Josefina - Starry Dome

Buenos Aires isn't known as a hub of the alt-country movement, at least to us. Singer/songwriter Josefina originally hails from there, but now calls Chicago home. Last month she released her debut album, Starry Dome. It's a seven song collection of upbeat, sunny songs that dabble in pop while being based in alt-country. She's more akin to Nikki Lane or Tristen than Lydia Loveless or Drive-By Truckers. In fact, to expand on the Tristen comparison, she lies in between Charlatans at the Gate and Caves era Tristen. 

The album opens with "I'll Soon Be Walking," which starts off with some Beach Boys style vocals, but quickly goes into the bouncy alt-country that characterizes the rest of the album. "Run, Cowboy, Run" is my favorite track, with a slightly more laid back vibe but some great attitude infused throughout. I'll be honest with this one: On my very first listen of Starry Dome, I wasn't completely won over. It was good and enjoyable, but a little too polished for my personal taste. But then I gave it another shot. And another. Pretty soon I became more and more into it, so definitely give it a chance. This is how I discovered and felt about Nikki Lane and Lydia Loveless, who long time readers will know I'm basically obsessed with now.

You can listen to "Run, Cowboy, Run" below. Starry Dome is available now on Josefina's Bandcamp. For more on Josefina, check out her Facebook and Twitter.

Gabriella Cohen - "Baby"

I'm having the hardest time describing the newest song from Australia's Gabriella Cohen. The only word I can think of using is "cool."

"Baby" has this amazing groove throughout. Cohen has crafted this amazing pop rock song, leaning more heavily on the rock side. Her voice has this great 90's slacker vibe in the style of Evan Dando and Courtney Barnett. It includes an almost ska guitar throughout, and is just this super chilled out song reminiscent of a less jokey Pavement. Plus, it's a positive, upbeat song about heartache, so we're pretty sure you'll become as obsessed with it as we are. (Not to spoil it for you, but it has one of the greatest false endings of all time, one of my personal favorite elements in a song.)

You can watch the video for "Baby" below. Gabriella Cohen's new album, Pink Is the Colour of Unconditional Love, will be out June 1 on Captured Tracks. You can pre-order it here. For more on Gabriella Cohen, check her out on Facebook and Twitter.

Live Shows: Hotel Ten Eyes & Nina Violet, Fort Foreclosure, Warren, RI 3/18/18

Hotel Ten Eyes are the rare band I wanted to see before I heard any of their music. The band first formed in December, and four months later embarked on their first tour. When I first became aware of them, they were a Nashville based four piece featuring Joe Fletcher and Ron Gallo, who are two of my recent favorites. Once I saw they were playing the ultra tiny Fort Foreclosure in Warren, RI, I knew I had to go.

The first thing I noticed when Hotel Ten Eyes took the stage was that Ron Gallo wasn't with them, and they are now a three piece and Ron Gallo wasn't with them. (Their Facebook about section states that the band is "Joe Fletcher + a revolving cast of wandering spirits.") It was a bit disappointing, but I do really enjoy Joe Fletcher so I quickly got over it. For this outing, Hotel Ten Eyes was Fletcher, Scott Pittman (who has played drums with Fletcher in the past), and Annie Dolan on bass. Fletcher made the right call by choosing a side project name for Hotel Ten Eyes as the sound is quite different from his work as a solo artist or as Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons. Sure, Fletcher's trademark drawl will always be based in country and blues, and any band with him as the singer is going to sound like him, but Hotel Ten Eyes is much more rock oriented than Americana. They sound like the dirtier side of The Rolling Stones with a more serious Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. For a band that only formed in December with revolving members, they played a tight, but brief, set. Luckily, they weren't too tight and had just the right level of sloppiness to fit the style of music.

I first saw Nina Violet, the night's opener, playing with Evan Dando and Willy Mason at my final ever show at TT the Bear's. I quickly adored her unique style of folk-ish music. Even though she's based in MA, her shows away from her native Martha's Vineyard never seem to work out with my schedule, so it's taken me almost three years to see her again. I sincerely hope it's not that long again. Her style of music is slightly off-kilter folk, but her voice adds such a unique element to it. She has that element of being both fragile and powerful at the exact same time. She's one of the more unique artists I've seen that could somehow be fairly huge.

