Opinion
The Strokes blow fans away with newest album ‘Angles’
April 1, 2011
Believe it or not, it’s been five years already since the last album release from the once unstoppable pop/rock band The Strokes. Back in 2001, The Strokes hit the music scene like wildfire, made fans crave their entraning pop melodies and fall in love with Julian Casablancas’s vocals. Simply put, these guys were deemed the band of the future, with many critics saying they could simply do no wrong.
Despite several album releases after their hit premiere album “Is This It,” it seemed this group kind of simply fell off the face of the earth for a while and made avid fans like myself truly ponder what had happened. Five years had quickly gone past and not much was felt of their presence, until recently.
With their fourth album release “Angles,” The Strokes definitely seem to have gotten back on track with their early music career success. “Angles” initially comes off as what seems to be a refreshed and revitalized version of the classic sounds that made fans fall for the group.
I was once told all good things are worth waiting for and certainly see the relevance here, as despite the wait, this album is brilliant. With this new album, my first exposure was actually over the radio with the instant classic “Under Cover Of Darkness” and, at first, I almost needed to do a double take at what I was hearing. I was entirely blown away. This song grabs the listeners’ attention immediately by the enticing guitar melodies, the playful lyrics and Julian Casablancas’s vocals. It just seems to be ‘that’ song destined to be stuck in your head and on repeat on your iPod.
Other highlights include the album opener “Machu Picchu,” “Taken For A Fool,” “Call Me Back,” and undoubtedly “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight.” Both “Machu Picchu” and “Call Me Back” offer a rather modest and subtle approach to the normal awesomely loud, guitar-dominated catchy riffs The Strokes tend to take with most of their music. These songs are much more mellow and relaxed than normal, and offer a nice refreshing view of The Strokes.
“Taken For A Fool” is the fun, punky, and catchy classic Strokes kind of song we have all come known to love. Finally, “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight” is a perfect way to end the album, being a nice mix of both new and old aspects of The Strokes musical personalities showing a awesome glance at the future of what may be to come, and reminding the listener of where they started. The song is an epic, mellow pop song, and in my mind acts as a ‘cliffhanger’ for the audience, leaving them wanting more and interested to hear what is next for The Strokes.
Even though we fans had to wait five years for this new album “Angles,” it was well worth the wait and I for one hope The Strokes are back in the limelight for good.
Ryen Kleiser is a laid back biology student at UW-River Falls. He is hoping to become a well-known marine biologist and teacher.