If It's Too Loud...

November 11 : Artist : Smut Album : How the Light Felt Quick Thoughts : Smut is the sort of comfortable indie rock that I love, where it's not doing anything particularly revolutionary but is still doing what they do better than anyone else in the moment. Don't overlook this listen, there's a lot of great music to love in here. Songs of Note : "Soft Engine," "Believe You Me," "Morningstar" Artist : Delivery Album : Forever Giving Handshakes Quick Thoughts : This album has a lot going for it, and its refusal to conform to any specific genre is a benefit when many acts could treat it as a drawback. This album won me over right away, and will likely win you over, too. Songs of Note : "Poor-to-Middling Moneymaking," "Baader Meinhof," "No Homes," "Good" Artist : A7PHA Album : II Quick Thoughts : I wanted to highlight this because it's great, but also because it reminds me a lot of when Tric...

Some solid listens this week: Album of the Week : Artist : Charly Bliss Album : Young Enough Quick Description : Sophomore effort from a favorite here. Why You Should Listen : Charly Bliss had one of the best records of the last few years, and this one has similar potential. Overall Thoughts : Their debut, Guppy , was my favorite album of a couple years ago, so this follow-up has been a true highly-anticipated release for me. The early singles showed a lot of extra reliance on some keyboard/synth stuff that I didn’t love (given how much I loved their early sound), but still felt interested in, and the full album? It absolutely works. As a cohesive unit, the slight shift in sound lends itself to a different atmosphere in a full album that worked really well. So yeah, lead singles like “Chatroom” and “Capacity” get the added weight they seemed to lack in isolation, and “Fighting in the Dark” and “The Truth” act as counterbalances in a way that brought the whole thing full-circ...

Forgotten Fridays is an occasional feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. We go back and remind you of their existence, and help decide if they were any good. I just realized we have yet to do a Forgotten Friday yet this year, so here we go with an old favorite from my college radio days... At Home with the Groovebox  was released by Grand Royal back in 2000. All artists recorded songs with the Roland MC-505 Groovebox. According to Wikipedia, the Roland MC-505 is "...  a combination of a  MIDI controller , a  music sequencer  and a  drum machine." Since this was released on the Beastie Boys label, it's filled with artists either on Grand Royal or friendly with the Beastie Boys. As you can imagine, the results vary wildly, but all are pretty interesting.  One of the better contribut...

Bis dropped off my radar after 1997's The New Transistor Heroes. Turns out they broke up in 2003 and reformed in 2009. They released a new album in 2014 which I completely missed, and are now set to release a fifth album next month. I always loved their insanely high energy bubblegum alternative pop music. I'm not sure if that's what I need in my 40s, but neither does Bis. They are also twenty years older, after all. "Sound of a Heartbreak" is still insanely energetic and upbeat. It's completely music to bop around to. But, it's much more mature and adult than anything off The New Transistor Heroes. It feels like a natural progression for the band. They're not trying to recapture their youth or the magic of their earlier albums, but they're hardly becoming an easy listening band, either. This is exactly what aging Bis fans will want from their Scottish heroes, even if they forgot about them for a time. You can watch the video for "Sound ...