Brian Q. Newcomb 
Matthew Sweet CatspawOmnivore Recordings [2021] As big a fan of “High Fidelity” as one can be, I’ve always been too much of a completist to settle for the “top five” of anything, especially desert island discs. Didn’t the invention of the digital media player kind of put the lie to the idea that you’d ever … Read more
The Postal Service Everything Will ChangeSub Pop Records [2020] In 2003, Death Cab For Cutie’s lead singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard and electronica musician Jimmy Tamborello (sometimes known as Dntel) released an album of songs they had recreated primarily by mailing tracks back and forth, thus the band moniker, The Postal Service. Late in the process of … Read more
The White Stripes Greatest HitsThird Man Records/Columbia Records [2020] Here in 2020, 13 years after the last studio release from The White Stripes, it’s funny for those of us who saw the band live in their heyday in the 00’s because apart from hearing “Seven Nation Army,” on what’s left of alternative rock radio, probably … Read more
Phoebe Bridgers Copycat Killers EPDead Oceans [2020] After releasing her critically acclaimed sophomore release, Punisher, back in the summer only to have it earn her 4 Grammy nods including Best New Artist, singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has collaborated with orchestrator Rob Moose to re-present 4 songs from that strong indie rock collection. Moose is best known … Read more
The Dirty Knobs Wreckless AbandonBMG [2020] Guitarist Mike Campbell, like Little Stephen Van Zandt (E Street Band) and Nils Lofgren (Crazy Horse & E Street Band), has both the distinction and anonymity of being a rock star’s sideman, playing for the better part of 50 years in the shadow of Tom Petty. While the Heartbreakers’ … Read more
The War On Drugs LIVE DRUGSSuper High Quality Records [2020] In a year when we’ve all had to forego live concerts, it feels like a gift that The War On Drugs took a break from the creation of their follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-winning Rock Album of the Year, A Deeper Understanding, to offer up a … Read more
Chris Stapleton Starting OverMercury Records Nashville [2020] Like many country music artists, Chris Stapleton had already co-written several hit songs for and with artists like Kenny Chesney and George Strait before launching a solo career with his very successful debut, 2015’s Traveller. While his country music bona fides have been locked down tight since day … Read more
The Nels Cline Singers Share The WealthBlue Note Records [2020] Wilco fans can no doubt remember when experimental jazz guitarist Nels Cline came on board, appearing for the first time on the band’s 2005 double live album, Kicking Television; Live In Chicago. While the band had plenty of experience coloring outside the lines – consider … Read more
Matt Berninger Serpentine PrisonBook Records [2020] Given the constant chaos and change in our world right now, we hold on to any signs of consistency, something reliable and true. Well, one thing we can count on is this: it’s reasonable to suggest that it’s inevitable for the lead singer of any popular band to want … Read more
Elvis Costello Hey ClockfaceConcord Records [2020] By now, Elvis Costello’s fans have gotten used to his experimental collaborations and explorations of new musical territory. After all, he’s the same stripped-down punk rocker who gave us My Aim Is True in ’77, but by ’82 had delivered the lush, textured Imperial Bedroom. In 1986, he delivered … Read more
Love Coma Love ComaSelf-Released [2020] Evidently, San Antonio, TX-band, Love Coma have some unfinished business. Formed in the early 90’s by Chris Taylor, Matt Slocum, and Chris Dodds, they released an album on the indie label Etcetera Records, Soul Rash in ’93. Slocum departed shortly to start the band Sixpence None the Richer with singer … Read more
Jeff Tweedy Love Is The KingdBpm Records [2020] If you are looking for a silver-lining here in the eighth month of this long COVID fever dream, perhaps you can find some solace in the number of artists that have used this down time to push back against the surrounding darkness and shine the light of … Read more
Bruce Springsteen Letter To YouColumbia Records [2020] Bruce Springsteen, the very guy who wrote “Glory Days” about folk who spend their adult years looking back to the time when they were in their prime and their star shined brightest, should probably have seen this time in his life and career coming. Maybe it’s a little … Read more
