Brian Q. Newcomb 
The WaterboysAll Souls HillCooking Vinyl [2022] Just a year short of 4 decades since Mike Scott introduced The Waterboys on its eponymous debut, the singer/songwriter best known for giving the world “The Whole of the Moon, continues to expand on his vision for “The Big Music.” A Scot by birth, Scott comes by his interest … Read more
The Black KeysDropout BoogieNonesuch Records [2022] For the last 20 years, the former Akron, Ohio duo that make up The Black Keys have been refining their own take on the blues and R&B influences that are the underpinning of early rock icons like Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton’s Cream. Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach and … Read more
Arcade FireWEColumbia Records [2022] Nobody accuses Canadian band Arcade Fire of lacking ambition. In a brief paragraph attached to the CD-ROM version of their 6th album, WE, Win Butler describes the inspirations underlying this collection, starting with tracing the recording’s title and division into two sections, I and We, to a Russian Sci-Fi novel written … Read more
Sunflower BeanHeadful Of SugarMom + Pop Music [2022] Like many smaller, working bands, the pandemic forced the power punk/pop trio, Sunflower Bean, to stop playing out, calling their future into question. The three members were forced into separate lockdowns while NYC shuttered all live music venues, creating identity crises for musicians that had been described … Read more
Diane CoffeeWith PeoplePolyvinyl Records [2022] Diane Coffee is the solo creative pop music project and nom de guerre of Shaun Fleming, who played drums for a while for Foxygen, and had a voice acting career in the early 00’s on a number of Disney Channel animated TV series, Kim Possible and Lilo & Stitch, … Read more
The Head And The HeartEvery Shade Of BlueReprise/Warner Records [2022] The band, The Head and the Heart, arrived along with a new class of indie folk/rock acts in the early 2010’s that included The Lumineers and Of Monsters and Men, as the new popularity of Mumford & Sons suggested a hunger for a more earthy, … Read more
Ryan AdamsChrisPAX-AM [2022] Ryan Adams is playing for redemption on his 19th studio album, Chris, which he’s described as the third part of a trilogy that began with his 2020 release, Wednesday. Of course, Adams has been persona non grata since the NYTimes in February of 2019, where his ex-wife Mandy Moore and several other … Read more
Curse of LonoPeople In CarsSubmarine Cat Music [2022] The path to wrapping your head around the London band Curse of Lono and its third album, People In Cars, is nothing if not an invitation to cultural literacy. The band’s name comes from an obscure Hunter S. Thompson book based on his adventures in Hawaii, while … Read more
Kurt Vile(watch my moves)Verve Records [2022] (watch my moves), the ninth studio album from Kurt Vile if you include his collaboration with Courtney Barnett on 2017’s Lotta Sea Lice, finds the Philadelphia-based folk/rock singer/songwriter guitarist in now familiar territory. A traditionally laid-back creator of jangly guitar rock, Vile used some of the pandemic shutdown to … Read more
Christian Lee HutsonQuittersANTI- [2022] In the songs from his ANTI-Records debut, 2020’s Beginners, modern folk/rock singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson wrote songs that looked back to one’s formative years and experiences, the memories and disappointments that shape the person you become. In his follow-up, Hutson seeks to make sense of the events that followed, sorting one’s … Read more
WeezerSZNZ: SpringCrush Music/Atlantic Records [2022] Even if you haven’t loved every step on the journey with Weezer, you have to be impressed by composer/bandleader Rivers Cuomo’s work ethic and high-quality output. Frankly, I was less than enamored with the mega-buzz that accompanied the band’s cover of “Africa” by Toto than say, the original the first … Read more
Jack WhiteFear Of The DawnThird Man Records [2022] There’s a moment in the 2008 guitar rock doc “It Might Get Loud,” featuring Jack White, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and U2’s The Edge, when Page starts to play his rock hit classic “Whole Lotta Love,” and the other two’s cool demeanor cracks as fan boy … Read more
CalexicoEl MiradorANTI- [2022] When Calexico’s primary members and writing team, Joey Burns and John Convertino convened in Tucson at the home studio of their keyboard player Sergio Mendoza last summer it may have seemed unlikely that the rock press would be discussing an 18 year old album track off their Feast of Wire album by … Read more
