Talking about the Strokes with @samtastico

Me: I remember flipping channels during the wee hours of the morning when (the very first single from the Strokes) came on MTV2. After hearing that song just one time, I knew that I was addicted to the Strokes. I remember watching MTV 2 all the time in hopes that the video would be shown again. I was afraid that the album would be little more than a vehicle for a one hit wonder and I was completely wrong. Their first album “Is this it” quickly became the anthem for my high school life. I loved it then and I think it really still holds up today.

What about you? What was your first encounter with the Strokes? 

Sam: It was my freshman year of college and I was hanging out with my friend Jimi.  He always had really fantastic taste in music.  I remember sitting on his couch and there was this banner over his bed  for  ”the white stripes” and he told me he just got a new CD he wanted me to hear and he puts on “Is this it”.  Up till that point, I had been listening to all sad acoustic music.  I was one of those people that thought the world began and ended with Dashboard Confessional’s “Swiss Army Romance”.  Then I heard this pulsating synth and I actually remember thinking “I didn’t know music sounded like this”

Julian Casablancas just has a very unique sound. The Strokes are just one of those bands you hear and you don’t confuse with a different band.

Me: It’s not just the sound though, in my opinion. They have this appeal to them that comes from a sense that they just don’t care about anything, yet the driving guitars are powerful and just make one want to rock out. They have so much style that goes beyond just their music. It’s as if they are the quintessential rock band for the new millennium. They were a new sound around the turn of the millennium and their look and attitude had a lot to do with it

Sam: I agree. So much of what they are changed music and style. They created an image…even without intending to. It was a small shirt skinny jean white belt wearing image that didn’t exist prior to the Strokes.

Me: It’s funny because upon first glance, they look like a garage band that has somehow become famous . . . that is until you learn that Julian Casablancas’s father is a business mogul and his wife is a former Danish model.

Sam: Yeah I know.  He knew what he was doing from the beginning.

Me: Their first album “Is this it?” really felt as if it was a nostalgic record. It was lo-fi and dirty sounding with Casablancas sounding raspy and wild, and while that has really defined their success, their later albums tended to shy away from that, I feel.

Sam: Yeah.  It is an issue I always have with sophomore albums.  They always seem a little more produced and off the point. That was my issue with room on fire

Me: You felt it was overproduced?

Sam: yeah.  It didn’t have that stripped down garage feel. Maybe not “over” produced…but produced nonetheless. The songs seemed too long.  The album as a whole was just “off”

Me: Listening to “Is this it” I just keep reliving high school and I feel like this album just has so much heart to it. And you’re right, the songs on “Room on fire” did seem long in comparison. Everything from the first album is a quick track that really keeps attention

Sam: “this is it” is just so pulsating a raw. And the next two albums are just a little less…raw. They are still good…

Me: It’s funny to compare the music videos for “Last Nite” to “12:51″ because the former felt like a concert video from the 60′s and the latter was a tribute to Tron

Sam: I agree

Me: Again, evoking that feeling of rawness versus produced material. Don’t get me started on the third album. The less said about that one, the better

Sam: it is forgettable

Me: I don’t even know if I’ve listened to the entire album. Razorblade is a great song, but outside of that, it’s forgettable. It’s funny, because Razorblade is sort of the single from the album, but “Is this it” is almost an album of singles. It’s like Jagged Little Pill for the Millennium.

Sam: Now here we are 10 years from the debut of “this is it” and they release a new album.

Me: Good transition! What do you think of the new album? It’s definitely different in some ways from past efforts

Sam: well…in comparison to “is this it”…it lacks the passion behind the vocals that casablancas always seemed to push out.  but otherwise I find it to be musically…perfect. Do you know what I mean? It’s very precise without being soulfull…

Me: It’s kind of hard to measure passion though isn’t it? I mean, it’s sort of like the problem with Pinkerton, isn’t it?

Sam: that it has too much passion?

Sam: my point is that they are 10 years older and not kids anymore

Me: No, what I mean is The Strokes peaked at their first album and each subsequent album becomes this impossibly high standard that fans use to judge the albums.

Sam: they aren’t making music for they same reasons. They broke up for 5 years. They individually went on to do successful things and then they got back together…and put out an album…with no heart behind it.

Me: But how does one judge “heart”? How do we measure whether an album has “passion” or not? I use these words too, but I’m curious as to what we mean by it.

Sam: does this album make you care? Does it makes you feel? Or are you apathetic to the words he is saying and you just like the music they are playing. That is my point. With “barely legal” you knew what they were saying.

Me: It’s a fair point, I suppose, but I sometimes worry that maybe we are unfairly judging albums because we have this impossibly high standard that is only created from a nostalgic love for an album

Sam: I don’t have the problem with pinkerton that you had. My favorite Weezer album is maladroit… your point is moot

Me: Fair enough.  I like this new album, though.

Sam: I don’t dislike it.

Me: Even though it mostly sounds like an 80′s album, I still like it

Sam: how about this argument…the new get up kids is album is my favorite get up kids album ever. Better than Four minute mile

Me: Slow down on the Get Up Kids. Save that for next week!

Sam: Fine. I do like the new album. I just don’t think they are they same people they were 10 years ago and they don’t have the same passion behind their lyrics BUT they still write damn good music. It is catchy and funky and I like to listen to it.

Me: I think what is so impressive about the Strokes is that each album still maintains their sound, but they all evoke very different feelings and styles. Is this it feels like a high school garage band. Room is on fire feels a little more grown up and sensible. The third album (though it is horrendous) feels like a 60′s spy movie to me and the latest album is their attempt at 80′s synth.

Favorite Strokes song?

Sam: barely legal. Yours?

Me: I gotta go with Hard to Explain or 12:51 but only because I love Tron so much. Any last words about the Strokes or the new album?

Sam: yes. Fabrizio is hawwwt. Does that count?

Me: Yes. Yes it does. Thank you.