If It's Too Loud...

Earlier this year I discovered Calicoco's 2018 album Float , and saying I was blown away would be an understatement. It's been a regular on my musical rotation, so I'm thrilled to have a new EP from Calicoco to check out. Remnant  is a gorgeous and simple release. Until I read about the EP, I had no idea these were simply demos recorded on  Giana Caliolo's phone and computer. They may be simple, but they all sound like finished products, at least to my amateur ears. It's four songs of simple, modern folk-ish music. If songs like "Market" and "Now I See It All" sound this complete as compelling as solo acoustic demos, I am impatiently looking forward to a proper release to hear these fully fleshed out! You can listen to "Market" below. Remnant , the new EP from Calicoco, is available now via Dadstache Records. You can get a copy over at Calicoco's Bandcamp . For more on Calicoco, check out their website . Remnant by Calicoco

It took me a while to figure out why I like Cyanide Bath  from Wuzee. The Michigan rapper has a weird, awkward flow that doesn't really sound like anyone else. It was kind of a challenge to listen to. Then I realized: Wuzee has a weird, awkward flow that doesn't really sound like anyone else. And once it clicks with you, you're 100% in for the rest of the album. Plus, the music isn't smooth and mainstream pop like most of hip hop. There's a weirdness and awkwardness to the music, too, the kind you normally only get with indie rock. Wuzee does the kind of hip hop that helped me bridge the worlds of hip hop I listened to in early high school with the alt- and indie rock that defined my college and adult years. It took me a little bit to tune into that, but it's a sound I didn't know I had been missing as much as I was. You can listen to "Make Yourself God" below. If you enjoy it, you can download the album using the "name your price" op...

Partner are one of those bands I love despite not being their target audience. A middle aged straight cis gendered white dad isn't who a self described " Canadian Queer Post Classic Rock" band envisions as their fan. On the other hand, I'm 100% Rush's target audience, even though I've never been a fan. So what happens when Partner covers Rush? It works shockingly well. Partner normally perform songs that while they may not be novelty songs are at least humorous. I expected a little bit of tongue in cheek on this cover, the kind we used to get in the 90's when a band would do a semi-ironic cover. Partner play "Limelight" completely straight. Maybe because respecting Rush is Canadian law, but according to Partner: "We watched a documentary about RUSH and we fell in love with the band. They seem like such nice guys. It caused us to hear the music in a new way, with a much deeper appreciation. By doing the cover, we hoped to pay tribute to...

Photo by Varvara Mikushkina Rosa Bordallo has one of the more interesting bios we've encountered in a while. Born of CHamoru heritage and growing up in Guam, Bordallo moved to New York City at 19 for film school. She has played in post punk band cholo and recorded solo under the name Manett. Her upcoming album is the first under her own name. Her heritage inspires her music, as the indigenous CHamoru have been subjected to brutal occupation by Spanish, Japanese, and American forces. Her move to New York also created an intense sense of distance from her birthplace, both geographically and culturally. This is reflected in her latest single, "Lost on the Coast." The song is a gorgeously sparse one. Somehow, despite how lo-fi the song and instrumentation is, it's a lush soundscape. It's quiet and lonely, but somehow hopeful. Even though the song is sparse, it has a deceptively complex arrangement.  You can watch the video for "Lost on the Coast" belo...

Photo by Kev Lloyd I had no idea there was a country music scene in the UK. It makes sense that there would be, but hearing country music out of Oxfordshire, England is just surprising to me. Ags Connolly sounds like the South. (The South of the US of A, not England, I should specify.) "Wrong Again (You Lose a Life)" is just pure old fashioned country. It's more George Jones and Willie Nelson than you would ever imagine. The song even mentions Austin, TX. What's truly remarkable is how authentic it sounds. Authentic American sounding country from the UK could come across as hokey or cartoonish, but Connolly pulls it off impeccably.  You can listen to "Wrong Again (You Lose a Life)" below. Wrong Again , the upcoming album from Ags Connolly, will be out November 1 on Finstock Music. For more on Ags Connolly, check out his website .

Photo by Ashley Osbourn If it feels like it's been a while since we've heard from Isobel Campbell, it's because it has been. Her last album was 2010's Hawk  with Mark Lanegan. Since then she moved to Los Angeles from Glasgow and got married. She started working on her new album, but then her label went under which led to years of legal hassle to get the rights to her album back. Luckily, that's all been settled so we can finally hear the long awaited album. "Ant Life" is pretty much what we'd expect from the former founder of Belle & Sebastian. It's not really twee, but it's a dreamy indie pop song. It's folk-pop with synths, creating an almost magical, dreamlike sound. You can watch the video for "Ant Life" below. There is No Other , the new album from Isobel Campbell, will be out January 31 on Cooking Vinyl. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Isobel Campbell, check out her website .

