Guest Post: Barry Takez on Former-Strokes Frontman, Julian Casablancaz

How often to solo albums, or hell, even side-projects, work out well? And I mean really well.

That question was rhetorical. No really, it was. Seriously, stop answering.

From my very selective memory – not very often. There are some winners here and there, no doubt about it. Thom Yorke’s Eraser was interesting. Albert Hammond, Jr.’s albums have been, ehhh, I mean, decent, at best? And, let me be clear – I want to like these albums. I want them to be phenomenal. I want them to take what I already know, and expand upon the sound – I want to hear something I haven’t heard yet, and frankly, I want to be J-wowwwwed.

If you’re going to step outside the safe confines of your band, at least do so because you have a crazy amount to say. I want the artist to be proverbially tripping around his apartment due to all the music and lyrics.

Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes, has a new album called Phrazes for the Young. From the first listen, I’ll simply say that it doesn’t sound as though he just had a crazy amount to say, or a crazy amount of music and lyrics that he just had to submit for our ears to take in.

The sound is going to be Strokes-ish. How can it not be? His voice is unique enough that it will sound like The Strokes even if the sole instrument is a sousaphone played by some asshole, and he’s singing along side the man while marching across Fifth Avenue and Broadway – and someone just happened to record it all with a Dictaphone.

And perhaps that is why it’s tough to dislike the album. The Strokes are one of the best bands of the last 10 years, and his voice is a great reason for their success. But this album sounds like he’s taken The Strokes sound, largely a result of his voice, and applied it to less interesting music. It’s like The Strokes, gone expansive.

“River of Brakelights” is a great example. It’s heavy on a rambling fuzzy guitar sound - a lot of distortion, and individually plucked guitar strings. Somewhere between the droning opening and the end, Julian gets his soaring vocal on. And it sounds like old school Strokes. It sounds like what you want to hear from a band that has consistently put out great music. But then, if you pay attention to the drum line, it sounds so much like a lilting drum machine, that you realize that it isn’t a full Strokes sound. It’s as though a Strokes record was played in a really large room. Some pieces transfer into the space enough that you notice them, and other pieces get lost in the largesse.

The opener “Out of the Blue” is a bouncy, charming song. It’s quickly followed by “Left & Right in the Dark” – the opening synth lines of which sound like they belong in the Scarface soundtrack. “Left & Right in the Dark” is not a stellar song by any means. It’s meandering, and the chorus just seems out of place for someone like Casablancas. The “wake up, wake up” refrains seem to come from the mouth of someone else – like they’re beneath Casablancas.

The album sounds heavily influenced by new wave synth music, generally. Some of it works. Even in a single song, the synth sound can be both good and bad. The synth chorus of “11^th Diminsion” sounds like it works, while some of the rest of the song doesn’t.

It seems as though Julian thought it was worth writing some synth tunes, and found himself with 8, and 8 was good enough for a whole album. He wasn’t tripping around his apartment just yet. He was merely moving the music and lyrics from one corner of the room to the other corner, as needed. He needed more than this handful though to put together a stellar effort. Phrazes for the Young is good, not great. I’m not telling you anything new when I say that solo albums aren’t always as thoughtful or complete as we’d like.

One last thought before I go – can we cease with the “z” in the place of “s” in the album title? It’s probably some meta-irony about the title being street, despite the album coming from someone who so clearly is not of, or from, the streets. I hate it. It’s stupid. You’re better than that Julian. You’re better than that.

Barry (Indianapolis)