It’s no leap year, so that means tomorrow officially marks the start of month three of 2026. Oh, how time flies. Even though this is my last semester of undergrad, my academic pedal has been pushed to the metal. These have been eight weeks of lock-in time, which means it’s also been accompanied by many hours of listening to music. Twenty-seven full albums later, and I have a few that I’m ready to add to my list of five-star, no-skips. So, time to tune back in and fill you in.
I want to say that the albums I’ve been listening to have been all over the map, but honestly, there’s some kind of distant pattern to them. Whether it’s been my explorations into The Beatles or my new obsession with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (together and individually), I’d say I’ve been tracking down some of the best guitar solos of the late ’60s. These albums, paired with some gems from the past twenty years—like A$AP Rocky’s AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP and Harry Styles’ self-titled album—just kind of make sense. They’re all chill, experimental, and simply magnificent.
The New Abnormal – The Strokes
The first album I’d like to highlight today is the one my Spotify will definitely acknowledge as my most-listened-to album of 2026, and that is none other than The Strokes’ The New Abnormal. Released at the start of lockdown in April 2020, this stands as the American rock band’s sixth studio album. I think the obvious home run, and what genuinely pulls any listener in, is the first track, “The Adults Are Talking.” This is a song for a city. There’s a lot going on—it’s bustling and busy, yet fulfilling and exciting. I honestly thought it was on the “Gossip Girl” soundtrack until I realized the years don’t line up and that’s just not possible.
Don’t go there ’cause you’ll never return
I know you think of me when you think of her
But then it don’t make sense when you’re tryin’ hard
It reads like a book but sounds like a song. I love it.
Some more of my favorites are “Selfless” and “Why Are Sundays So Depressing.” But I cannot leave this review without highlighting the biggest elevator and knock-out-of-the-park (pun intended) on the album, “Ode to the Mets.”
“Drums please, Fab,” lead singer Julian Casablancas calls out to his drummer, Fabrizio Moretti, as one of the greatest songs ever kicks into action. Some random source on Wikipedia claims the album was praised for “the band’s improved sense of musical cohesion,” and I think that little moment in the song reveals just that. One minute and 41 seconds into the song, Casablancas turns it into a conversation between vocals and instruments—simply incredible. Funny enough, Sports Illustrated actually released an article on the significance of the Mets (or lack thereof) to this song, stating that Casablancas wrote it on a subway platform after the Mets lost in the 2016 NL Wild Card Game. They reported that “Casablancas jokingly started calling the song ‘Ode to the Mets,’ always planning to change it, but the name stuck after drummer Fabrizio Moretti—who has said both the Mets and the song evoke ‘something that you set your heart to and that you love unconditionally but that continues to disappoint you’—convinced him to keep it.”
Up against another one of my favorite albums, Michael Kiwanuka’s Kiwanuka, this incredible album won Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021. I highly recommend watching their reactions. Not only is their Wi-Fi so bad that they don’t even hear the announcement that they won the award, but they also look like the weird, incestuous brothers from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” as they claim “we could’ve won based on the name alone.” It’s crazy to see Casablancas in that video and remember how incredible he is on Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush.” A man of duality, I guess.
Band On The Run – Wings
This post is already much longer than anticipated, but I really must highlight one more album that has made these cold winter months just a little more special: Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band on the Run. After bouncing around McCartney’s solo work and then diving into some of The Beatles’, I feel this album has been my favorite production I’ve come across. Don’t get me wrong, “Ram On” made Ram a close second of his solo work, and all of Abbey Road was fierce competition, but ultimately the harmonies and delicacies of Wings pulled this album ahead.
The British-American rock band’s third studio album was released in November 1973 and was mostly recorded in a studio in Lagos, Nigeria, as “McCartney wanted to make an album in an exotic location.” Once again, with great fame comes great opportunities for experimentation—hence Nigeria. “Band on the Run” is such a classic, yacht-rock-y summer song to kick the album off. Top down in the hot sun—this is the song that pulled me in—but trust there was much to follow.
Late at night when the wind is still
I’ll come flying through your door
And you’ll know what love is for
I’m a bluebird
What incredible opening lines. I feel like you don’t even have to know what the acoustic guitar and shakers sound like to understand how peaceful and sweet the rest the third track, “Bluebird,” is. That’s what makes it one of my favorites on the album. It’s quickly followed by the more upbeat and fun “Mrs. Vandebilt.” Just try your best not to listen too closely to the lyrics—they’re a bit depressing.
The album is finished off with some non-standouts but good additions, “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me),” before the spectacular closer: “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.” I will forever appreciate when a band makes an album a cohesive story, and Wings successfully pull this off at the end of this song. The song itself has its own distinct sound, and right as you reach the exciting peak, you are suddenly thrown back into “Band on the Run.” Excellent craftsmanship.
Even though these albums have an almost 50-year age gap, there’s something to note about their similarities. Boy-band rock groups are still alive and kicking, you heard it here first. It’s clear that these two sets of band members know each other so well that they know how to collaborate and work off one another to test the limits and create some beautiful pieces of work. While The New Abnormal seems more similar to some of The Beatles’ grungier releases, I think the previous comparison to Wings still holds.
I cannot recommend either of these albums more. So please go enjoy them both, if you haven’t already. And in the meantime, onto March we go.
**if this kind of music is your cup of tea, here’s a playlist of some ’60s and ’70s rock and some more psychedelic rock stuff.
Sources
https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/05/12/ode-to-the-mets-strokes-julian-casablancas-interview
Iz FM 
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