If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Matt Teacher It's been a while since we've heard anything new from The Dead Milkmen, but now our favorite classic Philadelphia punks are back with new music! "When Daddy Drinks" might be the most classically Dead Milkmen song they've released since they started making music again back in 2011. This one sounds like it could have been a lost track from the Not Richard, But Dick sessions, and it has that perfect humorous but biting edge to it that you want with a Dead Milkmen song. A Dead Milkmen reunion seemed so implausible for so long that it's thrilling any time we get to hear new music from them, and it's especially great when a song is as good as "When Daddy Drinks" is. You can listen to "When Daddy Drinks" below. The song is now available on Bandcamp with a B-side of "Turning Up the Temperature." For more on The Dead Milkmen, check out the band's website . When Daddy Drinks by The Dead Milkmen

Photo by Mamie Heldman For the previous two singles off her upcoming album, Avery Friedman has dabbled in the worlds of indie rock, folk, and bedroom pop. While the previous single, "Photo Booth," leaned more heavily into the world of pop, the latest is more of an indie rock song. "New Thing" is a laid back track that edges into folk but has more than enough distorted guitars to be an indie rock epic. There's something oddly DIY sounding here even though the song is rather lushly produced. It has a hypnotic quality that will be impossible to resist, and is sounding like a cross between Blondshell and Lucy Dacus' more rock focused songs. We were already highly anticipating the new album from Avery Friedman, but now we're nearly rabid. Avery Friedman says of her latest single: “I wrote ‘New Thing’ in one sitting after riding the subway home alone at night for the first time since being mugged at knifepoint months prior. I was shocked and disoriented by the...

Photo by Sasha Pedro Boston's Noble Dust have a covers album coming out later this year, which has included surprising renditions of songs by The Shins and Pixies. The third single is "Kokomo, IN" originally by Japanese Breakfast. Of the three songs we've heard so far, this is the most true to the original. While both bands don't sound anything alike, they both occupy the same worlds of indie folk, indie rock, and alt-pop. Noble Dust's version goes a little more into folk than Michelle Zauner's original, but seeing as they're both traditional and alt-folk, the cover stays quite faithful to the original. If you've been a fan of Noble Dust, hearing that they're covering Japanese Breakfast is kind of a dream cover for them. If you're just discovering them now, welcome aboard the bandwagon. You'll like it here. You can listen to Noble Dust's cover of "Kokomo, IN" below. Both Sides Now is due out September 12 on Bridge and Key....

I absolutely adored Horsegirl's 2022 debut album Versions of Modern Performance , and their follow up, Phonetics On and On , released in February, is already a strong contender for best album of 2025. I wasn't able to make it when they played Boston for their first album, so I definitely wasn't going to miss out when they played Arts at the Armory in Somerville last week. I love Horsegirl's classic indie rock/alt-rock sound, and how perfectly they have captured the whole 90's indie rock boom while updating it to a more modern sound. Live they have even more of a 90's vibe going on with their performance. It's a mixture of still being a very young band and the 90's "whatever" attitude, but Horsegirl's members are compelling live performers. Without a lot of flair and without showing off, they let the music speak for itself. It was a surprisingly diverse crowd as far as ages went, with just as many teenagers in attendance as people old enough...

Photo by Shervin Lainez Nigerian-born, North Carolina-raised musician Uwade has been blowing our minds with her genre crossing musical style, with previous singles dabbling in alt-pop, folk, soul, R&B, indie rock, and country styles. "Harmattan," her latest single, is more of a straight up pop song than we've heard from Harmattan so far. This particular song was crafted while Uwade was listening to a lot of afrobeats and African string instruments, so it carries those sounds as well. All of this combines to make "Harmattan" an absolutely beautiful song. This is pop music that is going to appeal to pop fans and those that normally avoid any music with that label. Uwade says of her latest single: "For a long time, this song was a giant puzzle. I couldn’t figure out lyrics, a compelling arrangement, or how to transform it from the earliest stages of the demo to what it is now. Somehow the song’s creative cycle is reflected in the subject matter–lots of que...

Photo by Kola Oshalusi Afrobeat royalty Seun Kuti has a deluxe edition of his album Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head) due out in May, and he's released a new version of his song "Stand Well Well." This new version is reworked to include a verse by Pos of De La Soul. A collaboration between a member of De La Soul and an afrobeat artist is a complete dream come true for fans of both jazz rap/alternative hip hop and afrobeat, and "Stand Well Well" does not disappoint. The song is wonderfully creative and while it definitely fits the World Music definition, it's much more. Even if you normally aren't into what is considered World Music, Seun Kuti and Pos' collaboration is well worth your time. Pos says of working with Seun Kuti: “Seun is a powerful soul and it’s inspirational being around him whenever I have been.  The song for me means to stand well rooted in agreeableness. Standing well rooted against the whirlwind of misery dressed up as entertain...

Image via Facebook The upcoming monster project from blog favorite Hallelujah the Hills finally has a release date and a brand new single, and we're now freaking out in anticipation. The Boston band has one of the most ambitious projects we've ever heard of in music: DECK is an upcoming four album release with each song coinciding with a playing card is due out in June, and today we can listen to "Fake Flowers at Sunset." If you've been a fan of Hallelujah the Hills, you're going to know and love this song. According to its press release, this new song "... is a folk song with a disco beat," which kind of sums up the Hills' sound. It lives in both worlds of folk and indie rock equally, and is both epic and a fairly simple sounding song at the same time. Plus, it features Cassie Berman of Silver Jews on backing vocals, just to make it that much cooler. It's the sound that has caused them to have amassed a diehard following over almost twenty y...

