First for music news

The Strokes : Is This It

All you've heard is true. One of the best debut LPs by a guitar band in 20 years

Photo: Next Previous

Photo Gallery: The Strokes

10 / 10 It's the best kind of New York story. One which mixes impossible glamour with brief excursions to the wild side. Which starts in a basement, and ends in huge acclaim. Which features good-looking participants in a potentially dirty business. A story too good to be true to be the real thing, surely? Like the title seems to ask - is this really it? Oh, it is. If 'it' is 11 songs and 37 minutes of concise and elegant rock music by five young men. If 'it' is a truly great statement of intent, one of the all-too-infrequent calls to arms that guitar music can provide, one of the best and most characterful debut albums of the last 20 years. If 'it' is touching, soulful, funny, tuneful and well-written songs played by people in great clothing, then yes, it is. It is 'it'.

Simply put, Strokes have every quality rock'n'roll requires from its finest exponents and 'Is This It' is where they come together. Some are obvious: the drawling narratives of singer Julian Casablancas, the clanging of Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi's guitars, the uncomplicated recording, bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti joyfully getting on with the business of making music. More than that, though (and like, say, 'Definitely Maybe' by Oasis before it), 'Is This It' is a document of a group seizing a moment and making it entirely their own. Like any indispensable invention, you're forced to wonder how you got by without it. This album is filled with examples of Strokes' indispensability. That these songs for the most part represent material that the band have played since their inception tells you a lot about its quality: the band were inspired from the beginning, and that spontaneity has been captured.

It's a mood that is the backbone to the songs, too - they represent an account of life (their lives, anyone's lives) as hectic and full of incident as their own career. If there's a theme, then it's of inarticulacy ("I say the right thing/But act the wrong way", in 'Hard To Explain', is one lyric that sets the tone), but the songs themselves are perfectly articulate. They're in the right time, in the right place, and they provide as many epiphanies as they're trying to describe.

There's nothing unnecessary here. 'Is This It' is an album by a band that knows its strengths, knows its collective mind. It doesn't sound like one songwriter and some other donkeys. The highest compliment you can pay this record is that it sounds like Strokes, sounds as good as that whole concept. It's a New York story, a Los Angeles story, a London story. Anyone and everyone's story.

John Robinson

Rate this album

Average rating

9.6

NEW! For the latest music videos and backstage interviews, check out our brand new sister site, NME Video.

More The Strokes
External Reviews of The Strokes - Is This It
BBC Latest Rock & Indie Reviews

BBC Latest Rock & Indie Reviews: Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona

"Two decades of indie-pop later, it still sounds arresting."

Artrocker reviews

Artrocker reviews: Julian Casablancas- Phrazes For The Young

" Julian Casablancas- Phrazes For The Young 8/10 Marrying sunny melodies with despondent lyrics, The Strokes’ lead singer and mastermind Julian Casablancas has shed his gritty punk rock demeanour for more eclectic experimentalism with his debut..."

Artrocker reviews

Artrocker reviews: Julian Casablancas - 4 Chords of the Apocalypse

" The best songs on Julian Casablancas’ solo debut are the ones in which he sounds just like himself but not much at all like the Strokes, forcing us to reckon with the notion that the two things are not as synonymous as we’d previously thought...."

Artrocker reviews

Artrocker reviews: The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

" Along with a number of other bloggers, I did my fair share of hyping up The Soft Pack last year. And their debut album justifies all that enthustiastic frothing - because it is fucking ace. It’s the best debut album since Is This It changed the rock n roll topography 10 years ago...."

NYT > Music

NYT > Music: Venison, or Rather, the Strokes Reunite in Britain

"Venison, or Rather, the Strokes Reunite in Britain"

This Is Fake DIY / Reviews

This Is Fake DIY / Reviews: The Strokes, RockNess 2010

"The band walk off looking no more dishevelled than when they walked on."

Music: Pop and rock + Album reviews | guardian.co.uk

Music: Pop and rock + Album reviews | guardian.co.uk: The Strokes: Angles – review

"The Strokes: Angles – review"

Music: Pop and rock + Album reviews | guardian.co.uk

Music: Pop and rock + Album reviews | guardian.co.uk: The Strokes: Angles – review

"The Strokes: Angles – review"

Music reviews: telegraph

Music reviews: telegraph: The Strokes: Angles, CD review

"Angles is the most lukewarm album of The Strokes to date. Rating: * *"

BBC Latest Rock & Indie Reviews

BBC Latest Rock & Indie Reviews: The Strokes - Angles

"Prepare to be smitten all over again, as the NYC outfit release a brilliant fourth album."

You may need to upgrade your Flash Player

You can download the latest flash plugin here.

If you have installed flash but keep getting this message:

1. Try to bypass flash plugin detection here.

2. Ensure you have javascript enabled in your browser.

3. Try using Firefox

Listen to more Free Music at we7.com
Comments

Comments do not always reflect the views of NME, or IPC Media, for guidelines visit our Ts & Cs page

Featured Videos
Latest Tickets
NME Store & Framed Prints
Most Read Reviews
Popular This Week
Twitter
New Issue Out Now
Inside NME.COM
 
Newsletter

Free weekly music news, videos and MP3s in your inbox

On NME.COM Today