If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Sammy Brue Album : Crash Test Kid Quick Description : Latest from someone becoming a favorite here. Why You Should Listen : Still country tinged while exploring some new genres. Overall Thoughts : This might end up being a bit divisive for some, but I absolutely loved this new album by Sammy Brue. He's a young artist with a lot of years ahead of him, and this is an album that definitely provides some evidence that he's capable of doing a lot of different things musically in the coming years. Lots to love here, and definitely worth checking out. It's too soon to say it's one of my favorites this year, but I thought it was definitely a highlight of the week. Recommendation : Don't miss this one. Artist : Leah Senior Album : The Passing Scene Quick Description : Some low-key indie rock. Why You Should Listen : Folk elements, indie elements, all combine for a solid listen. Overall Thoughts : I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The...

In a world where most hip hop follows a standard, cookie cutter format, a song like the latest from Emma Lee truly deserves our attention. Emma Lee was born in Uganda and raised in Harlem. Her latest single, "Hugo Pinell (Mosh)," is inspired by Hugo Pinell, the last remaining jailed member of the San Quentin Six, who spent forty years of his life in solitary confinement. Lee graduated with a degree in political science, which fuels her politically charged music. "Hugo Pinell (Mosh)" reminds me of early Public Enemy. It's sparse, and musically isn't entirely pleasant. In fact, the synths give the song a disturbing, haunting feel. What truly sets Lee apart from her peers is her flow. She has a jerky, staccato style to her vocals that makes her truly unique and compelling. You can watch the video for "Hugo Pinell (Mosh)" below. The People vs. Emma Lee  is due for release later this year. To get a copy of the song, go here . For more on Emma Lee, c...

Black Flag seem to be the band of the moment to cover. For some reason, they're just one of those bands that has never truly clicked for me, but when The Melvins and Mudhoney team up to cover them? That I can't resist. Calling the project "Mudvins," the two legendary Washington state bands released a cover of 1984's "My War." It's a mostly straightforward cover. It might be a step slower than Black Flag's original, but The Melvins and Mudhoney amp up the sludge and grunge and somehow make it heavier. Plus, anytime we can hear Mark Arm unleash a truly epic howl, we're on board. Every time. You can listen to The Melvins and Mudhoney's take on "My War" below. The song is available on a collaborative four track EP called White Lazy Boy on Amphetamine Reptile Records. As of this writing, the CDs are sold out, but you can check to see if it's been restocked here . For more on The Melvins, check out their website . For more on ...

The very first time I listened to "Grey and Blue," the new single from Halifax's Kestrels, I immediately thought of Ash. As I listened, I started reading the press release which coincidentally enough includes the line " Dream Or Don't Dream  was largely written on the sofa of  Ash 's  Tim Wheeler." That's not even where our 90's indie rock gods stop making appearances. The song also features not one but two guitar solos from Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis. This are J Mascis guitar solos, so you already know they're killer. The man just doesn't let bad guitar solos out into the universe. Even without the added star power, "Grey and Blue" is a great song. It lives in a world that blends 90's indie rock with Brit pop in a way I always wished more bands did. It's the kind of song that is going to have me diving into Kestrels's back catalog, as this is the first I've ever heard from them.  You can watch the video fo...

Photo by Erik Weiss Like most people of a certain age, I went through an electronic phase in the late 1990's. Most of that music hasn't aged very well, but, for the most part, trip hop truly has. Tricky was one of my favorites back in the day, and it's thrilling that he's still making truly great music today. His latest single, "Fall Please," might be his most accessible yet. It sounds like it could have been released in 1998 or 2020 and equally sounds at home in either year. As with many of Tricky's songs, he doesn't contribute vocals. Those are handled by  Marta Złakowska , who he discovered on a European tour when he didn't have a singer for opening night. Tricky acknowledges the pop sensibilities on "Fall Please":  “ With most of my stuff, there’s nothing else like it around .  But with ‘Fall Please’ I’ve managed to do something I’ve never been able to before, which is that everyone can feel it - even people who don’t know my ...

