If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Kelly Davidson Studio Hailing from New Hampshire, Robotic Hawks have released a new three song EP. Minnesota Fats is fast paced alt-rock that is ridiculously catchy. The title track is the kind of song that is instantly familiar and sounds like The Replacements formed in the mid 90's, recruited Robert Pollard, and decided to inject a little metal into their sound. "Turn Away" is going to draw even more Guided By Voices comparisons, and kind of goes into a little bit of a Southern California in the 60's sound. The EP closes out with a cover of Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers' "I'm Not Your Man." It's a modern power pop cover of a classic from 1988. Robotic Hawks are masters of an infectious blend of alt-rock that is an absolute blast. Tyler Pollard (vocals, bass) says of the song "Minnesota Fats:" “On the surface, the song is about real life ‘pool hustler’ Rudolf Wanderone a.k.a. ‘Minnesota Fats’. Fats had a complicated rel...

Boston has a varied musical sound, but nothing else in the city sounds anything like Ruby Grove. The band released a new single today that is almost impossibly infectious. "Maybe It's Time" has this laid back lo-fi trip hop groove intermingled with hip hop, R&B, and indie rock. It's a distinct and new sound that feels warmly familiar, but defies any true categorization. Frontwoman Melissa Nilles describes the band's sound as  “the sonic lovechild of Beats Antique, Portishead, Jamiroquai, Gnarls Barkley, and Gorillaz,"  so we're going to go with her words. What's indisputable is how cool "Maybe It's Time" sounds. You know how in the 90's bands would mine the 60's for a retro cool sound? Ruby Grove are the 2023 version of repurposing old sounds into something brand new and fresh. I'm willing to bet you're going to be hearing about them around here a lot. You can listen to "Maybe It's Time" below. For more ...

Photo by Emily Butler Billy Tibbals has this fantastic retro rock coolness to his latest single. "Hurt so Bad" has a 60's and 70's sound that is going to instantly remind you of artists like The Kinks and T-Rex. We never get sick of that sonic sensation, so we're always in for bands that throw back to those artists. But Tibbals also has a little bit of that early 00's garage rock sound of The Strokes. It might be more along the lines of the edge of early Strokes than their sound, but it's definitely there. "Hurt so Bad" is the kind of retro sound you're going to become smitten by, even after you realize that it's time to be nostalgic over the early 00's... You can listen to "Hurt so Bad" below. Stay Teenage is due out April 21 on Silver Arrow Records. It was produced by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on Billy Tibbals, check out the artist's website .

When you have a music blog, you sometimes get to hear new music early. I got to hear Original Motion Picture Soundtrack , the upcoming new album from Wilmington, NC's Kicking Bird, and was instantly smitten. Some albums just seem perfectly made for my specific tastes, and that's how this one feels. The songs on Original Motion Picture Soundtrack have that perfect mid-90's power pop sound with a little retro 60's cool. It's like a less ironic version of Fountains of Wayne and Weezer. I got the chance to interview three members of Kicking Bird (Shaun and Shaylah Paul as well as Robin Cooksley) over email, so we discussed North Carolina, their upcoming album, and the song we're premiering, "238."  Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is due out May 19 on Fort Lowell Records, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on Kicking Bird, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram . You can listen to "238" below the interview. Your sound seems to invoke...

Photo by Kristen Barnett Be Your Own Pet might have been the first band I felt I was too old to listen to but still loved when they first came out way back in 2006. I hid behind Thurston Moore and Iggy Pop being fans. They stopped recording music together after 2008's Get Awkward , and aside from a Jemina Pearl solo album in 2009 and her band Ultras S/C releasing an album in 2013, there hasn't been much from the Nashville punk band. But... now it's 2023, and Be Your Own Pet are back. They've played a handful of live dates, and now have a brand new song. "Hand Grenade" is great. It sounds exactly like what we want Be Your Own Pet to sound like in 2023. It's a little more mature and a little let out of control... but only a little. This song could have landed on any of their previous releases and fit in perfectly. Plus, it's the kind of song that only gets better and better with each listen. Maturity can kill any punk band's sound, especially a noise...

