Nick Zinner (YYYs) + Nikolai Fraiture (Strokes) Form New Band, Nickel Eye - Ft. Regina Spektor

Over the last month, I have seen bits and pieces of information about a "new" band called Nickel Eye, but I've been unable to fit them together to form a big picture. Perhaps the all-knowing mogOsphere can help me fill in the gaps. Here's what I have so far:

Nickel Eye features the combined genius of Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Nikolai Fraiture (The Strokes). (Nikolai = Nickel Eye?)

Regina Spektor is a guest collaborator of Nickel Eye.

And according to this new post on Brooklyn Vegan, Nickel Eye are about to release an album called The Time of the Assassins:

About nickel eye: Soon to be released The Time of the Assassins... For the moment, you can visit Mark Ronson's most recent radio broadcast (06/06/08) of "Authentic Shit" at www.eastvillageradio.com. At 1hr and 19mins, you will find a sneak preview of two songs and an interview with nickel eye.

Don't worry about where to find the archived radio show, here is a rip of the Nickel Eye tunes that someone kindly added to youTube:

"Dying Star":

"Brandy Of The Damned":

The Brooklyn Vegan post also published this roster:

Band Members: nickel eye (guitar, vocals, electric bass, double bass, harmonica); South: Joel Cadbury (steel guitar), Jamie McDonald (guitar), Brett Shaw (drums) and very special guests: Regina Spektor (piano), Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (guitar), Jack Dishel of Only Son (back up vocals), Jesse Wallace (drums) + more...

More info:

http://www.myspace.com/officialnickeleye

Angry Ape news

I'm intrigued. I also love Nick Z's music. Does anyone know more about this band?