NYC’s Acid Dad released its debut S/T LP in March via Greenway Records, and now have a new video for album track “Marine.” See below for Acid Dad’s upcoming live dates.
Acid Dad on Tour:
5/9: Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall (CMW)
5/11: Amsterdam, NL @ Q Factory
5/12: Lille, FR @ DIY Cafe
5/14: Manchester, UK @ Jimmy’s
5/15: Glasgow, UK @ Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
5/16: Liverpool, UK @ Sound Basement
5/17: London, UK @ The Shacklewell Arms
5/18: Le Havre, FR @ Le McDaid’s
5/19: Paris, FR @ E’sapce B
Homecoming Music Festival 2018: Can’t Miss Artists
The National return home to Cincinnati this weekend and are hosting a celebration of music, art and cultural connections. If you are heading down for the Homecoming festivities, The Fire Note has 5 can’t miss artists below you should seek out during your two days at Smale Park. The good news is that the organizers … Read more
The Voidz: Virtue [Album Review]
The Voidz Virtue Cult/RCA Records [2018] Fire Note Says: If The Strokes fail to get their act together for another full-length – The Voidz are working out just fine. Album Review: With The Strokes sitting back most of the 2010’s it’s not a real surprise to find singer Julian Casablancas getting busy with his side … Read more
Father John Misty – “Mr. Tillman” [Video]
Watch Father John Misty encounter a strange hotel check-in in the official video for “Mr. Tillman,” co-directed by Jeff Desom (Health, Hauskcha) & Carlos Lopez Estrada (Clipping, Blindspotting) [link here]. The single is from God’s Favorite Customer, his fourth album worldwide on June 1st, 2018 through Sub Pop, with the exception of Europe through Bella Union.
Archie And The Bunkers: Songs From The Lodge [Album Review]
Archie And The Bunkers Songs From The Lodge Dirty Water Records [2018] Who: Archie and The Bunkers are the Cleveland-based duo of Emmett and Cullen O’Connor, brothers who have been playing music together for as long as they can remember. Songs From The Lodge is the groups sophomore album. Sound: Described as “Hi-Fi organ punk,” … Read more
Chastity – “Children” [Video]
Chastity (aka Brandon Williams) has released the politically charged video for “Children,” taken from the upcoming album Death Lust, to be released Friday, July 13th via Captured Tracks. You can pre-order a copy of the album HERE.
Chastity is a world of its own from the mind of Brandon Williams. Reflecting the working class background of Whitby, Ontario, Chastity’s songs are charged with the ethos of archetypal youth on the fringe. A project more aptly characterized by its intentions than specific sound or medium, Chastity stands to confront the struggles of those existing in the unseen, often silenced periphery. It is an artifact of youth culture constantly working to form community, bridging isolation with collectivity.
Death Lust follows the plot of suffering to survival. The album begins on a tortured note with ‘Come’ and builds toward the plummeting finale of ‘Chains’, evolving from start to finish in a crescendo of severity. Chastity explains, “Death Lust is about growing up death obsessed. It’s about the pain that it takes but the capacity that we have to overcome.”
Eels: The Deconstruction [Album Review]
Eels The Deconstruction E Works/[PIAS] [2018] Fire Note Says: The Eels 12th outing. Album Review: On the 12th Eels album in 22 years, principal singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, known as E, continues a long and lengthy practice of deconstructing the major myths of the American Dream, and the myths and fables of romance, Capitalism and … Read more
Cut Worms – “Cash For Gold” [Video]
New York-based Max Clarke will release Hollow Ground, his debut album as Cut Worms, on May 4th via Jagjaguwar. This new video for “Cash For Gold” was directed by Elizabeth Skadden.
This track follows Cut Worms style of storytelling and the influence of the more simple sounds of the 50s/60s. It is easy to hear past groups here like The Everly Brothers or the Finn Brothers (Crowded House) but Cut Worms nicely fits in with modern artists such as The Tallest Man In The World, S. Carey or Michael Rault.
