Lucy DacusHome VideoMatador Records [2021] Lucy Dacus returns with her third album, Home Video, and it arrives at a perfect time as her profile on the indie scene has only increased since her excellent 2018 sophomore record Historian. With the skyrocket success of her collaborative partner Phoebe Bridgers and their side project boygenius with Julien … Read more
Modest MouseThe Golden CasketEpic Records [2021] The Golden Casket is Modest Mouse’s seventh-studio album which explores the degradation of America’s psychic landscape through the glass of the smartphone screen. With such a heavy message, this record could take you down a never ending rabbit hole but instead I find the 12 tracks working to find … Read more
Richard X Heyman Copious NotesTurn-Up Records [2021] Richard X Heyman, like most power-pop artists who came of age in the 80’s, draws on earlier generations for influences, most obviously the Beatles and British Invasion bands, LA sound bands like the Byrds, and pop songwriters from folk, R&B, and Motown. Starting out as a drummer in … Read more
The MurlocsBittersweet DemonsATO/Flightless Records [2021] Melbourne-based five-piece The Murlocs always will be tagged with an asterisk that describes them as having two members of the ever growing popular King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Those two members are lead singer/guitarist/harmonica player Ambrose Kenny-Smith and bassist Cook Craig but the Murlocs have plenty of other talent … Read more
Danny Elfman Big MessANTI-/Epitaph Records [2021] Rarely has an artist captured the tone and energy of their recording project as accurately and succinctly as Danny Elfman does here in the album title Big Mess. Of course, Elfman is best known of late as the composer of music scores for over a 100 films going all … Read more
The Mountain Goats Dark In HereMerge Records [2021] It’s hard off the top of my head to imagine a more prolific and talented songwriter currently working today than John Darnielle, the creative talent at the heart of The Mountain Goats. (Bill Mallonee is the only other contender that comes to mind.) But of course, quantity … Read more
Garbage No Gods No MastersStunvolume/Infectious Music [2021] Ever since Garbage came out of the box in 1995, the band – boasting Scottish front woman Shirley Manson and oft-lauded producer Butch Vig on drums – has created edgy alternative rock by wedding techno and electronic influences with dance-y, trip-hop rhythms and smart, crunchy power pop melodic … Read more
Black River Delta Shakin’SofaBurn Records [2021] After a couple of listens to the hardcore blues rock of Black River Delta’s third album, Shakin’, you’d likely be surprised to learn that this band doesn’t come from the southern U.S., or even Ohio like the similar sounding Black Keys, but is actually comprised of a quartet from … Read more
PardonerCame Down DifferentBar/None Records [2021] It is not hard to look around to find indie rock but it’s always exciting to find an album that takes it to the next level. That is the one line I would use to describe San Francisco’s Pardoner and their third LP, Came Down Different. The band takes a … Read more
Liz Phair SoberishChrysalis Records [2021] When Liz Phair’s debut album, Exile In Guyville, was released in 1993, she was a critic’s darling and an indie rock superhero for her gutsy lyrical bravado. While the album was a modest commercial success, it was named the number one album of that year by Spin Magazine and the … Read more
Grave Flowers Bongo Band Strength Of SpringCastle Face Records [2021] When Grave Flowers Bongo Band’s debut album Flower Pot came out on L.A.’s Permanent Records in 2018, it was something of an anomaly. It was different from the usual garage and psych records Permanent puts out (like Frankie and the Witch Fingers, among others), and … Read more
Gary Louris Jump For JoySham/Thirty Tigers [2021] As befits this year of the pandemic lockdown, Jayhawks’ leader and main songwriter Gary Louris has delivered his second solo album, Jump For Joy, a more intimate project where he wrote, sang, played all the instruments, and produced. The Jayhawks album released last year, XOXO, was more of … Read more
Chrissie Hynde Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob DylanBMG [2021] Chrissie Hynde was fresh from the release of another very good Pretenders’ album, Hate For Sale, when everyone was reckoning with the fact that the pandemic wasn’t a passing thing, and tours and concerts were going to be on hold for another year. … Read more
