If It's Too Loud...

Photo courtesy AlphaSix We're hardly a haven for heavy music, but I was a child of the 80's and 90's, so my tastes can wander into heavier territory every so often. And if you're going to label your music as "Lovecraftian sci-fi horror metal," I'm at least going to check it out. That's where AlphaSix comes in. The Boston metal trio released a new song today called "Orphan! Tether to the Mother" that's infinitely heavier than anything we typically bring you. But, you know what? Turns out this is great. It's just pure pummeling chaos that doesn't relent for four minutes and twenty-one seconds. Playing AlphaSix will make you realize just how boring, repetitive, and just non-metal most metal is these days. "Orphan! Tether to the Mother" takes most popular metal bands and destroys them through being a monstrosity.  AlphaSix say of their latest single: “We’re steering into heavier territory for this chapter, while still mainta...

Photo by Laura Cohen Strange Men are the duo of R ó is í n I sner and Ashley Clayton, with Isner on drums and Clayton on an eight-string guitar he made out of scavenged wood. The San Francisco duo's latest single, "Do What the Boys Do," is a frenzied track based in blues that just goes off the rails in the best possible ways. It's a chaotic sound that's as noisy as it is bluesy. Since they're a drum and guitar duo with some basis in blues, it's easy to compare them to The White Stripes, and those comparisons can be fair. But a song like "Do What the Boys Do" is like if The White Stripes turned one of their live improvised freak outs into an actual song. Strange Men make this exquisitely raw music based in blues and post-punk, and you're going to love this. You can watch the video for "Do What the Boys Do" below. For more on Strange Men, check out the band's website .

Photo by Em Castellano Joey Wit may be the only former professional athlete we've covered here at If It's Too Loud... The Connecticut alt-rock singer-songwriter played professional baseball for three years until injuries ended his career. Now he's making music, and his latest single is "A Point of No Return." The song reminds me of 90's singer-songwriters but with a modern indie flair. It's the kind of song that keeps skirting between a more traditional structure and adding in little unexpected touches to keep Wit's sound fresh and interesting. "A Point of No Return" will have you spending your first few listens trying to figure out if it's a mainstream or indie style song before you give up trying and just allow yourself to enjoy it. Joey Wit says of his new single: “The lyrical content of the number is definitely from personal experience, it’s sort of just me reminiscing on a lost love, which happened to be my first relationship after a...

Photo courtesy The Ophelias The latest from The Ophelias lives in the world between indie rock and indie folk, which is one of our favorite places. "Soft and Tame" is a stunning ballad that might lean more into folk based on the heavy use of violin courtesy of Andrea Guttman Fuentes, but overall it might be more on the singer-songwriter side of indie rock. "Soft and Tame" just builds and builds into a completely epic crescendo, which would be where most bands end a song, but The Ophelias keep going into an even deeper level of perfection. This is a highly emotional song, and has the power to completely floor the listener.  You can watch the video for "Soft and Tame" below. Ribbon is due out April 12, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp . For more on The Ophelias, check out the artist's website . Upcoming tour dates are below the video. Sun. March 31 - New York, NY @ Elsewhere w/ Yo La Tengo & more Tue. April 2 - Pittsburgh, PA @ The Pre...

Doing Anything this Weekend? is a feature here at If It's Too Loud... where we feature some live shows in and on the far outskirts of the Boston area. Our main rules are that they have to be reasonably priced shows that you can attend last minute. They'll feature If It's Too Loud... approved bands, and we'll provide event links when possible. If you're looking for last minute plans this weekend, we recommend: March 29 Kate Clover and Brad Marino at The Middle East, Cambridge, MA CLAMB, Talk Chalk, and Honey Cassette at Faces Brewing, Malden, MA Bella's Bartok at The Word Barn, Exeter, NH Will Dailey, Aubrey Haddard, and Bethany Killian at Askew, Providence, RI March 30 Circus Trees, Pray for Sound, Sleep Jumper, and Vallory Falls at Taffeta, Lowell, MA Ex-Hyena, The Shallows, and CMB at Deep Cuts, Medford, MA Sexcoffee, Heather Rose In Clover, and Planet Bog at Askew, Providence, RI Lincoln Durham, The Devil's Twins, and Sophia Carreras at The Rockwell, Some...

You are going to need to mentally prepare yourself before listening to the latest single from Mary in the Junkyard, because this one is going to floor you. The London based trio just released a new single, and "marble arch" is nearly impossibly captivating. It's a melodic indie rock song that combines so many elements that it just shouldn't work. There are simply too many subgenres and sounds represented here, but Mary in the Junkyard combine them all into one cohesive and completely fresh sound. Sure, there are parts of the song that remind me of contemporaries like Horsegirl, but I'm also reminded of an artist like Lady Lamb. Aside from all of that, I'm hearing parts that remind me of a 90's artist like Tori Amos, and maybe even a legend like Joni Mitchell. "marble arch" is the type of song that reminds me of why I've been doing this for nearly eleven years. Sharing a song like this is an absolute pleasure, and I can't wait for all of y...

