Albums of The Year # 45 The Strokes - The New Abnormal

 

So what exactly do The Strokes mean in 2020? I guess it depends on what The Strokes mean or have meant to you. To mean they mean or have meant an awful lot. They were probably the last band that really, really shook me. Of course there are still new bands that mean an awful lot to me but perhaps the way we quantify these things have changed over the last couple of decades.

Frankly The Strokes were one of the last bands to really shake the world when Is This It? landed in 2001. It brought back a certain sound and look that many people had despaired of ever hearing again and thousands were uttely thrilled to experience for the first time.

They were pretty much universally adored first time round. But certainly not anymore. New album The New Abnormal released yesterday has been greeted with notably vitriolic reviews by self appointed arbiters of cool on both sides of the pond Pitchfork and The Quietus Read them and weep Strokes boys!

So what exactly do so many people hold against this band. I've been discussing this with a friend and supporter of this blog over the last couple of days and we've come to these conclusions. People resent The Strokes because they: come from wealthy backgrounds, are inauthentic, don't care, go away for long periods, refuse to go away, don't like critics, don't play the game, try to change, don't change enough.

Seriously, it would take hours, and several paragraphs to outline the inherent contradictions in all this. The New Abnormal is ultimately just a record. A Rock and Roll one if you like but  probably better described as a New Wave one, located in the heartland of Strokes territory, between the years of 1977 and 1983 when everything seemed so fresh and true.

They still do this better than anyone else. If you don't like that particular party trick then best not to listen to The Strokes at all because that is their schtik. Good to hear they haven't forgotten how to do what they're best at. I particularly like the parts of the record where Julian Casablancas lets rip and emotes because that was always one of the things I most loved about them, what first drew me to them when I first heard The Modern Age all those years ago. Plus the way, the band, as good friends, always knew implicitly exactly how to back him up.

I also love Nick Valensi's guitars on here. Another major thing I adored about the band when they first appeared was that they reminded me and countless others of the classic CBGBs era, something we never felt we'd experience again. It reminded me most viscerally of Television, forever one of my very favourite bands.

Ironically when this comparison point came up, the band denied listening to Television at all. They said they preferred The Cars, who famously filched the Television signatures and rode them into the mainstream.The New Abnormal reminds me of The Cars. It reminds me of Television. But most of all it reminds me of The Strokes. It's a good record. Not a classic, but certainly a good one. I hope that's not damning them with faint praise because I certainly don't intend to. I wish them well with it.