I remember a review of Brighten The Corners in SPIN where the writer said she'd trade the rest of Wowee Zowee for the first verse and a half of "Rattled By The Rush" - Malkmus at his most vocally assertive. I've heard three songs from the upcoming Strokes release and I feel the same way about "You Only Live Once." Musically it's above-average status quo ("what if New Order didn't believe in synthesizers?"), but Julian puts a little Ocasek in his step, dancing with the music (oh, that "oh-oh-oh ohhh") rather than screaming and mewling around it - at least until the chorus. Unless this retro-alt resurgence has more weight than I think it does, I can't imagine these songs inspiring anybody who doesn't already care about the Strokes to start. Having seen the "Juicebox" video, I think I'll be glad to see them fail.