If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Barbara Manning Album : Charm of Yesterday...Convenience of Tomorrow Quick Thoughts : Barbara Manning is a west coast cult classic, and her new album collects some recent recordings in preparation for a tour, and it's a good reminder both of how talented she is as a musician and how overlooked she's been in the indieverse. As someone who hadn't thought of her in some time, this was a welcome late-year surprise, and I really enjoyed this one. Songs of Note : "Reverse Disguise," "Twilight," "Heat," "So Much Wine" Artist : Florrie Album : Personal Quick Thoughts : Holding down the pop forts in 2023 is Florrie, who put out a number of solid one-offs over the course of the last few years. Personal compiles those into a bright, beautiful package that feels no filler all killer, and provides a single-shot introduction to a singer-songwriter who will probably make serious waves with her debut album later this year. Songs of ...

Artist : Bull Album : Discover Effortless Living Quick Thoughts : This is some solid, standard alt/indie stuff from top to bottom. It's sometimes fun, it's sometimes quirky (like with "Love Goo"), but it's really just the sort of springtime effort I'm happy to have heard. Just a lot of good stuff here from a new (to me) band that I'll definitely be keeping my eye on. Songs of Note : "Love Goo," "Bedroom Floor," "Eugene" Artist : Sunny War Album : Simple Syrup Quick Thoughts : We adore Sunny War around these parts, and Simple Syrup is yet another entry in her superbly consistent catalog. This shows continued growth while still providing some good songs along the way. Loved every moment of this in what is a pretty busy week. Songs of Note : "Kiss a Loser" Artist : Antonioni Album : Antonioni Quick Thoughts : My favorite album last year was Cartalk's effort, and there's a lot of acts right no...