Ever since Powerslut disbanded, we've been huge fans of Linnea Herzog's new band, Linnea's Garden. With singles like "Like the Patriarchy" and "Non-Dramatic Breakup Song," they were continuing Powerslut's legacy of fun songs with a cheeky sense of humor, that mixed power pop and punk with some electronic dance friendly elements. Their latest single, "Looking," is still insanely dance friendly indie rock that borders on dance music, but it's a much more straightforward song than we're used to from the Boston band. It's also bordering on being a ballad if the beat wasn't just too fast. Plus, "Looking" has one of the catchiest melodies we've heard in a long time. Even if you don't know any words, you're going to end up humming it as you go about your day.
You can watch the video for "Looking" below. Fashion Show is due out April 1 on Red on Red Records. For more on Linnea's Garden, check out the band's website.
Market is the musical project of producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Nate Mendelsohn. The band's new single, "Scar," is a doozy. It starts off like a fairly normal song, or as normal as an indie rock meets glam rock song can be. And then "Scar" just cycles through genres. It has some elements of cowpunk, orchestral music, vocal harmonizing, and others. It reminds me of early Beck when his music had a more cut and paste feel to it and could wildly change sounds while still keeping the same song structure. This is a wonderfully weird and inventive song that even people who enjoy their music a little more straightforward will be able to enjoy.
Nate Mendelsohn says of the new song:
"'Scar' was written about a very turbulent month of my life where I was relaxing upstate with friends for a luxurious month making music, but also my grandma died, my relationship dissolved, and a tick bite put me in the hospital overnight on an IV. The resulting song is fever dream country punk: pretty but thorny, sturdy but anxious."
You can watch the video for "Scar" below. The Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong is due out April 29 on Western Vinyl, and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Market, check the band out on Bandcamp and Instagram.
Chances are we're going to cover most things Shakey Graves puts out, but if he's going to sing a duet with Sierra Ferrell we're definitely covering it. "Ready or Not" sounds like exactly what you'd expect a duet between Shakey Graves and Sierra Ferrell, but somehow better. The song sounds like a literal dream. It has this hazy, dreamlike quality to it not found in most folk/Americana... unless it's done by Shakey Graves. And then there is just the way that his voice and Ferrell's melt into each other. It's goosebump inducing to say the least. "Ready or Not" is as fun of a song as it is gorgeous. Buckle up and get ready to listen to this one!
You can listen to "Ready or Not" below. The song is available via Shakey Graves' Bandcamp. For more on Shakey Graves, check out the artist's website.
Fantastic Negrito is just one of those artists that's doing something that feels very familiar but also completely unique and refreshing at the same time. No one is quite doing the whole blues/roots thing quite like he is, and his new single goes even further into his own sound. "Highest Bidder" is still a roots and blues song, no question about that. But it's an amped up version of blues with a ton of funk and soul thrown in, enough to almost overtake the blues base. Fantastic Negrito has this fabulous power to turn the most important social issues into a party song, and "Highest Bidder" does just that.
Fantastic Negrito says of the new song:
“At the time, I was listening to a lot of African drum patterns, and that definitely influenced this song. I was trying to create the feeling of Africa but filtered through America. I think Taj Mahal talked about the idea of the 'gods of Africa meeting the ghosts of Mississippi,' and that’s what I was trying to embody with this song.”
You can watch the video for "Highest Bidder" below. White Jesus Black Problems is due out June 3 and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Fantastic Negrito, check out the artist's website.
Since George Michael's passing in 2016, I've been fairly surprised by how few covers of his songs I've come across. Sure, he was a pop artist, but even the least pop inclined of us can't help but appreciate how amazing Faith is. Sure it came out in 1987 when I was much, much more into top 40 music, but I still love that album unashamedly.
Natalia M. King has just released a cover of "One More Try," which is kind of the forgotten single from that album despite it being a #1 song. Her take on the song is a folky/bluesy rendition, and it's absolutely perfect. She nails the emotion of the original, and her voice is just one of those goosebump inducing voices that you'll feel in your soul. Seriously, I can't imagine a better solo folk/blues cover of a George Michael classic than this one. This song is absolutely perfect, and if you don't instantly love this you might want to get your pulse checked.
In a statement to The Bluegrass Situation, Natalia M. King says of the song:
“When ‘One More Try’ by George Michael came out back in 1988 I was an itty bitty youngster who could relate to the emotion of the song but not the experience. All I knew in listening to him and feeling him was that something hurt, and it hurt bad…I was moved by his sadness and his necessity to be released, to be ‘let go’ from a love that was no longer serving his life or his heart. It was later on in life that his words were given sense and meaning with the different births of intense experiences of loves lost and found and lost again. The fact that I was also searching to define my sexuality at the time was a plus! His interpretation was so feminine! I was sure he was gay! With all that said and done, and to simply boil it down: ‘One More Try’ felt right! The timing, the knowing, the experience. Today, as a liberated, experienced, sexual, and quite emotional woman, it was almost commonsensical, logical for me to interpret this song! On this album! In my bluesy-folk way!”
You can listen to Natalia M. King's version of "One More Try" below. Woman Mind of My Own is due out February 18 on Dixiefrog Records and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Natalia M. King, check out the artist's website.
We're huge fans of The Beths here, and I assume you are, too. The New Zealand band have this absolutely flawless mix of indie rock and indie pop. It reminds me a ton of some of my favorite mid 90's power pop, but amped up and bouncier, in the best possible way. They just released a new single, "A Real Thing," and it's exactly what we want from The Beths. It's filled with fuzzed out guitars and catchy hooks and is just a pure joy to listen to, despite its subject matter.
