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The Strokes

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

15:26 / 30.08.01

I've been oblivious to all this hype. But I heard the album. Goddamn. They're good.

So they're like the Velvet Underground, with a bit of Iggy and the Smiths thrown in. I can't stop listening to the album.
I, for one, am very happy. I think it's a great album, and for once... actually happening now.

Obviously it's all gonna get completely blown out of proportion and over the top... but still

09:03 / 31.08.01

Oh I don't know. To be fair, I've become pretty fatally allergic to hype recently, and the Strokes just seem so.. goddamn.. reactionary. I remember hearing "The Modern Age" and "Hard to Explain" and seeing the NME covers and just thinking... is this really what we need to be championing? I mean, this sort of retrospective stuff has it's place but... wouldn't it be nice for the music papers to champion something a bit forward-looking? For once?

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

09:03 / 31.08.01

I don't think music really has to look foward anywhere - it just has to sound good. And although this is essentially influenced by past music, it still retains an essential 'Strokes-ness' to the sound.

I was genuinely surprised how good I thought the album was. But there ya go. One mans view.

12:08 / 31.08.01

I wouldn't go as far as to say the Strokes are retrogressive.
They don't do anything drastically new, but unlike a lot of other bands, it's difficult to dismiss them with "why, they sound just like X!"

I mean, they're a bit Television and a bit Blondie, but not enough like them to actually be accused of ripping them off.

And anyway, historically speaking, guitar music that's tried to "look forward" by tacking on bits of other genres and deliberately 'modern' elements has usually come a poor second place to music that's just taken the standard rock n' roll formula and twisted it into cool new shapes.

(Look at, say, 'Sgt. Peppers..' Vs. 'White Heat White Light')

Ronald Thomas Clontle

13:22 / 31.08.01

I get into this argument about bands being 'foward-thinking' all of the time, and I go in circles and on every side of the argument in my head...I hope maybe I can get myself out of it sometime, it just makes me get into stupid arguments with people that I later feel differently about.

anyway, I think the Strokes aren't really retrogressive, they are just normal. they play standard rock music, but happen to do it well. I'm a lot less forgiving to bands who just do the normal rock thing and bore me... A friend of mine once countered me in an argument like this with 'you know, not everyone wants to write the Great American Novel...some people are just content to do what they can and stay at their percieved station, and why shouldn't that be okay? why does ambition have to be everything when just doing something they like the best they can do be enough to let them slide with a little less scrutiny?" I only agree with her half way...

Jack The Bodiless

01:14 / 02.09.01

Despite not liking The Strokes in any way, shape or form, I completely agree with this. For what they do, they're very good... they just don't grab me in the slightest, and the hype machine and the circumstances of their signing has actually turned me off being even slightly interested.

But they do deserve more than a casual listen, if you like this kind of music, and are able to disregard the vaguely nauseating and fellatial publicity...

Pin

20:18 / 02.09.01

I like the album. That said, some of the songs are a bit samey (Barely legal and take it Or Leave It springing to mind), but I still think Someday, Last Nite and new York City Cops are amazing songs.

Any chance of a "No twatish celebrities getting all the tickets" shows any time soon? Ya know, ones it's possible to go to. Are they as good live as evyerone... OK, NME, says they are?

Ronald Thomas Clontle

09:00 / 03.09.01

I saw The Strokes open up for Guided By Voices early this year, and I thought they were an alright band...it was my first time hearing them much less seeing them, and the best I can say about my memories of that show was that I was entertained, and pleased that they did not suck, as opening acts can so easily do. They weren't anything special, just non-offensive. Anything yr hearing about them having a fantastic live show is probably euro-press hyberbole.

To be fair, they were opening for GBV, who can blow nearly anyone off of a stage.

I'd like to go see them again sometime soon, though the hype combined with the fact that I'd be seeing them in their hometown would mean tickets will be potentially hard to get... If I missed it, I wouldn't be crushed or anything. Not nearly as upset as when I found out that last night's Avey Tare and Panda Bear show at Tonic was being cancelled.. I wanted to cry, really.

[ 03-09-2001: Message edited by: Flux = Rad ]

11:49 / 05.09.01

okay, so the strokes produce quality pop/punk. it's nothing new, and ultimately, nothing that special. it also makes them hard to dislike. how can anyone resist 'last nite'. however, what gets to me about all the hype(see NME), is the claims being made for them as the band most in tune with their time. i mean jesus. just before their hype machine kicked in there was a little hype for their New York peers, the moldy peaches. a band which i would consider to be far more in tune with what's goin on right now. this is reflected in their music which is in turns, patchy, stoopid, incoherent, tender, poppy, etc etc. in short it's a heterogeneous mess but infinitely more loveable than the strokes. just listen to 'nothing came out' and tell me i'm wrong.

oh...and i'm surprised no-ones mentioned the white stripes yet.

autopilot disengaged

11:53 / 05.09.01

tha moldy peaches rule.

Ellis

11:55 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by autopilot disengaged:
tha moldy peaches rule.

Damn right.

11:56 / 05.09.01

There's a piece in last week's NME, touted as a Moldy Peaches interview, by a New York journo, which pretty much tries to explode the NME's elevate'em / shoot'em approach to hype. It then precedes to catalogue piss milkshakes.

Devestating journalism. Devestating.

autopilot disengaged

11:58 / 05.09.01

and re: the strokes - everyone does know that they're the assorted heirs to about 5 different major fortunes, don't they?

not that i'm saying being a rich kid precludes you from being an artist, but it did make me wonder...

12:12 / 05.09.01

Conversely, i'd say, that traditionally, art was largely an aristocratic pursuit, and has only recently become a preterite one, in the last century or so.

