If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Steven Perilloux Petra Haden has been doing her all a capella covers of popular songs thing for an absurdly long time now, and she's just released a cover of Radiohead's 2000 classic "Idioteque." Looping her own voice repeatedly, Haden takes all of the instrumental parts, somehow keeping the hypnotic electronic feel of Radiohead's original. A lot of times Haden's covers have a fun and silly feel to them. "Idioteque" is a capella as art and is an impressive way to do this song. Even if you normally cringe at the thought of a capella, you'll want to check this one out. You can listen to Petra Haden's version of "Idioteque" below. For more on Petra Haden, be sure to check her out on Facebook and her website .

The Messthetics, aka the band featuring Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of Fugazi, are set to release a new album in September, and have a new single to check out. "Better Wings" is an improvised jazz/punk song, which is exactly what The Messthetics do these days. There is a lot of improvised rock that borders on jazz these days, and while I get what they're trying to do, it's not always very good. But The Messthetics are incredibly good. "Better Wings" is one of the rare improvised rock songs that actually rocks. It doesn't just meander off by itself repeating the same thing over and over again. It's a cohesive song that actually goes somewhere. For improvised jazz/punk, it's pretty straightforward. You can listen to "Better Wings" below. Ahthropocosmic Nest , the upcoming album from The Messthetics, will be out September 6 on Dischord. You can pre-order the album here . For more on The Messthetics, check them out on Facebook . Anthro...

Photo by Hanna Katrina I never thought we'd be covering a band that formed after a karaoke party doing a song about Meghan Markle, but 2019 is weird. Also, Dry Cleaning are a shockingly great band. Only forming two years ago, the band is set to release their debut EP next month. "Magic of Meghan" is obviously about Meghan Markle, but it might be the only post punk and new wave influenced song about the Duchess of Sussex. As the band says about the song: “ The song acknowledges that following the lives of those in the public eye can provide people with an escape; an outlet for difficult emotions, and subsequently help them to cope with hard times in their lives, ” says Florence Shaw. “ The song is, in part, intended to serve as a thank you to Meghan for this service (‘You got engaged on the day that I moved out. It’s ok. She’s a smasher, perfectly suited to the role’). The song also aims to highlight how the news media dissect her decisions (‘Never has one outfit bee...

Photo by Melissa Fulton Despite how laid back it is at the start, the latest song from Melbourne's Possible Humans is an intense rock song. "Aspiring to Be a Bloke" has both the laid back slacker vibes of Pavement with the intensity of Nirvana. Even during the quiet, more sparse beginnings there is still a sense of foreboding. You're not quite sure if there is an explosion coming, but you know it could, and you don't quite know when. It might not bust out into a full on blast of punk rock noise, but the song does ramp up the intensity and noise eventually. While still maintaining the same pace. Band member Steve Hewitt describes it as  "the whimpering man in the strong dog and vice versa... sarcasm and paradox at the roots of depression." You can listen to "Aspiring to Be a Bloke" below. Everybody Split , the debut album from Possible Humans, will be out August 2 on Trouble in Mind. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Possible ...

Photo by Steven Acres The latest single from New Zealand's Mermaidens is tough to describe, even though it contains a lot of familiar elements. "I Might Disappear" is almost dream pop, but it has a bit too much of an edge to it to truly be dream pop. It's almost shoegaze, but it's a little too poppy for that label. There are some elements of mid 90's indie rock, but it's hardly a throwback song. Instead you get an incredibly intense indie pop/rock song with swirling guitars and amazing melodies, with just enough slight twists to keep drawing you even further in. The band says of the song:  "Being close to someone can bring you to share all the weird thoughts and anxieties that wouldn’t usually leave the inside of your mind. In a way, I think that’s the best thing about intimate relationships. But it’s also really scary! 'I Might Disappear' is a song about the mess of feelings I have when I make myself vulnerable to another person, and th...

Today two fantastic mostly local music festivals were announced in the Boston suburbs. Both have plenty of If It's Too Loud... approved artists and are highly recommended.  Brite Lites Music Festival Night Shift Brewing, Everett, MA 7/27/19 Happening just over two weeks from now is the second edition of the Brite Lites Music Festival at Night Shift Brewing in Everett, MA. Headlining the day's festivities are longtime blog favorite Weakened Friends. Far from just being a showcase of 90's inspired indie rock, the festival also features the folk/Americana stylings of The Wolff Sisters and two "how are they not international megastars?" Boston hip hop artists Cliff Notez and Oompa. Oompa in particular is ridiculous live, so make sure you get there early enough to catch her. There are also a few artists we're not familiar with, but what's a festival without a few discoveries? Speaking of getting there early, the event is free before 11:00 am, and $10 at...

Just about any time I write about hip hop here, I mention that my teenage years were filled with listening to hip hop but I don't find much to listen to these days. For the most part, hip hop hasn't really progressed since Puff Daddy mastered the huge 80's hit sample/R&B chorus formula that still pervades most hip hop. SHADI destroys that formula completely. As a young Arab man living in Conservative Florida, he has a lot to rage against. And on "Lord Mohamed," rage he does. The press release for SHADI describes his music as "noise rap," and I can't argue that at all. "Lord Mohamed" barely follows normal song structures let alone normal hip hop formulas. It's almost a freestyle stream of consciousness throughout the entire nearly six minute run of the song with SHADI barely pausing to take a breath. And musically? I don't even know what to say. It's a mash of guitars, flutes, human voices, drums, and more just sporadic...

