Connections Foreign Affairs Trouble In Mind Records [2018] Who: Foreign Affairs is the fifth album, and first for Trouble In Mind, from the Columbus Ohio band Connections that features former members of 84 Nash (Rockathon Records). Sound: Lo-fi indie pop that mixes the sound of early Guided By Voices with the raw rock of The … Read more
Sleep The Sciences Third Man Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Follow the smoke once more to the riff filled lands. Sleep now presents you with the riff tree Album Review: Over dunes, you’ve walked many miles, your entire body is heavy from the punishing journey. You’ve done as Jerusalem’s sacred texts have said, you followed … Read more
Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending Domino Records [2018] Fire Note Says: On their fifth album, Franz Ferdinand embrace a polished pop sensibility. Album Review: If you’ve been paying attention to creative movement in the rock music scene for long enough you begin to notice how sounds and styles tend to recycle even as new artists are … Read more
Laura Veirs The Lookout Raven Marching Band Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Laura Veirs is indie folk’s best-kept secret, and she delivers one of her most rewarding records with The Lookout Album Review: Laura Veirs music effortlessly evokes the cool, misty forests of her Pacific Northwest home-base of Portland, Oregon. Her music has always been … Read more
Say Sue Me Where We Were Together Damnably/Electric Muse Records [2018] Who: Say Sue Me is a surf-inspired indie rock quartet from Busan, South Korea. Where We Were Together is the bands sophomore album. Sound: Say Sue Me has a surf sway behind their indie jangles and fits right in with artists like La Luz, … Read more
Astral Swans Strange Prison Tiny Room Records [2018] Who: Calgary’s Astral Swans sophomore LP, Strange Prison is a haunting and stark look into the imaginative psyche of songwriter Matthew Swann . Sound: Matthew Swann’s quirky blend of lo-fi melancholic folk rock stays with you long after the album finishes playing. TFN Final Take: 2015’s My … Read more
Speedy Ortiz Twerp Verse Carpark Records [2018] Who: Twerp Verse, is Speedy Ortiz’s third album and first full-length in three years. The band has always been politically mindful but after the more recent political climate the band scrapped their early material after Foil Deer and created what they feel is a more relevant and important … Read more
The Bonnevilles Dirty Photographs Alive Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Northern Irish guitar/drum duo, The Bonnesvilles stay true to their “garage punk blues” ethos on Dirty Photographs, with modest accents as a sign of growth. Album Review: The Bonnevilles, the guitar/drum duo of Andre McGibbon, Jr., and Chris McMullan of Northern Ireland, have made a … Read more
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
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
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
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 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 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 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 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
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 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
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
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
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
Sloan 12 Yep Roc Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Sloan shows no signs of slowing down on 12! Album Review: Twelve albums with all the original members is a rare achievement in the music world these days but that is exactly what we get here from Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Sloan. The band has returned with … Read more
Erika Wennerstrom Sweet Unknown Partisan Records [2018] Fire Note Says: Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards takes a solo run. Album Review: Last May, when Lucinda Williams and her band made their way to the intimate confines of the Victoria Theater in Dayton, the unexpected special guest opening the show was Erika Wennerstrom, best known for … Read more
Zola Jesus Okovi: Additions Sacred Bones Records [2018] Who: Nika Roza Danilova, back for seconds after last year’s release. Sound: Goth-pop with deep, soulful vocals. TFN Final Take: Okovi: Additions is a companion to last year’s LP, Okovi. Additions has four new tracks and four reimagined songs from its predecessor. Of the previously unreleased work, … Read more
Kansas: “Leftoverture” 40th Anniversary Tour; Victoria Theater; Dayton, OH – Wednesday, March 21, 2018 So, over the years, my appreciation and interest in the band Kansas has diminished my standing on the “Cool” quotient data board, that’s a given which I’ve managed to live with for decades. RollingStone magazine once declared that Kansas made music … Read more