If It's Too Loud...

I first discovered Octagrape opening up for Sebadoh back in 2013 . It was one of those increasingly rare times that I go into a show completely blindly to the opening band and ended up being blown away. Now they're back with a new album due next month, and a new song called "Hightropics." It's a perfect introduction to art rock/psych/no wave/noise sound of Octagrape, complete with droning vocals, and tinny, crunching guitars. It's a straightforward song, albeit one that's hiding behind a ton of noise and distortion. Somehow the guitar riff ends up being the catchiest part of the whole shebang.  The new Octagrape album, Aura Obelisk , is due out February 15. You can pre-order it now through Bandcamp . Be sure to listen to "Hightropics" below. Aura Obelisk by Octagrape

I'm a big Dandy Warhols fan. At some points, they might be in my top five bands of all time, and at others they do some really strange stuff that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense (looking at you, Odditorium ). So hearing this new song from the band that was sent over to us, what's fascinating about it is the straightforwardness of the whole affair. On one hand, it feels like a lot of bands could churn this out (which is something you can't say about "Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth," for a contrast), but this still has a very compelling attitude and structure to it that I've kept going back to. They have a new album on a new record label coming out later this year, and I'm absolutely looking forward to it. For now, though, consider Monday Mix an introduction to one of the more underrated bands out there:

I first heard of The Dazies when they were booked to play my last ever show at TT the Bear's place. I had never heard the name, and I wondered how they ended up with the post Evan Dando timeslot. It ended up being one guy with a guitar, and he played a couple quick acoustic songs and was done.  Well, turns out that guy was M. Holland, the former drummer of Mean Creek. The Dazies are his power pop project, and it turns out they are virtually perfect. Their band bio is the thing music bloggers love because it lets us avoid being clever: " Drummer extraordinaire  M. Holland taking a break from smashing drums and focusing on smashing your little heart to pieces with power-pop gold."  On their L O V E / J O Y EP , they have three songs that are perfect Big Star-style power pop. "Hi-Frequency Wire" and "Idiot" are furious, happy little ditties, while "What You Do to Me" is the kind of ballad that hasn't existed in 40 years.  To check ou...

With all the upcoming albums in 2016, five really have captured my interest to the point of obsession. They include brand new artists, returning favorites, and dream collaborations. Mothers - When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired - Ever since I first heard "Too Small For Eyes," I've been listening to Mothers pretty much constantly. Considering I they only have four songs on Spotify, that means I should have burnt them out, but I keep going back. I don't think I've ever had such anticipation for a debut since Benjamin Booker, which I consider very high praise.  The I Don't Cares - Wild Stab - Paul Westerberg and Juliana Hatfield are a dream combination I didn't know I needed until it existed. They've kept the details of their debut album as The I Don't Cares pretty quiet. All we know about it is that it will be called Wild Stab  and at the end of October it would be released "soon." I'm betting this will be one of those ...

Photo via Facebook If I had discovered Michael Christmas' What a Weird Day  any earlier than the last week of 2015, it would definitely have landed in my top 10 of the year. For someone that used to listen to hip hop almost exclusively, I barely listen to anything new nowadays. Most new rap is either too fratty for me, or I just have no idea what the appeal is. What is also strange is that even though I've always been a huge supporter of the local Boston music scene, I've never really been able to get into much Boston hip hop. This might be why I love Michael Christmas. It's everything I miss about rap. It's fun and creative. Unlike 99% of the rap of today, he doesn't just sample a hit song and then autotune a chorus, which is vital for me. Right around Christmas (naturally) he released "Big Ass Smile" for a free download, and you're going to want to check it out. It's a great combination of Outkast and De La Soul.  You can listen to (a...

Another year is here, which means we get another new year of music. There's some interesting stuff on tap: * Kanye West - Swish and School of Seven Bells - SVIIB : I'm combining these together because I was anticipating these for 2015 and they never happened. Kanye's album, now with a name but no release date, is assumed to be released at some random, unspecified time soon, and who knows what the final product will look like or whether it might end up even being a Tidal exclusive. School of Seven Bells, however, finally has a release date for their final album, and we'll get to hear those final pieces in February. It might be a pretty bittersweet listen, to be honest. * Sky Ferreira – Masochism : Sky Ferreira is known almost as much for her music as the crowd she runs with lately, and it's probably worth noting that her album was great and there's a definite chance for her to set herself apart here. We'll see. * PJ Harvey - TBD: I can't sa...

Last week, I canvassed you all to send me some Beatles tracks, and you absolutely delivered to the tune of a collected 75 or so unique tracks. Man, you guys really love your Beatles. The playlist below constitutes the 25 tracks that were the most unique and that, at the time, I didn't recognize (and "Paperback Writer" because it's a good song I did know). I should send a special shout-out to co-blogged Ken who sent his own 11 song playlist , and friend Gabe Rollins who sent an enormous 50 song playlist that I'll have to dig into sometime soon. As for what was sent over for this specific project? It turns out that I like the more experimental Beatles stuff a lot less than I thought I would, for one. "A Day In the Life" in particular was sent a few times, and, well, that was a bit of a slog for me. The "Write Songs With Indian Instruments" era that I dabbled in as well didn't quite work for me, either, but I'd imagine that...

