If It's Too Loud...

The duo of Hilken & Melissa (aka Hilken Mancini and Melissa Gibbs) have teamed up with Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo) for a brand new Christmas song. "What's So Bad About Christmas" is a joy-filled holiday song that has enough of that retro 50's and 60's vibe to keep the song as fun as a Christmas song should be. It's always fun to see some of our all time Boston favorites teaming up for a song, especially one as enjoyable as "What's So Bad About Christmas." It's a jingle bell filled track that's sure to even get the grumpiest of music fans smiling. You can watch the video for "What's So Bad About Christmas" below. The song is available via Bandcamp with a B-side of The Other Girls performing "I'm Not Getting Anything for Christmas." For more on Hilken & Melissa, check out the band on Instagram .

Back in college, Letters to Cleo were basically my Grateful Dead. I'd go see them multiple times in the same week between greater Boston, Providence, and Northampton, plus sometimes back to back nights when they were on the college circuit. These days, we're pretty much down to seeing them once a year when they come back and play the Paradise for multiple nights. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of their second album, Wholesale Meats and Fish.  In 2017, Letters to Cleo played three nights at the Paradise, playing one of their albums each night. That year, the first night was the only night I could make it to, so we saw Aurora Gory Alice. Wholesale Meats and Fish is my personal favorite album, so seeing it played live was a true treat. Song like "Demon Rock," "Acid Jed," and "Pizza Cutter" are regulars in their live set, but Friday night I got to see songs I haven't seen live in probably around thirty years. These included "Do What...

Poster by Daykamp Creative Just about every year I go see Letters to Cleo's annual homecoming run of shows at the Paradise in Boston, and every year I have a great time. Despite that, I always assume that I've seen them enough times, and I can take a year or two off. But... I keep getting sucked back in the next year, and I end up yet again having a great time. This year's run of shows featured the thirtieth anniversary of their debut album Aurora Gory Alice  and the return of Gigolo Aunts, so I simply could not resist. Gigolo Aunts have not played a show in ten years, and I don't think I've seen them since their original run in the 90's (probably playing with Letters to Cleo). For a band that hasn't played together in a decade, and played as a full time band in probably two decades, they sounded great. Songs like "Where I Find My Heaven" and "Gun" (which they said they haven't played in about thirty years) have not aged at all and so...

Photo by Chris Sikich The last time we heard new music from Letters to Cleo was 2019's Ok Christmas EP. The Boston legends are finally back with new music, the 7" single "Bad Man." They did play the song during their run of dates last November, and it was a favorite of their set that night. "Bad Man" is sonically a mid-tempo, dreamy kind of alt-rock song that leans heavily into the world of pop-rock. It sounds a lot like what other 90's bands are sounding like as they enter thirty or so years of being a band. It's a more Adult Contemporary sound, but keeps everything we've always loved about Letters to Cleo intact. However, once you listen to the lyrics you realize it's about a woman leaving an abusive relationship by murdering her male partner. The 90's are famous for sweet and lovely sounding songs about dark, dark subjects, so "Bad Man" fits right in. You can listen to "Bad Man" below. The song is out now with the ...

Poster by Daykamp Creative I usually try to avoid nostalgia shows and tours. While most people my age seem to adore them, it's not typically my thing. Many bands from the 90's come around once a year around the same time, play the exact same venue, and play basically the same setlist. It could be because I've seen a lot of these bands before, and usually for a lot cheaper than the shows cost now. I'm more into having a new or unique experience than I am having the same one over and over. Plus, you get a lot of middle aged people trying to relive their college and teen years, including trying to drink like they did twenty to thirty years ago. However, there are always exceptions to every rule, and mine is Letters to Cleo. I've seen Letters to Cleo more than any other band. I'm not quite sure how many times, but I'd guess over twenty, maybe over thirty. Even though they play the Paradise every year, they always find a way to mix it up. This year saw a quick fi...

