Is This It (LP) in Bloomington, MN

Blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of advance hype from the British press,
the Strokes
proved they were one of the few groups deserving of glowing reviews with
Is This It
. Granted, their faultless influences -- especially
the Stooges
,
Lou Reed
, and
the Velvet Underground
-- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. However,
don't rehash the sounds that inspire them; they remake them in their own image. The band's pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk comes complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat that all sound familiar, but the songs on their debut album also reflect their own early-twenties lust for life. Singer/songwriter/guitarist
Julian Casablancas
and the rest of the band mix swaggering self-assurance with barely concealed insecurity on
"The Modern Age"
and reveal something akin to earnestness on
"Barely Legal"
's soaring choruses. The group revamps
"Lust for Life"
on
"New York City Cops"
and combines their raw power and infectious melodies on
"Hard to Explain,"
one of their finest songs. Nearly half of
consists of their previously released material, but that's not really a disappointment since those songs are so strong. What makes their debut impressive, however, is that the new material more than holds its own with the tried-and-true songs.
"Is This It"
sets the highs and lows of being young, jaded, and yearning to a wonderfully bouncy bassline;
"Alone Together"
and
"Trying Your Luck"
develop the group's brooding comedowns, while
"Soma,"
"Someday,"
"Take It or Leave It"
capture
at their most sneeringly exuberant. Able to make the timeworn themes of sex, drugs, and
rock & roll
and the basic guitars-drum-bass lineup seem new and vital again,
may or may not be completely arty and calculated, but that doesn't prevent
from being an exciting, compulsively listenable debut. [In light of the World Trade Center disaster, the track
was pulled from the U.S. release]. ~ Heather Phares