Since The Strokes are my favorite band, of course I'm going to think that anything Julian Casablancas does is brilliant. This record is no exception, and quite possibly his masterpiece. I really do feel that Tyranny is the record he's been wanting to write his entire career. Quite the collage of sound, the record rollicks from quick synth beats, to harsh guitar, to the sounds of old radio shows, a lot of the time in the same track. Fans of his first solo album, Phrazes For The Young, this record is not that endeavor.
Truth be told, this record isn't quite as solo as his previous project. Teaming with the group The Voidz, he creates a sound much harder than The Strokes, much more complicated and political, but with the same guitar styles that I truly think make up my soul's sound. The two tracks that strike a resemblance to The Strokes would have to be the album's hauntingly beautiful, 11-minute first single "Human Sadness," and the dance-y "Dare I Care," which is my personal favorite from the album.As one of my friend's frankly put it, as we listened to the album in my car one day, "it doesn't really make sense." And if we're going to be honest, sometimes it doesn't. The guitar will be playing a melody completely erroneous to what's under it. "Human Sadness" is a symphony, going through different movements of sound to come full circle to a quiet end, but shaking you up along the way. And while I love it, many people criticized it when it came out. Personally, I just think he created a record a few years ahead of its time.
I was fortunate enough to hear them play live at Governor's Ball. I didn't know what I would expect, but I hoped he would come out with a blazing "11th Dimension." The show we saw was quite different. Since he was with The Voidz, he didn't touch anything from his previous record, and this was before Tyranny came out, so I stood there in New York City, amongst the biggest Strokes fans in the world, and no one knew a single word or a single note that any of them played. I vaguely remember them playing "Where No Eagles Fly." I mean, the chorus is Julian yelling "meat, predators eat meat!" It doesn't just leave your head. But, oh, how I wish I could hear it again now that I know the album.
Tyranny is an electronic whirlwind, and not one for the weak hearted or lover of dance beats. Take "Father Electricity," for example. The song is a ball of energy, almost seeming to stimulate all five of the senses, but it doesn't lack musicality or catch. It layers rock synths over African drums, and it does it well. And personally I believe that "Xerox" actually sounds like a xerox machine. If that's what they were going for, then they nailed it.
My personal goal is to learn most of the words to the album, but it's a doozy. Julian is famous for his muffled vocals and forgetting the words onstage in his performances, but you literally can't understand a single word he says on this album. I've even tried following the official lyrics and I'm not convinced he's actually saying some of the things I'm reading. But the vocals just blend in with the tumult of sounds and act as the roof to hold all of them in.
Julian strove for perfection on this record, and you can tell. Every song is like a puzzle piece with nothing out of place. From start to finish, the album is long, but you don't want it to end. It just makes me so excited about what he can do next.
"Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field, I will be meeting you there."
Songs that sound like my soul:
Take Me In Your Army
Human Sadness
Father Electricity
Johan Von Bronx
Dare I Care
Nintendo Blood
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