The Chambermaids Whatever Happened Tomorrow Guilt Ridden Pop/Old Blackberry Way [2013] Fire Note Says: Minneapolis brother/sister act hit all the right notes with an all-too-short third album. Album Review: The Chambermaids are an on-again/off-again dream pop outfit headed by siblings Neil and Martha Weir. Formed in 2003 as The Shut-In’s, their tendency to go on … Read more
Hello 2014! There have already been some great releases in January but what is on the horizon? Who is the next band you should tell all your friends about? Is there a chance to catch someone cool on tour that is playing a sub galley? Well, The Fire Note monthly Bandcamp feature is back so … Read more
Acid Fast Rabid Moon Protagonist Music/Stupid Bag Records [2014] Fire Note Says: Acid Fast conjure up images of a time long, long ago: the glorious post-hardcore nineties. Album Review: Some records hew just a little too close to their influences while others thread the needle by infusing enough personality to make all the rehashing bearable. … Read more
Sleepy Sun Maui Tears Dine Alone Records [2014] Fire Note Says: San Francisco psych stalwarts return with an energetic and trippy fourth album. Album Review: Okay, so there’s this five piece band out of San Francisco named Sleepy Sun. Quick: guess what they sound like! Yup. They sound exactly like that. And then some. There’s … Read more
Terry Malts Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere Slumberland Records [2013] Fire Note Says: San Francisco scuzz-punks return with a short reminder of why punk still matters. Album Review: With the demise of Brit-pop sound-a-likes Magic Bullets (from which all three members of Terry Malts sprang) vocalist Phil Benson, guitarist Corey Cunningham and drummer Nathan Sweatt … Read more
Julia Holter Loud City Song Domino Records [2013] Fire Note Says: LA art-pop songstress creates a near masterpiece with her third LP. Album Review: Julia Holter certainly doesn’t shy away from big subject matters. Her first album (2011’s Tragedy) was based on Eurypides’ Hippolytus and last year’s brilliant Ekstasis drew from Virginia Woolf (among others.) … Read more
Progressive Rock has a bad, and for the most part deserved, reputation. Indulgent, pretentious, pompous, overwrought, self-absorbed, ridiculous – all adjectives that can accurately describe the genre. There’s a reason it more or less disappeared around 1980. Although there have been numerous revival attempts from Marillion in the eighties to The Mars Volta in this … Read more
The Fire Note wouldn’t be possible without the talented writers that have signed on here to share their educated thoughts and true enjoyment of music with our readers. Our year end Top 50 is coming later this week but clearly everyone has different tastes and ideas when naming the best album released in 2013. So … Read more
Yes The Studio Albums 1969-1987 Atlantic Records [2013] Fire Note Says: A box set from progressive rock kings Yes – just in time for Christmas! Album Review: There is absolutely no need for this box set’s existence and yet I am overjoyed that it’s here. The only thing that’s new here is a re-mastered version … Read more
Epicycle You’re Not Gonna Get It HoZac Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Chicago area powerpop/punk band get the anthology treatment. Album Review: File under: could have been big. Or three years of bratty suburban mayhem distilled into one really cool record. During their original incarnation Epicycle put out one LP and a handful of 7″ … Read more
Sink Tapes How You Mean Mint 400 Records[2013] Fire Note Says: Kick back, relax and let Sink Tapes brand of easy pop wash all over you. Album Review: I first encountered Sink Tapes on their excellent second album, Please Touch. It had a casual confidence to it that I really enjoyed. So needless to say … Read more
Shearwater Fellow Travelers Sub Pop Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Jonathan Meiburg’s latest re-works the songs of tourmates past and present. Album Review: Ah…the dreaded covers album. From David Bowie to Nick Cave, The Ramones to Ozzy, Tori Amos to Nada Surf, it seems sooner or later every artist gets the itch to record an … Read more
Wymond Miles Cut Yourself Free Sacred Bones Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The Fresh & Onlys guitarist gets dark on his second solo album. Album Review: Anyone expecting the kind of garage psych-pop his main band deals in would have been sadly disappointed with Wymond Miles’ debut offering last year. Under The Pale Moon was … Read more
