LINKS NEWS NEWS Etc. next previous If Dennis Diken’s name sparks your synapses, you’re recalling him as the timekeeper from one of the best jangly, melancholy Pop bands of the past quarter century; The Smithereens. What you might not know is that Diken is a songwriter himself, as well as a vocalist, autoharpist and Mellotron noodler. And before you start rolling your eyes, you might do well to give his new project disc Late Music — credited to Dennis Diken with Bell Sound — a spin prior to loading up the drummer jokes. Diken and his collaborator Pete DiBella — and a host of guests including Andy Paley, Jason Falkner and members of the Wondermints among others — have crafted a sound that hearkens back to the mid to late ’60s but not in a calculated, retro fashion but with the fresh passion of the era coursing through every track. Diken and DiBella offer up a magnificent Pop set that shimmers with the majesty of Brian Wilson’s best (“Fall Into Your Arms,” “Standing In That Line”), swaggers with the visceral punch of early Who (“Long Lonely Ride”), bristles with the Pop edge of Roy Wood’s Move (“The Sun’s Gonna Shine in the Morning”). And even as Diken and DiBella’s vocal harmonies cascade through the mix in an homage to the Association and the Folk/Pop vocal groups of the ’60s, there is an unmistakable contemporary edge to the songs, as evidenced by “I’ve Been Away,” which hums with classic Pop familiarity while pulsing with the propulsive urgency of now. Diken and DiBella may be old schooled in Pop’s pristine past, but Late Music is right on time.