If It's Too Loud...

Another slow week for new releases, although we do have a highly anticipated debut, an interesting solo effort, and a solid folky release to note. AlunaGeorge - Body Music : In an alternate universe, Icona Pop's "I Love It" never becomes an international megahit and AlunaGeorge's debut album would be the most anticipated electronic/dance album of the year. Body Music is more subtle than Icona Pop's offerings are, better matched up as an R&B-tinged MS MR, but no less solid, and, if it holds up for me, could very well make my end of year lists as I expect it to make others. T. Hardy Morris - Audition Tapes : T. Hardy Morris is the lead singer of indie rock band Dead Confederate, best known for "The Rat," which I loved. I haven't really been into much else that Dead Confederate has done, but I have to admit that I'm surprised by how solid this solo album is. It sounds a little Noel Gallagher, a little indie rock, a little folk rock, and...

God, it's been way too long since we've had new music from Tanya Donelly. She had accidentally found herself on the verge of slipping into retirement when John Wesley Harding asked her to perform at his Cabinet of Wonders, a travelling vaudeville-type showcase he created with Eugene Mirman. I couldn't be happier he did that since it inspired her to collaborate with a ton of other artists (Bill Janovitz, Claudia Gonson, Anthony Saffrey, Chris Toppin, Hilken Mancini, etc) for her first batch of new material in ages. Titled The Swan Song Series, it is being released in batches of 4 or 5 per month, starting on August 6. Right now you can listen to a sampling of the group over on Pandora  and watch the new, Naomi Yang Directed video for "Mass Ave" below. For more info, please check out Tanya's website .

Today The Julie Ruin announced they were giving away a new song off of the 1997 solo project by Kathleen Hanna, The Julie Ruin. Back then it was a solo project, now it's a full band. This album is nearly impossible to find, so grab this free mp3 while you can. The best news is they will be doing this every Monday until their new album, Run Fast , comes out on September 3rd! So keep checking back every week, and go to The Julie Ruin's website here .

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. Fuzzy received a lot of unfair comparisons to the Lemonheads back when this album was first released. Both bands were from Boston; David Ryan, the drummer for Electric Juices , was a former Lemonhead; both were on Atlantic Records; and both had ‘60s cover songs as their lead single. But while the Lemonheads’ cover of “Mrs. Robinson” was an enforced decision by the record company and feels ironic at best, “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is a total homage to the Beach Boys original. The similarities are incidental; what should matter is the music. I hadn’t listened to this album in years, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well it has aged. Fuzzy is led by two singers, Hilk...

Earlier this week I was expressing sympathy for Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit just don't seem to be riding that surge of 90s nostalgia that all sorts of other terrible bands from that era are. Sure, they're terrible. But are they really  that much worse than Filter, Alien Ant Farm, and other bands on those 90s nostalgia packages. And then this video is released. The first lyrics to the song are literally "Go fuck yourself." It then features Fred Durst sitting on a toilet, bikini clad chicks pretending to fellate garden hoses and leaf blowers, and Fred Durst talking about fucking bitches, all while wearing a hoodie and a backwards red baseball hat. Then Lil Wayne comes out. Please keep in mind Fred Durst is a 42 year old man.

After releasing the Secret EP last year, Sebadoh are preparing to release their first full length album since 1999’s unfairly maligned The Sebadoh. (To anyone who disliked The Sebadoh , go listen to it again. It’s secretly brilliant. If anything, I’m suspicious the backlash was over how consistently great Sebadoh were. But I digress…). NPR is currently streaming the first song off Defend Yourself , “I Will.” The song has elements of earlier, more indie and twee Sebadoh along with their later 90s material for Sub Pop. “I Will” is their first foray into quirky indie anthems and is ready for next summer’s round of festival appearances the band is sure to make. Defend Yourself is due out on September 19 th . Check out the song on NPR , who will also be streaming the full album a week before it comes out. Also, go to Sebadoh’s official website , and check out their current tour dates below. Jul 30            Bootleg Theater         ...

The good news is that we're finally out of the summer doldrums in terms of new releases. The bad news is that, even with a lot of new releases this week, they kind of run the gamut from average to disappointing. Probably best to go in order: The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas reissue : It's weird to do a reissued "remastered" version of an album originally recorded on a boombox, but All Hail West Texas is probably in my top three Mountain Goats albums, and Head Goat John Darnielle apparently found some songs from the session to justify the reissue. At the very least, the reissue provides a good reason to revisit the album, and the bonus tracks are pretty good, too. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes : I may be the only person who wishes Alex Ebert would cease with the hippie rock and go back to Ima Robot, but the reality is that "Home" was a killer song a few years ago, and while I didn't love the...

