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The Strokes, Room on Fire

Reviewed by Chris Ching

I really want to like the Strokes, and I feel retarded because I don't. All the critics herald them as the greatest thing since sliced bread, and if so many knowledgeable single white males (as most rock critics tend to be) deem something worth of their attention, who am I to argue?

The thing is they bore the crap out of me. The White Stripes generate more excitement, and they have only two members. Maybe its because the Strokes seem so packaged as the archetypal New York/Punk/New Wave/Garage Band/Insert favorite hip genre here/ band. Maybe its because their drummer Fabrizio Moretti gets to see Drew Barrymore naked (one of the perks of having a girlfriend).

Nope, I don't like them for the simple reason that they can't write an album's worth of good tunes. And the ones which do rise above the pack are sabotaged by the Strokes trademark sound: shoddy instrumentation camouflaged as go for broke musicianship and the tiring processed vocals of Julian Casablancas who sounds like he's rockin' Cleveland from inside a Starkist Tuna can. Imagine Peter Frampton recording a whole album with his voice box or one of those Alvin and the Chipmunks records where the furry trio cover pop tunes (on second thought don't imagine it as I don't want to be held responsible for any brain damage that might result from such thought processes) and you'll understand.

Room on Fire isn't far removed from the Stroke's debut, Is this It and like that album it has about an E.P. 's worth of keepers. This time around those would be Automatic Stop, 12:51, Between Love and Hate.

I might not be a fan of their music, but I have to give them credit for sparking the garage band movement. After too many years of Pop acts being afforded the kind of respect normally reserved for artists who actually write their own material (what a concept!), we're lucky to have the Strokes. Just not their music.

Rating: (1 1/2 out of 4 stars)