Photo via Facebook Today marks the tenth anniversary of the very first time I ever saw The Dead Milkmen, so it's quite fitting that I can bring you new music from them today! "King of Sick" is more synth-heavy than you'd expect, but has all of the attitude of a standard Dead Milkmen song. Of course, any song with the word sick in its title that also mentions germs is going to certainly seem COVID-19 inspired these days. But for those of us that have been craving new music from the Dead Milkmen, "King of Sick" definitely helps tide us over. The current world climate needs more music like this. You can listen to "King of Sick" below. The song is available on 19 NOTES ON A BROKEN SYSTEM, a benefit compilation featuring all Philadelphia bands and benefiting Amistad Law Project and Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. It also features The Ramoms doing "Gritty is a Punk," which you truly must hear. You can get a copy here . For more on The D...

Wussy was one of the first shows I had cancel when quarantine started back in March, and a dozen or so other cancellations later, it still hurts the most. To alleviate that pain a little, Wussy have released Ghosts  as a free download. It's not an album exactly. Wussy describe this release as "...  a free digital mixtape created to thank Wussy fans. It contains B-sides,  rarities, related projects and two previously unreleased tracks." Some highlights (besides the whole thing... this is Wussy, after all) include "Fly Fly Fly (Green Belt Version)," an absolutely gorgeous minimalist remix of "Jonah" by dj dq, an early rough mix of "She's Out There," an epic live version of "Shunt," and Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker doing an ultra-countrified "Mountain In Our Backyard." Wussy have always been one of the hardest band to figure out where to start listening. Ghosts is both a perfect jumping on point and a collection for lo...

Amelia Baker (formerly of Blackbird Raum and Lankum) moved from Los Angeles to Ireland to study traditional Irish music. Cinder Well is the name she's recording that under, and we can hear another song from that project. "Wandering Boy" is haunting in the way that only Celtic music can be. This may be an old song, but Cinder Well makes it her own. It's dark, and sparse, and lonely. Besides Baker's vocals propelling the entire song, there's little more than the hum of a violin or accordion throughout. The music almost feels like it's dragging Baker in, and her voice is the only thing pushing her forward. You can listen to "Wandering Boy" below. No Summer , the upcoming album from Cinder Well, will be out July 24 on Free Dirt Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Cinder Well, check out the artist's website .

It's been nearly four years since we've had new music from The James Rocket. Saying things have changed since they released Thrust in 2016 is a slight understatement. The James Rocket has changed a bit, too. Their new single, "Boccaccio," is a little more mainstream style indie rock than we have heard from them previously. It's a fairly upbeat song despite the subject matter being the pandemic we're all living in as we most likely watch the American empire crumbling. James William Roy somehow makes lyrics like " When I read some dead Italian from the plague years /  It can't convey the things we have in store" and " If I believed in such a thing as justice /  Then I might think we maybe had this coming" sound almost cheery. You can watch the video for "Boccaccio" below. The song is currently available on The James Rocket's Bandcamp . For more on The James Rocket, check out the artist's website .

The latest single from Toronto's Grizzly Coast is an alternative pop anthem to live music. "End of the Night" is a fun, energetic, impossibly danceable song about the joy Alannah Kavanagh (aka Grizzly Coast) feels during a night out experiencing her city's music scene. It's catchy and filled with fuzzy and swirling guitars, and is a pure joy for those of us missing our local music scenes desperately right now.  Kavanagh explains that the song " ...  was inspired by many long nights out in the Toronto music scene, having fun at shows and forgetting about whatever happened that week. I’ve got social anxiety - so I’ve always been a bit averse about going to parties, but finding the music community provided me with a bedrock of cool people that I had a lot in common with and was excited to see all the time. Shows became a place where I took the pressure off myself to always say the right thing because the music was so loud (ha). I could fully immerse myself i...

