If It's Too Loud...

When I first started listening to "Crybaby," I thought I had the new single from Nashville's Flight Attendant all figured out. It was a slow, moody, kinda gothy little pop song. It's slow, and pretty mopey. It was a nice enough song, but probably nothing I would have written about. And then the song just busts out into a faster paced track. It's still pop with a little bit of a punk kick (but definitely not pop punk). It's a theatrical song that blasts through tempos and even genres at a whiplash speed. It's dance punk at times, pure pop at others, sometimes alt-rock, and others power pop. But it has one of the greatest "Wooo oooo oooo" hooks of all time. Plus, we're suckers for any rock song that includes heavy doses of viola. In the YouTube post for the video, singer Karalyne says of the new song: "Getting broken up with SUCKED!! The only part worse than him ghosting me while at dinner-was me crying about it for the next month. Well in...

Ali McGuirk is one of the finest soul/blues/folk singers in the Boston area. Her latest single, "All Back," doesn't push the boundaries of the style of music. It's pretty mainstream as far as a soulful blues/folk song goes, but when an artist nails a genre as fully as McGuirk has, it doesn't need to do anything differently. McGuirk's vocals are so effortlessly captivating. "All Back" is a vocal showcase for her without ever needing to be showy. This is just a song that is completely mesmerizing while being a simple soul/blues song. You can watch the video for "All Back" below. Til It's Gone is due out September 16 on Signature Sounds Recordings. The album can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here . For more on Ali McGuirk, check out the artist's website .

Photo by Jeff Forney Keith Morris may be in the midst of a giant tour with Circle Jerks, but that doesn't mean he forgot about his other musical project. OFF! is back with new music and a new line up. The band is still Keith Morris with Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), but this time around they are joined by (... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead) and Justin Brown (Thundercat). The band's new single, "War Above Los Angeles," is basically exactly what you'd expect from these four musicians. It's heavy and fast hardcore punk, the kind that sounds like the band is just holding on for their lives while the music crashes over them. OFF! is barely in control of this song and are just trying to keep it together for our own safety. You can watch the video for "War Above Los Angeles" below. Free LSD is due out September 30 on Fat Possum Records, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on OFF!, check out the band on Facebook and Twitter .

"Canadian LGBTQ Post Classic Rock" duo Partner seem to be on a mission to dabble in literally every musical genre. They've done indie rock, alt-rock, prog rock, country, etc., and on their latest single, "Fear That Closes the Heart," they're trying out 80's pop rock. No surprise here but Partner absolutely nail it. This literally sounds like a song that's been revived by Stranger Things , or at least that song you used to hear on the radio at your local pizza place and completely forgot about until just now. Of course, since this is Partner even if you despise 80's pop rock you're going to love "Fear That Closes the Heart" because that's just the power this pair have. Partner says of their new song and video: "This was the very first song we wrote during our sessions on Gabriola Island. The song is about fear, and how the sensation of fear can prevent someone from feeling like they’re living in the moment. We drew influence...

You might recognize Emily Dix Thomas from playing cello in The Huntress and Holder of Hands or bass in NOVA ONE. Thomas's solo project is EDT, and just released a new single, "Depths." As you might guess from her other bands, "Depths" is hardly traditional folk. It's a lovely song with swirling noise and a hypnotic riff and drums. The repetition of the riff never gets old despite going through virtually the entire song. Thomas's vocals are the highlight, as they sound like they belong in a more mainstream, traditional modern folk song. Instead, they anchor this foray into relatively experimental folk. Whatever you do, don't let EDT slip below your radar. You can listen to "Depths" below. it was a wave, of course is due out August 5 on Pretty Purgatory and can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp . For more on EDT, check out the artist's website . it was a wave, of course by EDT

One of the highlights of 2021 was the quadruple bill of Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, Julie Rhodes, The Devil's Twins, and Salem Wolves at ONCE Boynton Yards. It was four of my favorite Boston area bands at the very top of their game laying it all on the table after not playing live (or barely playing live) for well over a year. Turns out Salem Wolves recorded their set, and now it's out as Live at ONCE. We don't cover live albums very much here, but occasionally we make an exception, and this is definitely one. This nine song set shows the reconfigured Salem Wolves in their first live performance. It's filled with songs played for the first time and old favorites played with the new band. A long time favorite like "More Weight!" is given new life with the newer sound. It's still garage rock, but with a little more metal and turned into an arena ready anthem... or at least a parking lot ready anthem. Gray Bouchard is at the top of his game,...