Since 2016 (except 2021, of course), Letters to Cleo have embarked on Homecoming tours every November. These typically involve shows in Los Angeles, New York City, and a two night stand in their hometown of Boston. This week they've announced their 2022 Homecoming tours dates, which include West Hollywood, San Diego, and Portland, ME alongside Boston. I've been a huge fan of Letters to Cleo since college, and their songs have a huge nostalgia factor for me. Typically I can avoid the nostalgia bug of seeing the same band play the songs of my youth, but not so with Letters to Cleo. It's unsure if they're going to be playing a special setlist at these shows (last year saw the band breaking out some songs from Josie and the Pussycats , in 2019 they were joined by Greg Hawkes of The Cars for a few songs, and in 2017 they played three albums over three nights), but that's just an added bonus if they do. Also no word on openers, but the last few years have seen Charly Blis...

Stacy Jones has one of the craziest musical careers of anyone I know of. He's the former/current drummer of Letters to Cleo, former drummer of Veruca Salt, singer/guitarist in American Hi-Fi, musical director for Miley Cyrus and The Chainsmokers, and the touring drummer for Matchbox Twenty. So obviously he needs another musical project: Atwater Punx. This new band sees him joining with his wife, Kristen Wagner Jones (Shut Up Stella). The couple started working on music together after the birth of their son, which they'd do during his nap time or after he went to bed. They've released a new song, "Ghost Town." "Ghost Town" has elements of bands like Rancid mixed with some of the dance punk of Le Tigre, but combined with the more pop side of things that Jones has been dabbling in lately. It's a really interesting mix, sounding nothing like any of his usual musical projects. It's also about watching Los Angeles shut down overnight due to quarantin...

The plethora of quarantine covers continue! The latest offering is from The Isolation Jams are a group put together by producer Tom Polce, who was also a member of Letters to Cleo back in 1997. According to YouTub e, they are " The Isolation Jams are a Socially Distanced Musical Collaborative making music together, while apart." Polce has brought in his Letters to Cleo bandmate for a cover of Donnie Iris's 1980 hit "Ah! Leah!" This is one of those songs I had to look up, but The Isolation Jams do a spot on version of the original. It's very New Wave, but that version of New Wave that still has a foot in 70's rock. It's like a meeting of The Cars, Tom Petty, and The Knack. Plus, any time we get vocals from Kay Hanley, we're in! You can watch the video for The Isolation Jams's version of "Ah! Leah!" below. The song is available now via Bandcamp with proceeds going to the MusicCares COVID Relief Fund. Seeing as Bandcamp is waiving...

With few noteworthy releases over Thanksgiving (those are at the bottom of this post; we'll have more that we missed next week) and some interesting Christmas releases, let's go holiday crazy! Nice List : Josh Rouse - The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse : A pleasant, low-key holiday record from a singer-songwriter who has been at it for a long time and nearly always puts out quality work. Completely inoffensive and worth taking some time. Various Artists - A Punk Rock Christmas Volume 2 : As with any compilation like this, you're going to take and leave what is worth hearing here. With that said, this has enough good to at least give it one solid spin and add the stuff you like to a playlist. Molly Burch - The Molly Burch Christmas Album : Beyond this being a truly solid entry into the holiday release schedule, Burch totally understands how silly the whole affair is and the lack of overall seriousness in this album makes it a little fun, too. * Letters to Cleo - ...

With Letters to Cleo only doing a small handful of dates, the members have lots of non-LTC time on their hands. With most members out in Los Angeles doing production and television work, that leaves guitarist Greg McKenna remaining in their hometown of Boston. Turns out he has another fantastic band with City Rivals. McKenna's newer band also features Michael Coen and Matt Diekman of The Bleedin Bleedins, and while their sound is Letters to Cleo adjacent there is definitely a sound all their own here. With "Intoxicated," City Rivals go for a late 90's alternative power pop vibe, but the guitars have more of an edge to them. It's catchy as hell, with an almost Uncle Tupelo tries (and mostly fails) to lose their country sound to it. You can listen to "Intoxicated" below. City Rivals just released their debut EP, which you can purchase via CD Baby . For more on City Rivals, check them out on Bandcamp and Facebook . Intoxicated by City Rivals

