Flesh World - "Into the Shroud"

Photo by Roxanne Clifford

The new song from Flesh World is punk, but not quite a style of punk we've seen before. "Into the Shroud" is not really hard or heavy. Instead, it combines elements of some of the most popular retro genres to borrow from currently. It has the quirky, slightly off beats of post punk, plus the drone and monotone style of shoegaze, and then the jangle of dream pop. That doesn't exactly sound like a blend that would make for punk, but it somehow mixes together just that way. Not to mention that the entire thing reeks of England, but the band resides in California.

You can watch the video for "Into the Shroud" below. It might just be me, but the video seems very Information Society. The new album from Flesh World, also called Into the Shroud, will be out September 8 on Dark Entries Records. It can be pre-ordered here. For more on Flesh World, check them out on Facebook.

Lenore. featuring Eric Bachmann - "Sharp Spine"

Photo by Kim Smith-Miller

There seems to be a deluge of female folk duos lately, so let me bring you one more: Portland, OR's Lenore. Lenore. are described as "witch-folk," which I can't really argue. When Rebecca Marie Miller and Joy Pearson harmonize, the effect can only be described as haunting. It's still a fairly pop folk style, with a strong Stevie Nicks feel to it. It does have just the slightest hint of an eastern European feel to it, so it's more like Stevie Nicks meets Rasputina. Plus, they add in Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers) who takes over lead vocals about a third of the way in, and you add some of the best indie cred you could possibly have.

You can listen to "Sharp Spine" below. Lenore.'s debut self-titled album (which also features Paul Rigby and Dan Hunt from Neko Case and Dave Depper from Death Cab for Cutie) will be out September 15. You can pre-order the album here. For more on Lenore., check out their website.

First Listen: New Releases for July 28

I spent most of my Sunday at a wrestling show instead of working on a new music post, so this has to be abbreviated. That’s a shame, too, for some reasons to note. Anyway:

Album of the Week:

Arcade Fire - Everything Now: Album of the week, album of the quarter, and probably my frontrunner for album of the year if it holds up as well as the first listen did. Maybe their best effort even if it won’t be iconic the way their first album is or so universally praised like Neon Bible. If you’re avoiding this for any reason at all, don’t.

Great Listens This Week:

Little Silver - Somewhere You Found My Name: Features members of Hem in some form, this is a really brilliant listen and one that throws some folksy curveballs.
Mr. Lif and Akrobatik- Resolution: Absolutely the rap album of the moment for me.
Katie Von Schleicher - Shitty Hits: Tongue-in-cheek title, but this is much better than it lets on.
Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet: Technically out a couple weeks ago, but a pleasant surprise and a quiet, unassuming listen worth your time. Feels exactly as the title would indicate.

Releases of Note:

Benjamin Gibbard - Bandwagonesque: While the instinct here is that “no one was asking the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie to cover the entirety of a Teenage Fanclub album,” what is fascinating about this album is how safe it feels. The comp for me is Ryan Adams doing 1989, which at least felt like a subversion as opposed to more of a tribute. Then again, I don’t have the sort of bond with this album that I know other people do, so there’s ultimately a lot going on here.
Vic Mensa - The Autobiography: Not for me, but I am sure there are others who will love this.
Sweet Apple - Sing the Night in Sorrow: Indie supergroup of sorts puts out another solid power pop record.
Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface: Interesting, somewhat conceptual record. Not their best, but still pretty good.
Passion Pit - Tremendous Sea of Love
Joywave - Content

EPs of Interest:

Margo Price - Weakness: Surprise release that’s unsurprisingly great.
Sylvan Esso - Echo Mountain Sessions
Julia Michaels - Nervous System
Helvetia - Sun Chasers

Also out this week:

Cover Your Ass Volume 1 (Planned Parenthood benefit)
Cage the Elephant - Unpeeled
Amanda Palmer - Piano is Evil

Billy Strings - "Turmoil & Tinfoil"

Photo by Michael Weintrob

As much as we might love the whole bluegrass/Americana revival thing here at If It's Too Loud..., a lot of it can end up sounding pretty similar. New takes on the genre are always welcome, although if you tweak it too much, it ruins the whole point. That might be why I love the new song from Billy Strings. "Turmoil & Tinfoil" is definitely bluegrass with some hints of psychedelia. That alone doesn't exactly make it unique. Lots of bands have discovered mixing bluegrass and psychedelia gives you a great career on the jam band circuit. What makes Billy String unique is that he plays it like he's in a thrash metal band. Bluegrass/psychedelia/thrash might sound like a trainwreck of a combination, and it very well might be, just not when Billy Strings plays it.

You can listen to "Turmoil & Tinfoil" below. Billy Strings' debut album, also called Turmoil & Tinfoil, will be out September 22. You can pre-order it now via PledgeMusic. For more on Billy Strings, check out his website.

Lilly Hiatt - "The Night David Bowie Died"

Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

For most music fans, we remember exactly where we were when we heard the news that David Bowie had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 69. I just woke up and was checking Facebook notifications. I saw a friend had posted an article to me, and when I checked I saw a story that David Bowie had died. I thought my friend was a complete imbecile that can't tell a fake article from a real one, and scrolled through my feed. The vast majority of the posts that I saw reported that Bowie had, in fact, died. It took maybe five or six before I believed it.

Lilly Hiatt heard the news the night before. In a press release she says: "The night David Bowie died, I was in disbelief. I wanted to talk to someone, but it was too late to make a phone call. I cried quietly and went to bed. The next day, I picked up my guitar and hit record on Garage Band. I started to sing and those were the first words that came out. I felt like Bowie was giving me a little gift."

