If It's Too Loud...

Some solid listens this week: Album of the Week : Artist : Charly Bliss Album : Young Enough Quick Description : Sophomore effort from a favorite here. Why You Should Listen : Charly Bliss had one of the best records of the last few years, and this one has similar potential. Overall Thoughts : Their debut, Guppy , was my favorite album of a couple years ago, so this follow-up has been a true highly-anticipated release for me. The early singles showed a lot of extra reliance on some keyboard/synth stuff that I didn’t love (given how much I loved their early sound), but still felt interested in, and the full album? It absolutely works. As a cohesive unit, the slight shift in sound lends itself to a different atmosphere in a full album that worked really well. So yeah, lead singles like “Chatroom” and “Capacity” get the added weight they seemed to lack in isolation, and “Fighting in the Dark” and “The Truth” act as counterbalances in a way that brought the whole thing full-circ...

Yes, I listened to 20 new releases over the course of the weekend. No, it's not going to be possible for me to do a detailed post for all of them, so we're gonna do some quick hits: Great Albums Worth Your Time This Week : * Tei Shi - Crawl Space : Probably my favorite of the week. Complex and compelling. * Goldfrapp - Silver Eye : A great electronic record this week from a group with a great track record. * British Sea Power - Let the Dancers Inherit the Party : Solid return to form for the British rock act. * Aimee Mann - Mental Illness : Her best release in well over a decade. * Lydia Ainsworth - Darling of the Afterglow : Gorgeous singer-songwriter music, deserves your attention. * Saltland - A Common Truth Solid Listens in a Busy Week : * Erin McKeown - Mirrors Break Back * Dave Davies and Russ Davies - Open Road * Sono Oto - Inheritance * Richard Edwards - Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset * Whereswilder - Hotshot * Dead Leaf Echo - Strawberry Skin * The Mave...