This Is For Nobody

Julian Casablancas + The Voidz “Take Me In Your Army”

Julian Casablancas’ new record barely sounds like what you’d expect of him – it’s deliberately odd and spacey, gleefully perverse, and sometimes he barely sounds like himself as he sings. It’s a genuinely surprising record from someone we’re used to sounding more or less the same every time. A lot of the musical extremes of Tyranny seem to be a reaction against this, and the way working with The Strokes must feel like a creative straitjacket: They’ve got such a distinct sound and specific brand that they can barely do anything outside the formula of Is This It that wouldn’t alienate their fans. This record feels like Casablancas trying to purge a decade’s worth of oddball ideas in one set of songs, and it’s sort of overwhelming, but in a good way. Not every song and experiment works, but when he and his new band click – like on the dreamy yet creepy “Let Me In Your Army” – it’s like he has a new lease on his career.

Buy it from Amazon.