If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Laraine Camera Goldberg If you're as excited as we are about Calicoco's new album coming out on Friday, then buckle up. They've just released a new single, and it's just going to amp up your anticipation to a fever pitch. "I Hate Living With Me" is a huge indie rock song. It's an absolute epic that swirls around Giana Calioli's vocals. You still get their impossible to resist crooning vocals that we came to adore with 2018's Float , but "I Hate Living With Me" just builds and builds with swirling guitars and fuzz. It starts off as a mid-tempo rocker and just builds and builds into this intense indie rock jam at the end with everything imploding in upon itself while Calioli's voice anchors the entire thing from going completely off the rails. It's brilliant, and none of us will be able to wait until Friday once we hear this song. You can watch the video for "I Hate Living With Me" below. Underneath is due out Sep...

As thrilled as we were with Calicoco's last single, "Heal Me," last month, their latest may just surpass the last one. "Underneath" is an epic. Despite coming in at just over four minutes in length, it just feels longer. It's a huge indie rocker with Calicoco's 60's crooner vocals edging it just ever so slightly into pop territory. That's truly simply because their vocals are just so compelling and irresistible that you're going to be mesmerized, even as the music may try to repel you with dissonance. This kind of giant song is going to have us preaching on the Calicoco bandwagon even more than we have been in the past. You can watch the video for "Underneath" below. Underneath is due out September 3 on Dadstache Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Calicoco, check out the artist's Facebook  and Twitter .

We first discovered Calicoco back in 2019, a year after they released their amazing album Float. We became enamored with Giana Caliolo's music. The combination of 60's crooner style vocals with modern indie and folk hits such a sweet spot of my musical taste. When I saw Calicoco had a new single out, I was thrilled for more of the same, but "Heal Me" straight up rocks. This is not the direction I expected, but I'm certainly not complaining. "Heal Me" keeps everything we loved about Calicoco before, but cranks up the noise. Sure, the cover of Heartless Bastards' "New Resolution" earlier this year gave us a hint of what Calicoco could do while rocking out a bit more, but this new song is an entirely new direction. It reminds me of Stef Chura going a little more in a straightforward rock direction while keeping the indie rock buzz and crunch. You can watch the video for "Heal Me" below. Underneath is due out September 3 on Dadstache ...

Rochester, NY's Cusp are going to be the perfect band for fans of modern indie rock that is strongly influenced by classic, old school indie rock. The band's latest single, "Illusion Controlling," masters the famed loud/quiet/loud template. The quiet parts may not be too quiet, but it is filled with a wonderfully melodic noise. There is still a strong sense of foreboding in this part, which is released during the loud, crashing cymbal filled loud parts. This is just straight up purely wonderful indie rock that you aren't gong to want to miss. Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Jen Bender says of the upcoming EP: “Some of these songs are about specific events/people from my early 20s that have stuck with me. Most of these capture the time of my life right after college, when I was still processing the previous four years and also mentally preparing for the vastness of adulthood." You can listen to "Illusion Controlling" below. Spill is due out May 7 o...

Hard Nips may be based in Brooklyn, but three of its members is originally from different parts of Japan (Okinawa, Nagano, and Osaka), while a fourth is from Long Island. The band bonded in a Japanese bar and restaurant in Brooklyn that Yoko (singer and keyboards) ran. Eventually they decided to try forming a band, and Hard Nips was formed in 2009. At the time they had no idea how to play instruments, but their enthusiasm propelled them. At first it was just something they did for fun, with no intention of making public. Now, twelve years, two albuums, and three EPs later, their latest single, "Blender X," is this killer mix of 60's soul and doo wop with early punk and New Wave. It's like The Crystals and The Ronettes partying with Blondie and The B-52s, with some vintage garage rock riffs thrown in. I honestly don't know how anyone can resist this combination. You can listen to "Blender X" below. Master Cat will be released on Dadstache Records on June ...