Swearin’ Surfing Strange Salinas Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Swearin’ recalibrate their formula on their nineties-indebted second album. Album Review: On Swearin’s excellent self-titled debut, Allison Crutchfield dominated almost every track and the results were stunning. Yeah sure they’re a four-piece but it had the feel of a solo album from the ex-P.S. Eliot singer. … Read more
Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine TVT Records Released: October 20, 1989 Producer: Trent Reznor, Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer Length: 48:42 Trent Reznor did not invent industrial music. But with his 1989 debut as Nine Inch Nails he might as well have. When I first heard Pretty Hate Machine I was floored. … Read more
Midlake Antiphon ATO Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The Midlake reboot reasserts their claim to being the best ever soft rock band out of Denton. Album Review: A band in crisis sometimes finds its way and survives. Sometimes even excel. Midlake found themselves without the services of lead singer and songwriter Tim Smith halfway through … Read more
Red Fang Whales And Leeches Relapse Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Red Fang’s third album fails to surprise nor does it completely disappoint either. Album Review: When I first heard “Prehistoric Dog” off Portland stoner-metal band Red Fang’s debut album I was more or less convinced that these guys were the future of metal – … Read more
Placeholder I Don’t Need Forgiveness Black Numbers [2013] Fire Note Says: Placeholder proves that the rumors of emo’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Album Review: So what are we on now? The fourth wave of emo? Let me do some quick math here. The first wave was dominated by the DC scene and bands like … Read more
TV Ghost Disconnect In The Red[2013] Fire Note Says: Lafayette Indiana’s TV Ghost puts it all together on their excellent third album. Album Review: Every era, every genre will have a revival. Some, depending on current trends, may experience multiple revisitations. Late 70’s/early 80’s UK post-punk has seen more than its share. And why not? … Read more
Frog Eyes Carey’s Cold Spring Self-Released [2013] Fire Note Says: Carey Mercer confronts riots, protests, storms and floods – and his own mortality – on his sixth album as Frog Eyes. Album Review: The Bandcamp page which is being used to sell Carey’s Cold Spring also details the vision Mercer had going into the writing … Read more
Chelsea Wolfe Pain Is Beauty Sargent House Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Chelsea Wolfe’s fourth album is the sound of brittle isolation and brutal desperation. Album Review: It must be a really dark, depressing place – that space between LA singer Chelsea Wolfe’s ears. Her music is so fraught with desolation and haunting beauty that … Read more
Polvo Siberia Merge Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Chapel Hill band release their second excellent post-reunion album. Album Review: When Polvo returned in 2009 they were way ahead of the pack. Little did we know that pretty much every 90’s indie band of consequence would reform, tour and attempt to recapture the magic of an … Read more
Anna Calvi One Breath Domino Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Anna Calvi proves why Brian Eno called her “the best thing since Patti Smith.” Album Review: On Anna Calvi’s self-titled debut she drew comparisons to PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley and (what?) even Bruce Springsteen. However, her virtuoso guitar playing and Edith Piaf-esque voice defied those … Read more
CHVRCHES The Bones Of What You Believe Glassnote Records [2013] Fire Note Says: CHVRCHES debut album or the death of the guitar in pop music – discuss. Album Review: There has been some debate around The Fire Note about the relative merits of Scottish trio CHVRCHES and their much-hyped debut album, The Bones Of What … Read more
Bird Nest Roys Me Want Me Get Me Need Me Have Me Love Captured Tracks/Flying Nun Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Reissue compiles Aukland band’s entire recorded output and reminds us of Flying Nun Records’ enormous impact. Album Review: I’ll admit it right up front: I love Kiwi-pop. I love Flying Nun for all the … Read more