If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Brian Lima It's been a while since I've updated everyone with the Newport Folk Festival line up, and it truly just keeps getting more and more outstanding. Since I last gave an update, Newport has added classic musicians such as reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, established current stars such as a reunited Nickel Creek and Conor Oberst, to next big thing acts like Phox and Reignwolf. I'm particularly excited for Reignwolf, who sound like a more raw version of The White Stripes and The Black Keys. They've also added Rodrigo y Gabriela (somehow making their Newport debut), Puss n Boots featuring Norah Jones, Newport favorite Dawes (pulling double duty as Conor Oberst's backing band), Lucius, Lake Street Dive, The Milk Carton Kids, Gregory Alan Isakov, Lucero, Aoife O'Donovan, Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show, and more! If you're planning on attending Saturday or Sunday and haven't bought tickets, you...

So I try to keep up as best I can with the new releases, but sometimes they're late to Spotify or fall through the cracks. Consider this quarterly report our attempt to catch up. Katy B - Little Red : I became a fan of Katy B shortly after her first album, On a Mission , came out. It's been a while, but the British singer is back with an even better album of dancefloor tracks. The album is much more cohesive and miles ahead of its predecessor minus one major misstep in a slow ballad-type song. Even the extra bonus tracks on the deluxe edition keep things going. If you're into Europop, you really need to give this album a listen. Sun Kil Moon - Benji : Mark Kozelek has a very distinct sound no matter what moniker he's recording under, although Sun Kil Moon does tend to trend toward the extreme storytelling side of things. Benji feels a little overwrought, to be frank - it's not really a fun experience, and it's not memorable because of the songs but b...

Boston's My Own Worst Enemy released quite possibly the most Boston release in years with their new 7" single, "Paul Revere." The song re-imagines Paul Revere's ride in a more modern day setting, looking for pizza and beer, wandering throughout many Boston neighborhoods. It name checks Boston landmarks such as Winter Hill and Fenway Park. It's a slice of not quite throwback 90s indie power pop, with fuzzed out guitars and a chant along "Hey!"  The b-side is another tribute to one of Boston's own. "Angel of the Underground" sings the praises of Mary Lou Lord. The title comes from both Mary Lou's love of championing and promoting lesser known bands (she was an early supporter of both Nirvana and Elliott Smith) as well as her tendency to busk in the T. It's a loving tribute to someone that's slipped out of the spotlight a bit as of late. You can listen to and purchase "Paul Revere" on My Own Worst Enemy's B...

A strange week overall. BEGINNERS - BEGINNERS : I went into this release assuming another electro-pop female-fronted EP, and it ended up actually being a pretty decent indie pop record. I can't say there's much that stands out on a whole, but as a cohesive piece, the five songs here are a great start, and I'll be looking forward to what comes next. The Belle Brigade - Just Because : I tripped up on The Belle Brigade's first album a few years back and generally liked it. It's pretty much adult alternative with a bit of a rootsy feel underneath, and their sophomore effort, Just Because , is more of the same. I won't say it all works, as it does feel a little overlong, but it does sound as if they have dodged that sophomore slump a bit. Definitely worth a listen. The Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia Live at the Wonder : The Dandy Warhols are probably a top five band all time for me, and Thirteen Tales easily a top ten all time album. I...

Ruined Your Childhood  is a kids' album that's not meant for kids. No, really. I don't mean it's kids' music that even parents can like. I mean the opening line is "I wanna fuck myself right out of this hole." Not exactly what you want your kid sharing at preschool. Or maybe you do. Each track is set up as a channel surfed by a kid who's mom is out shaking her ass and trying to find a man. Not all 22 tracks are songs, some are transitions between songs or intros. But the songs are one of the most disturbing that I have ever heard. It has a level of creepiness that Marilyn Manson has been working for years trying to produce. It shows off their usual folk/punk/vaudeville/noise rock on crack sound (what they call "steamcrunk") but this album is so unbelievably dark. I assumed given that it's a kids' album that's not for kids it would be tinged with the macabre but overall silly. Throughout the entire album there is this groove of...

I've never really been a huge Record Store Day person. I love the concept, but lately it seems like you have to get there the second the store opens and hope they happen to have the ultra rare 7" of some 20 year songs you already have in three other formats. It might seem like blasphemy, but I've always been more interested in hard to find content than product. That being said, I can't wait to get my hands on Faux Real. Faux Real  features a bunch of up and coming indie bands playing songs by bands that don't really exist. For example, Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz covers "Pretend to Be Nice" by Josie & the Pussycats. I feel like this type of album already exists somewhere, but if it doesn't, it's about damn time. Another Western Mass band, Potty Mouth , covers "Take Me Away," which is apparently by a band called Pink Slip from Freaky Friday.  The 2003 Lindsay Lohan version, so yes, this will make you feel old. But you also get B...

An...interesting week. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dram : Album of the week is almost certainly the new release from The War on Drugs. It has a late-1980s alternative rock vibe to it in some areas, but many of the songs, most notably "An Ocean In Between the Waves," are subtle earworms. This is absolutely an album to watch, this could end up being a breakout effort. Foster the People - Supermodel : Sometimes if you can't say anything nice, it's best not to say anything at all. The album unfortunately feels like a bunch of Torches b-sides while the rest of the indie and alt-rock world moved along a bit. Nothing about this screams immediacy or innovation, which is unfortunate. Skip this one. Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once : People can keep Madonna. As far as I'm concerned, Kylie Minogue is who I'd probably take in the "pop stars with four decades under their belts" sweepstakes. With that said, it is...strange for any older woman to be do...

