 |
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Monday, August 13, 2001
The Strokes Just Wanna Play Music
Neumu's Jenny Tatone writes from Portland, Ore.: It's been a long time since a new band has gotten quite as much pre-release attention as New York punks The Strokes. One three-song EP, "The Modern Age," and some transcendent live performances generated a cover spread in England's New Musical Express and features in The Face and Q. Meanwhile, a recent Australian tour helped their album, Is This It (already out in Australia) debut at #5 in that country's weekly album chart. The rock cognoscenti have been buzzing about The Strokes for many months, and MP3s of live versions of some of their songs are being passed from fan to fan.
The band is trying to stay focused on its music, not the hype. "We're not worried about not making the next cover of whatever magazine," bassist Nikolai Fraiture said during a recent interview.
Is This It, out Aug. 21 on RCA Records, sounds like an 11-song expanded version of "The Modern Age" — which is just what the band wanted. "The specific goal was to make it sound like 'The Modern Age,' but better quality," Fraiture said. "I think we progressed and made the songs better. I'm very excited, very happy, very satisfied
[with it]."
With distorted, Lou Reed-style vocals over intense, sparse, guitar-driven music, the album is angst-filled, infectious rock 'n' roll that shifts slyly from '80s synth-rock ("Hard To Explain") to edgy garage-punk ("New York City Cops") while consistently maintaining dig-able appeal.
"We have so many influences — too many to list," Fraiture said. "We've influenced each other with the music that we each listen to, but it ranges so much. Albert [Hammond Jr., guitarist] comes from L.A. and introduced us [the rest are from Manhattan] to a lot of different stuff, and we introduced him to a lot of stuff."
The Strokes formed in 1998. Their manager, Ryan Gentles, sent a three-song demo to Rough Trade records owner Geoff Travis last year. "We had dinner with our manager one night and he said, 'There's this guy Geoff Travis who's interested in releasing your E.P.' and he [Travis] wanted to fly us over to England," Fraiture said.
"Once we were in England — when we had to stop school and stop working — we knew we wanted to take it more seriously. I was apprehensive, like 'Who is this Geoff Travis? I won't believe it. I won't believe it until I have my ticket' — making sure this is true and we weren't kidding ourselves."
Rough Trade released the three-song demo as "The Modern Age" EP in March of this year; as The Face put it, "it came to pass that this year The Strokes found themselves in the curious position of playing small but sold-out shows in London, while being pretty much ignored in New York."
Doused in seedy '70s New York flavor, the swaggering punk-rock five-piece — vocalist Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, drummer Fabrizio Moretti, Hammond Jr. and Fraiture — find themselves frequently compared to such icons as the Velvet Underground, Wire, Television and The Stooges. Their occasionally lo-fi sound is by turns cool and distant, hot and impassioned. "You could say, in a sense, that we sound like those bands — I guess they throw us in the mix," Fraiture said. "We are very honored to be compared to bands that had so much energy and presence."
Like their punk forebears, The Strokes have an emotionally moving stage presence. Stumbling distraught about the Roseland Grill stage on Friday night, young (he's 22 — the other band members are even younger) lead vocalist/songwriter Julian Casablancas pulled at his hair, drank from a bottle of beer, smoked incessantly and generally displayed the star power that has helped bring the group international attention.
All eyes were on Casablancas. Looking a bit like a young Pete Townshend, but with the intense, dilated eyes of Jim Morrison, the singer stared into the crowd as he belted out such ferociously emotive instant classics as "The Modern Age" and "Barely Legal."
As I watched The Strokes play, I kept thinking: "I will never be able to see this band in a venue this small and intimate again — the next time I see them they'll be as small as ants." Their Portland performance was amazing, one of the best I've ever seen. Others who have caught the group during their current club tour have been equally impressed.
When I spoke to him, Fraiture told me the group just wants everyone who sees them to have fun. "To have a really good time — that's what we hope to do [live]," Fraiture said. "Sometimes it doesn't work out (and) we don't fake it. We don't fake that we're playing well or that we're having a good time. We'll clearly be upset. The main thing is energy — a really honest show, having a good time with the crowd and with ourselves, with everybody."
With Is This It about to be released, the group has already played sold-out tours in Australia, England and the U.S. this year. In a week they depart for Japanese and European tour dates.
Are The Strokes worried about living up to the hype? If so, they're not talking about it. And based on the album and their Portland show, they have nothing to worry about. "The only thing I'll ever worry about is ourselves and making sure everybody is healthy and happy," Fraiture said. "As long as we can be a respected band and play music that musicians can like and that kids can like ... The music is more important than anything else. We're five of us, we play music and that's just what we do. There's really nothing else."
The InsiderOne Daily
Report appears weekdays at 9 AM PST, except when it doesn't.
by Michael Goldberg
|
|
|
