Scout Niblett It’s Up To Emma Drag City Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Emma Louise Niblett’s decade-long run of excellence continues. Album Review: When most critics talk of Scout Niblett they inevitably bring up Cat Power and PJ Harvey. But it is her work with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and especially the late, great Jason Molina … Read more
These New Puritans Field Of Reeds Infectious Music [2013] Fire Note Says: Jack Barnett and company – for better or worse – leave Rock ‘N Roll in their rear view mirror. Album Review: This is a hard record for me to be completely objective about – for several reasons. To start with, These New Puritans’ … Read more
Kylesa Ultraviolet Season Of Mist Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Savannah stoner metal band continue refining their sound with very good results. Album Review: Like fellow Georgian genre-hoppers Baroness, Kylesa is a bit of a paradox. Their early material was heavy on swamp sludge but as each personal tragedy, band shake-up or label change occurred … Read more
Rogue Wave Nightingale Floors Vagrant Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The new Rogue Wave serves as a kind of return to form – with mixed results. Album Review: Zach Schwartz (aka Zach Rogue) has had the kind of career most indie rock bands at the beginning of the 21st century could have only dreamed of … Read more
Baths Obsidian Anticon Records [2013] Fire Note Says: After a near death experience, Will Wiesenfeld drops a near masterpiece. Album Review: On his 2010 debut as Baths (the woefully neglected Cerulean) Will Wiesenfeld was content to let his laptop do most of the talking for him. A cool hybrid of the LA beat scene and … Read more
The Hussy Pagan Hiss Southpaw Records[2013] Fire Note Says: Frenetic Madison, Wisconsin duo stir up quite a ruckus on their third album. Album Review: She (Heather Hussy) plays drums; he (Bobby Hussy) plays guitar. They both contribute on the vocal end of things so the White Stripes comparisons don’t fly. Besides, they share little of … Read more
Dead Gaze Dead Gaze Fat Cat Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Dead Gaze’s debut full-length is a lo-fi diamond in the rough. Album Review: Northern Mississippi is hardly known as a hotbed of indie music but perhaps that is about to change thanks to something called the Cats Purring Collective outside Oxford, a college town … Read more
Graham MacRae Dundrearies A Man A Plan A Canal [2013] Fire Note Says: LA singer/songwriter’s second album shows signs of real potential. Album Review: After a five year absence, Los Angeles native Graham MacRae returns with his sophomore release. Having not heard his first album I felt it important to catch up and spent some … Read more
Over The Ocean Be Given To The Soil Spartan Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Virginia post-rock band wears their dark heart on their sleeve on sophomore album. Album Review: “I have seen the sky turn black/And a storm is coming.” Those lines from the first song on Virginia Beach post-rock band Over The Ocean’s second … Read more
The Wednesday Club Passing Strange Cath ‘N Dad Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Brainiac Leeds troupe continue work on their Doctorate in learned indie weirdness. Album Review: If you haven’t been familiarized with The Wednesday Club yet and what it is they stand for, they pronounce it clearly for you on the very first song … Read more
Purson The Circle And The Blue Door Rise Above Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Purson explores all that was good about late sixties/early seventies folk, prog and hard rock. Album Review: It’s not very often that we here at The Fire Note take notice of a heavy metal band. I personally find all the satanic … Read more
Wampire Curiosity Polyvinyl Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Portland duo tries a plethora of influences on for size. And it all fits. Album Review: Wampire’s debut album, Curiosity, is one of those hard to pin down records. For days on end I listened, and kept listening. Was this really that good? Or have I been … Read more
!!! Thr!!!er Warp Records [2013] Fire Note Says: !!! wants us to party like it’s 1983. Album Review: It’ll be 30 years this December since Michael Jackson dropped Thriller onto an unsuspecting world. (That is almost as hard to believe as the fact that next month will mark the fourth anniversary of his death.) It … Read more
The Lovely Bad Things The Late Great Whatever Volcom Entertainment [2013] Fire Note Says: If The Pixies were a surf punk band they’d probably sound a lot like this. Album Review: Some bands are never going to change your life. Orange County’s The Lovely Bad Things easily fall into that category and given the joyous … Read more
Meat Puppets Rat Farm Megaforce Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The legendary Meat Puppets fourth post-reunion (and 14th overall) album is an unqualified winner. Album Review: Drugs have always played a pivotal role in the music and the fate of Arizona cow punks the Meat Puppets. Although sung unintelligibly, 1982’s hyperactive hardcore debut on SST … Read more
Still Corners Strange Pleasures Sub Pop Records [2013] Fire Note Says: London boy/girl duo reaches out for larger audience with their uneven sophomore album. Album Review: Dream pop is a tricky genre. The idea is lay low and let the subtleties in the music and/or production create moods, evoke memories and then tap into that … Read more
Keaton Henson Birthdays ANTI- Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Keaton Henson’s Birthdays is an album of strange beauty and grand self-loathing. Album Review: For his second full-length release visual artist Keaton Henson continues searching the depths of his psyche and again finds darkness. Fleshed out (somewhat) compared to last year’s impressive debut, Dear, the mood … Read more
The Thermals Desperate Ground Saddle Creek Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Six albums in, The Thermals continue to do no wrong. Album Review: The new album by Portland post-pop-punk trio The Thermals begins with the following salvo: “I was born to kill/Made to slay, unafraid to spill/Blood on the land, when you command/I will.” With … Read more
Born Ruffians Birthmarks Yep Roc/Paper Bag Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Born Ruffians give us another fine yet predictable set of indie pop-rock. Album Review: Born Ruffians are just one of those kind of bands: you know, the kind you want to like a lot more than you actually do. They’ve got everything just about … Read more
The Dear Hunter Migrant Equal Vision/Cave and Canary Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The Dear Hunter puts grand ambition aside and give us their best album to date. Album Review: Casey Crescenzo is a talented guy. A good songwriter, a more than capable singer, multi-instrumentalist – all that. The problem for a newcomer to The … Read more
Caveman Caveman Fat Possum Records [2013] Fire Note Says: New York quintet drop an album of subtle, sun-drenched indie pop. Album Review: Some records have a way of sneaking up on you. Case in point: the sophomore album from Brooklyn’s Caveman. I really almost gave up on this and I am so glad I didn’t. … Read more
The Besnard Lakes Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO Jagjaguwar Records [2013] Fire Note Says: The Besnard Lakes release another beautiful and enigmatic album. Album Review: Full disclosure: I am an unabashed superfan of this group. This puts me in a terrible place from which to listen critically to Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes’ fourth and most … Read more
Wavves Afraid Of Heights Mom + Pop Music [2013] Fire Note Says: Nathan Williams cleans it up and gives us a solid slab of SoCal stoner punk. Album Review: Given the straight-line creative arc within the Wavves discography, the high gloss production values of Afraid Of Heights should come as no surprise. Following two lo-fi … Read more
Daughter If You Leave 4AD Records [2013] Fire Note Says: Daughter’s debut album is a quiet, damaged, three hankie affair. Album Review: Some music conjures up a strong sense of color or hue – the dark black of Swans, the Technicolor of Animal Collective, the sepia cast sounds of Beach House or the bright neons … Read more
The Grenadines The Grenadines Communicating Vessels [2013] Fire Note Says: The Grenadines debut album is a diverse and uneven ride. Album Review: Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, The Grenadines make zero effort to conceal their Southern roots. Fronted by husband/wife team of Michael and Lauren Shackelford, they make a noise approximating a Dixie Yo La Tengo … Read more