ShayleeShort-Sighted SecurityKill Rock Stars [2022] Performing as Shaylee, Portland, Ore. singer songwriter Elle Archer has delivered a true ‘Do-it-yourself’ tribute to the music that inspired her to make music in the first place, turn of the century works by alternative rock bands like Flaming Lips, Wilco, and Radiohead. Of course, many of the alt/rock staples … Read more
Yumi ZoumaPresent TensePolyvinyl Records [2022] While Yumi Zouma is most comfortable in gentle confines of the midtempo electronic tones of classic Euro-pop sounds, the band which got its start in Christchurch, New Zealand, leans into the energy of live drums and a wider spectrum of organic, orchestrated sounds on their fourth full-length album, Present Tense. … Read more
Red Hot Chili PeppersUnlimited LoveWarner Records [2022] Nobody who caught the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the mid-80’s imagined that the LA funky punk boys that rapped most of their best songs were going to last for the long-haul. Dancing around the stage in nothing but their socks they were built for speed, not for … Read more
Ceramic AnimalSweet UnknownEasy Eye Sound [2022] Ceramic Animal, the 5-piece rock & pop band out of Doylestown, PA, had already released three independently produced albums before signing with Black Key’s Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. So they arrive on Sweet Unknown with a distinct sound and a highly developed sense of band identity that’s deeply … Read more
MidlakeFor The Sake Of Bethel WoodsATO Records [2022] Midlake, a band a UK reviewer described succinctly as “the Texan masters of folk-proggy-Americana, return nine years after their last album, Antiphon, which recorded six months after the departure of their previous frontman and singer/songwriter, Tim Smith. And if early listens of For the Sake of Bethel … Read more
The Weather StationHow Is It That I Should Look At The StarsFat Possum Records [2022] The Weather Station’s 2021 release, Ignorance, won widespread critical acclaim with its more expansive and percussive jazz orchestrations, and Tamara Lindeman’s heady mix of smart song-craft and lyrical reflections on the challenges of modern life, the planetary crisis, and the … Read more
Hurray For The Riff RaffLife On EarthNonesuch Records [2022] While this is Hurray for the Riff Raff’s is its debut on the Nonesuch label, it’s the 7th studio album from singer/songwriter Alynda Segarra, who currently dwells in New Orleans and also fronted the “hobo band” Dead Man Street Orchestra. My first encounter Hurray was an … Read more
Sonic YouthIn/Out/InThree Lobed Recordings [2022] Okay, my favorite time seeing Sonic Youth they were on tour opening for Neil Young & Crazy Horse in 1991, with Social Distortion opening the show. This was before Nirvana and Pearl Jam, so the closest thing to “grunge” on mainstream rock radio was NY&CH; but still, I thought it … Read more
Manchester Orchestra w/ Foxing & The Michiganders: KEMBA Live; Columbus, OH; Friday, February 11, 2022 Friday night’s sold-out Manchester Orchestra concert at KEMBA Live! was a solid rock show from start to finish, emphasizing the band’s 2021 release, The Million Masks of God, but playing enough choice selections from their older albums to satisfy die-hard fans … Read more
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers NightroamerThirty Tigers [2022] North Carolina’s Sarah Shook & The Disarmers return with their third album, actually recorded just prior to the pandemic, which along with the sale of Bloodshot Records, delayed the release. Out now, in time to hit the road where the band has won their strongest notices, Shook … Read more
Dashboard ConfessionalAll The Truth That I Can TellHidden Note Records/AWAL [2022] Harlan Howard’s oft repeated description of country music as “three chords and the truth,” has been picked up by artists across the musical spectrum, from U2 and Van Morrison to punk bands who weren’t convinced that third chord was entirely necessary. In “Pain Free … Read more
Band Of HorsesThings Are GreatBMG [2022] We all know, Things Are Great is what you say, when you don’t want to tell people that you’re really going through a challenging time. It’s the more grandiose version of “I’m fine.” And like many of the songs here by Ben Bridwell and his Band of Horses, the … Read more