A quick word on the venue Fort Foreclosure. It was definitely a... unique place to see a show. It's a tiny storefront filled with artwork that could also be someone's home maybe? The audience was maybe 30 people, and when a venue is also a "collective" or "collaborative," that usually means everyone is incredibly young and I'm guaranteed to be the creepy old guy. Not at Fort Foreclosure. I was somehow one of the youngest people at the show, which hasn't happened since I was 19. It is a BYOB establishment, and they definitely BYOBed. I know millenials and teenagers get the bad rap, but a bunch of 50+ year olds with a drink in one hand and a smart phone in the other are much worse. It's a great, cool, intimate space to see a show, but it has this one quirk I've never experienced before.

First Listen: New Releases for March 16

Album of the Week:

Artist: The Decemberists
Album: I'll Be Your Girl
Quick Description: New album from the veteran act.
Why You Should Listen: It will likely be their most divisive listen since The Hazards of Love.
Overall Thoughts: The Decemberists are a band that, at this point, are not putting out anything typical or predictable yet always sound like The Decemberists. This is always a difficult thing for bands to do, but Colin Meloy's songwriting always tends to have a poetic, theatrical flair, and the rest of the band fills in the musical gaps nicely. This is a good album, I think - there are moments of levity ("Everything is Awful"), moments to experiment ("Severed") and the result here is an album that will likely split the fanbase again. Especially after how gorgeous a return to form their previous effort was, it's both surprising and not surprising that we received this.
Recommendation: Definitely the best of the week, but you may find you disagree.

Artist: Yo La Tengo
Album: There's a Riot Going On
Quick Description: Yo La Tengo returns with a very YLT record.
Why You Should Listen: You have been a fan for ages, but really wish they were doing more stuff like I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One.
Overall Thoughts: I don't recall when the switch flipped for me regarding Yo La Tengo, but I remember it all starting to make sense at some point and that their more recent output didn't quite reflect the quiet, sometimes droney, very deliberate stuff of their most well-known albums. This new album absolutely reminds me of "classic" Yo La Tengo, for whatever that might mean to anyone on an individual level. It's a solid listen and one that I was pleasantly surprised by.
Recommendation: Great if you like the classic YLT sound.

Artist: Murs
Album: A Strange Journey Into the Unimaginable
Quick Description: Independent rap music.
Why You Should Listen: Murs combines some interesting instrumentation with his rhymes for a fun listen.
Overall Thoughts: This is not like a lot of rap music out right now by design, but even still, we get a good batch of songs along with some fun asides (like "Superhero Pool Party") to turn this into an interesting listen. With a week filled with lots of rap music, this is absolutely the best of the batch.
Recommendation: Listen to this even if you don't like rap music.

Artist: The Bonnevilles
Album: Dirty Photographs
Quick Description: Good ol' garage rock.
Why You Should Listen: You didn't realize how much you missed The White Stripes.
Overall Thoughts: Yeah, if you listen, you might be saying "more like The Black Keys," but whatever - this is pitch-perfect garage blues rock that scratches exactly the itch you want it to. If you want to hear something like this, you'll love it. If not, it won't be for you.
Recommendation: Worked for me!

Artist: Chuck Strangers
Album: Consumers Park
Quick Description: Solid mainstream rap music.
Why You Should Listen: Probably the most accessible of the three rap albums being highlighted this week.
Overall Thoughts: I think this won me over at "1010 Wins," which is just a pretty brilliant song from start to finish. The whole package ain't bad, although it's maybe a little longer than it needs to be. Still, if you're looking for a rap album that isn't going to stray too far outside of its lanes, this is definitely worth the time. I definitely enjoyed most of this.
Recommendation: Give it a listen.

Artist: Dear Rouge
Album: Phases
Quick Description: A little synthy, a little indie.
Why You Should Listen: You tried Fickle Friends and want something better.
Overall Thoughts: I'm a fan of Dear Rouge. Their initial EP a few years back was in rotation for a while, and their single "Tongues" a staple in my general playlist for some time. This was a highly anticipated album for me, and, if I'm being honest, it's more hit than miss. The sound is a little tighter and more produced, but almost too much so in some senses. It's a solid listen, for sure, but it might take more time to grow on me than anticipated.
Recommendation: A good album this week.

