Lookout Used Bins and... digital... used bins? Whatever! The Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas has finally decided that he’d better stop slacking and release his own awkward, mediocre, not-quite-as-good-as-The-Strokes-were-together-even-though-it-sounds-an-awfully-lot-like-them solo album, in order to compete with the other erstwhile Strokes who have already released their own awkward, mediocre, not-quite-as-good-as-The-Strokes-were-together-even-though-it-sounds-an-awfully-lot-like-them solo albums throughout the past year or two.
As NME reports, the singer is currently finishing up work on a full-length record, to be released under his garish Christian name, with a release tentatively slated for the fall of this year. Casablancas -- who, since the last album from The Strokes, released “My Drive Thru” with Santigold and Pharrell Williams and collaborated with Danger Mouse on one the crappier tracks on the recent Dark Night Of The Soul album -- is the fourth Stroke to release a solo or side-project album, following two solo albums from Albert Hammond, Jr., one from Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fab Moretti's side project Little Joy. As for guitarist Nick Valensi, well, he must be running for office or something...
But back to Jules’ record! Set to include such NYC-cool sounding tracks as “River Of Brake Lights,” “Glass,” and “Ludlow St.,” the album, which will be titled Phrazes For The Young, was recorded in and out of various phone booths in Los Angeles, Nebraska and Casablancas' hometown of New York City. It was produced by Jason Lader, with additional production from Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis. A pretty absurd trailer video for the album, complete with ostentatious “MIDI Covers the Strokes” soundtrack (album preview?), can be viewed on Casablancas’ website.
But wait, there’s more! Casablancas is even set to get up from whatever leather couch that he’s usually sprawled on reading Henry Miller and play a "specials series" of U.S. dates, followed by a solo tour later in 2009. Stay tuned for all of those details, as well as a full tracklist, as well as anything else that might distract you from realizing that The Strokes were probably supposed to have finished tracking their forth album by now.
