Adam Strong 
Yo La Tengo There’s A Riot Going On Matador Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Yo la Tengo have built a sleek mellow album for you to savor. Album Review: It all starts with a tone, a drone sound to appreciate the breath out as much as the breath in. Enter the guitar, that guitar, that … Read more
Big Thief Capacity Saddle Creek Records [2017] Fire Note Says: Second album from Brooklyn quartet is more varied, more broken, more human. Album Review: After the clamour and scrawl of Big Thief’s debut album, Masterpiece, it might be a surprise to some that they start their follow up album, Capacity, with the track “Pretty Things” … Read more
Circus Devils Laughs Last Happy Jock Rock Records [2017] Fire Note Says: Circus Devils bow out with grace after a 16-year run. Album Review: For sixteen years, Bob Pollard from Guided By Voices and the Tobias brothers have collaborated to form the Circus Devils. Laughs Last is their official final release as a band. The … Read more
Ryan Adams Prisoner PAX AM/Blue Note Records [2017] Fire Note Says: Ryan Adams explores heartbreak and loss on one of the best albums of his career. Album Review: It all starts with a rager, “Do You Still Love Me?” Which rocks like no other song on the album rocks. It’s the paranoia that gets the … Read more
Altadore Opal, Luna, And Hymn Randm Records [2016] Fire Note Says: Altadore’s David Katz confronts loss full on while channeling the sounds of Nilsson and 3rd Sister Lovers era Big Star. Album Review: Altadore is Portland, OR based artist David Katz, and his second album, Opal, Luna and Hymn deals with the dissolution of a … Read more
Wilco Schmilco ANTI-/dBpm Records [2016] Fire Note Says: Wilco toy with their sound, defy expectations and thrill us all at the same time. Album Review: There’s a funny thing about expectations. We the listener, what we expect out of our favorite band, we put expectations from them that we shouldn’t. Musicians are free to make … Read more
The Casket Girls The Night Machines Domino Records [2016] Fire Note Says: Sisters create magical harmonies that question mortality and paradoxically make us feel more alive. Album Review: The Casket Girls are two real life sisters whose harmonies provide a 360 degree panorama for us to get lost in. One gets the sense that we … Read more
Ryan Adams Heartbreaker (Deluxe Edition) PAX-AM Records [2016] Fire Note Says: Breakup masterpiece get’s the deluxe treatment that enhances rather than detracts. Album Review: It’s early 2000, you are Ryan Adams and your band Whiskeytown is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. You are 27 years old, and you’ve got your whole career ahead of … Read more