If It's Too Loud...

Lou Barlow has been making music for almost forty years now, but we haven't quite heard anything like his newest release. Credited to Lou Barlow and Company, Barlow has teamed with Eat Fire Spring for two new songs. "Only Fading" sounds solidly like Lou Barlow, but not quite what we've heard from him in the past. It certainly doesn't sound like Dinosaur Jr, Sentridoh, The Folk Implosion, or his folkier solo work. It sounds the most like Bakesale or Harmacy era Sebadoh, even though that doesn't fully explain the sound. Maybe it's more like his solo work, but a more rock version of that sound. But at this point in his career it's exciting to hear an artist like Barlow be able to change things up like this! You can listen to "Only Fading" below. The song is available as a single with the B-side "Sacrifice" over at Bandcamp . For more on Lou Barlow, check out the artist's Twitter and Facebook . Only Fading b/w Sacrifice by Lou Barl...

Lou Barlow's upcoming solo album is shaping up to be exactly what we want from him at this point. The latest single from the album is as DIY as it could possibly be. He played the drums on this one, and broke out a J Mascis signature squire for some of the guitar work. "In My Arms" is a chilled out folk-ish but definitely not folk song. It's the kind of bedroom indie rock that Barlow has been making for decades now, just updated by musical and recording skill, age, technology, and maturity. It's pretty much the perfect Lou Barlow song for fans of any of his musical projects. You can watch the video (which Barlow made himself) for "In My Arms" below. Reason to Live is due out May 28 on Joyful Noise. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Lou Barlow, check out the artist's website .

We're already looking forward to a new Dinosaur Jr album this month, and now we have an upcoming solo album from Lou Barlow! The first single, "Over You," is a return to Barlow's lo-fi roots. His more recent solo albums are more on the folky side of things, and while "Over You" isn't quite along the lines of his ultra lo-fi early solo or Sentridoh music, it's definitely not the more polished acoustic sound we're used to at this point. "Over You" sits right in the middle of the two sides of Barlow's solo work, being folk-ish and weird lo-fi-ish. It's an ode to his time in California, giving that period of his life a fond send off. You can watch the video for "Over You" below. Reason to Live is due out May 28 on Joyful Noise. You can pre-order your copy here . For more on Lou Barlow, check out his website .

Photo via Facebook My twelve year old missed the whole Paw Patrol thing, and my two year old has yet to discover that show... for now. Lou Barlow doesn't seem to be as lucky as I have been, and his youngest appears to be fully immersed in the world of Paw Patrol . The youngest Barlow is so into the show about dogs being cops and... other human things, I guess (?) that Lou has covered the show's theme song. It's an acoustic cover, sung surprisingly earnestly, until the added verse. Barlow adds a verse about having to buy his toddler toys from the show every time they're at Target, and even includes a naughty word, just in case you were about to play his version for your kid and have an issue with such language. You can watch the video for Lou Barlow's version of the Paw Patrol  theme song below. For more on Lou Barlow, check out his website .

I've been obsessed with Sebadoh since college, and I'm always thrilled whenever I can hear anything new from them. "sunshine" is the latest from their upcoming album. It's a Lou Barlow written and sung track, and what is most surprising is how normal it is. As far as Sebadoh goes, "sunshine" is as mainstream as they get. It's still a Sebadoh song, just a straightforward midtempo Lou Barlow love song, and a great one. You can watch the video for "sunshine" below. Act Surprised , the new album from Sebadoh, will be out May 24 on Dangerbird Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Sebadoh, be sure to check out their website .

Fresh off the heels off last month's new song "stunned" comes another new song from Sebadoh, this one also written and sung by Jason Lowenstein. "raging river" is quite different from "stunned" (one of the reasons I've always loved Sebadoh is how different their songs tend to be from each other). While "stunned" was a noisy, abrasive punk-ish song, "raging river" is a lot more laid back. In fact, it's more of a groovy country-ish song. Of course, it's a Jason Lowenstein penned groovy country-ish song, so it's still pretty loud and abrasive. You can watch the video for "raging river" below. Act Surprised , the upcoming album from Sebadoh, will be out May 24 on Dangerbird. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Sebadoh, be sure to check out their website , including their current tour dates.

