Room On Fire, The Strokes, RCA
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? New York rockers The Strokes seem to think so: the band’s second LP entitled Room On Fire, sounds like a more cogent rendition of their hugely-acclaimed debut Is This It? Again, The Strokes lay down simple-but-dirty guitar lines, lead singer Julian Casablancas’ voice is processed through distortion, and Casablancas’ solipsism is just as present and annoying.
But there are some slight changes. The band hails from an indie-music mecca, so some influences would have to rub off on them for its second LP. The second track, “Reptilia,” recalls the sounds of gloomy-post-punkers and fellow New Yorkers Interpol: the pulsating drum beat echoes the driving force of Interpol’s “PDA” and has the same self-deprecation in the lyrics that has made Interpol famous among twenty-something doomers. But the desperate guitar propels Casablancas’ smoky-howl into oblivion and makes the song a thrill: “Please don’t slow me down if I’m moving too fast,” he sings.
The instrumentation of “The End Has No End” has an appealing pop sensibility; the quirky synthesizer sounds as if it was appropriated from The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Casablancas’ story is so simplistic and jaded that it’s no wonder they’re hailed as kings of slacker rock: “He wants it easy / He wanted to relax / Said I can do a lot of things / But I can’t do that.”
So how long can The Strokes go one with this garage-rock revivalist formula? Probably not long: Room on Fire has the same abrupt endings, Casablancas’ repetitive-snarl weakens more than enlightens, and there is some tough competition on the market. For instance, southern rockers Kings of Leon are two releases deep and show promise. But The Strokes’ experimentation this time around is tuneful, more realized and Casablancas’ elementary wordsmithing is often funny. This album will function better as a must-have for die-hards rather than as a primer for a band that re-instilled the faith that rock-’n’-roll will endure. And at least they didn’t make a follow-up LP that bitches about the ardors of rock stardom and touring, which means they’ll stick around.
-Kevin A. O’Donnell
Chutes Too Narrow, The Shins, Sub Pop
The Shins came out of Albuquerque, N.M., and onto the scene at the height of the “new rock revolution,” the much-hyped return of homemade rock led by the Strokes and the White Stripes in late 2001. And although their debut-the catchy, dreamy and poppy Oh, Inverted World-was warmly received by music critics, the band went largely unnoticed by the media which had so excitedly lavished the other “it” bands (the Strokes, Stripes, Vines and Hives) with so much attention. It’s a shame, though, because the Shins are just as worthy (if not more) of the popularity enjoyed by their contemporaries, which they skillfully prove with their second full-length, Chutes Too Narrow.
Chutes’ first single, “So Says I,” begins with guitars slightly more aggressive than those on Inverted World, representative of a small-yet-recognizable shift in style from the breezy pop of Inverted World to a more straightforward rock-’n’-roll approach. The song’s lyrics match the new strength of guitar, perhaps suggestive of the aforementioned lack of attention: “If it makes them money, they might just give you life this time,” lead singer James Mercer sings. No need to worry, though, the Shins retain the eccentrically dreamy and richly layered pop melodies which set them apart from their colleagues, with upbeat handclaps and high-pitched cooing . Both the changes in style and the similarities to the debut are especially evident on the album’s highlight, opener “Kissing the Lipless,” a unique breakup song featuring the refrain, “You’ve got too much to wear on your sleeve / It’s got too much to do with me.” Lost love seems to be a major theme of the album, repeated on “Gone for Good”: “I find a fatal flaw in the logic of love / And go out of my head / You know the sinking stone that’ll never elope / So get used to the lonesome.”
Chutes Too Narrow won’t propel the Shins to Strokes-ian media-darling status-hell, I still have no idea what they even look like-but among the music-loving elite, it will cement their status as one of the most promising, talented, and intelligent bands in rock. If, as Spin magazine says, the Strokes are the Beatles to the White Stripes’ Rolling Stones, then the Shins are the new Beach Boys, and the sun-kissed brilliance has just begun.
-Richard P. Thayer