How is Dutch ReBelle not a national superstar at this point? The Boston MC just released "GOONIEZ," and I know I'm a bit out of touch with current mainstream hip hop, but this song is absolutely killer. It's a stripped down hip hop song that has this futuristic space age sound to it. Plus, ReBelle's flow is unsurpassed. You can't listen to her and not be completely sucked in. The song has a feel reminiscent of classic Missy Elliott. As much as I love that we can still see Dutch ReBelle in smaller Boston venues, "GOONIEZ" proves she should be playing much larger venues nationwide very, very soon. You can watch the video for "GOONIEZ" below. For more on Dutch ReBelle, check out the artist's website . 

Photo by Michael Wilson Garage rock, particularly garage-psych, isn't usually political. It's usually just fun rock 'n' roll. The Harlequins get political on their latest single. While musically "The Tower" sounds like your typical garage-psych weirdo party jam, lyrically the song rails against political inaction against school shootings. (Why this is a political issue and not something we can all get behind makes no sense to me, but what do I know? I just don't like small children getting shot...) The song starts off with the line "Was the blood of the children / From your filthy hand" making the subject matter quite obvious. The song was originally written in 2018 as a response to the Parkland High shooting, but unfortunately nothing has truly changed since then making this song endlessly timely. You can watch the video for "The Tower" below. Time is due out September 2 on Dizzybird Records. For more on The Harlequins, check out the b...

Photo by Steve Gullick It's truly promising when a young band changes up their sound between albums while keeping it sounding like them. The latest single from Dry Cleaning sounds like Dry Cleaning, but changes it up just enough to keep it interesting. "Anna Calls from the Arctic" still has that spoken word/Velvet Underground meets noise rock feel to it, but the noise is restrained a bit. The new song has a 1960's groove to it with a retro cool feel. It's oddly hypnotic in a vaguely threatening way. What's truly interesting with "Anna Calls from the Arctic" is that it's a relatively laid back song but one of the most intense ones Dry Cleaning have ever released. The band says of their new single: “The lyrics were partly inspired by phone calls with a friend who was living and working in the Arctic. The song developed from a keyboard, bass and clarinet jam. This then took shape during our pre-recording sessions with John Parish and Joe Jones in Br...

Photo by Okie Dokie Studio New Jersey's Well Wisher have crafted an indie pop punk song that is both pop and punk, but just has a little something that keeps it rising above most other songs in that genre. "Panic" is somehow both more punk and pop than most pop punk tends to be. It starts off like a downtempo pop rock song, and slowly the pop punk side of things starts to poke its head out. While Natalie Newbold's vocals lean towards pop, musically "Panic" has just enough of an edge to keep the song in the rock side of things. Once the song hits the breakdown, it pauses just before erupting into an emotional and noisy burst. It's not quite noise rock, but it's at least noise rock adjacent. Most pop punk doesn't look to expand past the typical, so it's thrilling to find a band like Well Wisher. Natalie Newbold says of the band's new song: "One of the first songs on the new LP that we all loved and sort of used as a guiding light for t...

Photo courtesy Sofaburn Records Growing up in Gary, Indiana, Quinn DeVeaux was raised listening to his mom's 80's R&B albums and his dad's classic rock ones. His grandmother was a jazz singer and an uncle booked booked shows in northern Indiana for artists like Howlin' Wolf. He first heard Muddy Waters while driving across the country and was taken by Waters' raw emotion. He moved to Kansas, then Olympia, WA to attend Evergreen State College, then Los Angeles before settling in San Francisco.  For his new single, he teamed with The California Honeydrops. "Very Best Thing" is just pure classic soul. DeVeaux just has this timeless quality in his vocals that makes the song sound like it could be from any time in the past fifty years or so. His voice just sounds vintage. As smooth as the song is, The California Honeydrops just add this certain edge to the music you don't typically hear in soul. "Very Best Thing" is one of the finer soul songs...

Photo by Mathieu Bitton We've gotten used to Chris Pierce releasing traditional-ish folk music, both as a solo artist and with War & Pierce, his collaboration with Sunny War. On his latest single, he goes full on electric blues. "45 Jukebox" is an electric guitar driven traditional blues song. It's an upbeat song about a love of vinyl showing that Pierce can have fun with his music. Plus, Pierce injects a little bit of soul with his vocals, making this quite a change from what we've heard from him in the past.  In the YouTube post for the video, Chris Pierce says of his new single: "A traditional 45 Jukebox is a coin-operated phonograph with an illuminated cabinet, having a variety of records that can be selected by the drop of a dime and the push of a button. This song examines the journey as a songwriter and the internal process of the spirit for the songs to come to surface. It’s about the rigorous and demanding road of putting the truth on the line an...

