If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Kristi Engle I feel like I should remember Refrigerator much more than I do. They were active back in the mid to late 90's, which were my glory days of going to shows and college radio. Instead, their name sounds familiar, and maybe I played them on my radio show? The only good thing is I have a LOT of history to catch up on. Refrigerator is set to release their eleventh album next month. "Cardboard Death Elevator" is the first song from that album. It's a great mixture of singer/songwriter fare mixed with minimalist noise rock. It starts out with a bare minimum of instrumentation, with an occasionally strummed guitar and and even more occasional piano flourish over a quiet beat, with Dennis Callaci's vocals being the main focus. It does eventually morph into a swirling guitar crescendo, which provides a huge relief, but even that is fairly quiet and minimal. Overall, it's an awkward, haunting song that won't be for everyone. But, if this so...

Following up on 2013's Spare Parts , John Davis (formerly of Folk Implosion) is about to release a new album under the name John Davis & The Cicadas. This one is a concept album about "...  corporate corruption in the food industry and related issues like (im)migration, mass incarceration, public health, and the stock market." Most of the songs were written back in 2010 and 2012 but were recently recorded in North Carolina where Davis now works as a public school teacher. One of the songs we can now hear, "Contamination In the Grass," is about how society disregards the soil we count on for so much of our needs. It's a moody song that is synth heavy while still feeling rootsy. Concept albums can go horribly wrong, but this one could end up being interesting based on "Contamination In the Grass" and "HFCS." You can listen to "Contamination In the Grass" below. John Davis & The Cicadas' new album, El Pulpo , will b...