- Record Label: Barsuk
- Release Date: Aug 22, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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It's clear from the first notes of Trying to Never Catch Up that this is a band that knows what they're doing, and is pretty damn sure about it, too.
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How a band from such an incestuous scene produced an album with such keen pop instincts that nonetheless stops well short of ripping anyone, local or national, off continues to boggle the mind.
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This is the Strokes’ first record without its adherence to formula and form, with better guitars and bigger chords. And, you know, more fun.
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An album that sounds both familiar and fresh and entirely entertaining.
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Through all the fascinating genre shell games, the constant on Trying To Never Catch Up is a smart pop sensibility that rarely expels an unoriginal thought.
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This quartet's assured sound-and-fury is perplexingly difficult to care about.
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It goes unnecessarily heavy on the production at times, and the song titles and lyrics can be transparently overreaching in their attempts at edginess. But it’s still deep and interesting enough musically and stylistically to qualify as one of the year’s best rock releases.
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The sing-alongs abound and the keyboard definitely calls for some attention from the dance floor, but the redundancy of these twelve songs is bound to induce a few headaches.
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Power-pop with brains that doesn't try too hard.
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SpinPositively exuberant. [Sep 2006, p.114]
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Genuine hooks are oddly scarce.
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This is an auspicious first effort, bringing some order to Austin's musical chaos.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 1 out of 6
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tannerNov 25, 2006
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TBOneNov 24, 2006Suprisingly good album . Better than i was expecting.
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LucasKOct 26, 2006ALmost All of the songs are very entertaining and modern, mostly catchy. A great Power-Pop album IDECIDE is my favorite song for this year.