If It's Too Loud...

Toadies and Local H are two bands who seem to finally be getting the respect they deserve. I've never heard anything but gushing praise after a Local H live show, and Toadies have one of the most underrated catalogs in music. Plus, their music has aged surprisingly well. If you haven't listened to Local H's As Good As Dead or Toadies' Rubberneck  for a while, I guarantee they are far better than you remember. Plus, I haven't seen either band live in decades, so when they announced a tour together, I instantly wanted to go. (Apologies to Vandoliers for missing their set. They're a band I adore, and they rarely make it up to Boston, but the early start time and my schedule didn't work out.) The shocking thing about the crowd for Local H was just how young it was. There were some forty and fifty-somethings speckled in the crowd, but the majority was Gen Z. And The Kids got a masterclass in 90's alternative rock. As I said, they were always a surprisingly gr...

Much better than last week, for sure, but the gap between the good and not so good is very vast this week. Ava Luna - Infinite House : I shouldn't really trash this week's release slate and then come around with Ava Luna first, as the album is actually pretty decent if not a little/lot difficult. It reminds me as a good extension of their previous stuff, but it's still not entirely for me, if you get my gist. Worth a listen this week, though, you'll know very quickly if it's your cup of tea. Kym Warner - Everything That Brought Me Here : One of the best releases of the week is the debut album by Greencards member Kym Warner, basically an instrumental bluegrass affair that is simply beautiful from start to finish. Balances the stark and the full sounds completely, and is just a really pretty record that is surprising to me in how high-quality it ended up being, especially as I tend to trend a little negative on instrumental stuff overall. It's not a class...