Being a near obsessive Sebadoh fan, I'll be sure to bring you anything new that Sebadoh releases. Yesterday they shared the second song of their upcoming album. "stunned" is a Jason Lowenstein song, which means it's as abrasive as you'd expect. It's a brief 2:30 blast of noise, but with the perfect amount of melody to make it still a listenable song. Lowenstein has always been a master of the aggressive pop song, and "stunned" shows that off perfectly. Plus, it has a great false stop right at the beginning, and I love a false stop. You can watch the video for "stunned" below. Act Surprised , the new album from Sebadoh, will be out May 24 on Dangerbird Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Sebadoh, be sure to check out their website . 

I've been an obsessive fan of Sebadoh for decades now. I even have always liked The Sebadoh . When I heard rumblings on social media about an upcoming album, I couldn't wait to finally hear new music from one of my favorites. Today, we have a new song! "celebrate the void" starts off very differently from your typical Sebadoh song. For the first half it's a straight up power ballad, which I don't think anyone would expect. Sure, Sebadoh have done slow songs and ballads before, but "celebrate the void" is a power ballad, albeit filtered through the prism of Lou Barlow. Halfway through it switches to a more typical later period Sebadoh song. But any Sebadoh song is guaranteed to be glorious. You can watch the video for "celebrate the void" below. Act Surprised , the new (!!!!) album from Sebadoh, will be out May 24 on Dangerbird. You can pre-order a copy through your favorite outlet here . For more on Sebadoh, check out their website . ...

We may have had to wait 15 years for a new solo track from Jason Lowenstein, but after last month's release of "Superstitious," we now have another song from his upcoming solo album, "Hey Hey."  While "Superstitious" fell into the darker, slightly discordant side of the Jason Lowenstein realm of music, "Hey Hey" is a bit more light and upbeat. In fact, it's almost funky. Almost. The song starts off with an off kilter country riff which pops back in every so often for the chorus. It's the kind of country sounding riff that would weasel its way into 90s alternative every so often, just subtle enough that country hating kids like teenage/early 20s self wouldn't pick up on the country base of it. "Hey Hey" also has a great Lowenstein guitar solo towards the end.  You can listen to "Hey Hey" below. After a 15 year wait, Jason Lowenstein's second solo album, Spooky Action,  will be released on June 16 o...

It's been 15 years since his last solo album, but next month Jason Lowenstein will finally follow up 2002's At Sixes and Sevens with his second solo album, Spooky Action.  You will probably know Lowenstein best as being the other longstanding member of Sebadoh. While many artists will stretch out and try new sounds or entire new genres on a solo album, At Sixes and Sevens  is more of what you wanted from Lowenstein. It still sounded like Sebadoh, but the louder, more rock side of the band. If "Superstitious" is any indication, Spooky Action will be even more of the same. It's loud, with a killer opening riff, and is heavy on the lo-fi rock. It's exactly what you want it to be, and that's not a bad thing. You can listen to "Superstitious" below. Spooky Action  will be out on June 16 on Joyful Noise Recordings. The album can be pre-ordered here . For more on Jason Lowenstein, check him out on Facebook and his website .

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...

Photo by Rachel Enneking With his 3rd album bearing just his name coming out next month, Lou Barlow has shared the first single, "Moving." It's a very minimal song, with instrumentation consisting of a detuned ukelele and some keyboards. It's a moody song (presumably) about his decision to uproot his life and move from Los Angeles back to western Massachusetts. If 2013's Sebadoh album Defend Yourself  was Barlow's divorce album, Brace the Wave  could be his moving on with life album. It's very fitting that this would be one of his more minimalist semi-acoustic offerings.  Brace the Wave is due out September 4 on Joyful Noise Recordings. You can listen to "Moving" below. For more information, including tour dates, head on over to www.loobiecore.com . 

Photo via Imaad Wasif's Facebook Get ready for an indie rock supergroup that may never do anything besides these two songs. Lou Barlow (Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr) has re-teamed with Imaad Wasif, his ex-New Folk Implosion bandmate (who was also in Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Melvins' drummer to form Tres Padres. Lou Barlow posted two unreleased songs on YouTube and wrote on his Facebook:  i recorded a couple of songs with Imaad Wasif and  Dale Crover  about two years ago at 606 studios ( home of the Foo FIghters ) ..it was meant to be for a benefit 7" which has yet to be released.. in the meantime i've made quick vids for both of the tracks so's you can hear what we did before it possibly vanishes in the haze..  the session was simultaneously documented for a possible pilot for a possible Foo Fighters related documentary series.. haven't heard much about that either The songs sound like a Sebadoh/Melvins mash-up, which is pure heaven to me. You get Lou Barlow's m...

