If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Chris Strong As we begin preparing ourselves for the final Joan of Arc album in December, we have a new single to contend with. "Something Kind" was written and is sung by Melina Ausikaitis, and starts off as a fairly mellow indie rock song with an intensely quietly simmering beneath. As Ausikaitis explains: “I've never been a fan of the Manfred Mann's Earth Band song ‘Blinded by the Light,’ even after I found out that the lyrics weren't revved up like a douche' like I thought. Same goes for Eric Burdon & War's ‘Spill the Wine.  I started writing ‘Something Kind’ in a light hearted jokey mood. But as I wrote I began getting angrier and angrier. I felt that the women in those songs were incidental. And that, at times in my life, I had been made to feel that way. ”  The way Ausikaitis explains the writing process is exactly how the song feels to listen to. It starts off relatively lighthearted, but then erupts into these bursts that seem to get ...

Photo by Chris Strong Joan of Arc have been an indie rock staple for twenty five years now. Throughout that twenty five year history, Tim Kinsella has been the only permanent member of the group. The band is set to release their final album in December, and "Destiny Revision" is the first single from that final album. It's a quiet, lovely song that feels deeply intimate. It's the kind of song that lulls you into almost a trance, and then gently pulls you out with the occasional burst of quiet noise, including what may be a guitar solo towards the end.  Tim Kinsella says of the song:  “‘ Destiny Revision’ was a personal song when it was written a couple years ago, about winging it when your life fails to play out as you'd imagined .  Unfortunately that simple sentiment now has a much more expansive and darker resonance as all of us in America face a fascist administration using the pandemic as an opportunity to consolidate power, and we all struggle to imagin...

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...