If It's Too Loud...

It's been a few years since we brought you new music from Grrrl Gang, but the Indonesian band is back with a maxi-single/three song EP. Online 24/7 is a collection of diverse alt-rock songs. While the songs on their 2023 album Spunky! were more post-punk, this new collection features melodic alt-rock. It starts off with "You & Me," which reminds me of mid-90's post grunge songs from artists like Veruca Salt. What's great about the songs on Online 24/7 is just how big they sound. This is arena ready alt-rock that keeps the charm of Grrrl Gang's earlier songs intact. Sure, it's a more mainstream sound than we've heard from them, but when it's done this well, mainstream is hardly a bad thing. "O, My Love" even sounds like it's from your favorite 90's teen romcom. The maxi-single ends with "Lapdog," which is a spoken word track that's about as experimental as the mainstream can get. Online 24/7 is a great, fun releas...

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

When I first saw that Boston's P.V. had an album out, I wondered how could they consider a two song release to be a full album. Then I realized that the two songs come in at almost an hour and a half. Behold (A Dude) is the kind of release I don't want to talk too much about. It's a noisy and cacophonous release, and it's certainly not going to be for everyone. P.V. get just about as experimental as a band can get without devolving into pure noise... which "ix" and "pv lvv's v" does at some points. Behold (A Dude) is a wild listen, and without giving too much away I'm going to compare it to The Jesus Lizard meets Neutral Milk Hotel with some of The Stooges' longer freak out tracks. Like I said, P.V. certainly aren't going to be for everyone, but if that description interests you, you very well could end up loving this one. You can listen to Behold (A Dude) below. The album is available on Bandcamp for the "choose your price...

It's been a while since we've brought you any free music, but luckily for us all Miracle Blood are back to change that. The Boston punk/metal band just released the seven track Live at New Alliance Audio , a live recording from the 2023 New Alliance holiday party. This is one of my favorite live bands putting out a performance for the "name your price" option, and I couldn't be more thrilled. This isn't a heavily produced and smoothed out live album. You hear Andrew Wong's voice crack at times, which is all part of a true live recording. As much as I've loved their albums Hello Hell and Melter , Miracle Blood is a band you simply need to experience live. Live at New Alliance Audio is a hint of the Miracle Blood live experience, and will certainly make you want/need to see them playing sooner than later. You can watch the video for Live at New Alliance Audio below. The EP is available for the "name your price" option over at Bandcamp . If you ...

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...

2025 marks Death and The Poetess' sixth entry for the RPM Challenge, which challenges artists to write and produce an album during the month of February. This year's submission is Lucid Lockpicking , an eight song album sees jojo Lazar and Blake Girndt opting for a "solely acoustic instruments" sound. The album is delightfully twee, and has a vibe that is both fun and dark at times. Plus, for an acoustic album, it's oddly trippy for some songs. What's truly great about the selection of songs that make up Lucid Lockpicking is how soothing and positive they are. With so much anger and negativity dominating 2025 so far, it's nice to have an album that seems to be designed for your mental health and to bring us all some positivity and tranquility.  You can listen to "Wolfy's Song" below. Lucid Lockpicking is available now for the "name your price" option over at Bandcamp . If you do choose free, please make sure to follow Death and The ...

One of the things that gets me through the month of February is that knowing when it ends, we'll be getting a new album from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. Boston's favorite steamcrunk band has been taking part in the RPM Challenge (which challenges artists to write and record a full album during the month of February) for years now. While Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys typically use this challenge to experiment (2020's edition, THE CUTTING HORSE, had a distinct country feel), this year's is more of a traditional Army of Toys release. That's not to say that BRICK THROUGH A LIMOUSINE doesn't see the band experiment. The album starts off with "GIMME A CURSE," which is more of a piano focused shanty. The title track is a hard rocker that is going to easily become a live staple in the near future. "IMA BANNED BOOK" is a kind of almost industrial meets folk experiment that works amazingly well. It simmers with barely r...

Today is a day devoted to spending as much money as possible in order to get great deals. While you're spending all your money today, Rum Bar Records have decided to give you an amazing sampler for free! The Nice Price 'Second Shot' (Free Digital) 2024 Sampler is a monster thirty-eight track sampler of what Rum Bar Records has been up to all year. Rum Bar is one of our favorite labels, and you'll soon see why with this free release. It's thirty-eight killer garage rock and power pop songs that show off how diverse and great the label's releases are. It features long term If It's Too Loud... favorites like The Yum Yums, Jittery Jack with Amy Griffin on Guitar, Girl with a Hawk, Muck and the Mires, Diablogato, The Shang Hi Los, and The Dogmatics, as well as many, many bands to discover. Seriously, who else is going to give you a deal this great on this Black Friday? Lou Mansdorf of Rum Bar Records says of his label's new sampler: “I think we’re all in a cr...

