If It's Too Loud...

I figured I'd end this little month long project with a blog favorite. Spirit Family Reunion is one of our favorites here, and we hope it's one of yours, too.

I raved about the new Rhett Miller album and how well Miller and Black Prarie collaborate together. "Kiss Me On the Fire Escape" is a great example of how well their blend works together, and is a song that's been stuck in my head for a while now.

Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show has his third solo album coming out next month, and he's enlisted some friends to help him out on it. The self-titled album was recorded in  “... a ramshackle, shanty-ass apartment on the south side of Nashville.” "Take This Body" features Laura Marling on vocals. The track is quiet and laid back folk, with Marling's vocals creating a haunting effect behind the song. It's beautiful and eerie at the same time.  Gill Landry's self-titled album will be out June 22 on ATO Records. It will also feature Robert Ellis, Nick Etwell of Mumford & Sons, and Odessa Jorgensen on various tracks. You can listen to "Take This Body" below, and head on over to Gill Landry's website for pre-ordering and more information.

Because I can never get enough dance music, I've been hooked on Alison Wonderland's debut. "Cold" in particular has an edge to it that I don't hear a lot of, and it's really made the album that much more interesting as a result.

A much smaller release week with the American holiday. Zhala - Zhala : When it comes to acts I don't know that I seek out for this weekly post, I try not to look up anything about them until I'm done listening to the album. It's hard enough to listen to things when you carry a preconceived notion, never mind having undue expectations. This feels like a 90s-retro dance record, which is great, and it came as a pleasant surprise that Zhala is signed to Robyn's label, as the sound fits right in. Whether this has the staying power Robyn has shown remains to be seen, but this was definitely my favorite listen this week. Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs of Karen Dalton : A tribute album of sorts for folky Karen Dalton, what turned me onto this were who they got involved with the project, including Sharon van Etten, Marissa Nadler, and Lucinda Williams. It's a good little folk compilation on a whole with artists you know, and that makes it worth a listen on its ...

I feel like a lot of my music exploration involves finding a way to fill the Kathleen Edwards-shaped hole in my heart. Fawn Larson comes close, especially in this song, "Anything at All," that I somehow tripped up on and fell in love with. A good mix of twang, roots, and alt-country, it's probably the most rocking song on her superlative album, but still pretty great.

For the 7th episode of the Newport Folk Festival podcast , they focused on '65 Revisited. This year marks the 50th anniversary of when Bob Dylan went electric at Newport, probably the most legendary single performance of all time. Originally the organizers of Newport weren't going to mark the anniversary, but artists in the Folk Family started contacting them looking to be a part of it. This lead to it happening organically, and not a forced "moment" just for the sake of having a moment. The Newport organizers are being extremely tight lipped about who is performing as part of this. All we know is that it will close out the festival on Sunday, it will be full of surprises, and Bob Dylan won't be there. At this point, we don't even know what it will be. A song by song reenactment from current bands? A bunch of acoustic artists plugging in (probably the least likely)? J Mascis and Jim James having a wall of noise for 45 minutes? It could be anything at this poin...

Photo by Ellen Lawson In just over 2 minutes, Minnesota's Edger may have the catchiest song of the year. It's the type of indie rock that the late 90s was built on, with shades of Superchunk and the most melodic side of Archers of Loaf. It's pure noisey indie power pop, which they do to perfection. What's interesting is the band was originally started as a two-piece post-punk/hardcore band, they naturally veered towards their current hook driven sound. I think we'll all be pretty happy they did. Edger's debut EP, Rudiments , is due out June 10 on Land Ski Records . You can listen to "Holy Armour" below, and check out their Bandcamp .

I also enjoyed the winning song for this year's Eurovision. It's perhaps too poppy for most, but I definitely liked it, and it was a worthy winner of the field.

This song had to grow on me a bit, but by the time it did, I had trouble deciding which parts were my favorite. The reverb guitar in the beginning? The bass line and handclaps in the middle? It's hard to say, but I've ultimately come to love this song from his most recent album. Definitely worth a listen and it might get you on board.

