Mae Krell - "tooth fairy"

Photo by Alex Lyon

New York's Mae Krell has released a new single that combines indie/bedroom rock with soul. "tooth fairy" is a lo-fi version of soul. While the genre tends to usually be about big production and sound, "tooth fairy" is a stripped down and intimate version. DIY soul isn't a sound we're used to, so this one comes across as quite unique. Plus, just to keep the indie rock spirit alive, Krell adds some odd little unexpected flourishes which contributes to the original vibe of the track while it still sounds completely familiar.

Mae Krell says of her new single:

“I wrote it after I found out that someone who used to be my best friend moved to the city where I grew up. It felt like tearing open an old wound that I didn’t know I had, and also put me in a spot to question: if the chance were to arise, would I want to give them a second chance? That’s something I’m still trying to figure out.”

You can listen to "tooth fairy" below. For more on Mae Krell, check out the artist's website.

Elizabeth Moen - "Synthetic Fabrics"

Photo by Alexa Viscius

The latest from Chicago's Elizabeth Moen takes a few different sounds we cover quite a bit here but blends them up in a way we haven't heard before. "Synthetic Fabrics" has elements of indie rock, pop, soul, and garage rock. Moen's vocals are the obvious soul element, and they would be worth talking about alone. But "Synthetic Fabrics" has this truly odd and unique blend of jangly indie rock guitars that have a little garage crunch to them. Plus, she adds in horror movie strings and the whole thing seems to be playing at a speed it wasn't recorded at randomly. Not off by a lot, just a slight amount. It's one of the more unique sounds that doesn't quite match up with Moen's captivating vocal delivery that stops just short of being quirky.

Elizabeth Moen says of her upcoming album:

“This album is an accumulation of great friendships found through learning the hard way about love and other life lessons. It’s filled with good times, bad times, and lots of time spent on the road around the world to write it, make it, and afterwards figure out what to do with it. I’m so happy to finally share this record that embodies what making music means to me: connection and introspection.”

You can listen to "Synthetic Fabrics" below. Wherever You Aren't is due out November 11 and can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp. For more on Elizabeth Moen, check out the artist's website.

Margo Price - "Change of Heart"

Photo via Facebook

If you had told me that Margo Price was going to stray from her classic country sound, I would have been furious and refused to like any new music purely on principle. However, her new music and new sound is completely irresistible. "Change of Heart" is this funky rock and pop song with nary a hint of Price's typical country sound. If anything, "Change of Heart" is more New Wave influenced than country. To me this sounds like Tom Petty's early 80's dalliance into New Wave while keeping some classic rock and country roots intact. At this point, Margo Price can do literally no wrong, and I'll accept anything she wants to throw at me with glee.

You can watch the video for "Change of Heart" below. Strays is due out January 13 and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Margo Price, check out the artist's website.

Sweet Teeth - "Love Panic"

Everything you read about Sweden's Sweet Teeth (including right here on this site) is going to compare them to both Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr, but with good reason. Their latest single, "Love Panic," has that 90's alt-rock/power pop sound we love here. It has that melody meets crazy noise you find with Husker Du and the wall of guitar noise you get with Dinosaur Jr. This is that absolutely perfect mix of catchy and noisy that pretty much hits all of my music fandom buttons. If that's your kind of thing, too, you're going to adore "Love Panic."

Sweeth Teeth say of the new album:

”'Love panic' is by far the most powerpoppy song we’ve ever written, I’m not sure if we’ll ever do one like this again. The lyrics are about classic first date nerves and all the anxiety and joy that love brings, hence the title. It’s influenced by late ’80s and early ’90s alternative rock; from the Sonic Youth-inspired intro, to the line of text saying 'whatever’s cool with me.'"

You can watch the video for "Love Panic" below. High Anxiety is due out October 14 on Lovely Records. For more on Sweet Teeth, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram.

Sierra Ferrell Covers Neil Young

In the two or so years since I discovered Sierra Ferrell, she's become an absolute master of cover songs, which we definitely appreciate. Her latest is a cover of Neil Young's iconic "Harvest Moon" recorded for The Hippie Shake. It's just Ferrell and her guitar on the song, and it's basically perfect. Sure, "Harvest Moon" is probably Young's most covered and obvious song choice, but if you asked me what song Ferrell should cover of his, I'd choose this one. Ferrell makes it just a little bit more country (but that could just be her voice) and adds a little bit of whimsy to the song. It's one of Young's more hopeful and lovely songs, and it's just a perfect one for Ferrell to take a shot at, and she obviously knocks this one out of the park.

You can watch Sierra Ferrell's version of "Harvest Moon" below. For more on Sierra Ferrell, check out the artist's website.

Live Shows: Tysk Tysk Task, Burp, and Oahk, The Valley, Lowell, MA 9/17/22

I can't say I'm a fan of basement shows. I like the DIY feel enough, but basement shows are usually a young crowd. Considering The Valley is in the UMASS Lowell neighborhood, it was going to be a very young crowd, and it was. (Pretty sure I was at least ten years older than the second oldest people there, and that's only counting the bands.) But when it's Tysk Tysk Task's album release show, I knew I needed to be the grandpa in the room and be there.

Oahk came down from central New Hampshire to open the show. Oahk is Bryan Ziolkowski playing guitar and vocals with samples. It's a very drone heavy and noisy affair, but there is such beauty in it. I liked Oahk's album Husks when it was released back in July, but I loved the live performance. The music moved between simple beauty and just a wall of drone and samples without ever losing any of the beauty no matter how brutal the song may have sounded. This is an artist we'll be keeping a close eye on here in the future.