Photo by Tim Hardy Naarm/Melbourne's Boyfriend TV are considered post-punk, but I personally have a hard time categorizing them as just that. Their latest single, "Pornstar of the World," is this gritty and glammed up track built on electronic elements and feedback. It features Louis Avolo (electronics, vocals, and bass) auditioning to be the next great rockstar, and as far as I'm concerned he's earned it. It's one of those songs that's abrasive at first, but slowly you start to see the beauty inside of it. "Pornstar of the World" might just become your new favorite track of the year by the time it is over. At the very least, it's one of the most compelling ones. Louis Avolo says of the band's new single: “ Pornstars are quite literally the hottest celebrities in the world at the moment. I kinda created this character for the song; this person who is the 'pornstar of the world'. He gets a lot of attention and is adored by many, ye...

Photo by Arkan Zakharov I first discovered Sunburned Hand of The Man back in 2005 when the collective opened up for Dinosaur Jr at The Middle East. They've always been one of those bands that have been nearly impossible to define, and that goes with their latest single, "Ishkabibble Magoo." The band convened in January of last year in Turner's Falls, MA with members coming in and out of the sessions. The new song is surprising in how straightforward it is. Sunburned Hand of The Man have always been an experimental project, but "Ishkabibble Magoo" is pretty much a straightforward folk-ish song. This might be the first of their songs that you could play in front of normies and not have them recoil completely.  You can listen to "Ishkabibble Magoo" below. Nimbus is due out April 12 on Three Lobed Recordings, and is available for pre-order via Bandcamp . For more on Sunburned Hand of The Man, check out the artist's website . Nimbus by Sunburned Han...

Greater Boston's favorite uke-wielding busker Travels With Brindle is back with a new Kickstarter, this time for an EP tribute to Sparks and their breakthrough(?) album No. 1 in Heaven . The crowdfunding effort for the album, No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle , is a $5,000 effort appropriately titled “The Travels With Brindle Crowdfunding Effort for No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle ,” and brings with it a Robert Benchley attitude with a Sparksian twist. Says Chelsea: “The Travels With Brindle Crowdfunding Effort for No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle ” is a tribute record of sorts for [Sparks], a band often compared to sounds of furniture being thrown downstairs, dishes and spoons being clattered together, and sometimes even actual physical violence. Such activities are offensive to me, either in print or in the sung word, so you will not catch me or my ukulele putting on acts like that. This is instead a labor both of love and art. You ca...

Photo by Vincent Lee Whenever I hear Cowtown, I'm always amazed their not from somewhere in either the Midwest and Southwest United States, and that they don't play some variation of cowpunk. The Leeds based band just released a new single, "Thru Being Zuul." The new single is a hyper and fun burst of dance friendly indie rock and post punk. It kind of crashes DEVO into Le Tigre, and the result is one of the best parties you've ever been to. "Thru Being Zuul" is the kind of song that's going to have you subconsciously bopping in your office chair or on your commute home. Plus, it combines the villain from Ghostbusters with a DEVO song title, and we're all here for that.  Vocalist and lyricist Hilary Knott says of the new song: " 'Thru Being Zuul' is about monsters that enter the mind wall, and, instead of engaging with how weird that is, you instead choose to have breakfast with them or brush your teeth. Basically the act of normalis...

One problem with doing a music blog is that you start discovering all these bands that will never end up playing near you. Some are ultra local to their cities, and others may tour regionally, but they'd never cross the entire continent to come to the Boston area. I assumed San Francisco's Middle-Aged Queers would never make it out here, but they've announced a tour that hits Lowell's Thirsty First on May 16! To help build excitement about their upcoming tour, the band has released a song off their upcoming split live LP with Raging Nathans. "Pajama Party" is a gloriously bratty punk rock song in the vein of your favorites off Taang! Records or Lookout Records. It's a rough sounding song that almost masks how poppy this one is. It's  a fun song about a group of punks that come over for a pajama party to help you through a rough time. If this one doesn't work for you, I don't even know what to tell you. You can listen to "Pajama Party"...

If you've been following us for a while, you know we're going to be thrilled at the pairing of Blondshell and Bully. The two completely nail the whole 90's alt-rock but through a modern alt-pop prism sound separately, and on "Docket," they just bring the entire thing to a completely different level. This is just a modern spin on the 90's slacker/indie rock thing, and we could not be more on board for it. I was dying to hear Blondshell and Bully team up since Sabrina Tietelbaum (aka Blondshell) started hinting at it on social media, and "Docket" blows all of those expectations away. I mean... we have to conscript these two into a supergroup based on this song, right? Sabrina Tietelbuam says of her new single with Bully: “For me this is a song about splitting off from yourself. It’s about uncertainty when you’re in different environments all the time. In a way it’s about wanting to cope with distance and change but it’s also just a bit about being reck...

