Arriving on a wave of well-earned hype rooted in tight chops and a confident swagger, The Strokes offer a Rock & Roll antidote to the plague of boy bands, teen divas, and petulant rap-rock outfits. Despite this quintet's prep-school background, their sound comes from the same primordial ooze that spawned Big Apple legends like the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground. Clocking in at 36 minutes, IS THIS IT packs it's perfect length with stellar songs that draw inspiration from all over the map. Among the many highlights are InchLast NiteInch with it's insistent Motown backbeat and choppy Johnny Thunders-like guitar solo, InchBarely Legal,Inch sounding like 1980's-era Cure fronted by a saucy Iggy Pop, and the jangly InchSomedayInch with it's hairshirt of vulnerability from a bad break-up. While frontman Julian Casablanca's (son of Elite Models founder John) drawls like Lou Reed through a busted intercom, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr.. do Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd proud as their sinewy chords intertwine to great effect on the angular InchThe Modern AgeInch and equally neurotic InchAlone, Together.Inch Thanks to The Strokes, rumors of Rock & Roll's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Album Tracks 1. Is This It 2. Modern Age 3. Soma 4. Barely Legal 5. Someday 6. Alone Together 7. Last Nite 8. Hard to Explain 9. NYC Cops 10. Trying Your Luck 11. Take It or Leave It