Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights [MATADOR]

Why you'll love it

Turn on the Bright Lights spent 73 weeks on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and lands on just about every best-of-the-2000s list. "Obstacle 1", "PDA", "Say Hello to the Angels" and "NYC" made Interpol the dark heart of the New York rock revival.

This edition

• Single LP, 11 tracks
• Matador pressing of the 2002 album
• Produced by Peter Katis

About the album

In the summer of 2002, while the Strokes were busy being the sunny, scruffy face of the New York rock revival, Interpol showed up in sharp suits with a record that sounded like 3 a.m. on a rainy Lower East Side street. Turn on the Bright Lights wears its Joy Division and Chameleons influences proudly, but Paul Banks' baritone, Daniel Kessler's chiming, interlocking guitar lines and Carlos Dengler's melodic bass made something that felt brand new all the same.

Produced by Peter Katis in a Connecticut studio, it's a record of slow builds and sudden surges: "Untitled" drifts in like fog, "Obstacle 1" and "PDA" are all nervy propulsion, and "NYC," with its title-giving plea to "turn on the bright lights," is as close as post-punk gets to a lullaby for a city. It barely dented the charts when it arrived. It hasn't stopped selling since.

Also at Kops: more Interpol on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Matador, first out in 2002.