If It's Too Loud...

London punk rockers Femegades have released a new single about how men see women as objects they can obtain, and imagines a world where women walk around wearing price tags. "What Is Yours Is Mine" is a rocker more along the lines of 90's alt-rock with a punk edge. I'm hearing a little bit of The Donnas and Veruca Salt but with the more scathing and metal side of L7. It's a loud and heavy rock song, but it has a more mainstream leaning side to it as well. It's the kind of song a lot of lunkheads could end up rocking out to if they don't pay attention to the lyrics very closely. You can listen to "What Is Yours Is Mine" below. The single is out now via Regent Street Records, and can be downloaded through Bandcamp . For more on Femegades, check out the band's website . What Is Yours Is Mine by Femegades

Photo by Nick Johnson For the second single off Marnie Stern's first album in years, Stern decided to get a little strange. Despite being a guitar heavy song, "Believing Is Seeing" isn't anything like what you'd expect from a guitar rocker. There's some interesting hip hop and pop elements, and there are some throwbacks to the blanket term of "alternative" that we used in the 90's for anything that wasn't pure pop. "Believing Is Seeing" may not be an easy track to categorize, but there is plenty of Stern's famous (and fantastic!) finger tapping guitar style for die hard fans to enjoy. Marnie Stern says of her new single: “‘Believing Is Seeing’ is about trying to build a world of music through different sounds, and how you can create your own cohesive universe through these sounds.” You can watch the video for "Believing Is Seeing" below. The Comeback Kid is due out November 3 on Joyful Noise Recordings, and is availabl...

The music of Robert Finley tends to be classic and timeless, but his latest exemplifies that statement' "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" is a slow soul and blues jam that sounds like it could have been released anytime in the past sixty years. The only factor that shows it's a more modern song is that you can hear all sixty-nine of Finley's years in his voice. That isn't meant as a negative, as the grit in his vocals just adds to the mood of the song. We tend to go a little nuts over neo-soul here at If It's Too Loud... if it's done right, and no one is doing it better than Robert Finley. Robert Finley says of his new single: “This song is about the many people who have been forgotten.  Their kids drop them off and go with their lives. I go down occasionally and perform at the old folks home in Bernice. Just take my guitar and play for thirty minutes or so, try to get them to dance, try to bring some joy to them.” You can watch the video for "Nobody Wa...

Photo via Okie Dokie Studio As someone who is growing to accept a love of pop punk, Teenage Halloween are an ideal band. The New Jersey quartet combine power-pop with their pop punk, with more than a little indie rock thrown in. Their latest single, "Armageddon Now," is undeniably catchy, but this is pop punk with grit. As melodic as the song may be, the pop-punk polish is being applied to an edgy and noisy rock song. It also has one of the best punk rock breakdowns of the year. "Armageddon Now" is a bouncy punk song filled with as much attitude as harmony, plus a surprisingly great guitar solo helps close out the song. You can watch the video for "Armageddon Now" below. The video stars members of the "Queer Punk Wrestlers," and is a must watch. Till You Return is due out October 20 on Don Giovanni Records, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Teenage Halloween, check out the band on Instagram and Twitter . Upcoming tour dates are b...

Dark electronic Boston based duo Ex-Hyena recently released a new single that encapsulates everything we enjoy about them. "In Slow Motion" has that perfect goth sound we expect from Ex-Hyena. It's that perfect mid-tempo song that just revels in how moody it is. "In Slow Motion" is not a cheery song at all. It's dark, and a little disturbing, but you're still going to want to dance to it. Maybe I just have Drab Majesty on the mind after seeing them a few nights ago, but this one is giving me Drab Majesty meets early Depeche Mode and Ministry vibes. It's an endlessly compelling song that just gets more and more addicting the longer you listen. You can listen to "In Slow Motion" below. The song is currently available via Re:Mission Entertainment, and can be downloaded through Bandcamp . For more on Ex-Hyena, check out the band on Instagram and Facebook . In Slow Motion by Ex-Hyena

