The Strokes Is This It

LP02517

UPC: 19439784471
Release Date: 2020-07-31

Is This Itis the debut studio album by American rock bandthe Strokes. It was first released on July 30, 2001 in Australia, withRCA Recordshandling the release internationally andRough Trade Recordshandling the United Kingdom release. It was recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producerGordon Raphaelduring March and April 2001. For their debut, the band strived to capture a simple sound that was not significantly enhanced in the studio. Building on their 2001EPThe Modern Age, the band members molded compositions largely through live takes during recording sessions, while lead singer and songwriterJulian Casablancascontinued to detail the lives and relationships of urban youth.

Arriving on a wave of well-earned hype rooted in tight chops and a confident swagger, the Strokes offer a Rock & Roll antidote to the plague of boy bands, teen divas, and petulant rap-rock outfits. Despite this quintet’s prep-school background, their sound comes from the same primordial ooze that spawned Big Apple legends like the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground. Clocking in at 36 minutes, Is This It packs its perfect length with stellar songs that draw inspiration from all over the map. Among the many highlights are “Last Nite” with its insistent Motown backbeat and choppy Johnny Thunders-like guitar solo, “Barely Legal,” sounding like 1980’s-era Cure fronted by a saucy Iggy Pop, and the jangly “Someday” with it’s hairshirt of vulnerability from a bad break-up. Thanks to The Strokes, rumors of Rock & Roll’s demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.