If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Alysse Gafkjen For most music fans, we remember exactly where we were when we heard the news that David Bowie had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 69. I just woke up and was checking Facebook notifications. I saw a friend had posted an article to me, and when I checked I saw a story that David Bowie had died. I thought my friend was a complete imbecile that can't tell a fake article from a real one, and scrolled through my feed. The vast majority of the posts that I saw reported that Bowie had, in fact, died. It took maybe five or six before I believed it. Lilly Hiatt heard the news the night before. In a press release she says:  "The night David Bowie died, I was in disbelief. I wanted to talk to someone, but it was too late to make a phone call. I cried quietly and went to bed. The next day, I picked up my guitar and hit record on Garage Band. I started to sing and those were the first words that came out. I felt like Bowie was giving me a little gi...

The combination of Matt Pond PA and Laura Stevenson is pretty much a dream for us, and an unexpected one. Apparently we need some kind of indie rock version of TMZ, since the song, "The Ballad of Laura and Mike," is about a long distance relationship between Laura Stevenson and a member of Matt Pond PA. (Funny, I know far more about the love lives of celebrities I couldn't care less about...) The song is an upbeat, slightly faster than mid-tempo song about love, but with plenty of melancholy, being about long distance love and all. It's the kind of just shy of epic power pop we want from Matt Pond PA, with the added bonus of Laura Stevenson's vocals. "The Ballad of Laura and Mike" will be included on Matt Pond PA's upcoming album, Still Summer. The album is due on August 11, and reports are that it will be the final Matt Pond PA album. It can be pre-ordered in various bundles  here . You can listen to "The Ballad of Laura and Mike" belo...

Photo by Giuilia McGauren Alex Lahey has one true amazing talent that's perfect for a singer/songwriter. Despite the ability to sing and rhyme words, she's is brilliant at writing fantastic cheesy love songs. You know the type of song that's just goofy and corny enough that you're embarrassed by how much you love it, but you can't help it because it's just so much fun and just so... good? Her latest single, "Every Day's the Weekend," is basically if Taylor Swift started out with indie rock instead of country. And was Australian. Being a middle aged man, I shouldn't love this song as much as I do. But it's just so good that I can't help it. It's fast and happy and just soaked in sugary love. And that's what makes it so perfect. You can watch the video for "Every Day's the Weekend" below. Alex Lahey's debut full length album, I Love You Like a Brother , will be out October 8 on Dead Oceans. You can pre-orde...

Somehow it feels like it's been forever that we've been waiting for a full length album from The Huntress and Holder of Hands with just an occasional song here and there to tease us along. Finally, we have news that MorganEve Swain's debut album will be released in September. Along with that news is the first single off Avalon, "Borealis." Judging just by this one song, it has been well worth the wait.  "Borealis" starts off as a quiet, haunting folk song, the kind of sound that has dominated Swain's solo work. About mid-way through, the song switches moods and becomes the kind of upbeat Eastern European influenced folk song Swain and her husband Dave Lamb mastered in Brown Bird. Towards the very end, the track devolves into a metal meets Sonic Youth blast of noise before going back to haunting folk. As anyone that's been reading this blog for a decent amount of time, songs swerving off into unexpected directions is kinda my sweet spot, so ...

Back in April, we brought you "Break Her," which was the latest single from Coltana. I ripped off their press release to describe that song as "Bikini Kill meets Arctic Monkeys." (Fun fact from their latest press release: Back when they were called Poeticat, Coltana shared a stage with everybody's favorite Game of Thrones cameo Ed Sheeran!) Their latest single, "Waiting for the Storm," doesn't quite fit that description. "Waiting for the Storm" is both more melodic and epic. Vocally, singer Catherine Martindale takes on a bit of a pop punk sound, and the song starts off with the bouncy feel your typical pop punk song would have. But then the vocals drop out for a bit, and you can feel Coltana's metal leanings breaking through. If this song had come out in the early 00's, Coltana would have been the breakout band of that year's Warped Tour. You can listen to "Waiting for the Storm" below. It is out today via Po...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz With her earlier sound, Jessica Lea Mayfield combined 90's alternative with country (if I was into bad jokes I'd say that she put the alt in alt-country, but I'll spare you that one), and with 2014's Make My Head Sing... she wore her grunge influences on her sleeve and pushed the country into the background. She has a new song out, "Sorry Is Gone," that goes just slightly back towards her country roots. Sonically, it's a little closer to 2011's Tell Me , but with some killer early 90's indie guitar work. Despite the song's light sound, Mayfield says  “The whole record is about me taking my life back, without really realizing it. I realized I’m the only person that is going to look out for me. I have to be my main person. No one else.” The album features notable guest musicians Seth Avett (who Mayfield collaborated on 2015's Elliott Smith covers album) and Steve Shelley formerly of Sonic Youth. You can watch the vi...

