If It's Too Loud...

If you're more than a little sick of holiday music, we've got the perfect antidote for you. It's been a couple of years since we last heard from Jiddo, but the Massachusetts band are back with a new three song EP. High Life is as loud as it is abrasive. It's a post-hardcore release filled with screeching guitars, pounding drums, and screamed vocals that don't fully sound like they are meant to be in an EP together, let alone a single song. It's kind of like mashing The Jesus Lizard and Converge into one band. This is obviously not going to appeal to everyone, but if it works for you, High Life is going to attach itself to your cerebral cortex and refuse to let go for a long time. You can listen to High Life below. The EP is currently available through Bandcamp . For more on Jiddo, check out the band on Instagram . High Life by Jiddo

As a special present to us all, DJ Z-TRIP has released a free holiday mix this year. It's a ninety-five minute collection of classic Christmas hip hop songs mixed together with some other holiday favorites mixed in. It's wonderfully old school, and a great reminder that classic hip hop has deeper Christmas roots than just "Christmas in Hollis." Do you have a long drive today or tomorrow? Looking for something to add a little extra fun to your Christmas Eve? DJ Z-TRIP has you covered with Holiday Mix (Rock the Bells).  You can listen to Holiday Mix (Rock the Bells) below. The mix is available as a free download through Bandcamp . For more on DJ Z-TRIP, check out the artist on Instagram and Facebook . Z-TRIP - Holiday Mix (Rock The Bells) by DJ Z-Trip

Photo by OK McCausland Ski Team, the musical project of Lucie Lozinski, has a new song out called "Santa," even though it's not exactly a Christmas song. This new single keeps the sound of her previous single, "New BF," going, mixing indie rock with modern pop. The new single leans more heavily into the pop side of music, and has the epic scope you'd get with artists like Ingrid Michaelson. Although, "Santa" has a more complex feel and moves effortlessly from a more twee electronic base to a bigger, arena ready sound. It also makes transitions from power ballad to a near dance song just as easily. Ski Team has one of the most anticipated albums of early 2026, and with "Santa" you'll see why. Lucie Lozinski says of her latest single: "'Santa' is about having a crush on someone you shouldn’t, like an authority figure. Where it’s not the right time or right dynamic, but the idea is persistent. And the beauty and ache when th...

Photo by Justin Gellerson Jeanines have a new single out as part of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, which sees artists release an original holiday song as well as a reinterpretation of a classic song. Their contribution is "Till I See Your Star Tonight," a song that could easily sneak onto a playlist at any time of the year. It's a fun and lovely song that has the band's wonderful retro 60's sound through a modern indie pop and twee lens. It has the joy you want for the holidays, and is filled with some of the most jangly guitars around. This is two minutes and twenty seconds of pure holiday joy. You can listen to "Till I See Your Star Tonight" below. The song is out now on Bandcamp with a cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Listen, the Snow is Falling" as a B-side. For more on Jeanines, check out the band on Instagram and Facebook . Till I See Your Star Tonight (Snowflakes Singles) by jeanines

We're about a decade in on Weakened Friends now, and while each album has built upon the one before it, they've always been great. Common Blah was excellent, Quitter saw one of the best songs of 2021 in "Tunnels," and the New England band was feeling like one of the best kept secrets of the area. Somehow, Feels Like Hell does more than improve on an already-winning sound, but perfects it. Feels Like Hell is just as much a love letter to their grungy influences (in particular, the highlight "Smoke and Mirrors"), but of the alt-power pop that many of us cut our musical teeth on ("Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)") and of the actual pop songs of our formative years (the cover of "Torn," which was made famous by Natalie Imbruglia while Weakened Friends leans more heavily on the Ednaswap original). Even bringing on an underground-ish heavyweight in Buckethead for "NPC" feels like it fits just right. Of the many albums I loved this yea...

I was truly bummed out I had to miss last year's Snowgaze Fest, with it's wonderfully diverse line-up of shoegaze and shoegaze adjacent bands playing Deep Cuts in Medford. This year saw an equally diverse line-up, and I couldn't resist Friday night which featured Exit 18, Little Oso, Tysk Tysk Task, and Literally/Nobody! Literally/Nobody opened up the night, and I was excited to see them for the first time. We first discovered them back in May, and were won over by their "shoegaze, dream pop and post-hardcore" sound. That sound worked out even better live, and I was blown away by their noisy and poppy sound. I had described their EP as Jawbreaker meets Slowdive, and I'm doubling down on that one for their live show. The songs were fuzzy and a little discordant, while being some of the catchiest ones of the night. Next up was Tysk Tysk Task. While the Lowell band has more of an indie grunge sound, they're also awash with fuzzed out shoegaze guitars, particu...

