Tim Foljahn I Dreamed A DreamCart/Horse Records [2021] Guitarist Tim Foljahn has been around for a while. In addition to making six albums with the New Jersey outfit, Two Dollar Guitar, he’s toured as a support player with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Cat Power, most famously his band was hired to record an album with … Read more
Jeff RosenstockSKA DREAMPolyvinyl Records [2021] A good song is a good song. That is why single covers work so many times for artists. Full album covers can be a bit harder but when an artist puts their own spin on it typically it makes for a good listen. Many times after the novelty wears off … Read more
SquidBright Green FieldWarp Records [2021] It is always fun to see certain musical movements take over an area of the world. TFN has been getting very accustomed to looking to Australia for fresh psychedelic rock and now with Squid, London is the “it” place to be for mind bending genre jumping post-punk. First black midi … Read more
Weezer Van WeezerCrush Music/Atlantic Records [2021] Back in 2018, when Weezer shared a co-headline tour with The Pixies, everything about the former’s end of set theatrics suggested the band’s need for an album like Van Weezer. As suggested in The Fire Note concert review at the time, when the set design switched from the “garage … Read more
Finn’s Motel Fireworks Or LightningVictory Over Gravity [2021] One of the pleasures of advanced age is being around long enough to experience the development of a musician or artist over the course of their creative life. Back in the 80’s and early 90’s when I was writing about music out and about in St. Louis … Read more
Teenage Fanclub Endless ArcadeMerge Records [2021] In 1991, when Scottish band Teenage Fanclub first broke in No. America with their third album, Bandwagonesque, their sound was brimming with electric guitars turned up so they were humming on the edge of feeding back, brisk pop song rhythms with Beatlesque hooks and harmonies, and two strong singles … Read more
Guided By VoicesEarth Man BluesGBV Inc. [2021] The 33rd Guided By Voices album, Earth Man Blues, is one of the most in sync records that members Pollard, Gillard, Bare Jr., Shue and March have released together. For those not as familiar with the band, you might question how this could be since so many groups … Read more
Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of GodLoma Vista Recordings [2021] The sixth album from Atlanta alt/rock quartet Manchester Orchestra feels like the culmination of their 15 years as recording artists, bringing together their early guitar rock inclinations with the orchestrated compositional depth that came later. 2017’s A Black Mile to the Surface embraced a cinematic, … Read more
CastVigesimusProgressive Promotions Records [2021] Sometimes a band just nails it right off the rip. Fully-formed debut albums are a rarity to be sure. So what to make of a band that records their masterpiece after 43 years and nineteen albums? Yes, Vigesimus is Latin for “twentieth” and after toiling in the relative silence of the … Read more
Spread JoySpread JoyFeel It Records [2021] Chicago’s Spread Joy are an intensely tight post punk band that gives everything they got on their 14 minute debut in exciting and short packages. The needling guitar and pacing stop short drums keep every song from Spread Joy in a perfect sequence and create a seamless experience from … Read more
Proper Nouns Feel FreePhone Booth Records [2021] Feel Free is the debut Baltimore’s Proper Nouns, a power pop three-piece led by singer/songwriter and guitarist Spencer Compton. Joined by Jon Birkholz on bass and Joe Martin on drums, Proper Nouns delivers the kind of fast, punchy, punk-influenced, 80’s alt/pop associated with artists like Elvis Costello, Squeeze, … Read more
Todd Snider The Agnostic Church of Hope and WonderAimless Records [2021] Here in the pandemic that defined 2020 and this first half of ’21, while most of us have been working/schooling at home, binging TV series at an alarming rate and snacking endlessly to assuage the haunting sense of ennui, many of our favorite artists … Read more
Dinosaur Jr. Sweep It Into SpaceJagjaguwar [2021] In a case of being in the wrong place at the right time, alternative rock power trio Dinosaur Jr. had their best-selling, major label releases in the first half of the 90’s, which got them lumped in with the grunge bands of the Pacific Northwest like Nirvana and … Read more
