The Strokes All The Time video plus more reviews
I wasn’t sure whether we would get a video for single “All The Time” seeing as the band are doing no promotion for Comedown Machine (at least for the time being). So it was a pleasant surprise to find out some kind of video has indeed been made. Â At first it seems like such a collection of the band performing throughout their 15 year career but there is some new footage in there of the guys messing around backstage and in the studio and generally having fun.
It is basically a lovely piece of nostalgia and also highlights the friendship within the band especially in light of recent years and the media’s portrayal of the band’s 5 year hiatus.  Albert mentioned on Twitter that he was responsible for the video, nice one Albert.
Comedown Machine Reviews
Couple of more have been published, including the BBC Music review “Brilliant pop songs – and sometimes that’s all that really matters”
Rolling Stone gave the album 3 out of 5 stars but the review itself came over as quite harsh and the writer Rob Sheffield seems to have some kind of problem with Julian.
You can read it under the cut
Rolling Stone : Comedown Machine 3 out of 5 stars
Hard To Explain: From Kings of the Lower East Side try synth-y new tricks but can’t quite recapture old glory by Rob Sheffield
It’s not totally clear why The Strokes make albums, is it? They don’t seems to enjoy it much, and they aren’t exactly bursting with innovative musical ideas that demand to be let loose. Yet the records aren’t worthless – far from it.
Comedown Machine is basically a solo trip for singer Julian Casablancas, showing yet again how much he respects Eighties New Wave. Why is Comedown Machine an official Strokes album instead of another Casablancas solo album? Only a Stroke could tell you.
Eighties synth-pop is always a stretch for this guy, given that his songwriting tends to be narrow with Melody and clunky with beats. He begins strong in “Tap Out“, a DeBarge tribute with a cheese-guitar solo straight out of Lionel Richie’s “Running With The Night“. “One Way Trigger” ineptly rips A-ha and “80’s Comedown Machine” aims for the softer side of Howard Jones. “Welcome To Japan” is merely the most obvious of the many Duran Duran indebted moments. (Great question, to “What kind of asshole drives a Lotus?”). But ballads like “Chances” prove he still can’t sing falsetto. And just to remind you of his pretensions, he ends with a painful Tom Waits parody, although Waits would get a 1D tattoo before he’d resort to a song title like “Call It Fate, Call It Karma”
Key Tracks: Tap Out // Chances
