If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Sam Tellez One of my favorite discoveries at Something in the Way Fest was Glare. The Texas shoegaze band puts the heavy in shoegaze, and while there are a lot of bands flying the heavy shoegaze flag lately, none are quite as heavy as Glare. Their latest single, "Nü B urn," is a blistering shoegaze track. Plodding along at a mid-tempo, the song powers over the listener with its sheer force. There is more than a hint of metal in the song, making "N ü  Burn" sound like if Deftones decided to take a crack at shoegaze and nailed it. This is an epic single from an epic live band, and might just be the perfect introduction to a truly heavy shoegaze band. Glare says of their new single: "' Nü Burn’ is about how it feels like the world stops when you’re grieving. 'I’ll find you in a new sun, feel a new burn' means finding those we lost in the warmth we feel ...  it's a big, explosive song and probably our heaviest. When we finished writing it...

Being a fan of live music, I love music festivals. It's a great way to see a bunch of bands all at once, from long time favorites I've seen multiple times to bands I've never gotten around to seeing to bands I've never heard of. Unfortunately, I live in New England, and music festivals tend to only happen a few months out of the year. When Run for Cover and The Bowery Presents announced Something in the Way, I immediately wanted to go. An all day, indoor, multiple stage festival happening right when winter starts sucking fully? Sign us up. Here are my highlights for the Sunday edition of Something in the Way! Mini Trees One thing I liked about the Sunday edition of Something in the Way was how it seemed to focus on hardcore/punk bands and shoegaze. I walked in towards the end of Portrayal of Guilt's set, which was quite heavy and screamy. The first full set I saw was Mini Trees, who are a self-described "sad dream pop" band. Mini Trees music is gorgeous. I...