If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Sarah Jane Scouten Album : Turned to Gold Quick Thoughts : It's a very folk heavy week in new release land, and Sarah Jane Scouten provides one of the better efforts out of many good ones this week. Songs like "Dragonheart" are sneaky good when you least expect them, and the whole effort has a pleasant, familiar quality without sacrificing modernity. I loved this. You will too. Songs of Note : "The Great Unknown," "Dragonheart," "Turned to Gold," "Crocodile Tears," "Roses and Carnations" Artist : Antje Duvekot Album : New Wild West Quick Thoughts : Boston-area folkie Antje Duvekot hit my radar ages ago after she opened for Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket. I've kept up with her over the years, and New Wild West is a great folk record from someone who proves how underappreciated she is. "Lottery Ticket" in particular has been stuck in my head since I first heard it, and the whole alb...

This was a very weird release week, as the gap between good and bad was very, very wide. Only focusing on the good this week: Album of the Week : Artist : Maximilian Hecker Album : Wretched Love Songs Quick Description : Dream folky is back with a new album. Why You Should Listen : Hecker is basically unknown in the United States and should really be a more popular. Overall Thoughts : I don't know if this is meant to be a sequel of sorts to his debut, Infinite Love Songs (which is probably a top 20 album all time for me), but it is certainly reminiscent in a way a lot of his more recent work has not been. This is Hecker at his dreamy, light best, and I can totally see this as one of those albums I send over to my longtime friends and say "hey, remember that guy I was obsessed with 15 years ago?" Recommendation : A must-listen, and there's plenty of room on this bandwagon to boot. Artist : Pharis and Jason Romero Album : Sweet Old Religion Quick Descr...

With the release of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens coming up this week, I had this bizarre urge to listen to some Star Wars music besides just "The Imperial March" over and over again. This birthed the If It's Too Loud "Songs About Star Wars" mix. I tried to avoid songs that simply make one reference to Star Wars and aim for songs actually about Star Wars. Of course there is some nerdcore (MC Chris), forgotten 90s bands (2 Skinnee J's), 90s bands that are still with us (Blink-182, Presidents of the United States of America), bands you would never think of doing Star Wars covers (Queens of the Stone Age, Ash), and "Weird Al," of course. It's perfect to listen to while you're at work waiting for it to end so you can head out to the theater, on your way to the theater, to avoid figuring out name mix up games in the theater, etc. 

An interesting week overall. Jenny Hval - Apocalypse, girl : Jenny Hval is described in a few places as an experimental singer-songwriter, and that's a fairly good description of this album, which definitely balances the line between access and excess. It's got some cool moments, but unless you have tolerance for being firmly off the beaten path, you might not get this. Listener be aware. Morgan Page - DC to Light : I've been a fan of Morgan Page for a while, and his fourth album feels very natural and right in line with the sort of dance music he's good at. What's interesting, though, is how uninteresting it is at times. It does what it does quite well, but the result isn't anything that really stretches any boundaries, as compared to other music in the genre. In such a competitive genre, artists need to do more than this to stand out, and good-but-not-great singles like "Open Road" won't get you there. Ash - Kablammo! : Oh, Ash! Remem...