Artist: Caroline Says
Album: No Fool Like an Old Fool
Quick Description: Quiet indie rock.
Why You Should Listen: You're looking for something a little on the softer side, but with that alt-rock feel.
Overall Thoughts: I'll be up front: as a fan of the previous Caroline Says release, I was looking forward to this one. It didn't do the trick for me - a little too on the slow side, a little too plodding instead of deliberate, and the songs simply weren't grabbing me. I wanted more than what I got from this, which is unfortunate in a somewhat busy week.
Recommendation: If you're unsure, skip this. There's a lot out this week.

Artist: Toby Goodshank
Album: Dream on Me
Quick Description: Anti-folk hero back with another album.
Why You Should Listen: He's probably one of the most important anti-folk artists still performing.
Overall Thoughts: I haven't kept up with what the former Moldy Peaches people are doing as of late, but when I saw Toby Goodshank had an album out, I had to give it a spin. It's actually one of the best albums of the week! It feels earnest but still not insincere, and the musicality is so good (especially seeing as the band could barely play their instruments when I first saw them). A great listen.
Recommendation: Definitely give this a listen.

Artist: Clarissa Johnson and the Cure-Alls
Album: Talk Talk Talk
Quick Description: Album from the WBCN Rock N' Rumble winner.
Why You Should Listen: Solid local rock.
Overall Thoughts: I missed this one last week, but we have an album here from a deserving winner of the prestigious local tournament. If you like independent hard rock, you owe it to yourself to give this a listen.
Recommendation: Worth your time if you're into it.

Artist: The Dean Ween Group
Album: rock2
Quick Description: Half of Ween with his side project.
Why You Should Listen: You miss Ween as much as I do.
Overall Thoughts: This is fine. If you like Ween, you know what you're getting here, largely. I wish I had more to say about it, but this isn't an album I'll likely go back to again. Just not really interesting.
Recommendation: Meh. Whatever.

Artist: PRhyme
Album: PRhyme2
Quick Description: More independent rap music.
Why You Should Listen: Well-produced with an interesting sound.
Overall Thoughts: I'll be up-front: I didn't care much for this. It has some weird choices even while a lot of it is an interesting listen, but so many of the choices (like the inconsistent censorship) just left me wondering. When you have Murs doing truly groundbreaking stuff, and Chuck Strangers holding the line, I just don't know where this fits in. It just made me wish they were a Doomtree act instead.
Recommendation: Don't bother with this one.

EPs:

* Mount Eerie - Now Only
* Morgan Page - Born to Fly
* Lauren Auger - Who Carry's You
* The Violet Kind - O X T R

Also out this week:

* Snoop Dogg - Bible of Love (Snoop goes gospel?)
* Fickle Friends - You Are Someone Else
* Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots
* Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens

Ditch Mimes - Arise!

Fitchburg, MA's Ditch Mimes aren't the typical music we cover here at If It's Too Loud..., but I feel the need to share this one with you. The duo, both college professors, play insanely loud music that's somewhere between metal and noise punk. Their latest album, Arise!, is a disturbing blast of pure noise and disturbance. The title track careens between these two sounds. Heavy metal riffs and metal growls but with the type of noise and chaos you only get in a band like Lightning Bolt. "Weird With a Beard" combines the crunchy guitars of Helmet with the sludge of The Melvins. "Charnel House" has a heavier Mudhoney feel. Ditch Mimes are perfect for anyone that loves the louder side of noise rock and the artsier side of metal.

You can listen to "Arise!" below. You can pick up the album Arise! now at Ditch Mime's Bandcamp. For more on Ditch Mimes, check them out on Facebook.

