If It's Too Loud...

Sometimes a musician will release a solo album that sounds mostly like their main project, but that's not the case with Mike Chick. The Yawn Mower frontman has a new single out, "Atom Bomb." The only real similarity between Yawn Mower and this solo single is that they both sound 90's inspired, but in different ways. While Chick's main band is alt-rock and indie rock, "Atom Bomb" has a more electronic element to it. Chick's vocals are somewhere between early Beck and Cake, and the song has that wonderfully weird vibe when indie rock first started playing around with hip hop. This is not at all what I would have expected from a member of Yawn Mower, but it's a very pleasant surprise. Mike Chick says of his latest single: “‘Atom Bomb’ was the voice memo that turned into the blueprint for  Congarts.  It was one of the first songs recorded, along with ‘Tomorrow Is All A Blur’. These were supposed to be released as a single and b-side, but I liked how ...

Thursday was one of those nights where a bunch of shows were happening all over the greater Boston area. Some nights it's hard to decide which show to go with, but when a band is coming all the way from Indonesia for their first U.S. tour, that's the one I had to go with. I had assumed Grrrl Gang would never make it to Boston, so their show was the obvious choice. Opening the show was Boston's own Little Miss Echo. The trio played a fun set of their sunshiney dream pop and indie rock. Their songs had this great dichotomy of being light and poppy sounding while having the slightest edge of aggression. They have a great 90's influenced style while still sounding modern. They played a fun, short set that set the mood for the evening perfectly. Thursday night's show was wonderfully curated, and up next was Horrendous Downplay. They had a similar sound to Little Miss Echo, but with an artsier vibe. Their music was noisy and beautiful, with an engaging delivery. As discor...

Photo by Kyla Mae JWords is Brooklyn based producer Jennifer Hernandez. Her latest single, "LUSH," is the artist's first that features herself on lead vocals, and combines both hip hop and uptempo electronic and dance music. The true dichotomy of the song is how laid back and energetic it is at the same time. I would say it's because of how laid back JWords' vocals are, but the music is also laid back while having high energy. It's an electronic track with a more traditional song structure than you typically get in the genre. "LUSH" is the kind of song that instantly sucks you in and holds you captive for its full three minutes.  JWords says of her current sound: “It’s a new era. A calmer, chiller, ‘Yeah, I got my shit together’ kind of era.” You can listen to "LUSH" below. Sound Therapy is due out May 8, and is available for pre-order here . For more on JWords, check out the artist on Instagram .

Photo by Cecilia Orlando Soft No are primarily considered a post-punk band, but on their latest single the Philadelphia band are sounding wildly different. For their upcoming EP, the band decided to take all of their influences and craft a new sound, and "Oxford Street" shows that. It borrows from virtually every alt-rock genre, and incorporates elements of punk, post-hardcore, emo, post-punk, and atmospheric synths to create a sound that is instantly fresh and familiar. The press release compares it to artists like Wednesday, Momma, Veruca Salt, and Sonic Youth, and I can hear elements of all of those bands in "Oxford Street." One of the great qualities of current bands is that they're making music without worrying about genre, and Soft No are a perfect example of the magic that can be made with that mindset. Austin Lotz (lead guitar, co-lead vocals) says of the band's upcoming EP: “We did our due diligence to not overly critique these songs. We tapped into...

Photo courtesy of The Ringer Soundtrack Boston's The Ringer Soundtrack have a new single out that somehow sounds both very Boston and nothing like Boston. "Voicemail" is reminding me of the mid-90's post grunge period, where record companies were desperately trying to find the next Seattle and taking chances on bands. That's not to say that the song sounds inherently 90's. There are some roots in that era, but it does sound much more modern than that. "Voicemail" is a slick track that flirts with pop, and probably makes the plunge into pop, to be honest. If it takes anything from the 90's, it could be that it's reminiscent of the late 90's ultra-mainstream, Top 40 alt-rock hits kept some of the edge of the earlier end of the decade. Guitarist Brandon Forbes Dalrymple says of the band's new single: “‘Voicemail’ could be about making a phone call, and to your amazement, they’ve set up their voicemail – which is rare these days. Maybe it...

Photo by Miryam Weiss and J Kimball One of the challenges with writing about music is when you hear a song that you know is great but have no idea how to explain why it's great. That's the case with the latest from Boston folk rockers Jesus the Dinosaur. "Sweet Nothing" is a great song. The first new music from the band since 2022 and the first with their current five-piece line up, the song starts off quite good. It's a fairly simple and straightforward folk rock song, not quite committing to either genre, but maybe a little more rock. As it goes on, it becomes both more rock and more folk, adding in vocal harmonies as the song gets bigger and bigger. "Sweet Nothing" isn't redefining the genre, but it's also not a traditional folk rock song. Jesus the Dinosaur's latest is both mainstream enough for wide appeal, but creative enough to keep music snobs thrilled for its entire run. Sometimes a band just nails a song, and we don't know exact...

Photo by Jason Hill Orquestra Pacifico Tropical is a band that makes psychedelic cumbia, and trust us... you're going to want to hear that. The Portland, OR band's latest single, "Fantasma," is an immediately infectious track. It's all of the rhythms and dance friendly sounds you expect with cumbia, but it's also wonderfully trippy. It could be our favorite instrumental track of the year, and it's going to have you diving into Orquesta Pacifico Tropical's back catalog, as well as looking up psychedelic cumbia for more of this sound. As the graffiti at The Silhouette Lounge will tell you: Cumbia is the new punk rock, and "Fantasma" shows that it can groove unbelievably hard. You can watch the video for "Fantasma" below. El Poder is due out June 19, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp . For more on Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, check out the band's website .

