If It's Too Loud...

Album art by Crystal Araiza Music for Horses wasn't planned to be out now. The latest album was planned for release sometime later in the fall, or early spring 2027. But over the summer, co-founder and creative leader Reilly Somach was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, so the album was released early. The album is a powerhouse of alt-rock meets psych and prog. It's a little all over the place with some tracks being under a minute long, and the second song on the album, "HPPD," being an epic fourteen minutes. Even if it was shorter, the song would be epic. It's a huge sounding, monster track that brings listeners on a journey and somehow leaves them wanting the song to be longer as it cycles through styles and tempo changes. Music for Horses is the kind of album that will make you wish local modern rock radio was still a thing, since it's filled with songs that should be huge hits, at least locally. ("HPPD" might be too long for radio play, but the ...

Photo by Peter McManus Who would have thought that Boston would be the epicenter of a grunge reemergence in 2023? The Rupert Selection are one of the band's leading the charge, and they just released a brand new single. "Taking Turns" sounds like pure grunge. It's the kind of song that could easily be on some obscure grunge compilation from 1992. It somehow encompasses the sounds of earlier bands like Tad with some of the later, more alt-rock bands like the Toadies. "Taking Turns" is especially going to slam your nostalgia button down on the chorus. This is a powerhouse of a song that is just giant guitars, thundering drums, and snarling vocals.  Vocalist/guitarist Reilly Somach says of the band's new single: "This song definitely continues the heavier musical path we've been on. The theme of this album was definitely to make things bigger, heavier, but also emphasize we're a three-piece. Trying to do more with less. Keeping things simple an...

Photo by Peter McManus Massachusetts has seen an influx in bands describing themselves as grunge lately, and one of our favorites has been The Rupert Selection. They've been adding some psychedelia into their neo-grunge sound, which ends up working perfectly. Their latest single, "I Saw God," is a loud, heavy, and trippy blast of a song. While the grunge label gets overused lately and is slapped on any song inspired by the 90's, "I Saw God" has that actual grunge sound of an extremely heavy song with fuzzed out guitars. Plus, it's as catchy as it is heavy. There are even some metal influences with The Rupert Selection (which most great grunge had), giving the song a Motorhead meets Mudhoney sound. Guitarist and vocalist Reilly Somach says of the new song: “I like the idea of keeping the interpretation of this one as vague and open-ended as possible. Whatever the listener perceives as being God within the song, that’s what it is.” You can watch the video ...

Photo by Peter McManus "Then Again" was available on streaming services back in December, but The Rupert Selection have just made the song (along with "Astronauts") available for purchase for the first time today. The Boston based band tend to get categorized as "psych-grunge," and I honestly can't think of a better description for "Then Again." It's the kind of mid-tempo rocker that is just dripping with fuzz. For those of us around in the 90's, it's going to bring back memories of that second wave of grunge bands that put just a little more pop into their songs. Of course, Reilly Somach's vocals have too much of a growl to truly be considered all that pop. It's almost like The Rupert Selection are time travelers from 1993 that were the forgotten bridge between bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains and the follow ups like Bush and Silverchair. Reilly Somach says of the song: "'Then Again' came just from a st...

Photo by Peter McManus For their first single in three years, Boston's The Rupert Selection have released a very specifically 90's sounding single. "Astronauts" has that fuzzed out, psychedelic alt-hard rock sound that is going to remind you of some of your favorite 90's classics. In particular, this one is going to make you think of Hum and early Smashing Pumpkins. It has this wonderful aggressive while still being beautiful. If you miss music from that time period, give the latest from The Rupert Selection a shot.  You can listen to "Astronauts" below. For more on The Rupert Selection, check out the band on Facebook .