There comes a time in most rock band’s careers where a dodgy production choice will negatively define them for years to come. It could be Metallica’s St. Anger snare, Green Day’s “going pop” on Father of All…, or Maroon 5’s entire post-“Moves Like Jagger” career, but whatever it is, it can take an age to get away from the stink of that poor choice. It seems The Strokes have had that moment on 
Reality Awaits, and the offending member is Julian Casablancas and his obsession of autotune.
Reality Awaits has all the hallmarks of a strong Strokes record instrumentally. The band are playing great, the tunes and rhythms are tight, the guitar interplay between Albert Hammond Jr. & Nick Valensi is as intricate & inventive as ever….and then anytime Casablancas comes on to the scene, that bloody autotune rears its head and ruins the vibe completely. It’s not even a sonically pleasing autotune, it’s one of those very old sounding, extra warbly versions of the it that ends up having the adverse effect of making the vocal sound wildly inconsistent and the lyrics inaudible.
Occasionally, the sound of autotune works, like on the bouncy, 80’s romp of lead single “Going Shopping”, but on the more ballad-like tracks such as “Psycho Shit” or “Falling Out Of Love,” it instantly distracts you from the loveIy work that the band are doing, and takes you completely out of the song.
I hate to be negative about someone’s artistic choices, but I really cannot fathom that neither the band nor producer Rick Rubin thought to mention to Casablancas that this was a poor idea. It makes the vocals on the entire record sound lazy, uninspired & wholly inappropriate on top of the rest of the band’s work.
I’ll always love The Strokes, and they’ve done more than enough to secure their legacy on their previous records, but I suspect that Reality Awaits will not be looked on favourably as the years roll along.