Lock a guy in a room with some keyboards and drum machines and I guess this is what you get. A harebrained collection of 8 uneventful songs with no real heart of backbone. This album is a mess and just goes to show why lead singers are supposed to play with a band. Julian Casablancas could really use Albert Hammond Jr. looking over his shoulder because he’s got songs on here that sound like background tracks for Debbie Gibson. Which doesn’t mix well with Jim Morrison-lite on vocals. This “techno with a leather jacket” theme is evident on most tracks and borders on the verge of ridiculous. It gets so bad that on “Left and Right In The Dark” JC pretty much rips off synthesizer riffs from Dire Straits and Flocking Seagulls like 1985 never happened.

This album reminds me of when my parents gave me a deluxe Casio keyboard with over 100 “built-in” instruments. I’m no musician but after a while I could throw together a few quirky beats with a beep here and some high-hats there. Loop it all together and I had a few interesting jingles. The only problem is that I was 10 years old and not the lead singer in a band Rolling Stone Magazine dubbed having “one of the greatest albums of the last decade”. Don’t get my wrong I appreciate the effort and I’m sure this will make him a better musician in the long run, but let’s all be honest here, this album’s pretty much a dud. While “Out of the Blue” and “11th Dimension” are decent tunes, it’s no surprise they’re the ones that sound most like The Strokes.