The Strokes - Is This It

Astride a massive amount of hype, mostly courtesy of the British press, the Strokes have released their debut LP Is This It? in the US. For once, all the hype is justified. The Strokes are the best rock band to come out the New York City scene since Sonic Youth.

Is This It? blows the dust off of the classic American protopunks—especially Velvet Underground and the Stooges—adding to that an enthusiasm for simple alternative pop luminescence that runs closer to Alex Chilton and the Replacements than to punk proper. The songs are short, rough, and retro.

The Strokes don’t waste time trying to find MTV hits and radio-friendly singles in their songs, they just bang them out and move onto the next one. They know what works—basically, sex, drugs, and a backbeat—the songs on this album are already proven material (most of the songs, in fact, have already been released on one or the other of the band’s EPs).

Don’t get me wrong; they’re far from musical purists. The Strokes are rich kids fresh out of prep school, and not without their postures and pretenses—singer Julian Casablancas’s father owns New York’s Elite modeling agency, while guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s old man is the singer/songwriter known for insipid pop songs the likes of "It Never Rains in Southern California," "When I Need You" and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before"—so they’ve been groomed well enough by now so that they’re more than prepared to be both poster boys and pop stars (in addition to being a pretty good rockers), but it’s far from being cold, calculated pop, too.

These guys have already learned a hell of a lot from there influences, and have used them come up with something singularly original that’s all their own. Is This It? is an amazing accomplishment for a debut album. You can’t help but be impressed by songs like “Is This It?,” “The Modern Age,” “Barely Legal,” “Someday,” and “Last Night,” even as they’re blasting by you.

Is This It? is one of the best albums of 2001.

(Note: In light of the developments of September 11th, the song “New York City Cops,” which appears on the UK release of Is This It?, was deleted from the American release and replaced with “When It Started.” “NYC Cops” is a much cooler song, which makes it worthwhile for American listeners to seek out the UK release. )

--Matt Parks