If It's Too Loud...

While I don't regret seeing Wonder Woman over the weekend, 20 new releases and a lot of overtime at work left me with little time to write. A day late and a dollar short, here's an abbreviated highlights version of this week's releases. Must Listens This Week : * Benjamin Booker - Witness (Best release of the week. We loved his debut, and somehow he's gotten even better. It's scary good) * Marnie - Strange Words and Weird Wars (A favorite of the week, strange and striking album) * Alt-J - Relaxer (Maybe their weakest effort so far, and still one of the best of the week. Their singles always make more sense in the context of the album) * Rachel Baiman - Shame (Fun, addictive Americana) * Chastity Belt - I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone (The darker side of things with the recent resurgence of female-fronted alt-rock. Really great) * Dispatch - America, Location 12 (A solid comeback, and an album I'm really into) * Marika Hackman - I'm N...

Alt-J hit my radar a couple years ago, their debut album my favorite of 2012 . This was easily one of my most anticipated albums, but you can see the evolution of the band's sound from the last couple years quite clearly in the new album. There are classic Alt-J song structures like "Every Other Freckle" and "The Gospel of John Hurt," and there are different concepts like "Left Hand Free" that show a broader musical range. With the loss of one of their members prior to the completion of this album combined with their increased popularity means a lot of questions as to where the band will go next. That this album is still really different from their debut and is still one of the best releases of the year is a credit to their abilities. I still love this album, and I can't wait what's coming next. Song highlights: "The Gospel of John Hurt," "Every Other Freckle."

A bit of stuff came out in pre-release this week, surprisingly. Here's some highlights! U2 - Songs of Innocence : One comment I read said that this U2 album is the best they've done in years. Another, in a comment about Apple putting out a program allowing users to remove the album from iTunes, said that Songs of Innocence is " so terrible it should be considered malware ." As someone who legitimately thinks U2's best album is All That You Can't Leave Behind , this album is... somewhere in the middle. It's a solid album from a band that's been around longer than I have, but I'm not sure if it's really anything world-shattering outside of the distribution method that got it into the hands of possibly hundreds of millions. Kudos to U2 for the marketing ploy, not so much sold on the end result, though. As someone who isn't a U2 guy, though, I may not be the best judge. Megan Washington - There There : At some point in the last few w...

A slow new release week with the holiday season in play. Billie Joe & Norah - Foreverly : The oddest, best release this week is a team-up between Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) and Norah Jones called Foreverly , a collection of old-time country songs popularlized by the Everly Brothers. As someone who hit his teen years around the same time Green Day's Dookie hit the top of the charts, I didn't really know what to make of this when I first learned of it, and the fact that it's not only competent, but actually pretty great, is a shock to me. Armstrong really turns down the punk affectations and Jones, who has already done some genre hopping of her own, feels as if she's driving the car in this one. This is absolutely worth a listen, it's definitely one of the more interesting pieces of the last year. Ken also noted his surprise at the quality in a post about a month ago given the announcement of the single. Alt-J - Summer EP : Alt-J had my favorit...