If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Danny Clinch I don't know about you, but my social media feeds have been filled with videos of Tom Morello's epic return to the Newport Folk Festival this past weekend. In the wake of that, he's announced a new solo album and has a new single out. "Date Night" tells the amazing true story of three Dutch girls (Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft who smuggled weapons and helped Jewish children during World War II. Most famously, they seduced Nazi officers and lured them to the woods where they were killed. Musically, "Date Night" doesn't sound like any of Morello's previous releases. It's more of a hard rock sound with elements of metal, punk, and hip hop. That might sound like it's exactly like Rage Against the Machine, but Morello has found a new sound that is related but not a sequel to RATM. It also sounds immediate and urgent, even without the subject matter. We're always thrilled to hear what Morello is up to...

Photo by Isabella Margolis I was in high school when Rage Against the Machine first exploded on the scene, so I'm thrilled every time anyone in that band comes out with new music. Recently, Tom Morello has been more prolific than usual, for... obvious reasons. The guitar icon has a brand new single out, and this one sees him joined by Serj Tankian of System of a Down and his fifteen year old son Roman Morello. "Adjourn It" absolutely rips, and is exactly what everyone would want from a pairing of members of Rage and System. It's a little more bluesy than you might expect (if you haven't been following Morello's solo work), and has verses by Morello and the chorus by Tankian. It's heavy, it's funky, and it's everything we all need right now. Obviously, crank "Adjourn It" loud, because it feels better that way. Tom Morello says of his new single: "At this historical juncture every act of art is an act of resistance and 'Adjourn It...

We've been obsessed with Brass Against's covers of mostly 90's metal anthems, particularly their Rage Against the Machine Covers. Similar, but completely different, is this cover of "Killing in the Name" by Housebound Ska Collective. A giant collection of musicians worldwide from bands like Unknown Era, Lead Shot Hazard, Joker's Republic, Fighting Evil is Cool!, etc., Housebound Ska Collective are obviously a band that formed in quarantine and are collaborating from their own homes. As with all ska covers, it's a fun, upbeat version of the Rage Against the Machine classic. A lot of people are going to hate this and consider it heresy, but others are going to find it fun. You already know which one you are. You can watch the video for Housebound Ska Collective taking on "Killing in the Name" below. For more on Housebound Ska Collective, check them out on Facebook .

We first discovered Brass Against through their Rage Against the Machine covers. While we love all of their 90's rock classic covers, there's always something particularly great when they bust out a brass band cover of a Rage classic. This time they're taking on the 1991 classic "Take the Power Back." They brought in Sofia Urista (my personal favorite of their vocalists) for this one, and as always their cover keeps all the power of the original. A brass band version of a rap rock political anthem could easily come across as a pure novelty, and that is some of the initial appeal. But by the time Brass Against are finished with "Take the Power Back," you're completely devoted to their cause. You can watch the video for Brass Against's version of "Take the Power Back" below. For more on Brass Against, be sure to check out their website .

Photo via Facebook If you were to go back to the 90's and tell a young Ken that he'd be more excited about a brass band covering Rage Against the Machine than he would about a RATM/Public Enemy/Cypress Hill supergroup... Our love of covers is extremely well documented here. The best kind of cover keeps the spirit of the original while adding a band's own spin on a song. Brass Against are nailing the perfect cover with their version of Rage Against the Machine's "No Shelter." The band joins with singer Sophia Urista for the song, and she attacks the song with enough force that you won't miss Zack de la Rocha at all. Brass Against plays with more ferocity than you could think possible for a brass band. Sure, they also have a metal guitar player, but it's the horns (and Urista) that really bring the noise to this song. You can watch the video for Brass Against's cover of "No Shelter" below. We somehow missed their 2018 self-titled al...

Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage) has been rocking a solo career for quite some time. This century, he's released solo albums under The Nightwatchman moniker as well as his own name. These have been mostly acoustic folk-rock albums filled for the most part with protest songs. In October he'll be releasing another solo album, but this one appears to be more of a rocker/possible party album. Based on the list of collaborators for the album, we're going to assume Morello takes a step back from vocal duties and takes over the guitar like we all want to. Right now you can listen to "We Don't Need You," his collaboration with rapper Vic Mensa. It gets fairly political with 9/11 conspiracies being spouted by Mensa, and it's way more of a banger than we're used to from Morello. In fact, his guitar almost sounds autotuned at some parts, if that is even possible. At the very least, the new album will be interesting. You can...

Photo via Facebook Last year, I had a very confusing relationship with Prophets of Rage. Combining Rage Against the Machine with Public Enemy and adding B Real of Cypress Hill in the Flava Flav role might have been the most exciting thing that ever happened to my inner teenage self. Unfortunately, the reality of that didn't live up to the expectations. First there was the tour with pit tickets selling for multiple hundreds of dollars (face value, not even through scalpers). Sure, they had $20 tickets, but those were waaaaaaaaaaaaay in the back. They gave a lot of the money raised on the expensive tickets to charities, but having the people that can afford those prices right up front seems contrary to the whole point. Hell, I knew Trump supporters that took a limo to go to the show. And then there was the whole virtually unlistenable EP they released last year. The worst part of it was that, in the 2016 political climate, Tom Morello and Chuck D couldn't write a song, and ju...

Tom Morello at the 2012 Newport Folk Festival First up is a new song from Tom Morello 's Nightwatchman persona, which has seen him dabble more in the acoustic folk song realm of music. "Marching On Ferguson" is, of course, a protest song inspired by the death of Michael Brown and the protests that followed it. It's available free at Ferguson October , but donations are being accepted to assist protesters in paying legal bills associated with any arrests during the protests. Politics aside, the song is good, but not great. It's the closest The Nightwatchman has gotten to Rage Against the Machine yet. It's basically a blues song with Morello's signature riffs and solos from his time with Rage. If you've read this far, you probably need to check it out. Run the Jewels (aka Killer Mike and El-P) have a second free album coming out soon, and they just released a new song for it. If you're releasing a free album, why not include Zach De La Rocha ...

The excitement over the impending new Deltron 3030 album continues to grow with the release of "Melding of the Minds," a new track from the forthcoming album featuring Zack de la Rocha of (formerly of?) Rage Against the Machine. Unless I've missed something, it's the first officially released music featuring Zack since 2008's One Day as a Lion album, so that alone makes this track a big deal. Zack's intensity makes for an interesting contrast to Del the Funky Homosapien's chill style, and neither tries to conform to the other at all. Add that to the Deltron 3030 signature futuristic funk sound, and it's pure alt hip hop gold. The new album from Deltron 3030 will be out on September 30. Head over to their website for more details. Listen to "Melding of the Minds" below, and after that you can find their current tour dates. 10-08 Boston, MA - Paradise 10-09 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl # 10-10 Washington, DC - Howard Theatre 10-11 Cha...