“11th Dimension”
from the album Phrazes for the Young
2009
iTunes
Back in 2001, the Strokes were poised to be the flesh-and-blood saviors of rock ‘n’ roll, complete with the requisite leather jackets and great hair. But even then, there were hints — the Casiotone rhythms on “Hard to Explain” and the Nintendo-style guitar riffs on “The Modern Age” — that front man and principle songwriter Julian Casablancas was really an analog circuit-loving mensch maschine. “11th Dimension,” from the singer’s upcoming solo debut, Phrazes for the Young, confirms that suspicion.
Drum machines bang, guitars play Swiss watch-precision riffs, and synthesizers blare baroque counterpoint. Ten years from now, if it comes out that this song was actually the product of an unaccredited Linda Perry/Wendy Carlos jam session, most people will have already seen it coming. It’s by far the most sincere rock-to-synthesizer crossover since Pete Shelley’s “Homosapien.” Casablancas is still his same old bored, bratty, and Strokesy self, though. “I’ve never been so good at shaking hands/ I live on the frozen surface of a fireball,” he sings, as if he’s checking his watch, wondering if it’s time to meet up with Santigold for coffee. Studio technology defied the Strokes on First Impressions of Earth. Forced to share a room with a mellotron, they could not find a way to rock in its presence. This is not a problem for “11th Dimension,” though. It does not rock. Rather, it chirps, buzzes, and trips the light fantastic. All things that Julian Casablancas can do pretty well without the help of flesh, blood, or the Strokes.
I think this record is going to be pure genius. He might not be the specific saivor of rock and roll but he might be a saivor of originality in the music industry.