Artist : David Wax Museum Album : Line of Light Quick Description : New album by a local and blog favorite. Why You Should Listen : This might be their best effort yet. Overall Thoughts : This blog likely doesn’t exist if it weren’t for David Wax Museum, so any time there’s a new David Wax Museum album, it’s an event around here. Ken was more into their last proper full-length, Gatehouse , than I was, but I am so happy to note that the tonal shift of that album comes into a full vision with this album. The Mexican folk influences are subdued enough to be in the background (if they exist at all), and what we have is a band entering a phase of their career where more introspective, atmospheric folk is their game and they’re absolutely killing it. A number of these songs grabbed me really quick, and there are so many gorgeous options here that it’s hard to choose an early favorite. I am absolutely looking forward to coming back to this. Recommendation : One of the best of the w...

Photo by Erica Chambers Just in case we weren't already excited about the release of the newest album from Jason Tyler Burton next month, the latest single has us amped for summer to be over so we can get a hold of Kentuckian. "Fires of '88" is a great ramblin' country/Americana song. The song was inspired by Burton eavesdropping on a conversation at the Silver Dollar Bar in Cody, Wyoming involving a free spirit bartender who was living out of her car. "Fires of '88" is a smoother storytelling Bob Dylan song, and I mean that in the best possible way. This is a much more upbeat song than the previous ones we've heard from Burton, which says a lot si nce it gets its title from wildfires in Yellowstone National Park. You can listen to "Fires of '88" below.  Kentuckian , the new album from Jason Tyler Burton, will be out September 6. For more on Jason Tyler Burton, check out his website . Current tour dates are below the song. ...

Atlanta's Warm Red have only been a band for a year, but you wouldn't know that based on their new single. "Big Tiger" is a primal burst of pure indie rock. It's rough, and a little bit uncomfortable, but there's a certain groove throughout it that makes you want to dance. It's an odd song that's not quite fun, even though it kinda is, and somehow menacing, despite being this fun. It's an awkward way to describe a song, but it fits this one, and we're pretty sure you're going to love it. You can listen to "Big Tiger" below. The song is available as a single with B-side "S.A.M." via Chunklet Industries. You can pre-order your copy here . For more on Warm Red, check them out on Bandcamp and Instagram .

Despite having twenty years of indie rock behind her, Tracy Shedd has escaped my knowledge until now. It's especially surprising because she had Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) playing drums for her last tour. She's also had music featured on shows like Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill , while playing shows with artists as diverse as Cyndi Lauper, Cat Lower, and The Magnetic Fields. She's about to release a new album, and her new song, "Kissing and Romancing," hits right in my sweet spot. It's a noisy, lo-fi affair with swirling guitars aplenty, but it's also a great and engaging pop song. It's exceptionally rare to find a song that so perfectly melds those two disparate genres, but Shedd does it perfectly with "Kissing and Romancing."  You can watch the video for "Kissing and Romancing" below. Tracy Shedd's new album, The Carolinas , will be out digitally September 20 on Fort Lowell Records. You can pre-order the album over...

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. We go back and remind you of their existence, and help decide if they were any good. Chopper One is the band that features original Weezer guitarist Jason Cropper, who left the band during the recording of The Blue Album  and was replaced by Brian Bell. He is also credited as a co-writer on "My Name is Jonas." After leaving Weezer, Cropper formed Chopper One with his wife, Amy Wellner Cropper. In 1997 the band released Now Playing , their debut and final album, which featured the minor hit, "Touch My Fuzz." After Chopper One, Cropper did time in Fliptop and 22 Jacks. He sang the theme song for the massively underrated Andy Richter Controls the Universe , and has done some producing and recording for other bands. When it was ...

Manchester, NH's Secret Spirit describe their music as "Punk rock from some spooky boys" on Facebook and "Melodic punk rock from future punk dads" on Bandcamp. One thing is for sure... I'm probably way too old to like their self-titled album, but when you play The Mighty Mighty Bosstones's Cranking and Skanking Fest you're going to get some middle aged guys as fans. The album is filled with these great thrashy, fast, melodic punk songs. It reminds me a lot of a heavier, more scream heavy early Jawbreaker. The album opens with "Feel Good," which is a pretty killer shout along punk song that is impossibly catchy. "Harpoon" brings the heavy and screaming in the best possible way. "Mother Fucker" appears to be the single, and could be a huge hit... if it wasn't for the name... or the fact that there aren't really hit rock songs any more. You can watch the video for "Mother Fucker" below. You can get Sec...