Photo by Marcus Maddox Daneshevskaya, aka the songwriting project of NYC preschool social worker Anna Deneshevskaya Beckerman, just released a new single, and it's something you need to check out immediately. "Challenger Deep" is a stunning, dreamlike song that is both lush and sparse. It's a simple song that focuses on Beckerman's vocals and harmonies, and it's not like we could pay attention to much else in this one. The song is simply gorgeous and feels like your favorite children's stories did when you were a kid, despite this song not being childlike at all. "Challenger Deep" is such a simple and beautiful song, despite it being quite complex. Daneshevskaya says of her new single: “There’s a story I read to the kids that I work with about how, when you say goodbye to someone, there’s an invisible string that connects you. My version of that is seeing someone at the end. Even if it is pretend, it’s a nice idea.”  You can watch the video for ...

Photo by Ingrid Pop 2023 seems to be the year of finally seeing bands I've been a fan of for decades but have just never seen. The latest on that list was Slowdive. The shoegaze legends played a show earlier this week at the House of Blues that sold out almost instantaneously. It was a strange night on Lansdowne St, with lines for Slowdive and Boygenius all the way down the street to Brookline Ave. The wait to get into the venue felt as long as my wait to see Slowdive, so would it be worth the wait? Simply put... yes. And then some. Slowdive have been doing this for a long time, and they have mastered their genre and performing live. It's kind of a joke that shoegaze bands are boring live since they don't put on any show besides just standing there. Anyone who has ever told that joke has never seen Slowdive. Sure, they didn't jump around on stage, but they had the all ages crowd in the palm of their hand as soon as they played their first note. Singer Rachel Goswell sta...

Summer Set have one of the most familiar and most unique sounds in all of indie rock. Their new single, "Favorite Places," has this laid back mix of 90's indie rock meets 00's indie sleaze. It's almost impossibly groovy and noisy, but totally chill. There's also a nearly shocking amount of twang for an indie rock song. It's kind of like the laid back slacker indie rock of Pavement, the psychedelic groove of The Dandy Warhols, and the period just as Wilco was moving from alt-country to a more indie rock sound. "Favorite Places" is cool as hell, and you're going to want to jump right on the Summer Set bandwagon with us. You can listen to "Favorite Places" below. Summer Set's self-titled album is due out November 3 on Fort Lowell Records, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp . For more on Summer Set, check out the band on Bandcamp . Summer Set by Summer Set

Photo by Leah Gage If you're of a certain age, or a certain mindset, you're going to check out anything that is put out by Dischord Records. The legendary DC label has yet to put out anything bad. Their releases are at the very least interesting. The latest from Dischord is Light Beams. The Washington D.C. band just released "Coming Our Way," which is one of the most exciting releases in the world of punk in quite some time. Punk can be very rigid, but Light Beams blow the doors off the rules of punk while still being solidly punk. Their press release calls them a "post-dance-punk band," and that sums up a song like "Coming Our Way." I'm not exactly sure if they mean it combines dance punk with post-punk, or if it's what comes after dance punk, but either way that describes this song.  Justin Wm. Moyer (vocalist/bandleader) describes the story behind the new single, which involves his daughter surviving a school shooting: “I was in my backy...

Photo courtesy TIFFY Boston's finest "soft punk" artist is set to release her debut album! TIFFY (aka Tiffany Sammy) just released a single from the album, and "Don't Take It Personally" helps define the "soft punk" genre. The new single is a cheery pop song with all of the melody and upbeat cheeriness you would expect from a pop song. But there is an unmistakable punk edge to the song, particularly in some unexpected dissonance that lurks throughout the entire song. TIFFY has a very DIY feel to her music despite a song like "Don't Take It Personally." But that's what makes TIFFY such a special artist that won't be our little secret much longer. You can watch the video for "Don't Take It Personally" below. So Serious is due out November 3 on Totally Real Records/Dollhouse Lightning. For more on TIFFY, check out the artist on Facebook and Instagram . Upcoming tour dates are below the video. Sat 11/4 - Loading Doc...

