Wavves: Hideaway [Album Review]
WavvesHideawayFat Possum Records [2021] It is hard to believe that Wavves broke out over a decade ago with the release of their third record, King Of The Beach, on Fat…
Hiss Golden Messenger: Quietly Blowing It [Album Review]
Hiss Golden Messenger Quietly Blowing ItMerge Records [2021] On the current single from his new album, “Sanctuary,” singer/songwriter MC Taylor, a.k.a. Hiss Golden Messenger, gets that the world is a…
Vanishing Shores: Maps [Album Review]
Vanishing Shores MapsSelf-Released [2021] Cleveland, Ohio band Vanishing Shores delivers the kind of high energy, anthemic rock on their debut full-length release Maps, that aspires to fill arenas with big…
Cub Scout Bowling Pins: Clang Clang Ho [Album Review]
Cub Scout Bowling PinsClang Clang HoGBV Inc. [2021] If you are going into this band completely blind then it is important to know that Cub Scout Bowling Pins is a…
Rose City Band: Earth Trip [Album Review]
Rose City Band Earth TripThrill Jockey Records [2021] Rose City Band is guitarist Ripley Johnson, a celebrated guitarist from Portland, Ore. who also sings and plays guitar with psychedelic rock…
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Butterfly 3000 [Album Review]
King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardButterfly 3000KGLW [2021] If you have been with the Fire Note for a while, I feel like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a…
Faye Webster: I Know I’m Funny haha [Album Review]
Faye Webster I Know I’m Funny hahaSecretly Canadian [2021] Atlanta-based, singer-songwriter Faye Webster got the biggest boost to her career when the first single from her new album, “Better Distractions,”…
The Wallflowers: Exit Wounds [Album Review]
The Wallflowers Exit WoundsNew West Records [2021] By the time Jakob Dylan stepped into the studio with his band The Wallflowers to record Bringing Down the Horse, the band’s breakthrough…
Needles//Pins: Needles//Pins [Album Review]
Needles//PinsNeedles//PinsDirt Cult Records [2021] There is so much music that was created during the pandemic year that it honestly has been hard to keep up with the volume. With the…
Qlowski: Quale Futuro? [Album Review]
QlowskiQuale Futuro?Maple Death/Feel It Records [2021] As far as I am concerned there is always room at the table for another post-punk band if their debut is as solid as…
Lucy Dacus: Home Video [Album Review]
Lucy DacusHome VideoMatador Records [2021] Lucy Dacus returns with her third album, Home Video, and it arrives at a perfect time as her profile on the indie scene has only…
Modest Mouse: The Golden Casket [Album Review]
Modest MouseThe Golden CasketEpic Records [2021] The Golden Casket is Modest Mouse’s seventh-studio album which explores the degradation of America’s psychic landscape through the glass of the smartphone screen. With…
Richard X Heyman: Copious Notes [Album Review]
Richard X Heyman Copious NotesTurn-Up Records [2021] Richard X Heyman, like most power-pop artists who came of age in the 80’s, draws on earlier generations for influences, most obviously the…
The Murlocs: Bittersweet Demons [Album Review]
The MurlocsBittersweet DemonsATO/Flightless Records [2021] Melbourne-based five-piece The Murlocs always will be tagged with an asterisk that describes them as having two members of the ever growing popular King Gizzard…
Danny Elfman: Big Mess [Album Review]
Danny Elfman Big MessANTI-/Epitaph Records [2021] Rarely has an artist captured the tone and energy of their recording project as accurately and succinctly as Danny Elfman does here in the…
The Mountain Goats: Dark In Here [Album Review]
The Mountain Goats Dark In HereMerge Records [2021] It’s hard off the top of my head to imagine a more prolific and talented songwriter currently working today than John Darnielle,…
Garbage: No Gods No Masters [Album Review]
Garbage No Gods No MastersStunvolume/Infectious Music [2021] Ever since Garbage came out of the box in 1995, the band – boasting Scottish front woman Shirley Manson and oft-lauded producer Butch…
Black River Delta: Shakin’ [Album Review]
Black River Delta Shakin’SofaBurn Records [2021] After a couple of listens to the hardcore blues rock of Black River Delta’s third album, Shakin’, you’d likely be surprised to learn that…
Pardoner: Came Down Different [Album Review]
PardonerCame Down DifferentBar/None Records [2021] It is not hard to look around to find indie rock but it’s always exciting to find an album that takes it to the next…
Liz Phair: Soberish [Album Review]
Liz Phair SoberishChrysalis Records [2021] When Liz Phair’s debut album, Exile In Guyville, was released in 1993, she was a critic’s darling and an indie rock superhero for her gutsy…
Grave Flowers Bongo Band: Strength Of Spring [Album Review]
Grave Flowers Bongo Band Strength Of SpringCastle Face Records [2021] When Grave Flowers Bongo Band’s debut album Flower Pot came out on L.A.’s Permanent Records in 2018, it was something…
Gary Louris: Jump For Joy [Album Review]
Gary Louris Jump For JoySham/Thirty Tigers [2021] As befits this year of the pandemic lockdown, Jayhawks’ leader and main songwriter Gary Louris has delivered his second solo album, Jump For…
Chrissie Hynde: Standing In The Doorway – Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan [Album Review]
Chrissie Hynde Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob DylanBMG [2021] Chrissie Hynde was fresh from the release of another very good Pretenders’ album, Hate For Sale, when everyone…
The Routes: Mesmerised [Album Review]
The Routes MesmerisedAction Weekend / Bickerton Records [2021] The Routes are exactly why the quote “rock n’ roll can never die” exists. Mesmerised represents the eighth long-player to date from…
Lambchop: Showtunes [Album Review]
Lambchop ShowtunesMerge Records [2021] Lambchop is a loosely defined collaborative focused by the artistic vision and voice of Kurt Wagner, who has defined this latest project as “Showtunes for people…
James: All The Colours Of You [Album Review]
James All The Colours Of YouVirgin Music [2021] In 1993 when Manchester, England band James had a break-out single with “Laid,” no doubt as much for all of its talk…
Reigning Sound: A Little More Time With Reigning Sound [Album Review]
Reigning Sound A Little More Time With Reigning SoundMerge Records [2021] Reigning Sound’s singer/songwriter Greg Cartwright has returned to Memphis to record a collection of power-pop tracks that get back…
Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victime [Album Review]
Mdou MoctarAfrique VictimeMatador Records [2021] If I was asked to name a stand out guitarist on the indie scene today I would absolutely and confidently say Mdou Moctar. This name…
black midi: Cavalcade [Album Review]
black midiCavalcadeRough Trade Records [2021] When taking a look at UK’s black midi, they earn the admiration of music fans. How do they do this? To break music rules like…
Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters: Waiting In A Corner [Album Review]
Jackson Reid Briggs & The HeatersWaiting In A CornerLegless/Drunken Sailor Records [2021] If you took Melbourne’s Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters temperature from the opening riff on their new…