Reviews by funny_character

Bone Machine is the peak of human coal mine, Tom Waits' "Undiluted Biblical Violence" phase. For those unfamiliar, Tom Waits was a singer-songwriter/balladeer/piano-man in the 70's and the something broke in 1980. During a decade when most got glossier, Tom Waits instead brought forth his strangest tendencies, being christened anew in junkyard percussion and increasingly alienating vocal stylings. Bone Machine is a far cry from what was going on, even with Waits in the 80's. Tom Waits pushes past camp into genuine darkness, past brake drums into what may as well be the sound of a glockenspiel tumbling down a stairwell, and pushes past conventional production technique into something bold, impolite, and probably *incorrect*. This thing was recorded in the unfurnished, concrete cellar of a recording studio, and the result is claustrophobic: you don't listen to this so much as you get trapped in a room with it. This is like soul music for the end-times and Tom Waits sells it on all fronts. He is a surprisingly versatile vocalist: he growls, croons, and on songs like Dirt In The Ground and Jesus Gonna Be Here, he gives the most unhinged blues howl I've ever heard. Most songs here are a showstopper in their own right, even the weird little nooks and crannies. The Earth Died Screaming is a fantastic opener, showing off the intensity of Tom Waits over percussion that sounds at risk of falling apart at all times. Later, Murder In The Red Barn has guitar playing that sounds like the strings are being cut rather than plucked. In The Colosseum sounds like you brought a lead pipe to a gunfight, but the other guy also brought a lead pipe, so now you're just going until someone can't move anymore. The intro to Such A Scream is a rare sort of low fidelity that isn't often explored, it's bizarre and challenging. Even something little like The Ocean Doesn't Want Me is chilling and off-putting, and it brings something huge to the project as a whole. I'd also like to note that there are a few songs where Tom Waits proves that he can still write a hell of a ballad. Who Are You, A Little rain, and Whistle Down The Wind are beautiful, and they still manage to slot into the bigger picture here. Lastly, I'd like to recommend anyone reading this to at least read some of the lyrics, Tom Waits is a fantastic writer, and there are too many stand-outs for me to keep track of. I listen to a lot of Tom Waits, so it shouldn't be a shocker that I like this, but it really is a rare and fascinating achievement that deserves time and respect.

I get the sense that I'm not quite picking up everything this is putting down. It's weirdly dense, kind of in the way that early Modest Mouse songs are weirdly dense (I'm not entirely sure that this comparison makes it full circle, but I really can't think of a better one). It's a sprawling kind of dense, where like songs are busy on a moment to moment level *and* they seem to kind of chug along in a weirdly expansive way. The tone is also pretty unique, like this is definitely on the grittier, darker end of alt music, but in like a weirdly accessible way, and there are also moments here that are surprisingly pretty. Like Ocean Size and Jane Says, the latter of which has some really neat steel drum playing too. I think rhythm is generally a standout here, like the drums on Ted, Just Admit It... and the basslines across the album, Mountain Song is a good example. The guitar playing is also very good, I just don't have it quite pinned down yet. It's very much alt rock, but with a somewhat classic style "Hard Rock" edge, including almost metal style guitar solos. And Perry vocals are stand outs too, he's an intense performer, and his lyrics seem raw, and very personal. There are some incredibly blunt mantras across this thing ("God is dead", "Sex is violent", "Some people should die"), and they are delivered with enough conviction that they hit harder than they usually would. Like I implied at the beginning, I haven't fully gelled with this one, but I still get *a lot* here. This thing is a little darker and a little weirder and a little more eclectic than it seems, and it's an essential alt rock classic. This isn't my first time trying this one out, and it won't be my last. Jane's Addiction had some real lightning in a bottle during their surprisingly brief existence, and I feel like it's a matter of time before I fully get to the bottom of it.

