Phrazes for the Young by Julian Casablancas

Phrazes for the Young is the debut solo album by American songwriter Julian Casablancas, released on November 2, 2009 in the UK and November 3 in the US. Casablancas, who is best known for being the front man of New York rock band The Strokes, recorded the eight-song album in 2009 in New York, Los Angeles, and Omaha, Nebraska. Jason Lader and Mike Mogis (the latter of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk) served as producers. The album title is a reference to Oscar Wilde's "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young". Casablancas' dog, Balki, is pictured on the album sleeve.The album was previewed in its entirety on August 31, 2009 at the Duo Music Exchange in Tokyo, Japan. To celebrate the release, Casablancas played a special series of shows every Friday night in November in Los Angeles. The first track released from the album, "11th Dimension", had its first airing on the Radio 1 Zane Lowe Show on September 17, and was marked as Zane Lowe's Hottest Record. The single was released on October 2, 2009 in the US.Casablancas performed "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" (based on a Saturday Night Live skit) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on December 21, 2009. "Left & Right in the Dark", "Out of the Blue", "Ludlow St" and "11th Dimension" are featured in the Gossip Girl episode "The Lady Vanished"; "Out of the Blue" was featured in the trailer of The Kids Are All Right; and "11th Dimension" was featured in the opening of the 2015 comedy Vacation. While critical reception was mostly positive, Casablancas has since expressed regret over the direction of the project, stating, "I had all these different ideas, [but] I thought 'if I go too weird, people won’t take it seriously,' so I did the safest ideas [...] And then… maybe it became this 'oh, this is what he does when he’s on his own' vs. The Strokes, and that was annoying, frustrating.”