If It's Too Loud...

Some great stuff this week. Album of the Week : Artist : Antarctigo Vespucci Album : Love in the Time of E-Mail Quick Description : Manic, amazing power pop. Why You Should Listen : You've loved Jeff Rosenstock up to now. Overall Thoughts : A few years back I tripped up on Jeff Rosenstock’s album Worry and pretty much fell hard for it. Antarctigo Vespucci is a power pop duo featuring Rosenstock and Chris Farren, both of which are contemporaries/colleagues of blog favorite Laura Stevenson, and this weird incestuous mishmash of singers and styles comes up with this amazingly awesome and manic and catchy and hooky and abrasive record that is easily one of the best of the week and might just be one of the better releases of the year. We’ll see, but this shouldn’t be missed. Recommendation : A wonderful listen this week. Artist : Eliza Shaddad Album : Future Quick Description : Solid indie singer-songwriter stuff. Why You Should Listen : This has broad appeal and some ...

Photo by  Ebru Yildiz Comparing Melbourne's Oh Pep! to Tegan and Sara is an obvious choice. Both are female duos that play similar styles of music, but for me it's a more personal connection. The first time I discovered Tegan and Sara was when they opened for Ben Folds at Clark University in 2000 (?). The performance was just them, and I assumed they were more of a folk duo. Sure their songs were poppy, but folk pop. Later when I heard "Walking with a Ghost" I was surprised to find out that they were much more pop than folk. That's where I stand with Oh Pep! I first discovered them at the Green River Festival in 2016. They were playing a more folk based pop sound. I expected this when I heard their new single, "What's the Deal with David?," but the new song is almost pure pop. As I'm not the pop guy of the blog, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I still enjoyed the song. It's upbeat and impossibly catchy, even for the grumpiest o...

I know, I know. It's Monday, not Friday. But sometimes life gets in the way of us letting you know about great free music. The Mountain Goats are bringing Oh Pep! out on the road with them next month and they've teamed to bring us the free We Who Walk Behind the Rows: 2016 Tour Sampler. It features four songs from each band, including Oh Pep!'s fantastic "Doctor Doctor" and The Mountain Goats' odes to wrestling "The Legend of Chavo Guerrero" and "Foreign Object." Oh Pep! and The Mountain Goats are a great pairing for a sampler and a tour. Oh Pep!'s dreamy take on folk pop is just different and similar to The Mountain Goats' more standard mainstream Americana to keep things interesting. You can get your copy of We Who Walk Behind the Rows: 2016 Tour Sampler for free via Noisetrade . For more information on Oh Pep!, check out their website . The Mountain Goats also have a website you should check out. We've also included the...

Seeing as we're still in the slow summer weeks new release-wise and I've been given the heads-up on a lot of recent releases we've missed, this will be a bit of a compendium week. First, new releases for July 29: Dyan - Looking for Knives : Probably my favorite album of this week, it's the sort of synth-heavy indie pop that I tend to gravitate to a lot. Evocative of Au Revoir Simone in a lot of ways, if "Days Upon Days" doesn't grab you this might not do it for you, but it's a solid release that I really loved. Cotton Mather - Death of the Cool : This is a really good album, with a lot of roots and power pop elements mixed in with some solid songwriting. I still had a lot of resistance to this, though, as there's just something that kept me from completely breaking through on this one. It might be that the sound is not fully formed here or that it can't quite decide what kind of band they're looking to be, but my critique is mostl...

Shakey Graves Photo by Ken Sears Here in New England, we're in the middle of a pretty terrible drought. We need rain desperately, and would take any rain that we can get. Unfortunately, rain finally came during this year's Green River Festival. Saturday was just cold and wet all day, while Sunday offered a short break before the downpour took over the day. Hooded sweatshirts aren't the usual clothing of choice at an outdoor music festival in July, but they dominated the weekend. The weather was so bad all hot air balloon rides were cancelled, which hasn't happened in decades, if ever. Luckily, the music was stellar enough to save the weekend. Here are some of the best things we saw. Leland Sundries Photo by Ken Sears Leland Sundries Leland Sundries' new album, Music for Outcasts , didn't connect with Jeff when it was released last month. To be honest, it didn't really work for me, either. I was surprised to find out that the songs work much ...

Now that we're just a month out, the Green River Festival has announced their schedule for 2016. It's a doozy of a line up, and with any all day festival with three stages, some major decisions will need to be made. Luckily for you, we're here to help you along and pick some of the must see acts of Green River 2016. (Note: We're only going to make it for Saturday and Sunday, so those are the two days we'll focus on.) Also, if past history with festivals are any indication, these plans could be completely scrapped once the music actually starts. Tickets are still available for the Green River Festival. You can get yours, and see the entire line up and schedule here . Lula Wiles The three members of Lula Wiles met at Maine Fiddle Camp, which apparently is a thing. They honed their talents at Berklee College of Music, and are now this beautiful traditional Americana group. While most Americana groups tend to be either a throw back or progressive, they really bridg...

It's really easy to compare any female duo to Lucius at this point, but with Oh Pep! it does fit. The Australian duo has released three EPs since 2012 and is set to release their debut album in June. On the album's first single "Doctor Doctor," Oh Pep! don't rely on two-part harmonies as much as Lucius, and while Lucius leans a little more towards Americana and roots, Oh Pep! lean a little more towards electronic elements, kind of like a more upbeat version of The Rentals, but mixed a little bit with Thao and The Get Down Stay Down. Oh Pep!'s debut LP, Stadium Cake , is due out June 24 on Dualtone Records. You can listen to "Doctor Doctor" below. For more information, head over to their website . You can also find their current tour dates (including the Green River Festival!) below. Apr 6 The Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA, Australia Apr 8  Northcote social club, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Apr 10 The Polish Club, Canberra, ACT, Australia Apr ...