If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Tanner Deutsch Rocket have been making 90's inspired alt-rock, but their latest single ups the ante on that sound. "Wide Awake" is a mixture of shoegaze fuzz and the more jagged style of guitars that made me love Sonic Youth. Singer/bassist Alithea Tuttle's vocals have a dreamlike quality suited to dream pop or shoegaze, which contrasts delightfully with the more aggressive parts of the song. Despite not truly sounding like a song made in the 90's, "Wide Awake" has so many elements of that decade to give you little bursts of nostalgia. Plus, the video for the song is like a cross between Blur's "Charmless Man" and Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)," in case you need a little more nostalgia thrown in. Rocket say of their new single: “R is for Rocket is about relationships, the most important part of life; relationships with your friends, your parents, your girlfriend or boyfriend, and most impo...

Photo by Jaxon Whittington Los Angeles' Rocket is comprised of friends that have known each other as far back as preschool, with the band forming while they were in high school. Their latest single, "Crossing Fingers," hearkens back to the alt-rock of the 90's. It's a giant rock song with huge guitars and drums, and vocals that do that 90's slacker thing perfectly. It's more along the lines of the mainstream side of alt-rock (think Veruca Salt's Eight Arms to Hold You ), but that's certainly not a bad thing, particularly when a song is this great. "Crossing Fingers" is hook heavy, melodic alt-rock banger, and if you have any nostalgia for the mid-90's, you're going to adore this one. Alithea Tuttle (vocals/bass) says her band's latest single... “... is the story of falling so deep into a partnership with someone and bearing the weight of the fear of messing it all up.  Knowing that changing for them would mean sacrificing your...

Photo by Holly Whitaker A lot of bands get compared to Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Rocket are one of the few bands that actually deserve it. The Los Angeles band recently released "Take Your Aim," an absolutely huge alt-rocker. From the opening guitar squeal, everything about the song is huge. The guitars are epic, and the drums are monstrous. There's a fuzz throughout the entire song that makes it a little more Dinosaur Jr than Sonic Youth. The only real difference is that "Take Your Aim" is a little more radio friendly than those other bands. The pop hooks give it a kind of Veruca Salt sound, and we're certainly not complaining about that. Once you get to that guitar solo (?), you'll be completely won over. Alithea Tuttle (bass/vocals) says that her band's new song is about: “... the indignant response to feeling misunderstood or taken advantage of by someone but not being able to confront them about it.  It’s about a friendship that was built upo...

It was over a year ago since I first wrote about Adia Victoria and how much I couldn't wait for an actual album from her (she was a pick for my most anticipated albums of 2016 ,) and we finally have a new single from the upcoming album. While "Sea of Sand" was more of a dark, gothic version of alt-country, "Dead Eyes" is much more of a rocker. It's by far the most upbeat song we've heard from Victoria so far, with fast guitars and plinking keyboards. Based on the few singles she had previously released, I certainly wasn't expecting this to be what the first single off her forthcoming album to sound like, but I'm now even more intrigued than before. And at only 2 minutes 21 seconds, it's over before you want it to be. We still have a bit of a wait for the album, but we do finally have a release date: Beyond the Bloodhounds  will be released on May 13 via Canvasback, which is an imprint of Atlantic Records. You can listen to "Dead Eye...