The Strokes-First Impressions Of Earth
(RCA)
5 out of 10
If it were any earlier in the millennium right now, it would be hard not to consider anything Julian Casablancas touched to be pure gold. Backed by a crew of 4 garage musicians to form a collective called The Strokes, his sharp, yet so obviously nonchalant vocals ushered the band’s 2001 debut, Is This It?, to international success and critical acclaim. Since then, legions of Converse-sporting post-punkers have held his rebel yell (or rather, rebel half-moan) to the utmost of idolatry and swoonworthiness. The legacy carried on through the band’s enjoyable follow-up, 2003’s Room On Fire. Many may be familiar with the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, The Strokes may have forgotten this fact of life while recording their third LP, First Impressions Of Earth.
Early indications of this album’s validity were undoubtedly troubling. From the revealing of the album’s self-righteous, proggy title, to the employment of David Kahne (formerly known for his work with Sublime, Sugar Ray, and Tony Bennett if that tells you anything) as the album’s primary producer (although longtime producer Gordon Raphael sticks around for a couple tracks), there was plenty bleak foreshadowing abound. Then the album’s first single, the over-produced, lyrically pretentious, bassline-swiping “Juicebox” was released; although it was still somewhat enjoyable as a pop song, it further aroused suspicion that this album would be more garish than The Strokes’ past works.
The remainder of the album mostly fails to counteract this assumption. Surprisingly, the album’s nearly constant theme of tacky pomp is not to be laid upon the producer. In fact, Kahne’s knob-twiddling actually adds a bit of resonance to the album. The real problem lies within the band’s newfound powder-puff approach to songwriting and recording. If the band were to keep their past rough-n-tumble production methods, the album’s most utterly goofy songs would decrease in musical value at least tenfold.
The most apparent change in the Strokes’ music here is the exertion of real, genuine effort on behalf of Casablancas. Previously known for effortlessly delivering perfect vocals, he seems to all of a sudden get a kick out of straining his vocal chords and exploiting his daunting lack of range. Shockingly, in the role of blind dart player, Julian nails a bull’s eye using this technique on the album’s spectacular opener, “You Only Live Once”. For the verses, Casablancas plays the wise man, speaking as if teaching a child the basic lessons of life, as the band maintains a tight, razor-sharp composition until the “chorus”, per se, when the instrumentals unravel into elastic chord progressions as Casablancas tears up his vocal chords. Unbridled energy is shown throughout this track that is so well utilized that it makes this ditty impossible to hate. However, other times Julian’s not so lucky. On “Vision Of Division”, his unnecessary screaming evokes pain while the band fruitlessly shreds without any feasible tune in mind. During the blah-fest that is “Ize Of The World”, he tries to get excessively nasal, and is apparently so bored by this motif that he decides to entertain himself by spontaneously working his way up the musical scale in the middle of the song, which essentially grabs the listener’s ear and twists it till Julian decides he wants to stop the tomfoolery. He even decides to try a stupid accent vaguely resembling Irish on “15 Minutes”. It’s hard to imagine Julian Casablancas trying to outdo himself and failing, but here it is on this album.
Throughout the entire album, the band seems to jump back and forth between boring mush and loopy ambitiousness. “Ask Me Anything” is the Cinderella story from the latter side. Containing no instrumentation whatsoever aside from a Casio-like cello, it wears the appearance of a ballad; when rather it’s songwriters Casablancas and guitarist Nick Valensi letting their hair down and writing a quirky set of unrelated one-liners. The sound of the lead singer muttering “Don’t be a coconut/God is trying to talk to you” and the complete dumping of the efforts of 4/5ths of the band is a measure so drastic it deserves truckloads of recognition. On the flipside, faux pop-metal anthem “Heart In A Cage” and monotonous foot-stomper “On The Other Side” equally plod and stumble like a mopey wallflower at a frat party. In rebuttal to that rebuttal, “Razorblade” shocks by actually implementing elements of both previous albums. Room On Fire is demonstrated by a catchy riff cranked out by a synth-like guitar a’ la “12:51”, and Is This It? is characterized by playful, bar-hopper lyrics.
All in all, The Strokes inevitably fail at eclecticism. Although many bands sustain long careers via fruitful musical development, experimentation, and growth, The Strokes gained fast-track success through an infectious sound and quickly ruled the post-punk roost. Either they can return to taking bold strides through their domain and continue to be one of music’s foremost groups, or they can keep tooling around like in First Impressions Of Earth and end up spending the rest of their career making shaky, feeble music. Is this it? Let’s all hope it isn’t.
Key Tracks: “You Only Live Once”, “Razorblade”, “Ask Me Anything”