Photo by The Shoot According to their press release, Los Blancos are "Welsh psych-punkers." With their new single, "Dilyn Iesu Grist" [English translation: Follow Jesus Christ], that's pretty accurate. The song starts off as this bouncy track that has the fun and trippy aspects of psychedelia but the speed of punk. It's all crashing symbols and swirling, fuzzy as hell guitars. It stops just short of aggression and feels more like a celebration. And then the instrumental finish happens. As much as you're loving the first half of this song, prepare yourself to become completely obsessed once the second half kicks in. Somehow this song is under three minutes long, which will hardly be enough for your needs. You can listen to "Dilyn Iesu Grist" below. Sbwriel Gwyn , the new album from Los Blancos, will be out September 27 on Libertino Records. For more on Los Blancos, check them out on Facebook and Twitter . 

Photo via Facebook It feels like we've been waiting forever for this, but there is finally a new song from that dog.'s upcoming new album! "If You Just Didn't Do It" is exactly what we want from that dog. in 2019. It keeps some of the noisier and more quirky aspects of their first couple of albums while maintaining the more straightforward pop from Retreat From the Sun. It's also twenty years later, so it has a more mature feel without mellowing out and while still sounding like that dog. Any time one of your favorites gets back together to put out a new album and especially when an original member decides not to rejoin (Petra Haden isn't taking part in the reunion), it isn't always great. "If You Just Didn't Do It?" Pretty great. You can listen to "If You Just Didn't Do It" below. Old LP , the new album from that dog. (and I'll never get sick of saying that) will be out October 4. For more on that dog., check them...

Photo via Facebook Despite being in the music scene for nearly forty years and being in such integral groups as Free Kitten, Body/Head, and, of course, Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon has yet to release a solo album. That changes in October with the release of No Home Record , Gordon's first solo album. If her new song "Sketch Artist" is indicative of the album, it's not at all what you'd expect. "Sketch Artist" is extraordinarily bass heavy and is mostly an electronic song. I'm going to use my very limited knowledge of electronic music (which is mostly from the 90's) and say it combines the discordance and menace of Aphex Twin with the drum and bass of Roni Size. For a new sound that is this unexpected, I'm going to have to take some extra time to adjust to this one, but I'm pretty sure I like it. It's definitely a good and interesting song. You can watch the video for "Sketch Artist" below. No Home Record  will be out Octobe...

Photo by Ken Sears There's a lot of talk about guitar driven rock needing a new savior. That the genre is dying and we need a new rock star to bring the kids away from hip hop and EDM back into rock. There are countless articles out there proclaiming this band or that band to be the new heroes of rock, when we've had her staring us in the face all this time: Courtney Barnett. Based on her recorded material, Courtney Barnett is rock, sure. But she's not ROCK. Her live show is a completely different story. Her performance earlier this week at the Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth, NH was revelatory. Playing as just a three piece band, her songs were transformed from fun bouncy alt-rockers into full fledged early 90's style hard rock songs. "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch" became a straight up metal song. "Pedestrian At Best" could have easily been mistaken for a cover of Nirvana's "Breed," which I did at fir...

Blink 182 have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I always felt I was too old for them, their lyrics were always embarrassing (but fun!), and as their audiences got younger as they got bigger, I just had to bail. But this is just beyond perfect for me. Colleen Green has released Blink 182's "Dude Ranch" as played by Colleen Green , which is exactly what it sounds like. Colleen Green first came to my attention by covering the Descendents's "Good Good Things." Her extreme lo-fi version of a punk classic works for me, and she's taking the same approach to Blink 182. Right now there are only three songs available to stream: "Waggy" and "I'm Sorry" over at Bandcamp, and "Dammit" on Soundcloud. If the rest are like this, sign us up. You can listen to Colleen Green's take on "Dammit" below. Blink 182's "Dude Ranch" as played by Colleen Green is available digitally on Bandcamp and on ...

The latest from The Atom Age, "Never Looking," keeps the classic garage rock sound we loved in "Walk Through Walls," but changes things up slightly. Instead of vintage garage rock with surf and classic rock, "Never Looking" has a little bit of a pop punk edge. Plus, the song isn't quite discordant to be noise rock, but there is a powder keg of noise lying just below the surface, threatening to go off at any moment. It's a fast, loose song that barrels through all of that in just over two minutes. You can watch the video for "Never Looking" below. Cry Til You Die , the new album from The Atom Age, will be out August 23 on Tiger Dream/Asian Man Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on The Atom Age, Check them out on Facebook and Twitter .

