If It's Too Loud...

A day late, but not a track short, this month's best music features my favorite release of the month from The Red Headed Indian as well as tracks from the new Alt-J, Ryan Adams, and more. Check it out!

As releases are slow to hit Spotify, or if we just miss an album here and there, it's always fun to take a look back at what we missed. Here are some from the last few months: Self - Super Fake Nice : Of the bands that sort of drifted off and that I didn't expect to hear from again, Self might have topped the list. This seven song, super short EP sounds like Self, which is, at least to start, exactly what I'd want. While songs like "Hey, Hipster" are a little grating, it's more than made up for with "Runaway" and "Splitting Atoms," and, well, the rest of the EP. Here's to hoping we have more Self music to look forward to. Wussy - Attica : Wussy sounds like that classic 1990s alt rock band you loved. Yeah, you know - that one. Attica is their fifth release and it straddles that line of polish and more indie sensibility very well. The louder songs, on a whole, are better than the quieter ones, but this album has a lot of soli...

Hailing from New Zealand, Ha the Unclear have one of the more unique releases of the year. It's a combination of quirky indie pop with classic, vintage 60s California pop. It will probably draw a ton of comparisons with Alt-J, but to me it sounds more like a mix of Arctic Monkeys and The Kinks. The standout track is the first single, "Growing Mould." It's universal theme of discovering that you've been broken up with without an explanation, and the ensuing one sided conversation as you try to figure it out is paired with one of the catchiest choruses of the year.  "Secret Lives of Furniture" is the type of song that could become the surprise hit of next summer. It features a killer bass line and a tempo that you keep waiting to explode, with a chorus that is nearly hypnotic. We'll spend the entire winter listening, and get then hear it everywhere next year. Bacterium, Look At Your Motor Go  is out on September 30. You can check out their webs...

Here at If It's Too Loud..., we love free music, especially when it's something we've recently raved about. Which is why we were thrilled to discover 2 of our recent favorites for free (or at least partially for free) on Noisetrade. Just last week , Jeff was gushing about Honey , the debut EP from The Red-Headed Indian. Turns out, you can download the entire EP for free right now over at Noisetrade ! Another album Jeff recently loved was Prospect Hill, the solo debut from Dom Flemons. He referred to it as "...  one of the better folk records [he's] heard in a while." Right now you can download 6 of the album's tracks on Noisetrade . Of course, if you're downloading their music for free, you should at least check out their websites for more info, including tour dates. You can find The Red-Headed Indian here  and Dom Flemons here . These might be the best free music you get all year.

Currently over at Noisetrade is a short EP of live songs from blog favorite Lucius titled Lucius Get Noisey . The live version of "Turn it Around" is great as well as the song they did for the Radiolab podcast. Check it out!

A pretty busy new release week, all things considered. Lots of interesting stuff, so let's dive in. Future Sound of London - Environment Five : A common theme with the reviews this week will be the expectations that a lot of the artists provide. For example, with FSOL, I've come to expect some pretty good electronic stuff, often understated but uniquely FSOL (and especially with their Environment series). This album slots right in with what I was hoping to hear, and works for me on a whole. Significant fans might quibble with some of it or still wish it was closer to a lot of what they were doing two decades ago, but I really enjoyed this and those who like electronic music and need a break from the new Aphex Twin would be wise to check this out. Mr Twin Sister - Mr Twin Sister : Formerly simply Twin Sister, I expected something a lot different than the dreamy indie pop we got from this. It's an interesting listen, but I'm still on the fence as to whether it...

The Dead Milkmen have released a 2nd song of their forthcoming (and fantastic) album Pretty Music For Pretty People. "Make It Witchy" is a synth-heavy punk song that leans very heavily on Rodney Anonymous' trademark snarl. It sounds like a lost song from the Bucky Fellini  sessions. You can listen to it below, and while you're at it you can preorder Pretty Music For Pretty People  at Amazon , and check out the Dead Milkmen's official website .

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...

Next month there's a new album from the Dead Milkmen coming out, and they just released the first song from it, the title track "Pretty Music For Pretty People." It's a typical rambling happy sounding upbeat punk song with angry, evil lyrics. In other words, it's the best type of Dead Milkmen song. It's a diatribe against the fluffy, meaningless popular music that means absolutely nothing that wins awards. The type of music that is more about how pretty the musician is than anything meaningful, and is meant to be enjoyed for being... well, pretty. It's more bitter and angry than almost anything so-called punks in their 20s have come out with for years. Pretty Music For Pretty People is due to come out on 10/7. You can pre-order it now on Amazon . You can also check out their website for more info and tour dates. I'm sure we'll be all over any Dead Milkmen news as soon as it becomes available.

After months of waiting, the latest offering from The Two Man Gentlemen Band landed on Spotify recently. With their show in Cambridge coming up, and the band being a longtime blog favorite, I figured this week would be a good place to do a quick introductory piece.

I hope you like indie rock, because there's a lot of indie rock out this week. Karen O - Crush Songs : Karen O essentially branches out solo to share what sound like basement tapes of song fragments. While "Singalong" is close to a complete piece, this is really not an interesting record unless you're really into Karen O and/or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Interpol - El Pintor : Interpol fell off my radar somewhere around a decade ago. Nothing significantly against them, it's more that they didn't feel like anything new or fresh was coming, and, frankly, I thought Editors started doing Interpol better. So El Pintor is being described by some as a return to form, and, well, I can at least say that I'm enjoying this particular Interpol record more than the previous ones I've listened to. It feels dark and mysterious in ways their first couple albums did, but, at least on first listen, it lacks that killer track like "Obstacle 1" or "Evil....