Cut Worms Tour Dates:
Thu. May 3 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
Fri. May 4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar *
Sat. May 5 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
Mon. May 7 – Houston, TX @ Rockefeller Hall *
Tue. May 8 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda *
Wed. May 9 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
Fri. May 11 – New Orleans, LA @ One-Eyed Jacks *
Sat. May 12 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl w/ King Tuff
Sun. May 13 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East *
Mon. May 14 – Lexington, KY @ The Burl *
Tue. May 15 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
Wed. May 16 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel *
Fri. May 18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Sat. May 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *
Sun. May 20 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
Mon. May 21 – Montreal, QC @ L’escografie
Tue. May 22 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *
Wed. May 23 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern *
Thu. May 24 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
Fri. May 25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
Sat. May 26 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
Tue. May 29 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall *
Wed. May 30 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *
Fri. June 1 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile *
Sat. June 2 – Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club *
Sun. March 3 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater *
Tue. June 5 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent *
Thu. June 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom *
Fri. June 8-Sun. June 10 – Sonoma, CA @ Huichica Music Festival
Fri. Aug. 3 – Sun. Aug. 5 – Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon Festival
Thu. Aug 30 – Sun. Sept. 2 – Larmer Tree Gardens, UK @ End of the Road Festival
Thu. Sept. 6 – London, UK @ The Shacklewell Arms
* w/ King Tuff
The Friday Fire Track: Charmer – “Nurse Joy”
Marquette, Michigan emo-rock band Charmer are bringing a new spotlight to the Midwest movement with their self-titled debut that hits your playlist today via No Sleep Records. After just 2 years, the band has already shared the stage with Pinegrove, Teen Suicide, and Dowsing. The new album was recorded with Jake Ewald of Modern Baseball … Read more
Liz Phair – “Stratford-On-Guy (Newly Digitized HD)” [Video]
2018 marks the 25th anniversary of Liz Phair’s classic album Exile In Guyville and on May 4th, Matador Records will release Girly-Sound To Guyville: The 25th Anniversary Box Set. The upcoming release is an extensive, limited edition 7-LP or 3-CD box set to celebrate the anniversary of her classic album. The box set contains the first official restored audio of all three 1991 Girly-Sound tapes from the original cassettes. It also contains the 1993 Exile In Guyville album remastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge. You can pick up a copy HERE.
Here is the original video for “Stratford-On-Guy,” which has been newly digitized and upscaled to HD, directed by Liz Phair herself! Liz’s first-hand account of how the “Stratford-On-Guy” video came to be:
“We were in talks with labels about the second record – Matador was being courted by Atlantic – and Danny Goldberg came backstage to meet me. I told him about my idea for the next video – ‘Stratford-On-Guy’ – explaining that we were stalled due to budget constraints. He asked ‘what do you need?’ I said, ‘a private plane to fly over downtown LA and get footage at night.’ I wanted to shoot the electric veins of the city. He just said, ‘done!’ It was one of those real rock star moments.
So my husband, his friend Michael Mees, who was the DP, and I went up in this 8 seater Lear Jet and got the greatest footage ever. We were literally flying sideways so Michael could shoot straight down over the rooftops of all the buildings. We were executing these tight turns above the skyscrapers and the G force was incredible. You could feel your internal organs dragging to the other side of your body cavity. Michael was using this really heavy camera and Jim, my husband, had to hold onto him as we shot. The lens of the camera was pressing down against the window pane and I remember Michael nervously joking – and not really in jest – that the glass beneath him better hold. It was so fun. We made two approaches into the airport so we could capture that fantastic runway lighting. Those images are etched in my memory forever. I seem to recall I somehow wedged my head up between the pilots like a dog peering over the backseat so I could see that awesome 180* cockpit view, too. Good times!”
Ben Harper And Charlie Musselwhite: No Mercy In This Land [Album Review]
Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite No Mercy In This Land ANTI- Records [2018] Fire Note Says: The warm humanity of the songs on No Mercy In This Land with the melding of emotion and technique in the two performers solos leaves a satisfying feeling. Album Review: The last time bluesman Charlie Musselwhite and jam band … Read more
Amen Dunes: Freedom [Album Review]
Amen Dunes Freedom Sacred Bones Records [2018] Who: Freedom is Amen Dunes (aka the project of New York-based Damon McMahon) fifth album, and the follow-up to 2014’s Love. Sound: Amen Dunes brings a high level of sophistication to its psychedelic indie and at time folkish tracks. Freedom has a War On Drugs, Kevin Morby, and … Read more
Hot Snakes: Jericho Sirens [Album Review]