The Routes MesmerisedAction Weekend / Bickerton Records [2021] The Routes are exactly why the quote “rock n’ roll can never die” exists. Mesmerised represents the eighth long-player to date from the Japan based group and it is a blast of sixties-influenced garage beat rock that has a DIY approach with its brashness, high octane energy … Read more
Lambchop ShowtunesMerge Records [2021] Lambchop is a loosely defined collaborative focused by the artistic vision and voice of Kurt Wagner, who has defined this latest project as “Showtunes for people who don’t like showtunes.” While we tend to think of showtunes as up-tempo, focused by catchy melodies that move along the narrative toward some happy … Read more
James All The Colours Of YouVirgin Music [2021] In 1993 when Manchester, England band James had a break-out single with “Laid,” no doubt as much for all of its talk of “passionate love,” and that “she only comes when she’s on top,” the band was on their fifth album and had previous British radio hits … Read more
Reigning Sound A Little More Time With Reigning SoundMerge Records [2021] Reigning Sound’s singer/songwriter Greg Cartwright has returned to Memphis to record a collection of power-pop tracks that get back to basics. After working in the studio with Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach for 5 tracks on 2011’s EP, “Abdication… For Your Love,” and the R&B … Read more
Mdou MoctarAfrique VictimeMatador Records [2021] If I was asked to name a stand out guitarist on the indie scene today I would absolutely and confidently say Mdou Moctar. This name for sure would get blank stares from many and I would follow up my answer with something like “C’mon, you don’t know the Tuareg guitarist … Read more
black midiCavalcadeRough Trade Records [2021] When taking a look at UK’s black midi, they earn the admiration of music fans. How do they do this? To break music rules like they do, you have to be a quick study. Geordie Greep (vocals, guitar), Cameron Picton (vocals, bass, synths, samples), Morgan Simpson (drums), Seth Evans (keyboard, … Read more
Jackson Reid Briggs & The HeatersWaiting In A CornerLegless/Drunken Sailor Records [2021] If you took Melbourne’s Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters temperature from the opening riff on their new and fifth album, Waiting In A Corner, you would call the doctor because this band comes in hot, stays hot and never simmers. Jackson Reid … Read more
John Hiatt With The Jerry Douglas Band Leftover FeelingsNew West Records [2021] It’s hard with a songwriter like John Hiatt, who seems to wear his heart on his sleeve, to imagine that on his 24th album he’d still have Leftover Feelings. On songs like “I Stood Up,” which describes him coming to sobriety, or “Your … Read more
Beachy HeadBeachy HeadGraveface Records [2021] Beachy Head is a new group but it features members of Slowdive, The Flaming Lips, The Casket Girls, The Soft Cavalry, Mojave 3, Monster Movie and Minor Victories. That collective resume should be enough to make any indie fan take notice and the music on their debut rewards those that … Read more
St. Vincent Daddy’s HomeLoma Vista Recordings [2021] One of the most intriguing aspects of the musical artistry of St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, is that as she adapts her musical style to match the artistic aim of each project, she evolves in the way she presents herself, adapting a character to fit the concept. On … Read more
The Black Keys Delta KreamEasy Eye Sound/Nonesuch Records [2021] Ten studio albums and two decades into their career, any fans of The Black Keys who’ve dug in past their string of rock hits, like “Lonely Boy,” “Fever,” and “Lo/Hi,” is well aware of the band’s interest in the Mississippi delta blues music of artists like … Read more
Damien Jurado The Monster Who Hated PennsylvaniaMaraqopa Records [2021] The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania, the 17th album for singer/songwriter Damien Jurado and first for his own label Maraqopa Records, is an intimate affair, ten songs that capture the characters in a decisive moment in time. The brief album notes suggest it’s the “middle ground between … Read more