Philadelphia DJ and producer GorgoPap (aka Vera Smalls) has a new single out off of her upcoming album. "Grainy Screams" is unlike much electronic dance music out there. It doesn't rely on an overwhelming beat, and instead is propelled by the music itself. It's fast paced but kind of chill, and is minimalist, as far as the genre goes. It's an interesting song in that it's fully a dance track that is also perfect for just standing and listening as you take it all in. "Grainy Screams" is an instrumental dance track that is as compelling of a listen as it is perfect to move to. You can listen to "Grainy Screams" below. Reach 4 the Stars is due out February 6, and is available to pre-order on Bandcamp .  Reach 4 The Stars by GorpoPap

When Hallelujah the Hills announced their DECK project, I had high but reasonable expectations. When an artist releases a double album, the majority of the time it's going to include a lot of filler. Think of your favorite double albums, and there's most likely a handful of songs that could have easily been left off. 2025 saw a lot of established artists releasing double or triple albums, to varying degrees of success. Hallelujah the Hills ended up releasing a quadruple album of fifty-two songs, one for every card in a deck. It's a very ambitious release, but it's obviously going to be at least half filler, right? Hallelujah the Hills ended up nailing it. Fifty-two songs without a single filler song. The correct order to listen to the albums is DIAMONDS , CLUBS , HEARTS , and SPADES  is the correct order, although I'll admit to not listening to every album every time. I possibly listened to CLUBS  the most, and HEARTS the least, but that's only because   you hav...

Constellation Myths were a brand new band to me this year, a local trio with an album under their belt already. This latest album blew my mind and made me a fan, and not just because they're clearly R.E.M. fans as well. There's a stark, hollow tone to the Constellation Myths that is difficult to nail down, and I think I love this record in part because it absolutely, without question, nails it. The instrumentation is absolutely gorgeous, and allows every part to shine; the vocals are ethereal without being secondary; the lyrical choices feel unique, often unlike anything else around it. Is it post-folk? Is it dark Americana? Does it matter when it's this good? Not enough people talked about this album this year, myself included. Easily one of the best of the year. Songs of note: "Spare Room," "Shadows on the Wall," "Limestone Bed," "A Consolation," "Coyotes, Lower," "Good Life"

Photo by Magesta Putra J. Based in Jakarta, Much have released "Pendar," their first Indonesian language single, and their first new music in five years. "Pendar" is a beautiful and jangly burst of alternative rock, sounding like if The Sundays wrote an arena ready power ballad. It's wonderfully jangly, with one of the best fuzzed out guitar solos of the year. Seriously, every time you think the solo is ending, it keeps going and gets more and more epic. Despite my comparison to The Sundays, "Pendar" doesn't really sound like anything from the 90's. It's a sound that may be inspired by that decade, but Much's latest is fully modern in sound. This one represents the poppier side of alt-rock, and you're going to love them for this. You can watch the video for "Pendar" below. The single is out now on Guerilla Records, and can be purchased through Bandcamp . For more on Much, check out the band on Instagram .

As someone who's seen Battlemode a few times in the past year, "SW33TTOOTH" has been a highlight of every one of their live shows. Now, the Boston based chiptune band has officially released it as a single, their first on Lonely Ghost Records. It's a beautiful dance song, which doesn't sound possible considering Battlemode's music is Gameboy based, but they pull it off surprisingly well. It's a fun song demanding that you dance to it. It's quite a feat since it's a sentimental song "dedicate to the lost fathers of Battlemode." I can't think of any artist that can make a beautiful and touching song dedicated to their late fathers that's also full of this much joy and fun. Plus, "SW33TTOOTH" rocks harder than any previous Battlemode single. You can listen to "SW33TTOOTH" below. The single is out now on Lonely Ghost Records. For more on Battemode, check out the band's website . If you're looking for someth...

When I first heard "Cow Song" back in June, I was instantly enamored with The New Eves. I was afraid that the rest of the songs wouldn't be able to compare to the first single, but as each single was released, I became more and more excited for the release of The New Eve is Rising.  One thing for sure is that this album is not going to be for everyone, and that's perfectly okay. It starts off with the psychedelic freak out "The New Eve," which seems more like a mission statement than a song. It sets the tone for the rest of the album, and then you truly get in with "Highway Man." This one is more of a danceable psych-folk/indie rocker, and it's how you're going to know if The New Eve is Rising is going to be for you.  There are so many elements to The New Eves' music, while the songs still have this almost primal and basic vibe to them. They have that rawness of The Stooges, but instead of being protopunk, this is more of a freak folk s...

When it comes to things that are not music, a pathway to my heart usually involves "put a cult on it." I'm not saying that The New Eves are a cult, but they bring big cult energy in a way we haven't seen since The Polyphonic Spree, and I think that's why this album ultimately appealed to me so much. It's folk-punk, first and foremost. Not the sort of speed guitar, grungy DIY type, but punk in attitude. They're the girls your farmer mother warned you about. They're the ones where you wonder where they emerged from, and what made them this way. It's conceptual, yet it's not--I'd perhaps go as far as to say that this might be among the more genuine listens this year. I can't really frame it better than that. Either you get what they're doing, or you don't, and if you do you're amazed and if you aren't, well... I'm not saying they're going to hex you but they might hex you. If The Wicker Man w...

Rapper, singer, producer, musician, OG Lowell music scene supporter, and holder of probably a dozen other titles D-Tension has a new Christmas single out. "Broke for Christmas" is a honky tonk style country song about being broke for Christmas. It's a fun song that takes on a pretty serious struggle many are going through this year. It sucks you in with humor, and while the song is truly funny all the way through, the listener is going to be left thinking of how rough this particular Christmas is for many of our fellow people. I believe this might be D-Tension's first foray into country, and he totally nails it.  You can listen to "Broke for Christmas" below. The song is available via Bandcamp . For more on D-Tension, check out the artist on Instagram and Facebook . Broke For Christmas by D-Tension