It’s a weak week in terms of new albums, but the front runners pack quite the punch. Arcade Fire and Owen Pallet have (finally!) shared the original score to 2013’s Her, The Weeknd is set to finally put his debut mixtape on streaming services this Sunday in honor of its tenth anniversary, Lana Del Ray returns with the follow-up to her critically acclaimed Norman Fucking Rockwell!, and Justin Bieber is back with a new album that has EDM bigwigs Justice issuing a cease and desist.
Since there’s been a bit of a lull in new releases, I took some time to write about the Strokes’ fourth album, Angles, which turned ten this week.
Albums:
Arcade Fire / Owen Pallet | Her (Original Score)
The Weeknd | House of Balloons [Original Mix and Samples]
Lana Del Ray | Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Justin Bieber | Justice
Ringo Starr | Zoom In EP
Songs:
Squid | “Paddling”
Lydia Ainsworth | “Parade”
Mykki Blanco | “Free Ride”
Bing & Ruth | “Gigantic” [Pixies cover]
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2021) here!
The Strokes’ Angles Turns 10
As of now, Angles is the mid-career record from the Strokes. Later this year, their debut will turn 20 and ten years ago yesterday, the band released their highly anticipated fourth record, one that marked a new direction for the once future kings and saviors of rock and roll. At the time, the five year drought between records had been the longest in the groups career and as a new decade began, it was uncertain if the Strokes still cared to exist. Nearly all of the members of the band had released solo records and while critics complained that Room on Fire sounded too much like Is This It, First Impressions of Earth was trashed because it didn’t sound enough like it. So the Strokes did what would turn out to be the classic Strokes move for the back-half of their career. Maintain somewhat solo mindsets, play it safe, and keep trying to re-write your classics.
The five years prior to the album weren’t completely dormant. The band had played handfuls of gigs and recently headlined Coachella, but still, when the announcement of the first taste of new music from the band in five years hit, it felt like a rush back to 2001 and the hype of “The Modern Age.” Finally, the single “Under Cover of Darkness” hit and it felt like they were back. The magic resurfaced. It was a little bit of “Hard to Explain” and a whole lot of “Someday.” There were elements of Phoenix with the flair of Television. A breathe of fresh air, but still familiar territory. For a moment, it seemed as if this could really be it, the return of the best American rock band of the past decade.
That didn’t exactly turn out to be the case and Angles landed with a thud for most critics. The rest of the album didn’t pop quite like “Darkness” and even at its short run time, it wasn’t the most inviting record. The opener “Machu Piccu” doesn’t hit with a memorable guitar riff or chorus, but ambles on in with a slinking melody and stabbing synth line. It’s a solid set-up for the rest of the record, but by the third track things immediately feel a bit stagnant. “Taken For a Fool,” the second single from the album, is the runner-up in terms of classic sound and according to Julian, was their take at an Elvis Costello number. (When the band played the album release at Madison Square Garden a few weeks later, they’d bring him out to guest on the track. It was the b-side on the vinyl too and I’ve been eyeing it for years.) The back half of the record is when things really start to fizzle and tracks feel more rushed out the door, probably attempts to just get things down and out of the studio to save themselves more arguments and frustration. One last triumph comes in the way of “Gratisfaction,” their take on a Thin Lizzy rocker that allows for one last sold air guitar moment on the album.
For a band that had spent a decade garnering comparisons to the ‘70s vibes of CBGBs, Angles felt like their departure towards more complicated sounds of the ‘80s. Ones that seems like promising ideas that never really come into focus. Ten years later and the record certainly doesn’t hold a candle to their first two albums, but holds a significant role in the band’s timeline. The overly processed melodies and treated drum beats don’t feel as out of place as they did upon first listen and “Under Cover of Darkness” has become one of the band’s best live songs. Their next two records would see even longer breaks between release dates and follow similar fates. They continued to take big risks and their fifth album would suffer from it, but they’d still reserve a bit of magic to conjure up their past moments of brilliance (check out “All the Time” on Comedown Machine and “Bad Decisions” on last year’s The New Abnormal.) just to prove they still had it in them.
Perhaps now, with the knowledge of what the future of the band has become, it’s easier to appreciate Angles and not just compare it to their best work, but in the canon of their entire discography. The Strokes were never going to recreate their once in a lifetime sensation Is This It, and after Angles, it finally seemed like the band became aware of that as well. Hearing the record now and in this context makes it much easier to enjoy and appreciate. A band still trying to push ahead, but playing it cool and meeting their fans slightly in the past.