Sunwatchers: II [Album Review]

Sunwatchers II Trouble In Mind Records [2018] Who: Sunwatchers are a New York-based ensemble (featuring current & former members of NYMPH, Dark Meat, Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band & Arthur Doyle’s New Quiet Screamers) that offer a combination of avant-jazz, punk, psychedelia, Ethio-jazz and desert blues. II is their sophomore record and the follow up … Read more

The Friday Fire Track: Charly Bliss – “The Way You Wear Your Head” (Nada Surf Cover)

TFN is always about the cover song. Give us a cover song and we will spin it till it won’t spin no more! Today’s Friday Fire Track is exactly that. Brooklyn-based punks Charly Bliss, which released an outstanding debut record last year in Guppy, take on Nada Surf’s “The Way You Wear Your Head.” The … Read more

The Angelica Sanchez Trio: Float The Edge [Album Review]

The Angelica Sanchez Trio Float The Edge Clean Feed Records [2017] Fire Note Says: The Angelica Sanchez Trio’s 2017 release should not be missed. Album Review: If there is a downside to the abundance of incredible musicians currently working and recording in jazz and improvised music, it’s that it can be hard to keep up. … Read more

Durand Jones & The Indications – “Smile” [Video]

Durand Jones & The Indications will be be getting a deluxe version reissue of their 2016 self-titled debut album on March 16 via Dead Oceans/Colemine Records. Along with the album, the deluxe version will contain a digital version of Durand Jones and The Indications Live Vol. 1 making it worth the revisit. The vinyl is also getting a nice new limited color pressing and the bundle choice comes with a bonus 7″. You can find those at Dead Oceans HERE.

In support of the release, the band released this new video for “Smile” and will extensively tour the U.S. and Europe. All the dates are below.

DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS LIVE
March 12-18—Austin, TX—SXSW
March 19—San Antonio, TX—Paper Tiger
March 22—Santa Fe, NM—Santa Fe Brewing Company
March 23 —Phoenix, AZ—Valley Bar
March 24—San Diego, CA—Soda Bar
March 27—Los Angeles, CA—Troubadour
March 29—San Francisco, CA—The Independent
March 30—Visalia, CA—Cellar Door
March 31—Santa Cruz, CA—The Catalyst Atrium
April 2—Portland, OR—Doug Fir Lounge
April 3—Seattle, WA—Barboza
April 5—Boise, ID—The Olympic
April 6—Salt Lake City, UT—The State Room
April 7—Denver, CO—Larimer Lounge
April 8—Kansas City, MO—recordBar
April 9—Davenport, IA—The Raccoon Motel
April 11—Minneapolis, MN—7th Street Entry
April 12—Madison, WI—The Frequency
April 13—Chicago, IL—Lincoln Hall
April 14—Detroit, MI—Underground @ DIME
April 15—Columbus, OH—The Basement
April 17—Indianapolis, IN—The Hi-Fi
April 18—Cincinnati, OH—Woodward
April 19—Nashville, TN—The Basement East
April 20—Birmingham, AL—WorkPlay
April 21—Atlanta, GA—Sweetwater 420 Festival
April 23—Carrboro, NC—Cat’s Cradle – Back Room
April 24—Asheville, NC—The Mothlight
April 25—Baltimore, MD—Ottobar
April 26—Philadelphia, PA—World Cafe Live – Upstairs
April 27—New York, NY—Music Hall of Williamsburg
April 28—Boston, MA—Brighton Music Hall
May 3—Stockholm, Sweden—Debaser Strand
May 4—Copenhagen, Denmark—Pumperhuset
May 7—Berlin, Germany—Privatclub
May 8—Cologne, Germany—Blue Shell
May 10—Amsterdam, Holland—Paradiso upstairs
May 11—Brussels, Belgium—AB Club
May 12—Paris, France—Les Etoiles
May 14—Glasgow, Scotland—Stereo
May 15—Manchester, UK— Gullivers
May 16—London, UK—The Waiting Room
May 17-19—Brighton, UK—The Great Escape
May 27—Napa, CA—BottleRock
July 7—Manchester, TN—Bonnaroo

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real: The Visitor [Album Review]

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real The Visitor Reprise Records [2017] Fire Note Says: At 72, Neil Young is still making a difference, wearing his politics on his sleeve, and producing anthems for the resistance. Album Review: Neil Young has never been an artist to shrink back from a difficult political moment and leave … Read more

Chiller: Chiller [Album Review]

Chiller Chiller Rockstar/Dirt Cult Records [2018] Who: This is the debut record from Moncton, Canada punks Chiller. The band is a continuation of Feral Trash which released Trashfiction in 2014 on Dirt Cult Records. Chiller is Ilisha and Eric of Feral Trash with local friends Erin (Black Tower) and Tim (Mother’s Children). Sound: Fresh melodic … Read more

R.E.M.: Automatic For The People (25th Anniversary Edition) [Album Review]

R.E.M. Automatic For The People (25th Anniversary Edition) Craft Recordings [2017] Fire Note Says: A masterpiece for all times! Album Review: R.E.M.’s Automatic For the People is a masterpiece that gets a lot of love on its 25th anniversary. A live disc and 20 demos/outtakes accompany the original album. The extras are interesting and noteworthy; … Read more

