CD of The Week

This month has seen multiple singers from some of our favorite bands releasing solo albums that subverted our expectations. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahsreleased her first true solo album, but it turned out to be a low-fi collection of song sketches from years ago. (see Rob Huff’s review) Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy sidestepped the issue by forming a band with his own son. But Julian Casablancas of The Strokes has thrown fans the biggest curveball with Tyranny, his second release outside his familiar group.

Casablancas formed a new backing band, The Voidz, to help him on this weird, wild journey. A far cry from the tight, catchy nuggets of Garage rock The Strokes are known for, Tyranny is sprawling and messy yet fascinating. The aesthetic for Tyranny seems inspired by dubbed-over VHS tapes from Casablancas’ childhood, or even good ole Max Headroom. “Take Me In Your Army” is an unassuming start to the album, with Casablancas crooning in his falsetto (a la last year’s Daft Punkcollaboration “Instant Crush”). The catchiest song on the album is of course lead single “Where No Eagles Fly,” with its cartoony keyboard riff and crashing guitars.

Much of Tyranny is made up of long songs with wacky names like “Father Electricity” and “Johan Von Bronx.” The electronic weirdness of “Human Sadness” takes up almost 11 minutes itself! It’s not just noise for noise’s sake, but all odd suites of this acid-battery sound Casablancas has crafted instead of actual verse-chorus-verse songs. Some better entry points are the scuzzy “Crunch Punch,” the pounding tune “Business Dog” and the amazingly-titled “Nintendo Blood” with its retro keyboards. Casablancas has said the new songs are partly about the tyranny of corporations over the people, but his lyrics are incredibly difficult to discern throughout.

Tyranny is actually more listenable than I had feared from the early reviews, but it’s still quite out of the box and an interesting risk. Find out how these songs turn out live when Casablancas and his Voidz kick off their fall tour right here in Philadelphia at the Electric Factoryon October 16th.