If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Joanna Chattman I've been referring to Northampton, MA based Izzy Heltai's music as mainstream modern folk with just enough of a unique spin to keep it appealing to music snobs, too. His latest single, "Father," might be the perfect example of that. It's a quiet, deeply personal song that starts off painfully sparse but ever so slowly builds and builds as it goes on. It walks that line between accessible/mainstream and indie expertly.  You can watch the video for "Father" below. Father , the upcoming debut album from Izzy Heltai, will be out October 9. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Izzy Heltai, check out the artist's website .

Photo by Joanna Chattman The latest from Western Massachusetts's Izzy Heltai is an Americana/indie rock masterpiece. "Songbird" exists purely in the world of contemporary mainstream folk while still having his own edge to his music to make the snobbiest of music fans happy. "Songbird" is a perfect example of that. It has all the twang you want in modern Americana, while still being incredibly pop, and having some of the intensity and uniqueness of indie rock.  Izzy Heltai explains how "Songbird" came to be: "I spend a lot of my time on the road, playing wherever anyone might listen to me. Whether or not this is the most strategic move for my career is yet to be determined, but I can say I have a lot of fun. I end up sleeping in my car a decent amount and am no stranger to the luxuries a Walmart parking lot can offer when on the road. I was in Pittsburgh one night in early June. At this point, I’d been touring for about a month and a half a...

Photo by Joanna Chattman There's just something about Izzy Heltai that we simply can't get enough of. The Northampton, Massachusetts singer/songwriter expertly balances mainstream roots and Americana with a more alt-folk sound. His latest single, "The Stranger You've Become," shows just how true that is. The song blends alt-country and modern folk expertly, sometimes sounding a little more country and other times a little more folk. But "The Stranger You've Become" has the intensely personal and intimate feel of a bedroom recording even though it's a fully fleshed out full band song.  Izzy Heltai explains the meaning of his new song: "The majority of us choose to engage in the realities of other people with the best of intentions, not wanting to deceive. We aren’t faced day to day with the reality of how malleable our words and truths can actually be. Our realities are just collectively agreed-upon terms, rules, and conditions. The f...

Photo by Eat Humans After hearing the first single off her upcoming album we thought we had Atlanta's Faye Webster pegged. "Room Temperature" is a groovy indie country ballad heavy on pedal guitar. Her latest, "Flowers," couldn't be more different. "Flowers" features fellow Atlanta artist Father, and is a straight up hip hop/R&B song. In fact, the song is meant as an homage to Awful Records which is a hip hop collective that helped launch her career. We never would have guessed that based on "Room Temperature." While "Flowers" is a hip hop song, it's also an odd hip hop song. It's incredibly mellow, and doesn't have the beat or instrumentation anyone would ever expect with hip hop. But it's still hip hop, although weird in the best possible way. You can watch the video for "Flowers" below. Atlanta Millionaires Club , the upcoming album from Faye Webster, will be out May 24 on Secretly Canadian...