The song "The Night David Bowie Died" is more of a country rock stomper and not a glammed out obvious tribute to Bowie, but it works perfectly. There are some Bowie-esque moments in here, but more in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it way, which are always the best kind of tributes.

You can watch the video for "The Night David Bowie Died" below. Lilly Hiatt's new album, Trinity Lane, will be out August 25 on New West Records. For more on Lilly Hiatt, check out her website.

Matt Pond PA featuring Laura Stevenson - "The Ballad of Laura and Mike"

The combination of Matt Pond PA and Laura Stevenson is pretty much a dream for us, and an unexpected one. Apparently we need some kind of indie rock version of TMZ, since the song, "The Ballad of Laura and Mike," is about a long distance relationship between Laura Stevenson and a member of Matt Pond PA. (Funny, I know far more about the love lives of celebrities I couldn't care less about...) The song is an upbeat, slightly faster than mid-tempo song about love, but with plenty of melancholy, being about long distance love and all. It's the kind of just shy of epic power pop we want from Matt Pond PA, with the added bonus of Laura Stevenson's vocals.

"The Ballad of Laura and Mike" will be included on Matt Pond PA's upcoming album, Still Summer. The album is due on August 11, and reports are that it will be the final Matt Pond PA album. It can be pre-ordered in various bundles here. You can listen to "The Ballad of Laura and Mike" below. Matt Pond PA are running a contest to make a video for the song. You can find details on the contest and enter here. For more on Matt Pond PA, check out their website.

Alex Lahey - "Every Day's the Weekend"

Photo by Giuilia McGauren

Alex Lahey has one true amazing talent that's perfect for a singer/songwriter. Despite the ability to sing and rhyme words, she's is brilliant at writing fantastic cheesy love songs. You know the type of song that's just goofy and corny enough that you're embarrassed by how much you love it, but you can't help it because it's just so much fun and just so... good? Her latest single, "Every Day's the Weekend," is basically if Taylor Swift started out with indie rock instead of country. And was Australian. Being a middle aged man, I shouldn't love this song as much as I do. But it's just so good that I can't help it. It's fast and happy and just soaked in sugary love. And that's what makes it so perfect.

You can watch the video for "Every Day's the Weekend" below. Alex Lahey's debut full length album, I Love You Like a Brother, will be out October 8 on Dead Oceans. You can pre-order your copy here. For more on Alex Lahey, check out her website.

The Huntress and Holder of Hands - "Borealis"

Somehow it feels like it's been forever that we've been waiting for a full length album from The Huntress and Holder of Hands with just an occasional song here and there to tease us along. Finally, we have news that MorganEve Swain's debut album will be released in September. Along with that news is the first single off Avalon, "Borealis." Judging just by this one song, it has been well worth the wait. 

"Borealis" starts off as a quiet, haunting folk song, the kind of sound that has dominated Swain's solo work. About mid-way through, the song switches moods and becomes the kind of upbeat Eastern European influenced folk song Swain and her husband Dave Lamb mastered in Brown Bird. Towards the very end, the track devolves into a metal meets Sonic Youth blast of noise before going back to haunting folk. As anyone that's been reading this blog for a decent amount of time, songs swerving off into unexpected directions is kinda my sweet spot, so "Borealis" is far more than I ever could have hoped for.

You can listen to "Borealis" below. The Huntress and Holder of Hands' debut album, Avalon, will be released on September 15. You can pre-order your copy now via Bandcamp. For more on The Huntress and The Holder of Hands, check out her website.

Coltana - "Waiting for the Storm"

Back in April, we brought you "Break Her," which was the latest single from Coltana. I ripped off their press release to describe that song as "Bikini Kill meets Arctic Monkeys." (Fun fact from their latest press release: Back when they were called Poeticat, Coltana shared a stage with everybody's favorite Game of Thrones cameo Ed Sheeran!) Their latest single, "Waiting for the Storm," doesn't quite fit that description. "Waiting for the Storm" is both more melodic and epic. Vocally, singer Catherine Martindale takes on a bit of a pop punk sound, and the song starts off with the bouncy feel your typical pop punk song would have. But then the vocals drop out for a bit, and you can feel Coltana's metal leanings breaking through. If this song had come out in the early 00's, Coltana would have been the breakout band of that year's Warped Tour.

You can listen to "Waiting for the Storm" below. It is out today via Poeticat Presents. For more on Coltana, check out their website.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - "Sorry Is Gone"

Photo by Ebru Yildiz

With her earlier sound, Jessica Lea Mayfield combined 90's alternative with country (if I was into bad jokes I'd say that she put the alt in alt-country, but I'll spare you that one), and with 2014's Make My Head Sing... she wore her grunge influences on her sleeve and pushed the country into the background. She has a new song out, "Sorry Is Gone," that goes just slightly back towards her country roots. Sonically, it's a little closer to 2011's Tell Me, but with some killer early 90's indie guitar work. Despite the song's light sound, Mayfield says “The whole record is about me taking my life back, without really realizing it. I realized I’m the only person that is going to look out for me. I have to be my main person. No one else.” The album features notable guest musicians Seth Avett (who Mayfield collaborated on 2015's Elliott Smith covers album) and Steve Shelley formerly of Sonic Youth.

You can watch the video for "Sorry Is Gone" below. Jessica Lea Mayfield's new album, also called Sorry Is Gone, will be out September 29 on ATO Records. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Jessica Lea Mayfield, check out her website.