Is This It You Must Hear Before You Die". The Strokes Production Design Is This It Is This It is the debut studio album by American rock band the Strokes, released on July 30, 2001 by RCA Records. It was recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael from March to April 2001. For their debut, the band strived to capture a simple sound that was not significantly enhanced in the studio. Building on their 2001 EP "The Modern Age", the band members molded compositions largely through live takes during recording sessions, while songwriter and lead singer Julian Casablancas continued
Is This It Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Casablancas's stepfather and Moretti's and Fraiture's older brothers introduced the quartet to the music of reggae artist Bob Marley, protopunk group the Velvet Underground, and alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Discussing the formative stages of the group, Moretti noted, "Our music was, like, [the Doors'], but trying to be classical. We all took music classes and tried writing songs, and when we put them together they were this crazy amalgam of insane ideas that we thought was really cool." In 1998, Albert Hammond, Jr., who Casablancas knew from