| The Strokes - Is This It |
 |
 Hype
is interesting phenomenon. It is a uniquely human characteristic to
almost completely buy into something before you’ve even
experienced it. Hype can travel by many different means these days,
billboard campaigns, TV spots, e-mail assaults and even good old
word of mouth. It can be very powerful, it can make the talented
appear stellar and, increasingly, the mediocre appear, well, equally
stellar. But hype has two weaknesses, the first being truth and the
second being time. The Strokes’ debut record ‘Is This It’ was
regaled as a classic weeks before it’s release, critics swooned,
magazine covers fawned and the music buying public held their breath
for the arrival of their new messiahs. The hype machine was in full
effect. Then they came, they played and they made me yawn.
My initial impression of this record was lukewarm to say the least
with each track a crude patchwork of mainly Lou Reed, Blondie and
Iggy Pop/The Stooges soundbites but without any of the urgency,
energy or excitement that any one of those acts had in spades. The
Strokes mainly come off as the so-called New York underground’s
answer to Lenny Kravitz. They can posture, they can play but they
can’t seem to be able to mean a damned thing. ‘New York City
Cops’, for example, as a track is as empty as they come with the
stark revelation that ‘they ain’t too smart’. People out there
who have had their expectations lowered year by year by Nu Metal pap
might well hail this kind of thing as the great white hope but I’m
not buying it. When a track such as ‘Last Nite’ kicks in and you
can sing the lyrics of ‘Lust For Life’ by Iggy Pop over the top
of it you just kind of know you’re not in pioneer territory. Which
is very, very bad. The standout track for me was ‘Hard to
Explain’ which fuses metronomic guitar chords with a pop tinged
melody that sticks in the head. Regrettably front man Jake
Casablancas cripples this as deftly as he does everything else on
the record with his sore throat/stuffy nose vocal stylings. I found
the Strokes ‘Is This It?’ more numbing than disappointing. The
flavour of hype lasts longer for some than others and in time I
don’t doubt the flavour will wear off this band for everyone. Me?
I think I’ll stick with something more substantial.
In the wise words of the great Public Enemy – Don’t Believe The
Strokes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rating: 2 out of
10
Reviewed by Gordon Peppard
|
|
|
| Find
out how our rating system works... |
|
|
|
|
