Last year, Julian Casablancas and his non-Strokes band the Voidz released Like All Before You, their first album in six years. On Sunday, they randomly followed that LP with the release of a strange new track called "Blue Demon." According to a press release, "Blue Demon" is from a new EP that the Voidz will release this spring. "Blue Demon" is a queasy, off-kilter synth-rock jam with a fuzzy VHS-tape sensibility an a whole lot of retro-futuristic keyboard action, and it seems to make oblique reference to Israel's campaign of genocide in Palestine.
"Blue Demon" shares its name with one of all-time greats of lucha libre. But if the song "Blue Demon" is about the wrestler Blue Demon, then the connection is really tenuous. Instead, Julian Casablancas sings about a war against a supercomputer, with lyrical references that feel anchored in the current moment: "Father forgive me, intifada/ Too many babies dead like their mothers."
On Instagram, an AI-looking Voidz spokesperson announces that the band released the new single "after receiving an ultimatum from Tron Cole, their former social media manager turned arch nemesis." The band writes, "After much discussion and a bit of krokodil tomvapery, we consulted with the Ancient Law Gremlins (of the forest). It would appear we are left but with little choice than to release the Blue Demon into this Gigasphere of Pain." Listen below.