Photo by Josh Sisk Baltimore's Pearl have a new single out, and coming in at under a minute, it might just be the most punk song we've ever brought you. "Spiral" starts out full force the second you press play. It's a fast and heavy song that packs multiple changes into fifty-six seconds. It's abrasive and straight up punk. There might be just slightly too much melody for it to be a hardcore song. (Vocalist Sienna Cureton-Mahoney uses the slightest hint of singing with her screaming/growling vocals.) Punk fans should love "Spiral," and will want to keep Pearl on their radar.  Sienna Cureton-Mahoney says of her band's new single: “Spiral’ is a jab in the ribs; quick, intense and unexpected.  Instrumentally the drums are relentless, the bass is driving and  the guitar melody is cyclical within the chorus, lending itself to the title of the track. Lyrically, the song is all about wading through a sea of chaos, knowing fully that havoc often leads to...

Photo by Grace Crookham-Guy It's been a little over a year since we last brought you music from Sove the Second, but the Boise band are back with a new single. "Whirlpool" is an intense and swirling song, with its intensity matched only by its beauty. The song isn't intense because of volume or aggression, but instead because of the amount of things going on in the track. It's both indie rock and twee adjacent, with cello once again front and center. There are also vocal harmonies that add to the intensity of the song. It's reminding me a lot of that dog meets Rasputina, without truly committing to a single genre... or two... or three. "Whirlpool" is fairly experimental overall, while still maintaining a strong mainstream appeal. You can listen to for "Whirlpool" below. For more on Sove the Second, check out the band's website . Whirlpool by Sove The Second

Photo by Cortney Morentin "Misty Mountain" is the latest single from Sophia Yau-Weeks, and it's an absolutely breathtaking one. The song is quiet and bare while also being fully lush. That's the true beauty and magic of the song. It's simple and bare without sounding like anything is missing. As bare as it is, there is a lot going on. It's filled with gently strummed guitar and some form of noise bordering on a gentle feedback. "Misty Mountain" is roughly five and a half minutes long, and it leaves you needing to hear more. Yau-Weeks has crafted a virtually perfect song that is going to make many listeners instant fans. Sophia Yau-Weeks says of her new single and video: "As someone who consistently ruminates and spirals, with an internal world marked by intrusive thoughts and the noise of uncertainty, I wanted to write about the experience of having anxiety while in relationship with someone grounding and present. The title track follows my jour...

Photo by Alexa Viscius New York City duo Widowspeak are set to release their seventh album, and have a new single out to preview it. "If You Change" is a folk-adjacent single that sounds and feels much more like southern California than New York City. It's a breezy and sunny track that makes you want to slow down and enjoy where you are. Molly Hamilton's vocals are what is going to fully suck you in. They have a quality that reminds me more of Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Starr than anything this close to folk. "If You Change" may be twangy, but it's also rather jangly. This is the perfect song for those of us in the northeast that are just starting to at least get the light of spring if not the warmth. Molly Hamilton says of her band's new video: “Incidentally one of my favorite childhood books is “The Velveteen Rabbit” and growing up we had this VHS copy of Meryl Streep reading it over Ken Burns-esque slow-panned illust...

Photo by Heather Bickford At this point in their career, it's going to be hard for A Place to Bury Strangers to shock fans with a new song. The New York noise legends have done that with "Where are We Now" by turning the volume and noise way, way down. The new song might be the quietest and most stripped down they've ever released. There is still some noise peeking through during the verses of the songs, but once we hit the chorus the song becomes an uplifting near power ballad. We've become accustomed to hearing guitar squalls and electronic chaos from the band, so hearing a relatively quiet and straightforward song from them is quite jarring. (Of course, straightforward is a relative term, and I'm sure your Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind listening co-workers would still find "Where are We Now" far too weird.) Frontman Oliver Ackermann says that the new song is about “... looking back at friends you lost touch with. Wondering where they ended up....

Photo by Mark Peyton Richmond, VA is one of our favorite musical cities, and our latest discovery from there is Keely and the Tea Lights. The band just released a new single, "Bed of Nails." The song is decidedly pop, but a much more organic version of the genre than you typically hear. It's pop, but pop mixed with Americana and indie rock. Even that doesn't quite explain the sound. The song has crunchy guitars, harmonica, an organ that sounds like it's lifted from a vintage garage rock song, and what could be castanets. And then there's a killer guitar solo that comes seemingly out of nowhere, along with Keely Burn's captivating vocals. The whole thing is an interesting blend of pop, hippie, folk, and indie rock. "Bed of Nails" is a great introduction to an intriguing new (to us) artist. You can watch the lyric video for "Bed of Nails" below. For more on Keely and the Tea Lights, check out the artist's website .

Photo by Eleanor Petry For their latest single, Chinese American Bear have decided to go quietly groovy. "Mama" is the new track from the duo of Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten, and it has this great quality of making you want to dance and chill at the same time. The funk guitar riff might be the highlight of the entire song, which is relatively stripped down. It's the kind of song that sounds both vintage and modern at the same time, and combines funk and twee. It makes me think of a collaboration between Deee-Lite and Belle and Sebastian, which I think we can all agree that we've never thought of that combination but suddenly need it. Based on the few singles we've heard, Chinese American Bear could end up being the sleeper band of 2026. Anne Tong says of her band's latest single: "I’ve always wanted to write a song with the phrase 'chi fan le'. In Chinese families, every day revolves around meal times. Food is an extremely important part of the cul...