12:17 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Dee Vapr:
There's a piece in last week's NME, touted as a Moldy Peaches interview, by a New York journo, which pretty much tries to explode the NME's elevate'em / shoot'em approach to hype. It then precedes to catalogue piss milkshakes.

Devestating journalism. Devestating.

ooh, sounds good. That'll teach me to try and break my programming by not buying it. Is it online?

12:28 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
Is it online?

No.

However, I just typed "Moldy Peaches Piss" into google, which is something I certainly thought I'd never do.

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: Dee Vapr ]

Ronald Thomas Clontle

12:34 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Vitamin-C:
is the claims being made for them as the band most in tune with their time. i mean jesus. just before their hype machine kicked in there was a little hype for their New York peers, the moldy peaches. a band which i would consider to be far more in tune with what's goin on right now. this is reflected in their music which is in turns, patchy, stoopid, incoherent, tender, poppy, etc etc. in short it's a heterogeneous mess but infinitely more loveable than the strokes. just listen to 'nothing came out' and tell me i'm wrong.

Actually, I'm going to take issue with this...just as much as The Strokes are a throwback to late 70's NY punk, the The Moldy Peaches are a latter-day version of folks like Half Japanese, The Dead Milkmen, Daniel Johnston, and a whole mess of lo-fi perverted joke pop that's popped over the early 90s lo-fi boom. I don't think The Moldy Peaches are part of any zeitgeist at all... Unless that zeitgeist happens to be WFMU's Incorrect Music

oh...and i'm surprised no-ones mentioned the white stripes yet.

Actually, there's a thread around here where they are mentioned quite a bit.

It's kinda unfortunate that the best of the current crop of NYC/Brooklyn bands (in my opinion, anyway) haven't really been made known in the UK yet...folks like Avey Tare and Panda Bear, Centuries, The Walkmen, Enon, Black Dice...

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: Flux = the grapefruit is winning ]

12:37 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Dee Vapr:

No.

However, I just typed "Moldy Peaches Piss" into google, which is something I certainly thought I'd never do.

The NME website is horrible, isn't it?

Just popped over there to have a look and can barely believe it's shitness. Makes the paper version seem like an upmarket journal of quality and integrity.

12:42 / 05.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
[QB]The NME website is horrible, isn't it?
[QB]

Yeah. It's perhaps more surprising to think it's also

1) highly acclaimed, and
2) one of the only websites to survive IPC's recent cull.

so much for that there whole Darwinism deal.

12:50 / 05.09.01

flux said:
'It's kinda unfortunate that the best of the current crop of NYC/Brooklyn bands (in my opinion, anyway) haven't really been made known in the UK yet...folks like Avey Tare and Panda Bear, Centuries, The Walkmen, Enon, Black Dice...'

obviously i'm not as informed as you when it comes down to NY's music scene. so thanx for the list of your most recent hometown heroes. i'll check them out and keep you posted as to what i think.

while i'm at it. is there anyone else you recommend?

oh...and you forgot to mention the royal trux.

Ronald Thomas Clontle

13:07 / 05.09.01

quote:

obviously i'm not as informed as you when it comes down to NY's music scene. so thanx for the list of your most recent hometown heroes. i'll check them out and keep you posted as to what i think.

while i'm at it. is there anyone else you recommend?

oh...and you forgot to mention the royal trux.

I could make you a tape or a cd-r if you wanted. A lot of those acts I mentioned will be hard to come by...I think the only one with really decent distribution might be Black Dice, who I'd say are the weakest of those acts... Avey Tare and Panda Bear are amazing...they are a bit like bands like Can, Faust, Flaming Lips at their weirdest, Mercury Rev, Hawkwind, Radiohead's more recent material, early 70's solo Eno...try to get the record "Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished"...

What does Royal Trux have to do with this conversation, other than being a good band? they don't even exist anymore...

13:17 / 05.09.01

to flux:

the british press have compared the peaches to the royal trux on more than one occasion.

...and i'm currently in the process of downloading avey tare and panda bear, the walkmen and enon. i can't seem to get hold of any black dice and centuries.

but you're right. there isn't much out there.

maybe a cd-r is the best bet. i could do you one in return. just tell me what you're after.

Ronald Thomas Clontle

16:26 / 05.09.01

the british press have compared the peaches to the royal trux on more than one occasion.

christ, why? they have so little in common that it completely boggles my mind to draw the comparison. Are they coming at it from a raunchy male/female duo fronted angle? If so, that's so incredibly weak...musically, they are on different planets.

...and i'm currently in the process of downloading avey tare and panda bear, the walkmen and enon. i can't seem to get hold of any black dice and centuries.

I would recommend trying to find the Avey Tare tracks "Chocolate Girl", "Penny Dreadfuls" "In The Singing Box" and "Essplode", the Walkmen song "Radio", the Enon tracks "Conjugate The Verbs" "Come Into" and "For The Sum of It", and "NYC Fairy Tale" by Centuries.

there's a lot of artists putting out eps right now...that's the thing to do now, eps are back in fashion...

20:58 / 17.01.03

does anyone know the name of the strokes song they always play on mtv2, you know the one with all the cut-ups of 70's and 80's images and films like the tic, tac toe shot from that film about super computers and nuclear war?

Matthew Fluxington

21:01 / 17.01.03

That would be "Hard To Explain", Sean.

03:30 / 24.01.03

i'm very obsessed at the moment and i hope someone can help me out. i keep downloading the same song 'christina aguilera vs. the strokes ' but every version i download from soulseek jumps! perfectionist yes but it's doin my head in! does anyone know of a site that has the uncorrupted song?

04:39 / 24.01.03

or maybe it's supposed to jump towards the end? d'oh