This is an absolute hip-hop classic, I mean this was the first rap LP to top Billboard: it's a vital piece of hip-hop history. The synergy between Ad-Rock MCA and Mike D is infectious and thrilling, and Rick Rubin's production is just sick: a lot of the rock in the band's DNA comes out in his sampling on here. And a lot of these songs hit, and when they hit, they hit hard: Rhymin & Stealin, The New Style, Posse In Effect, Time To Get Ill and more have un-fucking-believable beats. We also have an example of prime early hip hop storytelling on Paul Revere. And the bigger singles here largely hit too. For one, Brass Monkey is incredibly funky. And there's also the rock songs here: Fight For Your Right, and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. I love no sleep, the flow is sick, and it has the better Kerry King solo. Honestly, I like Fight For Your Right, but I could kind of take or leave it, it feels a little played out to me. And there are a couple others that don't quite do it for me as well. She's Crafty is also not bad, but again, I could take it or leave it. Slow Ride's sampling can be a little annoying if I'm in the wrong mood. And Girls is the only song that I think is more or less bad: I realize it's a joke, but God this song's obnoxious. Also, there are a bunch of lyrics here that have aged pretty badly that The Beastie Boys have distanced themselves from. Basically, this is a really great album, but there's definitely a little growing room. And they did grow into it: The Beastie Boys have a good few albums that I prefer to this one. But I did really like this, and I don't want to understate its impact.

Ya know, even though I've seen Alice Cooper live twice, I've managed to have never heard this album in full before. And, as I have learned, Billion Dollar Babies is a fantastic rock album. At this point, I shouldn't have to tell you that Alice Cooper is an incredibly charismatic performer and his personality is felt throughout this whole thing. The sound here also has a sort of theatrical flair which adds a little camp, but Alice Cooper has enough real cool factor that there is kind of a neat balance struck here. It also helps that on songs like Unfinished Sweet, those theatrical elements almost get kind of art rock-y, and it contributes to this album feeling so unique and memorable. The lyrics strike another balance, a lot of these songs are tongue and cheek, but the writing is up with rock's best. Elected is super catchy, tons of fun, and bitingly satirical. And while some may think I Love The Dead is a bit much, I think it pulls off something really difficult: it isn't too funny to be kind of genuinely uneasy, and it isn't too dark for some comedy to shine through. The songwriting is is also amazing, No More Mr. Nice Guy is a hell of a catchy rock song, and the title track is covered in great riffs and cool sections. You also have some cool soundscape stuff here on songs like the aforementioned Unfinished Sweet (with it's dentists' drills) and Sick Things, which has a really cool atmosphere. We even get a short ballad with Mary Ann. This is a remarkably consistent and incredibly unique rock album which serves as a reminder that Alice Cooper is more than a great image and a hell of a performer. The music is definitely there, and I really enjoy it.

The speed at which punk moved was truly astounding. From the formal progenitors like Ramones releasing in '76, to the class of '77 establishing the scene in ... '77, to true-blue post-punk less than a year later in '78. The Scream by Siouxsie And The Banshees is one such album. Most impressive to me is how fully realized this is for how early into it's niche it released. Like, in the broader sense of post-punk, this is an amazing album. When I put this on I thought it would be a The Cure situation where their first had yet to catch up with the scene they helped establish. But no, "the sound" is all there, and frankly the atmosphere is pretty suffocating even with reference to later albums in the genre. Even more amazingly, these are *killer* songs. I think the draws of the songwriting here are best displayed by closer The Switch, which manages to be tense and compelling for a full 7 minutes. And honestly, just about everything else here keeps up. Even the *surprisingly* good and very inspired cover of Helter Skelter is pretty awesome. I'm not gonna call it a 5 yet, but it's one of the best post-punk albums I've discovered in a hot minute, and I'll be revisiting it.

I think "World Music" is usually shorthand for "it isn't from America or The UK" but I think Kala is one of the few albums that is *really* world music. Denied entry to The USA due to Visa problems, M.I.A recorded in all sorts of countries most Americans can't find on a map, incorporating local artists, found sounds, and a healthy dose of the South Asian music that seems more personal to her. The result is fascinating: it's this super unapologetic like experimental rap/digital pop thing mixed with all sorts of sounds that are often not heard in mainstream pop hits (in America etc.). It sounds incredibly coherent for how "everything goes" its construction is. We have samples of birds used rhythmically, didgeridoo beats, a Pixies interpolation, and Timbaland is also here. This is the epitome of an album that bangs *because* it's sort of rough around the edges. Even Paper Planes is ultimately brought together by like gunshots and cash register noises (what a weird song to hit big by the way). I honestly love this album, there are no real low points for me. Bamboo Banga is deceptively sparse, it sounds way busier than it actually is. The rhythmic sensibilities of Bird Flu are fucking insane. Jimmy is an inspired cover of a song from an Indian "dance-action" movie, etc, etc, etc. I even like Mango Pickle Down River, with its didgeridoo and The Wilcannia Mob, a group of Indigenous Australian children who rap like it's the late '80s. Also, the lyrics are pretty in-touch, thoughtful, and on theme about the plight of "Third World Countries". This album manages to stand as a positive and inspiring force even as M.I.A's personal beliefs have recently taken a turn towards batshit crazy. I can't say enough good about this, there really isn't anything else quite like it, and M.I.A. was the perfect person to deliver this vital piece of art.

