Julian Casablancas favorite philosopher, whose work, Casablancas claims, held truth as an important standard value. He recognizes Paul Robeson as someone who used his musical platform to help further his serious political intrigue and as someone who, therefore, serves as a role model for politically engaged musicians. Casablancas has been a guest on the Russian sponsored program "Redacted Tonight", as well as included its host, Lee Camp, as an opener for a Voidz show in Houston, Texas in October 2018. Casablancas, along with the Strokes, provided vocals on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" with Joshua Homme on
Julian Casablancas recorded The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed covers – "Venus in Furs", "Run Run Run" and "White Light/White Heat", under the title "White Light White Heat (rock n roll animal live era version)" – to the HBO television series, "Vinyl". The songs were subsequently released on various soundtracks to the series by Atlantic Records. Casablancas worked with Daft Punk on their 2013 album "Random Access Memories" by contributing lyrics, vocals, and a guitar solo to their song "Instant Crush". The album won the 2013 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with Casablancas as one of the co-recipients of the