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...

This summer gives you many options on the 90s nostalgia circuit. If you want to see middle aged men 15 years passed their prime with their current nameless hired backing bands for grossly inflated prices, you have the Summerland Tour, Under the Sun Tour, and more. However, if you want to see acts just hitting their prime that capture the spirit of the 90s better than Sugar Ray ever could, you need to check out the current Courtney Barnett tour. Before Courtney Barnett, Chastity Belt brought their own blend of 90s nostalgia to the stage. One unimpressed audience member standing near me remarked that he found them too monotonous. And yes, they were, if you just listened to them on the surface. Once you actually focused on them, you realized that each member was seemingly playing their own song, almost unrelated to each other, in a way that just looped around and around. Then they would all pull their parts tightly together. Basically, they were a less aggressive Sonic Youth with dr...