Toronto's Little Kid exist in a world that mixes folk and indie rock with heavy leanings towards artists like Neil Young. Their latest single, "All Night (Golden Ring)," is a duet between band members Kenny Boothby and Megan Lunn. Despite the song not being country at all, it's inspired by the relationship between Tammy Wynette and George Jones. The country superstars were a real life couple who also collaborated musically quite frequently. The couple divorced due to abuse from Jones. Their solo careers weren't as successful as their work together, so they recorded Golden Ring , which was their first ever number one album.  Kenny Boothby explains how "All Night (Golden Ring)" is related:  “ I was really saddened to read about that, and to picture how that must have felt for Tammy .  I can’t relate directly, but as a survivor of abuse, I can only imagine what it would feel like to have to sing with my abuser, much less to have to sing love songs wit...

Artist : Run the Jewels Album : RTJ4 Quick Description : RTF with album #4. Why You Should Listen : Run the Jewels is maybe the most exciting rap act going. Overall Thoughts : Listen, we don't need to tell you about RTJ, and the quality speaks for itself. This was a surprise-ish release considering everything happening at present, but the album (much of which, we can assume, was recorded prior to the world lighting on fire) has a sense of immediacy and urgency that, at least on first listen, maybe makes it the most essential RTJ album yet. With that said, each album has been an improvement over the previous, so this shouldn't be a shock. Just listen to this. There's no better or more important album out this week. Recommendation : A required listen. Artist : Ada Rook Album : 2,020 Knives Quick Description : Black Dresses singer flies solo. Why You Should Listen : This is a really fascinating listen. QUICK NOTE : Ada Rook is decidedly unhappy with Spotify to...

Photo by Maria Gelsomini In what might be the best song to possibly cover in 2020, Squirrel Flower has released a cover of Strand of Oak's "Shut In" from 2014's HEAL. For Squirrel Flower's version, the upbeat pop anthem has been stripped way down to a more intimate, acoustic song dripping with reverb. At least partly done out of quarantine necessity, the change of style truly fits our "unprecedented times" perfectly. You can hear the feeling of going stir crazy mixed with anxiety on steroids in Ella O'Connor Williams's voice. You can listen to Squirrel Flower's version of "Shut In" below. It is included on Co-Mission: An Artist Relief Compilation, Vol. 2 from Folkadelphia. According to the post on Bandcamp, " Any and all proceeds raised from donations for Co-Mission will be used to commission and fund more home recordings from in-need musicians and artists." You can find the compilation, which also features contribut...

Photo via Facebook A key way to know you've gotten old is when your favorite bands have kids that are now in bands. Dear Elise is a Los Angeles based band that features Henry Eisenstein (aka Kay Hanley and Michael Eisenstein from Letters to Cleo's son) on drums. Even if you didn't know the connection to Letters to Cleo, odds are Letters to Cleo's fans are going to like this. Dear Elise's latest single, "Dissociation," has a very mid-90's alt-rock feel. It's pure power pop from the time when we were all moving on from grunge but still wanted that fuzz and crunch from our guitars and moved to various forms of power pop for our rock needs. It's a huge rock song with some absurdly catchy pop elements. Not bad for a group of teenagers just starting out. You can listen to "Dissociation" below. For more on Dear Elise, check them out on Facebook and Instagram .

There are roughly a million benefit compilations for everything going on in the world right now. Since getting bands together to write and record new music is virtually impossible, we're seeing a ton of solo covers getting released, which is one of very few positives these days. One of my favorites I found this past weekend was Ian O'Neil of Deer Tick covering Chuck Berry's classic "Brown Eyed Handsome Man." Chuck Berry songs are the best to cover since it's virtually impossible to mess up any of the perfect songs he wrote. O'Neil's cover is definitely more folky than old time rock 'n' roll, mostly since it's a solo acoustic songs, which always sound a little folky by default. You can listen to Ian O'Neil's version of "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" below. The song is one of forty two tracks on Protest & Survive Compilation put out by Protest & Survive out of Asheville, NC. The compilation is to benefit bail funds an...