If It's Too Loud...

Despite sounding familiar, the latest single from Richard Noir is hard to categorize. "Health" is lo-fi, but by the 2020 definition. This is definitely much more well produced than the bedroom or attic recordings we grew up with in the 90's. The only way "Health" sounds truly lo-fi is that is keeps the 90's slacker aesthetic alive and strong. The song has a killer early folky Beck jamming with Pavement vibe, which we're all in for. It will bring you a summery feel, which we could all use right now. You can listen to "Health " below.  1640 Råde , the debut album from Richard Noir, will be out this spring on Furuberget. For more on Richard Noir, check him out on Facebook . Health by Richard Noir

Photo by Max Warren London synth-punk quartet Es are back with a new song of their upcoming debut album. "Hidden Track" is less obviously intense than the previous single, "Chemical," but this one still has a lot of bite. The synth line in this song is quite hypnotic in the way that it seems to swirl around vocalist Maria Cecilia Tedemalm's voice during the verses. The chorus has a chant along quality despite not being a gang vocal, which somehow adds to the intensity of the song by playing with punk norms.  Maria Cecilia Tedemalm explains the song:  "'Hidden Track' is a song that took a long time to complete.  The music was entirely realised at least a year before the lyrics were written. Lyrically the chorus is a direct nod to the classic Germs song "What We Do Is Secret"; however thematically 'Hidden Track' explores the inner workings of relational drama. A constant push pull to fully understand and learn about the other p...

With her latest single, Laura Stevenson dips even further into the world of folk. "Time Bandits" moves further away from the 90's influenced rock of her earlier albums and is almost a traditional modern folk song. It's absolutely gorgeous, despite the subject matter. In a Facebook post, Stevenson writes:  "I wrote this song right after I got married, right as Trump got elected. It was a crazy time and a lot of people felt really hopeless. That hopelessness has lingered over the last 4 years, but humanity and love continue to peak through, that's just the human spirit and I've been so inspired by those that stay strong and keep fighting to enact some positive change. This song is about how the world might seem like it's falling apart but we still have love and all we can do rig ht now is take care of ourselves and each other. Now during THIS crazy time, I find myself 38 weeks pregnant, waiting in self-isolation for my baby to be born, praying th...

Photo by AJ Stark Bristol's Langkamer are being billed as alt-country and country punk. With their latest single, "Full Contact," I'm not really hearing that sound, although there are some of the bare bones of country twang in there. To me, I'm hearing more Pavement going more mainstream and having a harder edge, with some country twang hinting around the edges.  Drummer Joshua Jarman explains the song:  " I had a pretty miserable time in school. It was such an absurdly strict and stifling environment. Even the classes I should’ve loved and done well in were structured in such a restrictive way as to choke any joy out of them. It’s a rotten way to spend your time. That’s what the song’s about. Plus I guess it’s kind of a tribute to the Louis Sacher novel ‘Holes ’." You can watch the video for "Full Contact" below. The song is available now via Breakfast Records. For more on Langkamer, check them out on Facebook and Twitter .

For a while now we've been bringing you Brass Against's covers of 90's alt-rock and metal staples, and it's been pretty great. Last week saw the release of their first original song, "Umbra." According to an email that went out to fans, " It’s a song about a global pandemic hitting and having a megalomaniac reality tv show host in charge," so it's obviously a work of fiction and has no bearing on our current reality. The best part of "Umbra" is that it fits right into all of Brass Against's classic covers. It sounds like a long lost song from either Deftones or Tool, just with a female singer and a horn section. A lot of us have really missed music like this, and luckily we have Brass Against to deliver. You can watch the video for "Umbra" below. For more on Brass Against, check out their website .

Photo by Tatjana Rüegsegger Switzerland's Annie Taylor (name of the band, not a member of the band) are set to release their debut album in May. "A Thousand Times" is a light, breezy song that sounds much more like California in the 60's than Switzerland today. It starts off sunny and stopping just short of beach music. And then these swirling, harder edged guitars come rushing in and then back out. The guitars keep washing in until they are here to stay for the remainder of the song, creating a glorious juxtaposition that is hypnotic and thrilling.  Vocalist/guitarist Gini Jungi explains the song:  "' A Thousand Times' is a seemingly breezy optimistic and melancholic song about resinous things in life. It’s about people who are feeling down and the song is to let them know, that they are not the only ones feeling like that. It’s about getting together, exchanging and accepting help from others. You know, like “Got nowhere to go, told you so, you ...

According to their Bandcamp bio, Boston's The Endorphins play "Punk/Psych/Grunge." They're definitely right. Their most recent album, Dementia Paralytica , is a ten song burst of this. "Nothing Now," the album's opening track, is a three and a half minute sprint that incorporates the speed and aggression of punk, the noise (and also aggression) of grunge, and the weirdo electronic freak out of psych. I tend to say this a lot, but this is a combination I never knew I needed until The Endorphins came along. "Existential Threat" sounds like Lightning Bolt desperately trying (and failing) to write an early 2000's radio hit. With "Gamma" you get a blisteringly quick punk rager. You can listen to "Nothing Now" below. Dementia Paralytica is available now for the name your price option at The Endorphin's Bandcamp . As always, if you choose the free option, be sure to follow The Endorphins on Facebook and Instagram . De...

March 11 was a weird, weird night to go out to see live music. A global pandemic had just been declared, and what had started out as making the most of it and trying to have what could be one last night out before everyone gets confined to their houses turned into wondering if we should all be there. But, at least there was fantastic music to be heard. Boston's Evan Greer was brought in for local support, and, as would be expected, a transgender, anti-capitalist folk singer very quickly won over Against Me! fans. Performing solo, songs like "Last iPhone" were stripped of the pop punk trappings and re-imagined as folk punk. "First Boy" and "Liberty Is a Statue" were perfect for the evening. Surprisingly, Greer was given about forty five minutes, which is a huge amount of time for local support. She truly won over the crowd and could have played for twice as long. Stef Chura was the main draw for me. Midnight  was my favorite album of 2019 and I ha...