The Mountain Goats Getting Into KnivesMerge Records [2020] The Mountain Goats’ singer/songwriter John Darnielle may be thought of by some as the poet laureate of all things nerdy due to entire albums drawn from the world of wrestling (Beat the Champ), Dungeons & Dragons (In League With Dragons), 80’s post-punk art rock (Goths), and obscure … Read more
Kathleen Edwards Total FreedomDualtone Records [2020] Kathleen Edwards, Canadian singer/songwriter, returns after 8 years of relative silence with another fine album of exemplary folk/pop songcraft. Edwards had built a solid following with four solid albums, including 2012’s “Voyager,” which was produced by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Edwards left music after touring that album with Vernon, … Read more
William Elliott Whitmore I’m With YouBloodshot Records [2020] You would likely be forgiven if you mistook Iowa-based singer/songwriter William Elliott Whitmore for someone much older. While still in his early 40’s, Whitmore’s straight forward folk and country roots, would feel right at home alongside the decades old output of Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rogers, or A.P. … Read more
Tom PettyWildflowers & All The RestWarner Records [2020] As the story has been told, in 1994 when Tom Petty released his second solo record, Wildflowers, he and producer Rick Rubin intended it to go out as a double-album. While his 1989 solo project recorded with Jeff Lynne, Full Moon Fever, had been the source of … Read more
Laura Jane Grace Stay AlivePolyvinyl Records [2020] If 2020 had gone as planned, Laura Jane Grace expected to have recorded a new album with Against Me! by now, maybe spend the late summer and fall months on tour. But when the world shut down due to the viral pandemic, she found herself stuck in Chicago … Read more
Travis 10 SongsBMG [2020] Scottish quartet, Travis, while often credited for breaking ground for bands like Coldplay and Keane, has always been a bigger deal in the UK than here stateside. With their early albums, lead singer and songwriter Fran Healy led the band to the top of the British pop charts which resulted in … Read more
Throwing Muses Sun RacketFire Records [2020] When Kristen Hersh finds a certain metallic tonality on her electric guitar and settles into a steady driving groove with Throwing Muses’ rhythm section of bassist Bernard Georges and drummer David Narcizo, they tend to grind out a truly righteous noisy groove. And here on Sun Racket, the band’s … Read more
Sufjan Stevens The AscensionAsthmatic Kitty Records [2020] By now, fans of Sufjan Stevens have learned to approach each new project with an open mind. On his most successful effort to date, 2005’s Illinois, Stevens revealed the breadth of his musical interests, from indie folk to pop/rock all the way to showtunes with full orchestrations, and … Read more
Lydia Loveless DaughterHoney, You’re Gonna Be Late Records [2020] In the nearly four years since Lydia Loveless’ last album, Real, the country rock singer/songwriter has divorced her bass player husband, left her record company, and moved from Columbus, OH to Raleigh, NC, before writing and recording her new record, which has been released on her … Read more
Fleet Foxes ShoreANTI- [2020] There are a handful of songs in the middle of this fourth album from Fleet Foxes that feel very much in sync with early expectations created by the folky, rural Americana, melody focused, harmony-rich albums, their ’08 self-title debut and 2011’s Helplessness Blues. “A Long Way Past the Past” relies on … Read more
Bob Mould Blue HeartsMerge Records [2020] Bob Mould was raging against the machine a full decade before Rage Against the Machine was a band. Early albums with the Minneapolis-based punk trio Husker Du, including the monumental Zen Arcade, proved provocative and influential, due largely to Mould and drummer/singer Grant Hart’s penchant for writing fast, edgy … Read more
Semisonic You’re Not AlonePleasuresonic Recordings [2020] Google the Minnesota power/pop trio Semisonic and the first listing will always be their big hit single for 1998, “Closing Time.” Of course, I don’t know this personally, but I’ve heard from some artist friends that writing a hit like that, where a fluky fun pop song written to … Read more