If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Keegan Grandbois For their upcoming albums, Brooklyn's Wilder Maker improvised all the tracks live in the studio and then shaped them into songs. This will lead to the release of three albums over the next eighteen months, the first of which is The Streets Like Beds Still Warm , which is due out in September. We can now listen to two songs off this first album, both of which are wildly different. "Strange Meeting with Owls" is a little folk-pop ditty that is probably a little too out there to be truly pop, but the roots are there. On the other hand, "Skewered by the Daystar" is an experimental jazz track that comes in and out in under two minutes. What's strange is that as the song progresses, you'll start seeing some signs of pop in there as well. Not too many artists can deftly execute folk, pop, and jazz in such an experimental method, but most bands aren't Wilder Maker. You can listen to "Strange Meeting with Owls" and "Sk...

Photo by Rob Butterfield The latest from Lightning War is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. "Different War" could have easily been a lovely little folk song, and it would have been a terrific one. But instead Lightning Dust have this tension in the music that is sure to drag the anxiety out in the listener. The tension in the song just builds and builds between Amber Webber's quietly intense vocals and the music that starts off sparsely and builds in orchestration as the song goes on. Towards the end, the song has gone from a quiet folk song to an indie rock epic without you even noticing.  Some of the tension of the song undoubtedly comes from the romantic split between the duo. Amber Webber says of the song: “I wrote this song knowing love had died despite our best efforts to revive it. It’s a song about defeat, surrender and acceptance, comparing love to war. Josh ran with this feeling and created an atmosphere of plodding tension, slowly building to an epic orchest...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz The latest single from Wilder Maker keeps on that Americana meets indie rock song we've come to love from the New York band, but this one adds a few new elements. In keeping with the theme of their upcoming album, "A Professional" brings in guest lead vocalist Felicia Douglass of Dirty Projectors. The song stops shy of being a dance song, but there are some electronic-ish elements on display. There are also some traces of neo-soul dancing around the edges here. It's a relaxed song that has enough elements to sound instantly familiar but not like a rehash of things that have come before. Singer/Songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum says of the new song: “’A Professional’ dips into the feeling of digital isolation,  the way the physical world has become less real and more ghostly, less mysterious and more quantifiable. It's inspired by this recurring experience I have, usually traveling, where I’ve been alone all day and I suddenly want to connect ...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Wilder Maker continue to make some of the most interesting indie rock out there today. The Brooklyn band's latest, "Letter of Apology," has that perfect mix of indie rock and Americana that we're obviously going to adore in these parts. It's also as catchy as a pop song despite being planted firmly in the world of rock. It's kind of like if Tom Petty collaborated with Rilo Kiley, and who on this planet doesn't want to hear that? Long time Wilder Maker fans will also be thrilled to hear that it features ex-member Katie Von Schleicher on backing vocals and guitar! Gabriel Birnbaum says of his band's new song: "'Letter' is a hooky pop song about apocalyptic depression.  It’s been a part of the live set for years but it took us a while to get that manic edge it needs on record. I remember bringing a pile of songs I’d lost perspective on over to Katie’s apartment to see if they were any good, and as soon as we started singi...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Market is the musical project of producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Nate Mendelsohn. The band's new single, "Scar," is a doozy. It starts off like a fairly normal song, or as normal as an indie rock meets glam rock song can be. And then "Scar" just cycles through genres. It has some elements of cowpunk, orchestral music, vocal harmonizing, and others. It reminds me of early Beck when his music had a more cut and paste feel to it and could wildly change sounds while still keeping the same song structure. This is a wonderfully weird and inventive song that even people who enjoy their music a little more straightforward will be able to enjoy. Nate Mendelsohn says of the new song: "'Scar' was written about a very turbulent month of my life where I was relaxing upstate with friends for a luxurious month making music, but also my grandma died, my relationship dissolved, and a tick bite put me in the hospital overnight on ...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Activity, the NYC semi-supergroup featuring members of Grooms, Field Mouse, and Russian Baths, are back with another single from their upcoming debut album. "Nude Prince" continues the trip hop meets shoegaze sound we loved from their previous single. If anything, "Nude Prince" dives further into the dark side of trip hop. It's a black hole of a song, sucking everything into itself the longer you listen. It's an impossibly slow song with a drum and bass rhythm and a shoegaze fuzz swirling the entire thing together. The band explains the song:  " Those icy synths for whatever reason made me think of the title and I worked back from that into this idea of what happens to the families of people, specifically men, who do shitty things, especially after they get caught. This one was pretty much totally cut together piece by piece in the studio, not live at all." You can listen to "Nude Prince" below. Unmask Whoever...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Activity are somewhat of a New York City indie rock supergroup. The band features Travis Johnson and Steve Levine of Grooms, Zoe Browne of Field Mouse, and Jess Rees of Russian Baths. Their single, "Earth Angel," is chill in its vibe but intense in its noise. It's almost a combination of 90's trip hop mixed with 90's noise rock. You get this incredibly compelling mixture of two seemingly opposite genres blended into one sound. Vocalist Travis Johnson explains the song:  " It's a song about the freedom of a lifelong love .  I think we were going for a very Talk Talk 'Laughing Stock' vibe in general. The vocals at the end physically hurt to perform... I could taste blood." You can listen to "Earth Angel" below. Unmask Whoever , the upcoming album from Activity, will be out March 27 on Western Vinyl. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Activity, check them out on Facebook and Twitter .

Photo by Dusdin Condren Best known as a member of Sharon Van Etten's band, Heather Woods Broderick has her sophomore album coming out this Friday, July 10. One of the songs from her album, "Wyoming," is available to listen to now. It starts off as a fairly standard folky kind of track that probably would have been labelled ethereal in the 90s due to a spacey feel with breathy vocals. Towards the end, it expands into the noise rock version of that sound, if anything has ever truly existed. It's not too noisy to turn off the fans of the more laid back roots sound, but it's enough to make it more of a rock song. Heather Woods Broderick's second album, Glider , will be released July 10 on Western Vinyl. You can pre-order it now on iTunes or Amazon . Watch the video for "Wyoming" below, and be sure to check out her website for more information.

Photo: Rebekah Jenkins In advance of his upcoming album, Love & Torture , Stone Jack Jones just released a video for the song "Circumstance." The video is just creepy and unsettling, for reasons you can't quite put your finger on. In a world where there are a million country singers trying to look bad ass with their black cowboy hats, Jones actually looks disturbing by using a black hat and shadows. The song is laid back but intense reverb heavy folk song. In other words, the exact kind of thing we love here. I've been lucky enough to have heard Love & Torture , and you'll want to put this one on your watch list for later this month. Love & Torture  is due out March 17 on Western Vinyl. You can pre-order a copy on the Western Vinyl website . For more information on Stone Jack Jones including tour dates, check out his website .