If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Samm Scho It's no mystery that I'm a huge fan of Tysk Tysk Task. I've been watching the band evolve over roughly four years now, so when the opportunity to premier their new single came up, I enthusiastically agreed. What makes the chance even better is just how great "Intolerable" is. The new song takes everything we loved about 2022's You're Sorry More and somehow expands on it. For the first time TTT has two guitars, and "Intolerable" takes the crushing blow of Samantha Hartsel's guitar and blends it with the warm embrace of Rick Martel's more shoegaze inspired guitar to create this lush expanse of a song. This new track might not have the sheer force and aggression of the previous album, but it's no less intense. Plus, Hartsel's vocals have never sounded better. They have more of a trip hop feel to them than indie rock, so it's almost like Portishead and Massive Attack filtered through The Jesus Lizard and My Bloo...

When you have a music blog, you sometimes get to hear new music early. I got to hear Original Motion Picture Soundtrack , the upcoming new album from Wilmington, NC's Kicking Bird, and was instantly smitten. Some albums just seem perfectly made for my specific tastes, and that's how this one feels. The songs on Original Motion Picture Soundtrack have that perfect mid-90's power pop sound with a little retro 60's cool. It's like a less ironic version of Fountains of Wayne and Weezer. I got the chance to interview three members of Kicking Bird (Shaun and Shaylah Paul as well as Robin Cooksley) over email, so we discussed North Carolina, their upcoming album, and the song we're premiering, "238."  Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is due out May 19 on Fort Lowell Records, and can be pre-ordered here . For more on Kicking Bird, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram . You can listen to "238" below the interview. Your sound seems to invoke...

Photo by Omari Spears I stumbled upon Perennial in late 2021 and instantly became a die hard fan. The trio play this highly energetic and fun version of noise punk that connected with me within the first few seconds of hearing them, and that has increased more and more each time I've listened. I ended up chatting with the members briefly after their set at Firehouse back in January, which led to getting to send them a handful of questions I was dying to know the answers to. We got to ask Chad Jewett (vocals, electric guitar, etc.) about the band's style (musical and clothing), oldies influences, Halloween, and their upcoming album! So many of your songs seem to have a bit of a spooky/Halloween theme to their titles ("Perennial In a Haunted House," "In the Midnight Hour," "The Skeleton Dance"). Is this on purpose, and if so, are you big Halloween people? We all love Halloween; in particular we really enjoy the campier “pop art” version of Halloween:...

RizzyBeats (photo by Justin Giles) North Carolina based producer recently chose to rework MindsOne's 2006 debut album Time Space Continuum. The chance to talk to RizzyBeats came up, and seeing how much I'm enjoying The Time Space Continuum Redux , I jumped at the chance. I asked about the upcoming album, the North Carolina hip hop scene, and he even was nice enough to put together a monster seventy-eight track playlist featuring NC hip hop!  MindsOne/RizzyBeats' The Time Space Continuum Redux is due out May 12 via Fort Lowell Records. You can pre-order the vinyl here . The single is due out March 10 digitally, and can be pre-ordered  here . For more on RizzyBeats, check out his website . For more on MindsOne, check them out on Instagram . The original version of Time Space Continuum can be found here . The Time Space Continuum Redux by MindsOne / RizzyBeats The new album (The Space Time Continuum Redux) is a reworking of MindsOne's 2006 debut album. What made you decide...