The Voidz Albums Ranked
“Side” projects from members of huge bands kind of fascinate me. Whether they are released under a solo moniker or with a whole other group, they can facilitate a branching out or experimentation that the expectations of a band like, say, The Strokes can constrain. Julian Casablancas and his bandmates in that group have stretched out from their debut explosion IS THIS IT (2001) over the years. But The Voidz, formed in 2013 by Casablancas, members of his touring band for his solo album PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG (2009), and mutual musician friends, embody a quite different space. Their sound is anchored to The Strokes’ somewhat just by their shared vocalist’s distinct voice, but even that is played with in intriguing ways. Originally billed as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, probably to capitalize on The Strokes’ cachet that could bring more attention to a fledgling band, the group has released three albums in the ten years since 2014, which play with dissonance, lyrical surrealism, and semi-obtuse song structures to different extents.
#3 — TYRANNY (2014)
Favorite track: “Human Sadness”
The Voidz’ debut album is also their most challenging. TYRANNY is a grim descent into swirling and unpredictable sounds, enlivened here and there by darkly beautiful weirdness. “Human Sadness,” a nearly 11-minute song dropped in the first third of the record, is a great encapsulation of the gamut the album runs. The opening is atmospheric and spacey, pounding with a bit of menace, until it just totally dives into mania. There is a lot of autotune on Casablancas’ voice on TYRANNY, not to make it sound ultra-polished, but to make it sound unhuman and mesh (or clash) with the noise rock-iest moments of the album. The record isn’t exactly endless re-playable and its standout tracks aren’t easy hits. But there are rewards to be found in TYRANNY’s all-over-the-place nature.
#2 — LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU (2024)
Favorite track: “All the Same”
LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU, The Voidz’ latest album at the time of this writing, is kind of a fusion of their first two. In some ways, it feels angrier than TYRANNY, but it also becomes playful and poppy in a way the debut never really does. The experimentation is woven into more familiar hooks, as on “All the Same.” There is morbidity present on LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU, but it also carries a feeling of laughing in the face of the darkness, perhaps nihilistically. This is the sense transmitted to me mostly by the music, but also some of the more pointed lyrics. But that The Voidz can so effectively communicate such themes purely musically, and still bring some listenability and dare I say fun, makes LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU an engaging record.
#1 — VIRTUE (2018)
Favorite track: “Lazy Boy”
VIRTUE is undeniably The Voidz’ most straightforward album, but that’s very relative and doesn’t mean it is purely a concession to bubblegum flavors. Perhaps this sense is only because of the songs like “Lazy Boy” or “Pink Ocean,” which carry the poppy spirit of The Strokes’ ANGLES (2011) or COMEDOWN MACHINE (2013). On the other hand, The Voidz’ other work, and indeed many of VIRTUE’s other tracks, seem meant to repudiate easy comparison to the more famous related band. VIRTUE is perhaps less cohesive than TYRANNY or LIKE ALL BEFORE YOU, but its eclecticism carries incredibly bright spots with songs like the aforementioned ones sticking in the brain much more effectively. I just wrote that this record is “undeniably” “straightforward” then started to hedge my own statement, but that illustrates the tension at the center of The Voidz’ work and VIRTUE’s beauty. The record’s most rankling experiments still carry an admirable challenge and the dark beauty earlier mentioned in reference to TYRANNY. But the way VIRTUE also assuages those aspects with offbeat and relative tranquility and joy is exceptional work, making it stand as The Voidz’ best album yet.