After a few days of folk songs, let's make it a little weird, shall we? As I said in First Listen last week, this song is both representative of what Holly Herndon is capable of while still being fairly accessible. It won't be for everyone, but this is something really interesting and worth hearing.

These three women are among some of my favorite singer-songwriters at present, and they've been touring together recently. They've recorded a few things, and this was a Record Store Day song that really hit me. The three of them blend so well together, it's just absolutely haunting and brilliant all at once.

I raved about this Milk Carton Kids song on First Listen earlier this week, so it seems only right to share it here. It reminds me a lot of a Gillian Welch song in a lot of ways, I'm not sure if you'll hear it too, but I really love this song.

Via Facebook For anyone who doesn't know, last week is was announced that Cambridge, MA club TT the Bear's was closing this summer after over 40 years. This might be the first club closing to truly upset me. By the time I was regularly going to shows (1996?), The Rat was catering to mostly punk and hardcore bands, and Avalon and Axis were always the bigger, corporate clubs (even though they've been replaced by the even more corporate and gigantic House of Blues). TT's had an equal love of national and local bands, and felt like a home base to bands like Letters to Cleo and Lady Lamb the Beekeeper even as they got too big to play a 325 person club. For an example of how great this place was in the late 90s, check out the ad to the left. Jennifer Trynin, Allstonians, Velvet Crush, Boss Hog, Bikini Kill, and a Squirrel Nut Zippers/Magnetic Fields double bill in less than 2 weeks??? Plus, it was the site of the legendary Pixies/Lemonheads pairing on "nu muzik"...

This summer gives you many options on the 90s nostalgia circuit. If you want to see middle aged men 15 years passed their prime with their current nameless hired backing bands for grossly inflated prices, you have the Summerland Tour, Under the Sun Tour, and more. However, if you want to see acts just hitting their prime that capture the spirit of the 90s better than Sugar Ray ever could, you need to check out the current Courtney Barnett tour. Before Courtney Barnett, Chastity Belt brought their own blend of 90s nostalgia to the stage. One unimpressed audience member standing near me remarked that he found them too monotonous. And yes, they were, if you just listened to them on the surface. Once you actually focused on them, you realized that each member was seemingly playing their own song, almost unrelated to each other, in a way that just looped around and around. Then they would all pull their parts tightly together. Basically, they were a less aggressive Sonic Youth with dr...

It's Eurovision season, and I spent some time earlier this week trying to listen to what I could find from this year's entrants. The field is full of dull ballads this year, unfortunately, but one of the songs that absolutely jumped out at me was the Estonian entrant above. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs from The Dears, and it's a song that's been haunting me since I heard it. I hope we get more from either of them, or, if we're lucky, both.

Let's jump right in. Hot Chip - Why Make Sense? : Everyone, at this point, knows "Ready for the Floor." The electronic group is back with a new album that remains out of touch both with the song that made them big and current electronic trends, but this one is still a pretty solid record with a lot of interesting and sometimes complicated parts. I really enjoyed this one in a way I didn't like their previous effort, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with this album. The Milk Carton Kids - Monterey : I really should love The Milk Carton Kids, and the previous efforts are ones I've liked, but hardly loved. Monterey may have finally changed that or me, as this is a strong, understated folk album with a lot going for it. I really enjoyed listening to the whole thing, and then the final track, "Poison Tree," came on and I was hooked for good. It's just a really solid listen from start to finish, and absolutely worth your time thi...

If I had to choose a word to describe "Never Been a Captain," it would be haunting. It's sort of bluesy, sort of folksy, but the production provides a bit of a soulful darkness that has been sticking with me since I first heard it. I'll be looking at their new EP closer later on, but for now, this song is worth a listen.

