If It's Too Loud...

I've long considered Chris Brokaw to be one of the most underrated musicians out there today. Besides his solo work, he's been a member of Codeine, Come, The New Year, Consonant, The Lemonheads, Thurston Moore's band, Martha's Vineyard Ferries, and more. His 2021 solo album Puritan was my #8 album of that year, so obviously I try to get out to see him play live as much as possible. As soon as he announced that he was playing shows as Chris Brokaw Rock Band with his Consonant bandmate (and member of the legendary Mission of Burma) Clint Conley on bass, I knew I could not miss that. Playing songs mostly from Puritan , Chris Brokaw Rock Band played with an incredible tightness usually not seen in bands that have only played a small handful of shows together. I could be wrong, but this could also have been Clint Conley's third or fourth time on stage since Mission of Burma ended in 2015. (Aside from the music, it was great to see much a legend playing again, and my fing...

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 think it's been a little over a year since I've done a Forgotten Friday, but recently I re-discovered Consonant, and I simply couldn't resist bringing them back to all of our attentions. We throw the term "supergroup" around quite liberally here, but check out the line-up for Consonant. Formed in 2001, this marked Clint Conley's return to making music since the dissolution of Mission of Burma in 1983. Also included is Chris Brokaw (Come, The Lemonheads), Winston Braman (Fuzzy), and Matt Kadane (Bedhead). That pedigree alone should get Consonant a lot more attention, not to mention that this helped inspire Mission of Burma's brilliant r...