to engage the crowd in any way except to let us know they weren’t gonna come back out. So it wasn’t just the non-act itself that started me wondering but the way in which they did it, with total dispassionate indifference. I know it’s a cool band thing to do, to pretend not to care, but you really got the feeling these guys meant it when you saw them live. I began to question the decision to self-ban “New York City Cops” from North America, now leaning more to the side that sees The Strokes as a spineless, say nothing jukebox. I felt something like shame for liking them so much in the first place.

Hope briefly returned when rumours were confirmed that, in preparation for their ambivalently anticipated and dreaded sophomore release, the drab five were working with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. This hope was quickly dashed, however, as they dropped the legendary Ok Computer knob twiddler to return last minute to their old lo-fi chum Gordon Raphael, who had produced their continually repackaged debut, this time with a much more handsome advance of studio greasing cash. The money got some new wave Muzak rights, some special effects from Tron, and the indie rock backlash officially began. I remember welcoming the retro-rock revolution as the antidote to boy/girl bands, praying deeply for an end to the likes of *NSYNC (whom we’ve been mentally suffocated with longs before the days when you could blame it on the rain), but it was an end that would never come. Instead, much like the early nineties alternative craze, this “new” breed of rock groups would swell in and absorb the industry overflow, almost simultaneously marginalizing the burgeoning trend step for step (The Killers chose one hell of an appropriate name). And all The Strokes could do, if they could care, was to try and prove they were more than just a passing fad. The jury is out on that one.

So here we are, some five years after last night, and it’s time for the new Strokes. Something’s already amiss, though, as First Impressions Of Earth missed the accountant declared prime September/October CD release period, which is a first for a Strokes album on American soil. The question of whether they were just late or no longer thought they could compete come holiday season is still up in the air. By the first chorus of the opening track, the faithful listener is shown why such doubts would be understandable. Raw recorder Raphael has been replaced by long time Sugar Ray man David Kahne, who has taken it upon himself to clean up the signature cheap and fuzzy sound Gordon helped to shape. In this effort, the frailty of Julian Casablancas’ voice, in terms of it being able to carry an album, is exposed and his inadequacy as a lyricist comes glaringly into focus, out from behind the broken mic curtain. I’m not really sure how you’re meant to look at the continually repeated line “I’ve got nothing to say” from “Ask Me Anything” but it’s far too easy to take it at face value. There is nothing challenging here vocally and the instrumentals have pretty much stayed the same, except for the previously mentioned, minimally synthed “Ask Me Anything” and the “Peter Gunn” spy-rock bassline intro to the poorly chosen lead single “Juicebox.” However, instead of the usual brisk thirty minutes, here you get to enjoy nearly a full hour of continual strumming in similar patterns almost the whole time you can hear guitars. None of the people playing on this record have improved themselves much. And so, with the ghost of Mark McGrath hanging over every note, First Impressions sounds like a top notch Strokes pub circuit cover band. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and it sounds like they couldn’t really care either way. It was a good run while it lasted.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LinnTate,

Well considering that I probably wouldn't give any Strokes album more than 3.5/5 stars, this album fits right in. Actually, it seems more interesting. Casablancas actually seems to be singing off/around the lead guitar instead of the two trying to overshout each other. I never understood the big deal about the Strokes before, and I still might not, but at least there's some evolving occurring, and I don't think it's evolving into rigor mortis. Yeah, I'm an old fart, but slowing things down and being emotionally-open, even if somebody thinks it's empty, is something brave, all by itself. So is the release date; I think it's hilarious that people review the release date more than the album. I think the Strokes get the last laugh on that one.

Anyhow, no biggie, but I give it my vote as "best album of the year!" Well, for me, I guess that's the "only album of the year", but it's certainly not disappointing to this Old Man.

Sounded okay to me upon first listen. Strong beginning, weak middle, emotional closers, you know...the standard album format. I felt the guitar work was good, and the band was showing some progress, but truly Julian is holding them back. His singing and lyrics, as aforementioned are decidedly poor. I don't understand the hate-on for juicebox everyone seems to have, it doesn't bother me at all. The more Julian shouts, screams, wails or does anything other than his standard -singing from a slouched position on the lazy boy- style, it's a major improvement. I'm sure after a few more plays I'll have my favourites picked out and will do a fair amount of skipping through it, but I do that with the other albums too!

"Ize Of The World" is possibly the greatest thing they've ever done. It's a good track to retire on, anyway. Occasionally I felt like I was listening to the first album, sometimes it felt like the second, but most of the time it was like a very decent Strokes cover band.

I'm listening to Is This It at work. This album is damn good! I've bought it the week it came out, listened to it about 3 times, and put it away until now, pissed off because I thought it was mediocre. I just finished listening to it, and I can't believe how different it sounds now. I'll never understand why, for some albums, I'll just "get" what I couldn't the first couple of times I listen to it. I guess a career as a rock critic is out of the question

hey i enjoyed reading your review/rant filmore. I definitely agree on your take that in reality, the Strokes could give a flying fuck and are probablly in it for the quick cash out. They could not look more bored on stage, and their complete refusal to play anything but what was on the album is downright lame.

