If It's Too Loud...

Nothing is Quick in the Desert was originally scheduled to come out on July 4 as a free surprise download. Last weekend, news of the album leaked and earlier this week Public Enemy confirmed the album. Yesterday, Public Enemy released the album early. Public Enemy is one of my top three bands of all time. This is based almost completely on their first four albums. It's not that anything they've released since Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black  has been bad, but I tend to listen to their newer albums once or twice, and then just go back to the classics.  Nothing is Quick in the Desert  is a return to form. Maybe it's because Public Enemy have a lot to be angry about now. While their recent releases have edged into the R&B chorus trap or having references to their earlier work that seemed a bit to cutesy. Listening to a Public Enemy album shouldn't be a fully pleasant experience. Public Enemy should be a bit discordant, like the Sonic Youth of hip hop. ...

Photo via Facebook One of the best parts of seeing a Built to Spill show are the random covers they'll pull out. Some of my favorites over the past 20 years (20 years? Jesus...) have been the Peanuts theme and George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord." Apparently Jason Albertini has kept the covers bug for his other band, Helvetia. While we wait for their upcoming four song EP due in September, the band has released a cover song they're calling "You and I." While that's not the actual title, you'll recognize the song almost immediately. The band blocks out the name of the original band, but will say it's off an album called Let It Be . I assume they don't want to pay for a cover they're just throwing out there for free. Their cover starts as a slightly off tune, quiet kinda acoustic version, and it slowly evolves into a rambling mess at the end. And I mean that in the best way possible. You can listen to Helvetia's mystery cover bel...

I'm pretty sure 95% of the world can agree that the alternative scene of the early 90's was the best that decade had to offer. But, there are some of us that came of age more in the mid 90's that will always have a fondness for that era. The new song from Winter is perfect for us. You could have played "Winter" for me and then told me it was from some band in your local scene put out in 1995, and I would have 100% believed you. It has just enough of that slacker vibe while still being fun to make it feel like that decade. Samira Winter's vocals are alter between that mid-90's breathy thing and actual singing, not to mention the guitar solos straight outta when guitar solos could go back to being guitar solos, but just barely. Plus, the song is called "Jaded," which is the most 90's of all buzzwords. Just when you think it can't get more 90's, there a speaking part right in the middle between two people. Oh, and according to the pr...

Album of the Week : Artist : Meklit Album : When the People Move, the Music Moves Too Quick Description : Soul/R&B with some great musicality. Why You Should Listen : It's unlike anything else you've heard lately. Overall Thoughts : This just came out of nowhere. I’ve never heard of Meklit before today, but I think we’ve found a new favorite here. I think my best comparison to this, to start, might be Janelle Monae if she spent more time with non-electronic instruments and less time singing about robots, but that doesn’t do this justice. There’s such a high level of musicality to Meklit’s take on R&B, to the styles being explored, that it’s just impossible to ignore. On first listen, it was almost exhausting (in a good way) trying to keep up with everything happening, and all I’ve wanted to do since diving in last week is jump back in. Even if this doesn’t end up being one of my favorite albums of the year, it’s absolutely my favorite this week and absolutely...

Petite League now reside in Ridgewood, Queens, but started out in the DIY show scene in Syracuse. Lorenzo Gillis Cook started out playing solo under the name Spark Alaska, once he met drummer Henry Schoonmaker, Petite League were formed. Petite League's latest single, "Sun Dogs," might be the jangliest pop song you ever hear. The opening guitar riff is reminiscent of early Strokes, but in a much more lo-fi way. It somehow sounds like the most polished and produced basement recording of all time. It's all gritty and lush, with one of the greatest uses of "la la la" in a chorus I've heard in years. It's the NYC ooze of The Strokes mixed with the sunshine pop of The Beach Boys, which is one of those combinations you never new how badly you needed it until you hear it for the first time. You can listen to "Sun Dogs" below. Petite League's third album, Rips One Into the Night (the last two were called Slugger and No Hitter ), will...

If you've noticed from my reviews as of late, I've become somewhat obsessed with a certain revival of 90s-era Juliana Hatfield/Veruca Salt-sounding acts. There's a lot of great stuff out there, and I was going to make a playlist for myself before I realized that I could just share it with you guys. So here's a fun mix for your Monday - don't consider this representative, but just a fun start.

