If It's Too Loud...

Being a near obsessive Sebadoh fan, I'll be sure to bring you anything new that Sebadoh releases. Yesterday they shared the second song of their upcoming album. "stunned" is a Jason Lowenstein song, which means it's as abrasive as you'd expect. It's a brief 2:30 blast of noise, but with the perfect amount of melody to make it still a listenable song. Lowenstein has always been a master of the aggressive pop song, and "stunned" shows that off perfectly. Plus, it has a great false stop right at the beginning, and I love a false stop. You can watch the video for "stunned" below. Act Surprised , the new album from Sebadoh, will be out May 24 on Dangerbird Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Sebadoh, be sure to check out their website . 

As a tribute to the late Joe Harvard, Boston area musician (although recently relocated to Asbury Park, NJ and co-founder of Apache Studios, Tanya Donelly has offered up a collection of demos he produced for her. These songs were originally intended for The Breeders but all ended up on Belly's 1993 classic Star. The ten songs on Demos with Joe Harvard  are complete bare bones, just Donelly's voice and guitar, with some lap steel played by Harvard and some guitar by Kim Deal on "White Belly" and "Feed the Tree." "Feed the Tree" is particularly interesting in how raw it is. The guitar chords are the ones we know and adore, but it's almost grungey in how fuzzy it is. I always love hearing the original composition of my favorite songs, and Demos with Joe Harvard  is a great way to hear songs we've loved for twenty six years in a new way. You can listen to the demo version of "Feed the Tree" below. Demos with Joe Harvard is availab...

We've been enjoying Boston area musician Doug Tuttle's solo work for a while now, and his newest single won't be changing that. "I'll Throw It All Away" continues Tuttle's psychedelic bedroom singer/songwriter dream pop vibe, and you'll get no complaints from us on that. "I'll Throw It All Away" adds in a bit of country twang into the equation, sounding a bit like Brian Wilson trying on a cowboy hat. It's a fantastic blend of indie rock meets Americana, and is perfect for regular readers of our site. You can listen to "I'll Throw It All Away" below. Dream Road , the fourth album from Doug Tuttle, will be out May 31 on Burger Records. For more on Doug Tuttle, be sure to check out his website .

Photo by Emma Kate Rothenberg-Ware I stumbled on Izzy Heltai at the Freshgrass Festival, and the 22 year old Northampton, MA local was a highlight at a festival featuring talents such as Rhiannon Giddens, Flogging Molly, and I'm With Her. His newest single, "Marching Song," shows why. It's a stunning folk song, gorgeous in its simplicity while still feeling epic. It's quiet and personal, and feels like you're sitting in a room with him singing, despite there being a full band backing him. It may sound organic since Heltai's upcoming EP was recorded using vintage amps and microphones. "Marching Song" may have some mainstream appeal, but I may be detecting the hints of a Neutral Milk Hotel influence here. This is the singer/songwriter genre done to complete perfection. You can listen to "Marching Song" below. Only Yesterday , the new EP from Izzy Heltai, will be out April 19. For more on Izzy Heltai, check out his website . Current ...

If you were as enamored with Reese McHenry's first single off her upcoming album as we were, just wait until you hear the follow up, "Bye Bye Baby." The new song is another firey garage rock anthem. I think that's what we're always going to get with McHenry. But, while her voice was front and center in "Detroit," "Bye Bye Baby" sees it take a bit of a backseat to the bouncy, fuzzy, almost twangy guitars. Of course, with a voice like McHenry's it's impossible to take away from it completely. But if you want killer garage rock, Reese McHenry is exactly what you're always going to need. You can listen to "By Bye Baby" below.  No Dados , the new album from Reese McHenry, will be out April 12 on Suah Sounds. For more on Reese McHenry, check out her website . No Dados by Reese McHenry

Photo by Caitee Smith I wouldn't ever expect to hear surf rock out of Schenectady, NY, but The Abyssmals somehow pull that off. Of course, it's not pure surf rock. They add their own upstate NY darkness to it. "For All of Time" sounds like if The Cramps decided to be groovy instead of being punk. There are definitely some punk elements to "For All of Time," but it's more of an undercurrent than a musical style. It's an update of 60's garage and surf rock, but filled with an edge and menace you might not expect. You can listen to "For All of Time" below. Gospels, Hymns and Other Trash! , the new album from The Abyssmals, will be out April 19 on Five Kill Records. For more on The Abyssmals, check them out on Facebook and Bandcamp . Current tour dates are below the song. Sat April 6 - Jersey City, NJ - TBA w/ Sun Voyager, Daddies and Smock  Sun April 7 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s w/ Sun Voyager, Daddies and Smock Sat April 13 -...

