If It's Too Loud...

Another busy week as we race toward the end of the year... Album of the Week : Artist : Common Holly Album : Playing House Quick Description : Surprising alt-rockish debut. Why You Should Listen : You're fully and completely enjoying this Overall Thoughts : Album of the week for me and it wasn’t really close. I thought this would be a gentle folky thing from the limited pieces I heard, but it turns out this has a lot of interesting musical wrinkles throughout. Sometimes it’s alt-rock, sometimes it’s some interesting indie pop, but it always kept me on my toes in the best possible way. The album had me saying wow within the first track, and I was hooked by the third. This one is a late surprise entry in the best albums race, and worth your time. Recommendation : You need to hear this Artist : Dr. Quandary Album : Jukebox Buddha Quick Description : Solid, old-style electronic music. Why You Should Listen : You grew up in the midst of the electronica explosion. Ove...

Photo by Cal Quin The latest single from Ruby Boots pounds some of our favorite genres into a single cohesive song. "It's So Cruel"  has the chugging guitars, beat, and attitude of the whole indie rock/garage rock sound. Plus, it's has the grooviness of the 60's go-go boots era personified by Nancy Sinatra and the glam of T-Rex. The whole thing is wrapped up in the twang of outlaw country. And those are just the obvious elements. While blending this many genres into a solitary song might create a listening disaster, this is far from what happens with "It's So Cruel." Instead, Ruby Boots has created what might be the coolest song you've heard in years. Not to mention that she's originally from Australia and now resides in Nashville, which might be the two greatest places for a musical artist to call home. You can watch the video for "It's So Cruel" below. Ruby Boots' Blooshot Records debut, Don't Talk About It,  wil...

Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It's the only time of the year when visiting old cemeteries isn't "weird." It's "festive." That also means it's time for our annual Halloween playlist. Every year we try to avoid the usual "Monster Mash" and "Thriller," and instead bring you a playlist reflective of the kind of music we listen to all year round. We have classic alternative (Beat Happening, Dinosaur Jr, Tori Amos), neo-folk/country (Jason Isbell, David Wax Museum, Marlon Williams), classic rock (Bob Dylan, The Jam), some hip hop (Ghostface Killah, Swet Shop Boys), old school punk (The Cramps, Dead Milkmen, Ramones), and even some metal with Dead Cross. At just over two hours, it's perfect for Halloween parties, to put on during trick or treating, or to play during work to drown out your co-workers playing "Wereworlf of London." Happy Halloween!

Since starting this blog, there have been two things I've been unabashed in my love for: Free music and Lydia Loveless. My two loves have finally joined together with Boy Crazy and Single(s) Sneak Peak , yet another offering of free music via NoiseTrade. It's a sampler of the just released Boy Crazy and Single(s) collection, which was comprised of the five song Boy Crazy EP along with six non-album singles and B-sides. The sneak peak contains five of the eleven songs on the full compilation, and they definitely didn't skimp on what you get for free. Included in the sampler are "Boy Crazy," which have been the band's legendary closer for years and her cover of Elvis Costello's "Alison." If you haven't listened to us and picked up Boy Crazy and Single(s) , this should convince you. You can download your own copy of Boy Crazy and Single(s) Sneak Peak  for free now at NoiseTrade . You can get your own copy of Boy Crazy and Single(s) via Blood...

I love riot grrrl bands far more than any man in his 40s should, and I'm thrilled at this current resurgence of the sound of my college years retooled for the current generation. My most recent discovery is London's Dream Nails, who describe them selves as "feminist punk witches." With that description, how are you not going to love them? Their latest single, "Tourist," is "...  about men who present themselves as a hero but all they really want to do is fetishise sad girls, make them emotionally attached and then abuse that power. We can smell those guys a mile away and they’re creepy," according to frontwoman Janey Starling. Their sound is similar to Bikini Kill, but nowhere near as aggressive, but instead with a little bit of fun. It's kind of like Bikini Kill meets Bis.  You can listen to "Tourist" below. Dream Girls' debut EP, Dare to Care , will be out tomorrow, October 27. For more on Dream Girls, follow them on Faceboo...

Hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, The Persian Leaps have been an early favorite of If It's Too Loud... They have this great jangly guitar pop sound that we've compared to The Afghan Whigs and The Sheila Divine in the past. The band is back with a new EP, Bicycle Face, which may be their best to date. The Persian Leaps haven't changed their sound on Bicycle Face. Instead they've perfected it. Bicycle Face  is a collection of five incredibly tight indie rock pop songs. It reminds me a ton of the mid 90's when fuzzed out guitars and catchy as hell hooks were all the rage of 120 Minutes. The EP's opener, "Picture My Reaction," is this indie rock anthem that shoots for arenas with it's pure size and force. "Even Less" could secretly be an outtake from Superdrag's Regretfully Yours.  You can listen to "Picture My Reaction" below. Bicycle Face is available now on Land Ski Records. You can get your own copy over at Bandcamp . ...

A slower week, but an abbreviated post given my schedule blowing up again. The Plan - Nervous Energy : This is a different one, for sure. The Plan is absolutely going the strange, stilted indie rock route with this, and the returns are interesting in and of themselves. I can’t say for sure whether I liked it, but this is an album of odd song structures and challenging listens. I didn’t love it on first listen, but this is absolutely an album I want to revisit. I recommend giving it a shot, especially in a slower week. Various Artists - Tegan and Sara Present The Con X : A tribute/covers record of Tegan and Sara’s The Con . It’s not my favorite T&S record at all, and my familiarity with the songs has deteriorated with time. The versions here? As with any album like this, it’s hit-or-miss. Some interesting takes, other ones that just don’t work. Take what you like and leave the rest, I think. Dori Freeman - Letters Never Read : We enjoyed Dori Freeman’s previous record,...

Photo via Facebook Leonard Cohen wrote "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" about a real woman who was forced to give up her child because she gave birth out of wedlock in 1960's Ontario. Because of this, she took her own life with a gun. Ruby Rose Fox covered the song as a response the mass shooting that took place during a Las Vegas country music festival. Since she recorded her version of the song and its release, it has also gained new significance with the #metoo movement of women sharing their personal stories of sexual assault and harassment to show just how wide spread it is. Ruby Rose Fox's version of "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" and the accompanying video is haunting. It's haunting to the point that I'm hesitant to use that term since it doesn't feel strong enough. There is an occasional use of a whispered backing vocal that will just chill you to the core. The song, although beautiful, isn't a pleasant listen by any means. But that's...

Photo via Facebook Any regular reader of If It's Too Loud... will know that I'm fairly obsessed with Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys. One of my other favorite things is exploring abandoned places. The Live From Nowhere video series pairs bands performing live with abandoned locations. In the greatest news of the week, Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys have recorded a video for Live From Nowhere . They wrote a new song just for the space, which is an abandoned (and possibly haunted) movie theater. "Animals Like Me" is a creepy intense slow burn of a song, and the accompanying video just adds to the vibe of the song. It's intensely lit with perfect use of shadows, plus it's shot like the viewer is creeping around, spying in on the private performance. You can watch the video for "Animals Like Me" below. To find out more about Live From Nowhere , check out their Facebook page . For more on Walter Sickert & The Army of B...

We haven't brought you a Friday Freebie for far too long, but, luckily, today's is a great one. As I'm sure you're all aware, Belly is back after a 20+ year break. They are currently working on new material and have started a PledgeMusic for fans to pre-order their upcoming new album, but for right now Tanya Donelly and company are giving out a four song sampler of live material and rarities. Out of the four songs, the only live one is "Dusted." The rarities are absolutely fantastic and must haves for any fan of Belly. The first two are from the 90's glory days of film soundtracks: "Thief" was originally from the Tank Girl  soundtrack and "Spaceman" came from the Twister soundtrack, which I guess was a thing? The final song on Belly Noise  is the absolute must have. It's a cover of "Trust In Me (The Python's Song)" from Disney's The Jungle Book.  You can get your own copy of Belly Noise right now over at NoiseT...

Forgotten Fridays is an occasional feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. We go back and remind you of their existence, and help decide if they were any good. Oh, the mid 1990's. It was the glory days of the compilation album, where labels would just throw a bunch of bands on a cd, knowing that as long as you liked two or three of the bands, you'd but the entire album since there was no way you'd ever have any other way to get a copy of the exclusive songs. One of their favorite ways to put one of these together was a tribute album. You'd get a bunch of bands that would usually never be associated together, often covering an artist you'd never expect.  One of these tribute albums was Twisted Willie , which is a mostly alternative tribute to Willie Nelson. Including Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings ...

