If It's Too Loud...

We basically only have a couple weeks of new releases left for the 2016 calendar year, so this week has a few new releases and a few I tripped up on late. Artist : Various Artists Album : Polyvinyl Plays Polyvinyl Quick Description : A Polyvinyl Records celebration for their 20th birthday. Why You Should Listen : It's current Polyvinyl artists playing past Polyvinyl songs... Overall Thoughts : ...and it's predictably hit or miss. As someone who has been loving Polyvinyl stuff for most of their existence, I knew I'd love and hate some of this, and it's great for that sort of fun look back, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but fans of Polyvinyl's catalog. And the fact that no one covered "Marry Me, Archie" is just criminal. Recommendation : Fun for fans or those into weird covers. Artist : Natalie McCool Album : The Great Unknown Quick Description : Poppy singer with a weird bent. Why You Should Listen : You like melodic pop, but w...

A really solid week for releases: Co-Album of the Week : Artist : The Weeknd Album : Beauty Behind the Madness Quick Description : Much anticipated second album by the R&B producer/star. Why You Should Listen : You miss Michael Jackson's music; "Can't Feel My Face" is your song of the summer. Overall Thoughts : I was thinking about this album yesterday when a friend on Facebook made the Michael Jackson connection I had in my head from the first listen of this. It's really apt, he even has some of the vocal stylings down pat and I can't tell if it's on purpose or not. Still, "Can't Feel My Face" is as addictive as the drug the song is about, and the album is really a great listen from start to finish. Even as someone who doesn't always like straight R&B, there's a lot to love here. Recommendation : A mandatory listen this week, as it's sure to end up on a number of best-of lists. Co-Album of the Week : Art...