We're pretty open about our love of cover songs here at If It's Too Loud... I'm personally a huge Sebadoh fan and celebrate their entire catalog of work. I even love The Sebadoh . Seriously, it's the most underrated album of the 90s. Go and listen to it again. One thing I just don't get is Rush. Nope. Not at all. It's not like I have a certain level of hatred for them that I have for other bands other people seem to love, it's just not my thing. Really, really not my thing. Which is why I love the AV Club . They take a list of 30 songs and have bands come in and choose 1 to cover. As you get towards the end, you have fewer songs to choose. There were only 3 left, so Sebadoh chose Rush. Of course, they might have anyway, but we'll never know. It's the perfect cover for Sebadoh fans, but Rush die hards probably won't approve. If you've never checked out the AV Club's Undercover series, you need to. You missed great stuff like Lydia L...

Monday night shows are always iffy, especially for “classic” bands. Most of my Sebadoh loving friends (ok, ALL of my Sebadoh loving friends) have passed the no going out that early in a work week stage, and I was curious how the show would go, especially after hearing about a Fountains of Wayne/Soul Asylum/Evan Dando triple bill back on a Monday night in September that ended up being ½ full. All 3 of those acts had more commercial success than Sebadoh, but apparently Sebadoh breeds more loyalty since The Sinclair was roughly ¾ full, with the majority being older fans, so luckily the Creepy Old Guy Factor was non-existent. I had never heard of Octagrape before seeing that they were opening for Sebadoh. I meant to pop into The Sinclair maybe half way through their set just to check them out, but ended up in the area earlier than I expected, so I wandered in early while they were still setting up. Seeing as how they sometimes write out their name as “Octa#grape,” I assumed they ...

This is a great album that is being unjustly criticized. I’ve been spending the past two weeks trying to determine why. It’s new Sebadoh! New Sebadoh! It’s also Lou Barlow’s divorce album. Considering he met his now ex-wife because of a song (“Poledo”) and won her back because of a song (“Willing to Wait”), how could the relationship not end in song? I think this is where the problem lies: The album isn’t filled with standard break up songs. The theme of break up songs either go along with “get out of my life” or “I’m so sad you’re gone.” However, when a truly long term relationship (Barlow’s was 25 years) ends, especially when there are children involved, it’s not as black and white. You have feelings of both relief and regret. And when you add children to the mix, you don’t get the luxury of cutting the person out of your life forever. Somehow I don’t think most music bloggers have the life experience to understand that. Which brings us to the music. The album starts off “I Wi...

We love cover songs at If It's Too Loud..., so when one of my favorite artists covers another one of my favorite artists, you can rest assured I'm going to post about it. I'm already in a tizzy over Sebadoh 's upcoming album ( Defend Yourself, due out on September 17), and Lou Barlow just posted a video on YouTube where he's covering Ryan Adams ' "Two," one of my all time favorite Ryan Adams tracks. The best part of this whole thing is that the video is posted on a brand new YouTube channel that Lou started so he could share covers of his favorite songs. 

After releasing the Secret EP last year, Sebadoh are preparing to release their first full length album since 1999’s unfairly maligned The Sebadoh. (To anyone who disliked The Sebadoh , go listen to it again. It’s secretly brilliant. If anything, I’m suspicious the backlash was over how consistently great Sebadoh were. But I digress…). NPR is currently streaming the first song off Defend Yourself , “I Will.” The song has elements of earlier, more indie and twee Sebadoh along with their later 90s material for Sub Pop. “I Will” is their first foray into quirky indie anthems and is ready for next summer’s round of festival appearances the band is sure to make. Defend Yourself is due out on September 19 th . Check out the song on NPR , who will also be streaming the full album a week before it comes out. Also, go to Sebadoh’s official website , and check out their current tour dates below. Jul 30            Bootleg Theater         ...