Strokes, The – Angles

Release Date: March 22, 2011
Label: RCA/Rough Trade

Tracklist

  1. Machu Picchu
  2. Under Cover of Darkness [MV]
  3. Two Kinds of Happiness
  4. You’re so Right
  5. Taken for a Fool
  6. Games
  7. Call me Back
  8. Gratisfaction
  9. Metabolism
  10. Life is Simple in the Moonlight

It’s been five years since The Strokes have released an album. So the moment they released the video for Under Cover of Darkness, directed by Warren Fu, I felt happy to hear a new song from them. It felt refreshing and gave me high hopes for their upcoming album, Angles, produced by the band along with Gus Oberg and Joe Chicarelli.

While bassist Nikolai Fraiture revealed that Angles would be a “return to the basics” album, suggesting the songs would be similar to their first album (Is This It), I actually felt that the songs featured a quite different Strokes.  Not only did Angles have the feel of their first album, but it also has the same vibe Julian Casablancas’ solo album (Phrazes for the Young) featured, as well as new wave synth-pop and even bossa chords on a couple of songs. Nothing wrong with experimenting with different sounds for your album.

Despite news surfacing that the band didn’t have fun recording the album, I’d say that the final result was actually refreshing to hear in a musical scene that is dominated today by pop, reggaeton, auto-tune vocals, etc. It might be a bit hard to adjust to Angles at first listen, if you’re the kind of person who only heard their first album, but then it gets better in terms of replay value. It’s good on the ears.

Best tracks: Life is Simple in the Moonlight. Great vocals from Julian, includes Brazilian bossa nova chords, that Strokes vibe I love and it’s a great way to give a farewell to the album in a romantic way.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Preview on Xiami.com | Like it? Buy the album on Amazon.com

Rodrigo

YAM Magazine contributor, has a B. Sc. degree in Science/Pharmacy and is a very lazy person.

3 Responses

  1. Julili says:

    I own their first album…. lol

    • Rodrigo says:

      @Julili, I think I could say that the people I know that claim to like The Strokes would be only because of their first album.

      And speaking of this album, I did actually heard the first two tracks on Radio Doble Nueve. I don’t think other radios in Peru might play songs from this album, but if they do, I really hope they don’t whore out Machu Picchu.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.