CIVICFuture ForecastFlightless Records [2021] Melbourne and Flightless Records have been one of the main reasons psych music has risen above ground the last several years but don’t pigeon hole the label because they have some great other artists of their roster that are outside the genre. One of those is CIVIC, as their melody filled … Read more
Keith Kenny Lifetime Ago MoteliNtuRecords [2021] New Jersey indie recording artist Keith Kenny’s fifth album is a testament to the persistence and innovation required to thrive as a singer/songwriter in the digital age, made all the worse by the forced touring sabbatical required due to the pandemic. Kenny’s career as a band-of-one allowed him to … Read more
Ryley WalkerCourse In FableHusky Pants Records [2021] Ryley Walker has walked an interesting musical path since his last solo release of Deafman Glance in 2018 but more importantly he is celebrating a new beginning of sorts in 2021 with sobriety after a long time of addiction and a suicide attempt in 2019. Musically, he released … Read more
Spirit Of The BeehiveENTERTAINMENT, DEATHSaddle Creek Records [2021] The saying always goes that change is good. If you are a believer in that moto then the new Spirit Of The Beehive record will strike your interest. For the Philadelphia band there is plenty of “change” that runs throughout their fourth LP, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, and it … Read more
The Choir Deep CutsGalaxy21 Music [2021] Originally formed in the 80’s, The Choir’s long creative partnership between singer and guitarist Derri Daugherty and drummer and lyricist Steve Hindalong continues to reap rich musical rewards on the band’s 16th studio album. While no band thrives through multiple decades without some willingness to adapt to changing musical … Read more
HooveriiiWater For The FrogsThe Reverberation Appreciation Society [2021] At this point in 2021, if your band hails from Australia, Los Angeles or Austin it won’t surprise anyone if your specialty is psychedelia. That leads us to LA’s Hooveriii (pronounced Hoover 3), which you can add to your psychedelic rolodex as the group brings their own … Read more
Mt. MountainCentreFuzz Club Records [2021] Australian five-piece Mt. Mountain’s fourth album, Centre, is a sprawling, psychedelic rocker that rides the edge of quiet waves right before they crash. That anticipation of when their music switches gears is exactly Mt. Mountain’s strength and it is why Centre is great listen from front to back. This surreal … Read more
Bill Mallonee & The Big Sky Ramblers A Clamoring Of GhostsSelf-Released [2021] Bill Mallonee knows all the words, and he’s not afraid to use them. After 10 years of slogging it out on road throughout the 90’s, as the singer/songwriter that came to define Athens, GA alternative rock band, Vigilantes of Love through a … Read more
Cheap Trick In Another WorldBMG [2021] When guitarist Rick Nielsen formed Cheap Trick in Rockford, IL back in 1973, it seems more than doubtful that he could have imagined that he be releasing the band’s 20th studio album 48 years later. For a band with such staying power, it’s a bit strange that their greatest … Read more
The Natvral TethersKanine Records [2021] As the leader of NYC indiepop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman & Co. leaned into noisy pop of My Bloody Valentine and the 80’s melodic hooks favored by bands like the Psychedelic Furs and Echo & the Bunnymen. When that band broke up in 2017, … Read more
Dry CleaningNew Long Leg4AD [2021] New Long Leg is London-based band Dry Cleaning’s debut album and it easily was one of the most anticipated releases of 2021 after their pair of excellent EPs released in 2019. It is record of control as the group mesmerizes you with background guitar runs fronted by the modern spoken … Read more
SmirkLPDrunken Sailor/Feel It Records [2021] Smirk is the solo project of Nick Vicario (Public Eye, Crisis Man, Autistic Youth), and while you’ll hear similarities to some of his past more punk bands these 12 tracks from his new record titled LP, highlight Vicario having fun at this point in his career. Smirk has a much … Read more