Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

originally, I was annoyed by all this "garage revival" hype, especially considering the titans of the scene, the strokes and white stripes. and honestly, the hype is still obnoxious. vines? hives? meet ramones. but the strokes grow on me with each listen, 'cause they've got some fine-ass melodies buried in their tunes, and the white stripes have really got me. "hotel yorba" reminds me of yo la tengo, of all things; it's damned near pretty. knowing that jack's going to do some vocals on t-bone burnett's cold mountain ost (think o brother, where art thou grandfather?) doesn't hurt, either. but it's the "big hit single," "fell in love with a girl," that's the killer. not even 2 minutes of garage-punk trash with lyrics I still can't make sense of after 50+ hearings, "in love" barely describes how I feel about the white stripes' money shot. the amazing lego-constucted video is merely the bavarian cream in this doughnut.