The Strokes - Angles

I had a disagreement with some fellow music critics once about the impact The Strokes had on the indie music world. It was largely over my claim that their arrival changed everything. It's easy to see why my peers scoffed at such a suggestion. Over the last few years, The New York quintet have hardly set the world alight with patchy second and third albums, slurred live shows and uninspiring side-projects, but I stand by my claim. At the turn of the Millennium, The Strokes really mattered. Like, really mattered. Back then, Limp Bizkit were considered the height of talent. They were bleak times. Then The Strokes arrived on the indie scene like a slap in the face. A brilliant, jangley-guitared slap in the face. Is This It remains the best record so far this Century and if you don't agree with me then you are wrong. Not only was it 30 insanely amazing minutes of the punchiest garage rock songs since godknowswhen, but it also allowed the likes of The Libertines and The White Stripes to follow in the band's slipstream and into the consciousness of the indie fraternity.

Since then though, it's been a mixed bag. The second record offered a couple of outstanding singles that only served to illustrate just how disappointing the rest of the album was and the next record was similar in that it had a few brilliant songs but was still a long way short of recapturing the magic of their debut.

Now, after a lengthy break to allow for side-projects and wotnot, comes Angles. Was it worth the wait? Unfortunately the answer to that question is emphatically in the negative. To be honest, after five years, unless they had come up with the next Pet Sounds, it was always going to be a let down.

Angles is an album that tries to paper over the cracks of a band that clearly aren't into it anymore by being fun, upbeat and at times experimental. However, every sound that emerges from the speakers does so dripping in insincerity. It's not a bad record - in fact, it's an above average one - but there is nothing believable about it. On first listen it's very clear that these songs were not created because Messrs Casablancas and Co simply couldn't bear for the world not to hear them.  Sure, there is plenty of energy and a few stirring moments, but it's all merely a smokescreen to disguise the fact that Angles is clearly weighed down by a miserable sense of obligation. If Is This It was the sound of The Strokes changing everything, then Angles is them as a tired old wedding covers band - offering enough to allow for moderate enjoyment, but the kind of enjoyment that no-one will remember too much about when the party's over. At its best, it wanders somewhere vaguely near the landscape of their first recordings. Under Cover of Darkness, for instance, is strong because it has its roots in that classic Strokes sound. The more experimental efforts don't come across so well though. Machu Picchu is an example of this, opening the album on some kind of ill-advised reggae tip.

Simply, once I put the last full-stop at the end of this review, I doubt I'll revisit this record often. If I want to listen to The Strokes, I'll give their debut a spin. Even all these years since its release, it still sounds fresher than their new offering. Sadly, if Angles does anything, it suggests that it is time for this once important, vibrant and exciting band to finally reach their own full-stop.

Review by Bobby Townsend 

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul

Few albums come weighed down by so much history. Finally arriving on shelves following more than a year of legal wrangling with the record label, not only is Dark Night of the Soul dedicated to Vic Chesnutt, who performed on the record and who died last December, but its release also follows the suicide of Sparklehorse’s singer/songwriter, Mark Linkous.

An ambitious project presented by Linkous and Danger Mouse, Dark Night… has a grand, cinematic feel to its 13 collaborations, all of which extenuate the qualities of the incredible list of artists involved. The Flaming Lips reprise the ethereality of their Soft Bulletin/Yoshimi era and Gruff Rhys combines lyrics about the horrors of war with the kind of dreamy psychedelic folk he’s so good at. Black Francis gets shouty on Angel’s Harp, Julian Casablancas’ Little Girl is dizzying, and, on the frankly magnificent Pain, Iggy Pop drones like a madman about a “Headache in my ageing skull,” over cacophonous drums and fuzzy, breakneck guitars. Meanwhile, David Lynch contributes not only a lyrical turn or two but also photographs to accompany the album. While Linkous was clearly happy to sit in the shadows and allow the guests to take centre stage, these breathtaking compositions show what a wonderful songwriter and poet the man was. Similarly, Danger Mouse’s signature sounds don’t overbear, but rather create a perfect ambience.

In bringing down the curtain on Mark Linkous’ own tragedy, the wonderful and poignant Dark Night… adds to a Sparklehorse legacy that perfectly illustrates the beauty and fragility of life. In Linkous’ passing, the world is a poorer place.

Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young

With no new output forthcoming from The Strokes yet, fans are having to settle for the numerous side-projects, the most anticipated of which is surely the debut solo offering from frontman and creative driving-force, Julian Casablancas.

