VAPOR-

The Strokes, "Ize Of The World" - I swore up and down to myself that I was staying away from First Impressions of Earth, the new Strokes album set to drop on January 3rd, until, well, January 3rd, but for the last three days all I've been able to do is thank Jebus for giving me such a weak will. As someone who had their life changed in a depressingly Shins-esque manner by Is This It, it sure sounds like a positive move forward to my ears; it can't be an easy thing to come up with an album this immaculately polished when you made your name on being the roughest ramshacklin'est garagiest band in all the land - or at least not without totally selling out your fanbase - but First Impressions is unmistakably a Strokes record, right down to the smart-ass tricks they play on their fans like the early cut-out in album standout "Ize Of The World". (There's been some discussion about whether or not this is an intentional choice or just a ripping error on the part of whoever leaked it, but after listening to this song eight thousand times today, I can't agree when the song actually cuts Julian Casablancas out on the same syllable midway through the song; it's also pretty hard to miss the fact that the cut-out syllable works as a PUN!!!! on the title. I swear, it's like everyone's forgotten "Hard To Explain" already or something.)

Most crucially, however: I don't think about any of that kind of thing when I'm listening to the album. Again, I'll fully admit that I may have just left my bias unzipped, but Christ almighty, the last time I heard an album packed top-to-bottom with this many killer riffs and hooks and this much maniacal howling and drum-bashing, I was coming to terms with Come And Get It. It actually wouldn't surprise me a bit if those two albums did comparably well; it's certainly possible to hear both of them as An Artist At The End Of A Formulaic Rope, and sadly I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they were both equally well-equipped to lure in a new audience. But that kind of thinking can drive you crazy; the bottom line is that the Strokes have a new album out that I already love dearly, and all is therefore right with the world. (Click here to preorder First Impressions of Earth from Amazon.com)

Team 9, "The Doorbell Encore" - Saturday night having been Shaun's birthday, everyone got together and descended on Bootie, LA's top-shelf mashup night conveniently held in my favorite club in the city. I forget exactly when I lost my already-tenuous grip on propriety and started dancing around like an utter dumbass (this is what happens when you like scotch and cute chicks are tending bar), but I'd bet it was somewhere around this genius blend of Jay-Z's "Encore" and the White Stripes' "My Doorbell", which is all the more remarkable considering how much I truly, truly do not get the White Stripes these days. It's certainly the best hey-I-recognize-those-two-songs mashup I've heard this year, a genre which you'd think would be dead by now but here it is, and that's on top of the old "Stroke Of Genie-us" trick of making the sum more than the whole of its parts - not too shabby. (Click here to visit Team9's homepage and download more mashups, including the AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME Killers vs. Corey Hart one)