Julian Casablancas

[mousyy]

sounds very very good can't wait for the album!

 

[HeatherAnne]

Found a couple of videos To my twin sister

You're the BEST... amazing

And now... CD cover time! I adore it.

We are proud to announce the official "PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG" album cover. Stay tuned for a full track list, release date and details on the fall tour...

juliancasablancas.com

 

[ckgirlbr]

So stylish... The boots

That guitar reminds me of guitar hero I couldn't be more excited!

Thank you sweetie

 

[from: sophia]

^ I love the cover those boots are fantastic

 

[HeatherAnne]

Album release date has been pushed back to Oct. 20th, here is an article with some of the song titles and a mixed-review of the public Japan show.

http://www.spin.com/articles/strokes-julian-casablancas-debuts-solo-tunes

 

[*ana*]

one more video from the opening ceremony event in tokyo... the sound quality isn't very good though.

 

[ckgirlbr]

There's a review of Julian's gig in Japan on the new issue of NME magazine.

 

[ckgirlbr]

Review about his gig in Japan

It’s beyond us why Julian Casablancas would waste a golden opportunity like this: when someone asks you, Jules, where you want to make your official solo performance debut, you say ‘Casablanca’. Not bleeding Tokyo. Of all the venues, in all the towns, in all the world, why here? No offence to the world’s most futuristic city or anything: perhaps he saw it as a chance to test material from ‘Phrazes For The Young’ in front of a loyal and forgiving audience, some 7,000 miles from home?

Is it because the man just seriously can’t get enough sushi? Or is the real purpose of his trip the star-studded private party he played for fat-walleted fashion brand Opening Ceremony two days earlier? Hmmm...

Whatever the motivation, the young audience tonight have forked out 6,000 yen (£40) with nothing more to go on than the short video preview on Jules’ website of Ratatat-style, electro-tinged, prog-poppy sounds. Rather than offering a new machine-tooled dance vision, though, the songs unveiled tonight are born from timeless country, blues and AOR – albeit with some very strange sonic architecture on top.

Opener ‘Out Of The Blue’ combines a repetitive country groove in the vein of Johnny Cash with a psychedelic keyboard embellishment. While it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere, perhaps it isn’t supposed to: the songs from ‘Phrazes…’ mostly seem to accentuate atmosphere over structure: as such, tight pop tunes are more or less out of the window.

In the dark confines of Duo Music Exchange – a small venue co-owned by Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, nestled among the ‘romantic’ surrounds of the Shibuya district’s Love Hotel Hill (where you and your beloved can rent a room for a couple of hours to ‘rest’) Julian seems barely present. His voice is almost inaudible, his back often turned to the audience, and it’s his bandmates who really steal the show, guitarist Blake Mills cracking out freak-out solos while The Strokes’ ‘guru’ JP Bowersock focuses on atmospherics and Zappa hair. Thickening the rich mix of sounds, keyboardists Jeff Kite and Nelson Freeman handle basslines and dreamy synths while Danielle Haim adds texture with percussion, digital devices and her SG guitar; and Alex Carapetis, one-time session drummer with Nine Inch Nails and, er, Robbie Williams, offers lightweight but tight rhythms.

Thankfully, tonight’s crowd are more than prepared to listen: even if Julian had come out naked and riding a triple-breasted unicorn, Tokyo audiences are hard to whip up. Some fans shout out questions to Julian between songs or just wave for his attention (most were ignored, though he does announce that, “I ****ing love the **** out of you guys”), but, mostly, the vibe is of rapt attention to the new sounds unfolding.

‘Glass’, the song from the progtastic video trailer, begins with ringing synth harmonics that ease the audience into its warm electronic depths. Blake’s electrified classical guitar solo draws gasps from the crowd, while Julian’s voice reaches a small climax that was nonetheless hushed, like a pulled punch. ‘Left & Right’ and ‘River Of Brake Lights’, meanwhile, lifts the mood a little. The former has a Strokesy flavour, with a choppy, clean guitar line, an urgent chorus of “Oh my god, wake up!” and a face-slappingly abrupt ending. The latter gambols like a frisky alt.rock puppy as Nelson whacks a cymbal and Danielle and Jeff bring the guitar count up to four.