Liz Stokes explains the inspiration of her band's new song:
“‘A Real Thing’ is a kind of anxiety dream. It's a bit muddled, a bit frantic, a bit sinister. It's what came out of my guitar in late 2020, post NZ election (and U.S. election). I was limply reaching for optimism about the future, but was really just marinating in dread. In NZ people sometimes use tyres and cement to build retaining walls by the water, to try to stop the land being eroded away as the sea encroaches. It doesn't really work."
You can watch the video for "A Real Thing" below. The song is currently available as a single here. For more on The Beths, check out the band's website. Current tour dates are below the video.
Thu. Feb. 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Regent Theater (SOLD OUT)
We've been following Justin Golden for a number of years now. The Richmond, VA based artist has released a handful of singles and an EP over the past six or so years, but never a full album. That changes this year with the release of his debut album. The first single, "Ain't Just Luck," is that perfect pairing of folk and blues we love from Golden, but his sound gets tweaked just a little on the single. You still get Golden's honey smooth vocals that are truly the joy of listening to his music, but "Ain't Just Luck" brings a little more grit than we've heard from him before. This isn't quite dirty blues, but it's pretty close. Justin Golden has been kind of our little secret for too long, and if there is any justice 2022 is going to be a breakthrough year for him.
You can listen to "Ain't Just Luck" below. Hard Times and a Woman is due out April 15 and can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp. For more on Justin Golden, check out the artist's Facebook and Instagram.
We're pretty huge fans of David Wax Museum here at If It's Too Loud..., so we're obviously going to be excited that Suz Slezak has a new solo song out. "Take Me" is a gorgeous piano ballad with Slezak displaying more emotion than she ever has before. The song is about the birth of her first child and all of the emotions that involves. It really runs the gamut of every possible emotion, typically within the same line. It's such a beautiful and unique song that I hesitate to truly call it a piano ballad. You all have something very specific in mind when you hear the phrase "piano ballad," and I assure you "Take Me" sounds nothing like that.
On a Facebook post, Suz Slezak talks about her new single:
"I wrote 'Take Me' as an attempt to accept the circumstances surrounding the birth of my first child. Amongst my fellow moms-to-be, expectations around giving birth loom large, especially the pressure to have a 'natural' birth. I spent my first pregnancy lying down on the back of the tour van watching “gentle birth” videos on YouTube. These videos showed mothers in birthing tubs gently swaying, eyes closed, sometimes moaning quietly as the baby slipped out. Meanwhile, hugging my body pillow as we slogged along I-95, I dissolved into tears of joy at witnessing the miracle of life.
"When my 40-hour labor ended in an emergency c-section, my tears lasted for years, as I processed the disappointment and anger at myself for somehow believing in a birth that might be 'easy' and 'natural' just because I’d wished it so. The healing process was quite long for me, as I underwent the physical recovery from surgery, combined with feelings that I hadn’t tried hard enough or prepared well enough. Today I can see that the fact I toured throughout both my pregnancies was actually quite heroic. But it has taken nearly a decade. 'Take Me' is a statement of deep acceptance of myself, scars and all, and a recognition of the intense fear that can be involved in giving birth, despite our intentions to welcome the pain as we become a vessel for new life."
You can listen to "Take Me" below. Our Wings May Be Featherless is due out March 4 on Nine Mile Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Suz Slezak, check out David Wax Museum's website.
Birmingham, UK based First Frontier are a garage rock duo, but this isn't purely straightforward garage rock. Their latest single, "Edging," incorporates a lot more punk and post punk than you normally hear in garage rock. It's reminding me a lot of is bands like B-52's and DEVO decided they wanted to update their sound and go a little more rock than they normally do. It's a fast song that goes all out without really becoming heavy or hard rock. It goes at a frenetic pace that is far too rock to truly be any kind of pop.
In a press release, the band explains the meaning of the song:
"'EDGING' is a song about the frustration of trying to achieve something but never quite making it to where you want to be. That feeling when you’re expending energy, fuel, time, hope but every time you stop to check how far you’ve come, you’ve barely moved. This is a song for anybody who ever tried a thing and it didn’t work out as planned. It’s an ode to every plan gone awry, every dream tarnished, every attempt missed. And it’s an homage all of those people who get up, brush themselves off, and keep on trying."
You can listen to "Edging" below. The song will be included on First Frontier's debut EP. For more on First Frontier, check out the band's website.
Alyssa Gengos is another of the alt-pop artists that I've been really digging lately. Her latest single, "In the Real World," has this light and upbeat feel to it. It's a fun song, which is what pop music should be. Unlike most pop music, "In the Real World" is a fairly sparse and stripped down song that basically defines what is great about bedroom pop. Gengos sounds like a back to basics version of Lily Allen on this song, and who doesn't want something like that? Even if you're a fellow hater of anything that contains the word "pop," you're still going to love this song.
Alyssa Gengos says of her new single:
"After moving back in with my mother in Los Angeles during lockdown, I found myself retreating into the depths of my own mind, sifting through memories of adolescence and young adulthood and dreaming about what the future may hold. While there was some comfort in fantasy, I realized I was losing touch with reality. 'In the Real World' expresses my desire to be honest to myself about what’s worth my time and energy, and to put that into practice. That doesn’t only mean searching for the highs of life, though – accepting the harshness of reality is just as important. When I wrote this song, I was starting a new phase in my life, and I knew there was an opportunity to really dissect my childish, selfish mistakes from the previous phase. To me, a large part of maturity is learning how to deal with life’s consequences. 'In the Real World' is a plea to myself to be more honest, intentional, and self-aware, and to grow up while still holding onto that inner child."
You can watch the video for "In the Real World" below. Mechanical Sweetness is due out February 25 on Egghunt Records. For more on Alyssa Gengos, check out the artist's Facebook and Twitter.
