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
ElderInnate PassageArmageddon Shop [2022] When Elder’s previous album Omens was released in 2020 it was my number three album of the year for good reason. Elder constructed a muscular tower of doom metal, prog rock, and psychedelics with nods to groups such as Rush, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and Yes. Omens showed the group even more … Read more
OVENSOVENSTankcrimes [2022] I believe that our faithful TFN followers know the catchy sounds of Tony Molina and hopefully checked out his Headphone Approved release this year titled In The Fade. What you might not know is that Tony has played in about 14 bands. That is a lot to keep up with and tracking down … Read more
Big JoanieBack HomeKill Rock Stars [2022] It has been four years since the debut album from Black feminist punk band Big Joanie. The UK trio of Estella Adeyeri, Stephanie Phillips, and Chardine Taylor-Stone had a solid post-punk direction but now have branched out into new sound territories on their sophomore album, Back Home. While guitars, … 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
Ribbon StageHit With The MostK Records [2022] Ribbon Stage are a trio from NYC that have created a debut album that is a compact earworm of noise pop. Hit With The Most is a 20 minute joyride of tight drums, fuzzed out distorted guitar and the floating vocals of Anni Hilator which cuts through it … Read more
The StroppiesLevityTough Love Records [2022] After the release of The Stroppies debut Whoosh and the Look Alive EP, the Melbourne quartet firmly established themselves as a top tier indie jangle pop band that followed a very Flying Nun sound. Their carefree approach comes off effortlessly and that same confidence caries their sophomore full length, Levity. … 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
The Reds, Pinks & PurplesSummer At Land’s EndTough Love/Slumberland Records [2022] San Francisco’s The Reds, Pinks & Purples can write some of the most gorgeous tragic indie pop songs you will here on the current scene. The group is the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson and Summer At Land’s End is the forth full … 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
GIFTMomentary PresenceDedstrange Records [2022] Brooklyn-based GIFT are a psych-rock quintet that have blended a classic shoegaze approach with muscular indie guitars and airy vocals to create a memorable debut in Momentary Presence. What makes this record immediatly stand out is how confident and constructed its ten tracks firmly flow out of your speakers. The tracks … 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
SmirkMaterialFeel It Records [2022] Nick Vicario and his project Smirk gained some deserved spotlight last year with the release of LP. The album combined tracks that originally appeared on two small run cassettes in 2020. Material now represents the first proper full length release from Smirk and it showcases an elevation in both songwriting and … 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
DeliveryForever Giving HandshakesFeel It/Spoilsport/Anti Fade Records [2022] The intense pulsating rhythm in Delivery’s opening track, “Picture This,” will give you your first realization that their debut record, Forever Giving Handshakes, will be one of the tightest sounding post-punk debuts you have heard this year. The Melbourne five-piece work as one true musical force through all … 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
DumbPray 4 TomorrowMint Records [2022] I really like it when you can hear progression with a band, but the overall group sound doesn’t drastically change. That is the case with Vancouver’s Dumb on their third full length, Pray 4 Tomorrow. The band has already produced two solid indie post-punk albums as Pray 4 Tomorrow carries … 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
Wild PinkILYSMRoyal Mountain Records [2022] I don’t use the word gorgeous very often to describe music as I feel it never really defines the artists I typically have in my ear. That trend stops with ILYSM, the fourth full-length from Wild Pink. The record is carefully constructed and is both confident in its approach but … Read more
MarthaPlease Don’t Take Me BackSpecialist Subject/Dirtnap Records [2022] Now on their fourth album, Durham, England’s Martha has perfected their indie pop punk formula as they have released one of their most engaging records to date. Please Don’t Take Me Back has an early DIY sound with loud crashing guitars and drums while the group comes … 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
Ghost Funk OrchestraA New Kind Of LoveColemine/Karma Chief Records [2022] When Ghost Funk Orchestra’s debut LP for Karma Chief, Song For Paul, made its way onto turntables back in 2019, it felt like it was created in some alternate version of the early 1970s. Helmed by sonic mastermind Seth Applebaum, the band’s jazz-funk rhythms, psychedelic … Read more