This past year's Hometown Throwdown was the first I had missed in about five or six years. I felt like taking a break, none of the opening bands were all that intriguing to me, and I felt the money for my ticket should probably be going to Christmas presents. Of course, once the shows came I was filled with regret and missed going. When it was announced that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were going to be touring this summer, I knew I had to go.  Being a music snob, Let's Face It  would be the album I'd want to see The Bosstones do from start to finish. It's the big hit album, and they have other albums that mean a lot to me. Plus, I'm a music snob. But, 2017 is the 20th anniversary of Let's Face It  and it makes the most economic sense to do this album over their others. A funny thing happened as I went back to listen to the album in the weeks before the show. I remembered how great it really is, and how much I love so many of these songs. Plus, a good chunk ...

I feel like this was a slow release week, and yet I wanted to listen to most of what came out. Album of the Week : Artist : Nicole Atkins Album : Goodnight, Rhonda Lee Quick Description : Pitch-perfect classic country-pop. Why You Should Listen : Nicole Atkins is always solid, and this is her best yet. Overall Thoughts : Nicole Atkins is always great, and she goes full retro-country with a pitch-perfect love letter to singers of old. It’s such a fun and refreshing listen with a lot of really great songs on it, and is easily my favorite listen of the week. Recommendation : Just give this a shot. You won't regret it. Artist : Dizzee Rascal Album : Raskit Quick Description : UK grime rapper's latest. Why You Should Listen : I've never really listened before, and if I'm this glad I did... Overall Thoughts : I missed the boat on Dizzee Rascall, so I don’t know how this compares with his albums from his popular prime, but if this is anything close to his b...

Based on what we write about on here, you most likely wouldn't guess that either one of us would be obsessed with Sam Black Church. Hardcore typically isn't my thing, but they just do this bizarre, unhinged version of it that has always resonated with me. Plus, if you were coming of age in central Massachusetts in the early to mid 90's, Sam Black Church stickers covered virtually every road sign, drive-thru menu, etc. It was viral marketing before there was such a thing. Even odder is this first solo offering from J.R. Roach, Sam Black Church's drummer. (He also drums for Goddamn Draculas.) It's a cover of the Jimmy Reed 1961 classic blues song "Bright Lights, Big City." It's a pretty standard cover while being amped up just slightly. It avoids the middle aged white guy doing the blues thing you'll hear at your local BBQ and Blues fest this summer, and maybe it's just my assumptions based on who Reed is, but the guitar licks have just the t...

Photo by James Byrne If you're from Manchester, starting a band is a damned if you do/damned if you don't proposal. How do you not start a band when your city has such a rich and legendary history? But... how do you start a band when your city has such a rich and legendary history? I'm not saying Stalagmites are the next legendary Manchester band, but based on "Binary," they're off to a good start. "Binary" borrows pretty heavily from multiple genres. It could just be that the opening (and repeated) riff is very reminiscent of "Bastards of Young," but there's more than a hint of The Replacements here. You're going to hear a ton of modern post punk, but the more palatable Interpol variety than Gang of Four. When the guitar isn't sounding like The Replacements, it swirls around on the line between shoegaze and psychedelia. It's a great blend that takes a few of the most copied genres but puts them together in a way we...

The latest single from Chicago's Melkbelly will hit a perfect retro button if you were an indie rock fan in the 1990's. Right from the use of a "K" to spell creative in the name "Kid Kreative," you'll know the level of 90's you're getting. It's crunchy, droning guitars that just chug along with a stylistically half done guitar solo, plus fairly monotone vocals (and I mean all of that in the best possible way). It never gets quite as noisy as you want it to get, but it's a great alternative pop song in the vein of The Breeders and Cake Like. You can watch the video for "Kid Kreative" below. Melkbelly's debut album, Nothing Valley , will be out on October 13 via Wax Nine Records (aka Sadie Duspuis' (Sad13, Speedy Ortiz) label!) It can be pre-ordered here . For more on Melkbelly, check out their Bandcamp and Facebook .

Photo via Facebook At this point in his career, you should know what to expect from Lee Ranaldo. He's the guy formerly of Sonic Youth that brought in the psychedelic noise and was the master of the ten minute solo heavy jam. That's why his latest single, "New Thing," is so surprising. It's a fairly straightforward mainstream almost folk song. I've always said that he was the George Harrison of Sonic Youth, but for this song he's John Lennon. It includes melodic guitar and piano (the piano is very reminiscent of "Imagine"), Ranaldo harmonizing with Sharon Van Etten, and pretty standard verse/chorus/verse format. Sure, every so often there's a burst of feedback followed by some psychedelic guitar, but this is kept to a very minimum. After a 30+ year career, Lee Ranaldo can still surprise, this time by being so normal. You can watch the video for "New Thing" below. Lee Ranaldo's latest album, Electric Trim , will be out Septe...

Photo by Ashley Connor Last month we brought you Torres' first single on 4AD , and last week her 4AD debut was announced along with a new song. "Three Futures" is a slow, slow build. Dominated by strings and driven by electronic sounding drums, it's a sluggish song that doesn't gain any speed, but builds intensity. It's not a nice song in the pretty sense. It's a bit uncomfortable and foreboding in the best possible way. Torres' voice adds to the mood of the song. She's never had a traditional sound to her voice, and "Three Futures" is the best example of her vocal talents. You can watch the video for "Three Futures" below. Torres' 4AD debut, also called Three Futures , will be out September 29. For more on Torres, check out her website .