Back in March, we wrote about a split EP from Minnesota's Fury Things and Brilliant Beast. Now Fury Things are back with a new EP, Saskatchewan EP , which especially got our attention for featuring a cover of Hüsker Dü's classic "New Day Rising." Since we love covers, bands from Minnesota, and Hüsker Dü here, we kind of need to make sure you all know about it. The cover stays completely true to the original, which makes me wonder if I would have preferred Fury Things to try to make it their own or not. Currently I can't decide. Saskatchewan EP is available as a free download. Head on over to Fury Things' Bandcamp to get your copy. You can listen to their cover of "New Day Rising" below.

I raved about Talvik's latest album a couple weeks ago, but I really didn't spend enough time on how much I like the title track. I don't always spend a lot of time on lyrics, and "Big Sky Country" is a really great story of the Scandinavian singer-songwriter's time spent touring the United States over almost sixteen months a few years back. I missed her on the tour (and I'm still kicking myself for it), but, especially when the general feeling toward describing America in general is negative in the standard non-country songwriting, it's interesting to hear a positive listen from an outsider perspective. I really like this song, I hope you give this and her album a shot.

I'm still a fan of Drew Holcomb's latest album with his band, The Neighbors. "Here We Go" jumped out and grabbed me the moment I heard it and I am still addicted to it months later. It's a genuinely fun song to sing along to, and the fact that the video is just as fun and goofy only adds to its endearing charm.

Prior to reading Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear) , I had never heard of Jon Fine or his main band, Bitch Magnet. What's truly great about the memoir is that unlike most music biographies or memoirs, you really don't have to. While it does focus on Fine's experiences starting an aggressive, fairly experimental indie rock band in the 80s and 90s, it's written primarily as a music fan with insider information. This makes it perfect for anyone with interest in the 80s and 90s indie rock scene, and more along the lines of Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991   than a typical musician's memoir. Since Jon Fine makes his living nowadays primarily as a journalist rather than a musician (he's appeared in BusinessWeek, The Atlantic, and GQ, and is an editor at Inc. magazine), this might be the best written musician memoir I've ever read. It f...

We're fans of Kingsley Flood here at the blog, and I revisited their new EP from earlier this year and forgot how much I loved "Set Me Off," so I figured I'd remind you all about how great and catchy this song is as well. If the first five seconds don't get you, you may not have a soul.

As much as I wish this was a garage rock cover of the Underworld song, this ends up being a fun, rather understated and complex rock song. I didn't love it at first, but the more I go back to it the more I enjoy it. While I haven't liked a lot of the output from The Strokes as of late, but this leads me to believe the new album from Hammond will be worthwhile.

I giggle every time I think of their band name, but Sea of Bees has a new song from their upcoming album that is catchy as all get out. Sing-along bits, a catchy chorus, hooks for days, it's really the total package. It's not on Spotify yet, so we're stuck with this for the time being, but this song alone has made this album one of my most anticipated summer albums. Looking forward to it.

Photo by Ken Sears My days of going to see the same tour multiple dates are pretty much over. I just saw Lady Lamb at one of her album release parties back in March , so normally I wouldn't feel the need to see her two months later. But this is Lady Lamb we're talking about, and the Press Room holds 85 people. The last venue I saw her in, The Sinclair, holds 525 and she sold that out easily. There won't be many more chances to see her in such an intimate venue, so I had to make the trip up to Portsmouth to see her again. The Press Room has a very odd set up. Shows here take place upstairs from the restaurant, but the upstairs still has tables with people eating. If you get there before the show starts, you either sit at the bar or mill about awkwardly between tables where people are eating while you are constantly in the way of the waitstaff. But the venue is extremely intimate. There really isn't a typical stage. There is a small ledge at the very back of the roo...

When we think of throwbac/retro-style acts, I don't know if we think much of bands like Lusts, that certainly hit upon the sort of rock music we saw get popular about a decade ago, but awash in production values that would fit right into the early 1980s and songwriting that reminds me of some of my favorite R.E.M.-inspired songs, in a sense. This is an EXCELLENT song, and I definitely want to dive in more with this band and see what else they offer. Maybe my favorite song of this series so far.