But it’s when Julian fully embraces soulful country that he shines brightest. A Hank Williams-style melody on the boozy, blue ‘Ludlow St’ fits his voice like a dusty glove, while set-closer ‘X-Marks’ sees him finally let go, channelling ’70s AOR crooner James Taylor as he pours emotion into the song’s cavernous spaces with lines such as “I hear it in your silence/When you don’t speak”, subtle electronics and a histrionic guitar solo from JP crackling over the top. Finally cracking out a massive grin, Julian high-fives the crowd and walks offstage, his ‘Phrazes…’ so far having won round these young at least. Play it again, Jules…

Daniel Robson

nme.com

 

[ckgirlbr]

For my twin

The Strokes' Julian Casablancas posts first solo song online
Listen to '11th Dimension' now

The Strokes' Julian Casablancas has posted a new solo song, '11th Dimension', on his official MySpace page, Myspace.com/juliancasablancas.

The track will be released as a single on November 2 following the release of the frontman's debut solo album, 'Phrazes For The Young', released on October 19.

Speaking to NME.COM previously about his songwriting process, Casablancas said: "I write stuff on a generic keyboard that has an organ or electric piano sound. Or on a guitar, but then, as I was building the song, if I thought it should be more like a whistling sound, with a keyboard and a laptop, it's easy to make that particular melody anything you want.

"I wasn't really acquiring any old, cool gear [to make the album], it was working with friends and engineers who had programs that could find any sound your heart desired!"

Julain Casblancas has said that he plans to play UK live dates soon – The Strokes man made his solo live debut in Tokyo last month.

nme.com

 

[ckgirlbr]

multishow

 

[*ana*]

"i just nod, i've never been so good at shaking hands" lol love this.
i hope someone can figure out the whole lyrics and post them somewhere, there are many things i didn't catch...

 

[ckgirlbr]

Your faith got to be greater than your fear B)



I'm not sure about this song... I liked it a lot but I'm so much more The Strokes Can't wait to hear the rest of the album though.

Video on youtube (that means now we can download it )

 

[MulletProof]

11th dimension is ridiculously addictive, I already put it on my ipod and slept listening to it. ugh.. I hate music like that but it feels so good.
Can't wait for the full thing.

 

[ckgirlbr]

^I know, it's not my cup of tea either, but I've listened to it so many times and it's already stuck in my head

 

[*ana*]

from songmeanings.net:
the parts in bold are the ones i'm almost 100% sure are incorrect...

I just nod, I've never been so good at shaking hands
I live on the frozen surface of a fireball
Where cities come together, to hate each other in the name of sport
America, nothing is ever just how you plan
I looked up to you but you thought I would look the other way

And you hear, what you want to hear
And they take what they want to take
Don't be sad, won't ever happen like this anymore
So whens it coming? This life's new great movement that I can join
The warning here
Your faith has got to be greater than your fear

Forgive them even if they are not sorry
All the vultures, bootleggers at the door waiting
Your are looking for your own voice, but your nervous
While it leaves you trapped in another dimension

Drop your guard, you don't have to be smart all of the time
I got a mind full of blanks
I need to go somewhere new fast
And don't be shy, oh no, at least deliberately
No one really cares or wanders why anymore
Oh I got music, coming outta my hands and feet and kisses
That is how it once was done
All the dreamers on the run

Forgive them even if they are not sorry
All the vultures, bootleggers at the door waiting
Were so quick to point out our own flaws in others
Complicated, man was on the wings of robots
If you believe in this world your not inviting me
But don't think that yet, to the top, now know what to do

i have no idea what he says after "America", but i think that "but your nervous" is actually "but in others", and, obviously "were" and "your" are supposed to be "we're" and "you're"...
what do you think?

 

[mousyy]

That's something different from Julian, but I love it. Indeed very addictive

 

[HeatherAnne]

ckbrgirl you made my week, thanks darling! Even more excited, if possible, about the album now.

 

[konst]

i dont really like that new song.
the strokes for the win!

oh check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6XGJ8G60Kw

 

[ckgirlbr]

Thanks, here's the video


marco1thestrokes.youtube

 

[*ana*]

Out of the blue



god i love the way he moves on stage lol.