To celebrate its impending tenth anniversary on July 30, Stereogum has gathered a hearty blend of artists to create a tribute to The Strokes' debut album, Is This It. Following in the trend of their tribute albums for Radiohead and Bjork, they grabbed some of their favorite indie artists to contribute to covering every single song. Among the eleven covers you'll see Peter, Bjorn & John, Austra, Wise Blood, Owen Pallett, The Morning Benders and Heems of Das Racist. As the sounds vary between each artist, each cover has a unique sound that at times strays far from the original, but ultimately aims to convey the same tone and emotion.
Get a taste for what's involved with The Morning Benders' cover of "Last Night" above, which has auto-tune! Read frontman Chris Chu's thoughts on the band's cover below, as well as statements from each artist at Stereogum when you head over there to download the whole she-bang.
Back when Is This It was released everyone was going crazy over how much The Strokes sounded like VU and Television and Iggy Pop. But to me, there first single “Last Nite” always felt like a Beatles song. The way the rhythmic elements always stay out of the way of the vocal, that one note guitar line a la George Harrison, even Julian’s vocal has that combo of snotty grit and melody that reminds of Lennon. But beyond all that, the reason it really feels like a Beatles song is the structure. It’s classic early-Beatles Lennon, and an approach to pop structure that still hasn’t really been tapped into. There’s no clear verse or chorus, just one main hook and melody. The only other section is a short bridge, that really just acts as a kind of propeller for the main melody, giving it the momentum it needs to come back over and over and over again. That’s good pop! And of course the middle eight is replaced by a guitar solo because, well, they’re the Strokes. For our cover we turned that structure on its head. The sections still occur in the same order, but we have re-imagined them. The main “Last Nite” melody/lyric becomes a proper verse, and the section that used to be a short bridge becomes the proper chorus/hook. At the end everything intersects with each other and we have a melodic party. Pretty fun, right?
STROKED: A Tribute To Is This It Track Listing:
Peter Bjorn & John – Is This It
Chelsea Wolfe – The Modern Age
Frankie Rose – Soma
Real Estate – Barely Legal
Wise Blood – Someday
Austra – Alone, Together
The Morning Benders – Last Night
Owen Pallett – Hard to Explain
Heems – New York City Cops
Deradoorian – Trying Your Luck
Computer Magic – Take It or Leave It
(via Stereogum)