Artist : Field Mouse Album : Meaning Quick Description : New album from indie favorites in these parts. Why You Should Listen : This is a much more introspective, quiet record in many regards. Overall Thoughts : Field Mouse has been a favorite of ours since we tripped up on them. Their first album was in constant rotation, their second a nice sidestep into a more robust, mature sound, and this new album continues that evolutionary trend. Equal parts witty and introspective (not that the ideas are exclusive to each other), the more prominent acoustic guitar combined with a continued separation from the more dreamy alt-rock that put FM on the radar makes for an interesting listen that I fully enjoyed on first listen while wondering what else it will uncover in future rotations. Definitely one of the better releases of the week. Recommendation : A must-listen this week. Artist : Lillie Mae Album : Other Girls Quick Description : Expertly crafted roots music. Why You Should Li...

Picture via Facebook I just discovered that Lightning Bolt have been around for twenty five years, which seems impossible to me. But then I remember that my introduction to them (seeing them play with Sonic Youth at Lupo's in Providence) was almost seventeen years ago, and now I feel ancient. Twenty Five years put Lightning Bolt into the classic rock category, and their new single, "Air Conditioning," kind of reflects that. In the past, vocals were always in the background of the clusterfuck created by guitar and drums. With this new song, vocals are more up front, and there is almost some semblance of song structure? But long time fans of the band have nothing to worry about. This may be the closest Lightning Bolt have come to Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, but it's still Lightning Bolt. By their standards it's a straightforward rock song, but their standards are quite different from most bands. "Air Conditioning" is still an out of control burst of...

After not getting out to any live shows for a number of years, hitting two just this past summer is an impressive feat in and of itself. Seeing a favorite in an old restored theater? Even better. First, I had never set eyes on the Columbus Theatre before, and seeing that Spirit Family Reunion was playing at the same venue Jenny Lewis and Rhett Miller are booked at confused me. Turns out that the Columbus has a unique and awesome setup where the balcony level has been converted to a second, more intimate stage. Perfect size for a band like Spirit Family Reunion, and perfect for the type of atmosphere I was hoping for from the show. Opening act was Sabine McCalla. Accompanied by her dog (who was a big hit on its own), McCalla gave us a set sprinkled with old music and new songs from her Folk EP alike. To say that she was great would be an understatement - McCalla had a presence on stage that was impossible to ignore, with one of the most gorgeous voices I've hears in some ...

Photo by Kristen Kay Thoen Our favorite art party rockers out of Brooklyn are back with a new song! BODEGA have just released a video for "Shiny New Model," which is off an upcoming EP. While the songs off last year's Endless Scroll  were a wonderfully weird mix of hip hop, post punk, and folk, "Shiny New Model" is almost just a straightforward song. By most bands this might be an odd little song, but for BODEGA it's surprisingly normal. It's almost like a post punk top 40 ballad, but maybe just a tiny bit faster, and with a killer guitar solo. You can watch the video for "Shiny New Model" below. Shiny New Model , the EP, will be out October 11 on What's Your Rupture. You can pre-order the EP here . For more on BODEGA, check them out on Facebook and Instagram . 

There's nothing I have to write about the importance of The Beatles and their influence on the entire world. Vintage aficionado Joel Paterson agrees, and he's set to release an entire album of Beatles covers. The first single is a cover of "Michelle." "Michelle" isn't very high on my list of personal favorite Beatles songs, but this cover is spectacular. It's vintage sounding and instrumental, with guitars being the focus. There's a bit of a surf edge to it, and it's fun to hear a song we're all so familiar with reimagined this way.  JD McPherson wrote the liner notes for the album, and he describes it this way:  “Each of Joel’s interpretations of these songs are concise, genre-bending, stylish tone poems, mixing both Joel’s and the Beatles’ own century-spanning inspirations into one zesty musical stew." You can listen to Joel Peterson's version of "Michelle" below. Let It Be Guitar! Joel Paterson Plays The Beatle...

Even though I've been a fan of The Queers for over twenty years, I had only seen them once before, and that was opening for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at a recent Hometown Throwdown. I had yet to see their own show, which simply doesn't make sense for a (semi) local band that has been around seemingly forever. Once they announced a headlining show less than an hour from my house, in a venue with its own parking lot no less, I simply had to go. As I walked up the stairs into the upstairs area of Ralph's, I could hear one of the opening bands playing a cover of "In the Still of the Night." I'm a sucker for a punk rock cover of a classic oldie, so I was pretty happy. Turns out Dirty Walter and The Smelltones play nothing but covers of oldies. They also busted out versions of "Sherry" by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, and "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore. They also crammed nuggets of...