My gushing fandom of The Dead Milkmen has been well documented here at If It's Too Loud..., so I'm obviously thrilled that this week saw the release of a new EP, Welcome to the End of the World. One of the biggest changes with The Dead Milkmen since their return has been their move away from "joke" songs. Hits like "Punk Rock Girl" and "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything)" always had them unfairly labelled as a novelty band by some. Their newer material, while still including a biting sense of humor and social satire, could never be called novelty music. Which leads the newer material to be more traditionally punk than the classic material. While most bands, especially punk bands, tend to get slower, quieter, and more melodic as they age, The Dead Milkmen are getting louder. One of my favorite style of songs that The Dead Milkmen have always done are gleeful songs about horrible things. The EP's title track, "Welcome to the...

Whenever a show I'm planning on attending gets cancelled, I always end up with a feeling of panic and a need to find another show to fill the void. After Jessica Lea Mayfield cancelled her tour and show this week at Great Scott, I started scouring the listings to see what else I could attend. Once I saw that blog favorite Weakened Friends had been added to the already tempting Monday night show for The Courtneys, I knew that would be the one.  This was my third time seeing Weakened Friends in a little over a year, and their live shows keep getting better. I wouldn't say it's because they're getting tighter as a band. They are a bit, but they're still just sloppy enough to be completely charming. "Miserable" and "Main Bitch" are still complete highlights of any set, with new song "Hate Mail" soon to be a much beloved addition, even without J Mascis on the live version. Weakened Friends seem to be having a blast when playing, particul...

We're officially two weeks away from Halloween, so it's time for bands to start releasing special Halloween songs. Chicago's The Flat Five have presented us with a version of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," set to music. Instead of merely reading the classic poem with some moody music in the background, The Flat Five have turned it into a swinging, groovy song. This is the kind of song that would have been a huge megahit in 96-97 when retro cool was all the rage. It has the strangest vibe to it where it somehow feels like swing, beatnik, and something out of the 60's Batman show all at the same time. Odds are that this won't be the next "Monster Mash," but it's a ton of fun. You can listen to The Flat Five's version of "The Raven" below. The single is available now via Bloodshot Records. You can get a physical copy here , or a digital version through Bandcamp . For more on The Flat Five, check out their website . The Rav...

My time management was really, really poor this weekend from a blogging standpoint. I watched three crappy movies and an awesome one in It Follows (which has a killer soundtrack/score, by the way) instead of doing the requisite stuff for First Listen this week. Please forgive me, especially given as there's 20-something new releases out there this week. HIGHLIGHTS : Melkbelly - Nothing Valley : Latest entry in the female-fronted alt-rock thing, but really deserves your time. Shades of Dinosaur Jr here, easily my favorite release of the week. William Hut and Gisli - 22 : His best solo effort (duo, really) in a long time, and is the closest to classic Poor Rich Ones we’ve seen in a long time on his half. The Gisli half is gorgeous in entirely different ways, but both are worth it. Jeffrey Martin - One Go Around : Solid roots music, lots to love here. Stars – There is No Love in Fluorescent Light : Best Stars album in 15 years, and a return to form for a band that’s bee...

Based in Chicago and released on a French record label, Dan Rico's latest 7" is pure 70's power pop joy. "Flesh & Bone" is heavily influenced by T-Rex, which is always a good thing. In fact, it could pass as a long lost T-Rex outtake. It's a mid-tempo groove with swagger to spare.  The b-side, "Gold Volvo," is another fantastic song. It's a ballad, but has an odd Prince meets Big Star feel to it. You get that hyped up Prince vibe mixed with the sweetness of a song like "Thirteen." This might sound like an odd mixture, but it's fairly perfect. There's also a digital bonus track. "Anyway You Want Me" is another ballad, this one squarely in the Cheap Trick/Big Star side of things. You can listen to "Flesh & Bone" below. The 7" is available now via Shit In Can Records. You can get your own copy at Bandcamp . For more on Dan Rico, check him out on Facebook .

Even though I consider myself a pretty die hard Bowie fan, I really know very little about how his music came to be. I know some of the names of his collaborators, but I don't know what they did. I always had the assumption that everything was David Bowie and he more or less defined how everything sounded. That's why Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story  was such a revelation for me. Mick Ronson wasn't with David Bowie from the very start, but as the guitarist for the Spiders from Mars, his influence was wildly important to Bowie. Every so often the film seems like it is veering towards telling the story of David Bowie, but the director avoids this and truly tells the story of Mick Ronson, only using Bowie as background and context. It shows how Ronson helped turn Bowie into a true rock star, by bringing a heavier, more rock n roll sound into his music. Ronson arranged a lot of the strings on Bowie's music, and even though Bowie was credited as the producer of Lou ...

Following up on 2013's Spare Parts , John Davis (formerly of Folk Implosion) is about to release a new album under the name John Davis & The Cicadas. This one is a concept album about "...  corporate corruption in the food industry and related issues like (im)migration, mass incarceration, public health, and the stock market." Most of the songs were written back in 2010 and 2012 but were recently recorded in North Carolina where Davis now works as a public school teacher. One of the songs we can now hear, "Contamination In the Grass," is about how society disregards the soil we count on for so much of our needs. It's a moody song that is synth heavy while still feeling rootsy. Concept albums can go horribly wrong, but this one could end up being interesting based on "Contamination In the Grass" and "HFCS." You can listen to "Contamination In the Grass" below. John Davis & The Cicadas' new album, El Pulpo , will b...

Way back in 2011, Mr. Lif was invited to play the Seattle Folk Festival. (It might seem like an odd venue for him, but for those of us who've been following Mr. Lif for a while, it makes perfect sense. Also, how aren't more folk festivals booking hip hop artists by now?) He didn't have a backing band, so he was paired up with Brass Menazeri, San Francisco's original Balkan Brass Band. It went so well that they've all joined up for an album coming out next month. "Crypt of Lost Styles" is virtually perfect. For decades, hip hop artists have been sampling horns, and now Mr. Lif has the energy of a live brass section behind him. It's a sound that's completely obvious in how perfect it all melds, but hasn't really been done before. It's pure old school hip hop through this glorious new prism that feels familiar even though it's completely fresh. You can listen to "Crypt of Lost Styles" below. Mr. Lif & Brass Menazeri...

The rest for the week: Artist : Cults Album : Offering Quick Description : Latest from the buzzy reverb rockers. Why You Should Listen : Cults has made enough of a splash that they're worth a listen. Overall Thoughts : Everyone knows "Go Outside," but this third album moves in a bit more of a poppy direction for them, and it works in the sense that they absolutely have hit their stride as a band, but this is a sound that hasn't quite stayed as relevant as one might expect. I feel like I'm damning this with faint praise, but this album is just good, but not essential in a busy week. Recommendation : Perhaps a fans-only affair. Artist : Liam Gallagher Album : As You Were Quick Description : Former Oasis frontman with his debut solo effort. Why You Should Listen : You really liked Oasis. Overall Thoughts : This is an okay album. It's not good, it's not bad. But Liam will always be compared to Noel, and we have a High Flying Birds record comi...

Rhode Island has quietly become a haven for a roots music revival. I recently stumbled across The Low Cards, yet another great Americana/roots/folk artist from RI and their new song, "Suffer."  "Suffer" isn't the quiet, acoustic singer-songwriter side of the current neo-folk revival. It's a dirty, noisy blues based sound, like if early White Stripes lived down in a swamp and not Detroit. This isn't pretty music, but that's kind of the point. It's an amped up early rock n roll with a modern slant. Even if you cringe at the current crop of bands labelled "folk," you're going to love this song. You can listen to "Suffer" below. To get your own digital copy, head over to The Low Cards' Bandcamp . For more on The Low Cards, check out their website .  Suffer by The Low Cards

A busy week, so we're splitting this in two: Album of the Week : Artist : Alex Lahey Album : I Love You Like a Brother Quick Description : Debut full-length from someone who we've come to love very quickly here. Why You Should Listen : This is the best mix of indie, alt-rock, and an older aesthetic I've heard in a while. Overall Thoughts : Ken’s spent a lot of time raving about Lahey, and both of us had very high expectations for her debut full-length. Somehow she didn’t just meet them, she exceeded them easily. Sing-along choruses, a nice wall of sound that both hits hard and doesn’t overwhelm, an instrumental aesthetic that seems fully rooted in current times while still borrowing heavily from 80s and 90s soundscapes? There’s no flaw in this record at all, and it’s easily my favorite of the week. Unless you’re really, really anti-alt-rock, this has to get into your rotation this week, because Alex Lahey will probably end up being your favorite new musician on ...