The Strokes - 'The Videos & More' (RCA)
4/5
By: Toby L
Never before has the understated made quite such an impact. The Strokes' choice of fashion may have proven somewhat aged when they first emerged on the scene - namely, tatters of blue, denim jeans colliding with crushed velvet and leather-jackets - yet their videos take 'retro' to a new history.
The NYC quintet's first DVD - 'The Videos and more' - is just that: a complete compendium of their promo-flicks to date, and two scintillating, previously unaired live-performances of 'New York City Cops' and 'The Modern Age'. Thus, we just have a mere five tracks in our hands. Seemingly then, never ones to over-produce, it makes for a true mystery quite how this economy-sized collection proves so invigorating.
Possibly, it's because The Strokes' choice of chic has always outweighed the flashy, overblown copyists that commonly reside alongside them in the alt-music charts; just look at the stark minimalism of 'Last Nite', with its enticingly ropey, raw sound and minimalist stage-set, or 'Someday', where the band are seen battling fellow muso-friends Guided By Voices on a TV game-show and downing shots with Slash in a sleazy, down-town bar. Even 'Hard To Explain' - with its almost subliminal screen-shots of life-depictions and tempestuous sexual-connotations - serves as similarly exhilarating.
And, sure, it's arty, but with such an attention and aptitude towards detail, The Strokes have lit up the likes of MTV from drowning in a mediocrity of high-budget, exhaustively clichι videos, instead delivering a true-to-life romance that was always endearing to them in the first place. Like their music, this is timeless work.
Artists in this article: The Strokes
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