A few months back I wrote a little blurb about how much I had enjoyed all of the side projects that the members of The Strokes had put out during their hiatus. At the time the only member not to have a released album via a solo or side band was Julian Casablancas. A short time later the Julian Casablancas solo album was announced and I assumed that this new material would be just as good or possibly even better than his Strokes band mates.
The first track I heard from Casablancas' new album was "11th Dimensions" and my initial reaction was something to the affects of, "what the fuck is this?" And no, not in a good way. Way too much synthesizer there in the beginning for my tastes. Truthfully, this reaction of mine made me feel a little bit like a hypocrite. I had felt that a lot of the material put out by other members of The Strokes had felt, well, very Strokes-y. I wondered what the point of doing a side project that sounded so similar to the band you'd come from; just make another Strokes album. So here comes Julian Casablancas doing a song that was the least Strokes-y and I didn't like it.
I gave it a few more listens, hoping it would grow on me, but it didn't and I wrote the album off. After all, not every member of The Strokes could produce a great album, right? Wrong.
After seeing a couple of tweets on how good Casablancas' new album was I decided to give it a second chance. Turns out I was wrong to write the album off so early. It is in fact really, really good. And I even like the song "11th Dimensions" now.
So I'd like to personally apologize to Julian Casablancas for doubting him. I don't know what I was thinking but I was wrong.
PS: Can we please get another Strokes album now?
