The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas and his backing band the Voidz ripped through some loud and nasty new songs last night at the Chevrolet Courtyard, SXSW.

Stereogum reports:

If you saw Casablancas during his first solo tour, then you already know the deal: It’s exceedingly weird to see him onstage with a bunch of hired guns backing him up, even if the newly added billing suggests he’s trying to create more of a “me & my band” vibe this time around. (The Voidz lineup is different than the group he toured with for Phrazes.) Even if there was a veneer of imitation and rich kid play-acting to it, the Strokes were one of the last great “band as gang of friends that eventually spontaneously combusts,” a band that genuinely looked and acted the part of real rock stars together. Given, it’s getting to the point that if the Strokes are still together in any fashion, you get the sense they’re just going through the motions to get back to their other things anyway. Which is fine; Casablancas’ solo work’s been pretty great so far. It’ll just take some adjustment to get used to seeing Casablancas playing “Ize Of The World” or “Reptilia” (which we didn’t hear last night, but they played at one of the previous shows) with a mulleted and mustachioed guitarist rather than Albert Hammond, Jr. and Nick Valensi next to him.

For more of this review head to Stereogum.

“Ego”:

“2231”:

“Ize of the World”:

“Biz Dog”:

“The Phantom of Liberty (Arabic Jam)”:

“River of Brakelights”:

“Dr. Acula”:

“Glass”:

– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post –