A slow week has some catch-up with some stuff we missed. Some significant highlights, but there are only a handful of them... Artist : Defoe Album : Too Soon to Cry Quick Description : Light, airy indie pop. Why You Should Listen : You're looking for something really soft and fragile, but similarly accessible. Overall Thoughts : I feel like I'm describing this wrong, and I apologize in advance. I loved this album. Loved loved loved it. But it feels like a delicate flower that could also bite you if you're not careful, and the mystery that I feel permeates this record is part of what makes it so compelling. I can't wait to get back to this one, and only hope you'll feel the same way. Recommendation : A wonderful listen this week. Artist : MessiahCarey Album : Odd Man Hypothesis Quick Description : Local hip-hop album from a multi-talented artist. Why You Should Listen : This is a real vision in a lot of ways, and transcends what you might expect fro...

Despite not being a cover of Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's immortal "La di da di," the latest song from Toronto's Union Duke is still pretty great. "Ladidadida" is a soulful folk song. It's catchy almost to a fault, but in a good way. It's more on the polished and mainstream side of the current world of folk. It will remind you a lot of artists like Langhorne Slim and Nathaniel Rateliff. That being said, there is a strong sense of traditional folk present here. It's a really fun song that will be impossible not to be sucked in by. You can listen to "Ladidadida" below. For more on Union Duke, check them out on Facebook and Twitter .

Photo by Charlotte Tobin The new song from Melbourne's Parsnip reminds me of a very specific time in the 90's when the aggression of grunge faded away and was replaced by an almost childlike sense of joy in alternative music. This was a very brief and oft forgotten time when music became absurdly fun. "Lift Off!" is a burst of happiness infused with a laid back retro feel. If I was going to compare it to any other bands it would be Cornershop meets Bis. Bass player/vocalist Paris Richens says this about the track: "Lift Off’s opening line stems from nonsense I wrote during a low point in my life. I wanted more than anything to be far away from the position I was in, longing to travel, to rise above the sorrow I was experiencing and reach a happier destination. After Parsnip formed I revisited the themes of transportation and movement as I have in many of my songs. Through my attempts at songwriting I discovered the joy that I was always seeking and that per...

Ransom Pier are back with a new song off an upcoming EP! "My Own Way" has a much stronger country twang than we've heard from the band in quite a while. It's the mix of traditional country mixed with Hayley Harrington's soulful voice that makes Ransom Pier truly special. "My Own Way" is a fun song that feels like just hanging out with friends and singing a song, but a well produced version of that. You can watch the lyric video for "My Own Way" below. Wood Lane , the new EP from Random Pier, is scheduled for release on July 11. You can pre-order a copy at Bandcamp . For more on Ransom Pier, check out their website . 

Photo by James Finlay Nottingham's Grey Hairs are set to release a new album next month, and the subject matter definitely resonates with us thematically. According to a press release, Health & Social Care  is "...  a scorching reflection on balancing your creative impulses against the commitments of impending middle age." That hits close enough to home that it hurts. The first single, "Tory Nurse," is a slower but intense rough and noisy art punk song. I bristle at calling it art punk, only because it's more straightforward than that, but doesn't follow the typical punk tropes at all. Instead, it's punk in the way bands like Nirvana and The Jesus Lizard are punk: More of an attitude and a refusal to even follow the traditional roles of punk rock. Which is the entire point of punk. You can watch the video for "Tory Nurse" below. Health & Social Care , the upcoming album from Grey Hairs, will be out August 2 via Gringo Record...

Photo by Joseph Charles Viola I wouldn't expect to enjoy music described as "indie pop" or "Ikeacore." But Stella Emmett has changed that. Her new single, "Calvin Klein," has a little bit of an experimental folk feel, giving what is still a fairly electronic song more of an organic feel. That being said, "Calvin Klein" is a pop song, complete with what sounds like an autotuned chorus. 99% of the time that would be a deal breaker for me, but Stella Emmett is the 1% of the time that it works for me. And what exactly is "Ikeacore?" According to Emmett: "This wasn’t necessarily my intention, but listening back to  Admirer  now, I feel like I made it to serve as a daily life soundtrack for people. I wanted to create an album that was at once deeply personal and about my actual life but also a sort of sound palette people could put on at parties, or listen to on the train, or listen to while cooking dinner or even while shopp...

Brass covers of rock and pop songs are kind of becoming a thing here at If It's Too Loud..., so we obviously have to bring you the latest from New York's The Side Project. The Side Project is a four piece made up of all saxophone players. They've opened for the New York Philharmonic and played at The Brooklyn Bowl. For their cover of Childish Gambino's "Redbone," they enlisted singer Alita Moses for vocals. The band has this to say about the song:  "What attracted us first was the old school feel of the song. The magic of The Side Project is that it is a saxophone quartet which means that only 4 saxophones are playing what normally a full band would play. The bass, drums, and guitar - it’s all saxophones which creates this edgy raw groove. We started doing covers featuring different singers from New York and when we decided to work with Alita she suggested the song and it was a perfect fit." The result is a song much cooler than the smooth jazz...

Photo via Facebook To be completely honest, I had forgotten about Madder Rose until I heard they had a new song out. "I Lost the War" is the band's first since 1999's Hello June Fool . The band formed in 1991 when everything was labelled "alternative rock," and slowly progressed to indie pop rock, shoegaze, and even trip hop, as far as labels are concerned. Since Madder Rose disbanded, Mary Lorson and Billy Cote have collaborated in Saint Low and The Piano Creeps. "I Lost the War" is exactly the song we want from Madder Rose in 2019. It has that chill, almost trip hop feel the band left us with. But it also has the hints of country twang noise drudging around in the background showing the band can't give up their alt-rock roots. It's a lush and gorgeous song, making their upcoming release even more intriguing.  You can listen to "I Lost the War" below. To Be Beautiful , the new album from Madder Rose, will be out August ...