Read Sean Bottai's review of the new Strokes album Angles while listening to the album streaming on their website. It's a multimedia experience.

The Strokes doubled down on rock's eroticism, channeling everything from Beatlemania to '70s-era Cheap Trick to the retro-fantasia of Pacific Northwestern garage like the Kingsmen and the Sonics; then they added a dash of Travolta's Danny Zuko tight-jeaned ass-shakin' for good measure.

In the early '00s, they were post-Sopranos (but pre-Jersey-Shore) Italian stallions, and also a bunch of goddamned floppy-haired, Drew Barrymore-dating, Stax-soul-loving New Yawkehs. Boys and girls collectively sighed and fell back on their beds, rested their feet on their headboards and turned up the stereo.

It's been 10 years now, so we need to be reminded: "Hey, the Strokes are a great band!" Therefore, they've gone ahead and made Angles. It's a substantive finest-hour moment.

"Taken for a Fool" is pure Is This It charm, with all the band's patented moves. But they've got a few new ones as well. "Games" and "Two Kinds of Happiness" are a wash of 1985 new wave.

"Gratisfaction" is vintage Elton John glam euphoria. "You're So Right" affects a dire B-movie sci-fi thrum, with bursts of Squeeze-y glissando. "Metabolism" is a touch post-hardcore, by way of Queen. Through all of this, they never stop sounding like the Strokes.

The album cover is pure '70s power-pop kitsch, perfectly recalling era-appropriate bedroom posters and The Electric Company's animated asides. The best thing that can be said is that Angles does more than make clever references to days of yore. It does that, but also rolls it all into something timeless, not to mention sexy.

If you don't already have tickets for tomorrow's Diamondbacks/Dodgers game, you're out of the luck. The game is sold out and fans are encouraged to arrive early to avoid lines.

Details from the press release after the jump:

Tucson's own Fish Karma discusses his new rock opera, "Halloween in America" hitting the stage this weekend as part of the Tucson Fringe Festival.

Shows at The Screening Room tonight at 6:30 PM, Friday at 8:30 PM, Saturday at 6:30 PM, and at Beowulf Alley Theatre Sunday at 11:45 AM.

It seems a little strange to take what's supposed to be the best movie of 2010 and change it, but I'm not one of the magical movie making Weinstein brothers, so what do I know?

The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that THE KING’S SPEECH PG-13, the family-friendly version of its Academy Award-winning historical drama about King George VI, will open on 1,000 screens nationwide on April 1, and will be the only version available in theatres. One of the year's most celebrated, successful and beloved films, THE KING'S SPEECH was honored at the 83rd Academy Awards® with Oscars® for Best Picture, to producers Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin; Best Director, to helmer Tom Hooper; Best Actor, to star Colin Firth; and Best Original Screenplay, to screenwriter David Seidler. The announcement was made by TWC's President of Theatrical Distribution and Home Entertainment Eric Lomis.

Said Lomis, "We are thankful to the MPAA for their wisdom and swift action in approving the release of THE KING'S SPEECH PG-13 release. The action enables those to whom it speaks most directly - young people who are troubled by stuttering, bullying and similar trials — to see it."

The emotional impact of stuttering that was illuminated by THE KING'S SPEECH continues to be a topic of conversation with the recent statements by Vice President Joseph Biden about his own struggles with stammering. The release of THE KING'S SPEECH PG-13 offers families nationwide access to a positive story about stuttering and overcoming obstacles and social stigmas.

If you were there last year, you know what it's all about: A new festival, right in the heart of Barrio Viejo, with Calexico and a whole bunch of special guests, including Robin Hitchcock and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. Gene Armstrong sums it up this week:

If you were among the couple thousand lucky souls to attend last year's Festival en el Barrio Viejo, featuring Calexico and friends, you may still be aglow with the memories of good cheer, fellowship and amazing music under the springtime sun.

We're excited to report that the event will return for a second, bigger and better iteration this Saturday. Calexico again will play host, and this time around, bands from out of town—albeit bands with notable Tucson connections—will join in the fun. Legendary English rocker Robyn Hitchcock, who might as well be named an honorary Tucsonan, will be there, as will the volatile Southern California Latin-funk-reggae ensemble B*Side Players.