Album of the Week : Artist : Waxahatchee Album : Out in the Storm Quick Description : Latest from the indie singer-songwriter. Why You Should Listen : Katie Crutchfield has improved with every album under the Waxahatchee moniker, and this is her best yet. Overall Thoughts : I don't know how to describe this, even now, because Waxahatchee has always filled its own little nook in the indie world. Trying to compare it to anything else is a little bit of a challenge, and that's fine - at its core, it's a unique indie listen, and this is no different. But this album also gives us songs like "Silver" and "Never Been Wrong" that speak to a positive evolution in her sound that just works for me. I can't recommend this enough, and I hope it has some solid staying power. Recommendation : Easily the best of the week. Artist : RAC Album : EGO Quick Description : Turntablist/DJs continue their pop ways. Why You Should Listen : They've traditio...

Photo via Facebook My long term love of The Dead Milkmen has been well documented here, so I'm thrilled that we can say that there's a new Dead Milkmen song! Not very long ago, the thought of new music from these guys was limited to merely wishing for some unheard tracks being unearthed, but here we are two albums and multiple singles into new Dead Milkmen music this century. The Dead Milkmen have a new EP coming out this fall, and we can now hear the first song from it. "Only the Dead Get Off at Kymlinge" fits right into the reunited band's sound. It's a little more rocking than their 80's and 90's output, and the band is losing the novelty tag that was wrongly placed on them for too long. The song is about an urban legend about a Swedish ghost train station, so this hits so many of my buttons. It's a driving, fun song about a ghost train. If that doesn't appeal to you, then you're just wrong. You can listen to "Only the Dead ...

With our love of cover songs, we look forward to each and every tribute album put out by The Blog That Celebrates Itself. This week saw the release of Stereolab in, Metronomic Underground Versions , their collection of Sterolab covers. To our particular delight was track one, which features one of our favorites, Brilliant Beast, covering "Wow and Flutter." Brilliant Beast, with their noisier version of shoegaze, might seem like an odd band to take on Stereolab, and they are. That's one of the main reasons this cover works. The original is a typically light and airy Sterolab song, with a jangly guitar. Brilliant Beast have a heavier version with a far crunchier guitar. It somehow still maintains the feel of the original, albeit louder and with more rock. You can listen to Brilliant Beast's cover of "Wow and Flutter" below. You can download your own copy of  Stereolab in, Metronomic Underground Versions for free via The Blog That Celebrates Itself's ...

Photo via Facebook Despite our love of Hallelujah the Hills, we have yet to write about bass player Nicholas G Ward's other band. They just released "OPBD," which is an odd little ode to his hometown of Peabody, MA. It works as a tribute to all of Massachusetts' uncool cities and towns. In true Massachusetts style, it's done mostly by stating simple facts and talking down about other areas, most notably California and the Great Lakes. Musically, "OPBD" is a rock song with just enough quirks to keep it interesting, almost like a more beer soaked Archers of Loaf. It's a fun song that clocks in at 2:02, which is the perfect length for a song like this. You can listen to "OPBD" below. It can be downloaded for free via Bandcamp . For more on The Furniture, check them out on Facebook . OPBD by the furniture

Photo by Ken Sears Deer Tick have always had a bar band feel to them. Maybe it's the fact that a ton of their songs are about booze. Maybe it's the fact that the first time I saw them they bought everyone in the club a beer. Maybe it's the copious amount of beer I've seen them drink onstage. Because of all that, a family friendly arts festival in a public park with a 7:00 start time was an odd venue for them, but last Friday it seemed to work. Playing on a stage still set up for a family production of Mary Poppins , Deer Tick opened the show with one of their already released songs from their upcoming two albums. Unfortunately, the sound was a bit off so I couldn't tell which one. (The show started about 30 minutes late while they ironed out some issues due to the heavy rains that had just ended two hours before the show started.) Luckily, the issues were fixed by the second song, and the rest of the show sounded great. Photo by Ken Sears One great thing...

We're back into a strong swing after the American holiday... Album of the Week : Artist : Great Grandpa Album : Plastic Cough Quick Description : More female-fronted 1990s alt-rock, nearly as good as the rest. Why You Should Listen : Hits the right nostalgia buttons while still feeling new and fresh. Overall Thoughts : A question I never asked until I heard this album was “what if Speedy Ortiz was trying to be more like a grungy version the 1990s revival we’ve been seeing lately?” The answer appears to be Great Grandpa (who have the best band name I’ve seen in some time). The lead track hit my radar some time ago, and I’ve been waiting for this release for some time. It’s very, very good, and I’m impressed by the choices and risks it takes musically – the band could have played things a little safe and worked toward a poppy indie rock record with some radio friendly songs ready and waiting for that breakout, and they instead went with some really interesting song struct...