Photo by Lisa Johnson This one is a Big Deal(TM). We all desperately want an Operation Ivy reunion, and we seemed to be just a step or two away back in February of last year when Jesse Michaels joined Tim Armstrong on stage for a rendition of the punk legends' iconic song "Sound System." We're not quite there yet, but the pair have formed a new band, Bad Optix. They've released a new single, and it's spectacular. Even if it wasn't a project featuring Jesse Michaels and Tim Armstrong, "Raid" would be considered a great song. It's a laid back but down and dirty ska song. At this point, they definitely can afford to make a shiny and clean song in a fancy studio, so the aesthetic choice to make this sound like an older recording is perfect. I can't imagine any fans of Operation Ivy, Rancid, or any other associated projects aren't going to adore this song. You can listen to "Raid" below. The single is out now via Hellcat Records ...

The previous singles from Cinder Well's upcoming album have moved slightly away from the doom folk of 2020's No Summer , Amelia Baker's solo project is right back there with her latest. "A Scorched Land" is a stark, more traditional folk song written from the perspective of a blackbird watching the massive changes going on in our world currently. It's a bleak song, but it kind of has to be given the subject matter. However, part of Baker's talent is taking a song and subject matter that is horrifically bleak and making it an engaging listen. "A Scorched Land" isn't the song you're going to put on for a sing-a-long during a family road trip this summer, but it's the kind of art you're going to go back to repeatedly. You can watch the video for "A Scorched Earth" below. Cadence is due out April 21 on Free Dirt Records, which can be pre-ordered here . For more on Cinder Well, check out the artist's website .

Photo via TEKE::TEKE The latest from Montreal based Japanese psych-rock band TEKE::TEKE is a delightful song that mixes Eastern European music with Chindon'ya', which is Japanese marching band music. "Gotoku Lemon" should not work at all, but TEKE::TEKE pull off this new sound brilliantly. The song is stunningly beautiful, hypnotically dreamlike, and oddly fun. It has a unique film score feel, but it's still going to inspire you to want to dance. If Maya Kuroki's vocals are somehow not enough to suck you in, the delightful horns and flute are sure to do the job. Plus, the song is about a world where glow in the dark lemons are found to be the cure for everything, and who doesn't want a song about that? You can watch the video for "Gotoku Lemon" below. Hagata is due out June 9 on Kill Rock Stars, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on TEKE::TEKE, check out the band's website .

Artist : Dom Flemons Album : Traveling Wildfire Quick Thoughts : It might just be me, but it feels like Dom Flemons is perpetually flying under the radar and it's not fair. Traveling Wildfire , in some ways, is his most accessible solo effort to date, but that carries an implication that his other music isn't accessible, which isn't true. It's just that you can hear a song like "Big Money Blues" and wonder why he's not headlining every roots festival known to man. A great listen. Songs of Note : "Slow Dance With You," "If You Truly Love Me," "Big Money Blues," "Song to Jcb" Artist : Annabel Lee Album : Drift Quick Thoughts : Annabel Lee surprised me a bit. I didn't anticipate this being a surprise favoreite, but every song on this record is compelling and interesting in its own way, and in a busy week, shouldn't be missed. Great if you like the singer-songwritery side of indie rock. Songs of Note ...

Photo by Devonte Johnson Los Angeles' Draag was formed by trained mariachi singer Adrian Acosta who forme the band from members with backgrounds in underground punk, No Wave, experimental jazz, and classical training. Their new single, "Demonbird," reflects all of those styles in a sound that's being called electro-shoegaze. This new song has more intensity than you would normally associate with shoegaze. It's a synth heavy, relatively fast punk song that's awash in the drone of shoegaze. Draag have made this swirling sonic fury that can be kind of a mess at times, but I mean that as a compliment. It's not completely outrageous, but we haven't heard anything quite like this before. Not everyone is going to love "Demonbird," but if it works for you it's going to lead to a die hard fandom. Frontwoman Jessica Huang says of the new song and video: “‘Demonbird’ was a major breakthrough in my personal journey unpacking spiritual abuse in my pas...

