The indie super giants have been wayward for a fair while now though, indulging in various side projects and constantly teasing us with talk of a new album, which keeps being pushed back.
Then, early this morning, we got what seemed to be our first real taste of their next album. Frontman Julian Casablancas shared with the world what he says is the album's artwork. And here it is:
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Now, as everyone who has written about this today will tell you, Julian Casablancas is not renowned for being a prankster. I'm not gonna hugely lay into it if this is the album cover (NME writer James McMahon does that rather amusingly here), but there are some album covers which are brilliant in their knowing terribleness. This is not one of them. To me, it doesn't come off as irony. Or does it? To be honest I'm not entirely sure. I don't know what it suggests about the sound of the record, but then I don't really know what to expect from this record. After Is This It?, The Strokes released two incredibly average albums - a fact which is conveniently glossed over most of the time. But even when acknowledged, it does nothing to dispel the fact that they are the most influential indie band of the decade.
In last week's edition of the NME, the band were hailing "The Return of the Great British Guitar Band". Now, obviously The Strokes are very much an American band, but there is, I sense, a craving for a new, exciting, classic guitar band. There are a lot of names being thrown about. The greatest chances we have are The Vaccines and Yuck, and perhaps Tribes if they ever properly record anything. I hope, pray and beg that Brother (a bunch of twats who somehow end up more sub-Oasis than The Enemy) experience no degree of success whatsoever. The US have also spawned some classic sounding fuzzy indie guitar rock over the past year like Wavves, Dum Dum Girls and Male Bonding, who all released incredibly well received albums. There are also a few others who are destined (if the music loving community is sensible) to prosper- Cloud Nothings and Cults being my two favourites!
So I guess I'm kind of saying "do we really need The Strokes right now?" Part of me feels like they've left it too long. I just don't see where they'd fit into the current indie landscape. Six years is an incredibly long time in music nowadays, and just look at how much indie guitar music has changed since 2005, when they released First Impressions of Earth. Mumford and Sons are the biggest selling "indie" act in the world right now! Kings of Leon, The Strokes' Southern pseudo-proteges are now a platinum selling stadium rock act who have climbed so far up their own arse that Bono has decided the only way to stay Top Overblown-and-Twattish Dog is to write a musical about superheroes. Does that sound like a world that five scruffy , rock and roll loving New Yorkers wearing leather jackets and scuffed Converses belong in?
But on the other hand of course, they're The friggin' Strokes! They wrote Last Nite! They're meant to be one of the greatest live bands of our time (I'm very much up for seeing these guys live...) Maybe we DO need them and we just don't know it! I'm in love with The Vaccines right now, but they COULD let me down. As could a million and one other new bands we all put our faith in. Despite the mediocrity of Room on Fire and First Impressions of Earth, I don;t think any of us can shake that first sublime encounter with Is This It? Right now is one of those times where you just so desperately WANT to believe...
It's ten years since The Strokes defined a decade. Could they define another one? I'm afraid I have no conrete answer for you folks. Only hope. And that pretty decent Julian Casablancas solo album. The world has changed, but there's never anything new under the sun. Only time will tell. But I do hope. Oh yes I do hope...
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