London's Femegades (still one of my favorite band names of the past few years) are back with a new EP. Sex Robots is pure 90's inspired alternative rock. The band gets compared to Veruca Salt quite a bit, and those comparisons aren't wrong. On Sex Robots , they sound like a cross between early indie rock Veruca Salt and later huge alt-rock Veruca Salt. I'm also hearing a bunch of The Donnas style punk inflected power pop, especially on a song like "Broken Bones." Femegades specialize in feminist anthems that stand alone as kick ass rock songs. It's perfect for those that want killer alt-rock with a message. You can listen to "Broken Bones" below. Sex Robots is available now for the "name your price" option on Bandcamp . If you do choose to download for free, be sure to at least give Femegades a follow on Facebook  and/or Instagram . Sex Robots EP by Femegades

One of the other highlights of the annual RPM Challenge is the submission from Death and The Poetess. The duo of Blake Girndt (ex-Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, currently The I Want You and AxeMunkee) and jojo Lazar (Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys and Burlesque Poetess) have released Potions of Pre-villainy. The six songs on the album make up Death and The Poetess' most cohesive collection yet. The songs are odd, of course, but in such an endearing way. The songs fit together in a way that seems to follow a story, even if you're not one to pay too close attention to the lyrics. There is a strong reason behind that, which jojo Lazar explains in the album's Bandcamp description: "I suggested the idea of a dark, high fantasy, magical-realist 1980s film soundtrack for an as of yet untold tale. This was just to begin filling the "imagination cauldron" as we set out to find/receive this record. "I had some combination of Labyrinth ...

One of the only things I look forward to every February is the RPM Challenge submission from Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. With the RPM Challenge, artists write, record, and produce an album during the month of February. The Army of Toys' releases are always interesting, and that is no exception with this years', BETWEEN BREATHS. One reason the songs on BETWEEN BREATHS so interesting is how... normal they are. Instead of their normal mixture of punk, folk, cabaret, indie rock, metal, etc., the album opens with "BED AND BREAKFAST," which is a piano led singer-songwriter song about opening a bed and breakfast. Of course, it can't be completely straightforward as Sickert opens by stating that they are "the bellhop from Hell." But it's still along the lines of a Ben Folds Five song, if Ben Folds Five wrote songs about a damned bed and breakfast. The singer-songwriter piano songs continue with the very well timed "WALLY WONKA." T...

Salem, MA's Phantom Ocean have released a new EP that you simply not to hear. Their Bandcamp profile refers to them as "Blues, pop-punk, and grunge in a blender," and after you hear Phantasmagoria  you'll be sure to agree. "I'm With the Band" is filled with guitar that couldn't be more fuzzy, but it's still an odd pop based song. "Broken Wings" is going to remind you of Bob Mould's solo work, with Drew Smith's vocals sounding like he's struggling to be heard above the cacophony of the music, and I mean that as a compliment. "She God" sounds like your favorite blues based rock singer got stuck in a grunge timeloop and doesn't really want to get out. "Cryptid" might be my favorite of the bunch. It doesn't sound much like the other songs, and is more of a standard blues tune. Sarah Smith's vocals get to shine in a way they normally don't. If you've ever heard their cover of Leadbelly'...

A few weeks back we brought you Calicoco covering Heartless Bastards' "New Resolution." I assumed it was just a fun song to cover for New Years', but it turns out it was the start of an all covers EP, wonderfully titled Calicocovers. It's a three song collection that also sees G. Caliolo taking on Taylor Swift's "Girl at Home" and Sleeping Loops' "Smitten." Calicoco's version of "Girl at Home" is a much darker and moodier version of the Taylor Swift hit, and as faithful to the original as an indie rock/alt-pop version can be. Sleeping Loops is a fellow Long Island artist that I was unfamiliar with, but Calicoco's rendition of "Smitten" is a spot on version of indie/alt-folk original. We tend to love cover songs here at If It's Too Loud..., especially when they are new takes on songs known by the collective consciousness and introduce us to new artists. You can listen to Calicoco's version of "Gir...

We usually hold free releases for Fridays, but in some cases we just can't wait until the end of the week. Back in 2021 Deer Tick recorded a Christmas livestream covers EP, and they've just released it on Bandcamp for the name your price option. Hit Kringles is comprised of three cover songs: Darlene Love's "All Alone on Christmas" from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York , Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas," and Felice Brothers' "Country Ham." This might be the most fun Christmas release of 2023, as Deer Tick take the songs seriously but are having more fun than you thought possible on all of them. And isn't that what we really want from our holiday music? John McCauley says of "All Alone on Christmas": “I love Home Alone 2: Lost in New York . The soundtrack is killer. 'Cool Jerk'et cetera. This is a song from the soundtrack written by Steven Van Zandt and expertly sung by Darlene Love. Hope nobody minds that Ye Olde Dee...

