If It's Too Loud...

The Green River Festival has long been one of the most beloved, if almost secret, annual New England music festivals. It was long run by the Greenfield, MA Chamber of Commerce and because of that always seemed to be geared towards an older audience. That started to change back in 2013 with the inclusion of Gogol Bordello to the festival, and last year it started being presented by Signature Sounds , the fantastic Northampton, MA based record label. The festival sold out in advance last year, and this year will be an even quicker sell out for its 29th year. Saturday is just ridiculous with Tune-Yards, Wood Brothers, western MA rock god J Mascis, Booker T. Jones, Milk Carton Kids, Langhorne Slim & the Law, blog favorite Lydia Loveless, Polaris (aka the band from The Adventures of Pete & Pete !), and more. Sunday is also solid with Steve Earle & the Dukes, Punch Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Valerie June, Elephant Revival, Joe Pug, and more. Besides music, the festi...

Someday I'll have time to do more than just new releases. With that said, here are some new releases! Will Butler - Policy : Will Butler is a guitarist for Arcade Fire, and this is, technically, his debut album, but it's really more a collection of songs he did for a project with The Guardian . It's not a coherent piece on a whole in that regard, but the sum of its parts is pretty good, with some decent songs interspersed within. Definitely a must for Arcade Fire fans, not a waste of time for the rest of us. Fences - Lesser Oceans : I looked this one up mostly due to the fact that I liked their first album, especially "Girls With Accents." This second album, well, I don't know. It's a little all over the place, there's a Macklemore guest spot, and there's not really a song that jumps out at me here. I'm not really sure, but this might be something to skip. Joe Pug - Windfall : It's always fun when Ken sends albums over that I wa...