If It's Too Loud...

First, a caveat to all of this: I know full well that streaming music isn't great . I am very aware of the ever-dwindling payouts from streamers, and further aware of the way streaming has changed many people's relationships with music. As an individual who met my co-blogger in part because of our then-Tuesday treks to our respective local Newbury Comics locations to drop money we didn't have on four-to-five new releases a week, I also know that the previous model was unsustainable and I'm glad that there's something out there that replaces the sort of Napster / Limewire reality that threatened to kill the industry entirely. With that said, I now listen to 40-50 new releases a week now, as opposed to the four-to-five I could afford in a given release week. For every teenage girl listening to nothing but Taylor Swift or mid-30s dudebro on whatever mainstream country playlist he has on shuffle, streaming for me has become a vehicle for musical disc...

Photo by Puspa Lohmeyer You might know Brian Lopez best as the guitarist for Calexico, but his solo albums have been released to wide acclaim as well. His latest solo single, "3000 Stories," is a gorgeous and lush cinematic song. It keeps his desert roots intact while being a quietly gigantic song. It's a relatively simple song that seems to keep building and building, adding new elements while just keeping the main root of the song completely together. "3000 Stories" is the kind of song that's going to require multiple listens. You won't realize how much is going on after just the first one, and the more you listen, the more there is to discover here. You can listen to "3000 Stories" below. Tidal will be due out this summer on Fort Lowell Records. For more on Brian Lopez, check out the artist's website . Upcoming tour dates are below the song. Feb 14 Tue - Lodge Room Highland Park - Los Angeles, CA Feb 15 Wed - Belly Up - Solana Beach, CA ...