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Review: The Strokes “First Impressions of Earth”
By Nico Savidge
The Strokes released their much anticipated third major album on their label RCA. The New York alt. rockers are trying to rebound after their sophomore album sales slump. Nico Savdige thinks that, “the arrangements of diverse sounds help make the Strokes different from a lot of bands out there”.
The Strokes are a New York City rock band that formed in 1999 and are made up of singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. After getting some buzz playing at small NYC clubs and bars, their following grew through word of mouth. They released their first major album “Is This It” in 2001 with the addictive, screaming single “Last Nite.” The Strokes then released a sophomore album, “Room on Fire,” in 2003.
Their latest album, “First Impressions of Earth” are arrangements of diverse sounds that help make the Strokes different from a lot of bands out there. As opposed to just playing a guitar riff, a bass line and some vocals for 12 tracks and calling it a day, their restless, possibly ADD-afflicted minds produce a great mix spanning the rock genre. The album starts out with “You Only Live Once” a fairly simple and soft song, but then the Strokes kick into “Juicebox” and “Hear in a Cage,” two songs with a much harder tone to them. Their songs meander around through soft and hard rock for about seven tracks, but then come to a soft end with songs like “15 Minutes” and “Red Light.” The constant theme (as it has always been with this band) is musical diversity, and the way I see it, anyone can like at least two songs from “First Impressions.”
The second track “Juicebox,” is one of the released tracks from the album that you can listen to online at the band’s website, but I don’t think it adequately represents the band or this album. I didn’t like the ugly bass solo that begins the song, and the repetitive verses are annoying. The chorus though is a bright spot in the dark, muddled bass that plagues the track with a softer and friendlier than the verses. But after that, it’s back to the old sound.
The third song, “Hear in a Cage” is one of the harder tracks on the album, but sounds nicer and softer than “Juicebox” and it’s saved from being considered “metal.” It starts with a whining guitar scale/riff, which then kicks into verses with a more subdued bass and a great cymbal crash, and then the high-pitched guitar that started us off becomes our chorus. I like this track, but the guitar just gets TOO annoying after a while.
At the tenth song of the fourteen-track album, the band seems to have an epiphany and switches to softer sounds. One of those softer songs is “15 Minutes,” which is an obvious insinuation of the downside of fame, “They’ll love you or they’ll hate you, but they’ll never leave you be.” That coupled with the title relating to fifteen minutes of fame could be a reference to them possibly being tire with all of their hype. It’s great song that is a soft relief from the harsher and louder stuff the album starts with.
“First Impressions of Earth” is not an album for the narrow minded or those who do not appreciate a wide variety of music. The Strokes in general are not a band for that type of person. If you like musical experimentation, wide varieties of sound and an overall mix, you’ll love this album because of the eclectic presentation of music that can describe the album as well as the band.
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