More Strokes Go Solo

Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture made his solo debut as Nickel Eye (get it?) at London, England's Borderline club on Wednesday night.

Fraiture was joined by members of South, and he played some songs from his upcoming debut album, The Time Of The Assassins, which according to his MySpace page, will be out on Jan. 27 through Rykodisc. It doesn't yet have a track list.

Fraiture began working on the project earlier this year. He drew inspiration for the album's lyrics and theme from a road trip that he took across the United States when he was 19. You can hear four of Nickel Eye's songs on his MySpace page.

After his solo gig, Fraiture told the BBC that The Strokes will also begin working on their fourth album early next year. The disc, which will be the follow-up to 2006's First Impressions Of Earth, has been delayed due to the group's solo projects.

"We are looking at going into the studio in February now and getting back to being a band again," Fraiture said. "I'm excited about moving on from this phase and using all the experience we have from projects like this for our fourth album."

In addition to Fraiture's work, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. released his sophomore solo album, Como Te Llama?, earlier this year, and even drummer Fabrizio Moretti has his own band, Little Joy. They're preparing their full-length self-titled debut, which will be out on Nov. 4 through Rough Trade.

Little Joy features Moretti on drums, guitar, piano, bass and melodica, his girlfriend Binki Shapiro on vocals, guitar, percussion and glockenspiel, and Rodrigo Amarante on vocals, guitar, piano, bass and other instruments. You can hear three songs from their debut on their MySpace page.

Here are the tracks on Little Joy:

"The Next Time Around"
"Brand New Start"
"Play The Part"
"No One's Better Sake"
"Unattainable"
"Shoulder To Shoulder"
"With Strangers"
"Keep Me In Mind"
"How To Hang A Warhol"
"Don't Watch Me Dancing"
"Evaporar"