Fire Note Staff 
To celebrate Dolly Parton’s birthday yesterday, Kishi Bashi shared an excellent new cover of “Early Morning Breeze,” from her formative 1971 album Coat Of Many Colors. The cover introduces a subtly transformed sonic palette, including a short violin solo from the string extraordinaire. “I’ve always loved Dolly Parton,” he explains. “I think an artist’s personality … Read more
Australian singer/songwriter Michael Beach is an architect of a sound that’s both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways. Today he returns with an epic fourth album that explores the duality of the human condition. It encapsulates human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration, and … Read more
Here are the initial demos that eventually became Neal Francis’ debut album, Changes. Since releasing his debut album, Neal has toured the country headlining and supporting acts such as Black Pumas, Lee Fields & The Expressions, and The Revivalists. As he prepares for his sophomore LP, here is a peek into the initial sketches at … Read more
Ian Sweet – the musical project of Jilian Medford – has officially announced her first album for Polyvinyl, Show Me How You Disappear, out March 5th. Dizzying and enthralling, Show Me How You Disappear is the sound of someone coming apart and putting themselves back together — the moment an old mantra, repeated into the … Read more
Stay Gone by CALYX Is the grass really greener on the other side? Who can really say for certain, but it’s a New Year, and Calyx is prepared to ask the tough questions. The Pittsburgh-based trio of Caitlin Bender (she/her), Jon Ahn (he/him), and Garett Cassidy (he/him) brings their “complex chemical bond that’s very powerful … Read more
Legendary punk band Descendents have a new track “That’s The Breaks.” The track follows the politically-charged two-song single Suffrage, released ahead of the 2020 general election encouraging voting to take down the Trump administration. In triumph, “That’s The Breaks” serves as a farewell to 45 ahead of the upcoming inauguration. As you might expect, Descendents do not hold back … Read more
Cheekface’s Emphatically No. is the second full-length album from the Los Angeles indie rock trio of guitarist/singing person Greg Katz, bassist/other singing person Amanda Tannen and drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards. This is a record obviously influenced by great American talk-singers like Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman and Stephen Malkmus, British post-punk bands like Wire and The … Read more
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have shared a new video for “The Only One” from Sideways To New Italy, their sophomore album released last year. Directed by Mike Ridley, the video for fan-favorite, “The Only One” follows the beloved character of Pie Man as he wanders the streets of the Northern-Melbourne suburbs. “The places are real, … Read more
First Time On Vinyl!Reissue of one-off 2003 project by Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), featuring Ned Evett, Ian Waters, and John Mullin. Boise Cover Band’s “Unoriginal Artists” is basically a Built to Spill album, the vision of its founding member Doug Martsch. The Ultra Clear Vinyl variant with LOTS of Electric Blue, Mustard, and Red … Read more
Already earning an avalanche of critical acclaim and multiple placements on “Artists To Watch” lists for 2021, Claud has released the third track from their forthcoming debut album. “Cuff Your Jeans”, is another constructed lovelorn pop gem. Claud’s debut album, Super Monster, will be released on February 12th via Saddest Factory Records. Says Claud of … Read more
The Reverberation Appreciation Society has announced the second entry of its Live at Levitation series with festival founders — The Black Angels. The LP captures a slice of the early days, recorded at Austin Psych Fest 2010, 2011 and 2012, with 6 tracks from their first two albums. The artists and sets showcased on Live at Levitation have been chosen from over a … Read more
Glitterer has a new track with “Didn’t Want It” which is off the new album Life Is Not A Lesson out February 26th via ANTI-. “Didn’t Want It” was the first song I wrote for the new record,” Glitterer aka Ned Russin explained. “Despite having no road map for how the rest of the songs would turn … Read more
Seattle-based soul-jazz groove-machine Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio are set to release their sophomore studio album, I Told You So, on January 29th via Colemine Records. Their first single “Call Your Mom,” should get you ready for another organ driven jazz experience. DLO3 conjures the smoky 1960s jazz stylings of Jimmy Smith and Baby Face Willette, … Read more
Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we’ve come to expect from EMA’s patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. The album is scheduled to release on 3/26/21 via Big Crown Records. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary … Read more
Kiwi Jr. is sharing an official video for “Waiting in Line,” a new offering and highlight from Cooler Returns, their forthcoming album. The video was directed by Laura-Lynn Petrick and captures a day in the life of the band in their homebase of Toronto, Ontario. “We like the candid and casual approach of director Laura-Lynn’s previous videos, including Weyes … Read more
Tigers Jaw recently released a video for their new single “Hesitation,” off their forthcoming album, I Won’t Care How You Remember Me, due out on March 5th via Hopeless Records. Directed by Shane Moran (who came of age as guitarist/art director of the band Title Fight and more recently has produced visual works for New York-based Supreme), the … Read more
Well, 2020 has certainly sucked for so many reasons but TFN has found some silver lining in the fantastic music that was released this year. From the surprise album releases to the surge of psych rock entries plus the debut album discoveries, TFN feels our Blazing Top 50 Albums of 2020 will have something new … Read more
TFN Artists Of The Week is one of our favorite features and probably is the one which gets the most attention. In 2020, we featured 125 artists that deserved your ear. We now have reviewed our selection and picked out our Top 25 of those artists just to make sure you didn’t miss them! Honestly, … Read more
The Fire Note would not be possible without the talented writers that share their educated thoughts and true enjoyment of music with our readers. The time and commitment that goes into writing consistently is appreciated by TFN and taken for granted by everyone else! Our official year end Top 50 is coming at the end … Read more
Let us introduce you to the indie rock of Philadelphia’s Honeyjar. The group draws on a deep well of ’70s soft rock influences and combines them with modern rock and pop sensibility. It is easy to hear a Fleetwood Mac and Head And The Heart groove running throughout their debut Moonbeam which is officially out … Read more
Sub Pop has signed the UK band TV Priest and will release Uppers, their full-length debut on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide February 5th, 2021. In celebration of this news, Sub Pop shared the official video for “Decoration,” the album’s lead single, directed by Joe Wheatley. Sub Pop became fans of TV Priest’s politically urgent, mechanical, subtly humorous (and self-deprecating) post-punk following … Read more
Maxïmo Park have shared a new song with “I Don’t Know What I’m Doing”, from upcoming new album “Nature Always Wins”, along with news of an extensive run of album launch shows. The run of album launch shows will kick off in February, in conjunction with some of the country’s best-loved record stores. Tickets will … Read more
After a legendary 25-year career, Joan of Arc will release their final album, Tim Melina Theo Bobby, on December 4th, 2020 via Joyful Noise Recordings. Written and recorded by the band—Melina Ausikaitis, Bobby Burg, Theo Katsaounis, and Tim Kinsella—and featuring frequent collaborators Jeremy Boyle, Jenny Pulse, Nate Kinsella, and Todd Mattei, Joan of Arc’s final … Read more
Here is a psych record from Australia that we have had a hard time putting down. Kimono Drag Queens have an official music video for “Hunters” which was directed/produced by Claire Salter & Harry Webber. Since their formation in 2016, in between a handful of East Coast Australian tours, the band have released a string … Read more
Teenage Fanclub returns in 2021 with their new album Endless Arcade. The legendary Scottish group’s first album since 2016’s Here, is out March 5th via Merge Records. Accompanying the album announcement is Endless Arcade’s opening song “Home,” with a music video. Though the track stretches to seven minutes on the album, its coda has been … Read more