OseesProtean ThreatCastle Face Records [2020] Who: OCS, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, and Osees. Whatever they want to call themselves hail from San Francisco, California and have been making music since 2003. Sound: Osees have always had a knack for sounds of the otherworldly. These dungeon master punks brandish their … Read more
Bent Arcana Bent ArcanaCastle Face Records [2020] Who: John Dwyer’s Bent Arcana was quite a surprise. To call them a supergroup doesn’t feel quite right but the players are on point. Filling out the line up: Ryan Sawyer, Peter Kerlin, Kyp Malone, Brad Caulkins, Tom Dolas, Marcos Rodriguez, Laena “Geronimo” Myers-Ionita, Joce Soubiran, and Andres … Read more
DMA’S The GlowInfectious Music [2020] In the half a dozen years that DMA’s have been together, they’ve proven to not only be productive, with an EP and now three full length albums to their credit, but also commercially viable in their native Australia and beyond. The band formed around three songwriters – singer Thomas O’Dell, … Read more
Kllo Maybe We CouldGhostly International [2020] These cousins from Melbourne Australia, Kllo (rhymes with “flow”) return with a follow-up to their 2017 electro-pop debut, Breakthrough. As described in their bio, the two abandoned recording together late in 2018, following tours that took them around the world twice, unsure about their musical direction and focus. Drawn … Read more
Moby All Visible ObjectsLittle Idiot/Mute Records [2020] The fact that we’re talking about the 17th album by Moby says a lot. Few artists have the distinction of taking a music form often limited to the club scene – dance, electronica, ambient – and giving it mainstream relevance, earning pop radio airplay in the bargain. Early … Read more
BullySUGAREGGSub Pop Records [2020] There is a lot to be said about restarts. That is what Bully’s third record, SUGAREGG, feels like as founder Alicia Bognanno admits that finding the proper treatment for her bipolar II disorder radically altered her mindset, freeing her from a cycle of paranoia and insecurity about her work. With that … Read more
Old 97’s TwelfthATO Records [2020] The Old 97’s have been plugging away since forming in 1993, playing alt-country with such consistency that it might be tempting to take their musical strengths for granted. Picking up where cow-punk 80’s bands like Jason & the Scorchers and Lone Justice left off, singer Rhett Miller, guitarist Ken Bethea, … Read more
Jason MolinaEight GatesSecretly Canadian [2020] Eight Gates is the last collection of solo studio recordings Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co.) made before he passed away from complications related to alcoholism in 2013. Honestly, you really can’t listen to this record without getting a bit somber as this short 9 song record puts a … Read more
The Chicks GaslighterColumbia Records [2020] With women coming on strong in popular country music last year via strong feminist empowerment anthems from the Highwomen collaborative made up of Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hamby, and Maren Morris, and Carlile’s collaborative production giving Tanya Tucker a career reboot, you had to know that we were due … Read more
My Morning Jacket The Waterfall IIATO Records [2020] Back in 2015 when My Morning Jacket was releasing their well-received seventh studio album, The Waterfall, singer/songwriter Jim James reported that the band had recorded enough new music for it to be a double album. Like much of the MMJ oeuvre, that album was marked by the … Read more
WhitneyCandidSecretly Canadian [2020] Whitney really does seem like a band made to release a covers record. Especially, when most of the music business has been on shut down, so a record like Candid even makes more sense. Whitney has already released two records full of that warm 70’s radio ready soft rock sound so when … Read more
NOFX / Frank TurnerWest Coast Vs. WessexFat Wreck Chords [2020] When Fat Mike of NOFX phoned up Frank Turner and asked him if he wanted to do a split covers album the answer was a quick YES! West Coast Vs. Wessex finds NOFX filtering five of Turner’s songs through their lens while Turner pays back … Read more
Randy Holden Population IIRidingEasy Records [2020] Randy Holden’s Population II has had a long, tortuous road to its most recent reissue, the ins and outs of which could probably support a full-length article if not a book. After stints in various garage rock bands including Los Angeles psych rock act The Other Half, Holden briefly … Read more
Liza Anne Bad VacationArts & Crafts [2020] Georgia-based, indie rocker Liza Anne returns with her fourth album of smart pop-craft, with plenty of 80’s new wave, pop/punk and rock influences on display. Past efforts have dealt with mental health issues head on in songs like “Panic Attack” and “Paranoia,” and here she describes the inner … Read more
Taylor Swift FolkloreRepublic Records [2020] It’s almost hard to say what’s more surprising here, that Taylor Swift dropped a surprise new album last Thursday that was entirely recorded in the months of this virus pandemic quarantine, or that you’re reading about it here on The Fire Note, where we pride ourselves by primarily focusing on … Read more
Weiwu Are You Perfect Yet?Self-Released [2020] Weiwu is the name chosen by Michael Gungor, as he steps away from the contemporary Christian music band that he led with his wife, Gungor, to explore both a broader, more expansive musical and spiritual realm, which for lack of better genre definition has been loosely labeled as “New … Read more
Rufus Wainwright Unfollow The RulesBMG [2020] Somehow, even when Rufus Wainwright was getting a lot of buzz for the sophisticated sound on his self-titled debut (’98) and his sophomore outing, Poses, he felt like an old soul, someone who’s idea of pop music came from Cole Porter’s prestigious catalog in the 1930’s, and prone to … Read more
Holy Wave InterloperReverberation Appreciation Society [2020] Who: The story of Holy Wave starts in El Paso, Texas. This quickly changes in 2008 after a life altering My Blood Valentine show. The band then relocated to Austin where they’ve continued to reside. Sound: The Texas psychedelic scene has always been an impressive one. Holy Wave is … Read more
The Jayhawks XOXOSham/Thirty Tigers [2020] While the quartet of musicians at the heart of The Jayhawks have been together more or less for a quarter of a century, much of the attention around the band’s two breakout albums in the 90’s – “Hollywood Town Hall” and “Tomorrow the Green Grass” – much of the focus … Read more
Wire 10:20Pinkflag [2020] While 2020 has taken a lot away from us, like live concerts and international travel, one thing we worth celebrating is that we not only got a strong new Wire album early in the year in Mind Hive, but now, intended as a Record Store Day release, we get a second studio … Read more
Muzz MuzzMatador Records [2020] According the dictionary, “muzz” is a transitive verb which is British slang that means “to confuse” someone, or make them muzzy, which suggests that someone might be ill or drunk, while to make a picture “muzzy” means it’s unclear or out of focus. Which makes it a curious choice for a … Read more
Jaime Wyatt Neon CrossNew West Records [2020] Over the decades, county music has loved a hard luck story, a tears in your beer weeper about a romance gone bad, hard livin’ and hard lovin’ with the promise of a party on the weekend. But it also came with the expectation of authenticity, the idea … Read more
The 1975 Notes On A Conditional FormDirty Hit/Interscope Records [2020] By now, there are some constants that we can assert about The 1975. They like to dream big, and they love a wide concept with lots of room for experimentation. They come up with cool, often long album titles. Oh, and musically, well, they are … Read more
Thao & The Get Down Stay DownTempleRibbon Music [2020] After 2016’s A Man Alive release Thao Nguyen lost interest in her music and the group as she struggled with multiple life issues. The good news is that she has returned with the groups fifth album Temple and it probably represents one of the most personal … Read more
EOB EarthCapitol Records [2020] EOB is the moniker used by Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien for this debut solo venture, Earth, the music of which he has said was inspired by a year of living in Brazil with his family and, oddly enough, the 1991 album from the band Primal Scream, Screamidelica. While we’ve heard several … Read more