Angles

Reuniting after a layoff nearly as long as their existence, the Strokes came back in 2011 with Angles, an album that sounds as if the band had never taken time to explore solo albums and outside production duties. The staccato new wave of “Under Cover of Darkness” is everything one expects from the group. Its nervous jangle and gallop creates a tension unlike no other. “Two Kinds of Happiness” softens the anxiety with a smoother dreamlike frosting, but “You’re So Right” adds FM radio guitars to an avant-prog rock set-piece where spoken word and radically shifting textures stretch out the song’s two and a half minutes. “Taken for a Fool,” “Gratisfaction” and “Machu Picchu” highlight the band’s truest dynamics between guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Singer Julian Casablancas may have the band-leader job down cold, with his sneers and Richard Hell-like rambles, but the band is nothing without the spastic guitar solos and the precise beats.