The week between Christmas and New Year's is usually a pretty dull one, but it holds what has become one of my favorite holiday traditions: My now annual trip to the House of Blues to see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones for their Hometown Throwdown. This year they lessened the usual holiday theme and instead dedicated their entire three show run to The Rat, the legendary Boston punk club that used to be located across the Mass Pike from the House of Blue in Kenmore Square. For their openers, they chose bands they knew from their days of playing The Rat. For Sunday night, their openers were The Real Kids and The Queers. As I walked in, I noticed a list of set times posted at the door. The Real Kids had to drop out at the last minute due to John Felice being hospitalized. It was a huge disappointment, especially because I had never heard of their replacement, Unnatural Axe. Turns out Unnatural Axe are the  Boston punk originators, and started playing shows at The Rat in 1978. As th...

"Gloomy Tunes," the first EP from Weakened Friends, came out of seemingly nowhere and floored both Jeff and I earlier this year. They are back with an acoustic version of "95," a song that will be on their forthcoming EP, due this spring.  The video is a live, (mostly) single camera (or phone, with kids these days and all) recording of the song. It's more of a teaser at this point to help get us all ready for the new EP. It does that job, continuing the upbeat, slightly more indie version of Letters to Cleo that I loved on "Gloomy Tunes." You can watch the video for "95" below. Also, make sure you check out Weakened Friends' Bandcamp and be sure to like them on Facebook .

So, if you've paid attention to music news over this holiday time, you've heard the big news that The Beatles are on the streaming services now. So here's my dirty secret: I'm not a big Beatles fan. Kind of weird, since I love a lot of music that apes the Beatles sound, and all that. It's not to say the Beatles are a bad band, but I've never been able to get into them. For example, my favorite Beatles song? "And Your Bird Can Sing." Kind of weird, right? The Big Super Duper Hits don't really do it for me, either. But this isn't about the Beatles, but I figured with our readership and such, maybe you can help me change my mind. So here's what I want to do: either here, or on our Twitter page , or over on Facebook , leave a comment with a Beatles song you think I should know. Maybe it's a big hit I should reconsider, but I'm really more looking for those hidden gems that I might have missed along the way. In a perfec...

Without any new releases to speak of, we still have a few albums left over from this year that we didn't look at: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Paper Mache Dream Balloon : I'm always intrigued with bands that do the psych rock thing, if only because the Elephant Six pastiche was so well-rooted in that tradition. Out of nowhere comes King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and I think the best way I can describe them is like a throwback to late-1990s/early 2000s Of Montreal in all the best ways. A fun, frolicky acoustic affair that deserves a listen, it's something I wish I heard a long time earlier. Maybe the best of the batch of stuff we missed initially. Absolutely give this a shot this week. Babes - Untitled (Five Tears) : I was obsessed with " ATMO ," a song from Babes's debut EP (and a video that's probably NSFW for most places), for some time. I had missed that they had finally put out a proper album. This band of siblings does the whole ...

It was a solid year for music, and a lot of really great songs came from the madness. Below are my 40 favorite songs of 2015 (think of it as my own personal Discover Weekly Yearly), and, below that, my yearly playlist of every single song I loved. I hope you find something new to explore in the lean release weeks.

We actually had a new release this week! Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven : Kid Cudi is interesting. He had some really great rap stuff, but got bored with/irritated with rap music and has been exploring rock music. This is sort of an "indie/alt rock" attempt from him, and... it doesn't work. I can't sugarcoat it, but this is really more a labor of love than anything else. If you're into his post-rap stuff, this might be something of value to you, but, for me? This really didn't do the trick and I couldn't even get through it. Avoid this. Cage the Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty : I haven't kept up with Cage the Elephant, although "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked" was a great song back whenever that came out. At some point they became a full-on bluesish rock band, and I didn't see that one coming. So in terms of meeting expectations, this is pretty interesting, but in terms of something I might want to revisit, that ...

Photo via Instagram After the release of their third EP this year, Jeff commented that Kingsley Flood could pretty much do no wrong . To drive that point home a bit further, and to celebrate the upcoming holiday, Kingsley Flood have shared a cover of the Christmas classic "We Three Kings." It was originally shared with just PledgeMusic pledgers, but now it's available for everyone for a free download. It's shockingly true to the classic song and done without a hint of irony. You get the fantastic rootsy sound of Kingsley Flood with some Spanish horns and a beautiful cover of one of the most iconic traditional Christmas songs of all time. You can download your own copy of Kingsley Flood's version of "We Three Kings" here . Of course, you should make sure to check out their website  (where you should sign up for their email list since that's how this cover was sent out) and be sure to follow their various social media.

Overall, I thought this was a good year for music on a whole. I think the most interesting point, for me at least, was the lack of a truly transformative album that really got me super excited. There was a lot of great music, but nothing truly exceptional. Anyway, the rest of my favorites this year: 11) Gary Clark Jr - The Story of Sonny Boy Slim 12) Sarah Bethe Nelson - Fast Moving Clouds 13) All Dogs - Kicking Every Day 14) Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color 15) Mal Blum - You Look a Lot Like Me 16) Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit 17) Rhiannon Giddens - Tomorrow is My Turn 18) Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free 19) YACHT - I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler 20) Jamie xx - In Colour And the best of the rest: Hop Along - Painted Shut Frank Turner - Positive Songs for Negative People Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up Drew Holcolmb and The Neighbors - Medicine Heather Maloney - Making Me Break Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp ...