Things are quiet still with The Strokes but a track some of us have been anticipating for the last month or so is Julian Casablancas song with Daft Punk. Instant Crush is beautiful, Julian has some serious 80s vocals going on but somehow still manages to sound full of longing and sadness.

Edit: The Sound Cloud link has been taken down already, listen to it at this Tumblr blog

News round up

+ Comedown Machine sold 96, 000 copies worldwide in its first week, this is considerably down from Angles which shifted 177,000 but with no promotion or live dates the band must have expected this

+ Julian is rumoured to be appearing on Daft Punk’s new album, Random Access Memories [via Kobini]

+ Whilst Fab is going to be on Har Mar Superstar’s new record Bye Bye 17 on a track called Prisoner

+ Hottest band of the moment Haim covered I’ll try Anything Once for a recent radio session, Danielle of course was part of Julian’s touring band.

+ Three new t-shirts are now available at the band’s official store

+ Albert attended a Q & A session at a recent screening of Woody Allen’s Bananas, you can find photos here

Gallery Update

Albert and Fab attended the premiere of The Company You Keep on 01 April

Albert attended the premier of Trance on 02 April

Fan Project

Strokes fan Gabe (@arcticbuckley) is making a fan documentary about the band. He is looking for fellow fans to contribute to the film by talking about those five guys from NYC. If you are interested contact him via Twitter. Below is one of the trailers he made last year (view the other one here), with new ones planned soon.

News round-up

• Nick Valensi is playing Petty Fest San Francisco on February 27. He played at the LA version back in November last year doing a great rendition of Tom Petty’s American Girl. [Via The Strokes News]

• Nikolai now has a new Facebook page you should all check out. Nikolai recently played bass on two new projects, with Harper Simon (check out his new single Bonnie Brae). He also played with Adam Green and Binki Shapiro on a track that doesn’t appear on their rather excellent debut album. That song is Collage and can be heard here

• Julian sent out an update regarding Cult Records which he owns and their two recent signings The Virgins and Har Mar Superstar. You can sign up to the label’s mailing list at the official site.

New Single All The Time airing next week

As previously mentioned All The Time will be sent to radio stations next week. Zane Lowe will be playing it as one of his hottest records on Wednesday 13 February. Zane will also be conducting an interview with one of the guys. More info here.

Gallery Update

Nick’s birthday celebrations in Las Vegas 11 Jan 2013

Julian in Manhattan 04 Feb 2013

Photos from Colin Lane’s Tumblr

So it seems like there is still no word on The Strokes next album, lots of rumour but nothing solid. Lets hope 2013 brings us what we all want, a new album and a tour.

I’ve updated the gallery with lots of candid photos of the band from late last year and more recently this week

Candid gallery update

2012

Albert at the Killing Them Softly premiere (26 Nov)

Nick & Fab at the Carrera Cocktail Party (06 Dec)

2013

Fab & Kristen Wiig in NYC (07 Jan)

Julian at the ‘Charles Swan III’ screening (09 Jan)

Live gallery update

Nick, Fab and Albert play Petty Fest NY and LA (Oct & Nov 2012)

A few things to bring to your attention as the year draws to an end and we wait impatiently for The Strokes next move (hopefully a fifth record!)

Fan video

Want to say Merry Christmas to The Strokes? Well @ArcticBuckley aka Gabe is planning a video where fans can record a Christmas message to the band. Much like birthday videos fans have done before but this one is to say Merry Christmas/Season Greetings to The Strokes. All you need is a recording device and a smile!

- Follow him on Twitter for more details.

- Direct all messages/questions to Gabe.

- Deadline is December 24th.

Once its done, Gabe plans to tweet it to various members of The Strokes in the hope they will see it.

End of year polls

Well its that time of year where critics and fans compile their favourite artists/records/songs of the year.  Angles had a mixed reception so I don’t expect it to turn up in many magazine/blog lists but you can still vote for it at the NME awards which take place in February

- Vote for Angles as Best Album

- Vote for The Strokes as Best International Band

- Vote for Julian Casablancas as Hottest Man In Music

 My Favourite Strokes Moments of the Year

2011 marked the long awaited return of The Strokes and I thought it would be fun to write about my personal 10 favourite moments of the year, from hearing Under Cover Of Darkness for the first time to all the livestreams.  I aim to get the first part up this week .