Rum Bar Records are one of our favorite labels here at If It's Too Loud... It's a curated label offering the best of garage rock, power pop, punk, etc. (with an emphasis on Boston bands!) out there today, and it's one of the rare labels that we trust and want to listen to everything they put out. Today they just released The Nice Price , a free thirty-one song label sampler featuring the best of their 2023 releases. That's free music from favorites like The Lemon Drop Gang, The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, The Gypsy Moths, The Shang Hi Los, Stars Like Ours, Eddie Japan featuring Greg Hawkes, The Hi-End, and many, many more! Just like all the label samplers we grew up with, this is a great way to discover new favorites for a very nice price! (.. I'll see myself out.) Label head Lou Mansdorf says of his new label sampler: "I love doing these label sampler and Bandcamp compilations. Over the years I have done various ones -- some sequels, some with altering music t...

Boston's Gish (aka J. Manning) has released an alt-folk EP that's perfect for October listening. That doesn't mean the songs that make up Lidian  are filled with ghosts, goblins, or things that go bump in the night. Quite the opposite, actually. Lidian may have an otherworldly or spooky vibe, but there is a warmth to these five songs. Spirits may be invoked, but that doesn't mean they are malevolent. Gish has crafted these gorgeous and lush tracks that fit together expertly. Lidian truly feels like a complete work that needs to be listened as a whole and not as individual songs. Try to do your best to get yourself in a position to truly listen to Gish's release. The more you can focus on it, the better it is to enjoy. Gish says of the story behind her new EP: "The opening and closing tracks follow a character named 'Lidian'. I was inspired to write her story after visiting the gravesite of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was kind of struck by his wife's grav...

I've been a huge fan of Sapling for a while now, and as much as I loved their albums (both 2020's No Sequoia and this year's amor fati are both spectacular), but there's just something about their live show that can't quite be captured in a studio. This week saw the release of Live on WMFO 91.5 FM Medford , which captures Sapling's first time performing live on the radio. It's a very loose recording that includes "mistakes" that actually add to the listening experience. It contains all of the fun that comes from seeing Sapling, albeit minus the visual props, paint, confetti, glitter, and anything else that might come out of Amber ToiletFire Tortorelliu's clown box. There is a lot of more improvisation in these songs, some great in between song banter, and changed lyrics to accommodate FCC regulations that end up being hilarious in a "stranger in the Alps" kind of way. This is a fun performance and release from one of our local favorit...

There's only one thing that I enjoy about March, and it's that every year Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys participate in the February RPM Challenge and write, record, and produce a new album! Every year their submissions get weirder and somehow better than the ones before. 2023 has given us Ghost Parade. The title track is quickly becoming a favorite, and I can see it becoming a beloved live show staple and ending up on many Halloween playlists, with it's spooky vibe that reminds me a lot of classic cartoon music. Immediately following that is "MEET ME ON THE MOON," a ballad which sounds like Walter Sickert is shooting for the Adult Contemporary charts or a Grey's Anatomy needle drop... but through their own odd filter. I always thought 2020's RPM Challenge album THE CUTTING HORSE  would be the Toys' strangest release, but what makes Ghost Parade  so intriguing is how almost mainstream it ends up being. "KEEP MY HEAD" is a gothic...

This one may be nine years old, but we only truly discovered Rebuilder last year, and this one is free and a Christmas release, so we assume you'll be ok with it. Way back in 2013, Rebuilder released a four song Christmas EP, obviously titled Rebuilder Christmas EP. We all know what a pop punk Christmas release sounds like, and sure, Rebuilder go that way a bit, but even nine years ago Rebuilder were writing songs that are far more clever than your average pop punk song. "Antarctica" is a bittersweet Christmas song that stops just short of being a power ballad. "X-Mas PunX" is a fairly dumb loud Christmas song, but still far smarter than it should be as a dumb loud punk song. I think the true fun of the songs on Rebuilder Christmas EP is that all four songs could sneak their way into a playlist or live set throughout the year. You can listen to "Antarctica" below. Rebuilder Christmas EP is available for the "name your price" option via Bandca...

I know, I know. Mash-ups are very early 2000s, and entire albums of rap/rock mash-ups peaked with The Grey Album in 2004 no so self-respecting music journalist would ever cover them. However, I still unashamedly love them, and I stumbled on The Wu-Tang Zeppelin earlier this week and could not resist bringing this to you all. Put together by Beats Rhymes and Remixes out of the UK, The Wu-Tang Zeppelin obviously combines the legendary classic rock of Led Zeppelin with the groundbreaking hip hop of Wu-Tang Clan. You'll know if this is for you right from the album opener which mashes "Whole Lotta Love" with "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" entitled "Whole lotta chessboxin.'" For me it's a interesting mix since Wu-Tang are one of my favorites dating back to high school, and Zeppelin are a band I rejected as an indie rock snob and have only started accepting the last few years. But, if you still have a love for mash-ups, you'll want to check this ...