Kikagaku MoyoKumoyo IslandGuruguru Brain [2022] It is always better to go out on your own terms. So many times, things can implode and just leave a very unsatisfying “what if” scenario. How did your favorite musical artist call time on a career? Did a band member pass away? Did they break up? You just never … 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
Pink MountaintopsPeacock PoolsATO Records [2022] Peacock Pools is the first Pink Mountaintops album in 8 years, and its creation was inspired by a wide range of subjects that includes early Pink Floyd, Gary Numan, sci-fi and horror movies and even an essay on the cult of bodybuilding by postmodern feminist Camille Paglia. That spectrum of … 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
Rolling Blackouts Coastal FeverEndless RoomsSub Pop Records [2022] Melbourne, Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever is a band that has the appearance of following an older music model. I believe with their third long player, Endless Rooms, that model continues to pay large dividends. Artist development is pretty much a thing of the past these days … Read more
Jon Spencer & The HITmakersSpencer Gets It LitBronze Rat/Shove Records [2022] All the way back to his early years in Pussy Galore, Jon Spencer has been wild, loose and unpredictable. The garage rock that he initially played transferred over to some punk blues in Boss Hog and then the super swag of the Jon Spencer … 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
Bloc PartyAlpha GamesInfectious/BMG [2022] Alpha Games is the sixth studio record from London’s Bloc Party and right from the opening track you can hear the dance-punk band reaching back for the glory beats of their fantastic 2005 debut Silent Alarm. Since a solid sophomore record, Bloc Party has never hit the same gold and appeared … 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
Mister GoblinBunnyExploding In Sounds Records [2022] Sam Goblin (Two Inch Astronaut) returns with his third long player under the Mister Goblin moniker titled Bunny. The album is the quick follow up to last year’s Headphone Approved record, Four People In An Elevator And One Of Them Is The Devil, and now firmly roots Mister Goblin … 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
King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardOmnium GatherumKGLW [2022] Over the last decade, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have followed their muse wherever it happens to take them. From their early garage punk records and psychedelic trips to their latter-day excursions in prog rock, thrash metal, microtonal experiments, and electronica, the band is never afraid … 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
Psychedelic Porn CrumpetsNight GnomesMarathon Artists [2022] From the outside looking in, the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have been a band that I’ve always had interest in but have never pursued. Today that changes with the release of their 5th album Night Gnomes. Hailing from Australia (which has become an incredible psychedelic hotspot over the years) the … Read more
FonFon RuCollapse Of The Silver BridgeRepeating Cloud Records [2022] The sophomore album from Portland, Maine, post-punkers FonFon Ru is full of energy as it covers multiple sounds of the genre while being extremely focused. Collapse Of The Silver Bridge prominently features vocalist/guitarist Harry James, as his unique sounding voice drives each of the eight tracks … 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
Tim KasherMiddling Age15 Passenger Records [2022] “What a shitty thing to say; the good die young.” is a line out of the track “The John Jouberts” from Tim Kasher’s fourth solo record Middling Age. The frontman for Cursive and The Good Life sums up his new outing perfectly in that line, as this record explores … Read more
Good GriefShake Your FaithEverything Sucks Music/HHBTM Records [2022] Liverpool band Good Grief formed in 2012 by guitarist/vocalist Will Fitzpatrick, bassist/vocalist Paul Abbott and drummer Matiss Dale. The band released a handful of singles until around 2015 when the group became more inactive minus a few occasional dates playing out. Good Grief fully reactivated in 2018, … 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
The Linda LindasGrowing UpEpitaph Records [2022] Two sisters, a cousin, and their close friend with an average age of 14. That is the make up of L.A.’s The Linda Lindas which caught fire last year when their performance of “Racist, Sexist Boy” for the Los Angeles Public Library went viral. They quickly were signed to … 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
