The Strokes: Reality Awaits review – a perfect marriage of mayhem and melody on their best album in years

The New Yorkers’ first album in six years takes them even further away from where they started out. That, as this weird and wonderful collection proves, is no bad thing at all

(RCA/Cult) Allying the crackpot strangeness of Julian Casablancas’ side projects with his band’s gift for pop minimalism, the New Yorkers are on playful, joyous form Here’s a sentence no old-head Strokes fan wants to hear: to understand Reality Awaits, the stalwart NYC group’s…