Bubbling Under the 75 Best Albums of 2011: The Strokes

Artist: The Strokes

Album: Angles

Label: RCA

US Release Date: 2011-03-22

UK Release Date: 2011-03-21

Image: http://images.popmatters.com/music_cover_art/s/strokes_angles.jpg

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List number: 79

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The Strokes
Angles

Bands just can’t go around taking five years off these days… in such a fast-paced world, it pretty much amounts to career suicide. Try telling that to the Strokes though. Having single handedly created the template for every new band in the last ten years with debut Is This It, some might say they’ve earned the right to take a few years off if they feel like it, particularly when they return with arguably their best album since that epoch-making release. Angles ticks all the right boxes for where the Strokes should be at in 2011: schizophrenic experimentation, more considered production values and great scuffed-pop singles. And with Julian Casablancas choosing to forfeit sole songwriting duties, it means we now have a more rounded representation of who the Strokes really are. Angles may not be perfect, but it sure as hell makes a good bid for comeback of the year. Welcome back.