If It's Too Loud...

An interesting release week! Album of the Week : Artist : Kingsley Flood Album : Another Other Quick Description : New album from the local favorites. Why You Should Listen : Kingsley Flood has near-mastered the indie rock landscape... Overall Thoughts : ...and if there's any justice, this will be their breakthrough. The band has a collection of songs, some of which we've heard on other EPs, that just flow together really well and show some consistent songwriting chops and, perhaps more importantly, a more robust and consistent sound that hasn't been there for them up to this point. No, there's no "Set Me Off" here, but that's okay - the whole album is a pretty solid achievement and a surprise even for me, who is a genuine fan of this band and who was anticipating a new full length. You owe it to yourself to hop on the bandwagon now before they blow up and become huge. Recommendation : A must listen this week. Artist : Swet Shop Boys Album ...

A bit of stuff came out in pre-release this week, surprisingly. Here's some highlights! U2 - Songs of Innocence : One comment I read said that this U2 album is the best they've done in years. Another, in a comment about Apple putting out a program allowing users to remove the album from iTunes, said that Songs of Innocence is " so terrible it should be considered malware ." As someone who legitimately thinks U2's best album is All That You Can't Leave Behind , this album is... somewhere in the middle. It's a solid album from a band that's been around longer than I have, but I'm not sure if it's really anything world-shattering outside of the distribution method that got it into the hands of possibly hundreds of millions. Kudos to U2 for the marketing ploy, not so much sold on the end result, though. As someone who isn't a U2 guy, though, I may not be the best judge. Megan Washington - There There : At some point in the last few w...

A lot of new releases to get through this week, so let's not waste any time: Elvis Costello and The Roots - Wise Up Ghost : Probably the most anticipated release around these parts is the Costello/Roots collaboration Wise Up Ghost . Elvis Costello has never been shy about trying other genres out, and this is surprisingly not what I expected. It's got its R&B hints, to be sure, but it almost feels like a structured jazz record in a sense, and The Roots have a significant amount of influence on the proceedings. It's definitely an interesting listen, but I'll be honest - as a fan of both Costello and The Roots, I can't say whether or not I'm actually enjoying this one. Mark Lanegan - Imitations : My first exposure to Mark Lanegan was when Screaming Trees opened for Oasis way back in 1994 or 1995. Since then, I've heard him on plenty of things, but my exposure to him has mostly been his collaborations with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell....