New York’s jingle jangle champs THE STROKES released their
2nd LP ROOM ON FIRE 20 years ago, on 28 October 2003.
NME review: “‘Room On Fire’ is a refining and tinkering with The Strokes sound,
a carefully calibrated attempt not to fuck up too early in the face of untold temptations.
The results are still sleek, sexy and thrilling, with a tantalising promise of even better
to come.”
Score: 4.5/5
Back sleeve
TUTV says: The Strokes jumped into an empty period of guitar rock bands
and scored big time with their jingle jangle firework on their first two LPs.
Riff-crazy from start to finish.
Singles/clips: Reptilia / You Talk Way Too Much / 12.51
Happy 45 to the voice/face/songwriter of rock idols THE STROKES who started making arousing hullabaloo back in 2001 with their debut LP Is This It? proving that manic songs with manic guitars still make you millions of fans. Of course, a cute-charismatic frontman helps.
I picked these 2 stellar strokes to
celebrate Casablancas‘ birthday.
– HARD TO EXPLAIN –
From that ace debut album.
Striking live version.
– ODE TO THE MEDS –
One of the best power ballads ever.
Already played this diamond 1 million times.
From their most recent LP The New Abnormal (2020). Casablancas vocal performance is superb.
1. Any light, simple song, especially one of sentimental
or romantic character, having two or more stanzas all
sung to the same melody. 2. A simple narrative poem of folk origin, composed
in short stanzas and adapted for singing. 3. Any poem written in a similar style. 4. A sentimental or romantic popular song.
Okay, I just wanted to check if I picked the right songs here.
Below you find TUTV’s Ballads Of 2021 Spotify playlist with
a total of 30 beauties that I picked from the past 12 months.
The late Suicide legend had a lost album out this year
called Mutator. One of those rare lost albums that are
actually really good. Samurai is one of the dark
highlights.
The passion-driven Danish outfit finally hit the bull’s eye
with their fifth longplayer Seek Shelter. A near-perfect
opus with this slow-burning torch…
Stand out track from these young Texans’ debut album Survivors.
The lyrics are crystal clear. America is not what Hollywood tells you. It has become
a dangerously divided country where racism and far-right rebirth stimulated by
charlatan Trump and his ruthless entourage are frighteningly realistic (again).
Alarming feelings expressed with heavy-heartedness…
A brave and affecting pop pearl. An inspiring encouragement for
the countless girls/women and boys/men worldwide, struggling with
the looks of their body when it doesn’t correspond with society’s
everlasting sexist perception of how a body should look like, as
we all know.
Singer/songwriter Chrisy Hurn sounds as if she’s
related to The Sundays‘ grand voice Harriet Wheeler.
8. ‘Weeping Willow’ by MODERN MOXIE (South-Carolina)
This nostalgic gem has that melancholic and magical feel we, adults,
are familiar with. Looking back at good times gone. This wistful lullaby
brings tears to your eyes.
Original by New York City’s boys band The Strokes.
A track from their much-acclaimed debut LP Is This It,
released 20 years ago.
Touché Amoré don’t really change the song much, except
turning up the decibels way high and screaming their lungs
to pieces. That’s cool with me. What about you?
Band: THE STROKES (New York City) Active: Since 1998 / 6 studio albums (so far)
Album: IS THIS IT – debut LP Released: 30 July 2001 – 20 years ago today
Came out first in Australia, later in the UK, and US Score: #2 in the UK, #5 in Australia, #33 in the US
Pitchfork: “The Strokes have struck an incredible balance between
the two extremes of rock music: sentimentality and listlessness. Any
sentimentality in these songs’ lyrics is countered by Casablancas’ self-
reliant indifference, and his listless delivery is offset by the band’s fervid
attack. Beyond that, it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about the
Strokes that keeps me listening. All I know is that it’s not easy to come
by, and I like it. A lot.” Full review here. Score: 9/10.
Turn Up The Volume: Along with The White Stripes these New York
darlings – the champions of jingle-jangle rock – dominated the first
years of the new Millenium. The Strokes looked cool, acted cool, and
made a tremendously cool debut album. This was it.
