New record review: The Strokes 'The New Abnormal'

The Strokes are back to bring some much-needed chill to the chaos of the world with the band’s first album in seven years, the somewhat prophetically titled “The New Abnormal.”

It’s appropriate that the Strokes, a band that rose in the shadow of one of the country’s most chaotic times, have returned today. The New York band’s first album, “Is This It,” surfaced on CD in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks. The CD, the preferred format of the time, was delayed for release due to its “sexually explicit” cover, and the song “New York City Cops” was scrubbed from the post-9/11 track list. 

Of course, the delay didn’t stop the Strokes’ trajectory. Over the course of five albums, the band perfected its sound when so many other bands of the late '90s/early 2000s garage rock/post-punk revival stalled or faded away.

In 2020, the Strokes have released an album that sounds like the Strokes at their catchiest, produced by Rick Rubin, to boot. It’s a shame that the band members are quarantined like the rest of us, promoting the album via a Zoom listening session instead of onstage.

But as Julian Casablancas sings, “life is such a funny journey.” The song in question, "Eternal Summer," is perhaps the album’s best and most adventurous track, with Casablancas choosing to use his falsetto instead of his trademark croon. (It also samples the Psychedelic Furs’ '80s gem “Ghost in You.”) "At the Door" is reminiscent of "80s Comedown Machine," the best and most experimental song on the band's previous full-length album, "Comedown Machine."

Still, it’s comforting to hear that Casablancas croon alongside an Albert Hammond Jr. riff, and “The New Abnormal” delivers plenty of those moments. “Why Are Sundays So Depressing” and “Not the Same Anymore” are perhaps the most classic-sounding Strokes tracks here. 

The new wave side of the Strokes is apparent on “The New Abnormal,” too, and it’s as appealing as ever. The chorus of “Bad Decisions” sounds so much like “Dancing With Myself” that ’80s icon Billy Idol gets a writing credit. On “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus,” Casblancas even asks: “And the eighties bands? Oh, where did they go?” 

The album closes with “Ode to the Mets,” a sad tribute to the baseball team, or perhaps anything that lets one down. “The New Abnormal” is not one of those things.

There are so many cool elements on the album, perhaps none more so than in “Ode to the Mets” when Casablancas interjects mid-song, “Drums please, Fab.” 

Moments like those make it seem like the Strokes have never been more content to just be the Strokes. Hopefully, when this is all over, they still are, because the world still really needs them.

At top, the album cover features the Jean-Michel Basquiat painting "Bird on Money" circa 1981. (Cult and RCA Records)

New record review: The Buttertones deliver soothing anthems for our time on 'Jazzhound'

2020: It was a year that started out with promise.

For the Buttertones, and for the rest of the world, this year was supposed to be so much better than 2019. For the band, last year held the departure of one member, a health scare for another, and a canceled tour. 

But as 2020 began, the Buttertones had emerged from all of that to open a tour for the veteran act the Reverend Horton Heat, and then had a headlining tour lined up in support of the band’s first album in more than two years. 

Well, we all know what has happened now. 

A pandemic has postponed the Buttertones’ tour and countless others. Albums have been shelved, and musicians’ and fans’ lives have been turned upside down. 

But thankfully, we still have the Buttertones, and the band’s new album, “Jazzhound” (Innovative Leisure) may be just what the world needs now. Music can heal, and Richard Arazia with his buttery-smooth baritone and his band are here to soothe us.

The band recorded the album last November at Electro-Vox and Jazzcats studios, with producer Jonny Bell once again at the helm. Araiza has described the album as poppy, saying it's titled “Jazzhound” because “Pophound” just didn’t have the same ring to it. 

As the singles dropped, fans could tell this album was going to be one of the Buttertones’ best. The title track is a glorious realization of the band’s foray into post-punk started on “Midnight in a Moonless Dream” and continued on the standalone single "Madame Supreme." “Fade Away Gently” is an anthem for our time, culminating with Araiza singing, “Loneliness. Fuck loneliness.”

The latest single, “Phantom Eyes,” gets the album off to a cracking start. It’s irresistible, along with much of “Jazzhound.” Sean Redman’s bass lines are catchier than ever. Longtime drummer Modeste Cobian makes the seamless transition to guitar, lending jangly riffs throughout. London Guzman provides the link to the band’s past with his saxophone, and the future, with his keyboards. His sax is in the spotlight on songs like “Bebop” and “Velour,” which perhaps sound the most like the Buttertones of old, with added punch.

Although much of the music is upbeat, there is an air of sadness throughout Araiza’s lyrics. He sings of dreams fading away (“Fade Away Gently”), and of crying “out alone in the night” (“Rise and Shine”). On “Denial, You Win Again,” with resignation he proclaims, “I’ll happily lose to you.”

The Buttertones may just be taking up the “happy-sad” mantle of post-punk icons the Cure. It’s a future worth being excited about.

After all of this is over, bands will tour again. As for the Buttertones, they're hoping they can be back out on the road in the summer. 

But until we emerge from the darkness, music like “Jazzhound” will be there, to soothe us and show us the promise of a better future.