Spins: The Strokes • Reality Awaits
The Strokes
Reality Awaits
(RCA Records)
When The Strokes first came on the scene in 2001, the airwaves were saturated with teen pop, Butt-Rock, and Eminem, so five Italian New Yorkers dressed like the Ramones stood out from the crowd. Their debut album, Is This It, was so unlike the times that they instantly garnered press and fame. Sounding like a throwback to the electric days of CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City, The Strokes sounded wise beyond their years. Instead of the loud, distorted guitars and woe-is-me lyrics of 90s post-grunge, their sound was wafer-thin and delicate, spotlighting singer Julian Casablancas’ inimitably soulful vocals. As the record industry began its descent in the 2000s, the boys held on to their fervent fanbase but didn’t quite fulfill the promise of that debut album. Drug issues, infighting, and solo careers seemed to push the band to the back of their priorities, setting the stage for a 2020 comeback album, The New Abnormal, which had the great luck of being released during the early days of the COVID lockdowns. However, the album outperformed every album since their debut, spawning two big singles, “Bad Decisions” and “The Adults Are Talking,” without the opportunity to tour. What seems like just a few years ago now turns into six, making Reality Awaits actually long-awaited. While most critics like to mention the heavy use of Auto-Tune on the vocals, The Strokes and Julian Casablancas’ side project The Voidz have been using the tool for years. Unfortunately, a voice as unique and powerful as peak Julian Casablancas gets completely sterilized, taking the most powerful arrow in The Strokes’ quiver and snapping it. Lead single “Going Shopping” sounds like a jam created in twenty minutes inside of an NYC methadone clinic, lumbering along on a pleasant but anonymous groove. If this is the one they picked for the radio single, what do the album tracks sound like? Somehow even less memorable. Recorded in Costa Rica and Rick Rubin’s oceanfront Malibu studio Shangri-La, the album makes you think the music was the least interesting thing going on during the recording sessions. “Falling Out Of Love” is as pleasant and bland as a rice cake, while album closer “Tyrants Of The Mellow Moon” skates by on a cool song title and shows quick flashes of the chemistry of the old Strokes. Kudos to The Strokes on having RCA Records, the iconic American record label that gave the world Elvis Presley and David Bowie, somehow release this conundrum wrapped inside an enigma. Will Reality Awaits eventually come around as a cult classic like Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, or will it garner the same fate as the universally panned Cut the Crap album by The Clash? Most likely the latter; however, we hope this isn’t the final album for The Strokes, just a clear reality check.
Rating: 5 out of 10
-Andy Derer