If you're of a certain age, you remember record label samplers. The best were the free ones in a cardboard sleeve they kept in a stack at the register. You'd get maybe twenty songs, and is was a favorite way to discover new bands and artists. Apparently Rum Bar Records also remembers, and they've just released a new album sampler on Bandcamp! Swagger: Second Shot (Free Digital) Compilation  came out last week. Rum Bar Records is a favorite around If It's Too Loud... headquarters, with their focus on garage rock, punk, and power pop. This new twenty-eight song sampler features some bands we already know and love (Brad Marino, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, The Hellflowers, The Ghost Truckers, Miss Georgia Peach, and more), but the best part of these is always discovering new favorites. (We're already excited about listening to Foxy's catalog more deeply!) If you love garage rock, punk, and power pop like we do, you're going to adore Swagger: Second Shot (Fr...

Photo by Tristan Padron Pacing is the musical project of Katie McTigue, and just released a new single dealing with part of grief no one talks about much. "Pl*net F*tness" is a two minute anti-folk song that delves into punk quite a bit, but we probably would have called it indie rock back in the 90's. It's a quick two minute burst of a song that deals with some pretty deep pain and feelings in a fairly humorous way, because what else do we truly have at that point? It's a fuzzy and crunchy song at times, and it's wonderfully DIY. I'm pretty sure a lot of our readers are going to adore Pacing after listening to this one. Katie McTigue says of her new single: "This song is about cancelling my dad’s subscriptions when he died. Before he died, actually. When someone is dying there is a lot of sitting around waiting. It’s sad but it’s also awkward and uncomfortable and boring. I started cancelling membership just for something productive to do, and to get...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz We knew a collaborative album between Julien Baker and TORRES was going to be great, but each new single somehow surprises us with just how great it is. The latest, "Dirt," is a country ballad duet between Baker and TORRES (aka Mackenzie Scott), and it's both uplifting and heartbreaking. This is exactly what we expected and wanted once we heard this duo was releasing a country album, just much better and more captivating. If you're a fan of either artist (or both), you're going to love this song. If you've never quite gotten the appeal of one (or both) of them, "Dirt" is going to make you a fan. This song is just that good. You can listen to "Dirt" below. Send a Prayer My Way is due out April 18 on Matador Records, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Julien Baker & TORRES, check out their website . Upcoming tour dates are below the song and include a June 20 appearance at Green River Festival in Greenf...

Photo by Daniel Ulibarri Denver punks Dead Pioneers have a new single out that is exactly what we've come to appreciate about the band. "The Caucasity" takes Gregg Deal's spoken word style vocals over a noisy and discordant punk rock track. This one is reminding me of Dead Kennedys meets The Dead Milkmen, between the spoken word and the guitar tuning. This isn't always a pleasant listen as the music can be quite abrasive, and the lyrics are quite biting and political, but a song like this should make the listener uncomfortable. That's kind of the point of Dead Pioneers' music. If it's not making you feel a little discomfort and making you reconsider some aspects of the world, you're not paying enough attention to it. Gregg Deal says of his band's new single: “In the spirit of ‘Bad Indian,’ this song tells the story of a true moment with a common set of languages and communications by non-Native people. While tongue and cheek, it’s also a true r...

Nostalgia can be weird. of Montreal were never one of the bands I was obsessed with in the mid 00's, but I always liked them. They always seemed like they'd be a fun band to see live, but I never quite got around to it. 2025 is the twentieth anniversary of their hit album The Sundlandic Twins , and as soon as they announced their current tour would be a full album performance, I knew I wanted to go when it hit Boston. Being an indie rock snob, I typically see shows but not performances. Tuesday night was a performance. There were video screens throughout Royale showing moving images made up of The Sunlandic Twins ' cover artwork, and before singer/guitarist Kevin Barnes took the stage, a pair clad in white skintight costumes took the stage with the images of the figures on the album cover projected onto them. The band including Barnes were wearing mostly pink and red, giving the entire evening the feel of being more of an affair than a concert. (A number of people in attend...

Photo by Brian Lasky Gold Dust started out as a project for western Massachusetts based DIY punk artist Stephen Pierce to explore his fascination with traditional folk and psychedelia. Now Gold Dust is a four piece set to release their third album. The first single from that album, "An Early Translation of Later Work," could be one of the most western MA releases we've heard in a long time, and adding J Mascis on electric sitar only makes it more so. The song is a six minute epic psychedelic folk song that seems to reach crescendo after crescendo. The fact that it will appeal to hippies and indie rockers equally is one of the factors that makes it so strongly connected to the western Massachusetts sound. Plus, I bet you never knew how badly you wanted to hear Mascis shred an electric sitar, but now that you know it exists, you know it's going to be great. You only don't know how great. Stephen Pierce says of his band's western Massachusetts sound: “I look at t...

Photo by Pinelopi Gerasimou Laura Jane Grace's latest musical project is Laura Jane Grace In The Trauma Tropes, which is a collaboration with her wife Paris Campbell Grace (vocals) and Greek musicians Jacopo "Jack" Fokas (bass) and Orestis Lagadinos (drums). The group formed while Grace was in Greece for a monthlong songwriting retreat through the Onassis Foundation. Their latest single, "Mine Me Mine," is a ninety-three second burst of some of the finest pop punk you've ever heard. It's a high energy and bouncy song railing against capitalism, so it's a territory Grace knows quite well. If you have a love of pop punk, particularly fast and political pop punk, "Mine Me Mine" is going to be a dream come true for you. This one is guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days to come, which you certainly won't be complaining about. You can listen to "Mine Me Mine" below. Adventure Club is due out July 18 on Polyvinyl, and is avail...