If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Connor Turque Burlington, VT's Robber Robber have their new album due out this Friday, but we have one last single to check out before it arrives. "How We Ball" is a chaotic post-punk meets indie rock track. It's high energy all the way through, with a disjointed sound that comes across much more fun than you typically get with a song this noisy. It's a raw track that might be the most punk and most straightforward (relatively speaking) that we've heard from Robber Robber so far. Despite being a little over three minutes long, the track feels like a much longer epic. It might just be because songs with this much energy usually only make it for two minutes or so. Singer/guitarist Nina Cates says of the new song: “This song is about how we have to present ourselves. It's a playful look into saying the right thing and thinking about how you come across to others. Sometimes it's so simple and sometimes you go home feeling like you said all the wro...

Photo by Connor Turque Burlington, VT's Robber Robber are going to blow you away with this one. The band describes their new single as "steamed punk," and I'm not totally sure what that means, but "Dial Tone" is a killer song. It starts off as this jerky post-punk style song, with an underlying menace just waiting to explode. And "Dial Tone" definitely explodes. It has a Sonic Youth and Nirvana style eruption, and is the best example of loud/quiet/loud we've heard this year. If feedback squalls are your idea of beauty, Robber Robber have you covered on this one. Despite everything I've just written, at no point does "Dial Tone" sound like a 90's throwback. Instead, this is an updated version of that sound. Singer/guitarist Nina Cates says of the band's latest single: “It’s kind of a voyeuristic perspective of everyone scrambling around to see each other and connect but also never feeling quite like you’re keeping pace with...

Photo by Connor Turque We've only heard one other song from Robber Robber, and already the Vermont band have surprised us with a second single. "Backup Plan" still has that 90's indie rock inspired sound that we loved with "Sea or Water," but there's almost a dance element with the new song. It starts off with a beat that sounds like a cross between an electronic dance beat and a more industrial sound. (And by industrial we mean like a factory and not the genre industrial.) And then the indie rock guitars come in, sounding slightly and gloriously off-tune. While many artists inspired by 90's indie rock mimic the style, Robber Robber and pushing it forward into new territories. Nina Cates (vocals and rhythm guitar) says of the band's new single: “I wrote ‘Backup Plan’ while I was helping a friend through a sticky relationship moment and was reflecting a lot on when it’s worth putting in the effort and when it’s best to call it. The song explores t...