When I reviewed Kid A, I alluded to thinking there is one more perfect Radiohead album, and it is this one. And I'll tell ya, it was hard earned, it took me years to really get this album, but there was something about OK Computer that kept me coming back. And when this clicked, it dominated my listening habits for like a *year*. This is such a dense album to get this popular. We touch on modern ennui, paranoia, coping with a then emergent online ecosystem, anxiety, and the human condition moving into the 21st century. And I will say, before I get into the music, this album is *probably*, on some level, in a world where music criticism is increasingly quantitative, overrated: like I'm pretty sure this is like the 2nd highest rated album of all time on RYM. And this probably isn't the 2nd best album ever, not that it *really* matters, but regardless, I still just *adore* this album. Airbag is a fantastic opener, and it is pretty incredible: this reads so intuitively on a melodic level, but if you listen into the mix, the way all the instruments slots together seems *so* intricate. And speaking of the mix, this is one of my favorite mixes ever, like it has the real hallmark of an incredible mix: you don't notice it. It took me so long to even really think about the mix, which to me just affirms that it sounds so incredibly natural, like these songs couldn't exist any other way. Also, I have very few negative things to say about this album, so I may as well get them out of the way. Firstly, Subterranean Homesick Alien is probably my least favorite song here, it's just subdued in a way that I don't always need: but honestly, this song is still better than some artists' best. Second: sometimes electioneering doesn't hit, but it is *necessary* within the flow of the album, and it has steadily grown on me. And that's about it: I would also like to say that I actually love Fitter Happier for what it is, and I do not consider it to to be a low point here. It is super cold and offputting and sad in a weird way, and I think it has aged remarkably well given its use off text to speech. But yeah, I don't really have anything else negative to say. Paranoid Android is this incredible, multi-phased piece, and honestly, something about the slow part is almost panic inducing, it's like a slow motion anxiety attack. This sort of thing is also captured by No Surprises later, there is just something really sad and helpless, and *anxious* about this song that can be really powerful if you let yourself be sucked into the album. Exit Music (For A Film) is like perfectly beautiful, and tragic and damaged. Let Down is like the theme song for feeling lonely on a bus. Karma Police is a really interesting take on Orwellian ideas and a hell of a single. Climbing Up The Walls is just super disquieting, and honestly probably the most underrated song here (if *any* song here could possibly be underrated, we are talking about OK Computer). We end with Lucky and The Tourist, which seems like a really odd way to end, but it somehow does just work out. These two songs are as fantastic about anything else here. I mean, yeah, this is my favorite Radiohead album, it's a 5, I love this thing.

Kind of surprised at how earnestly rootsy this seems. Wilco has a kind of indie cool factor, and (as far as I'm aware) Billy Bragg was mostly a folk punk poet type character before this. But, united perhaps by their love of Woody Guthrie (which I must infer) they basically lay down 50 minutes of really wonderful Americana on Mermaid Avenue. I'm not sure that I am confident in my ability to review this one, there's like 15 songs here, from showstoppers to little vignettes, and I think they all deserve a little time that I probably can't give. But, I can talk favorites. Walt Whitman's Niece is a fantastic opener, it's earnestly Americana, but it certainly has something wry and clever, and almost a little weird about it: great song. California Stars is one of the more popular cuts here, and I think it deserves it, this is a song for driving through the great plains region of the United States, which is a type of song I have a sort of affinity for. Birds And Ships is another more popular cut, and it also pulls it's weight with Natalie Merchant providing beautiful guest vocals. I think I like Hoodoo Voodoo, but regardless, it's hard to not talk at least a little about. Christ For President has a *particularly* rootsy folk stomp that I enjoy quite a bit. One of my absolute favorites is Eisler On The Go, which is banjo driven and particularly sad. We end with Another Man's Done Gone and The Unwelcome Guest, which are both worthwhile slow jams. Everything else here is at least decent, but there are a couple of more forgettable songs. But, all in all, the experience of Mermaid Avenue is really great, and the seemingly unlikely mixture of Wilco and Billy Bragg is really natural and potent: cool stuff if you like Americana.

