First things first. I am a Strokes fan. Check that. I am a HUGE Strokes fan. Dating back to the first time playing at Arlene’s Grocery way back when then getting my filthy mitts on The Modern Age EP, I was smitten with this band who quickly became the pride of New York and the purveyors of what would be the return of new wave whether they liked it or not. With the ten year anniversary of the seminal debut record Is This It approaching, it’s about time we get an idea of what lurks in the mind of the face of the franchise so to speak in Julian Casablancas. I was never particularly taken by the Albert Hammond Jr. records and Fab’s Little Joy project left me cold but when the news came about Julian taking a dip into the solo pool, I was interested.
If you, like me, were bored to tears by that Converse-sponsored earache-inducing error-in-judgment involving Julian, Santigold and Pharrell called My Drivethru, I can say for certain it’s okay to place your faith back in the shaggy-haired one. It appears Julian has traded in his lo-fi sound for a cleaner, much more polished electronic pop sound that almost sounds like he’d been listening to the first Electronic record and been taking notes. Needless to say I am highly in favour of the first track taken from Julian’s solo debut record Phrazes For The Young called 11th Dimension. For most, this would be considered quite a change in direction in sound but here it seems to suit Julian just fine.
The record is due out 3 November via Cult/RCA and you can be sure there will be a review so before I waste more space waxing poetic over this track, let me simply say that it’s quite specatacular and you should play to your heart’s content over and over. By the way, New York City cops still aren’t too smart.
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“11th Dimension” by Julian Casablancas, taken from the Cult/RCA release, “Phrazes For The Young”
the boy with the thorn in his side 