If It's Too Loud...

The Friday New Release Era has begun! Album of the Week Artist : Adrian Younge and Ghostface Killah Album : Twelve Reasons to Die II Quick Description : A continuation of a thematic project between the Wu-Tang member and a soul musician. Why You Should Listen : You like good rap music from established stars, you are into acts that take thematic chances, you still believe that the Wu Tang Clan ain't nothin' to... well, you know. Overall Thoughts : In the last year, we've seen a lot of solo work from Wu Tang members, and this one is just as good as any of them. I keep waiting for them to stumble out of the gate, but, 20 years later, they still have it. Recommendation : As the album of the week, it's a must-listen. As a 2015 rap album, it's a must listen. As an interesting release it's a must listen. Artist : EZTV Album : Calling Out Quick Description : More throwback power pop in a debut album. Why You Should Listen : You love throwback acts, you...

Rubblebucket Photo by Ken Sears Green River Festival is something I've been meaning to get to for years now and just haven't gotten around to. This year, I finally made it to the festival on Saturday, and I doubt I'll be missing it ever again. In its 29th year, it's quietly become western MA's prestige festival, drawing national and local acts. The festival is insanely well run, with a wide variety of food trucks numbering in the dozens, free water stations, and alternate activities besides just music. They had an arts and crafts area for kids, shuttle buses to bring festival goers to a swimming area, and hot air balloon rides. Saturday was sold out, but at no point did the grounds feel claustrophobic at all. There was still even room in the fields for frisbee games and kids to run around. It was also the only festival I've ever been to where beer wasn't just limited to a cramped tent way off in the corner. Beer was allowed everywhere you were. It's ...

Hailing from Chicago are The Rubs. Lead by Joey Rubbish (who also plays all the instruments on The Rubs' upcoming debut album, The Rubs Are Trash ), the band has this great blend of trashy garage punk that borrows extremely heavily from 1960s pop fronted by an upbeat Elvis Costello. Basically, it's a dirty version of Get Happy.  This is really evident in "Until He's Mine," which sounds like the most lo-fi band to never come out of 1964. "Round We Go" is much faster, but still keeps the fun energy of the band, while "What Did I Do?" brings the fuzzed out noise in a big way. The Rubs Are Trash  is due out July 27th. You can order it off The Rubs' Bandcamp . To get some more information on The Rubs, check out their website , Twitter , and Facebook .

We haven't done a Friday Freebies for a while, and this one comes at a great time. Just as we're gearing up for this weekend's Green River Festival , one of the artists playing on Saturday has a free release on NoiseTrade. Langhorne Slim & The Law have a new album coming out ( The Spirit Moves , due out August 7th), but in the meantime you can download The Way the Spirit Moves  for free! The Way the Spirit Moves  contains three songs from the upcoming album as well as three songs from 2012's The Way We Move. It's a perfect primer if you're just discovering Langhorne Slim's energetic folk rock, or if you've been a fan but just want a preview of the new album. Either way, it's free! You can download The Way the Spirit Moves  on NoiseTrade . For more information on Langhorne Slim & The Law, head on over to his website . If you're in the New England area, there are still tickets left for this weekend's Green River Festival in Greenfi...

Brooklyn shouldn't be known for country-folk, but it might be after listening to the new release from J. Allen. "Bring Her Back" home is absolutely brilliant without breaking new ground. Allen shows the vulnerability of Vic Chesnutt (which I don't say lightly) but skewing more towards the center. It's the rare release that can satisfy fans of Dylan, Jason Isbell, and Of Monsters and Men. "Fall Out of Love" is a simple epic that brings back memories of southern school damces in the 60s I can't possibly have. Do yourself a favor and check out this release. For more information on J. Allen, head on over to his website . You can also check out the full release of "Bring Her Back Home" on Bandcamp . There's also a live version of "Bring Her Back Home" for your enjoyment below.

Photo by Ken Sears Covers are one of our favorite things here at If It's Too Loud..., so The A.V. Club's AV Undercover is cherished every season. This week they bring us Benjamin Booker (my personal favorite album from last year) performing Patsy Cline's absolute classic "Walkin' After Midnight." It's a perfect cover, staying completely true to the feel of the original while adding his own touch to it. You get classic country mixed with Booker's blend of Detroit protopunk Delta blues. If you don't love this, you have no soul. Watch Benjamin Booker's performance of "Walkin' After Midnight" below. Head on over to The A.V. Club to see all of their AV Undercover performances , and Benjamin Booker's website for more information on him.

Photo by Todd Roeth David Wax Museum are a blog favorite here, so we feel like we should let you all know about their freshly launched Indiegogo campaign. They're looking to help fund the completion of their new album, Guesthouse , along with major fall touring plans. They raised $35,000 in 2012 when they were funding Knock Knock Get Up , so that is the goal this time around. They have the standard reward tiers with digital downloads, signed cds, t-shirts, etc. You can also get some pretty cool unique rewards, like a private Skype concert, VIP live experience, a song written for you, and either a duo or full band house concert (weddings aren't allowed, so there goes my dream of having them play my wedding).  To check out all the details of the campaign, head on over to their Indiegogo page . For some more information on David Wax Museum, there is always their website .

Giles Corey was convicted of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. While many victims were hung, Corey was subjected to pressing since he refused to enter a guilty or innocent plea. He was stripped naked, laid in a pit, and had heavy stones placed on boards on his chest. For two days the sheriff asked him to plead guilty or innocent to witchcraft. Corey replied with only two words each time: "More weight." More rocks were added each time, until Corey died after two days of this torture. Leave it to Salem Wolves to immortalize Corey's last words in song. "More Weight!" is a groovey hard rocker that reminds me of Death From Above 1979 as a garage rock band. It's fast and heavy like 60s hard rock. It's a fitting tribute to America's first rebellious badass. If you're not too old to be able to drop everything and go to a show last minute, Salem Wolves are playing at TT the Bear's in Cambridge tonight (Tuesday). Also, TT...

