Artist of The Week : The Strokes After 5 years from where they left off in 2006 with ‘First Impressions Of Earth’, they’ve finally made a comeback earlier this year on 22nd March with their latest album titled ‘Angles’. Newer and fresher, Julian Casablancas, their vocalist added how they were having the ‘R.E.M vibes’ while producing the album and also somewhere along the lines of ‘Radiohead’. Through the span of the 5 years, Albert Hammond Jr (rhythm guitarist), Nikolai Fraiture (bassist), Fabrizio Moretti (drummer) and Julian Casablancas have produced their individual albums. Albert Hammond Jr, the guitarist many recognize from his whacky stage presence and his signature shuffling while he works his magic on his Olympic White 1985 70’s reissue Fender Strat has produced 2 albums titled ‘Yours to Keep’ and ‘Como Te Llama’. It was only within 2 years from which these two albums were produced. ‘In transit’, a classic fave sets Albert’s solo career pretty well and not only being known as the great Albert Hammond’s son, he created his own identity too. And we’ve got to say, his solo for TIOLI (Take It Or Leave It) is mind-blowing! Also who would ever think the most introvert member of the band could sing? That’s a huge surprise when Nikolai Fraiture, the bassist, formed his own band ‘Nickel Eye’ and released their album titled ‘The Time of The Assassins’ in January 2009. The tracks are infused with the reggae vibes and a very ‘verve-ish’ feel. One of the tracks, ‘Brandy Of The Damned’ brings out the true reggae lover in Nikolai. Then the one with his signature Ahead sticks resembling that of a magic wand, Fabrizio Moretti is known as the most vocal and humourous of the band. This young stud, along with two other musicians, Rodrigo Amarante and Binki Shapiro formed a Brazillian/American rock band named ‘Little Joy’. Their album which is also titled ‘Little Joy’ made up of tracks with a laid back feel especially ‘The Next Time Around’, a track fit to be played when you’re sipping Pina Colada and swinging on a hammock overlooking the vast ocean. The sound for a calmer heart. Finally the man who inspired many, including Matthew Bellamy from MUSE, with his song writing talent definitely has made it big in his solo career; none other than Julian Casablancas, the vocalist for The Strokes. In his album, “Phrazes For The Young’ , he speaks about the positive values of life in his own style of writing. ‘11th Dimension’ is a track that explains so much about how being the bigger person always results the betterment for one’s self. This album shows a very positive Jules for his solo career debut after battling his alcohol addiction. He also starred in the Converse advert commemorating the 100th anniversary of Converse Chuck Taylors alongside Santogold and Pharell Williams titled ‘My Drive Thru’. A man many look up to not only for his peculiarity but also his gift for amazing songwriting. The Strokes has their own idiosyncrasies as well. Their secret gig in London last year in June as ‘Venison’ at Dingwall in Camden totally blew cause the logo gave it all away. It was supposed to be as a warm up for them before headlining Isle Of Wight later in the year. Fans find it rather weird but these boys do what they do best, being themselves. And so, after their major successes in all their EP and 3 albums; The Modern Age EP, Is This It, Room On Fire, First Impressions of Earth, they went through an extensive break until finally earlier this year releasing their long awaited album ‘Angles’. Each track tells their own story and this album is a total concerted effort in songwriting. Julian, being the primary songwriter to most of the songs in the past albums have shared the workload with the rest of the band and we must say, they sound vivacious. ‘Undercover of Darkness’ was the first sneak peek of the new album as it was released 2 weeks before the album and it was promising and yes, the album has got to be the best one yet after Is This It. After the album release, their reviews were all over the magazines and Spin’s review was the utmost provoking of them all. Rumours of them not being able to work together anymore due to the album process which Nick Valensi, the lead guitarist, added was hard as they couldn’t get everyone in the same studio and he also commented that Julian was doing his voice recordings in another studio and have them sent to the rest of the members via email. It was deemed as unacceptable on Nick’s side and it stirred up tension as reflected in the review itself. It soon brought about rumours over the reasons that made Nick sour was the fact that he was the only one who couldn’t pursue a solo career due to Julian stopping him from using the materials that was written for The Strokes. Apparently, reporters really got out of hand with the excess unwanted stories and today, it has been cleared. In recent news, in Albert’s interview with Fuse TV, he mentioned that they are in the process of working on their new album and so did Nikolai, as he mentions of the works on the new album via Twitter. We now let their performances be the judge of their band dynamism with their recent huge performance for Bonnaroo 2011. It took us back to 2006 when Julian and his fellow comrades performed the set fit for a king. Though their age is catching up and they have families of their own, they are still young at heart. A band that deserves the standing ovation for being an inspiration to many like The Arctic Monkeys and Adele who covered their popular numbers ‘Take It Or Leave It’ and ‘Last Nite’. Earlier in one of our posts here, we also mentioned about ‘Stroked’, a tribute to their album ‘Is This It’. Overall the album sounds pretty good with the exception of ‘New York City Cops’ by Heems which we think could’ve been better if the lyrics remained the same. Nonetheless, The Strokes are the living legends of the Indie Rock music. Their signature sound will remain in each and everyone of their songs with their similar guitar licks, definitely holding their special identity. The Strokes is a band that truly deserves the recognition for being one of the best and the pioneers for unique lyrics and song titles.The Strokes have since released music videos for Undercover Of Darkness and Taken For A Fool. You can check it out below!  Also check out their recent performance of Reptilia at Paleo Festival July this year! Check their vevo out : http://www.youtube.com/user/thestrokesVEVO Albert Hammond Jr’s : http://www.alberthammondjr.com/Nikolai’s Nickel Eye : http://www.myspace.com/officialnickeleyeFabrizio’ Little Joy : http://www.myspace.com/littlejoymusicJulian Casablancas : http://www.juliancasablancas.com/ - posted by Maisha

