Band: The Strokes Album: Is This It Release Date: 9/25/2001 Length: 35:52 Label: BMG/RCA Rating: 9.4

Track Listing

1. Is This It (2:35)

2. The Modern Age (3:32)

3. Soma (2:37)

4. Barely Legal (3:58)

5. Someday (3:07)

6. Alone, Together (3:12)

7. Last Nite (3:17)

8. Hard to Explain (3:47)

9. When it Started (2:57)

10. Trying Your Luck (3:27)

11. Take It or Leave It (3:16)

Review

Sick days are something you know are inevitable, similar to death, taxes, and Chicago Cubs losses. It is the action confined in these extra days off that makes them worth taking. In early September of 2001, I took one of these beautiful rests in order to stretch a three-day weekend I had from school into a four-day weekend. After all, four days off is better than three.

I had planned to go through the day much like any other "sick day," that is to say, fool around on the Internet and play video games. As luck would have it, my internet service took this particular day to stop working temporarily, so I was left alone with the ignorant hum of the television to keep me company. For those of you who've been ignoring TV for a while: You're not missing much.

Likewise, you're not missing much these days if you don't turn on MTV. The once-proud music channel has relegated itself to showing Real World marathons and poorly plotted dating shows. This is true for about 70% of MTV's daily programming. However, there is a beautifully small time period during the day that is still actually filled with music videos. It is conveniently located when everyone is at work, at school, or sleeping, in the middle of the day.

It's not often I'm actually home when the channel is playing videos, so I decided to take advantage of the situation and see what was playing in the world of the hip and trendy. It was about a half hour into my viewing that I got my first taste of The Strokes. "Last Nite", an incredibly simple performance-video, played, and for the next three-and-a-half minutes, I did not move a muscle. I was in some kind of sick, music-related trance that I could not escape. The smooth vocals of lead singer Julian Casablancas combined with the simple but effective guitar, bass, and drum work of Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture, and Fab Moretti, respectively, made it impossible to think about anything but the music on screen.

As soon as school let out, I called all of my friends, asking if they'd heard of "The Strokes." Oddly enough, no one had. I couldn't believe that such a talented band was completely unknown to everyone in my small little Illinois town. Undeterred, I spent the next few weeks getting my friends hooked on The Strokes, and for Christmas, my best friend and I bought Is This It for each other as a gift. After listening to the album countless times since, I shudder to think what would've happened had I not stayed home that one September day.

I apologize for the long personal intro to the review, but I could convey in no other way how completely this album has changed music for me. There is seldom a day when I go without listening to Is This It. The quick and clever guitar work isn't revolutionary by any standard, but it is completely infectious in a way music hasn't been in a very long time. There's no need to delve into the obvious influences found on the album, as they've been mentioned dozens of times over.

Yes, The Strokes do resemble bits and pieces of The Stooges, Television, and The Velvet Underground, and no, they're not ripping them off. They've taken the stronger points from some of the most talented bands of the 70s, and put them all into one convenient package that doesn't need to scream to get your attention. Rather, it gives you a sly nod that lets you know you'd be a sucker to ignore it.

In an age of commercialized rock and roll bands that all sound like poor Eddie Vedder knock-offs, it's really something special to hear a new voice enter the crowd. Casablancas sings the lyrics on Is This It in such a tone that it feels less like he's singing and more like he's just telling a series of short little stories, just for you.

I honestly can't say enough good things about the album without coming off like some super fan-boy obsessed with The Strokes. Rest assured, however, that I am far from alone in this opinion. Luke Adams asked me to write this particular review because he said he couldn't write it without constantly gushing about the music within. Apparently, I can't either. That's how good it is. If anyone is going to save rock music, or at least help it progress into a new generation where melody and lyrics actually matter worth a damn, it will be The Strokes doing the brunt of the work. And as large a responsibility as that is for a band of twenty-something year old kids from New York, I have little doubt that they are more than able to handle the pressure.

In fact, the disc is so good that when it came time to follow the Apropos Of Nothing format for acknowledging our two favourite songs and least-favourite songs, I felt bad that I had to give any song at all a thumb down. I discussed this at some length with Luke and finally settled upon the two I like the least. This is not to say they are bad songs, but they are the ones that I would put in the very last of a "top eleven songs on Is This It" list.

The only thing I can think to complain about in regards to Is This It is the social conscious the band has at such a young age. For those of you unaware, the album originally contained a song entitled "New York City Cops", which had to be removed from the North American version after the tragic events of September 11. In the song's chorus, Julian complains that all his girlfriend says is "New York City cops, they ain't too smart." It really is not that offensive of a line, and the track itself would probably be one of the top three found on the disc, had it been left on. This is a minor issue though, as the album is still excellent and the track that replaced it "When It Started" is a very good song as well.

The length, just a shade under thirty-six minutes in its entirety, may seem a little questionable at first, but with the way the album begins and ends, it really doesn't become an issue. It's the best thirty-six minutes you'll spend listening to a band all year, and when you're done, you'll just keep listening over and over. Now, if only they'd just get back in the studio. Is this it? I certainly hope not.

Rating: 9.4

- Dan Kricke

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