This weekend got away from me, so we're doing some quick hits: Highlights of the week: * Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet : While My Finest Work Yet probably doesn't reach the heights of some of his best work, this new album from Andrew Bird still succeeds in doing the trick in providing a classic Bird experience with a lot of solid songs and great moments throughout. * Tamaryn - Dreaming the Dark : Solid pop music that caught me my surprise. * Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You) : I've avoided Lambchop for some time, and after finally diving in on this minimalist approach, I just don't know why it took me so long. A great listen. * American Football - LP3 : I'm so glad they're back. This is at least as good as you think it should be, and is probably better. * Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves - Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves : A truly solid bluegrass release this week. One of the better ones of recent memory. * Sleeper - Th...

We completely missed this album when it was released back in July of 2018, which is unfortunate since this might have made my top 10 of 2018. I discovered this album last week when Nova One posted about the drummer for her current tour, Calicoco, and urged people to check out her album from last year. Float immediately blew me away. The first thing you'll notice is Giana Caliolo's vocals. They have this quality that's part 60's crooner and part just otherworldly. You get songs that have a modern indie folk/rock feel, but that slowly build into an almost 90's indie rock noise burst towards the end. One of the standouts on the album is "Stay for a While." It starts off as a not quite folk, not quite rock song, but with a swirling guitar building just beneath the surface. About two thirds in the crashing drums and fuzzy guitars come in. It's not a complete change of sound or pace, just a bizarro world version of the same song you started listening to. T...

I'm always shocked that The Messthetics don't get much attention. Two of the three members of The Messthetics are Joe Lally and Brendan Canty, aka Fugazi's rhythm section. I say that, but I'm also pretty certain that this is the first I've written about them here, so I'm also partly responsible. The trio recently recorded for The Moonshine Sessions for a cover of Miles Davis's 1972 song "Black Satin." Davis's version is from his more experimental forays in the 70's, which makes more sense for The Messthetics to cover. It's always interesting when a guitar, bass, drums band decides to cover jazz, and especially interesting when it's a Miles Davis cover without a horn. But The Messthetics turn a funk/jazz classic into a funk/jazz/post punk freak out that you really should check out. You can watch The Messthetics cover "Black Satin" below. For more on The Messthetics, check out their Bandcamp.

When you see a song is titled "Drinking in a Dry Town," you can be assured it's going to be country. And Jonas Friddle's song by that name definitely is. "Drinking in a Dry Town" is a quiet, stripped down modern country/folk song. The focus of the song is Friddle's vocals and guitar, with drums, bass, keys, and fiddle. I only mention the instruments because even with four additional instruments, the song still feels almost painfully intimate. "Drinking in a Dry Town" fits more on the mainstream side of the current folk/Americana spectrum of music, but sometimes when it's done as perfectly as this is, that's hardly a bad thing. You can listen to "Drinking in a Dry Town" below. The Last Place to Go , the upcoming album from Jonas Friddle, will be out on April 12. For more on Jonas Friddle, check out his website .

On her new single, Lenny Bull isn't reinventing music. But she is taking pieces and parts from all over the place. "Don't Talk About It" has some strong similarities to The Pretenders, particularly Bull's voice and delivery style. "Don't Talk About It" also has enough of a garage rock vibe to set it apart, with just the tiniest bit of dream pop and shoegaze sprinkled in, along with some punk rock swagger, to really stand out. It's plenty of familiar elements, but combined together just right to make it fresh and welcome. You can watch the video for "Don't Talk About It" below. According to Bull, "It's  a day in the life of a very disgruntled, very lazy office employee, who would rather be anywhere else. It  pokes fun at what we have to do to make ends meet, in order to do what we love." Lenny Bull's debut EP, Sharp Teeth , will be out April 25. For more on Lenny Bull, check out her Facebook and Instagram . ...

Photo by Mason Fairey Death Cab for Cutie are just one of those bands I've never quite gotten into. I can appreciate them, but only for a song or two. One of those few songs I actually truly enjoy is "Soul Meets Body," which I know, I know, it's the most obvious one. When I heard that one of our favorites, The Beths, had covered that particular song, I knew I simply had to hear it. The cover was recorded in the SiriusXMU studios. It's one of those stripped down acoustic covers that were all the rage in radio back in the 90's but have pretty much disappeared now that radio no longer exists. It's, obviously, fantastic, and it hits the nostalgia button for so many reasons. You can listen to The Beths's version of "Soul Meets Body" below. For more on The Beths, check out their website . Tonight, New Zealand indie-rock band  @lizstokedstokes cover  @dcfc  for @SiriusXM . Tune into SiriusXMU Sessions, hosted by @evanlames , at 9p ET! pic...