Artist : Elbow Album : AUDIO VERTIGO Quick Thoughts : Elbow's been one of the stalwarts from that early 2000s British rock era. They've gotten some popular love over the years, but never quite the heights of Coldplay or Doves, which is a shame. AUDIO VERTIGO , in many ways, reflects their consistency as a band and has a strong Asleep in the Back feel in a lot of ways. As a longtime fan, I really enjoyed this listen, and if you've fallen off with the band a bit, this is a great place to jump back in. Songs of Note : "Things I've Been Telling Myself for Years," "Her to the Earth," "From the River" Artist : Rosie Tucker Album : UTOPIA NOW! Quick Thoughts : Rosie Tucker has an all-time favorite song for me in "Lauren" from their album a few years back. I've chased that high ever since, but UTOPIA NOW! hits in a similar way and works so well. Whether it's the biting nature of "All My Exes" or the straigh...

Photo by Luiza Girardello Back in November, I described Luiza Girardello's song "The War to End All Wars" as jazz with alt-rock guitars. The Boston based singer-songwriter just released a new single called "Resilience." The new song is much more jazz based than her previous single, but adds in a hip hop element which is new for Girardello. "Resilience" might be a little more spoken word than pure traditional hip hop, but jazz and hip hop are two styles we always love to see paired together. It includes the guitar and piano trading off sections, which is exceptionally rare for anything hip hop. The song marks Girardello's ten year anniversary of being in remission for ovarian cancer, so it can get heavy at times despite the positivity of the song. You can listen to "Resilience" below. All of the proceeds from the song's sales on Bandcamp will go to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. For more on Luiza Girardello, check out the artis...

Sometimes there are just bands you think you'll never get to see live. I felt that way about Elephant Stone. Some Canadian bands never quite make it down to the States, and when they do, a lot skip by Boston and head straight to New York. Once Elephant Stone announced a tour that was actually hitting Boston, and playing the underutilized Rockwell, I knew I had to check it out. Elephant Stone started out their set with singer Rishi Dhir taking the stage solo and playing a song on the sitar. Despite all the shows I've been to over the decades I've been regularly going to shows, I don't think I've ever actually seen someone play the sitar live. It was completely mesmerizing. Dhir's playing started off as almost calming, but it grew in intensity and was nearly hypnotizing by the end of the song. Once the opening song was finished, the rest of Elephant Stone joined him on stage and Dhir switched over to the guitar. Live, Elephant Stone's music is more akin to 60...

Photo by Rhiannan Hajduch Nisa (aka Brooklyn's Nisa Lumaj) has been making some of the most killer alt-pop out there, and her latest single is no exception. "Breach" is almost defiantly a pop song that basically dares indie rock fans to dislike it. Turns out that we can't. The song starts off with Nisa's vocals over a hypnotic and compelling beat. It's sparse, and if this was the entire song, I'd still be gushing over it. But "Breach" is a lot more, and Nisa keeps adding more and more instruments that seem to come in as they want to, and leave just as mysteriously. There's even a fuzzed filled indie rock guitar solo that drops in, followed by a more forceful beat. Most pop is repetitive and appeals to its fans because they know what to expect. Nisa defies all of that with one of the more unique and left-field pop styles around. You can watch the video for "Breach" below. Shapeshifting is due out April 26 on Tender Loving Empire Reco...

Winged Wheel is a Detroit based supergroup consisting of Cory Plump, Fred Thomas, Whitney Johnson, and Matthew J Rolin. For their second album they expanded to include Lonnie Slack and Steve Shelley (which is how we discovered the band). The band met up in Kingston, NY to record, and the first thing we're hearing from that is "Sleeptraining." The band spent three days recording group improvisations and other experimentations, and began editing them down into actual songs. If "Sleeptraining" is any indication, Winged Wheel found absolute magic on those tapes. It's not quite shoegaze, but it's at the very least shoegaze adjacent. The song is fuzzy and just washes fully over you in a wall of sound, but it's far too intense for shoegaze. It's dark, and punk, and No Wave, and proggy, and beyong compelling. It's obviously not going to be for everyone, but if "Sleeptraining" works for you, consider yourself lucky. You can listen to "S...

Photo by Miranda Penn Turin Los Angeles' finest retro glam rocker Billy Tibbals is back with a new single. "Dream Away" certainly doesn't sound like it was recorded in 2024 by any stretch of the imagination. This is a pure 1970's power ballad. It's the kind of song that your parents (or grandparents, I suppose) could have danced to at their prom. "Dream Away" sound like if T. Rex and Cheap Trick had truly conquered the world and been bigger than Led Zeppelin. It could have ended coming across as a little cheeky or cheesy, but Tibbals delivers the song so earnestly that you just can't help but love it. Billy Tibbals says of his latest single: "It might be my favorite song I've ever written. I think it captures pretty much exactly how I feel about this strange modern world we live in. Hopefully some people can relate to it." You can watch the video for "Dream Away" below. Nightlife Stories is due out April 26 on Silver Arrow...