In what now appears to be a November tradition, Letters to Cleo came back to their hometown of Boston for a three night stand last week. This year's trio of shows was soaked in nostalgia (the Paradise was playing a pretty generic 90's alt-rock playlist with everything from Pixies to The New Radicals represented) with the band playing one of their albums in its entirety each night. This particular night was 1993's Aurora Gory Alice.  Blake Babies opened up the evening (and all three nights) with a rare performance. The trio of Juliana Hatfield, John Strohm, and Freda Love-Smith are a much beloved Boston institution and could have easily played their own trio of shows. Since the three are now spread out over Cambridge, Chicago, and Nashville, seeing them reform is far too rare of a treat for fans. The band played at their charmingly sloppy best, including their cover of Mission of Burma's "From Here to Burma" and a heartbreakingly glorious version of "...

I already listen to far too many podcasts, and I try to do everything I can to avoid adding any more to my subscribe to list. Every now and then, one pops up that I have to start listening to despite already being about two months behind. Recently, comedian/musician Greg Behrendt and musician Kay Hanley have joined forces on a podcast dedicated to one of my favorite things, rock documentaries. Greg Behrendt started podcasting way back in 2010 with Walking the Room , is a member of The Reigning Monarchs, and is an avid music fan. Kay Hanley is the singer of Letters to Cleo, and while new to the world of podcasting has always been great in an interview or anytime she gets to talk into a microphone. The podcast is called Rock Out With Your Doc Out and is currently three episodes in. The pair have done a fairly wide variety of subjects so far. Episode #1 was Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage , #2 was The Wrecking Crew  about the anonymous session musicians that played on every album fro...

The Reigning Monarchs should be the world's biggest trainwreck musically. It's a band led by comedian Greg Behrendt ( Walking the Room  podcast, author of He's Just Not That Into You , and one of my favorite music related stand up bits ever ) and Michael Eisenstein, guitarist of Letters to Cleo. Plus, it's instrumental surf rock. This should be terrible, but instead it's really good. The band just released their latest single, "Cheetah Week." It might be their best release, and, like all great surf rock, it has that timeless recorded in the 60s feel, with this insane amount of guitar, horns that suck you straight in, and just enough reverb on the guitars to make it have an almost indie rock feel. It's a pretty much perfect release, and since we all have a fondness for surf rock in the summer, it's the perfect time to check them out. You can listen to "Cheetah Week" below. For more on The Reigning Monarchs, check out their website a...

Valentine's Day sucks. We spend weeks getting faux romance crammed down our throats and then we're stuck spending a ridiculous amount of money to prove we're in love on a day that means nothing to anyone. Plus, most romantic music is outrageously terrible. You know what's better than romantic music? Break up music. Which is what the 2017 If It's Too Loud... Valentine's Day playlist consists of. I might have leaned a bit too heavily on old timey country, but is there anything better for the negative sides of love than classic country? Aside from that, there's a ton of 90s alternative, which my knowledge of sad sack 90s alternative shows what my romantic life was like back in that decade. [Note: There might be two Lemonheads songs, but one is an 80s Ben Deily song and the other is a 2000s Evan Dando one, so it's completely different.] This is perfect for anyone that doesn't give a crap about the most forcibly romantic holiday of the year or that enjo...

I prefer Halloween over Christmas. Christmas music is pretty much unavoidable, and most of it is pretty awful. It's either the same songs over and over every year or just top 40 pop crap you'll hopefully forget next year. That's why we bring you the If It's Too Loud... 2016 Holiday playlist. This is the second we've done (for some reason we skipped last year), and we've tried hard to not repeat from the last one. We tried to include a wide mix of everything we cover from classic country (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn), 90s favorites (Jennifer Trynin, Letters to Cleo), classic punk (The Ramones, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Bad Religion), classic rockers (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Chuck Berry), soul (James Brown, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings), current favorites (Courtney Barnett, Matt Pond PA, Sallie Ford), and, of course, "Christmas in Hollis" from Run DMC. No Christmas playlist is complete without it.