Now this  is what I want from hip hop. "Obamacare," the latest track from Quelle Chris's upcoming album Guns , starts off with a burst of bizarre almost industrial sounding noise that would sound more at home in a Sonic Youth song than your average hip hop song. From there the song gets a bit more tuneful, but there is this odd quality to the beat that isn't completely comfortable. As someone who's favorite rap group is Public Enemy, this is a type of sound I've missed for far too long. You can watch the video for "Obamacare" below. And you really should watch it. Chris says about the video:  “Like most of my visuals I try to find the place where proper pairing and a good excuse to try my hand at something I always loved as a kid meet. The video for  Obamacare is an homage to many of my favorite PBS, Sesame Street shorts with a touch of Terry Gilliam  (and I mean a drip. Trust me I know my place. Lol). It’s one of my favorite songs on the album...

Photo by VQnC Although he started off in Boston, John Shakespear is now located in Nashville. You can hear both cities in his newest single, "Spend Your Youth." The song has a strong Americana feel that you can pretty much only get in a city like Nashville, but it's not all twang. "Spend Your Youth" still has a bit of the Boston DIY/indie feel to it. It's a brilliant and mesmerizing song, more on the indie folk side of things than the alt-country of the previous single, "Swinging for the Fences." You can listen to "Spend Your Youth" below. Spend Your Youth, John Shakespear's debut album, will be out May 10. For more on John Shakespear, check out his website . Current tour dates are below the song. 5/2 - Nashville, TN - The East Room  5/8 - Washington, DC - Electric Maid  5/9 - Harrisburg, PA - Little Amps  5/10 - NYC - Pete’s Candy Store  5/11 - Baltimore, MD - The Four-Hour Day Lutherie  5/22 - Boston, MA - So...

Hailing from Portland, OR, The Get Ahead have combined a few roots-based genres into a cohesive sound. "Deepest Light" is a very groovy, dance friendly Americana/folk/soul song. Just for good measure, they also packed some R&B and maybe even some disco in there. This could be a mess, but The Get Ahead pull it off impeccably. "Deepest Light" is the rare dance track that stays organic and doesn't sound even remotely top 40. The Get Ahead have also become a family band. They are comprised of two married couples (one of whom recently had a baby) and a longtime friend. You can sense that level of closeness and community in their music. You can listen to "Deepest Light" below. Deepest Light  is also the name of their upcoming album, which will be out April 26 on Jullian Records. For more on The Get Ahead, check out their website .

Last weekend was St. Patrick's Day weekend, and typically everybody in New England clings to their Irish roots, no matter how small, and goes out to see any band that also has any Irish roots they can cling to. It was refreshing to see how many people went out to The Strand Ballroom on Saturday night to take in the gypsy/Latin punk hybrid of Gogol Bordello. Those that did were treated to one of the best shows I've seen in years. I had been trying to get out to see Gogol Bordello for years, ever since their stripped down performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 2011. I've wanted to see a full band set from them, but it just never has worked out for me. This week I had a close friend in from out of town which inspired me to finally pull the trigger and do it. I couldn't be happier that I did. I had ridiculously high expectations, since Gogol Bordello was one of the highlights of that year's NFF, a year that included The Decemberists, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Coste...

Album of the Week : Artist : Stephen Malkmus Album : Groove Denied Quick Description : New album from the Pavement frontman. Why You Should Listen : Stephen Malkmus has earned the right to do what he wants at this point. Overall Thoughts : At least when Radiohead went weird, they didn’t try to alienate most listers right out of the gate. If you can get past the first track of Groove Denied , however, you’re in for a real treat. Malkmus’s output over the decades has always been a strange mixed bag even if it’s perpetually compelling, and this album is the vision of a man just spreading his wings as much as he wants and presenting the results. Sort of a Kraftwerk via the American West Coast amalgam of ideas and concepts through much-to-most of the affair, this is not going to have the sort of wide appeal of his early solo work or the indie smart takes of the most hardcore of Pavement enthusiasts. This is a bizarre record, but it’s also kind of brilliant and really works as long...

A great way to get our attention is to include the phrase "Like Motorhead Covering The Hives" in your email subject line. That quote comes from NME, and it's about Norway's Wet Dreams. Wet Dreams is made up of members of FOAMMM, Warp Riders, De Marvells, and Death By Unga Bunga. When you see a band is named Wet Dreams, and they're being compared to Motorhead and The Hives, you pretty much know what you're going to get. "Bad Boy" is a big, loud rock song. It's a thrashy, distorted power punk song that leans a little more towards The Hives than Motorhead, but it's not quite as polished as The Hives. It's as if the polish has been worn off a little by excess use. Basically, it's impossible to not love this song. You can watch the video for "Bad Boy" below. The debut self-titled album from Wet Dreams will be out on March 29 on Black Pop Records. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Wet Dreams, check them out on Faceb...

