Album Review: Julian Casablancas- Phrazes For the Young

For four agonizing years, The Strokes were driven into exile. Not by fiery protests and broken pharmacy windows, rather by the emerging ideas of today's dim music scene. The five men from Manhattan did not want to be part of such a bland concept, so they dispersed from the public's eye to regroup and revitalize their ideas. The band members-turned-brothers seperated, almost all of which pursuing side careers, except for one Mr. Casablancas: the mind, voice and soul behind The Strokes' near domination of the music world in 2001. And as of November 2, 2009, Julian Casablancas has returned blasting to the forefront of the musical outersphere with Phrazes For The Young.
At eight songs in length, this solo album appears as just a footnote between larger projects, but it surprises us with incredible diversity and explores twenty songs' worth of ideas, rhythms, and effects. We'd expect nothing less from Casablancas, the musical perfectionist. The cavalcade of synthesizers, muted guitars and multi-faceted drum tracks, paired with his soulful, piercing voice is a voyage across the cityscapes of Casablancas' mind. For fourty minutes, you become encased in his lyrics that are filled with regret, pain, euphoric pleasure and the demise of the Native American tribes of modern-day New York City. And after the fourtieth minute ticks away, you are left feeling the reverberations of Julian's sublime song-writing.
I believe that Julian's surname is rather fitting to his career, because Casablancas' brainchild, Phrazes For The Young, is enshrined in a rhythmic institution of the purest white. You can see how distinguished the musical face of the album is: flawless structure, unblemished exterior, and a slight but charming overbite of sadness. How did I cope being in this era sans The Strokes? I do not know, and that is a question I no longer have to think about.

All Fro One, One Fro All: The Matt Gomez Chronicles, Volume 1 of 16

Winner of the Nobel Prize in the category of keeping it real (judged by the ever-pleasant Snoop Dogg), the first installment of the greatest epic this side of 0 A.D. is a parable of the ages. It is filled with unrelenting joy, obliterated dreams and PG-13 rated fight sequences, and they are mixed to the point where one cannot tell one from the other. As the readers delve into the tumultuous beginnings of our meek hero, they learn of the different stages of his life: the blonde Tarzan toddlerhood, the childhood-consuming leopard fixation, the 'Leche/Pudgy Harry Potter' period, the armed robbery debacle and simply... Fromez. These seemingly unrelated events would be precursors to Gomez's rise to glory and the immortality of his influence upon the Earth. This book leads the reader to society's almighty question...Snoop Dogg can read?

"This story saved our marriage!" -Jon and Kate Gosselin

"Matt Gomez read my poker face... :(" -Lady Gaga

"What do you think I think like to read while I'm eating the presidential corn flakes, The New York Times? **** that, I read The Matt Gomez Chronicles!" -Barack Obama