Who doesn't love a great Appalachian murder ballad? Unfortunately, most tend to be about men murdering young women, which is why Martha Spencer wrote "Young Rover." This new single is a mixture of pure classic country and it's more shiny 70's counterpart. It's the kind of song that could have come out any time in the past fifty years, mostly in part to Spencer's vocals. Her voice just has that timeless country quality to it. She's hardly singing like a modern pop country singer, although "Young Rover" has quite a bit of mainstream appeal. As with any Appalachian murder ballad, the song is haunting but in a hopeful kind of way. You can watch the video for "Young Rover" below. Wonderland is due out September 2 on Gingham Rose/Karpie Diem Music. The album can be pre-ordered here . For more on Martha Spencer, check out the artist's website .

Photo by Tadin Brown Jake Blount is a master of making the classic sound modern, and their latest single, "Once There Was No Sun," might be the best example of that. The structure of the song is a classic spiritual, but Blount brings the song into 2022 by making it what is almost a modern dance track, but with traditional instruments. It's one of the most unique songs that we've heard in quite some time while still being made up of familiar elements. It's also showing even more of a move away from the pure traditional sound of Blount's excellent 2020 album Spider Tales. It would have been easy (and still would have been fantastic) for Blount to continue making traditional roots music, but "Once There Was No Sun" shows an artist not afraid to try completely new sounds. You can watch the video for "Once There Was No Sun" below. The New Faith is due out September 23 on Smithsonian Folkways and can be pre-ordered here . For more on Jake Blount,...

For their latest single, Boston's The Devil's Twins go a little more mainstream than we've heard from them before. "Anger Room" is a horn heavy song that showcases the band's blend of dirty garage blues rock in a way that it hasn't been done before. While the band's previous songs have grooved, none of them have grooved quite this hard. "Anger Room" might not rock quite as hard as we're used to from The Devil's Twins, but the hard groove more than makes up for it. While this new song may have an almost pop sheen of good production, there is an extra level of grime covering it. This is the kind of song that means The Devil's Twins may not just be our little secret for much longer.  You can listen to "Anger Room" below. Horns is due out in early 2023, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on The Devil's Twins, check out the band's website .

After being blown away by Dilemma Rose n the Walin' Milfs last Saturday, I decided to search online for any information on them. There isn't a whole lot online (although searching anything involving the word "Milf" gets some NS4W results, so beware!), but I did find a Bandcamp page. That includes an EP released last Halloween, milf machine. The EP is three songs and just over five minutes in length. If you're intrigued by the thought of a punk/metal/New Wave mash up, you're going to be delighted by milf machine. It appears that Dilemma Rose n the Wailin' Milfs have added keyboards since this EP was released, so it's a little less New Wave than their live show was. But these three songs are completely glorious trainwrecks bouncing between happy bubblegum to absolute car crashes of noise at a maddeningly fast rate. If that sounds like your thing, you're gonna love this. You can listen to "the bitch song" below. milf machine  is available fo...

Photo by Nick Helderman Normally I associate the term "ambient" with electronic music, but Lena Hessels is changing that. The Dutch artist just released "6," which fits everything I would expect with ambient music. It's chilled out music that definitely creates a mood, but the song is much more organic than I expected it to be. It's more along the lines of folk with plenty of acoustic roots instrumentation. The drums do sound electronic, which gives "6" a wholly unique sound that places it in both roots and electronic genres.  Lena Hessels says of her new EP: “its really about the stuff that I’m dealing with as a young adult and trying to be open about it. I’m not trying to be cool, there are no frills, its just personal and honest. The focus track ' 6'  is about my mental health during a period when I wasn’t doing very well and how I got better. I feel like that time is always going to be a part of me but that’s ok because things will alwa...

You ever just know within seconds of a song starting that you're going to love it? That's how it was for me with Tysk Tysk Task's latest single "Rosegold." The new single starts off with a cymbals/guitar drone combination that makes me think of my favorite Sonic Youth album cuts. Their self described "woodland slumber grunge" sound is on full display here. As sludgy and aggressive as "Rosegold" gets, there is something organic and nearly whimsical with the song. It's hard to be loud and whimsical, but that's just how Tysk Tysk Task do things these days. The grunge description is less the mainstream radio bands like Nirvana or Soundgarden and more the earlier, lesser known grunge like Tad or The Gits. Throughout the song I kept waiting for an explosion of noise, which never truly came. Instead "Rosegold" just slowly builds and builds in a barely noticeable way until it just is at that explosive level. You can listen to "Ro...

Photo by Sophia Grouev Montreal based singer/songwriter and violinist Thanya Iyer has released a single that fits right in with what we love here at If It's Too Loud... while sounding nothing like what we normally cover. "leave the room and face the wave" has both a retro cool feel along with a completely fresh experimental sound. It has that retro 60's French cool with a Baroque and jazz vibe, but it also sounds like modern freak folk. It's the bare bones of what we know from the coolest side of the 60's but with these bizarre little flourishes that keep and modern and somehow even cooler. It's both completely unique and completely familiar, and something you need to check out for yourself. You can watch the video for "leave the room and face the waves" below. rest is due out August 24 on Topshelf Records. For more on Thanya Iyer, check out the artist on Twitter and Instagram .