Somehow it's been over two years since we've brought you anything from Boston area based Drab. Yesterday they came back into our radar with a new single, "Well, I Wanna Die." "Well, I Wanna Die" is an absolutely perfect song for you if you have a fondness for a certain mid-90's realm of just under the mainstream but right on the edge of creeping out alternative. The song starts off almost painfully slowly, and it slightly builds to a crescendo that never quite comes. You keep waiting for this explosion to be the big pay off at the end, but it just never happens. This builds this insane tension throughout, which is only aided by strings and some odd percussion towards the end. The whole song feels like that dog started hanging out with Rasputina. "Well, I Wanna Die" is available on Spotify and iTunes . For more on Drab, check them out on Facebook .

Forgotten Fridays is an occasional 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. 1996 was the height of the 90s ska resurgence. It was also the height of the 90s covers compilation craze. Since ska and covers went together beautifully, you got roughly a million albums of ska bands doing wacky covers.  SKAndalous: I've Gotcha Covered  is one of the wackier ones. There's not really any consistent theme. Sure, there are a bunch of tv and cartoon theme songs covered (Perfect Thyroid cover "Sanford and Son," The Jinkies cover "Scooby Doo" because you couldn't do anything in the mid 90s without including Scooby Doo somehow) but there are just as many legitimate songs from the 60s covered (Magadog do "Brown Eyed Girl,...

The new song from England's HVMM is one of the few songs that sounds unlike anything you've heard before by combining a bunch of familiar sounds. "Lacerate" probably shouldn't work, but it does. The intro is more than a little reminiscent of Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood." It also skews heavily into Jack White's trademark noisy roots based blues sound. But then come Andy Teece's vocals. He doesn't quite rap, but he's not exactly not rapping, either, which gives the song the sound of a more roots based Sleaford Mods. It all has a Johnny Rotten trying to imitate a preacher feel to it. I know a song that combines Jack White, Sleaford Mods, and The Sex Pistols sounds like too much of a hodgepodge of sounds, but "Lacerate" somehow does. You can watch the video for "Lacerate" below. HVMM's new album, Talk to Me Like I'm Dead , will be out September 1st on ILA. It can be pre-ordered here . For more on HVMM, check...

It's been over a year since we first discovered Riley Pinkerton and her amazing debut  Do You Have a Car EP . Seemingly without warning, last week she released a new EP as a duo with Henry Black: Pinkerton/Black. Seeing as how I'm completely unfamiliar with Henry Black's solo work, I can only use Riley Pinkerton's solo release as a base for How's the Weather Over There. The new EP runs a wee bit more on the mainstream side of the whole acoustic singer/songwriter genre than Pinkerton's previous release did. Her vocals once again elevate the genre to a completely different level. She just has such a unique voice that is just simply captivating. Even on Black's songs when she's singing back up, you just get pulled in by her harmonizing. That's not to take away from Black's own vocals, but hers are just stunning. The pair seem to work best when harmonizing together. "In His Image" has dual vocals throughout, and it may just be the song ...

Usually we try to hold onto these until Friday (Friday Freebie and all...) but we couldn't wait for this one for two more whole days. Hallelujah the Hills decided to celebrate the ten year anniversary of their album Collective Psychosis  by releasing a live recording of the album from 2008 for free!  Collective Psychosis Begone LIVE 1​/​4​/​2008 @ The Middle East isn't the world's greatest live recording, but I tend to hate live recordings that are overproduced. Keeping in any mistakes, voice cracks, etc makes a live album more like a live performance than a studio recording, and that's exactly the point. Plus, it's a great snapshot at where one of our current favorites were ten years ago, and a reminder that delving into their much more robust than I remember back catalog is something we should all do more often. You can get your own copy of  Collective Psychosis Begone LIVE 1​/​4​/​2008 @ The Middle East for the "name your price" option over at Bandc...

It's been a little over a year since we've heard from our favorite Minneapolis shoegaze band led by a brother and sister, but luckily Brilliant Beast are back with a new song in advance of a new release. There have been roughly 4762 new releases from reunited shoegaze royalty this year, so it would be easy for the new crop of up and comers to get hidden. That would be a shame, since this new song from Brilliant Beast is so perfect. A lot of these reunion albums seem to forget what made the bands so great and they keep trying to update their sound to a more modern sound. They forget what we loved about them. "Star Of" is closer to the classic shoegaze sound than classic shoegaze bands sound like now. It's all swirling, fuzzed out guitars in a lush blend with vocals caught in a dream.  You can watch the video for "Star Of" below. The new EP from Brilliant Beast, Jelly , will be out digitally and on cassette on July 7. You can pre-order the EP via Ban...