Burp came on next, and I believe this is the third time I've seen the Lowell band play with Tysk Tysk Task this year. No other band makes me feel as old as these guys while I'm still enjoying the music. They opened with their hit song "My Back Hurts" by announcing it was about their balls. Yes, I'm way too old for this, but it's just dumb fun. As always, they reminded me of early, obnoxious Blink-182 (and I mean that as a compliment) with some noise/art-rock influences. They busted out their crowd pleasing and moshpit inducing cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic," and also played a second cover, which may have been Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away" is my Googling was correct. I'm sure I'll be the old uncle type guy standing over on the side at another one of their shows soon enough.

Tysk Tysk Task closed out the night with a mesmerizing performance. I've seen them an embarrassing amount of times since April of this year, but Saturday night's show in Lowell was just next level. Playing as a three piece with Ellis Roundy of The PA's (and producer of You're Sorry More) on bass, the band played their just released album track by track. As someone lucky enough to have received an advanced copy, Tysk Tysk Task brought their album to life in such unexpected ways. Partly because the band had made the little basement their own with strings of lights, fake vines, and Bambi projected behind them, this was a band truly coming into their own. Samantha Hartsel and Danni Gannon played with a joy I haven't seen from the duo before. The double shot of "Working On It" and "Working It Out" is always my favorite, but "Flies" was the song of the night. I dare you to find three songs so intense with aggression yet so stunningly beautiful. When they closed with an emotional version of "On My Own," the basement got quite dusty for just about everyone in attendance. 

Crow Follow - "Iron Bottom Sound"

Photo by Kelly Davidson Studio

After hearing "Indiana Line," Crow Follow's previous single, the most surprising is how (almost) mainstream "Iron Bottom Sound" is. The new song is decidedly "low rock," the genre introduced to most of us by fellow Boston band Morphine. "Iron Bottom Sound" is a jazzy and bluesy song that isn't really alt-rock, but back in the 90's we called everything "alternative" so that's what we'll go with here. The song is mostly vocals and groovy guitar, but it is truly propelled forward by horns. They're used sparingly so that they really suck you in when they are used. "Iron Bottom Sound" might not grab you at first, but if you stick with it, by the end it's going to weasel its way into your soul.

Agent Judy says of the new song:

“It's about the music scene, going out, playing out; the underneath places where local music tends to be. It’s about seeking out the scene. Looking for those badass women playing amazing rock. We have role models amongst them too numerous to name.”

You can listen to "Iron Bottom Sound" below. Red Velvet Radio is due out September 30. For more on Crow Follow, check out the band's website.

Leatherette - "Sunbathing"

Photo by Maicol Guidetti

Leatherette make the kind of post punk that doesn't forget that it's punk. The Italian band's latest single, "Sunbathing," is a jagged buzzsaw of a song. It clocks in at under two minutes, but it isn't nearly as fast as a two minute punk song typically is. Instead, the aggression comes from singer/guitarist Michele's vocals and the wall of noise emanating from the guitar. It's oddly tuneful except for the wail unsuccessfully hiding in the background. This is going to remind a lot of people of contemporary artists like Shame and classic ones like Rites of Spring. "Sunbathing" is an interesting song and a killer way to discover Leatherette.

The band says of their new single:

"'Sunbathing' was almost born as a joke, it came out of nowhere. We wanted to write a happy cheesy pop song and then completely destroy it from within".

You can listen to "Sunbathing" below. Fiesta is due out October 21 on Bronson Recordings and can be pre-ordered over at Bandcamp. For more on Leatherette, check out the band's Facebook and Instagram.

New Junk City - "High Contrast"

Atlanta based alt-punks New Junk City first came to our attention with "Rosey" which was described as a cross between The Lemonheads and Gin Blossoms. They're back with a new single which leans much more into the punk side of their sound. "High Contrast" is pretty much straight up pop punk and maybe even emo. This one sounds like a cross between The Get Up Kids and Rebuilder. It's a slick, high energy song with duo vocals on the choruses. Not quite gang vocals, but heading that way. It's a positive sounding song, which makes sense considering it's about focusing on the positive things in life.

You can listen to "High Contrast" below. New Junk City will be releasing an album in on October 21 via A-F Records. The album can be pre-ordered here. For more on New Junk City, check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Mightmare - "Enemy"

Photo by Jillian Clark

Mightmare, Sarah Shook's dark pop/indie rock project, has a new single we can check out. As with previous singles, "Enemy" is a complete change of musical direction that we're used to from Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. This is a dark and brooding song that somehow still ends up being more than a little bit pop. There's an interesting 90's alt-rock goes goth and modern alt-pop vibe with "Enemy." We've been huge fans of the Disarmers and everything they've put out, and while this is completely different it's great to see an artist like Sarah Shook branch out into an entirely new sound, especially when it's this great.

Sarah Shook says of their new song:

“When I started working on ‘Enemy’ I was thinking about how people can be so vindictive during breakups and how pointless it is. It got me wondering if a breakup somehow triggers something deeper in us psychologically, like a fundamental fear of being forgotten or something.  And by the time I finished it I was missing all my childhood friends and all the people I've lost along the way.”

You can watch the video for "Enemy" below. Cruel Liars is due out October 14 on Kill Rock Stars. The album can be pre-saved/pre-ordered here. For more on Mightmare, check out the project's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.

October 19 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
October 20 – Atlanta, GA – 529
October 21 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room
October 22 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
October 23 – Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light
October 24 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Café
October 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café
October 27 – Cincinnati, OH – Southgate House Revival
October 28 – Urbana, IL – Rose Bowl Tavern
October 29 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
October 30 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle