If It's Too Loud...

With few noteworthy releases over Thanksgiving (those are at the bottom of this post; we'll have more that we missed next week) and some interesting Christmas releases, let's go holiday crazy! Nice List : Josh Rouse - The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse : A pleasant, low-key holiday record from a singer-songwriter who has been at it for a long time and nearly always puts out quality work. Completely inoffensive and worth taking some time. Various Artists - A Punk Rock Christmas Volume 2 : As with any compilation like this, you're going to take and leave what is worth hearing here. With that said, this has enough good to at least give it one solid spin and add the stuff you like to a playlist. Molly Burch - The Molly Burch Christmas Album : Beyond this being a truly solid entry into the holiday release schedule, Burch totally understands how silly the whole affair is and the lack of overall seriousness in this album makes it a little fun, too. * Letters to Cleo - ...

Artist : Ted Leo Album : The Hanged Man Quick Description : Latest from the indie punk. Why You Should Listen : At his worst, he's still worth a shot. Overall Thoughts : I don’t have a ton to say about Ted Leo, who is definitely in the “old punk” stage of his career, and this record feels more like a concept record that dabbles in prog than what launched him into the indie stratosphere however many years ago. As someone who is a marginal fan of his on a whole, this didn’t do much for me, but your mileage may vary. Personally, I can’t recommend in a week as busy as this one. Recommendation : Skip this one. Artist : Deerhoof Album : Mountain Moves Quick Description : New album from the artsy indie rockers. Why You Should Listen : You're up for a challenge. Overall Thoughts : Deerhoof is not Deer Tick. This is what I realized about 1 minute into this album, which is a complex and (mostly) difficult record that defies expectations on every turn and is among the weir...

We actually had a new release this week! Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven : Kid Cudi is interesting. He had some really great rap stuff, but got bored with/irritated with rap music and has been exploring rock music. This is sort of an "indie/alt rock" attempt from him, and... it doesn't work. I can't sugarcoat it, but this is really more a labor of love than anything else. If you're into his post-rap stuff, this might be something of value to you, but, for me? This really didn't do the trick and I couldn't even get through it. Avoid this. Cage the Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty : I haven't kept up with Cage the Elephant, although "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked" was a great song back whenever that came out. At some point they became a full-on bluesish rock band, and I didn't see that one coming. So in terms of meeting expectations, this is pretty interesting, but in terms of something I might want to revisit, that ...