The Strays

Le Futur Noir

BY Keith CarmanPublished Feb 16, 2007

They can keep on straying… as far as possible. Despite an endless stream of ass-kissing from the press with relations to the likes of the Clash, the original wave of punk and punk rock’n’roll, there’s not one iota of value in this glam rock rehash. Poor Joe Strummer must be hitting his fourth rotation in the coffin with references like this taking his hard work down the shitter. One can’t fault the Strays on any level for a lack of musicianship though. Le Futur Noir is as close to rock’n’roll perfection as one could wish for thanks to delightful balance of instrumentation, crystal clear production values and tone to die for. Too bad it’s all wasted on typical canned ham songs that could be pulled from any point on the far end of the FM dial. The fact of the matter is that while there’s nothing wrong with what style a band want to follow, be honest to it. Were these guys pushed as another radio rock outfit they are, it wouldn’t be so offensive. But to blatantly co-opt the punk rock image yet again in an effort to establish coolness yet not deliver on a musical level is sad… sadly the norm. It detracts from the DIY image they unabashedly thrust forth throughout the album despite finding bigwig support.
(TVT)

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