Finally. After five years of waiting, the world of music had much anticipated "Angles" to savour. After numerous broken promises of release dates and teasing clues to the layout of the album by Julian Casablancas, the record was now laboured with a level of expectation that had never been previously attached to the New York band.
The amount of time it has taken for The Strokes to release the album (five whole years), a lot has changed in the external world of music therefore raising questions to whether the new record could hold its own and live up the suprisingly high expectations of music fans across the globe. In the five years that have passed since the release of "First Impressions Of Earth", Arctic Monkeys have come, gone and come back with new hair styles and new genius music and the charts have been engulfed in predictable, electronic noises that can just be about passed as music in some people's eyes. So, is this the time where Julian Casablancas talks a good talk, but the reality of "Angles" is even better and just what the music world has so desperately needed. I'm afraid not.
The phrase "Hit and Miss" comes to mind after at least seven or eight listens to the entire album over a period of about a week. We wanted brilliance, we wanted genius and maybe, in due course, the album will unveil itself in ways we never anticipated at first listens. This is not an album of first listens. Much like "Humbug" by "Arctic Monkeys", it reveals more than jut three minute pop songs over a period of time. The New York band cannot be criticised when it comes to testing their fans patience.
The opening of the record could not be any better. Hard-hitting, catchy, curtain raising guitar riffs explode through the speakers as "Machu Picchu" and "Under Cover Of Darkness" basks in the glory of old Strokes success. These two tracks make me immediately giddy with excitement as it sets the album up to be one of the best works by "The Strokes". This continues in a hit and miss fashion throughout the album, with frantic drumming and muffed vocals sound to many, what the perfect Strokes reunion would sound like. "Taken For A Fool" illustrates this as along with it's catchy chorus, the simplicty of the layout of the song is what we would traditionally expect from the New York band and we are not disappointed.
However, the cleverly named album attacks the listener in more harsh, different "Angles" that we would not expect. This comes apparant, when "Two Kinds Of Happiness" sounds like it should belong in the 1980's with obvious electronic slurs and a more hollow, stadium-like drumming pattern, something in which many Strokes fans would never expect from them. The new sound the New York band seem to be heading towards is further illustrated with "You're So Right" as Julian Casablancas seems to have discovered a digital vocal manipulator for the first time. Yet, this is overlooked with the frantic guitar patterns are still present embedding the Stroke-esc authenticity. The 80's new wave feel to the album takes yet another "Angle" with a sci-fi element to "Phrazes For The Young" and stonewashed synths in "Games" are two of the outlaying highlights in the album in terms of a new sound and a new direction the band are taking.
It can be argued that the album has not been put together well. The first two, if not three tracks set the album up nicely to maintain a rhythmn that would mark this album above the rest yet the fact it was recorded over a period of more than a year, with the 5 different members recording parts of the songs seperately and often individually, this was always going to be very difficult to pull off. Tracks such as "Gatisfaction" and "Metabolism" lend themselves to these tangents. Each track threatens to break into a classic Strokes three minute tune which made them famous such as "Take It Or Leave It" or "New York City Cops" but still mixes in the sound of twinned complex guitar riffs which can be trademarked as "The Strokes"'s way of playing yet a lighter, chaotic underlying noise of synths and guitar effects lend themselves to a new sound and yet another "Angle" within the album.
We now come to "Call Me Back", a drumless, slower song that finds itself slap bam in the middle of the chaotic and energetic guitar and drum mix. We get the impression as listeners, this song came about as ideas ran dry as momentum that had gradually built, is totally lost and we find ourselves listening to around 2 minutes of this song, and getting an real urge to skip to the next track.
So, what do I think of The Strokes attempt at a new sound, to break away from their infamous New York underlying bass lines, chaotic guitar riffs and frantic drumming? Well put it this way, in Julian Casablancas' words, I could easily "Take It Or Leave It". By the time you've finished listening to the album, an unusual, dis-jointed feeling is present within you as you don't know whether to like "Angles" or whether to bin in and forget you ever listened to it. This is the frustrating thing: the album is set up perfectly with "Machu Picchu" and "Undercover Of Darkness" and excitement is built even further. These two tracks are works of genius and could not have been written any better - if only the rest of the album was like this.
That is the thing you have to get over when listening to "Angles". It is NOT an album for first listens. Remember that. "Angles" is not perfect, and like most albums nowadays, it has it's weak links. But there is no question that The Strokes still write fantastic music and marks a new phase of creativity within the band. But let's hope that we don't have to wait another five years to receive a 12 track album that reaches an anti-climax within the first five tracks. The album isn't a bad album, infact, in many ways, it's a brilliant album, it just needs patience.