Margo Price Covers Bob Dylan

Photo by Angelina Castillo for Third Man Records

Considering how much I love Margo Price, Bob Dylan, and covers, somehow this one slipped by me for two months. As part of Spotify Singles, Margo Price (who had my 2017 album of the year with All American Made) has released a cover of Bob Dylan's iconic but possibly overlooked "Most Likely You Go Your Way." Price keeps Dylan's classic ramblin' style for the song, but injects just enough of her own vintage, shiny classic country into it to make it her own. It's quite literally the perfect kind of cover: Not an imitation and doing the song in your own style, but keeping enough of the original so that it's still recognizable as the original.

You can listen to Margo Price's version of "Most Likely You Go Your Way" below. For more on Margo Price, check out her website. 

Clever Girls - "Dumb Smile"

Photo by Luke Awtry

We've been loving Clever Girls since we first discovered them last year, and their latest single, "Dumb Smile," solidifies that even more. "Dumb Smile" is a straightforward ballad that defies all ballad rules. It's a laid back song that I'm having an incredibly hard time trying to describe. It's a jangly pop Americana song, like a happy and relaxed early Wilco. But the music drops out in unexpected places and then just barely comes back in for extended periods of time, until it erupts into too brief but absolutely perfect periods of time. It's frustrating and perfect at the same time.

You can watch the video for "Dumb Smile" below. Luck, the new album from Clever Girls, will be out on April 2. For more on Clever Girls, check out their website.

Talk Show Host - "I Hate Men (I Hate All Men)"

Photo via Facebook

We all have music that we listened to back in our youth that has lyrics we now consider questionable in our adulthood. There's a lot of rap, punk, and metal that is incredibly homophobic, misogynistic, and just horrifically outdated. Luckily for pop punk fans, there is now Toronto's Talk Show Host.

"I Hate Men (I Hate All Men)" is what happens when pop punk gets woke. The mostly male song is sung from the perspective of shitty guys and their attitude towards the world that isn't them. With lyrics like "I won't step to the side or give up my seat" and "I won't listen to reason or change my opinion" the song focuses on the smaller, inconsiderate but crappy things men tend to do. Towards the end, lyrically duties are taken over by a woman for her response. The song was called "the most cuck" by a Reddit user, which the band is very proud of.

You can watch the video for "I Hate Men (I Hate All Men)" below. Talk Show Host's new EP, Not Here to Make Friends, is available now. For more on the band, check out their website.

Jodee Lewis - "It Ain't Killed Me Yet"

Too much of throwback, old school country feels the need to be hokey. It's less of a musical style than a costume or gimmick. This is why Chicago via Missouri's Jodee Lewis is such a refreshing artist. With her new single, "It Ain't Killed Me Yet," she's not rewriting the script for a great old time country song. She's not trying to sound old fashioned or dirty it up. If anything, "It Ain't Killed Me Yet" has a sheen to its sound. But it's the lack of gimmick that makes it feel unique and vital. It's like a Dolly Parton or Dusty Springfield song from the 70's if they weren't trying to be pop.

You can listen to "It Ain't Killed Me Yet" below. Buzzard's Bluff, the new album from Jodee Lewis, will be out on April 6. For more on Jodee Lewis check out her website. Tour dates are below the song.


3/9/18 House Concert St. Charles, MO
3/10/18 The Bridge Jefferson City, MO
3/11/18 House Concert Kansas City, MO
4/29/18 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL

MC Paul Barman featuring Open Mike Eagle - "(((echo chamber)))"

Photo by Sasha Lytvyn

For an MC Paul Barman fan who had lost track of what he had been up to, the past four months have been a cornucopia. We finally have word of a new MC Paul Barman album, and with it, the ?uestlove produced title track. "(((echo chamber)))" seems more like a traditional MC Paul Barman song than "(((leapfrog)))" did. It starts off incredibly quietly. The first few seconds have literally no sound, and it starts off so gradually that you might not realize it at first. Barman's first verse is more spoken word than rap. It bleeds into Open Mike Eagle's verse, which bleeds back into MC Paul Barman. There is no real traditional verse/chorus/verse structure and is one of the most refreshingly unique hip hop songs in years.

You can listen to "(((echo chamber)))" below. The new MC Paul Barman album, (((echo chamber))), will be out May 18 on Mello Music Group. You can pre-order you copy on Bandcamp. For more on MC Paul Barman, check out his Twitter and Facebook.