If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Julia Khoroshilov NME has called The Mystery Lights "one of New York's finest garage rock bands," and after listening to "Purgatory," we're agreeing with them. The new single is loaded with the kind of vintage psychedelic garage rock you love from The 13th Floor Elevators and ? and The Mysterians. Plus, it's just oozing with the proto-punk freak outs of The Stooges' best seven minute album cuts. Psychedelic rock and punk are typically on the opposite sides of the musical spectrum, but The Mystery Lights make you desperate for more of the sound. Vintage garage rock and early punk fans are going to adore The Mystery Lights. You can watch the video for "Purgatory" below. Purgatory , the album, is due out September 13 on Daptone Records' new imprint Wick Records. It's available for pre-order here . For more on The Mystery Lights, check out the band on Instagram and Twitter . Upcoming tour dates are below the video. 7/25/2024 -...

Photo by Casey Liu Hailing from both New York and Cuba, Orquesta Akoká n have released a new single that will force you to engage and dance (at least a little). "Pan Con T í biri" combines mambo and mozambique into a unique sound that grooves insanely hard. The song is just a celebration of life and music, and even incorporates some 60's spy soundtrack sounds. Sure "Pan Con T íbiri" has some throwbacks to the 60's in its sound, but it also sounds incredibly vital and immediate. If you're not too cool to have some fun, put this one on and remind yourself why you love music so much. Jacob Plasse says of his band's latest single: “For me this tune is all about the percussionists — they came up with a Mozambique that you could almost imagine on a  Dr. John   record; I know I have never heard a groove like this on a mambo record before.” You can watch the video for "Pan Con Tíbiri" below. Caracoles is due out July 12 on Daptone Records, and is a...

There are a lot of bands out there that get compared to The Beatles, and with good reason. The Beatles were unquestionably the most influential band of all time, and bands like Oasis have made entire careers off admitting to sounding like The Beatles. The new single from Michael Rault definitely sounds like The Beatles. "Sleep With Me" has a lush production and warm harmonies, and sounds like it's from the late 60's, early 70's. If Rault's press release had claimed he was an undiscovered artist from that time and this was his lost album, I'd completely believe it. Although, instead of sounding like late 60's era Beatles, to me it sounds like George Harrison and Paul McCartney went off on their own to form a duo after The Beatles broke up.  You can watch the video for "Sleep With Me" below. Michael Rault's forthcoming album will be released on Wick Records, the rock imprint of Daptone Records. For more on Rault, check out his website ....

Charles Bradley is one of those artists I've been meaning to check out for years, but for no real reason I just haven't. I've known he is great for a few years now. I just haven't listened to him yet. In what is an obvious attempt to get If It's Too Loud... to finally  give him a shot, he's released a cover of the iconic Black Sabbath song "Changes." A classic-style soul singer that's been at it for 50 years covering a song by the originators of heavy metal is a bizarre one, to say the least. In theory, at least. Sure, "Changes" is a ballad, and it's not like Charles Bradley chose "War Pigs" or "Fairies Wear Boots." This cover of "Changes" works far better than it should. Listening to it, I'm shocked that I never picked up on the soul of the original. This could be the rare time a cover ends up becoming more meaningful than the original, like Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt." It's j...