When considering the indie-rock landscape, one of the first bands that comes to mind for many is The Strokes. And for good reason — Is This It and Room on Fire are arguably two of the greatest albums to ever emerge from the genre, with 2020 album The New Abnormal winning the Grammy award for Best Rock Album. Anyone who’s even remotely in the scene knows who they are, if they don’t have half their discography memorized already. This, of course, has inevitably led frontman Julian Casablancas to become one of the most recognizable names among his contemporaries in the music industry, causing many to follow him to his other projects, namely, The Voidz.
In stark contrast to the rough guitars and vocals that make up The Strokes’s signature basement indie-rock sound, The Voidz instead creates a more electrical and experimental feel, making heavy use of synthesizers and autotune to create an almost robotic sound to their music. Casablancas himself once described their music as “cyber-arabic-prison-jazz.” These elements all combine in their newest single, “Flexorcist,” released on Oct. 27 of this year.
Leaning more heavily into pop elements than previous works, “Flexorcist” remains upbeat throughout its runtime, starting out with sweet-sounding synths before transitioning into canorous drums and bass. Casablanca’s vocals remain soft and even, with mechanical autotune coating his voice and adding a certain edge to it, flowing and fitting in with the instrumental beat. The lyrics he sings, however, differ significantly from the tone of the instrumental:
“Civilized, evil eyes /
Seen so much, we’ve gone blind /
Friendly face in the firing squad /
In the end it’s nice to know someone at a party.”
The ways in which Casablancas speaks of societal contradiction is subtle yet effective; the phrases “Civilized, evil eyes” and a “friendly face in the firing squad” implies that though oftentimes people put up a facade of being good and moral, they harbor a sort of ignorance to things wrong with the world. As Casablancas has seen many ups and downs throughout his career, his ventures within The Voidz as well as The Strokes make it clear that his talent extends beyond a singular genre, excelling at multiple different sounds and continuously producing top-tier songs for fans of both rock and electro to enjoy.
