dazed
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Post by dazed on Apr 10, 2020 4:45:49 GMT
This album deserves its own thread. It needs more listens, but based on the first, this is the best album so far this year. Good chance of it being my favorite Strokes album.
If you have liked the three singles, the other six songs match their quality. Make sure to give this one a listen. Love it love it.
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Post by DeepArcher on Apr 10, 2020 15:38:20 GMT
Based on the first couple listens, I really like it — clear evolution from Comedown Machine, a little less dreamlike in its texture but with way more pep. The singles still stand out to me and “The Adults are Talking” is a killer opener. I feel like the energy fizzles out in the last few tracks, but they might grow on me with further listens.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2020 17:04:22 GMT
"Stockholders..."
Listened to it three times in a row last night. Yeah, it's pretty great. Not nearly as singular as Comedown Machine, sure, but that's hard to match. Though it does almost go in the opposite direction at times in how clearly it's taking from other artists, it really works for me conceptually in that they feel blended into this sort of self-loathing, difficult and confused confession JC is trying to execute/process through music. It's their most directly downbeat - despite also being their most summer-y - even more so than First Impressions, which I wasn't really expecting. Selfless (the most poetic song they've ever done), Sunday's ("the click was always in you, Fab"), and Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus (a yearning for something you destroyed) are my Top 3 off it.
Pitchfork's review of it is, as usual, incoherent.
Updated album ranking -
1. Room on Fire 2. Is This It 3. Comedown Machine 4. The New Abnormal 5. Angles 6. First Impressions of Earth
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Post by Viced on Apr 10, 2020 17:24:16 GMT
1:02-1:33 in Selfless: Definitely great overall. Might be their best balance between happy/sad ever (which is saying something). I think half the tracks could've been trimmed a bit to add a tenth track... but none of 'em dragged. Eternal Summer might have the highest highs... but I can't pick a definite favorite yet.
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Post by countjohn on Apr 10, 2020 19:52:29 GMT
I've got to say this is a little but of a disappointment. Outside of the singles (Bad Decisions is one of their five best songs) and the opener the songs are just kind of there. Probably their most overtly new wave-y and "pop" album, might be the best guitar performances they've ever had, and although Rubin is not my favorite guy his approach is a good fit for The Strokes. This doesn't top the first album because that one had the songs, great from top to bottom. This still might be their best since their debut, I'd put it pretty close to Room on Fire. I think half the tracks could've been trimmed a bit Yeah, 5-6 minute songs isn't what The Strokes are about. Pitchfork's review of it is, as usual, incoherent. I could live with Pitchfork hyperbolically panning solid albums back before they were corporate bootlickers who gave manufactured pop stars favorable reviews so they could get interviews with them. And yeah, the review could pretty much be summed up as "they're old so it's not good". If you could look past all the snark and condescension Pitchfork used to actually have really good rock criticism sometimes where they'd really get into a band's sound. I remember noticing things in a lot of old alt-rock albums after hearing them point it out in a review when I was getting into music as a young teenager.
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Post by DeepArcher on Apr 10, 2020 19:55:00 GMT
Can't believe I thought "Selfless" was too low energy on a first listen ... lol ... now I'm thinking it's a contender for best track on the album, kinda beautiful song sonically and lyrically. And it opens up an amazing stretch that leads into "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus" which is still insanely catchy, fun, and emotional with its unabashedly tongue-in-cheek songwriting, and then "Bad Decisions" with its awesome nostalgic riff and probably catchiest hook on the album make it probably the most "listenable" and simply fun song here.
"Eternal Summer" has been growing on me ... still think it's maybe too long but it definitely has some of the most interesting emotional peaks on the album with a lot of great vocalization from Julian. And I'm starting to really like the last three tracks too ... the gloominess of "Not the Same Anymore," the sort of groovy verbose ballad-y nature of "Ode to the Mets," and "Why are Sundays so Depressing" with its infectious reflective vibe is becoming one of my favorites. Definitely a great album overall the more I listen to it.
Updated rankings:
Is This It Room on Fire Comedown Machine The New Abnormal [Future Past Present] Angles First Impressions of Earth
New Abnormal and FPP are probably on like the same level for me, but at the same time it might be unfair to try to compare an EP and an LP.
The bottom two on that rank are really the only weak ones to me ... and it's been forever since I listened to Angles, so that could be better (or worse?) than I remember.
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