So where better to start than with Julian Casablancas and his forth coming solo debut Phrazes For The Young. It's rather approapraite that I start with Julian because without this young man I probably would never have become so fascinated with music. His forth coming album is his first full LP as a solo artist. He's always been seen as the icy outsider in the Strokes rather uncomfortable with fame, but also incredibly creative. He appears a walking paradox, we're told he's full of ideas but we've also come to accept he has nothing to say. On this record Julian has said he's going to explore all the silly ideas that the band would never let him do. He plans to push the lines between contemporary modern and classical music.
This is far from pretentious hyperbole, every snipet we're heard of his album so far seems to be lush. It sounds like a classical science fiction film score by John Carpenter, that's been producered by Kraftwerk, remixed by the Knife, and then overlayed with chiming contemporary guitars. It sounds utterly thrilling, you hear strings warped into guitars and vice versa. You've always sensed a love of Sci Fi and abstract art when it comes to the Strokes and you suspect this album will push those films to the limmits. Turning Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and Tron into a modern pop epic. It sounds fanciful enough, but ultimately who knows what to expect. We've heard precious little of this album, the sceptic in me fears that it will be bloated, half baked and sychofrenic, but one thing Julian has always had in his career is control. His records are tight and minimalist, if he can experiment with graduer but contain it within the realm of the Strokes rigid boarders, this could be something special. Ultimately we don't know, but I eagily look forward to the results, I expect the worse, but somehow I know I will fall in love with this record.
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