 Being a member of the Strokes other than Julian Casablancas must be frustrating. True, you’re in one of the coolest bands in the world—and you had a hand in creating the album that’s pretty much defined the decade. But since the hype and suspense that followed the release of Is This It in 2001, you’ve had to sit back and wait for your frontman to come up with his next set of garage-rock gems, your own creative thoughts and lyrical ideas rebuked by a singer seemingly almost in complete creative control of every song.
It was all too much for guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. By the time the Strokes’ third long-player, First Impressions of Earth, had hit the shelves in January 2006, he was already hard at work on his first solo album, channelling all the song ideas he’d intended for the Strokes into Yours to Keep, an album that was edgy, endearing and accessible. In fact, almost everything that First Impressions of Earth wasn’t....full text |
| As you might expect, the debut from Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture is, well, Strokesian. But it's far from a carbon copy of his other band. The Time of the Assassins is a mellow affair steeped in folk and pub rock and ska, with earthy instrumentation drifting up through the mix: acoustic fingerpicking, harmonica and, on "Where the Cold Wind Blows," some Chopin-style piano plinking courtesy of Regina Spektor. The Strokes-ish quality is in the music's rigor: Assassins combines groove and melody with the same machinelike precision that sets Fraiture's other outfit apart. Then there are the lyrics: woozy vignettes about big cities and bad romances, delivered in a seen-it-all drawl. If anyone's earned the right to bite Julian Casablancas, it's this guy....full text |
| As the Strokes' recording hiatus stretched into its third year, bassist Nikolai Fraiture joined his fellow bandmembers Albert Hammond, Jr. and Fabrizio Moretti and started a side project. Backed by the British band South, Fraiture is Nickel Eye, and Time of the Assassins may be the most musically different of any of the Strokes' extracurricular music from their main project. Inspired by the Kinks, Frank Black and, especially, Leonard Cohen -- a cover of whose "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" closes the album -- Nickel Eye trades in folky pop that sounds homespun despite cameos by Regina Spektor and Nic Zinner (whose strafing guitar is unmistakable on "Dying Star"). Perhaps the biggest difference between Time of the Assassins and the Strokes' output is the earnestness that radiates from this album, from Fraiture's voice, which is nasal and sometimes more than a little off-key, to its lyrics, most of which were culled from poetry he wrote while he was still in his teens. Not surprisingly, Time of the Assassins has more than its fair share of angst and brooding, from the black-hearted balladry of "Back from Exile," which uses traditional-sounding imagery such as fevers, New Orleans, and walking the line, to more typical breakup laments like "You and Everyone Else." These songs aren't exactly amateurish, but they are underdeveloped, starting out relatively strong before sputtering to a close. The album's lighter moments fare better, especially "Fountain Avenue," which fulfills Fraiture's daydream of being a '60s folkie with misty acoustic strumming and cooing backing vocals courtesy of his sister Illy, and the bruised pop of "Another Sunday Afternoon." "Providence, RI"'s ambling folk-rock and "Brandy of the Damned"'s reggae lilt are very different but equally charming, making the most of Fraiture's limited voice and showing off his skills as a creative, intuitive bassist. Neither horrible nor great, Time of the Assassins is an unassuming album, a working holiday that was probably more enjoyable to make than for anyone besides die-hard Strokes fans to hear....full text |
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