Brian Q. Newcomb 
Brendan BensonLow KeySchnitzel Records [2022] Brendan Benson released his seventh solo album, Dear Life, early in 2020, and even though he played all the instruments when recording he’d put a band together and was ready to hit the road and introduce fans to his latest songs, when the pandemic upended touring for everyone. And while … Read more
Too Much JoyAll These Fucking FeelingsPropeller Sound Recordings [2022] It seems that when the members of Too Much Joy pulled their instruments out of mothballs to make last year’s Headphone Approved 2021 release Mistakes Were Made after their 25 year hiatus, they were clearly having too much fun. A year later, they return with another … Read more
Nora O’ConnorMy HeartPravda Records [2022] Chicago-based vocalist Nora O’Connor’s list of credits providing backing vocal support, both in the studio and on tour, is as long as her arm. She’s recorded and toured with Iron and Wine, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Robbie Fulks, and sang on Mavis Staples’ “You Are Not Alone” album produced by … Read more
Mike Baggetta/Jim Keltner/Mike WattEverywhen We GoBIG EGO Records [2022] I can’t be the only music fan that has imagined what it would be like to bring together some of your favorite, world class musicians for one day of jamming. Well, sometimes even musicians wonder what it would be like to invite some folk they haven’t … Read more
Todd RundgrenSpace ForceCleopatra Records [2022] Fifty two years into a career that includes more than twenty solo studio albums, another ten with the band Utopia, plus production credits on albums by the Grand Funk Railroad, The Tubes, New York Dolls, Psychedelic Furs, and Meatloaf’s mega-selling multiplatinum Bat Out of Hell, among others, plus a tour … Read more
SpoonLucifer On The MoonMatador Records [2022] In just a few weeks, The Fire Note will publish its writers’ favorites and picks for the best releases of the year, and it’ll be no surprise to find Spoon’s Lucifer on the Sofa near the top of my list. The “Headphone Approved” release has been nominated for a … Read more
Dream, IvoryAbout A BoyAWAL [2022] The music of Dream, Ivory is the product of Filipino/American twentysomething siblings raised on the endless musical resource of the internet. The duo released an eponymously titled EP in 2016, which their bio describes as the product of “hip hop heads celebrated for their skilled shoegaze.” In the intervening years, … Read more
Weyes BloodAnd In The Darkness, Hearts AglowSub Pop Records [2022] Singer/songwriter Natalie Mering performs under the moniker Weyes Blood, a name derived from her original stage name Wise Blood, taken from Flannery O’Connor’s debut novel. While her earliest works have been more experimental in nature, Mering has settled into a songwriting that recalls 70’s pop … Read more
The Tallest Man On EarthToo Late For EdelweissANTI- [2022] Swedish folk singer/songwriter Kristian Matsson performs under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth, and Too Late for Edelweiss is his sixth full-length album, this one entirely made up of covers of songs written by other artists. Singing with just an acoustic guitar tends to get … Read more
PhoenixAlpha ZuluLoyaute/Glassnote Records [2022] It’s been 13 years since French electro/pop/alt/dance band Phoenix released their American breakout album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix with hit singles “Lisztomanio” and “1901,” but here on their seventh studio album they return with a familiar melodic sensibility and dancefloor fervor. While the bulk of the dance tracks emphasize the band’s most … Read more
LambchopThe BibleMerge Records [2022] Over the decades, Kurt Wagner and his various collaborators have more than lived up to their early claim to the title “Nashville’s most f@%#ed up country band,” and that alone may explain how Lambchop’s artful, yet difficult music can leave one wanting, even searching for meaning and understanding and still filled … Read more
WeezerSZNZ: AutumnCrush Music/Atlantic Records [2022] Sure as autumn follows summer, Weezer has delivered their third volume in this year’s concept album project, SZNZ: Autumn. While the story line is less clear, songwriter Rivers Cuomo has held onto the basic themes, but more importantly delivers a handful of fun songs that capture those reliable Weezer pop … Read more