I mean, this is like perfect. I've heard this in full before, and I already love this album. I don't want to say conclusively that this is the all time greatest instrumental hip hop album: artists like J Dilla and Nujabes have albums that may be better (especially Donuts, holy shit) but no one else had reached these heights in 1996 (as far as I know). The way this is constructed is truly genius: like it's kind of a plunderphonics thing, it's kind of a trip hop thing, and it's still very much its own. On a sensory level for me, it sounds *extremely* burnt orange, and very dusty. Like, I'm not sure this has ever really been replicated, and so much work went into this to ensure this. Like *exactly* what makes this truly one of a kind is kind of locked in a black box like I am almost completely unable to analyze it: it's just beautiful. Like sometimes it's very fragmented: the weird little interludes, the sampled nature. But, it's still incredibly cohesive: the sound palette is very internally consistent, there are motifs and everything. I dunno, I can't get into what's up behind the scenes here, it's like all made on one Akai sampler and then like a magic spell cast by DJ Shadow for good measure. I'm just in awe here.

Crosby, Stills & Nash has a name more like a law firm than any other band I know. Unrelated: this album is pretty good. There’s a mix of great folk rock songs, and some I just don’t really care about. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Guinnevere, You Don’t Have To Cry, Wooden Ships, and Helplessly Hoping are all pretty excellent songs. Marrakech Express is fine, but it gets a little grating. Pre-Road Downs has some cool psych stuff, but isn’t a highlight either. And a lot of the rest is just kind of whatever to me. But I am glad I heard this in general.

I wasn't listening to a lot of pop music in 2017, so I did miss this when it came out, but I was at least aware of it. This is a very good pop album, Melodrama took a good few years to release, and that seems to be reflected in the level of detail on display here. The content here also seems very personal to Lorde, it doesn't feel like she felt the need to fit a certain public perception of her, or chase trends. Consequently, we are rewarded with a pretty distinct album. The songs feel as polished as any other mainstream pop album from this time, and it is also quite a bit busier than Pure Heroine, but there is honestly a lot of restraint here too. Like a lot of these songs feel very dynamic and intentional. A lot of the material is really catchy too: (almost) always good for pop. Green Light, Sober, Homemade Dynamite and The Louvre are probably the most immediate songs here, but the more subdued feeling back half also has a lot of good stuff. This is a real success as far as it intended to be an accessible pop album without sacrificing artistic integrity, and I see why this warrants a spot on the list.

The first thing I thought when checking this out was "wow, those vocals are a lot", then I went to eat a piece of cake, which was, I guess, the art digestion buffer I needed, because when I came back I found them much more palatable. Whether or not this entirely mundane series of events actually changed my relationship with this art, I'm glad I was able to adjust to the sound here, because, there is a *lot* of interesting stuff here. Firstly, I would like to mention how glad I am that there is some trans representation on the list. Especially since Anohni (her name chosen after the release of I Am a Bird Now) speaks so frankly about gender, her trans experience and how it has effected her life and her perception of herself. There are some songs here that I feel pretty deeply, a lot of these ideas hit *awfully* close to home, I'll leave it like that. Anyways, the music here feels beautiful and fragile. It didn't take me long to fully acclimate to her voice, and I think that it suits the art here very well. The instrumental arrangements are just as important, the strings and piano are just incredibly beautiful across this whole album. The vocal guests also do a fantastic job here: Boy George, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Devendra Banhart, and Julia Yasuda all feature and all do amazing work. Honestly, most of these people are really legendary in their own right. If I have to nitpick a little, my biggest problem here is probably that Hope There's Someone, the first song here, is probably the best. I'd have to give this one more time before deciding if it deserves a 5, but I do feel comfortable with a strong 4.

In A Silent Way is an interesting answer to a question I had: How did we get from stuff like Sketches Of Spain and Sorcerer to Bitches Brew. In A Silent Way is a slightly earlier foray into the kind of more experimental fusion sound that Miles Davis would explore more later. I guess this was pretty controversial at the time, which is kinda odd to me. Like I get that this strays away from more traditional forms of jazz, but I don't hear anything really alienating either. This is honestly one of the best jazz albums I've gotten through this so far. Shhh/Peaceful is tethered to a pretty stable percussion line and features really expressionistic splashed of sax and keys and other instruments. And the title track is a *little* less beholden to a percussion line, so it comes across to me as slightly airier, but a lot of the same elements are in place. This album showcases a more abstract mode of jazz songwriting which really puts Davis and his ensemble's ability to improvise at the forefront. The chemistry on here is second to none, and that tracks: the personnel here are an endless parade of soon to be established '70s jazz genius. At the end of the day this is just such an enjoyable listen for me. And while I do think this isn't Davis' best work in this style, it is still very much it's own, extremely valuable piece of art.