To close out the main stage at the inaugural Outside the Box Festival, a  week-long   event   that took  over the Boston Common and City Hall Plaza celebrating art in almost all forms, festival organizers brought out three heavyweights of Boston alternative rock: Buffalo Tom, The Lemonheads, and The Mighty  Mighty   Bosstones . Thousands of children of the  80s and  90s,  many with families in tow, braved the final day of a heat wave and the threat of severe thunderstorms and were rewarded with three headline r  worthy sets of music. Bill Janovitz, Buffalo Tom Chris Colburn, Buffalo Tom Buffalo Tom is one of the most underrated live acts from  Boston . I’ve seen them in small clubs, in a theater doing acoustic and electric sets, and  Bill  Janovitz   performing  solo  sets   in tiny spaces . This was my first time seeing them on an enormous outdoor stage complete with cameras on cran...

Carolina Chocolate Drops are one of the best live bands out there today. I had heard great things about them, but their albums never really grabbed me. It wasn’t until I stumbled onto their set while waiting for Wanda Jackson at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival that I truly understood them. Once I heard they were playing in a park on the river in Portsmouth , NH , I knew I had to go. Since the venue is a public park that only charges a modest “suggested donation” of $8.00 for live concerts, you get a really interesting mix of hipsters, families with small children, and retired folks having discussions about spending the day “having a sail.” The Creepy Old Guy factor was, thankfully, non-existent. It’s a very diverse crowd, and I was worried it wouldn’t be in a good way. Carolina Chocolate Drops encourage a certain amount of energy and participation from the crowd. They’re the kind of folk band you need to move to. Once they started playing the first of two sets that night, I rea...

Five or six years ago, it was kind of the "in" thing to be into a song from a video game. In this case, it was the truly brilliant "Still Alive" from Portal , written by Jonathan Coulton. It was the right mix of nerdy and fun, you didn't necessarily need to know the game to enjoy it (although that didn't hurt), and while it didn't really cross over into mainstream success, it was near-impossible not to be current with video games and not know the song. I bring this up only to highlight a few songs that have caught my ear as of late that I'm not exactly proud of loving, but don't fall into the realm of guilty pleasure, either. I hope you like them, and I won't judge you if you promise not to judge me, either. I actually found the album from Mark Crozer and the Rels at some point last year, and this song, "Broken Out of Love," jumped out at me as something pretty special. It's got a good southern rock feel to it, the cho...

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. I think the thing that annoyed me most about the whole rap metal movement of the late ‘90s was hearing report after report that this was the first generation of kids that were raised on both rock and rap. Apparently none of this “critics” ever heard of the Anthrax and Public Enemy team up for “Bring tha Noise” or Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 debut album. Hell, the first cassettes I ever bought with my very own money were Appetite for Destruction and He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. The album that best personifies the early ‘90s rap/rock hybrid was 1993’s Judgment Night soundtrack.   This album – the soundtrack for the Emilio Estevez and Denis Leary action movie – wa...

After a few meh weeks, it's good to get some interesting new releases from all corners. We have three eras represented this week: Pet Shop Boys - Electric : From the "80s Pop Royalty" era we get the newest album by the Pet Shop Boys, who haven't quite sounded like they've belonged in close to a decade, but finally seem to match up the electronic styles popular today with their more classic sound. This is definitely my favorite album of theirs in some time, and while there isn't a track that jumps out at me yet as a "don't miss," the fact that the Pet Shop Boys have made an album that sounds relevant is a great reveal on its own. Darren Hayman and the Short Parliament - Bugbears : From the "British Indie Rock Royalty" era, we have the new album from Darren Hayman, former frontman for all-time favorite of mine, Hefner. His post-Hefner work has been dominated by more folky material that doesn't really fit into Hefner's oeuvr...

Vegan shoe manufacturers Keep have just released a special Dinosaur Jr edition shoe. They’re purple (of course) and have a design mirroring J Mascis’ guitar strap on the back. As far as collector shoes go, they’re pretty rad. You can get them in a limited run of 360 for $75 a pop, with proceeds to benefit the humanitarian projects of Amma. Even cooler is the shoe comes with a picture disc featuring J Mascis covering Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.” It sounds like it would be a gigantic clash of styles and more of a novelty hit than anything else, but it’s a completely faithful cover almost as striking as the original. Obviously J’s voice doesn’t quite compare to Hope Sandoval’s, but it’s a song every 90s viewer of “Alternative Nation” needs to hear. Check out a stream of "Fade Into You" over at Pitchfork . In other Mazzy Star news, the band just announced the release of their first album in 17 years (17? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!). Seasons of Your Day will be released Se...

