If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Joana Serrat Album : Big Wave Quick Thoughts : This is my favorite listen in a long, long time. Joana Serrat is new to me, even though this is her latest of many records. The level of songwriting here, the instrumentation, the absolute gorgeous music across the board here is incredible, and it's an album that made me stop and pay attention over and over and over. "Freewheel" in particular is one I keep sharing with people because it's that good, but the album is sort of like a folk rock/dream pop hybrid that is unlike anything I've heard of late and yet feels so, so right. One of the best of the year, without question. Songs of Note : "The Cord," "Freewheel," "Sufferer," "Are You Still Here," "Big Lagoons," "Broken Hearted" Artist : AURORA Album : What Happened to the Heart? Quick Thoughts : AURORA's been around for close to a decade now, and this is a pop record of someone confiden...

Sometimes an album comes along that just scratches that itch you didn’t know you had. That was my experience with Tiny Stills, a favorite this year that mixed the sort of indie pop with endearing and emotive songwriting that sets the good apart from the great. From the opening track to some of its most mainstream efforts, this album basically succeeded in everything it tried to do. The album kicks it off with an opening track that namedrops a variety of things before diving into a hooky poppy number. “Let’s Fall in Love” takes its time in taking off and being the song it shows hints of being from the start. Then you have songs like “Colorblind” that are not forging new ground but are not trying to forge new ground either. The straightforward nature of this record is really why it’s such a joy to hear. I shuffled this between 8/7/6 this year, and ultimately realized that if I can’t find out where it belongs, it probably belongs closer to the front. I assume it will for you, to...

This was probably one of the more consequential release weeks of the year. Album of the Week : Artist : Neko Case Album : Hell-On Quick Description : Latest from the alt-country favorite. Why You Should Listen : Neko Case has been required listening for 15+ years already. Overall Thoughts : My favorite album from Neko Case is probably Middle Cyclone , which is weird because I was into her for the alt-country stuff and that album might have been the diversion that fully sent her into her own personal genre. Case has released plenty of music since 2009, but this new album is so ridiculously good and so far beyond anything else that she has done that it is absolutely stunning that an artist entering her third decade of recording music as a solo artist can put something together like this. The album got me from the starting track, but the Crooked Fingers cover to the opening song all span that sort of connection those of us who listen to hours of music a day seek out. Best album...