For as popular as The White Stripes were, they sure were loud. The first White Stripes album I got while doing this was Get Behind Me Satan, which opened their sound up a little, experimenting with some textures. Elephant is archetypal White Stripes. Both broad types of White Stripes songs are plentiful. One is Pummeling turbo-blues, driven by guitars which are in the conversation for loudest ever on a 2x platinum record and Meg's stomp. The other are cute, and charming "small" songs. We kick off with Seven Nation Army, the album's resident ultra hit, powered by a slick sense of coolness: this was written with "James Bond Theme" in mind, and it isn't all that surprising. Black Math and There's No Home For You Here are bangers, keeping the octane high and the garage rock raucous. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself is the most dynamic song yet, and it segues us into a few of the other type of White Stripes song. There's still something a little tense about In The Cold, Cold Night, but I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart and You've Got Her In Your Pocket at least feel a little more sugary. These are good song, but I do usually go to The White Stripes for their more rockin' songs. We turn the distortion up again with the lengthy Ball and Biscuit, and the minor single The Hardest Button To Button. Then we hit one of my sleeper favorites: Little Acorns. After like a minute and a half of motivational speaking about acorns sets the stage, we drop into the biggest riffs on the album, you could probably mosh to this. Hypnotize, The Air Near My Fingers, and Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine all keep a good thing going without reinventing the wheel, I'm not complaining. Then we end on It's True That We Love One Another, the cutest little song on here. It's honestly a pleasant way to end, it just sounds like they're having fun. Not perfect, but very good, I do still think this is among the best to come out of the 2000's rock mainstream. It's just a really great rock album, through and through.

Well shit, this is just spellbinding, like this is the sort of thing that could probably make you a better person. I like jazz, but sometimes I sort of have a mostly intellectual connection with it, which frankly, may be a way to miss the point. But Winter In America, whether because it brings in some other influences, or because of the incredible poetry, or just because it is fucking immaculate art just completely shatters this sort of wall. While I understand this album is ultimately about The Black Experience in America, which I can safely say I am outside of, I honestly think the lens used here reveals some more universal truths about America in its many forms. I mean just listen to H2OGate Blues, Gil Scott-Heron is getting to the heart of some serious shit here. And frankly, a lot of it feels awfully familiar in a modern American environment. Gil Scott-Heron is really a genius poet and thinker and the evidence is all over this thing. This album is dense: it's juggling bitterness and tentative hope, it's exploring the patterns that America runs on, and often it brings it all to a deeply small scale, getting into how structural, social issues are almost always kind of people issues in a way. I really don't feel like I can analyze it effectively. But, I will say I can *feel* this thing, and it seems like it wants more than anything to be felt. And honestly, for as much as I've talked about Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson is co-billed for a reason. His playing is incredible, he lays stuff down for Gil Scott-Heron without forgetting to get a word in himself: He is clearly a fantastic musician with incredible compositional chops. I have few if any complaints, and for a cold listen, I feel pretty confident about what I'm hearing here, I'm giving it a 5.

Low energy, sad indie music: I thought this would be in my bag, but honestly it just doesn't click. Honestly, for my tastes, for as low energy as this is, it may not be sad *enough*. At the very least, the kind of sad served here doesn't do much for me. Earthquake is an admittedly strong start, seemingly informed by slowcore, and pretty great. But after that, we get a little more "regular indie" with the sound and while this *does* have a sound of it's own, I'm still just sort of whatever on it at large. The songwriting isn't bad per say, I just haven't clicked with it, and honestly, most of this didn't leave a strong impression on me. And that's too bad, I really expected to like this and I'm a little disappointed, maybe just because this isn't what I expected. But I will leave this open to future listens, I do kind of get the sense that *something* is here.

