I don't mean that as a bad thing. It's just that they have weirdly similar career trajectories, and I feel almost exactly the same about both bands.

2000, Coldplay releases Parachutes; it flies under the radar but in retrospect is a killer album. 2001, The Strokes release Is This It?; it does well but really gains stature stature over time. Both albums are front to back gems and highly re-listenable.

Again one year apart, both release good but not great sophomore albums under the weight of Next Big Thing hype. Is This It? is a better album than Parachutes, but I prefer A Rush of Blood to the Head to Room on Fire, so I say they come out a wash. At this point, both bands are pretty well overrated. They date movie stars.

Smothered with unrealistic expectations, they each drop unlistenable duds the third time around (again, The Strokes one year after Coldplay). Popular opinion turns drastically against them. The Coldplay backlash is more vitriolic (probably because expectations were loftier. That, and they're soft.), but both bands are now, generally speaking, Not Who We Thought They Were. They disappear for a while.

Here's where I get to my point. They probably stayed away long enough that nobody really cared anymore either way. Everybody sold their stock and no longer has a stake in the outcome. This mellowing gives them freedom from expectations again, and they both bang out competent, professional, polished, and generally decent albums. And we probably have enough lingering love that they still benefit from what we liked about them in the first place. I liked Viva La Vida okay, because, I don't know, I had no reason not to like it. And I'm enjoying Angles this week because I just don't need a whole lot from The Strokes right now. A couple good hooks, that unfazeable croon, and a nice pace, and y'know what, I'm good.

The lesson, as always, expectations are everything.