Photo by Rachel Loomes Shangri-Lass is the solo project of Sister Wives bassist Rose Love. Her debut single is "Parallel," and this one is going to hit a sonic sweet spot for a lot of us. The song has a very 60's sound to it. It combines girl group pop with the grooviness of a spy show theme. But "Parallel" is a dark song. As dark as a girl group song could get thematically, they always had more of a pop shine to take the edge off. Shangri-Lass take that sound and just turn it into a brooding track. This is still a fun song, but expect to get a little grimey listening to it.  Rose Love says of the new song: “Parallel started out as lyrics written years ago at the beginning of a relationship that started intensely and ended badly, leaving emotional carnage in its wake. It’s about loving someone and wanting to help them but ignoring your gut instinct.” You can watch the video for "Parallel" below. Over & Over is due out April 28 on Redundant Span Rec...

Photo via Facebook The Watson Twins (aka sisters Chandra and Leigh Watson) are back with a new single from their upcoming Bloodshot Records album! (And how great is it to have Bloodshot back?) "The Palace" is a perfect example of the whole alt-country/country rock thing. The song is just oozing with country twang while being a fuzzed out rock song. But seeing that this is The Watson Twins, the focus will always be the vocals of the Watsons, particularly their harmonizing. "The Palace" is a modern day take on honky tonk music, and it's just simply a fantastic song that is impossible to resist as long as you have a soul. You can watch the Bridget Everett starring video for "The Palace" below. HOLLER is due out June 23 on Bloodshot Records, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on The Watson Twins, check out the artists' website .

Photo by Ivanna Baranova Hand Habits is the musical project of Los Angeles' Meg Duffy. Their latest single, "Something Wrong," is one of the more inventive pop adjacent songs in recent memory. Duffy has crafted a song using all the basic song structure for a standard pop song (maybe a pop/rock song?), but "Something Wrong" just kind of meanders around inside of those restraints as it wishes. Interesting instrumentation pops in briefly and then disappears like it was never there. This is defiantly not background music. You need to pay close attention to what Hand Habits have done here, because the more you listen, the more you're going to get out of it. Meg Duffy says of their upcoming album: “ For Sugar the Bruise , I had no plan other than to let my mind go blank, and lean into the playful side of things .  To laugh a little, to lighten up, to shift the focus off of my own experience a bit .” You can watch the video for "Something Wrong" below. Su...

Photo by David-Simon Dayan Johanna Samuels is an artist making folk pop that is so close to being mainstream but has just enough of a unique sound to keep it interesting. Her new single, "Ugly on the Inside," sounds a little like modern Jenny Lewis but a little more country. It has this upbeat sound to it, and it's an absolutely beautiful song. If it was just a perfectly straightforward folk pop song, it would be a wonderful song. But something about "Ugly on the Inside" sets it apart from other songs. Samuels just has a slight quirk to the song that keeps it unique and compelling. Plus, Samuels' voice has this quality I've never heard before. There's a natural twang to her vocals that doesn't quite sound like anyone else. It helps suck in the listener and demands that you listen to her lyrics even if you're not typically a lyrics person. Johanna Samuels says of her new single: “This song is a combination of both my inner demons and some expe...

Photo by Alexa Viscius Post-punk is a wildly varied genre, and Stuck are playing around with that. The Chicago band have a new single out, "The Punisher," that is combining different aspects of post-punk. The song has the playful, dance friendly bounce of Shopping, the punkier edge of shame, and the brass based freak outs of James Chance & The Contortions. It's the kind of song that starts off tame enough, but as it goes on it starts careening wildly out of control with only the rhythm section barely containing it. This is the kind of song that only gets more infectious with repeat listens. Stuck are a band we're going to want to get to know sooner than later. Greg Obis says of his band's new song: “ It hits all the boxes of what this band can do: it’s goofy, but there’s a lot of intricate guitar interplay, and at the end, there’s a big payoff.  It's about fanatic QAnon and MAGA weirdos who think they are breaking a cycle that doesn't really exist. ...