It’s 2020 and The Strokes are good again. Even Howard Ratner wouldn’t have taken that bet.
People asked for a new The Strokes record – and get a retro overdose. For the video of “Fast Times” guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. unpacks the old VHS recorder, lets some choppers roar over the Sunset Boulevard of Los Angeles and gambles all his money at the Pacman machine in the disco. The guitars don’t care. They sound like they did at the awesome festival gig of 2005 anyway. If there’s anything from The Strokes next year, we’ve warned you.
The ’80s bands, where did they go?” frontman Julian Casablancas ponders in “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus,” a retro-tinged (and arguably at least slightly sarcastic) yearning for the good old days that spans throughout The Strokes’ first album in seven years. With a title like The New Abnormal feeling more relevant than usual given the global pandemic, nostalgia for a simpler time is higher than ever — and almost 20 years since their debut album, which arrived in the United States just weeks after 9/11, the NYC band’s signature melodies always strike the right chord, while Casablancas’ breezy falsetto still proves to be a much-needed exhale amid dark times
The Strokes ‘The New Abnormal’ Available 4.10.20
The Fat Angel Sings 