Here are some of the highlights of things we missed over the second quarter of 2015. T. Hardy Morris - Hardy and the Hardknocks Drowning on a Mountaintop : T. Hardy Morris had a great solo record a few years ago, stepping out from his bandmates with the great Dead Confederate. This album...well, I don't know. It's super weird and strange, and I don't even think I have a lot of good things to say about it. It feels like a sort of project/thematic project that just doesn't click for me at all. If you're a huge fan of his, give this a listen, but you might want to let this one slide. Pomplamoose - Besides : Internet darlings Pomplamoose offer up a new collection of covers and what might be originals/original takes. I feel like they've been around forever, and I still love a lot of what they do, but taken as a full set as opposed to one-off videos can sometimes feel a little grating or tiring. Throw this one on shuffle, maybe. Fist City - Everything is a...

Photo by Dusdin Condren Best known as a member of Sharon Van Etten's band, Heather Woods Broderick has her sophomore album coming out this Friday, July 10. One of the songs from her album, "Wyoming," is available to listen to now. It starts off as a fairly standard folky kind of track that probably would have been labelled ethereal in the 90s due to a spacey feel with breathy vocals. Towards the end, it expands into the noise rock version of that sound, if anything has ever truly existed. It's not too noisy to turn off the fans of the more laid back roots sound, but it's enough to make it more of a rock song. Heather Woods Broderick's second album, Glider , will be released July 10 on Western Vinyl. You can pre-order it now on iTunes or Amazon . Watch the video for "Wyoming" below, and be sure to check out her website for more information.

Sonic Praise  is one of the more batshit records I've listened to all year. It's this great mix of heavy metal riffs and 90s indie rock noise. Add to that psychedelia and African rhythms, and it's one of the most unique hard rock albums in years. Ecstatic Vision formed just last year in Philadelphia. At a time when most new bands are just finding their legs and sound, they signed to Relapse Records and already have a legendary live show.  The album opener, "Journey," isn't the best song on the album by far. I might have dismissed them based on just that song, but "Astral Plane" is fantastic. It's heavy as hell, funky, and just all around crazy. It goes on for 12 minutes, with a driving beat, rock riffs, horns, and just keeps changing throughout the entire run. For such a young band to have such a fleshed out sound that is so unique while it is completely accessible to both metalheads and indie fans, it's pretty great. You could even giv...

I write about hip hop surprisingly rarely considering that I listened to way more rap than anything else in my teen years. Hip hop is the one genre I truly turn into a grumpy old man about. Most new rap I just don't get at all, and most artists from back in my youth either don't make music or it's just dull and uninteresting. This is why I'm so excited about this new track from L'Orange & Kool Keith, featuring Mr. Lif. This is my first exposure to L'Orange (who's based in Nashville, oddly enough), but I've been following both Lif and Kool Keith for years now. They're two of the increasingly rare rappers who've been around for a while but still have an interesting output. Put both on one track, and there's no way it can fail. "Twenty Fifty Three" is a great song. It has a futuristic and western vibe, which leads to immediate comparisons to Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz. But L'Orange & Kool Keith have their own feel to i...

Hey, listen! This is the holiday weekend in the States coming up, and usually one of these weeks is slow. Next week appears to be that week, with the added bonus of the new release date changing to Fridays. So we will have our regularly scheduled First Listen this week, next Tuesday will be a later-than-normal Quarterly Report, and the following Tuesday will begin the new schedule and format for First Listen. Get it? Got it? Good. Onto the music. Goblin Rebirth - Goblin Rebirth : Ken sent this one over, they are apparently a long-standing band that has done horror film scores, and while that influence shows, so does a lot of the prog-style instrumentation they use. I have to wonder if they influenced Mogwai/if they were an influence on the group, because I had a lot of reminders of them. Overall, a good listen, perhaps not for everyone, but still probably worth a spin in a quiet week. Matt Pond PA - The State of Gold : Album of the week is the new one from Matt Pond PA. ...

Photo via Facebook I wrote about Funeral Advantage last month when they played the Harvard Square Mayfair, mentioning that their songs sounded like Smiths covers. After hearing "Sisters," the first song off their upcoming album, I may be wrong. "Sisters" is a lovely dream-pop song, and far too summery too ever be compared to The Smiths. It's very light and synth heavy and reminds me of a more ethereal version of The Anniversary. After hearing their previous material, this is a huge step forward for them song and production wise. Expect huge things from their debut. Funeral Advantage's debut album, Body Is Dead, is due out August 25 on The Native Sound. You can pre-order it now on the label's Bandcamp or iTunes . For more on Funeral Advantage, including previous releases, check out their Bandcamp  or Facebook . If you're in the Boston area, they have a show coming up July 23 at The Middle East in Cambridge. 

Photo by Ken Sears After realizing I haven't seen Mission of Burma since 2004, and since I don't want to shell out the prices to see them open for Foo Fighters at Fenway Park next month, I had no other option but to road trip up to Portsmouth, NH on a Wednesday night. Luckily, there was also a brand new music venue to check out when I got there.  3S Artspace has been open for about three months. It's a combination restaurant/gallery/performance space. Seeing a show at a "performance space" is always a bit iffy, but these guys seem to have it together. The diamond shape of the space and the chairs lining the walls gave off a bit of a rec center vibe, but once the show started that was all forgotten. Great sound, great lighting, and an air conditioned room made this one of my new favorite venues. Their calendar tells me I'll be heading up to Portsmouth more often than not from now on. Photo by Ken Sears Guerilla Toss opened the show, and I wasn...