∞ 8/14/2011 (9:30pm) 8 notes

#Albert Hammond Jr#Angles#Fabrizio Moretti#First Impressions Of Earth#Is This It#Julian Casablancas#Little Joy#Nick Valensi#Nickel Eye#Nikolai Fraiture#Phrazes For The Young#Room On Fire#The Modern Age EP#The Time Of The Assassins#Artist Of The Week

Artist of The Week : The Strokes

After 5 years from where they left off in 2006 with ‘First Impressions Of Earth’, they’ve finally made a comeback earlier this year on 22nd March with their latest album titled ‘Angles’. Newer and fresher, Julian Casablancas, their vocalist added how they were having the ‘R.E.M vibes’ while producing the album and also somewhere along the lines of ‘Radiohead’.

Through the span of the 5 years, Albert Hammond Jr (rhythm guitarist), Nikolai Fraiture (bassist), Fabrizio Moretti (drummer) and Julian Casablancas have produced their individual albums.

Albert Hammond Jr, the guitarist many recognize from his whacky stage presence and his signature shuffling while he works his magic on his Olympic White 1985 70’s reissue Fender Strat has produced 2 albums titled ‘Yours to Keep’ and ‘Como Te Llama’. It was only within 2 years from which these two albums were produced. ‘In transit’, a classic fave sets Albert’s solo career pretty well and not only being known as the great Albert Hammond’s son, he created his own identity too. And we’ve got to say, his solo for TIOLI (Take It Or Leave It) is mind-blowing!

Also who would ever think the most introvert member of the band could sing? That’s a huge surprise when Nikolai Fraiture, the bassist, formed his own band ‘Nickel Eye’ and released their album titled ‘The Time of The Assassins’ in January 2009. The tracks are infused with the reggae vibes and a very ‘verve-ish’ feel. One of the tracks, ‘Brandy Of The Damned’ brings out the true reggae lover in Nikolai.

Then the one with his signature Ahead sticks resembling that of a magic wand, Fabrizio Moretti is known as the most vocal and humourous of the band. This young stud, along with two other musicians, Rodrigo Amarante and Binki Shapiro formed a Brazillian/American rock band named ‘Little Joy’. Their album which is also titled ‘Little Joy’ made up of tracks with a laid back feel especially ‘The Next Time Around’, a track fit to be played when you’re sipping Pina Colada and swinging on a hammock overlooking the vast ocean. The sound for a calmer heart.

