“Is This It?” Yes, Tragically, It Is.

There’s something oddly satisfying about listening to a legendary album and thinking, “Really? This is what turned the indie rock world inside out?” That, in a nutshell, was my experience revisiting Is This It , the Strokes’ 2001 debut that critics still treat like it cured polio. For me, it was less a seismic rock event and more a tinny jangle of detached coolness dressed up as minimalist genius.…