One of the great joys March brings are RPM Challenge albums, specifically the annual one released by Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. This year brings us Hexphones. Based on a Facebook post, this is a love letter to Sickert's teenage infleunces. Here is what they had to say about it: "HEXPHONES is my ether-trip-glitched-out-memory of being a kid listening to my headphones on the long dark bus ride to school. I was the first kid on the bus in the morning. I’d wait on the side of a highway at 6am shrouded in the cloak of music created by my headphones. The long ride would be filled with music pumped directly into my DNA; a portal to safe place inside my head. Chaos at home and hassled at school; that long drive was freedom from everyone that saw me as someth ing that needed to be controlled, or fixed, or disciplined for being different. Those moments of peace and inspiration were some of the earliest sparks that set my life on fire for art. HEXPHONES...

Photo via Facebook With Alexandra Eastburn leaving the band last year, Memphis's Nots decided to not replace her and stay a three-piece. They've also taken on a slightly new sound with the personnel change. While "Half Painted House" is still a noisy punk-ish song, it takes on this weird almost trippy feel. While Nots always have had a synth, post punk feel, this new song leans a bit more heavily in that direction. It's less aggressive, but still completely a Nots song. Not many bands can mellow out their sound a little and still be bad ass. Nots are one of the rare ones that can. You can listen to "Half Painted House" below. 3 , the new album from Nots, will be out May 10 on Goner Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Nots, check them out on Facebook  and Twitter . 3 by NOTS

Montreal's Saint Lo. have this amazingly epic indie folk sound. Their new single, "Blueberry Fields," sounds like a warm mix of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Decemberists. According to the band, the song "...  is that feeling of nostalgia, like the exhale of a sigh.  the constant feeling of shifting away from the past, but keeping it close as you move forward." It's beyond gorgeous, with this hazy feel that stops just short of being twee. Despite having four members, the song sounds like it uses at least a dozen instruments that come in and out as necessary. "Blueberry Fields" comes highly recommended. You can watch the video for "Blueberry Fields" below. We Could Be , the debut album from Saint Lo., will be available on April 15. For more on Saint Lo, check them out on Facebook and Twitter . Their current tour dates are below the video. March 11 - 17, 2019: SXSW April 23, 2019: Toronto, Horseshoe Tavern April 24, 2019: K...

Partner's 2017 album In Search of Lost Time  was a surprise hit around here, which is surprising mainly because two middle aged dads aren't exactly the target audience for " Canadian Queer Post Classic Rock." But, we were really into it. Their latest single, "Tell You Off," might be great... but I'm not sure. It's a country song, but an incredibly tongue-in-cheek country song. It reminds me of The Dead Milkmen's one song mocking country (that I can't seem to remember the name of, way to be professional...), but it's maybe not entirely mocking country? It's as twangy as can be with sampled farm animal noises, but it's maybe not fully a novelty song? I'm confused on how to feel with this one, but I'm pretty sure I love it. You can listen to "Tell You Off" below. Saturday the 14th , the new EP from Partner, will be out April 5 on You've Changed Records. You can pre-order the EP here . For more on Partner, ch...

Photo by Thomas Lee Griffiths Sheffield's All Girls Arson Club only formed in March 2018, which is also when bassist Vicky Hayward and drummer India Garry started playing their instruments. Heavily inspired by Kathleen Hanna and " a growing frustration with the (over)abundance of boys in bands,"  the trio has just released their first single, "Untitled." "Unt itled" definitely leans on the Kathleen Hanna inspiration, although there is definitely more of a sense of melody here than in most of Hanna's projects. It comes across as a more straight forward rock based version of Le Tigre's hyper dance music. The music is pretty rudimentary, but that's kind of most of the fun here. Sometimes it's great to hear a group playing just for the sheer joy of playing, and that completely defines All Girls Arson Club. You can listen to "Untitled" below. Dark Fruits , the debut EP from All Girls Arson Club, will be out April 5 on Delicio...

Photo via Facebook The latest single from Sweden's Daniel Norgren is a beautiful song, but not really in the traditional sense. Despite not being American, "Let Love Run the Game" is one of the best Americana songs you've heard in a long while. It runs somewhere between mid-tempo and a full out ballad, and ,despite its slower tempo, has a foot stomping folk/country/Americana feel. Norgren's scratchy voice isn't truly what you would call traditional, but it fits the song perfectly, and finds its very own beauty and power by the end. "Let Love Run the Game" even brings the slightest touch of gospel in. It's truly a must listen. You can listen to "Let Love Run the Game" below. Wooh Dang , the upcoming album from Daniel Norgren, will be out April 19 on Superpuma Records. You can pre-order the album via Superpuma Records or Bandcamp . For more on Daniel Norgren, check him out on Facebook . European tour dates are below the song. ...