Finally the man who inspired many, including Matthew Bellamy from MUSE, with his song writing talent definitely has made it big in his solo career; none other than Julian Casablancas, the vocalist for The Strokes. In his album, “Phrazes For The Young’ , he speaks about the positive values of life in his own style of writing. ‘11th Dimension’ is a track that explains so much about how being the bigger person always results the betterment for one’s self. This album shows a very positive Jules for his solo career debut after battling his alcohol addiction. He also starred in the Converse advert commemorating the 100th anniversary of Converse Chuck Taylors alongside Santogold and Pharell Williams titled ‘My Drive Thru’. A man many look up to not only for his peculiarity but also his gift for amazing songwriting.


The Strokes has their own idiosyncrasies as well. Their secret gig in London last year in June as ‘Venison’ at Dingwall in Camden totally blew cause the logo gave it all away. It was supposed to be as a warm up for them before headlining Isle Of Wight later in the year. Fans find it rather weird but these boys do what they do best, being themselves.

And so, after their major successes in all their EP and 3 albums; The Modern Age EP, Is This It, Room On Fire, First Impressions of Earth, they went through an extensive break until finally earlier this year releasing their long awaited album ‘Angles’. Each track tells their own story and this album is a total concerted effort in songwriting. Julian, being the primary songwriter to most of the songs in the past albums have shared the workload with the rest of the band and we must say, they sound vivacious. ‘Undercover of Darkness’ was the first sneak peek of the new album as it was released 2 weeks before the album and it was promising and yes, the album has got to be the best one yet after Is This It.

After the album release, their reviews were all over the magazines and Spin’s review was the utmost provoking of them all. Rumours of them not being able to work together anymore due to the album process which Nick Valensi, the lead guitarist, added was hard as they couldn’t get everyone in the same studio and he also commented that Julian was doing his voice recordings in another studio and have them sent to the rest of the members via email. It was deemed as unacceptable on Nick’s side and it stirred up tension as reflected in the review itself. It soon brought about rumours over the reasons that made Nick sour was the fact that he was the only one who couldn’t pursue a solo career due to Julian stopping him from using the materials that was written for The Strokes.

Apparently, reporters really got out of hand with the excess unwanted stories and today, it has been cleared. In recent news, in Albert’s interview with Fuse TV, he mentioned that they are in the process of working on their new album and so did Nikolai, as he mentions of the works on the new album via Twitter.

We now let their performances be the judge of their band dynamism with their recent huge performance for Bonnaroo 2011. It took us back to 2006 when Julian and his fellow comrades performed the set fit for a king. Though their age is catching up and they have families of their own, they are still young at heart. A band that deserves the standing ovation for being an inspiration to many like The Arctic Monkeys and Adele who covered their popular numbers ‘Take It Or Leave It’ and ‘Last Nite’.

Earlier in one of our posts here, we also mentioned about ‘Stroked’, a tribute to their album ‘Is This It’. Overall the album sounds pretty good with the exception of ‘New York City Cops’ by Heems which we think could’ve been better if the lyrics remained the same.

Nonetheless, The Strokes are the living legends of the Indie Rock music. Their signature sound will remain in each and everyone of their songs with their similar guitar licks, definitely holding their special identity. The Strokes is a band that truly deserves the recognition for being one of the best and the pioneers for unique lyrics and song titles.

The Strokes have since released music videos for Undercover Of Darkness and Taken For A Fool. You can check it out below! 




Also check out their recent performance of Reptilia at Paleo Festival July this year!


Check their vevo out : http://www.youtube.com/user/thestrokesVEVO

Albert Hammond Jr’s : http://www.alberthammondjr.com/
Nikolai’s Nickel Eye : http://www.myspace.com/officialnickeleye
Fabrizio’ Little Joy : http://www.myspace.com/littlejoymusic
Julian Casablancas : http://www.juliancasablancas.com/


- posted by Maisha

Notes (8)

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