The Shods are a fairly legendary band out of Lowell, MA. They played a rock n' roll/power pop combination with just enough of a punk edge to be able to play with bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones without seeming out of place. Singer Kevin Stevenson is back with his first new music in ages. "Saturday Morning Coming Down" has a very strong '70s classic rock feel with that slight punk edge that we love from The Shods. Plus, with the horn section it almost sounds like Bruce Springsteen jamming with The Clash. It's an older, wiser version of Kevin Stevenson that we're hearing, but if you've been a fan for a while there is still plenty to love. You can listen to "Saturday Morning Coming Down" below. The song will be on Kevin Stevenson's upcoming solo album, Reality Alley , due out this Fall on Rum Bar Records. For more on Kevin Stevenson, check out the artist on Facebook . Saturday Morning Coming Down by Kevin Stevenson

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Lucy Dacus has quickly become one of our favorite artists for covers (or really just in general). Her 2019 release 2019 was mostly covers, and all fantastic. Now she's back with a cover of Cher's 1998 electronica comeback song "Believe." Dacus's version is stripped way down... at least in comparison. This new version is a little more guitar heavy and far more dreamy. It's a hazy and swirling cover at times, and at others it's a pretty straightforward pop rock song. The way Dacus makes "Believe" meander slowly through different styles while sounding like a cohesive piece of art is what makes this one of the better covers of the year! The song is currently available as a Spotify single paired with a reworked "Partner in Crime" without autotune. Dacus says of this pairing of songs: “‘ Partner in Crime’ was partially inspired by ‘Believe,’ so I thought it’d be nice to pair them together. I love Cher’s voice and how low ...

Grampfather just released an album back in February and they're already back at it with new music. "Hot Dog Beach" comes out just in time to capitalize on our need for summer themed music. There is a little bit of a 60's surf/beach vibe with the song, but that could just be the psychedelia sneaking through. While songs off Gramppappies  had more of a post punk psychedelia, "Hot Dog Beach" is more groovy and sounds like a fuzzed out track off a Nuggets compilation. But, hey... a song called "Hot Dog Beach" has to be fun, right? You can listen to "Hot Dog Beach" below. 666G is due out August 19, and can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp . For more on Grampfather, check out the band's website . 666G by Grampfather

Photo by Philip Randall There's a lot of genre blurring going on in music now, and that's quite apparent in the latest from Johanna Warren. "I'd Be Orange" would have been considered alternative back in the 1990's and probably have ended up in the Buzz Bin, but these days it sounds a lot more pop than alternative. That being said, "I'd Be Orange" is definitely a rock song in the singer/songwriter model. It's reminding me a lot of the middle ground between early lo-fi Liz Phair and her more pop work, but a rootsy version of that. Warren has crafted this great song with a rock edge, a pop sheen, and some roots to ground it all. According to Johanna Warren, her latest song is "...   “ about martyrdom and masochism in pop culture and the quest for stardom.   The only thing we love more than building up an icon is watching them fall—and yet, as an aspiring icon, even when you know that, there’s still this perverse desire to be one of the chos...

Photo by Brandon McClain Last year we got sucked into girlpuppy's debut EP Swan , so we're obviously thrilled that Becca Harvey has her musical project's debut album coming out. The first single from that album, "Wish," has that combination of indie folk, indie rock, and pop that we loved with girlpuppy's previous releases. "Wish" is a little more guitar heavy and amps up the indie rock side of things, so obviously no complaints here. It's filled with Harvey's gorgeous slacker vocals, fuzzy guitars, and just a mesmerizing, dreamlike vibe throughout. It's an upbeat hazy song perfect for this heatwave we're going through up here in New England. Becca Harvey says of her new single: “ On 'Wish' I was thinking about when friends leave your life and you're not entirely sure why .  It's a pretty universal feeling, I think. And, the thing is—even if you managed to live in the walls of that person's apartment and were able ...

Artist : The A's Album : Fruit Quick Thoughts : I hesitate to pigeonhole The A's in any specific genre or classification, because what they're doing is so unique even while falling upon familiar tropes. With that said, if Mountain Man and First Aid Kit spawned a duo all their own, they might sound a lot like The A's. It's got a lot of quiet folk influence in some places, and outright field recording feels in others. It's a pretty brilliant album on a whole, and one of the rare records where, even if some parts don't work for you, it's still possible to appreciate from an artistic perspective. Songs of Note : "Wedding Dress," "Why I'm Grieving," "When I Die" Artist : Launder Album : Happening Quick Thoughts : This is an incredible album that scratches multiple musical itches, so know this out front - it's difficult to be objective about something this good. Launder has produced a fuzzy, buzzy slice of alt-r...