The Strokes - The New Abnormal (2020)

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First impressions:
- quite enjoyable listen, only song that outright hasnt really hit for me so far is eternal summer. Probably doesn't have that one stand out classic but very consistent.

- mood is mostly melancholy and a slightly futuristic feel which I think comes from RR's compressed production. Lower energy to most of the songs except Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus.

- Julian's voice really comes to the front of most songs rather than being 'buried' as it is on a lot of older /classic strokes.

- Favourite tracks - Selfless, Ode to the Mets
 

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They should have gone all in on Adults are talking, made the guitars more prominent. Some really nice guitars which you hear in the live version that got lost a bit in the studio version.
 
They should have gone all in on Adults are talking, made the guitars more prominent. Some really nice guitars which you hear in the live version that got lost a bit in the studio version.

I dunno, it sounds good to me! Guitars are fairly prominent, sounds kinda Radiohead. I like the drums/snare as well. Julians vocals are soaring towards the end. Then again, I didn’t listen to the live boots very much, so that makes it easier.
 
Seems to be comfortably their best album since FIOE. Like any album, it’ll take a few listens to judge how well it holds up overall, but it’s a nice stylistic change for them. Some seriously vintage Strokes guitar-work across the whole LP.

Julians voice is another real highlight. Doesn’t sound like he’s phoning it in, which has been a general trend for the best part of the decade.

You also forget how relatively young they all are, and individually how much talent they all have. I think they’ve just had far too big a mix of ideas and ambitions, but they’ve created something reasonably cohesive here.

Bad Decisions is still my favourite of the album. That middle eight is classic Strokes.
 
First impressions:
- quite enjoyable listen, only song that outright hasnt really hit for me so far is eternal summer. Probably doesn't have that one stand out classic but very consistent.

- mood is mostly melancholy and a slightly futuristic feel which I think comes from RR's compressed production. Lower energy to most of the songs except Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus.

- Julian's voice really comes to the front of most songs rather than being 'buried' as it is on a lot of older /classic strokes.

- Favourite tracks - Selfless, Ode to the Mets

I can see the Voidz influence on Julian’s songwriting, but Albert has clearly had a big impact on this album too.
 
it's good.
i haven't listened to a Strokes album since Is This It (my fault not theirs) so i had no idea what to expect.
vocals are certainly more of driver on this one but there's enough catchy guitar hooks floating around in there to hold it together.

Bad Decisions, Eternal Summer (Julian sounds like Roger Waters in parts of this), At The Door and Not The Same Anymore are my favs
 
Seems to have a bad case of the sameys on first listen
 

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I have never before come across a band that consistently gets better and better with each record. This record is a cracker.

I never really got into Is This It? I didn't get the hype and thought it was highly overrated. Room on Fire seemed an improvement and Reptilia was their first genuine classic.

You Only Live Twice was a brilliant single, but First Impressions of Earth seemed inconsistent and I wrote them off during the hiatus. Have always been exceptionally impressed with Julian Casablancas as a front man and Out of the Blue off of Phrazes has long been a favourite, and caused me to take more notice when Angles came out.

Angles was great, seemed a much more polished and mature sound the first two tracks in particular were excellent. Comedown Machine soon became one of my favourite records, Tap Out and One Way Trigger are still two of the best tracks released last decade.

The New Abnormal is their masterpiece, easily the Album of the Year for 2020 so far. The last three records have made The Strokes one of my favourite bands.
 

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