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down (Photo by Ken Sears) Located in Portsmouth, NH, Prescott Park is this absolutely beautiful and scenic public park right on the river. While just about every public park in America will have weekly music, it's usually the local marching band or jazz ensemble, mostly for senior citizens and families with small children. Prescott Park Arts Festival put on amazing shows every year with a TON of If It's Too Loud... approved artists.  I've only made it up there once for a Carolina Chocolate Drops show in 2013, but it hasn't worked out. This year I'm planning to make the trek a bunch. One of the best parts is the cost. They get a lot of acts that I'd normally be priced out of (you know, the $50+ range), but they only ask for a suggested donation around $10. Sure, you can cruise right in without paying anything, but you really should to keep this alive. You can see their full schedule here , with more to be added. This is a list of ...

An interesting week overall. Let the folktacular begin! Rhett Miller - The Traveler : Rhett Miller of The Old 97s teams up with Decemberists side project Black Prairie for what is a really fun, solid rootsy album. Collaborations can always be hit or miss when it comes to situations like this, and what I like most about this specific album is that you can absolutely hear Miller's influence and Black Prairie's influence meshing throughout. The instrumentation we'd expect remains the same, Rhett Miller's voice doesn't seem out of place, and it doesn't sound too much like either side. A really well-done album, and easily the best release of the week. Della Mae - Della Mae : Della Mae's third album is a continuation of their interesting take on Americana music. I'm not sure why I'm always surprised when I enjoy their music - it might be that I confuse them with similarly-named acts or that their sound doesn't stand out when you initially hear...

I confess to not knowing the first thing about Kehlani or Coucheron or this song in general except that I heard it and liked it. It's breezy, the instrumentation is good, and it feels awfully accessible in a way that you might expect it to show up in some television show in the next few months and watch as it catches fire. Either way, this absolutely makes me want to check out more from her, so this is a pretty good start.

Our love of Torres has been pretty well documented on If It's Too Loud..., so when she puts out some music for free we are pretty much obligated to tell you about it. Last week A Strange Hello  was released on NoiseTrade. There's nothing new on it, but it is comprised of 5 songs from both her self-titled debut and her just released Sprinter . If you've been on the fence about checking her out or picking up some of her music, this free sampler is a perfect starting point. It's just unique rock driven singer/songwriter material in the vein of Tori Amos and PJ Harvey done to absolute perfection. Head over to NoiseTrade to download your copy of A Strange Hello . Make sure to check out Torres' website for more information, and be sure to check out her on tour, hopefully coming to a city near you. Wed. May 13 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill @ Fri. May 15 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge @ Sat. May 16 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza @ Sun. May 17 - Vancouver, ...

Photo by  Stephanie Sian Smith Landshapes are the kind of band that England used to have a ton of. They're fun, a little weird, completely danceable, and that great blend of alternative and pop without being completely studio manufactured. The band was formerly known as Lulu and the Lampshades, but took on a new musical sound after discovering guitar pedals, and a mis-billing in Paris gave them the name Landshapes. "Ader" is available on their newest album, Heyoon. The band describes their sound as "wonky pop," which sounds pretty much right. It takes classic British dance bands like Pet Shop Boys, mixes in 90s Brit pop, and brings it all to the current day. Heyoon  is out now on Bella Union. You can order it here . To keep track of Landshapes, head over to their website  or like them on Facebook  or Twitter .

We haven't heard from Metric in a while, and the announcement of a new song and album this year was pretty great. This is a bit of a slow burn of a song - I wasn't so jazzed about it as it started, but, by the end, I was already singing along and checking Spotify to add it to a playlist (spoiler alert: it's on Spotify). Either way, if the new Metric album is going to be like this, we'll probably be in for a treat.