Opening song, Out of the Blue, illustrates a dichotomy that occurs throughout the record, as cynical lyrics disguise what is actually a musically celebratory and largely radio-friendly album. “Somewhere along the way, my hopefulness turned to sadness/ Somewhere along the way, my sadness turned to bitterness,” Casablancas grumbles in his deliciously languid slur. But, just when the tone seems to have been set, he leaps into a rousing, joyous chorus. Phrazes… often references the 80s. The synth-drenched Left & Right in the Dark even threatens to burst into Ultravox’s Dancing With Tears in My Eyes before reigning itself in and ending like something from Is This It.

With eight tracks totalling 40 minutes, the album could have done with some fat-trimming, and one senses there may have been a handful of three-minute pop classics here had Casablancas shown more self-discipline. This is a minor quibble though, and there are enough surprising left-turns to keep things interesting, like the laid-back soul of 4 Chords of the Apocalypse and the country influenced Ludlow St.

While such departures validate Casablancas’ side-project as worthwhile and necessary, the songs that fall closer to that distinctive Strokes sound are actually the highlights. So, no matter how good Phrazes For The Young might be - and it is good - it ultimately leaves the listener longing for a new Strokes album. Still, as a stopgap, this’ll do nicely.

Albert Hammond Jr interview

 

ALBERT HAMMOND JR TALKS TO ROB TOWNSEND ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM, HIS UPCOMING TOUR AND HIS OTHER BAND’S IMPACT ON THE MUSIC WORLD

Albert Hammond, Jr. is a talented guy. As well as being in one of the most lauded bands of the last decade, The Strokes’ guitarist is making a name for himself as a singer/songwriter, and this week releases his second solo album, ¿Cómo Te Llama?

However, far from his solo work being down to any long-standing desire to go it alone, Hammond, Jr. admits it came about almost by accident after he wrote a couple of songs he liked. “I felt I had reached a point where if I didn’t record them in a way that would let me let go of them, I would never move on. Friends started to really like what I was doing, so I kept doing more until I was like: ‘Oh, I have a record. Cool. Maybe I can put it out in England or something.’ I wasn’t planning on touring or doing any press but it kind of built up and before I knew it I was on the road and the album was out everywhere.”

That album was Yours To Keep and now, a couple of years on, ¿Cómo Te Llama? follows, showing growth and increased ambition to his sound. The guitar-led, perky pop melodies are still there, but this time they are bolder and more powerful. Another difference is that this album was more of a collaborative effort, with Hammond, Jr. including his band in the songwriting process at a much earlier stage. “I really like the concept of trying to explain what you hear in your head to someone else and seeing how they bring it back to you. People can add more by how they play it or by thinking of tones you might not have thought of. Even if the collaboration is as small as a tone, in my world that’s huge because it keeps everything fresh and exciting.”

The New York-based musician has long been iconic as a member of The Strokes, who changed the course of indie music for the better when they released their debut album in 2001. Having witnessed their seminal performance at that year’s Reading Festival, I ask Hammond, Jr. whether at the time he had any idea of the impact his band was having. While he says in retrospect it was an amazing experience, he admits that, back then, he wasn’t thinking about his role in altering how bands would sound and look. “When you’re doing it, you almost don’t realise that your dream is coming true. It’s all just day-by-day; you don’t really see an arc. We were happy and it’s awesome when you are a part of things changing, but if you’d have asked me that question back then, I don’t think I would have said anything about changing anything. I’d have probably asked you how I could meet a girl I liked or if you had any coke,” he laughs.

With The Strokes still going strong, Hammond, Jr. describes his dichotomous musical life as: “Positioning myself between two things that give me great joy,” and says it’s not difficult to balance his time and mindset between the two projects. Typical of the laid-back charm and appealing optimism he displays throughout our conversation, the American says: “I try to find the way it can be done as opposed to the way it can’t. I can still write songs for my third record and be playing with The Strokes. It’s like that Spinal Tap thing [where keyboardist Viv Savage is asked to deputise for an absent Nigel Tufnell]: ‘Oh yeah, I can do that. I've got two hands.’”

When I reviewed Hammond, Jr’s performance at England’s Latitude Festival last year, he seemed a very natural frontman, but he tells me he found it strange stepping up to the role. “The hardest part was probably to be on my third or fourth show and being reviewed as if I’d been around for years. Most people get a year or two, if not more, to find their way and I was already being looked at before I really even understood what I was doing.”

Having played live all over the world for much of last year, Albert Hammond, Jr. is now increasingly confident fronting his band. He begins a hectic worldwide gigging schedule in Australia in a few weeks and hints that he hopes to bookend months of touring by playing Big Day Out next January. “They didn’t ask me last year,” he frowns. When I enquire whether he is excited about his visit to Sydney in August, his enthusiasm is palpable. “Ah yeah. Are you kidding? I really wanted to come over with the first album but you guys are far away.”