Maps of Music

Angles (2011)

Where the lyrics of Angles take you, and where it was really made.

The Strokes made much of this album without their singer in the room, and the tension behind those sessions was real.

Key places

Vocals recorded at Electric Lady Studios (2011)

Recording site Electric Lady Studios — Casablancas recorded his vocals remotely at Electric Lady Studios in New York and sent them to the band by email. Discogs also credits the studio among the places where the album was engineered and recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Home studio in Port Jervis (2011)

Recording site One Way Studios — The band reworked most of the songs at guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.'s home studio in Port Jervis, upstate New York, with engineer Gus Oberg. The pin sits at the town centre, not at the studio building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Angles: fourth studio album by American rock band The Strokes
• Released March 22, 2011 through RCA Records
• The band's first album in over five years, after First Impressions of Earth (2005)

Background

• The band toured for First Impressions of Earth, then went on an extended hiatus in 2007
• They regrouped two years later to write material for a fourth album
• The album took more than two years to materialize
• Before entering Avatar Studios in New York with producer Joe Chiccarelli, the band recorded live demos of 18 songs
• Frontman Julian Casablancas was absent from these sessions
• The band grew frustrated with Chiccarelli's reserved production style and with Casablancas' absence
• Albert Hammond Jr.'s drug abuse and resulting rehab, stemming from his breakup with model Agyness Deyn, kept him from early recording sessions

Recording

• Only "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight" remained in its original form from those sessions
• The other songs were either scrapped or reworked by the band with engineer Gus Oberg at Hammond Jr.'s home studio in Port Jervis, Upstate New York
• Casablancas recorded his vocals separately, but the songs were written together in session with the rest of the band present
• The band tried MIDI electronic samples, but neither Oberg nor the band was satisfied with the results
• Instead they used keyboards such as the Roland Juno-106, a MicroKORG XL, a Wurlitzer electric piano, and a Farfisa organ
• Overdubbed guitars and layered vocals, including backing vocals for the first time, appear most notably on "Under Cover of Darkness"

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1998.
• Lead vocalist and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti made up the lineup, which has remained unchanged since formation.
• Casablancas, Valensi and Moretti began playing together as teenagers at Dwight School in Manhattan and formed an informal band in 1997.
• Fraiture, a childhood friend of Casablancas, joined later, and Hammond Jr. was the last member to join, at the end of 1998.
• Their first show as the Strokes was on September 14, 1999, at The Spiral.
• The Modern Age EP (2001), recorded with producer Gordon Raphael, sparked a bidding war among record labels and they eventually signed with RCA Records.

Members

• Julian Casablancas: lead vocals, keyboards, drums in studio.
• Nick Valensi: guitar, backing vocals, keyboards.
• Fabrizio Moretti: drums, percussion, keyboards.
• Nikolai Fraiture: bass, keyboards.
• Albert Hammond Jr.: guitar, backing vocals, keyboards.

Career

• Debut album Is This It (2001) received widespread critical acclaim and has appeared on numerous greatest-albums lists.
• Later albums include Room on Fire (2003), First Impressions of Earth (2005), Angles (2011), Comedown Machine (2013), and The New Abnormal (2020), which was produced by Rick Rubin and won Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards.
• Seventh album Reality Awaits was released on July 24, 2026.
• The band's sound is described as indie rock, garage rock revival and post-punk revival, and later incorporated new wave and synth-pop.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic normalized rating of 71, based on 41 reviews; media response was generally favorable
• Rolling Stone (David Fricke, four-star review): the record was "worth the wait"
• Rolling Stone: called it "the first step away from the sound of their instant-classic debut"
• Rolling Stone: compared the new album's sound to the more expansive sound of the Velvet Underground's 1970 record, Loaded, instead of the rigid purity of Is This It
• NME: noted the album "lives up to its name by coming at you from some very obtuse places"
• Time (Claire Suddath): called the album "a 10 song exercise in rock precision"
• Spin (Mikael Wood): said it "reminds you why they were so irresistible in the first place"
• Entertainment Weekly (Amanda Petrusich): gave the album a B−, describing it as fractured and often inscrutable
• Other critics praised Angles as a welcome reinvention for the band

Records

• Australian Albums Chart: entered at number one, the band's first time at the top in the country
• US Billboard 200: number four, with 89,000 units in its entry week, 1,000 more than First Impressions of Earth
• As of 2012, sold 213,000 copies in the United States
• UK Albums Chart: number three, certified gold in the UK with more than 100,000 copies sold
• France: number six on the Top Album France, classed for eleven weeks

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The band recorded much of the album without frontman Julian Casablancas, and the sessions were marked by frustration on both sides.
• Casablancas later argued the reports that the album was written separately by the band from him were untrue: the songs were written together in a room, with only the vocals recorded separately.
• Guitarist Nick Valensi said he would not do the next album if it were made the same way.
• Albert Hammond Jr.'s rehab after his breakup with model Agyness Deyn caused him to miss early recording sessions.
• Only one song from the original sessions, "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight", stayed as it was recorded.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact