London punk rockers Femegades have released a new single about how men see women as objects they can obtain, and imagines a world where women walk around wearing price tags. "What Is Yours Is Mine" is a rocker more along the lines of 90's alt-rock with a punk edge. I'm hearing a little bit of The Donnas and Veruca Salt but with the more scathing and metal side of L7. It's a loud and heavy rock song, but it has a more mainstream leaning side to it as well. It's the kind of song a lot of lunkheads could end up rocking out to if they don't pay attention to the lyrics very closely.
You can listen to "What Is Yours Is Mine" below. The single is out now via Regent Street Records, and can be downloaded through Bandcamp. For more on Femegades, check out the band's website.
For the second single off Marnie Stern's first album in years, Stern decided to get a little strange. Despite being a guitar heavy song, "Believing Is Seeing" isn't anything like what you'd expect from a guitar rocker. There's some interesting hip hop and pop elements, and there are some throwbacks to the blanket term of "alternative" that we used in the 90's for anything that wasn't pure pop. "Believing Is Seeing" may not be an easy track to categorize, but there is plenty of Stern's famous (and fantastic!) finger tapping guitar style for die hard fans to enjoy.
Marnie Stern says of her new single:
“‘Believing Is Seeing’ is about trying to build a world of music through different sounds, and how you can create your own cohesive universe through these sounds.”
You can watch the video for "Believing Is Seeing" below. The Comeback Kid is due out November 3 on Joyful Noise Recordings, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Marnie Stern, check out the artist on Facebook and Instagram.
The music of Robert Finley tends to be classic and timeless, but his latest exemplifies that statement' "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" is a slow soul and blues jam that sounds like it could have been released anytime in the past sixty years. The only factor that shows it's a more modern song is that you can hear all sixty-nine of Finley's years in his voice. That isn't meant as a negative, as the grit in his vocals just adds to the mood of the song. We tend to go a little nuts over neo-soul here at If It's Too Loud... if it's done right, and no one is doing it better than Robert Finley.
Robert Finley says of his new single:
“This song is about the many people who have been forgotten. Their kids drop them off and go with their lives. I go down occasionally and perform at the old folks home in Bernice. Just take my guitar and play for thirty minutes or so, try to get them to dance, try to bring some joy to them.”
You can watch the video for "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" below. Black Bayou is due out October 27 via Easy Eye Sound, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Robert Finley, check out the artist's website.
As someone who is growing to accept a love of pop punk, Teenage Halloween are an ideal band. The New Jersey quartet combine power-pop with their pop punk, with more than a little indie rock thrown in. Their latest single, "Armageddon Now," is undeniably catchy, but this is pop punk with grit. As melodic as the song may be, the pop-punk polish is being applied to an edgy and noisy rock song. It also has one of the best punk rock breakdowns of the year. "Armageddon Now" is a bouncy punk song filled with as much attitude as harmony, plus a surprisingly great guitar solo helps close out the song.
You can watch the video for "Armageddon Now" below. The video stars members of the "Queer Punk Wrestlers," and is a must watch. Till You Return is due out October 20 on Don Giovanni Records, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Teenage Halloween, check out the band on Instagram and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
10/20/2023 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Ukie Club
10/21/2023 - Lake Como, NJ @ Salty's
10/22/2023 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
10/27/2023 - Hamden, CT @ The Shop 10/28/2023 - Portsmouth, NH @ WSCA Radio 10/29/2023 - Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts 10/31/2023 - Charlotte, NC @ The Evening Muse # 11/01/2023 - Boone, NC @ Lily's * 11/02/2023 - Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway * 11/03/2023 - Chattanooga, TN @ The Dark Roast * 11/04/2023 - Atlanta, GA @ Ideal Sportsbar * # 11/05/2023 - New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa # 11/07/2023 - Houston, TX @ Eighteen Ten Ojeman # 11/08/2023 - Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room # 11/09/2023 - San Antonio, TX @ Snake Hill Social Club # 11/10/2023 - El Paso, TX @ Old Sheepdog Brewery # 11/11/2023 - Santa Fe NM @ Ghost # 11/14/2023 - Phoenix, AZ @ El Oasis At El Noche # 11/15/2023 - Las Vegas, NV @ Sand Dollar Lounge # 11/16/2023 - San Diego, CA @ Kensington Club # 11/17/2023 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell # 11/18/2023 - Berkeley, CA @ 924 Gilman # 11/19/2023 - Sacramento CA @ The Starlet Room # 11/21/2023 - Portland, OR @ PICA 11/22/2023 - Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project 11/23/2023 - Vancouver, BC @ Green Auto 11/24/2023 - Boise, ID @ Shrine Basement 11/25/2023 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Beehive 11/26/2023 - Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive 11/28/2023 - Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge 11/29/2023 - Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel 11/30/2023 - St Louis, MO @ TBA 12/01/2023 - Chicago, IL @ TBA 12/02/2023 - Milwaukee ,WI @ TBA 12/03/2023 - Bloomington, IL @ TBA 12/05/2023 - Indianapolis, IN @ Healer 12/06/2023 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Tavern 12/07/2023 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop 12/08/2023 - Detroit, MI @ Lager House 12/09/2023 - Washington, DC @ Quarry House Tavern
Dark electronic Boston based duo Ex-Hyena recently released a new single that encapsulates everything we enjoy about them. "In Slow Motion" has that perfect goth sound we expect from Ex-Hyena. It's that perfect mid-tempo song that just revels in how moody it is. "In Slow Motion" is not a cheery song at all. It's dark, and a little disturbing, but you're still going to want to dance to it. Maybe I just have Drab Majesty on the mind after seeing them a few nights ago, but this one is giving me Drab Majesty meets early Depeche Mode and Ministry vibes. It's an endlessly compelling song that just gets more and more addicting the longer you listen.
You can listen to "In Slow Motion" below. The song is currently available via Re:Mission Entertainment, and can be downloaded through Bandcamp. For more on Ex-Hyena, check out the band on Instagram and Facebook.
Daneshevskaya, aka the songwriting project of NYC preschool social worker Anna Deneshevskaya Beckerman, just released a new single, and it's something you need to check out immediately. "Challenger Deep" is a stunning, dreamlike song that is both lush and sparse. It's a simple song that focuses on Beckerman's vocals and harmonies, and it's not like we could pay attention to much else in this one. The song is simply gorgeous and feels like your favorite children's stories did when you were a kid, despite this song not being childlike at all. "Challenger Deep" is such a simple and beautiful song, despite it being quite complex.
Daneshevskaya says of her new single:
“There’s a story I read to the kids that I work with about how, when you say goodbye to someone, there’s an invisible string that connects you. My version of that is seeing someone at the end. Even if it is pretend, it’s a nice idea.”
You can watch the video for "Challenger Deep" below. Long is the Tunnel is due out November 10 on Winspear, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Daneshevskaya, check out the artist on Instagram and Twitter.
2023 seems to be the year of finally seeing bands I've been a fan of for decades but have just never seen. The latest on that list was Slowdive. The shoegaze legends played a show earlier this week at the House of Blues that sold out almost instantaneously. It was a strange night on Lansdowne St, with lines for Slowdive and Boygenius all the way down the street to Brookline Ave. The wait to get into the venue felt as long as my wait to see Slowdive, so would it be worth the wait?
Simply put... yes. And then some. Slowdive have been doing this for a long time, and they have mastered their genre and performing live. It's kind of a joke that shoegaze bands are boring live since they don't put on any show besides just standing there. Anyone who has ever told that joke has never seen Slowdive. Sure, they didn't jump around on stage, but they had the all ages crowd in the palm of their hand as soon as they played their first note. Singer Rachel Goswell stated that the crowd was quiet after their second song. It was because we were all enraptured and waiting for more.
Despite just releasing the stellar everything is alive earlier this month, Slowdive mostly stuck with the classics. They did play four songs from the new album, but a song like "prayers remembered" fit in seemlessly with the long beloved songs. Despite being a fan for decades, I felt like a casual fan or a poseur at this show, as the House of Blues was packed with two thousand plus absolute die hards. What was shocking to me was how young so many of the most vocal fans were. By the time "When teh Sun Hits" came around, the crowd went absolutely nuts and had more cell phones out than I've seen at a Paul McCartney show. Teenagers in Slowdive shirts screamed along to every word, and I don't think I've been able to memorize a single word for Slowdive in the twenty plus years I've been listening. One fan screamed out "This is the best night of my life!" between songs, and judging on the reaction of the crowd, a lot of them shared his feelings.