Caitlin Rose's new album from this year is another winner, and Noisetrade, best known for offering up free music that's awesome, has started up their own Daytrotter-esque series. Caitlin Rose is offering up the inaugural entry in this series , and it's absolutely worth a listen.

I never would have thought of the possibility of a Mojo Nixon documentary, but now that one is on its way, I can't think of anything else. The politically charged and always hilarious hillbilly punk cult icon, who sang such classics as "Tie My Pecker to My Leg" and "Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two Headed Love Child" will be the subject of The Mojo Manifesto  in 2014. Freedom Records & Films released a two-minute teaser for the film. Right now there is a website for the film with the promise of a Kickstarter to come shortly. To keep updated on the progress of this project, "like" them on Facebook  and follow them on Twitter . Make sure to check out the preview at the official website for The Mojo Manifesto , and for more info on Mojo, check out his website .

As I'm prone to do four or so times a year, I like to highlight some of the best music to come out in recent months. While I was really high on the first quarter of the year , the spring season of releases honestly left quite a bit to be desired. While we got a great song out of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," I feel as if it's been slim pickings on the music front as of late. Even if the new Jay-Z and Kanye albums are interesting , that doesn't necessarily mean I rank them as great , after all. With that said, some highlights: * Allison Weiss - Making It Up : I'll usually give any female-fronted alt-rock a listen, and Allison Weiss is a total 90s power-pop throwback. She's toured with Jenny Owen Youngs, which makes sense, and she makes some of the catchiest songs I've heard in some time. If you're a fan of Fountains of Wayne, or Veruca Salt, or excellent guitar-based rock with a female singer (or heck, even a good singer), you're not go...

Kathleen Hanna’s return to music is well on its way with the release of her new band’s, The Julie Ruin, first video for “Oh Come On.” It’s been 9 long years since Le Tigre released an album (17 for Bikini Kill, but who’s counting) which was caused by Hanna’s struggle with Lyme disease. For The Julie Ruin, Hanna reunites with Bikini Kill bassist Kathi Wilcox, which sets the tone for the album. That’s not to say you should expect the in your face edge of “Rebel Girl.” The Julie Ruin perfectly combine both Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. In other words, they sound like Bikini Kill reimagined as a party band. Hanna is extremely expressive with her vocals and is having a blast with her comeback. Run Fast is quickly rocketing to the top of my must buy records in an already stacked September. Check out The Julie Ruin’s website here . Run Fast is due out on September 3 on the band’s own TJR Records label, with distribution by Dischord. They have some tour dates coming up, so check them out...

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from any of the Beastie Boys, so forgive me if I freak out a bit that MIKE D JUST RELEASED A NEW SONG! “Humberto Vs the New Reactionaries (Christine and the Queens Remix)” was recorded for Kenzo’s Spring/Summer 2014 fashion show, which isn’t exactly a very punk reason to record music, but I’m 100% ok with anything I get from Mike D. It’s a 10 minute epic that was designed to update American hardcore. At first I didn’t get it, as it’s very electronic, but after a few minutes it just clicked. It’s American hardcore for the 21 st century, complete with guitars and electronica blended together perfectly. Astute Beastie Boys fans will recognize the New Reactionaries’ name from  "Too Many Rappers (New Reactionaries Version)” on Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. It’s obviously not a Beastie Boys song, but it makes me desperate for whatever he or Ad Rock have coming up next. Check out "Humberto Vs the New Reactionaries (Christine and the Que...

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. BS 2000 was a side project of Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys and Amery Smith, aka AWOL. Simply Mortified  was their third release, and was also the final release from the Beastie Boys’ vanity record label, Grand Royal records. Since they lived on opposite coasts, the two members would take pieces of songs they had been working on and pass them back and forth. What you get is a fun record that sounds very little like a Beastie Boys project. It’s very lo-fi and synth-heavy. Cute would be an accurate description. While it doesn’t feel like it should be taken all that seriously, it’s hardly a novelty release. “Sick for a Reason” rails against former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani. “Bo...

I’m pretty sure we’ll lose our music blog license if we don’t review the latest from Western Massachusetts  Speedy Ortiz. The blogosphere has been going nuts this week over this album. So far it has received universal praise for being one of the top releases of the week. Major Arcana has an incredibly 90s indie rock sound. I hate making the comparisons because they are so easy to make, but there’s really no getting around it. They sound like Liz Phair formed a supergroup with members of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. You get all the noise, quirky instrumentation, loud-quiet-loud moments, and aggression you would expect with this configuration, but with one huge difference: this record is fun. The pop sensibilities running behind everything is what truly connects it all and makes it unique. The opening track, “Pioneer Spine,” starts like an homage to Exile In Guyville and slowly starts snowballing with force until it erupts into chaos out of nowhere, all the while singer Sadie D...