We have a soft spot for supergroups here at If It's Too Loud..., and if you're a long time fan of the Boston music scene, it's not going to get much bigger than E. E features Thalia Zedek (Come, Uzi, Live Skull, Thalia Zedek Band), Jason Sanford (Neptune), and Gavin McCarthy (Karate). As you would expect, their latest song is a killer burst of indie rock at its finest. "Contagion Model" (which is either the best or worst timed name for a song and includes the chorus "It's contagious / Spread it around") is three minutes of perfection. It's loud and dissonant with guitars that will lock into your mind for days to come. This is the kind of indie rock that dominated my life in the 90's and you don't hear as much of these days. E are poised to take over to become the new favorite indie rock gods for those of us over forty by making us feel young again. You can listen to "Contagion Model" below. Complications , the new album fr...

Last month we became enamored with Edmonton's Cayley Thomas's song "Blue Jean Baby."  Luckily for us all she's back with another new song, "Two Minds." "Two Minds" keeps on with the glorious mainstream Americana meets indie rock and dream pop sound we loved from her last song. With this new song, Thomas's voice feels like the softest, warmest hug you've ever received. And I mean that in the best possible way. Cayley Thomas explains the song: " It is all about the negotiation and mental drama that the primitive part of my brain likes to produce when faced with a challenge. Luckily, I have learned to identify this state and am now able to intervene, bringing my higher consciousness into the equation to form a sort of  thought tug-o-war ." You can listen to "Two Minds" below. How Else Can I Tell You? , the upcoming album from Cayley Thomas, will be out May 1. For more on Cayley Thomas, check her out on Facebook a...

Photo by Bobbi Rich It's no shocker that the newest song from Margo Price is great. It would be bigger news if it wasn't. What's surprising is how different "Twinkle Twinkle" is from anything else we've heard from Price in the past. Her new album was produced by Sturgill Simpson and Price, and if you were to think That's How Rumors Get Started would be a little more rock with Sturgill producing, you'd be right. "Twinkle Twinkle" takes Price's trademark perfected old school 70's rhinestone country and mixes it with garage rock. I guess she decided if the country establishment won't give her the respect she truly deserves, she's going to go off and make her own sound. And thank goodness for that. "Twinkle Twinkle" is a masterpiece, and shows an artist coming into her own comfortably.  You can watch the video for "Twinkle Twinkle" below. That's How Rumors Get Started , the new album from Margo Price,...

Neak comes from quite the musical heritage. His father is Robert Kelly of The Kelly Brothers, who also performed with James Brown and Sam Cooke. How could he not end up getting into music? His latest single, "Abstract," sees the Chicago rapper/producer teaming up with Since9ine6ix. "Abstract" isn't like much hip hop I've heard recently. It's polished and mainstream without sounding like everything else out there. It has a laid back and futuristic feel, but doesn't have a cartoony space gimmick. Neak and Since9ine6ix look back to what made hip hop great in the early 90's while looking to the future. They do this without sounding like a throwback or being overly produced or technical.  You can listen to "Abstract" below. The song is available now via Neak's Bandcamp . For more on Neak, check out his website . For more on Since9ine6ix, check him out on Twitter . Abstract by Neak and Since9ine6ix

Photo by Nicole Loucaides The latest single from Fenne Lily is going to remind you a lot of Lucy Dacus. There's just no getting around that. Lily's new single, "Hypochondriac," is a deeply personal singer/songwriter track somewhere in the land between indie rock and folk. What's sets "Hypochondriac" apart is that it dips ever so slightly into the world of dream pop. Lily brings us this fully lush and captivating song that will be impossible not to get sucked completely into.  Fenne Lily explains the song:  “ The song’s theme was realised immediately; pressure to feel enough but not too much in a time of hyper connectivity, plus a personal reminder to be accountable for and have agency over the part of me that gravitates towards meltdown.  It’s the first in a collection of tracks addressing myself as both the cause of and solution to my anxieties, as well as a shift in attention from predominantly relationship-based writing to a more self-reflective...

Photo via Facebook It's been four long years since Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released A Man Alive. Luckily for the entire universe, they are back with a new album, due in May. The first single off the album, "Temple," marks a change in sound for the band. It still sounds like Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's blend of indie/folk/dance music, so don't fret about that. But "Temple" isn't quite as celebratory as previous music has been. Even a song like "Nobody Dies" was a dance party just waiting to happen. "Temple" is nearly somber, and much more serious sounding. It's still a great song, and somehow still feels celebratory... just not as much as Thao has been in the past. You can watch the video for "Temple" below. Temple , the upcoming album from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, is due out May 15 on Ribbon Music. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, check o...

Photo via Facebook When you read that a band started off as a solo bedroom project, you know what to expect. It will be limited instruments, probably a noisy, off tune guitar going through some pedal effects, and a drum machine, at most. Hailing from Oakland, TONER obliterates that notion. Their new single, "Dark Ecstasy," is borderline metal. It takes nearly alt-metal like Quicksand and Helmet and reworks it through shoegaze like My Bloody Valentine. Yes, that is one of the weirdest descriptions I've ever written, and it shouldn't work at all, but the more I think about it, the more this sound needed to happen, and the more shocked I am that it took this long. TONER gives us this sound that we've been crazing all these years without knowing it. You can listen to "Dark Ecstasy" below. Silk Road , the upcoming album from TONER, will be out April 17 on Smoking Room. You can pre-order a copy here . For more on TONER, check them out on Facebook and Ba...