If It's Too Loud...

Britt Daniel of Spoon Photo by Ken Sears As one of the announcers said, Saturday at the Green River Festival was a marathon. I got there early for Lily Seabird and stayed late for Spoon. It was over ten hours of diverse music, from Americana and folk to cumbia to indie rock to experimental music. It was absolutely exhausting, in the best possible way as I tried to take in everything possible. Here are my highlights from day two! Lily Seabird, Backporch Stage I've been trying to see Lily Seabird live for almost three years now, and the Green River Festival finally let it happen. My expectations were high, and she and her band blew them completely away. I had meant to watch half of her set and then head over to Dean's Beans Stage for the second half of The Animeros, but I was transfixed by Seabird's set. Live she seemed to lean into her more indie rock side with folk elements. It was kind of like if Nirvana or Sonic Youth decided to try out Americana. Lily Seabird set the bar...

Photo by Twylo Landey Somehow, I completely missed Team Dresch the first time around. When the queercore legends started playing shows again in recent years, people whose taste I respect starting freaking out, but for some reason I never quite got around to getting into them. If you're like me, now might be the perfect time to finally jump on the Team Dresch bandwagon since they're about to release their first album in thirty years. Their new single, "One Song," is giving me flashbacks from my college radio days. It's a driving and fun melodic indie rock track. In one track, the huge deal about Team Dresch is fully explained, and I'm mad I didn't spend the mid-90's pogoing like crazy at the front of the stage for their shows. "One Song" is the style of song that eventually morphed into emo, and I'll be spending the rest of the week fully immersing myself into their back catalog. Team Dresch says of their latest single: “There are lots of ...

Photo by Monika Kraska Boyhood is the bedroom-pop project of Ontario's Caylie Runciman. Her newest single, "A Grand Time," is an engaging single that shows just what can be done with bedroom pop in 2026. This is the kind of song that would have made the MTV Buzz Bin back in the 90's, and never would have been considered pop. Going by that era of music, this is reminding me of artists like Poe or Ruby mixed with Prince. As modern pop as "A Grand Time" is, there's a lingering sense of darkness behind the song. It's haunting, and seductive, and impossible to resist. Don't let the bedroom-pop label scare you away from Boyhood. This is much closer to indie and alt-rock than anything on the Top 40. You can watch the video for "A Grand Time" below. The single is out now on Hand Drawn Dracula. For more on Boyhood, check out the artist on Instagram . Upcoming tour dates are below the video and include June 24 at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA wit...

Charley Crockett Photo by Ken Sears I was a bit of a hypocrite this year for the Green River Festival. As much as I preached for getting there early, life and the day job got in the way on Friday, and I didn't get there as early as I wanted to. It was still a great day of music, even if I got a late start. Here were my favorites from day one! Tre Burt, Backporch Stage I first discovered Tre Burt opening up for Haley Heynderickx, and I've been dying to see him again ever since. His set at this year's Green River Festival will be talked by anyone who saw it for a while. Burt and his band played incredibly tightly, mixing rock and roots music in a way that has wide appeal but is completely unique to him. I had "Santiago" stuck in my head for a week from listening to the Green River Festival Spotify playlist so much, and now it's embedded there, possibly permanently. His version of folk and roots is so upbeat and catchy that it's practically made for festivals...

Photo by Jimmy Quinn New York City's Slow Fiction have a shimmering new single out that sounds like the soundtrack to the best dream you ever had. "satellite" is rooted mostly in shoegaze and dream pop, but in a must faster pace than you typically hear with those genres. There is a play between the guitars and Julia Vassallo's vocals that quickly becomes addictive for the listener. The song is a beautiful, fast paced track, and then the guitar solo comes bursting in like a powerhouse, solidifying your love of "satellite." We've been throwing the term song of the summer around quite a bit lately, but when bands keep releasing perfect songs like this, it's hard not to. Julia Vassallo says of her band's latest single:  “‘satellite’ is an allegory for collective atrophy in a country that’s poisoned with an Us vs. Them mentality. I was thinking of a person watching something uncomfortable on TV, and then being like ‘oh, that’s too much, I have to turn...

Photo by Sarah Linton Dale Crover, the drummer for The Melvins and Redd Kross, has released a cover of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" and The Melvins' "The Bit." It may seem like an unusual choice, but Crover did play a young Neil Young in the video for "Harvest Moon," and co-wrote "The Bit" with Buzz Osborne. The "Harvest Moon" part of the track is shockingly faithful for someone from The Melvins. It's a note for note cover of the acoustic 1992 classic, lacking even the tiniest shred of his other bands' noise or volume. As the track transitions into "The Bit," the noise increases while still being a stripped down and acoustic track. It reminds me of King Buzzo's acoustic tours where he would include Melvins classics. This is a fun pairing of songs from a noise rock icon. Dale Crover says of his new single: "Years ago I played Young Neil Young in the video for Harvest Moon. It was quite a surreal experien...

UCHE YARA is an Austrian-raised, Berlin-based artist. Her latest single, "BODYSCANNER" is a unique and intriguing mix of electronic music into an organic sound. It's oddly hypnotic while being both chill and aggressive. The song starts off with an extended burst of noise that evolves into more of a hum. "BODYSCANNER" is like an amped up version of trip hop, or perhaps the genre's natural progression into 2026. Personally, I can't tell if the song is calming or anxiety inducing... possibly both. This is the perfect song to listen to in order to make even the most mundane tasks feel cooler. UCHE YARA says of her latest single: "What I love most about the track is its ambiguity –– are you at an airport or in a club ? The song guides you through spaces and pulls you into an entirely new world .  It was also the first time I stepped into this kind of character and chose not to sing in the main vocal. There’s a constant tension between surrender and contr...

Photo courtesy Charming Arson There's something especially 90's about the latest from Charming Arson, although I can't figure out what. "The Wednesday of my discontent" is a disjointed example of psychedelic power pop that's more in the style of the 90's than the 70's... although that guitar solo is screaming 70's. It's a delightfully fuzzy and rough around the edges version of the genre, sounding like a mixture of Guided By Voices meets Cheap Trick. There's also a sharp edge to the song, as playful as it is. It's also the kind of song that's has so many catchy moments you might end up with multiple sections stuck in your head at various times. Charming Arson have a fun one here, and will leave listeners quite content. (We apologize for that one.) David Cameron (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) says of his band's new single: “When I first came up with the chorus, I automatically started singing ‘this is the winter of my discontent’ a...

Photo by Annette Rodriguez "Cool Guy," the latest single from New York City post-hardcore legends Quicksand," is meant to be a diss track. The song has a softer side than their 90's classic tracks, but it's still pure Quicksand. The band is more melodic, but still packs a punch and allows for more experimentation and creativity. "Cool Guy" is a monster of a new song, clocking in at a hardcore friendly two minutes. Quicksand may have slowed down a bit in the past thirty years, but there songs pack just as much venom as they always have, if not more. Quicksand says of their latest single: "’Cool Guy’ is like an OG HC diss track, like ‘Small Man, Big Mouth’ by Minor Threat or ‘Hypocrite’ by Negative Approach.  Sometimes you just gotta get those negative emotions out." You can watch the video for "Cool Guy" below. Bring on the Psychics is due out July 17 on Equal Vision Records, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Quicksand...