Can we be honest with ourselves and admit that the Spin Doctors were killing it back in the early 1990s? We all know, and are probably sick of, "Two Princes." I somehow got "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" stuck in my head a few weeks ago and threw on their greatest hits compilation (embedded below) and was immediately struck by how solid a lot of those early songs were. Between the three big singles on the first album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite and two massively underrated singles from the follow up, Turn it Upside Down , it's almost too bad that they blew up as quickly as they did. It clearly stunted them in a lot of ways, and that's too bad, because we don't get the same kind of nostalgia trip for them as we do for similarly positioned bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket or the Gin Blossoms. They still perform and occasionally record today. I'm pretty sure lead singer Chris Barron was involved with The Moldy Peaches for a time, too, which is just....

Another slowish week allows us to look at some lesser-known stuff. Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything : If you remember the British indie invasion of the early aughts, you might remember Elbow doing some interesting indie acoustic stuff that flew under the radar while Travis and Doves and Starsailor hit it somewhat big. Their first album really spoke to me on the sort of level that forced me into importing a bunch of stuff from a tiny record shop in England to get the b-sides, but the albums became more progressively rocking and less of a folksy thing. I feel like, on first listen, the new Elbow album comes the closest to restoring the classic sound that got me into them to start. The darkness is still there, mind you, but in terms of songs, there's a lot of memorable stuff for what's a quiet, unassuming, stealthy record. Definitely worth a listen. Divergent Soundtrack : Movies based off of young adult books have done a decent job over the last few years of...

Yes, Hong Hong Kong Kong is a terrible band name. That's kind of the point. It was chosen to annoy radio djs that had to announce it, if radio djs are even a thing anymore. While writing songs for the upcoming Submarines album, John Dragonetti wrote some that didn't quite fit into the Submarines' sound. As much as I like The Submarines, I was always a bigger fan of his 90s Boston based band Jack Drag, so I was expecting something more along those lines. Hong Hong Kong Kong are closer to Jack Drag than the Submarines are, but it's still got some of the Submarines' dreamy pop sound to it. Dragonetti has described the band as "alien love-pop," and that only makes sense once you listen to their first song, "Heidi's Love Stomp." You can listen to "Heidi's Love Stomp over at Indie Shuffle . Hong Hong Kong Kong's debut EP comes out March 11. For more information, "like" the band's Facebook page .

Hardcore supergroup OFF! (Keith Morris, Dimitri Coats, Mario Rubalcaba, and Steven Shane McDonald) have a new video for "Hypnotized." The clip stars David Yow of The Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid as a crack smoking guy in a lousy costume that poses with tourists in Hollywood for cash. He has an altercation with a man dressed in the same superhero costume as him (played by Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L.) and it all goes downhill from there. This all happens while OFF! play in the background. The new album from OFF!, Wasted Days , is due out April 8 on VICE. You can get some more information, including tour dates, at their official website . To find out what David Yow is up to, such as art and his solo album, head on over to his website .

I know virtually nothing about Benjamin Booker. He was one of the first acts announced for this year's Newport Folk Festival, and he seems to have come out of nowhere. When he was announced, he had less than 500 "likes" on Facebook, and two videos on YouTube. I mean, what musician has only two videos on YouTube? Your 14 year old nephew's band has at least a dozen, and they haven't played a show yet. How does someone so virtually unknown get added to one of the most prestigious festivals in the country? By being amazing. His influences range from Blind Willie Johnson to T. Rex. His sound is like early blues recordings mixed with MC5 and Death. It's one of the most raw and unique sounds I've heard in years while still being straight up rock n' roll. It fits completely into everything you already know and love but mixes it up in a way you've never heard before. At this point, I have no idea when his debut albums comes out, but I need it. Now. Be...

After a whirlwind few weeks, it's kind of nice to get a shorter week of releases. Ásgeir - In the Silence : I admit to having a significant bias toward any Icelandic music available, given my love of both early Bjork and early Sigur Ros. I don't know how I tripped up on Ásgeir, but this album is a gorgeous soundscape. It's really what you might expect a more folky Icelandic artist to sound like with your tinny American ear. It really strikes all the right notes and is definitely my favorite listen of this week. Absolutely worth your time. Real Estate - Atlas : You know how, sometimes, you get weird associations of bands in your head? Like, you were exposed to a few bands at the same time, or they once had similar songs on the radio and you have just coupled them forever. Real Estate falls into that category with me along with Beach House and Best Coast. Not sure why, as Real Estate (especially Atlas ) sounds a lot different than them. Atlas , in particular, has ...

At some point late last week, I had landed on an article from Medium regarding "Dirty R&B" , the lesser-known, somewhat more vulgar side of early-to-mid 1900s blues and jazz music. For as much as many of us grew up with the PMRC and the idea that hair metal or gangsta rap would be the thing to corrupt our impressionable minds, there was some really dirty stuff coming out decades before. Some of it is more veiled, but others don't even try to hide what they're getting at. The article also shares an article from WFMU in 1997 that lists even more dirty blues and jazz songs, with a little more variety thrown in. Seeing as I enjoyed this (and, truth be told, the music as well) this weekend, I decided to throw together a playlist. You can subscribe to it here or listen to it embedded below:

Every month, Amazon.com puts 100 albums on sale for $5. These are some of the highlights that may be of interest to readers: * Arctic Monkeys - AM * Hospitality - Trouble * Damien Jurado - Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son * Mogwai - Rave Tapes * Passion Pit - Gossamer * Amos Lee - Mission Bell * Eddie Vedder - Ukulele Songs * White Stripes - Icky Thump * Hole - Live Through This * Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself * The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols * Lily Allen - Alright, Still * Steve Martin - The Crow * My Bloody Valentine - Loveless * Bela Fleck - Live Art * Tegan and Sara - So Jealous