If It's Too Loud...

It's been a little while since we've last heard from Britpop revivalists The Northern Line, but the Boston band is back with a new single off a forthcoming EP. What I've always like about the band is that their sound is a mixture of Britpop and late 90's Boston alt-rock, which are kind of my prime sounds. "Out in the Drift" adds a little more psychedelia to that sound, making a more grounded Stone Roses style. In fact, if The Stone Roses weren't part of the Madchester scene and had come up in Boston at the same time as Buffalo Tom and Pixies, this is what they could have sounded like. Even though a song like "Out in the Drift" may merge styles we're familiar with, The Northern Line end up sounding like no one else. You can listen to "Out in the Drift" below. The Northern Line EP is available now digitally on Mad Fer It Records, with a vinyl release in October. For more on The Northern Line, check out the band's website . They...

Photo by Harrison Searle When we brought you the debut single from The Northern Line back in October, it kind of felt like it was custom made for me. As someone who spent the 90's heavily into the Boston music scene and Britpop, it was great to hear a Boston band bringing back that classic Britpop sound. Now the "Mass.-chester" band are back with "Throw a Fist." If it wasn't for the lack of a British accent, you'd swear this new song was a lost, unreleased track from a forgotten 90's Britpop band. This is a great single, and The Northern Line will transport you three decades back in time while updating the sound just enough. Bilvox (guitar and vocals) says of the band's new single: “‘Throw a Fist’ is a personal song, but it is also a song that connects with anyone who has done the hard work to move on after a meaningful relationship falls apart. The liberation, the freedom of the ‘fist’ that’s thrown – mostly metaphorically – is throwing away the...

Photo by Harrison Searle Seeing as I spent much of the 90's obsessed with Britpop and the Boston music scene, a band like The Northern Line seems like they formed just for me. The Boston band is made up of members of Strangeways, The Daily Pravda, The Luxury, and Looking Glass War, and just released their debut single. "Lightning Strikes" is heavily Britpop influenced, along with mod and modern alternative. The song doesn't quite sound like the Britpop megastars you normally associate with the sound. There is some Oasis, but "Lightning Strikes" sounds more like Ocean Colour Scene and Primal Sound. Of course, this is a Boston band so there is some grit along with garage rock/indie rock noise. The Northern Line is the type of band that would have taken over my twenties if they had existed way back then. Bilvox (guitar and vocals) says of his band's single: “‘Lightning Strikes’ is about moving past the struggle of life, the banality, the brow- beating of it...