A lot of people claim that all AC/DC albums sound the same, and I don’t think that’s entirely fair, but I do think their albums all more or less go for the same thing. Consequently, I feel like most people really just need to fall in one with one AC/DC album, and brush up on the other singles. My go to is Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but I am probably due to give the other Bon Scott albums a listen. Honestly, I don’t remember being crazy about Highway To Hell, but I liked it well enough this time, and I feel that it does what a good AC/DC album should. The AC/DC sound kind of feels like a hard rock archetype, and that sound is reflected here. It’s all here: the sleaze, the energy, the muscle. And honestly, I think AC/DC’s best songwriting trick at this time was just how simple a lot of them were. It was kind of like they tapped into the same thing that makes a perfect pop song by writing material so immediately and effectively catchy. This is probably seen clearest on Highway To Hell, which is about as ubiquitous a song as they come. And while I won’t say the songs *quite* sound the same, they all do kind of tap into the same space. If you like some of this album, there’s a good chance you’ll at least get something out of all of it. And I could have some fun the whole time, but honestly, for me, I do still think they have stronger collections of songs. But take my opinion with a grain of salt, this is a favorite for a lot of people.

As far as '70s bands adapting to the'80s goes, ZZ Top do a pretty good job on Eliminator. There are4 kind of highs and lows here, but the highs are pretty damn good, and the overall experience is pretty enjoyable, especially since this sounds like it could have been a mess. Putting the " '80s " paint on ZZ Top's kind of blues-y Texas hard rock honestly sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it is handled with a lot of grace on Eliminator. The band retains their energy, and it still sounds like they're having fun, and the song-writing appeal of ZZ Top's older stuff is still there, just re-contextualized with some synths and drum machines. Got Me Under Pressure is built around a killer riff, Sharp Dressed Man is a killer single, and I Got The Six is just a great hard rockin' tune. Legs kind of uses the synths as a driving rhythm component, to great success, and for as weird as Thug is with it's odd synth line and slap bass, it's a lot of fun. Songs like these are a lot of the high points here. On the other hand, I think I Need You Tonight is a little over-long (although the solo is good). Also TV Dinners sounds *fine* and I think it's going for like a new middle-American blues thing, but I think the lyrics just sound really stupid in the modern world. Dirty Dog and If I Could Flag Her Down are also kind of whatever to me. Although we end on Bad Girl, which is a pretty good song. This is a little un-even, but I'd say it's largely successful, against all odds. I had some fun!

While I am not comfortable saying this is the most important ambient album of all time, it is certainly in the conversation. Eno's concept behind Ambient 1 effectively serves as a mission statement for ambient music in general. He sought to place beauty and true artistic integrity into what would be effectively considered "canned muzak". The idea is that the resultant piece is something that is enjoyable at any level of listening. An album whose nooks and crannies can be front and center, or which can fade into the background and serve as an atmosphere of faint blissfulness in a public, tense space: say for example, an airport. I for one have some history with this album, I've read to it, written to it, driven to it, but on this listen I thought about it with more intent than usual, and I must conclude that it is truly successful in accomplishing the goal it sets out to achieve. The best first listen to this is probably as background music, but feel free to let it draw your attention now and then. The compositions here are surprisingly detailed, the textures are varied and intriguing and the atmosphere is light and ethereal, while being as all-encompassing as you let it be. 1/1 is probably the most "iconic" track here, but my personal favorite is probably 1/2. It is still just as able to be ambient set-dressing as anything else on the project, but it kind of sneakily ramps up the detail and density of sounds, and if you let yourself give into it a little, it is incredibly enchanting. I wasn't sure when I started, but yeah, I am gonna give this a 5. It is so influential, so successful at its stated goal, and so (surprisingly) enjoyable that it has completely won me over.

The Strokes are probably the reason that "New York City Indie" means *anything*. The components are simple, ultra slick pop songs, a little garage grit and some really great vocal performances get you just about there, but The Strokes' sound here is bold and distinct despite the simplicity. An interesting exercise is going back to listen to the home recording demos of some of these songs if you have a chance. They come across as lo-fi garage rock, but the magic is there. The Strokes really just cleaned up their playing and slapped slightly shinier paint on it and we made it here. Of arguably greater note is that the vocals sound approximately the same between the demos and finished songs, and I think this is a particularly inspired choice. Julian Casablanca's blown out, gritty delivery gives so much to this project. But, as I implied, this is an album that really lives and dies by its songs: And the tracklist largely rocks. The singles are iconic, a lot of the deep cuts are still earworms too, although there are a couple of songs here that are in one ear and out the other for me. Also, while I'm complaining a little, why would you name a song "Barely Legal", it's weird, and Julian Casablancas already kind of comes across as an ass sometimes, so this doesn't help. In the grand scheme of it, these are pretty minor complaints though, and I do like this album a lot.