Music For The Sunshine...

Still don't think there's a better song to listen to when it's sunny.

One of the greatest social commentators music has ever been lucky enough to bare witness too.



Take care Joe.

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...

They're coming.

Erm...YES!?

They're back. Actually back. Back for good. No silly, not Take That, The Strokes.

Yesterday I was watching Alexa Chung's new Gonzo (side note: mighty improvement on Zane Lowe) and the video for their new single 'Under Cover of Darkness' was on and for me this is where it sank in.

Seeing them assembled together in an official capacity, watching Casablancas look effortlessly cool in the video, this was The Strokes.

Yes, he's separate from the band for the most the video, and his wardrobe differs slightly making the band look like an ensemble session piece and Julian the solo musician. There's a point to all that though isn't there?

All the politics behind the third album, Albert Hammond Jnr. wanting to pitch in with the writing and Casablancas' subsequent rebuttal of his material leading Albert to pen two solo LPs. Frankly, neither First Impressions of Earth nor Yours to Keep were blinders, so to listen to 'UCoD' is a relief. Simply because it is.

Watching the video, listening to the lyrics, you'd hope the band have worked through their differences and will come back with Angles and remind everybody why, at one point, they were the best band going. There are still a couple of niggles though, one being not once do any of the band even look at Julian during the video, let alone make eye contact with him. Artistic direction or festering resentment? Who knows?

These things matter, with a band like The Strokes. To me anyway. In 2001 when Is This It was released, I was 15 and heavily into artists like Tupac and Biggie, so I didn't think an album with guitars would interest me. Incorrect. It provided a platform, shaping my tastes and preferences without me really noticing it. It crept up on me. To like this band meant something; I'd never witnessed a vested interest in music like this. I could relate to these guys. Well, I could relate to them, more so than I could a Black Panther activist who'd been shot five times.

Unfortunately, the band did lose their way a little. Casablancas did become a little too cool, which in turn seemed to exasperate the other band members. The 3rd album sounded discombobulated and strained.

From what I've heard of the new album so far, the band appears ready to be mates again. 'UCoD' is the flagship song of this reunion and that is no coincidence, seeing as it was penned by the band as a whole. Hopefully, The Strokes will take their past scrapes and use them to strengthen and rebuild a bond that gave us a truly classic album in Is This It.

"I'll wait for you,” sings Casablancas on 'UCoD', “will you wait for me too?”

All parties involved appear ready to do so now, which is comforting. As a collective, we want our band back. I don't think that's too much to ask is it? We have waited long enough.

(Editors Note: Fabrizio Moretti drumming in the video? Or Shia LeBeouf?)