Julian Casablancas and his new band the Voidz played two shows during SXSW. The first, Thursday night at Cedar Street Courtyard, was a short hit-less headlining performance that included five new songs. The venue’s muddy sound and a distinct lack of enthusiasm from Casablancas, one of the most iconic rock stars of the previous decade, left many in attendance scratching their heads. The band’s second gig, at FADER Fort last night sandwiched between Travi$ Scott and Erykah Badu, was not any more well-received. The band performed their haphazard, drowsy, prog-metal in darkness, and in the moments when one could actually hear the screeching vocals of their hunched-over frontman, whose back was often turned to the crowd, the vibe was far from captivating. I don’t think JC said one thing to the audience all night, aside from shouting out Travi$ Scott. One highlight, however, was the eminently likable “Instant Crush,” Casablancas’ Daft Punk collaboration, which the Voidz played at a secret show in New Orleans last week. It was the only song the crowd knew. Below you can watch a web stream rip of the entire set via this Strokes fansite. That site’s writer hated the performance so much he’s having a crisis of confidence:

I tried to write the first sentence of this post about seven different ways, but let’s get to the point: this 30-minute gig was terrible. It made me, somebody who considers The Strokes my favorite band, cringe multiple times.

…

Maybe there’s an explanation as to why this was so hard to listen to — the show last night blew out Julian’s voice, there wasn’t enough time for sound check, the Voidz are subpar and destroyed Julian’s confidence, he was high – but I’m having a serious existential crisis about my love for the Strokes right now.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

“Instant Crush” starts at 7min…

Nice to see this, though:

The Voidz album is not done yet, I’m told, but is expected this summer.