Normally when a band releases a new single from their upcoming album, that's the focus. But, if they also release a cover of a 90's alternative classic, and you're reading If It's Too Loud..., the focus will be on the cover. Shy Tooth just released the single "No Closer To," which is great and we should be writing about that (and you should check it out here ), but they also released a cover of Teenage Fanclub's "Everything Flows" from their 1990 debut album A Catholic Education. It's basically a perfect version of the original, just with more standard/pleasant sounding vocals. It's bouncy 90's style indie rock/pop, although we never would have dared call it pop back then. It's the kind of cover that will have you falling into a Teenage Fanclub and Shy Tooth wormhole, which means it's basically perfect. You can watch the video for Shy Tooth's version of "Everything Flows" below. Ultrasuede is due out March 26 on ...

Shy Tooth is a new band comprised of members of hardcore and punk bands out of Rochester, NY (Polar Bear Club, Coming Down, Green Dreams, etc). While their new single, "Too Kind," does have a punk edge, it's far more melodic than their previous bands. Instead, you get the huge anthemic sound of Bruce Springsteen, the Americana rock meets New Wave of early Tom Petty, and a little bit of Ben Kweller and Frank Turner thrown in. It's a huge rock song with a little folk mixed in. There's a ton to love in this song as it encompasses so many rock and folk tropes that it already feels like so many of your lifelong favorite songs. You can listen to "Too Kind" below. Ultrasuede is due out March 26 on Dadstache Records. You can pre-order your copy in some pretty sweet bundles here . For more on Shy Tooth, check out the band's Bandcamp . Ultrasuede by Shy Tooth

With a song title like "Cry Cry Cry," you're automatically going to think of old timey country, most likely because of the Johnny Cash song of the same name (although his was "Cry! Cry! Cry!"). The latest single from Rochester, NY's Ben Morey & the Eyes does have some country/Americana twang, but it isn't a country song. "Cry Cry Cry" is more of a singer/songwriter indie rock/pop song. Morey's voice has this insanely smooth feel to it that edges slightly into country but keeping a more indie rock feel to it. It's almost like a Marlon Wayans/Nada Surf hybrid. If that doesn't make most readers of If It's Too Loud... intrigued, I don't know what possibly could. You can watch the video for "Cry Cry Cry" below. Still Life , the upcoming album from Ben Morey & the Eyes, will be out November 13 on Dadstache Records. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Ben Morey & the Eyes, check out his Facebook .

Originally from western Massachusetts but now in Los Angeles, Gabriel Bernini is getting set to release a new album. After listening to "Caramel," the new album has to be, at the very least, great. "Caramel" gives me total Tom Petty vibes, if Tom Petty were in his early 20's and coming up in the world of indie rock today. It's that kind of pop that rock fans love and will never be able to get enough of while not being able to admit to themselves that it's a pop rock song.  You can watch the video for "Caramel" below. Sweeties , the new album from Gabriel Bernini, will be out February 14 (which is becoming far too packed with anticipated albums) via Dadstache Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Gabriel Bernini, check him out on Bandcamp .

Earlier this year I discovered Calicoco's 2018 album Float , and saying I was blown away would be an understatement. It's been a regular on my musical rotation, so I'm thrilled to have a new EP from Calicoco to check out. Remnant  is a gorgeous and simple release. Until I read about the EP, I had no idea these were simply demos recorded on  Giana Caliolo's phone and computer. They may be simple, but they all sound like finished products, at least to my amateur ears. It's four songs of simple, modern folk-ish music. If songs like "Market" and "Now I See It All" sound this complete as compelling as solo acoustic demos, I am impatiently looking forward to a proper release to hear these fully fleshed out! You can listen to "Market" below. Remnant , the new EP from Calicoco, is available now via Dadstache Records. You can get a copy over at Calicoco's Bandcamp . For more on Calicoco, check out their website . Remnant by Calicoco

We completely missed this album when it was released back in July of 2018, which is unfortunate since this might have made my top 10 of 2018. I discovered this album last week when Nova One posted about the drummer for her current tour, Calicoco, and urged people to check out her album from last year. Float immediately blew me away. The first thing you'll notice is Giana Caliolo's vocals. They have this quality that's part 60's crooner and part just otherworldly. You get songs that have a modern indie folk/rock feel, but that slowly build into an almost 90's indie rock noise burst towards the end. One of the standouts on the album is "Stay for a While." It starts off as a not quite folk, not quite rock song, but with a swirling guitar building just beneath the surface. About two thirds in the crashing drums and fuzzy guitars come in. It's not a complete change of sound or pace, just a bizarro world version of the same song you started listening to. T...