Drab Majesty opened the show. They're a band I know more by name, but they might have been the perfect style of band to open the show. Playing as a duo with guitar and keyboards, they combine shoegaze with a more New Wave style heavy on synths. They were teeth shaking loud, and I have no idea how anyone not wearing earplugs dealt with the sheer volume. They had a My Bloody Valentine meets The Human League thing going on, which is a sound that worked shockingly well. They definitely brought their own fanbase to the House of Blues Monday night, and no one was left disappointed by their opening set.
Summer Set have one of the most familiar and most unique sounds in all of indie rock. Their new single, "Favorite Places," has this laid back mix of 90's indie rock meets 00's indie sleaze. It's almost impossibly groovy and noisy, but totally chill. There's also a nearly shocking amount of twang for an indie rock song. It's kind of like the laid back slacker indie rock of Pavement, the psychedelic groove of The Dandy Warhols, and the period just as Wilco was moving from alt-country to a more indie rock sound. "Favorite Places" is cool as hell, and you're going to want to jump right on the Summer Set bandwagon with us.
You can listen to "Favorite Places" below. Summer Set's self-titled album is due out November 3 on Fort Lowell Records, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp. For more on Summer Set, check out the band on Bandcamp.
If you're of a certain age, or a certain mindset, you're going to check out anything that is put out by Dischord Records. The legendary DC label has yet to put out anything bad. Their releases are at the very least interesting.
The latest from Dischord is Light Beams. The Washington D.C. band just released "Coming Our Way," which is one of the most exciting releases in the world of punk in quite some time. Punk can be very rigid, but Light Beams blow the doors off the rules of punk while still being solidly punk. Their press release calls them a "post-dance-punk band," and that sums up a song like "Coming Our Way." I'm not exactly sure if they mean it combines dance punk with post-punk, or if it's what comes after dance punk, but either way that describes this song.
Justin Wm. Moyer (vocalist/bandleader) describes the story behind the new single, which involves his daughter surviving a school shooting:
“I was in my backyard about to pick up my daughter at school one day when I heard what sounded like machine-gun fire. I didn’t think much of it – D.C. is filled with loud sounds. A few minutes later, my daughter called and said someone was shooting at her school. I tried to explain that the city is filled with sounds and that no one was targeting her school. As later became clear, I was really, really wrong: for reasons that still haven’t been explained, a person set up a 'sniper’s nest' at an apartment across from her school and fired, striking a student and a security guard, among others. No one was killed but the sniper, who died by suicide.
"Once I got to the school to pick my daughter up, I entered a sort of fugue state. I didn’t understand the severity of the incident and started sending pictures and 'feeds' – little bits of reporting – to my editor. Meanwhile, my daughter was stuck behind a police barricade taking shelter in a CVS. But she seemed safe, so I kept wandering around in a journalistic capacity, trying to figure out what happened so I could help my colleagues write a story about it. After about an hour, I was like: ‘I guess I should, y’know, find my child.’ So I found a way around the police barricade and retrieved my daughter from the CVS to which she had fled.”
You can watch the video for "Coming Our Way" below. Wild Life is due out November 3 on Dischord Records and Mud Memory Records, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Light Beams, check out the band on Instagram and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Boston's finest "soft punk" artist is set to release her debut album! TIFFY (aka Tiffany Sammy) just released a single from the album, and "Don't Take It Personally" helps define the "soft punk" genre. The new single is a cheery pop song with all of the melody and upbeat cheeriness you would expect from a pop song. But there is an unmistakable punk edge to the song, particularly in some unexpected dissonance that lurks throughout the entire song. TIFFY has a very DIY feel to her music despite a song like "Don't Take It Personally." But that's what makes TIFFY such a special artist that won't be our little secret much longer.
You can watch the video for "Don't Take It Personally" below. So Serious is due out November 3 on Totally Real Records/Dollhouse Lightning. For more on TIFFY, check out the artist on Facebook and Instagram. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
Sat 11/4 - Loading Dock Littleton, NH
Thu 11/9 - Nova Arts Keene, NH
Fri 11/10 - Deep Cuts Medford, MA / Boston
Sat 11/11 - bkONE Tom Kane Theater/Industry City Brooklyn, NY
Fri 11/17 - WSCA Portsmouth, NH
Sat 11/18 - News Cafe Providence, RI
