Stroked

The folks over at Stereogum have put together a tribute to commemorate the 10 year(?!) anniversary of The Strokes' debut album. The covers, to be expected, are hit or miss, but The Morning Bender's version of "Last Nite" is particularly noteworthy.

Download the album for free here.

The Strokes | "Taken For A Fool" Video

The Strokes | "Under Cover of Darkness" Video

The Strokes To Play Auditorium Shores During SXSW

Yep you read the headline correctly. As previously rumored for weeks now, The Strokes announced a few hours earlier via their Twitter that they'll be performing at Auditorium Shores during SXSW. Catch them for FREE on Thursday, March 17th.

The Strokes Stream New Song "Under Cover Of Darkness" / Hint at SXSW Appearance

The Strokes have made their newest single "Under Cover Of Darkness" available for streaming for the next 48 hours on their website. It literally just went up as this post is published so head there now to give it a listen (site may be sluggish). The bands manager Ryan Gentles also hinted at a possible SXSW appearance when he tweeted "SXSW - The Strokes… more to come on thestrokes.com" and pretty much left it at that. Makes sense though seeing that the release of their album will be a week after the conference. The album titled Angles will be released officially March 22nd.

Listen

The Strokes - Angles Track Listing

1. Machu Picchu
2. Under Cover of Darkness
3. Two Kinds of Happiness
4. You’re So Right
5. Taken For A Fool
6. Games
7. Call Me Back
8. Gratisfaction
9. Metabolism
10. Life Is Simple In The Moonlight

Go Listen! - [TheStrokes.com]

The Strokes Announce a March Release Date For New Album

About time is all we have to say! According to an interview with the BBC, bassist Nikolai Fraiture admits the band have finally finished their untitled fourth album and it's in the mixing stage with a release date scheduled sometime in March.

[The Strokes Official Site]

As per the BBC:

Speaking to Radio 1's Zane Lowe bassist Nikolai Fraiture confirmed that the follow-up to 2006's First Impressions Of Earth is "in the mixing stage".

He added that he felt the album would return to the New York band's "classic sound".

"Sonically, I feel it's the album which should have been made between Room On Fire and First Impressions Of Earth."

However, the bass player admitted that initial writing sessions for the album last year had been "weird" following a prolonged break.

In the five years since their last album four of the five members have released solo albums or been part of side projects.

"We didn't really break up but we didn't see each other for a long time," said Nikolai Fraiture.

"When you get back together there was a lot of weird energy flowing around. There are different dynamics in the group in different ways."

This time around lead singer Julian Casablancas recorded his vocals separately from the band, a different method from the way they've done it in the past.

Fraiture said: "Usually we're always in a room and changing stuff and doing it all together. It's all a learning experience."

In summer 2010 the band played a handful of high profile UK gigs at the Isle Of Wight and Rockness festivals but did not debut any new material.

"We didn't really want to play anything new because in the age of the internet we didn't want the new songs to be heard in a crappy way," admitted Fraiture.

"Those festival shows we wanted to give the fans what they wanted."

Whilst tour dates in support of the new album are yet to be announced the bassist confirmed the band would be "touring around the world". 

ACL 2010 | Last Night: The Strokes at Stubbs

The Strokes make their "official" return at Isle of Wright

The Strokes play secret show in London

The band played a secret show (their first in 4 years) under the moniker "Venison" to an intimate crowd of 500 or so people last night in London. The reports of the show are finally starting to come in and sadly there was no new music. But Zane Lowe has a video of "Last Nite" that we are happy to share here. Can't wait to see them at ACL!

Venison // The Strokes Set List 6.8.10

'New York City Cops'
'The Modern Age'
'Hard To Explain'
'Reptilia'
'What Ever Happened?'
'You Only Live Once'
'Soma'
'Vision Of Division'
'I Can't Win'
'Is This It'
'Someday'
'Red Light'
'Last Nite'
'Under Control'
'12:51'
'Juicebox'
'Heart In A Cage'
'Take It Or Leave It'

Julian Casablancas Videos from NY Shows

The Strokes frontman just did a few dates at Terminal 5 in New York. Two notable songs from the performances were a slowed down cover of The Strokes demo "I'll Try Anything Once" and a 30 second improv cover of Jay-Z's " Empire State of Mind". Searched YouTube for the best vids I could find and here are the ones I found. Pretty cool.

New Julian Casablancas :: "River of Breaklights"

Julian Casablancas' solo album Phrazes For The Young was supposed to be due out tomorrow but in true Strokes fashion was pushed back. Thankfully this time, only a couple of weeks and not years. But today, we do get a new track ("River of Breaklights") to go along with the first single ("11th Dimension") Casablancas debuted last month. Enjoy. (via)



[Julian Casablancas Myspace]
[Julian Casablancas Official Site]

Julian Casablancas Q & A

As we mentioned a few weeks ago Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is prepping his debut solo effort Phrazes For The Young. So far the songs have been kept under wraps with only snippets being released. The newest comes from a Q&A session Julian did a few weeks ago. He talks up the new Strokes album and discusses his favorite bands (Beirut, Dirty Projectors and Beach House make the cut). Towards the end of the video you get to hear some of the new music, check it.

Julian Casablancas on Myspace (no tracks yet)

Julian Casablancas preps solo album - Phrazes for the Young

This one kind of caught me off guard. Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is set to release a solo album. The band is currently recording for their upcoming album and the other members have released music and toured under their various side projects (Little Joy, Nickel Eye, Albert Hammond Jr) but the frontman had been kinda M.I.A till now. Entitled Phrazes for the Young, it's coming out on it's own label Cult Records with assistance from the both the bands UK and US labels. Track titles include "River of Brake Lights","Glass" and "Ludlow Street."

[JulianCasablancas.com]

[Rough Trade Records]

The accompanying video is an album preview. Although no vocals I have to say it does make me very curious to see what it's all about. He also plans to tour in support of it!

Albert Hammond Jr. Announces Release Date / Tracklisting For New Album

We first alluded to Albert Hammond Jr.'s new album earlier this month. The Strokes' guitarist has spent the past year in the studio alongside a few collaborators working on, ¿Cómo Te Llama?, the follow up to 2006's solo debut Yours to Keep (#4 on our best albums of 2007), scheduled to drop July 8 courtesy of RCA/RED, NME.com reports.

¿Cómo Te Llama? (translated as "What's Your Name?"), was recorded with drummer Matt Romano, guitarist Marc Philippe Eskenazi, and bassist Josh Lattanzi, as well as a string quartet. Sean Lennon even plays piano on the instrumental tune "Spooky Couch."

Still no tour dates but we're assuming those are coming soon as well (we'll keep an eye out). He's puts on a great live show and is a geniunely nice guy.

¿Cómo Te Llama? tracklisting:
1. "Bargain of a Century"

2. "In My Room"

3. "Lisa"

4. "GfC"


5. "The Boss Americana"

6. "Rocket"

7. "Victory at Monterey"

8. "You Won't Be Fooled by This"

9. "Spooky Couch"


10. "Borrowed Time"


11. "G Up"


12. "Miss Myrtle"


13. "Feed Me Jack Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Peter Sellers"

Albert Hammond Jr. - In Transit (mp3)

[Photo by Guy Eppel]

The Strokes Have Plans For A New Album

Nikolai Fraiture (bassist) updated his blog on the Strokes' official website and here's what he had to say:

"April 2008

Hi Everyone!

Here’s
another update for you guys.

First, I’d like to say that I’m still
looking very forward to a fourth album release. We just need to work out a few
technical kinks…

Second, here are some other things I’ve been doing
while waiting for all of us to get back into the studio. It’s been a long break
but much needed for us to remain together as a productive band. “A Kind of
Dream” will see a release some time in the next couple of months. For all info
on that, go to the Myspace page previously mentioned. It is $9.99 + s/h and as
it was filmed in New York, I will be giving my share of the proceeds to the
Bowery Mission.

In order to not go completely insane during this
extended break, I’ve been working on some music, including some covers, which I
will be posting soon. For more info, stay tuned here for the link. Also, we’re
taking part in a shoe auction for children affected by land mines in
war-afflicted countries. It’s called “Give Land Mines the Boot.” Here is the
link: www.mag.org.uk. The signed boots I’m putting up for auction are the only
pair I wore from ‘99-03 and in the film “A Kind of Dream.”

Thanks for
your support and being so patient with us.

The best to you all,
Nikolai"

The Strokes - Last Nite (mp3)

Definetely some cool news. We are huge Strokes fans!

Albert Hammond Jr. set to release Como Te Llama

Albert Hammond Jr. has been keeping busy during The Strokes extended break. First releasing "Yours To Keep" and touring extensively in support of it and now getting ready to release his 2nd album "Como Te Llama". He recently left this blog via his MySpace page.

Albert Hammond Jr. - Everyone Gets A Star

COMO TE LLAMA

HELLO EVERYONE,
THE NEW ALBUM IS DONE AND WE ARE WORKING ON ARTWORK RIGHT NOW. THERE IS A JUNE RELEASE PLANNED WITH NO OFFICIAL DATE YET. WE HOPE TO TOUR ALL YEAR AND COME TO EACH AND EVERYONE’S TOWN. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART I THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT YOU HAVE SHOWN ME OVER THE PAST YEAR OR TWO. IT REALLY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME. THERE ARE A LOT OF COOL THINGS I WANNA SHOW YOU BUT I HAVE TO DO IT SLOWLY AND THIS LETTER IS JUST THE BEGINNING. THE ALBUM IS CALLED "COMO TE LLAMA" AND HAS 13 SONGS ON IT. IT TOTALS 46 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS. WE HAVE A FEW TRACKS LEFT OVER FROM THE RECORDING SESSION AND A LIVE AUDIO/VIDEO FROM OUR BOWERY SHOW IN MANHATTAN. THANKS ONCE AGAIN AND I’LL PUT UP NEW PHOTOS, VIDEOS AND SONGS SOON. HAVE A NICE DAY.
LOVE, YOUR FRIEND
ALBERT

Expect tour dates and a definite release date very soon.