RCA (2013)

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | March 18, 2013

3.0 Stars

The Strokes burst out in a post-9/11 musical world with a sound that was compact and airtight, melodies coiled frictionlessly in beats and fuzzed vocals. In each subsequent record, the band have pulled at the loose threads of that sound, and each time the result is something that sounds less and less like the Strokes. Their latest is their second full-length since the release of lead Stroke Julian Casablancas's 2009 solo debut and, like the band's 2011 Angles, it bears the sonic touches of that record's experiments — like the ethereal lilt of "80s Comedown Machine," or the synth-sounding zap of opener "Tap Out," or lead single "One Way Trigger." On Angles, the band tossed a few tunes out that sounded like carbon-copies of their first album, but on Machine they eschew that kind of market compromise in favor of following their strange muse, even if in the end most listeners will have trouble pegging down who it sounds like.

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Topics: CD Reviews , The Strokes, Julian Casablancas, RCA

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ARTICLES BY DANIEL BROCKMAN

THE STROKES | COMEDOWN MACHINE | March 18, 2013
The Strokes burst out in a post-9/11 musical world with a sound that was compact and airtight, melodies coiled frictionlessly in beats and fuzzed vocals.

KMFDM IS A DRUG AGAINST BORE | March 13, 2013
"In hindsight, honestly, it's almost impossible how it all happened."

PALLBEARER SURVIVE EXTINCTION | February 20, 2013
We all know that there is nothing more metal than a war.

WHAT'S F'N NEXT? CHVRCHES | February 01, 2013
If you are in a band and you've heard of Chvrches, you probably hate them.

GLISS | LANGSOM DANS | February 01, 2013
If rock and roll is three chords and the truth, then the mutant genre offspring shoegaze can be summed up as one chord, three fuzzboxes, and a sullen, muttered bleat.