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Wrong Creatures [Album Review]

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Wrong Creatures Vagrant Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club delivers another solid outing shaped by riff-rock and post-punk distortion. Album Review: There are those bands that you just want to root for, they may not yet have produced that breakthrough album you know they are capable of, but … Read more

The Friday Fire Track: Mind Spiders – “Outside”

Mind Spiders have just released their new album, Furies, today via Dirtnap Records. Today’s Friday Fire Track is the first track on the record and it’s a mover. “Outside” captures Mind Spiders aggressiveness as the track just builds and builds and builds into a phonetic frenzy. The group continues to morph into the Devo of … Read more

Glen Hansard: Between Two Shores [Album Review]

Glen Hansard Between Two Shores ANTI- [2018] Fire Note Says: Irish folk rocker Glen Hansard, of The Swell Season and The Frames, continues to deliver strong songs. Album Review: One of my favorite musical scenes in film is that long opening sequence at the beginning of the movie “Once,” where you can hear Glen Hansard … Read more

Salad Boys: This Is Glue [Album Review]

Salad Boys This Is Glue Trouble In Mind Records [2018] Who: Christchurch, New Zealand band Salad Boys return with their sophomore record This Is Glue. The album follows their well received 2015 debut Metalmania. Sound: This Is Glue has plenty of riffs and melodies that are slightly fuzzed up with that New Zealand sound like … Read more

Track Premiere: The Captain Of Sorrow – “Siamese Scars”

Quiet can always be loud – it just matters how you tune in! That is the feeling that overtakes you in today’s premiere track from the Danish band The Captain Of Sorrow. “Siamese Scars” has an intense rhythm that is driven from the singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer of this record, Hans-Christian. His calm demeanor … Read more

Björk: Utopia [Album Review]

Björk Utopia One Little Indian Records [2017] Fire Note Says: While highly recommended, Björk’s tenth album is still a challenging listen. Album Review: Listening to the latest from Icelandic chanteuse Björk, can feel like stepping through the curtain to enter an audio/visual piece at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. At first it can … Read more

The Friday Fire Track: Graham Repulski – “Negative Highlight Reel”

We love lo-fi around here at The Fire Note and today’s Friday Fire Track is from one of favorite underground indie heroes Graham Repulski. The Philadelphia artist releases a consistently good batch of songs every year and “Negative Highlight Reel” is one of the first in 2018. The track is from the cassette EP of … Read more

Unlikely Friends: Crooked Numbers [Album Review]

Unlikely Friends Crooked Numbers Swoon Records [2018] Who: Unlikely Friends (UF) is made up of veteran artists from the Northwest which includes D. Crane (of Seattle’s BOAT), Charles Bert (of Seattle quiet indie-pop band Math & Physics Club, Chris MacFarlane (owner of local indie-pop record store/label Jigsaw Records) on drums plus a rotating cast of … Read more

Starcrawler: Starcrawler [Album Review]

Starcrawler Starcrawler Rough Trade [2018] Who: Starcrawler are a 4-piece band from Los Angeles California and their self-titled debut was produced by Ryan Adams. The members are lead vocalist Arrow de Wilde, guitarist Henri Cash, drummer Austin Smith and bassist Tim Franco. The youngest member is 16 and the oldest is 22. Sound: Starcrawler give … Read more

Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double [Album Review]

Tomas Fujiwara Triple Double Firehouse 12 Records [2017] Fire Note Says: Tomas Fujiwara’s double trio stands out, even in another great year of recorded jazz and improvised music Album Review: Drummer Tomas Fujiwara has contributed to a number of great recordings in recent years, whether as a sideman or as a member of groups like … Read more

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Gumboot Soup [Album Review]

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Gumboot Soup ATO/Flightless Records [2017] Fire Note Says: Australia’s psych rock heroes make good on their promise! Album Review: Australia’s King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard made the crazy announcement back in November of 2016 that the band would release five albums in 2017. Releasing this much music in … Read more

Hüsker Dü: Savage Young Dü [Album Review]

Hüsker Dü Savage Young Dü Numero Group [2017] Fire Note Says: This 69 track box set delivers a rare and complete look at seminal Minneapolis hardcore punk trio, Hüsker Dü’s early beginnings, a collector’s dream. Album Review: By the time Hüsker Dü – Grant Hart, Greg Norton and Bob Mould – were playing their first … Read more

Jeff Rosenstock: POST- [Album Review]

Jeff Rosenstock POST- Polyvinyl Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Jeff is back! Album Review: Jeff Rosenstock started off this year with a bang as he released his third LP digitally for FREE on New Year’s Day! That is right – free. Now, I am sure we have all had the experience of downloading free music … Read more

The Breeders Return With New Album March 2nd

Entitled All Nerve, the Breeders’ first record in a decade will be released on March 2, 2018 via 4AD records. All Nerve reunites band members Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson – the line-up behind 1993’s Last Splash. The quartet returned to the stage in 2013 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of … Read more