The National’s ninth studio album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, derives its title from a moment deep in singer Matt Berninger’s bout with writer’s block. To break the lock, he will often grab a book off the shelf just to get some words in his head. In this case, the first two pages of Frankenstein…
On their fourth full-length album, the often-labeled psychedelic pop/rock quartet Temples, have chosen a title that comes close to describing both the breadth of their compositions and the lush musical textures they created with producer Sean Ono Lennon. With their 2019 release, Hot Motion, the quartet displayed their dexterity with a broad spectrum of rock…
boygenius is the supergroup trio comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Their debut album is the follow up to the group’s fantastic 2018 self-titled EP. At the time of its 6-song release, boygenius seemed like a real treat getting to hear these talented artists come together in one place and sound like…
Gramercy Arms is a NYC musical collective brought together around the songwriting of Dave Derby, who keeps the focus of this third album locked in on polished power/pop that’s inspired, as the band bio says, “by the artistic heyday of the 70’s and 80’s-era.” Derby sings, plays guitar and occasionally holds down the bass, while…
Ron Gallo has been a very well known name on the indie circuit since his solid 2017 record Heavy Meta was released. He has earned a loyal live following and shared the stage with plenty of big names like Spoon, Parquet Courts, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Wilco, and J. Mascis to just name a…
It appears to have taken a global pandemic to get power duo Quasi back into the studio 10 years after their last release. Surrounded by numerous end-of-the-world scenarios with no touring happening, it seemed the perfect time for the combined talents of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss to put their unique stamp on a dozen…
When Nashville singer-songwriter Margo Price made her debut in 2016 with Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, on Jack White’s Third Man label, the album went to No. 1 on the UK Country Album Chart, and she earned a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. Here on her fourth studio album, Price, her co-writer and husband Jeremy Ivey, and…
#10 Gus Englehorn Dungeon Master Secret City Records [2022] Montreal singer-songwriter Gus Englehorn’s sophomore record, Dungeon Master, may be one of the most unique listens TFN put its ear on this year. The album was written in a cabin but it sounds much bigger with its frequent rock out moments from Englehorn’s guitar mashing with his…
When Elder’s previous album Omens was released in 2020 it was my number three album of the year for good reason. Elder constructed a muscular tower of doom metal, prog rock, and psychedelics with nods to groups such as Rush, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and Yes. Omens showed the group even more comfortable with their classic…
The psychedelic sounds of The Black Angels have been darkening our ears ever since their excellent first album Passover released in 2006. I would have been 20 years old at that point and while I was familiar with classic psychedelic sounds, I’d never heard a band go that hard into their influences. Passover should be…