Looper is a group my friend Adam got me into a very long time ago. Sort of a side/adjacent project of Belle and Sebastian, they were sort of the electronic arm of the Jeepster Records and pretty much disappeared until randomly releasing a new album earlier this year. I'll talk more about the album later, but one of the songs from it, "Oh, Skinny Legs," while not modern sounding at all, is still right along the lines of what was expected. Oh, and by the way? You probably know at least one Looper song and don't know it .

Sauna Youth are one of those bands where you kinda already know what they'll sound like before you even hear them, and if "Transmitters" is any indication, you'd be right. Sauna Youth is obviously a play on Sonic Youth, so they'll obviously be noisy. But it's also a fairly silly name, so they need to have some sense of fun.  They formed in Brighton back in 2009, moving to London and forming their current line up in  2011. They released their debut album, Dreamlands, back in 2012. Since then, all four members have also performed as Monotony, and next month their sophomore release as Sauna Youth, Distractions , comes out. Distractions  comes out June 8 on Upset the Rhythm. For more information on Sauna Youth, you can like them on Facebook  and check out their Bandcamp .

As we get closer to the 2015 Newport Folk Festival, and as more artists are being announced, it's becoming more and more clear that this year is going to be a truly special one. We have some returning regulars like The Decemberists, Brandi Carlile, First Aid Kit, Shakey Graves, and Spirit Family Reunion, but the real excitement are some of the artists playing the Fort for the first time. Courtney Barnett was a fantastic early addition, and I've been wishing hard for J Mascis for years. I'm not so secretly hoping he doesn't go for an all acoustic set and he brings a few of his affects pedals with him. Just something about him playing one of his Dinosaur Jr songs acoustic and then hitting a pedal to bring this wall of noise seemingly out of nowhere is just thrilling to me. Last week they announced Tommy Stinson to the line up. I don't know if that makes it more or less likely that The Replacements will end up being announced, but a guy can hope. It's also the t...

For what we've seen from some frankly disappointing efforts from established acts this year, it's probably fun to look back at some of the better ones. Modest Mouse's first single in ages, "Lampshades on Fire," fits the bill of being very Modest Mouse while also feeling rather new and fresh. This song came out a few months ago and I'm still really into it, so that should say something right there, and it also makes me think I should maybe take a second look at the album.

If you've been reading my posts here/know me at all, you know that it usually takes something interesting for me to really get into hip-hop or R&B. Thus my love of FKA Twigs, Naomi Pilgrim, and the like. Thus enters Alessia Cara, another song sent over to me that is left-of-center and fully engaging. A different song that isn't something that connects right away, I'm glad I gave this a full shot because now I can't really stop listening to it. It's a pretty interesting song, and it won't be for everyone, but it's definitely worth your time.

There is a new Little Boots song! And a new Little Boots album! I'll go and say this outright, too - this might be her best song yet. I know people are partial to "Remedy," but this song is just such a solid straightforward listen that it's hard for me to not be completely excited by it. It feels like a great mid-1990s Europop song, and that's just awesome to me. Definitely give this one a listen.

My friend Liz sends me pretty much everything Alpine does, and I've always enjoyed it, but this song in particular, "Foolish," is really one I'm hooked on. I love the airy quality of it, it still feels modern even though it's aping a lot of retro sounds, and it has me really excited for their upcoming album. Plus, this video is really amusing to me, so there's that, too.

We saved the best for last this week. Hop Along - Painted Shut : Hop Along is a band I only know because they're touring with Field Mouse (a blog favorite here). Within a few moments of this album, you see why they match up with Field Mouse so well, and get hit right in the nostalgia with a sound that sounds like so much you've already heard, but can't place. Expertly done indie rock with very few flaws (the more indie/anti-folk songs near the end do feel a little out of place), it's definitely one of the best releases of the week, and arguably the year. I can't recommend this highly enough. Metz - II : Metz's second album is absolutely the heaviest thing on the docket this week. It's a short affair, pretty heavy, but has a number of good moments throughout. Not really my sort of thing in general, but if you're looking for something on the heavier side this might work for you. Best Coast - California Nights : I mentioned back in November how ...