I'm especially looking forward to The Baseball Project, an all-star group that features Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate); Linda Pitmon (Golden Smog); Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows); and Peter Buck (R.E.M.). Their two albums—including the recent Vol. 2: High and Inside—are terrific, among the best indie-rock releases of the last five years.

Want more? The show also will feature local heroes Gabriel Sullivan and Taraf de Tucson, the Silver Thread Trio, Al Perry, Kiss and the Tells, Los Gallegos and Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School.

A benefit for community radio station KXCI FM 91.3, the Festival en el Barrio Viejo will happen between 2 and 8 p.m., Saturday, March 26. You can enter at the corner of Cushing Street and Meyer Avenue, just south of the Tucson Convention Center. Advance tickets cost $22, or $19 if you are KXCI member. On the day of the show, expect to pay $26 at the gate. Call 740-1000 for more information.

Congressman Jeff Flake has surrendered to the nativists in his party in his quest for a U.S. Senate seat:

For years, Rep. Jeff Flake was one of the most reliable Republican champions for comprehensive immigration reform.

Not anymore.

As his campaign for Arizona's 2012 GOP Senate nomination revs up, Flake is explicitly rejecting his past advocacy for far-reaching legislation that would secure the border, enact a temporary-worker program and give many undocumented immigrants a pathway to legal status.

"In the past I have supported a broad approach to immigration reform - increased border security coupled with a temporary worker program. I no longer do," Flake says in an immigration-policy statement that was expected to be posted on his campaign website as early as today.

"I've been down that road, and it is a dead end. The political realities in Washington are such that a comprehensive solution is not possible, or even desirable given the current leadership. Border security must be addressed before other reforms are tackled."

This pandering to the conservatives illustrates why real immigration reform simply won't happen in this country as long as Republicans are in power. And the state of Arizona will continue to suffer as a result.

Some website called Pica-Pic has assembled a playable collection of largely circa-80's era Game and Watch handheld gaming systems which I remember being obsessed with, but seem like they should be from the Stone Age considering the quality of games you can get on your phone these days. Still, if you had the Donkey Kong Jr. game (or coveted the one your friend had), playing the games online is fun bit of nostalgia.

The Arizona Education Network has put together a letter campaign to ask the 60 Arizona CEOs who pressured state legislators to say no to crazy anti-immigration laws to use that same power to convince lawmakers to say yes to education:

When 60 CEOs asked legislators to back down on pushing through more bills targeting immigrants, the legislators listened. All five anti-immigration bills pending in the Senate failed.

In a letter to legislators, the executives argued that Arizona’s anti-immigration stance was hurting the state’s economy by causing a downturn in tourism (with losses up to $150 million statewide) and canceled contracts due to boycotts.

It’s time now to ask these same business leaders to stick up for education funding, which has an even stronger link to the state’s economy.

Our state needs strong schools, colleges and universities to create an educated workforce, to attract well-paying jobs, to keep property values from dropping further and to protect our military bases, which have warned they are at risk of closure if the state continues to de-fund education. ..

We’ve heard that business leaders are not collectively sticking up for education because some believe the education system is broken and that we shouldn’t throw “good money after bad.”

The problem with this logic is that we haven’t been spending “good money” on education. For the past decade, Arizona has chronically under-funded its schools. The state Legislature is now pushing through cuts that will permanently cripple our schools and prevent even those that are excelling under incredibly difficult circumstances from continuing to do so.

• Josh Morgan

The outcome of the ASUA presidential election now rests in the hands of the student government's Supreme Court.

Both Daniel Hernandez and James Allen, candidates for president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, were disqualified from the race due to an excess of campaign violations. Both have stated their intention to appeal the violations, handed down by ASUA Elections Commissioner Michael Colletti, to the ASUA Supreme Court.

Each candidate is allowed no more than nine violations during the election cycle and ASUA officials have declined to comment on the number or nature of the violations.

Colletti said both candidates had already built their cases and presented them to the court before departing for spring break.

ASUA Clerk of the Court Rebecca Hull said that the official written reports detailing both candidates' statements disputing the violations will be delivered to the court on next Monday.

[AZ Daily Wildcat]