Hot Snakes Jericho Sirens Sub Pop Records [2018] Who: Hot Snakes is John Reis and Rick Froberg which together are responsible for groups Drive Like Jehu, Rocket from the Crypt, Sultans, The Obits and The Night Marchers. Jericho Sirens, is the fourth album (and first in 14 years) from the San Diego-based punk rock n … Read more
Dead Meadow: The Nothing They Need [Album Review]
Dead Meadow The Nothing They Need Xemu Records [2018] Who: Formed in Washington D.C. Dead Meadow has been around making music for 20 years. There psychedelic soundscapes have taken them across three record labels: Matador, Xemu, and Tolotta. Sound: Dead Meadow is a band with psychedelic range. They can burn thick and heavy like a … Read more
David Byrne: American Utopia [Album Review]
David Byrne American Utopia Nonesuch Records [2018] Fire Note Says: David Byrne brings his years of musical experimentation, as a primary creative force in Talking Heads, and through his ten studio albums, collaborations with Brian Eno and others, as well as his work on various film scores into conversation with American pop culture, and has … Read more
The Friday Fire Track: The Get Up Kids – “Maybe”
The Get Up Kids are back with a four-song EP titled Kicker. The EP will be released June 8th, 2018 via Polyvinyl in the US and Big Scary Monsters in UK. Today’s Friday Fire Track is the first single from the EP, “Maybe.” One listen is all you need to know the band is back. … Read more
Tim Easton: Paco & The Melodic Polaroids [Album Review]
Tim Easton Paco & The Melodic Polaroids Campfire Propaganda [2018] Who: Tim Easton is an Ohio-raised singer/songwriter, now firmly based out of Nashville, which has a solid catalog of alt-country/Americana/folk recordings that span over two decades to his rowdier days with the Haynes Boys in 1996. Sound: Tim Easton can give you all different sides … Read more
Greed Island: Nest Egg [Album Review]
Greed Island Nest Egg Salty Speakers [2018] Who: Dover, New Hampshire’s Greed Island 7-track EP, Nest Egg, is one of the best things I have heard in 2018. Sound: Greed Island generate a heady buzz with their brand of indie guitar rock that will remind listeners of Archers of Loaf, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. TFN … Read more
Connections – “Love Me Still” [Video]
Check out the new video from Connections which features the Los Angeles based comedy group The Dickheads. “Love Me Still” is from the Connections forthcoming album Foreign Affairs via Trouble In Mind Records on May 11.
The Fratellis: In Your Own Sweet Time [Album Review]
The Fratellis In Your Own Sweet Time Cooking Vinyl [2018] Who: Scottish three-piece with their fifth full-length album. Sound: Barroom rock that you can dance to. TFN Final Take: The new Fratellis album gets off to a great start with “Stand Up Tragedy” and “Starcrossed Losers.” Both are bouncy numbers that showcase the ebullience of … Read more
Ladytron – “The Animals” [Video]
Liverpool’s synth-shoegaze quartet, Ladytron are back and have released this short film for “The Animals,” their first single in seven years. Directed by Fernando Nogari, the short film is a love letter to São Paulo that follows a group of young people on a sensory, violent, and joyous trip through the megalopolis’ underworld, creating a snapshot of Brazil’s dark, contemporary moment where shifting mores regarding culture, gender, spirituality, and identity collide.
A second single will follow in the summer, followed in the fall by a new album, both available for pre-order as limited deluxe editions via Pledge Music HERE.
Phil Madeira: Providence [Album Review]
Phil Madeira Providence Mercyland Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Phil Madeira, one of Emmylou Harris’ Red Dirt Boys, delivers an album of piano songs – that mix pop song craft with soulful jazz tendencies – about the town he grew up in, Providence, Rhode Island. Album Review: Phil Madeira is one of those Nashville-based Jack-of-all-trades … Read more
Snow Patrol – “Don’t Give In” [Video]
Snow Patrol has premiered “Don’t Give In,” the lead single from Wildness, their first record in seven years. Said lead singer and songwriter, Gary Lightbody about the song: “‘Don’t Give In” was originally about a friend going through a tough time but the more I wrote into it I realized it was about me and the struggle of making the album – which took 5 years and was not easy – coupled with the struggle with depression I’ve had since I was a kid, so it has become the talisman of the album. The song that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Wildness is out May 25th via Republic Records. You can pre-order a copy HERE.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Sex & Food [Album Review]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Sex & Food Jagjaguwar [2018] Fire Note Says: Unknown Mortal Orchestra shed some synths for more strings in this fun batch of songs. Album Review: I’ll alway remember the first time I heard Unknown Mortal Orchestra. In that basement in 2011 I’d never heard a style like it. I didn’t know that … Read more
Failure – “Dark Speed” [Video]
Here is the first video from the EP In The Future, from the current EP and forthcoming fifth Failure album. The video features David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, Blade Runner 2049) and was directed by Ken Andrews.
“Dark Speed” is one of the four songs from the In The Future EP, which is out now. Special offerings and bundles are available at Pledgemusic, with subscriptions for the full series of releases available via failurebandmerch.com. The EP was produced by Failure and mixed by Ken Andrews.