The Strokes, Angles



On the evidence so far Angles proves, if nothing else, that The Strokes are at the very least not falling apart or in any danger of leaving us soon. In five years the music scene has changed a hell of a lot, the bands that followed in the wake of New York’s finest circa 2001/2002 are mostly no longer with us, or have slunk off into the shadows of an occasional album and a side-project here or there. The Libertines, the Vines, the Hives are but three such bands to have gone this way (although I don't miss the Vines one bit).
Yet despite this, when the imminent release of Angles was revealed to the world, a lot of people got very excited. It’s almost like their last effort, First Impressions of Earth had only been released last year and everyone was excited to hear what would happen next.
Rumours of studios fracas and a whole abandoned set of material after the first sessions may have set knees a trembling among the diehard Strokes fans out there, but in spite of that, the band have not failed to disappoint. This is a good album. Period.
The opening tracks are possibly the most 'classic' of the album’s material, recalling the first three albums. 'Machu Picchu' springs along with a mid-paced riff and stabs of lead guitar and bass while Julian Cassablancas sings about 'wearing a jacked made of meat' (yeah, I don't get it either) before a chorus worthy of This Is It jerks into life. 'Under Cover of Darkness' will be familiar due to its status as first single, yet this doesn't make it any less interesting to listen too. On the first few plays it is very much the albums’ stand out track, come the summer time the festival crowds will have no trouble singing along.

Yet from here the music branches out. 'You're So Right' is almost drone like, distorted vocals and an often sparse guitar part combined with trademark human drum machine action from Fab Moretti make it an intriguing listen. 'Gratisfaction' on the other hand, almost has the air of something the Stones could have had a hand in (before they got a bit crap). It's not classic rhythm and blues but there’s something there of the sort. 'Games' goes ever further away from the stereotypical Strokes sound. It starts with a good fifteen seconds of synth action that could fit into a Kitsune compilation album quite comfortably before settling into a bare bones verse and then flourishing into life at the chorus, with more synths present and accounted for.

It is an album littered with the sounds of a band stretching out. This is hardly surprising, the five years off have been full of side-projects and solo albums and the band were never going to get back together and suddenly pretend all that had never happened. Some of this is obvious, anyone who owned one of Albert Hammond Jr.'s solo albums will be able to tell you that from the almost 'cartoony' guitar parts in places (see 'Life is Simple in the Moonlight'). In other places it's not so easy to spot, but the signs of the band continuing to grow musically are all over this record.

There is however, one problem with the whole thing. There is no doubt that this is a good album, but is it a good Strokes album? Now before you rage, I'm not one of those people who sleeps with a copy of Is This It under my pillow and hate on anything else the band have ever released. The Strokes will never release an album with the impact or genre shifting feel of their debut, and if do they try they'll look stupid. The point is there are often places where Angles feels a little flat. Sometimes it’s just a part of a song, a small guitar line perhaps, sometimes it's whole songs themselves, it almost sounds a bit too engineered and polished, there's a slice of excitement missing.
All in all then, a good album, but not quite as good as you might have hoped. Perhaps that’s to be expected, and certainly they've done better than almost any other band who've left it so long between albums. This isn't akin to the Stone Roses Second Coming (also released after a five year wait), but next time round let us hope for a little better.