Phrazes For The Young
Posted by BrokenSilence | Filed under Julian Casablancas
A few weeks ago I posted about Julian Casablancas’ first single, ‘11th Dimension’, from his upcoming solo debut. I recently reviewed the entire album for Popwreckoning, which I will post below. I’ll leave out the parts I wrote in the post here.
“Phrazes for the Young” takes its name from a piece of writing by Oscar Wilde, entitled “Phrases and Philosophies For The Use of The Young”. Another synth flavored track for the ears is “Left & Right In The Dark” that initially sounds like a re working of 80s Rod Stewart (think “Young Turks”). It continues in Casablancas’ laconic style and is probably one of the catchiest/FM styled songs on the album, particularly when he elevates his chords to yell, “Wake up, wake up, wake up…”. Album opener “Out of the Blue” starts with familiar guitar strumming and a quick speed, aided and abetted with a New Wave shimmer. What drives the compactness of the song is Casablancas’ disaffected and candid words, “At least I’ll be in another world / While you’re pissing on my casket”.
And those tracks are about as close as its going to get to sounding like The Strokes, which only cements Casablancas’ creativity, signaling signs of his bravery to try anything new and diversify his sound. This is best evidenced on “Ludlow St”, that features a melody based on country, showcasing steel guitars, shuffling percussion, and interestingly enough, Asian melodies, all of which create an image of a slow walking, drawling Western, as Casablancas recalls the history of the Lower East Side in New York, the area that was the biggest receptacle of his band’s music. “4 Chords of the Apocalypse” is a large shift in musical style for Casablancas, in that it’s a slow and contemplative ballad. It’s a pleasant surprise to see his vocals fit around a different musical aesthetic than what we are used to. His faded and stretched words go a long agreeably to music that inspires the same emotions.
And so perhaps many of us have been longing for a new Strokes album and thus the release of the lead singer’s first solo work might signal a further delay, at least we have it confirmed from his own project that Julian Casablancas has plenty of creativity and talent in him to continue making music with and if called for, without, his band. “Phrazes For The Young” showcases a diversity few would expect from this man, yet a diversity that is more than welcomed on the ears.
Julian Casablancas - Out Of The Blue
Julian Casablancas - Left & Right In The Dark
Julian Casablancas - Ludlow St
Julian Casablancas - 4 Chords Of The Apocalypse
Tags: Julian Casablancas, Oscar Wilde, Phrazes for the Young, The Strokes
Julian Casablancas; A Solo Man
Posted by BrokenSilence | Filed under Julian Casablancas
Growing up as a teenager from 1994-2001, I felt jipped with the music of my generation. Rap and Hip Hop were the prominent genres, Grunge and Alt Rock were the main rock scenes, all music I couldn’t relate to. I hid my musical upbringing in my father’s records; The Beatles, The Stones, Zeppelin, The Who, Van Morrison, The Spencer Davis Group, CCR, Cream, all but to name a few. It’s all that really spoke to me until one summer’s day in 2001 when I saw a music video on TV with a bunch of guys singing some lo-fi garage rock, dressed in clothes not many people were wearing at the time; skinny jeans, fitted leather jackets and beaten down tees. The sound harked back to the 70s and I was confused as to what band from then that I hadn’t heard of. I did some research and found out that what I was watching/listening to was a band called the The Strokes and to be specific ‘Last Nite’, and I was blown away to realize that they weren’t a band from the 70s, as the video fit that style, but instead a new band on the scene. Things changed for me then.
I was pretty ecstatic to be listening to music that sounded more like rock I listened to, that shared the same influences, spoke the same words, had a style. Fair enough to say that I spent the better part of the end of 2001 and 2002 listening to The Strokes’ debut album, ‘Is This It’. I truly love every single track on that record. And from there it opened up a whole new world to bands that started trying to emulate this sound, bringing to the foray indie rock, garage rock, pretty much everything you see on this blog rock related. Finally, music from my generation that I liked. True they were labeled as the saviours of rock n’ roll, a completely bombastic remark, but for me, it was true.
And so the lead singer of that band, Julian Casablancas, eight years later puts out his first solo album. Sure guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has beat him to that, twice over, but it’s different when it comes from the lead singer/songwriter of the group. ‘Phrazes for the Young’ will be released on October 19th in the UK and October 20th in the US. Might I add that it has brilliant photography accompanying it. First single is out already, ‘11th Dimension’ and I already love it. And what I like about it is that it has The Strokes/Casablancas touch to it, but it’s different enough to be Casablanca’s own. It features the signature lo-fi feel, but has more of an electronic aesthetic to it, programmed sequencers, light synthesizers and a percussioned intro that beats like a heart. All seem to mesh well against Casablancas’ fuzzed and tired vocals. If the rest of the album is anything like this, it’s going to be almost as fun to listen to as ‘Is This It’, almost.
Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension
Tags: 11th Dimension, Albert Hammond Jr., Garage Rock, Is This It, Julian Casablancas, Phrazes for the Young, The Strokes
Albert Hammond Jr.
Posted by BrokenSilence | Filed under Albert Hammond Jr.
It’s time to showcase Albert Hammond Jr., because I’m feeling as if he’s not getting much love, well, maybe just not as much attention as I think he should be. You’ll know Hammond as the rhythm guitarist for The Strokes. He’s not as much in the limelight as other members of his band, say, lead singer Julian Casablancas or drummer Fabrizio Moretti, but this boy is good, actually, this boy is great. He’s the only member of the band who’s put out any solo work, though the other’s have had side projects, and it’s been prolific and well received thus far.
Hammond has released two albums already; ‘Yours To Keep’ in 2006 and ‘Como Te Llama?’ last year. ‘Yours To Keep’ gets its name from the fact that Hammond would hand out the album to friends and family saying ‘It’s yours to keep’. Both albums have had a strong array of guest stars, which include Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, and even The Stroke’s lead singer, Julian Casablancas.
Hammond’s solo sound isn’t too far off kilter from The Strokes’, which is to be expected, but it’s softer, sweeter and sunnier. The music is quite beautiful actually and there’s something nostalgic in all of it. Perhaps it has to do with Hammond’s voice, which is endearing and unaffected. His rough croon and freewheeling melody meld to create a charming sketchbook of songs. One of my favorite tracks is ‘GfC’, which opens with starry guitar twinkles and follows with a shaking 60s mod bass and sliding guitars. These two albums should hold over any Strokes fan until they put out their long overdue 4th album, and at times, dare we say, might even be more enjoyable.
Albert Hammond Jr. - In Transit
Albert Hammond Jr. - Everyone Gets A Star
The Video for GfC is stylish. Love the suits, the timing, the colors. Embedding for it is disabled, so check it out here.
Tags: Ben Kweller, Como Te Llama, Fabrizio Moretti, Julian Casablancas, Sean Lennon, The Strokes, Yours To Keep
