Album reviews: The Strokes, Dream Syndicate, Dan Montgomery – Entertainment – Pekin Daily Times

The Strokes

“The new abnormal”

(Worship / RCA ***)

The Strokes have entered in times of crisis. “Is This It”, the group’s first deeply disappointed album, was released on September 11, 2001.

Now, the New York quintet led by Julian Casablancas is back with their first album in seven years, with a title that, strangely – by accident – talks about the way we live now.

“The New Abnormal” was produced by Rick Rubin, known for resuscitating careers dating back to Johnny Cash in the 1990s. The association points out that the golden age of Strokes skinny jeans is long gone.

So, does “The New Abnormal” make them relevant again? Not entirely. The album is an uneven, although largely effective, return. Signature touches are there – crisp, broken rhythms and the sneering voice of Casablancas – and some songs ignore action.

Sometimes they’re even funny, like on “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus”, when Casablancas complains about the difficulty of finding new followers. “I want new friends,” he sings. “But they don’t want me.”

Strokes never seemed to be candidates for long-term survival. But at the end of “The New Abnormal”, the group seems committed and stronger than you think. “Time is now over,” sings Casablancas over the six minutes “Ode aux Mets”. “The only thing we have left is us.” – Dan DeLuca

The Dream Syndicate

“The inner universe”

(Anti- ***)

Steve Wynn’s songs and guitar have been the center of the Dream Syndicate since the band’s debut on the Los Angeles Paisley Underground scene in the early 1980s. But this is not the case for “The Universe Inside”, their third album since Wynn restarted the band with new guitarist Jason Victor and keyboardist Chris Cacavas.

The songs here were cut out of improvisational jam sessions, and the vocals are mostly conspiratorial recitations interspersed with long, catchy grooves.

Although the group has explored long songs in the past – including the nearly nine-minute “John Coltrane Stereo Blues” from the 1984 “Medicine Show” – they were usually Velvet Underground-meets-Crazy Horse guitar duels. This time, Cacavas’ keys and Marcus Tenney’s saxophone and trumpet often take the lead.

The five songs on the album are surprisingly psychedelic and proggy, with echoes from German biker groups like Neu! and Can (on “Apropos of Nothing” and “Dusting Off the Rust”, both about nine minutes in length), from jazz fusion albums like “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis (about 20 minutes ” The Regulator “), and especially the first music Roxy (on” The Slowest Rendition “, 11 minutes).

These benchmarks may have come from about half a century ago, but “The Universe Inside” seems fresh and trippy. – Steve Klinge

Dan Montgomery

“Smoke and mirrors (a phonographic memory)”

(Fantastic Yes ****)

An ode to a drug dealer? This is the bold and global concept of Dan Montgomery’s new album.

As Pennsauken, New Jersey-based son Memphis explains, the relationship that began in a Camden townhouse in 1982 between Montgomery, then a teenager, and the adult trafficker transcended their connection to drugs and has had a profound impact on the musician’s life. .

Beginning with the staging “The Winter of Summer in Super Freak”, Montgomery tells this story in song without romanticizing anything. Figures such as “Hard Time” and “Prison Rodeo” paint flesh-and-blood portraits of his former connection, helping to explain how he could become a sage and a father to an impressionable teenager.

The second half of the album focuses on the effect of the relationship on Montgomery. “So much that I learned from you,” he sings on the title song. Like the advice he receives in “The Right Time”, when Montgomery hesitated to make his first foray into musical life: “Opportunity rarely strikes … stop waiting for the right time.”

The music is wonderfully varied, ranging from rock-rock and psychedelic hard-rock to country and blues, with some Tex-Mex and Cajun spices, helping each number to stand out and serve the overall narrative.

On the Memphis R&B groove accented by the horn of the finale, “Missed Him”, sings Montgomery, “I just wanted to say that I did well.” Yes, he did, and in a constantly stellar working career, it is the crowning achievement. – Nick Cristiano