If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Elbow Album : AUDIO VERTIGO Quick Thoughts : Elbow's been one of the stalwarts from that early 2000s British rock era. They've gotten some popular love over the years, but never quite the heights of Coldplay or Doves, which is a shame. AUDIO VERTIGO , in many ways, reflects their consistency as a band and has a strong Asleep in the Back feel in a lot of ways. As a longtime fan, I really enjoyed this listen, and if you've fallen off with the band a bit, this is a great place to jump back in. Songs of Note : "Things I've Been Telling Myself for Years," "Her to the Earth," "From the River" Artist : Rosie Tucker Album : UTOPIA NOW! Quick Thoughts : Rosie Tucker has an all-time favorite song for me in "Lauren" from their album a few years back. I've chased that high ever since, but UTOPIA NOW! hits in a similar way and works so well. Whether it's the biting nature of "All My Exes" or the straigh...

A slightly slower release week, so I'm adding one I missed at the end: Album of the Week : Artist : Alex Dezen Album : Alex Dezen II Quick Description : Second solo album from the Damnwells singer/songwriter. Why You Should Listen : It's super polished and never quite explodes ... Overall Thoughts : ...but I can't say a lot new about this except that I enjoyed this album a lot more than the first effort. There's no "A Little Less Like Hell" here, but it's a much more even effort and I can appreciate that. This might be a little divisive, and especially for Damnwells fans (and no, I still haven't listened to their work), but this has a bit of an adult alternative flavor that pleases me. I'm into it. Recommendation : My favorite of the week. Artist : Syd Album : Fin Quick Description : Some modern hip-hop/R&B. Why You Should Listen : In an era with a lot of experimentation in this genre, Syd works well. Overall Thoughts : Syd ...

Another slowish week allows us to look at some lesser-known stuff. Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything : If you remember the British indie invasion of the early aughts, you might remember Elbow doing some interesting indie acoustic stuff that flew under the radar while Travis and Doves and Starsailor hit it somewhat big. Their first album really spoke to me on the sort of level that forced me into importing a bunch of stuff from a tiny record shop in England to get the b-sides, but the albums became more progressively rocking and less of a folksy thing. I feel like, on first listen, the new Elbow album comes the closest to restoring the classic sound that got me into them to start. The darkness is still there, mind you, but in terms of songs, there's a lot of memorable stuff for what's a quiet, unassuming, stealthy record. Definitely worth a listen. Divergent Soundtrack : Movies based off of young adult books have done a decent job over the last few years of...