Letters to Cleo is the band I've seen more than any other. It's somewhere around 25-30 times by now. This weekend I realized that I've been going to see Letters to Cleo shows for over half my life now, which is just ridiculous. But they're a band that I used to go see multiple times in one week, including a few back to back nights, so when I haven't seen them for 8 years, there's no way I'm going to be missing a show. You add in Weakened Friends as the opener, literally the band I was hoping would open the show, and it's just an added bonus. I figured rolling into the venue around 8:30 (15 minutes before showtime) would be perfectly fine. Most people there are going to be 35 and up, we have kids, need to get sitters, and all that. It would probably be a rare night out with people getting dinner before the show, so nobody is going to get there until just before Letters to Cleo go on. How many middle aged people will show up early for an opener they do...

I love Halloween. It's by far my favorite holiday, but musically it always gets the shaft. Sure, you're going to hear "Monster Mash" roughly 1000 times this weekend, but not much else. Last year, I snagged Rodney Anonymous of The Dead Milkmen's Halloween playlist , but this year I decided we needed our own. While metal is always an obvious choice, I tried to keep it to a minimum (Danzig), while focusing on our alternative classics (Jane's Addiction, The Magnetic Fields, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), classic rock (Alice Cooper, Screamin' Jay Hawkins), and some of our newer favorites (Brown Bird, Speedy Ortiz, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys). Running at just around two hours, it's perfect to put on in the background for parties this weekend or while you're handing out candy on Monday. Enjoy!

A lot of new releases this week, so we're off to the races! I can't decide on an album of the week because there are SO many different albums out this week and they all fit a different niche. As I started a new job and haven't quite figured out the whole "balance writing about the new releases" thing, I'll give some highlights this week. Hoping to stay on a better schedule soon! Albums I Liked a Lot! : Artist : The Dean Ween Group Album : The Deaner Album Quick Description : Dean Ween has a new project... Why You Should Listen : ...and it's a lot like Ween. Overall Thoughts : Ween is admittedly an acquired taste. I get that they're not for everyone, but man, when they're on? They're on. In 2016, when I'm on the wrong side of 35? It's not amusing the same way "The AIDS Song" made me giggle in my early 20s, but something needs to be said about the fun juvenile songs that are peppered throughout this record. I s...

As we get closer to the release of the first new Letters to Cleo music in 17 years, the band have yet another free offering of music. Last month saw them put From Boston Massachusetts up for free on NoiseTrade , and now they're giving away "Can't Say and Other Songs." First and foremost is the inclusion of their first brand new song, "Can't Say." I'll be completely honest. I wasn't a huge fan of "Can't Say" the very first time I listened. I couldn't quite figure it out, but it wasn't working for me as a Letters to Cleo song. After the third listen, I was completely on board. Considering I felt the same way about Go! when I first listened to it, that might be a great sign. The rest of the free album is a collection of rarities and compilation songs. It's not quite their 2008 collection When Did We Do That?, but it's 3/4 of that release. All that's missing are their soundtrack covers of "I Want You to Wa...

We don't usually cover music news here on If It's Too Loud..., but this is Letters to Cleo after all, so... Today Letters to Cleo announced the release date of their new EP, which will be their first new music in 17 years! (17 years? Holy shit that makes me feel old...) The EP is due out on September 30, and you can pre-order it now through their Pledge Music campaign. As with the usual download/vinyl/t-shirt/poster bundles that come with pre-orders, Letters to Cleo have raided the archives to offer some insanely rare items and a total memory lane for me. They have unworn ringer buggy shirts! The 1992 "Here & Now" indie release 7"! Promo posters for Aurora Gory Alice, Wholesale Meats & Fish, and Go! Plus there are the VIP concert experience at their five announced shows and private house concerts available, which makes me wish this blog was big enough to pony up the $15,000 for one of those. Letters to Cleo is promising even more rare items once they ...