If It's Too Loud...

Busiest week in a while, so we're splitting this up a bit. More tomorrow! Album of the Week : Artist : Kitty Album : Miami Garden Club Quick Description : 90s-tinged electro-pop. Why You Should Listen : This is an unexpected delight. Overall Thoughts : I don’t know how I tripped up on Kitty however long ago, but while the rest of the musical universe is tripping over itself for their take on the new Taylor Swift song (short answer: it’s not great, but it's catchy as all get out), here’s Kitty doing some really interesting indie electro-pop with a 1990s-era sensibility that I fear is going to be completely ignored. Kitty isn’t reinventing the wheel at all here, but she is doing a good job working within the existing tropes to develop something worth your time whether you’re a fan of the genre or not. I love this album quite a bit, and I keep thinking about it long after I first heard it. Recommendation : Absolutely worth it this week, one of the best listens of the m...

It's like the New Release Gods knew it was my birthday, because this was probably the best week for new releases we've had in 2014 in terms of overall quality. Something for everyone, so let's dive right in. Mean Creek - Local Losers : Mean Creek feels like a throwback to 1990s alt-rock, and I basically love it. Within the first thirty seconds of the opening song, "Cool Town," you know exactly what you're getting, and, at only around 20 minutes in length, the album doesn't overstay its welcome. A perfectly wonderful album. Ken highlighted one of their songs last fall . De Lux - Voyage : I don't really remember when the indie dance thing took off. It was before Franz Ferdinand, for sure, but I do remember Moving Units being the band I most associated with it before bands like The Bravery or The Killers made it huge. De Lux is straight out of 2004, and it sounds pretty great even if it's idiosyncratic in a lot of ways and, at 50+ minutes fo...