This week was sneaky busy, but a lot of good music! Album of the Week : Artist : What Cheer? Brigade Album : You Can't See Inside of Me Quick Description : Marching band music for hipster adults. Why You Should Listen : They may drive your spouse mad, but the musicianship and fun is top notch. Overall Thoughts : Every so often, while listening to something for First Listen, my wife will provide commentary. What Cheer? Brigade are a bunch of punk types who also play brass instruments, so the result is a bit of a sassy, edgy marching band quality. It turned my wife off right quick, but I was into it . It’s reminiscent of a lot of what made Gogol Bordello so awesome when they had their breakthrough, and there’s just something special and exciting about this. While I don’t think this will make it high on my year end list, this is absolutely my favorite thing that I listened to this week, and is my album of the week because of it. I mean, they do a brass version of a Brain...

Photo by Dave Green A Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys show is always an event. They're a band that truly puts on a performance, not just a concert. Seeing them live is as much a visual experience as it is an auditory one. Last night, the band took over the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science for a one night only event. I had expected something more on the lines of the old style laser light shows last night. Back in my youth, the planetarium was always hosting Laser Floyd or Laser Zeppelin shows on weekends. (The only one I ever went to was Laser Nirvana back in 1996...) Instead Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys were accompanied by computer animation projected across the screen of the planetarium. It was a slightly odd experience. Usually when at a concert you watch the band and not a screen. The band members circled the projector in the center of the room and played, so any audience member could only see the band by leaning forward in the chair...

Being a grumpy old man in the world of indie rock, to me noise rock should be something loud and most likely aggressive. If it's loud enough, like Lightning Bolt, maybe people can do some kind of moshing to it, but it's most likely music that you listen to while stroking your chin and paying attention. It's certainly nothing that you could possibly dance to. That would be preposterous. Guerilla Toss continue to prove me wrong. "Betty Dreams of Green Men" is the noisiest dance song you might ever hear. It has a groove throughout that Deee-Lite would be envious of. There's a perfect chant along chorus about aliens that will be driven into your skull as deeply as anything Taylor Swift has ever put out. Luckily, "Betty Dreams of Green Men" is just discordant enough to be interesting, but it might be your daughter's entry away from top 40 into actual good music. You can listen to "Betty Dreams of Green Men" below. Guerilla Toss's n...

Just when I has Banditos pigeonholed as a psychedelic southern garage rock band, their new song goes in a completely new direction. "Healin' Slow" features Mary Beth Richardson on vocals, and her vocals are the star for this track. It's a southern rock blues slow jam, with the instruments holding off as minimalist as can possibly be for the genre. Richardson's voice is the main focus, and once you hear this song, you'll understand why. I wouldn't say she has a spectacularly beautiful voice, but she has this odd power behind it that just draws you in and makes you want to pay attention. "Healin' Slow" is a song that could have ended up as a pretty generic ballad, but Richardson's seemingly effortless vocals and the rest of the Banditos' ability to remain in the background makes this one a must listen. You can watch the video for "Healin' Slow" below. Banditos' newest album, Visionland , will be out June 23 on Bloo...

Photo by Nick McKinlay Although you may have to wait three more months for an actual copy of her new 7", we can now listen to the new single from Julia Jacklin. "Eastwick" was inspired by a night watching Dancing With the Stars , of all things. It starts off very quietly, as a fairly standard singer/songwriter offering. Jacklin's voice has never sounded more beautiful and vulnerable than it does in "Eastwick." But, a strange thing happens throughout the song. It builds so gradually and slowly, that it eventually becomes a mid-tempo almost noisy power ballad by the end without you even realizing it. It starts off as a really good song to one of the best you'll hear all year, all in the span of four minutes. You can watch the video for "Eastwick" below. The 7" for "Eastwick" will be available September 15 on Polyvinyl Recording Co. For more on Julia Jacklin, check out her website . She also recently did a performance for NPR...

A solid week. Album of the Week : Artist : The Secret Sisters Album : You Don't Own Me Anymore Quick Description : Long-awaited third album from the folkies. Why You Should Listen : This is a gorgeous, amazing album. Overall Thoughts : I won’t lie – the second Secret Sisters album didn’t grab me the way the first one did. This new album sounded promising given the early music that was released, and the whole album is a nice, familiar relief. I loved every aspect of this, which is why it’s my album of the week – it’s taken a few albums, but they’ve really perfected their sound. The harmonies are spot on, the music absolutely gorgeous. There is nothing negative I can say about this, and it’s an album that needs to be on your list for listening this week. Recommendation : A must-listen, easily the best of the week. Artist : Katy Perry Album : Witness Quick Description : Pop starlet's latest. Why You Should Listen : It's not what you think. Overall Thoughts ...