Artist : Lydia Loveless Album : Nothing's Gonna Stand in My Way Again Quick Thoughts : We love Lydia Loveless here, and their gradual shift toward a more adult-alternative sound from the more twangy early work felt invevitable until this new album landed, which both feels like a great combination of the new and old while also remaining true to their evolution as an artist. There are so many good songs here, with that now-classic and unmistakable voice to go with some great songwriting. One of the best of the week. Songs of Note : "Poor Boy," "Feel," "Toothache," "Do the Right Thing" Artist : Jenny Owen Youngs Album : Avalanche Quick Thoughts : On one hand, it's been a decade since the last proper Jenny Owen Youngs album, although that is misleading given the amount of music she's made for her Buffy the Vampire Slayer podcast, plus the whole getting married and moving to Maine thing. So here's Avalanche , which is both ex...

The latest single from Seattle's Wimps has a certain 90's indie rock vibe to it that we can't resist. "City Lights" is an upbeat and jangly track that lives in the world between noisier and more aggressive indie rock and the more power pop side of alt-rock that dominated the mid 90's. It's a really fun song that combines bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth with Letters to Cleo and The Lemonheads. If you've been reading If It's Too Loud... for any time, you'll know that's very high praise from us, and Wimps deserve it. Lead singer and composer Rachel Ratner says of the new song: “'City Lights' was written during the beginning of the pandemic when I was feeling very alone in a crowded city. It was a way to remind me we were all there for each other even when we couldn't physically see each other. Also Matt plays a ripping bass solo.” You can listen to "City Lights" below. City Lights the album is due October 13 on Youth ...

Image by Aldea Norwegian dancepunks DATAROCK have a new single out, and it might have my favorite song title of the year. "DISCObedience" is a dance song that is as absurdly fun as a dance song should be, but it is far from your typical dance song. The structure of the track is mostly straightforward dance, but there are just weird little musical sounds from electronic blips to horns that blare out of nowhere and then just immediately fade to keep this from being a mainstream dance song. It has all the edge of punk and the fun of dance, but it's just a slight bit too odd for the average dance music fan, and perfect for weirdos like us. Frontman Fredrik Saroea says of the band's new single: “Hopefully one day, we'll see one of these nonviolent, civic disobedience gatherings dancing to the beat of their very own soundtrack.  What a clever and charming civic disobedience that riot police can't aggressively shut down, right?” You can watch the video for "DISC...

Photo by Alexa Viscius Lately Squirrel Flower has been delving into a more rock based sound, and Ella Williams' latest single fits that sound perfectly. "Intheskatepark" could have been your standard folk-adjacent indie rock song, especially as Williams' vocals seem to be more along the lines of singer-songwriter style music than a hard rocker. But there's this fuzzed out guitar throughout the entire song that isn't quite grunge or punk, but does dance right along the line of those genres. It gives the song an indie rock and DIY feel we haven't typically heard with Squirrel Flower. Ella Williams says of her latest single: “I wrote this song in 2019 on a little toy synthesizer. To me, this song is everlasting summer — even as things change, seasons, feelings, relationships, you can still try and feel the perfect lightness of summer, of a new crush, of a pop riff. It's best listened to while biking around in the sunshine.” You can listen to "Inthesk...

Go Betty Go formed in Glendale, CA in 2000 when the members will still teens. The band toured relentlessly, playing multiple Warped Tours and seemed set to break out. In 2005, they released an album on Side One Dummy Records, and went on another tour. That tour was never finished as singer Nicolette Vilar burnt out and quit the band. Friends and fans convinced them to reunite for one last show in 2012, but they ended up fully reuniting. 2020 threw them off (obviously), and in 2022 guitarist Betty Cisneros was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. The band worked around her illness and doctor's visits, and are back with new music.  "Keep Up" is a fast paced and melodic punk song. It's the kind of punk that's mixed with straight up rock and roll. The struggles the band faced in the past three years is palpable in "Keep Up." This one reminds me of The Donnas meets Bad Religion. It just has that throwback early rock and roll laced punk mixed with the more melodic s...