Simple MindsDirection Of The HeartBMG [2022] Scottish band Simple Minds came to the attention of American rock audiences in the early 80’s alongside UK bands like Big Country, The Waterboys, The Alarm, and, of course, U2, making what became known as the “big music,” for its larger-than-life atmospherics. It was inevitable that The Waterboys would … Read more
Dropkick MurphysThis Machine Still Kills FascistsDummy Luck Music [2022] In 2003, Boston-based Celtic punk rock band Dropkick Murphys covered Woody Guthrie’s song “Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight” for their Blackout album, which brought them to the attention of Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter and Arlo’s sister, who’s also the President of the Woody Guthrie Foundation. In … Read more
Death Cab For CutieAsphalt MeadowsAtlantic Records [2022] While responses to the 2018 release from Death Cab For Cutie were mixed, there were hints in several tracks on the back half of the album that suggested that songwriter Ben Gibbard and new bandmates Dave Depper and Zac Rae were beginning to see their way to the … Read more
Richard X. Heyman67,000 Miles An AlbumTurn-Up Records [2022] The speed of the earth as it moves in orbit around the sun is 67,000 miles an hour, even though we go through our daily lives entirely unaware of our constant motion. An original member of the 60’s Jersey band, The Doughboys, Richard X. Heyman follows up … Read more
The 1975Being Funny In A Foreign LanguageDirty Hit/Polydor/Interscope Records [2022] One of the challenges in describing the music and albums of The 1975 in the past is that there was always a lot to take in. And it wasn’t just that singer and primary songwriter Matthew Healy wrote about anything and everything that crossed his … Read more
Robyn HitchcockShufflemania!Tiny Ghost Records [2022] With 22 studio albums to his credit, and the subject of a concert film by Jonathan Demme, Robyn Hitchcock may be the most-celebrated British singer/songwriter that most people have never heard of. In the late 70’s, Hitchcock led a folk rock/psychedelic band called The Soft Boys, before going solo before … Read more
Lou ReedWords & Music, May 1965Light In The Attic Records [2022] The standard rock critic cliché often attributed to Brian Eno—he of early Roxy Music fame who went on to collaborate/produce albums with Robert Fripp, David Bowie, and U2 among many others, and a respected creator of experimental/ambient music—states that “The first Velvet Underground album … Read more
PixiesDoggerelBMG [2022] Neil Young famously wrote that “it’s better to burn out than to fade away,” in his song “Hey Hey, My My (Out of the Blue/Into the Black)” in 1979, which appears to be a reflection on the death of Elvis, even though Young name drops Johnny Rotten in the lyric. The meaning is … Read more
Daniel LanoisPlayer, PianoModern Recordings [2022] Here’s a sentence I never expected I’d write: Daniel Lanois has made a quiet, quaint, and charming little piano album. That’s right, the Daniel Lanois who joined with Brian Eno to produce two of U2’s most important albums, The Joshua Tree and Achtung, Baby, and produced albums by Bob Dylan, … Read more
No. 2First LoveJealous Butcher Records [2022] It’s been 20 years since Neil Gust last played with his Portland, Oregon band-mates in No. 2, the aptly named second band for the singer/songwriter and guitarist. Gust’s first band, Heatmiser, recorded three albums in the 90’s, but is perhaps best remembered as the launching pad for deceased singer/songwriter … Read more
The CultUnder The Midnight SunBlack Hill Records [2022] If they gave out rewards for perseverance, there’s no doubt that singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy on the long-running band The Cult would be major contenders. The band broke through commercially with their second album in 1985, Love, which included “She Sells Sanctuary,” one of … Read more
Tedeschi Trucks BandI Am The Moon: IV. FarewellFantasy / Concord Music [2022] There’s a satisfying sense of closure flowing nicely through the six songs of this final chapter in the Tedeschi Trucks Bands’ I Am The Moon project, with 18 songs spread over three previous EPs released monthly over the summer. The subtitle Farewell captures … Read more
Yeah Yeah YeahsCool It DownSecretly Canadian [2022] Returning to recording nine years after their last album, Mosquito, NYC’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back with a brief 8-track album acting as if nothing has really changed, and the dance floor is calling. Formed in 2000, the arty punk/dance rock trio – Karen O on vocals and … Read more