But I always thought that people took the Strokes too damn seriously. And therein lies the problem becaues the Strokes are not a serious band. I never understood why they would ever refer to them as the saviour of rock. Because they were better than puddle of mudd and creed? Please, and rock is and has been saved since 1979 (punk).

I know that deep inside, we were all hoping that the Strokes would replace nu-metal with garage rock, saving mainstream rock from the sludge. That never really happened (well it kind of did, and it also gave us the Vines. Fun), and it was hopeless to begin with.

So now, this brings us to their latest release, which in my opinion, is a pretty good album. By pretty good album, I mean that its not as good as their first one, but still a solid rock album. Its a Strokes album to put it short.

Pretty much every review of this album mentions the song, "ask me anything" and cassablanca's repeated use of the line "I've got nothing to say" and how futile that is. I think that line is the key to understanding the Strokes, and its unfortunate that most reviewers just took it as a sign of the band's weak songwriting and stupidity.

To me that whole song was brilliant. The strokes really had nothing to say, even since the first album, and the vocalist must have had a bigger smirk than stephen malkmus when singing that song. I think everyone up to this point expected the Strokes to be something they were not, and what do they say in reponse?

"I've got nothing to saayy, I've got nothing to saayy, I've got nothing to say".

Fucking brilliant. Its one of those Andy Kaufman moments where you don't find it funny initially, but afterwards you find yourself smirking about it.

quote:

Originally posted by subrock:
hey i enjoyed reading your review/rant filmore. I definitely agree on your take that in reality, the Strokes could give a flying fuck and are probablly in it for the quick cash out. They could not look more bored on stage, and their complete refusal to play anything but what was on the album is downright lame.

But I always thought that people took the Strokes too damn seriously. And therein lies the problem becaues the Strokes are not a serious band. I never understood why they would ever refer to them as the saviour of rock. Because they were better than puddle of mudd and creed? Please, and rock is and has been saved since 1979 (punk).

I know that deep inside, we were all hoping that the Strokes would replace nu-metal with garage rock, saving mainstream rock from the sludge. That never really happened (well it kind of did, and it also gave us the Vines. Fun), and it was hopeless to begin with.

So now, this brings us to their latest release, which in my opinion, is a pretty good album. By pretty good album, I mean that its not as good as their first one, but still a solid rock album. Its a Strokes album to put it short.

Pretty much every review of this album mentions the song, "ask me anything" and cassablanca's repeated use of the line "I've got nothing to say" and how futile that is. I think that line is the key to understanding the Strokes, and its unfortunate that most reviewers just took it as a sign of the band's weak songwriting and stupidity.

To me that whole song was brilliant. The strokes really had nothing to say, even since the first album, and the vocalist must have had a bigger smirk than stephen malkmus when singing that song. I think everyone up to this point expected the Strokes to be something they were not, and what do they say in reponse?

"I've got nothing to saayy, I've got nothing to saayy, I've got nothing to say".

Fucking brilliant. Its one of those Andy Kaufman moments where you don't find it funny initially, but afterwards you find yourself smirking about it.

Well, I think that you're going a little overboard by calling it brilliant. It's OK, I guess. I do agree that people take the Strokes way to seriously. For me, it's great hang out and chill with your friends music.

quote:

Originally posted by subrock:
hey i enjoyed reading your review/rant filmore. I definitely agree on your take that in reality, the Strokes could give a flying fuck and are probablly in it for the quick cash out. They could not look more bored on stage, and their complete refusal to play anything but what was on the album is downright lame.

Cheers, dude. I still have their autographed poster.
Andy Kaufman is a god.

I was wondering when you were going to get to the point in that review. Guh. If you're going to rant like that, do a commentary or blog entry instead and save the story. Reviews should, y'know, REVIEW the record for more than a graph.

Not that "First Impressions" deserves that. Or a rating of TWO, for that matter. And I disagree with you that "Juicebox" isn't any good. In fact, I think its the only great thing on the damn record. I will agree with you that their first record was something impressive, second record an inevitable disappointment. They did reinvent a little, which was good.

From there on out, a slow descent. Hardly retirement or disappearance, though.

quote:

Originally posted by Yay!:
I was wondering when you were going to get to the point in that review. Guh.

Meh, I don't do long reviews very often. Mine usually average around 300 words.

I hated the album when I first listened to it, but it grew on me over time.
I'm in sort of a weird position because I really like the album a lot, and yet I can understand why so many people dislike it and I don't really blame them at all.

OK... there first 2 cds, i admit, were better.

but i think they realized after allll the complaints you(the fans) and critics made about how they sounded exactly alike, they tried something different, yet not straying too far from there original style.

they took a chance on this one, its a make or break record, like entertainment weekly said.

(P.S. "Juicebox" was awesome, i also applaud them for having more intricate guitar work on some of the more intense tracks)

Yep. This album SUCKS. I was so disappointed. Go listen to Regina Spektor!