Photo by Fuel Heart Productions According to their Facebook profile, Linnea's Garden make "glam punk you can dance to." Their latest single, "Comeback," has that perfect blend of glam punk you can dance to, but adds some unexpected grunge to their guitar. It also does the loud/quiet/loud thing going for it that we don't typically associate with Linnea's Garden. "Comeback" is a great mixture of being a song that totally rocks but is also a dance song. It's not a rock song you can dance to, but a rock song that is also a dance song. This is the type of song that could have easily been a local hit if Boston still had even one modern rock radio station. You can listen to "Comeback" below. Mirrors is due out November 17, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp . For more on Linnea's Garden, check out the band's website .

Photo via Facebook We've been waiting impatiently for an official song from Wyn & the White Light for what feels like forever at this point, but our lack of patience has finally paid off with the band's debut single. "How the West Was Won" starts off in a very Wyn Doran way with the line "There's a heartbeat in the floorboard," and then slowly takes off into a beautiful and engaging folk-pop/alt-rock song. For a song by Doran, it's shockingly uplifting (if you're new to her music, there is a typical melancholia with most of her songs). There might be more than a little darkness in the song, but the chorus nearly eradicates that. And then there's the screaming. It's almost like the kind of screaming you'd hear standing outside of a haunted house, but it adds to the song perfectly. Wyn & the White Light had us highly anticipating new music, and now we're more than intrigued to hear more! You can listen to "How the West ...

September 16 was the one year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death. The twenty-two year old died in Iranian police custody after being arrested for incorrectly wearing her hijab head covering incorrectly, sparking protests which are still ongoing. On September 16 (we're far too late to this one, apologies!), Savoir Faire released a new single, "Only Fools (Betarseed)," which transforms an Iranian protest chant into her style of "alt-noir rock." It's a song that is obviously somber, but also hopeful. This is the type of song that can easily suck you in just by its vibe and melody, and then will devastate you with its subject matter. In a Facebook post on September 6, Sarah Fard (aka Savoir Faire) says of her new single: "September 16, 2022, was a day that catalyzed protests in Iran. It is the day that Mahsa Amini was murdered by her own government. People are still protesting and being killed. On September 1st, almost a year since the protests started,...

Photo by Jon Botkin This weekend is the fortieth anniversary of the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco as well as the culmination of Leather Pride Month, Middle-Aged Queers have released a new single to celebrate. "What's Your Favorite Kink?" praises the LGBTQ+ tradition of wearing color-coded bandanas to signal your interest in sexual activities and fetishes. As you can imagine, the song is absurdly fun. It might not be as badass punk as we've become used to from Middle-Aged Queers, but sometimes you want to be less hardcore and just have fun. "What's Your Favorite Kink?" is more of an oddball and quirky alt-rock song, and you're going to be fully onboard even if you're straight and vanilla. You can listen to "What's Your Favorite Kink?" below. The song is currently available via Bandcamp . For more on Middle-Aged Queers, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram . What's Your Favorite Kink? by Middle-Aged Queers

Photo by Michelle Mercado Atlanta's Faye Webster has this very specific sound of mellow, laid back and incredibly groovy music. Her latest single, "Lifetime," might just be the most Faye Webster song to date. "Lifetime" is almost impossibly chill. It almost has this lounge song vibe to it, and has an almost jazzy quality. This is the definition of a cool sounding song. In another artist's hands, this song could have ended up boring, but Webster has this magical quality that makes virtually everything she does compelling. Part of it is her voice just sucks you in, but Webster has that certain intangible star quality that makes you need to listen. You can watch the video for "Lifetime" below. The single is out now via Secretly Canadian. For more on Faye Webster, check out the artist's website . Upcoming tour dates are below the video, and the U.S. portion is completely sold out. Oct 17 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club -  SOLD OUT Oct 18 - Washington,...