If It's Too Loud...

This was a busy week, but a really disappointing one. A handful of good albums, and a lot of disappointing and/or otherwise non-noteworthy efforts. So don't consider this a habit, but I'm treating this week a little differently. But first, the best of the week: Album of the Week : Artist : Banks and Steelz Album : Anything But Words Quick Description : Side project from Interpol's Paul Banks and Wu Tang's RZA. Why You Should Listen : The mix of collaborators is enough to give it a listen... Overall Thoughts : ...and the quality is enough to keep it around. It, like a lot of collaborations, is certainly imperfect, but this is just a solid listen across the board. The production is interesting, the songs pretty solid, and it's overall just a great listen this week. What's surprising for me in particular for this is that RZA's been around forever and Interpol a fair amount of time as well, but this feels fresh and energetic in a way a lot of co...

We kick off our Best of 2014 coverage today with a look at my favorite EP releases of the year. I'll count down a few highlights and leave a few others: The Red-Headed Indian - Honey : I was really, really excited about this EP when it was first released, and I'm still really into it today. Every time I listen to it, whether in full or to the individual songs, I find something new to love and a new favorite song on the release (today it's "January"). Overall, this is my favorite non-album release this year by a wide, wide margin and I'm really excited to see what Caroline Kingsbury has coming up next. Robyn & Royksopp - Do It Again : "Do It Again" might be one of my favorite songs of the year regardless of anything else, but this whole EP is a great mix of electronica and pop music that hopefully sets up more great collaborations like this. A great little dance EP that is just long enough to boot. Lewis and Leigh - Night Drives : Every...

A ridiculous amount of music came out this week, so let's not waste any time. Flying Lotus - You're Dead! : This is my first exposure to Flying Lotus and his brand of electronic jazz/hip-hop. It's not an album I feel like I can give a fair shake to, as it's way outside my areas of knowledge and typical listening, but I will say that I was grooving at a number of points during my initial listen. It's worth tossing in your rotation just to see what the fuss is about. O'Death - Out of Hands We Go : O'Death's third full length album continues to send them along the trajectory of this gothic-style alt-country that they do so well. Filled with a number of memorable songs and providing a bit of a unique atmosphere, this is an album that sounds unlike anything I've heard as of late, and really fits in well with a lot of what we tend to highlight here. Definitely worth a listen. Vashti Bunyan - Heartleap : I remember when Vashti Bunyan's second ...