Tristen - "Salty Tears"

A lot of artists are going back through their unreleased material during this quarantine. The latest discovery is from Tristen, who recently posted "Salty Tears." This song was recorded for 2017's Sneaker Waves, although to me it sounds more like 2013's Caves. It's this incredibly upbeat and lovely little song, more pop than rock or country, but with serious vibes from both of those. If you've been into Tristen for any amount of time, there's a good chance that "Salty Tears" will become a quick favorite. 

On her Bandcamp, Tristen explains the history of the song: This song first came out in my collection of demos I put up on MySpace back in 2009. This was the golden era for me. I had just left a marriage proposal in Chicago to move to Nashville to become a songwriter. I packed my life up in a Honda Civic and moved to a one bedroom on Sunset Place in Hillsboro Village, before Nashville was hip, when it was just cool and huggable. We were working our waiter jobs in the day and hustling to each other's shows at night. Buddy and I were off and on again; he was living in a house with six other shiftless twenty somethings. We called them the cavalier rogues from the land of imaginary sufferings. I wrote this one hoping he would hear it and regret breaking up with me. It still feels cool to me and careless in that way, knowing that if someone doesn't love you then, they will never love you. I had no patience for unrequited love but also if love was a game, I could win it. We rerecorded this one for Sneaker Waves and listening to it now, I'm not sure why it didn't make the cut.

You can listen to "Salty Tears" below. It is available now via Tristen's Bandcamp. For more on Tristen, check out her website.

Gum Country - "Somewhere"

Photo by Gum Country

Gum Country (which features Courtney Gavin of The Courtneys) describe themselves as "harsh twee." Listening to their debut single, "Somewhere," they're dead on with that description. "Somewhere" has the shimmering small sound of bands like Yo La Tengo and The Magnetic Fields, but also brings in these fuzzy, buzzsaw guitars you would never associate with this type of music. It creates this interesting and unique yet familiar sound.

Courtney Gavin explains the song: "I wrote 'Somewhere' a couple years after moving to LA. It's about leaving a place that you are comfortable in and landing in a strange new one, and discovering what parts of your identity remain and which were left behind. The first line I wrote was 'haven't felt this way in a while, I can't think straight can't hide my smile, i guess this is gonna be my life for a while', and then it was just a process of unravelling that thought. I think the song could be about the range of emotions that come with any big change, and ultimately settling on a mellow excitement for vulnerability. It's pretty serious subject matter for Gum Country, and I blame it on the poetry class I was taking at the time."

You can watch the video for "Somewhere" below. Gum Country's debut album, Somewhere, will be out on June 19th on Burger Records. For more on Gum Country, check out their website.

Leeches - "Money"

Photo by Rowan Allen

Hailing from Dorset, England, Leeches have an upcoming singles collection. The latest from that collection, "Money," is a huge psychedelic rocker. The new song is huge guitars and riffs that just keep growing and growing in this grunge-laden swirl. It's an intense but fun song that hearkens back to the days when you could have songs that mix noise rock and pop hooks.

The band explains the meaning of the song: "It feels like half way through every month, without fail, we look in our bank accounts and there's nothing in it.  We have no idea where our money has gone and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Every month we tell ourselves that next month will be better, we'll start planning and saving but then in exactly 4 weeks time we're back in the exact same position. The circle of life."

You can listen to "Money" below. Easy, the upcoming singles collection from Leeches, will be out July 3 on Leisure Records. For more on Leeches, check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Rad Max - "Flix from '86"

Photo by Justin Hawthorne

The newest song from Portland, OR's Rad Max won't be mistaken for high art. But sometimes, especially now, you just want a fun song. "Flix from '86" is literally about movies that came out in 1986. It's filled with references from Top Gun, Three Amigos, Little Shop of Horrors, Chopping Mall, and a ton more. Maybe I'm showing my age, but I have such an intense nostalgia for the vast majority of movies they mention, so I'm already sold. Plus, it's just a fun alt-rock song. It's very silly, but the song is the same kind of escapism that the movies referenced provided, and couldn't we all use a little of that right now?

You can watch the video for "Flix from '86" below. Straight to Video, the debut album from Rad Max, will be out April 10. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Rad Max, check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

First Listen: New Releases for 3 April

Artist: Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn
Album: Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn
Quick Description: A great cross-cultural musical endeavor.
Why You Should Listen: Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei are both virtuosos in their own right.
Overall Thoughts: There's good music, there's important music, and then you get albums like this that are both good and important. Just a great work of art on its own with a lot of moments that really work great on their own, and the former college music major in me senses a lot of little bites of things to explore on future listens. There's no flaw in this at all, and it's something you should absolutely find time for.
Recommendation: A must-listen.

Artist: Parsonsfield
Album: Happy Hour on the Floor
Quick Description: Folk rock done right.
Why You Should Listen: Perfect mix of folk, rock, and country elements.
Overall Thoughts: This feels fun. It feels fun in the way that early Dawes and Avett Brothers records were, in that the musicianship is excellent and you can tell everyone on board is enjoying the process. In a week with a lot of odd listens and not a ton of excellent stuff, this is especially a breath of fresh air in how pure and great it is.
Recommendation: Make time this week.

Artist: The Lovely Eggs
Album: I Am Moron
Quick Description: Oddball indie psych/punk?
Why You Should Listen: This is going to get stuck in your head time and time again, and you'll like it.
Overall Thoughts: No clue how this band hit my radar, but no regrets. This will be both familiar and be weird and wonderful, and this duo is probably going to put a smile on your face. Don't overthink it, just give it a shot.
Recommendation: One of the fun listens of the week.

Artist: Ellis
Album: Born Again
Quick Description: Gorgeous, unexpected Canadian folk pop.
Why You Should Listen: This is one of the better listens of the year so far.
Overall Thoughts: I did not expect this to be something I'd love as much as I did. I don't know Ellis, and really only added it to the list on a whim, but my goodness is this great. Just the right level of all the pieces of a great, dreamy pop music across the board. I will likely be gushing about this album to a lot of people in the future, I'm just very surprised at how this one nearly flew under the radar.
Recommendation: One of the best of the year.

Artist: Purity Ring
Album: WOMB
Quick Description: The Latest from the indie electronic act.
Why You Should Listen: We've been waiting for this one for a while.
Overall Thoughts: Purity Ring is great. The presentation is both familiar to those who don't mind some electronics in their music, but between the light fragility of the vocals and the often-stark presentation of the instrumentation, there's a reason their songs stick with me for years and years after the albums get out of the cycle. For this one, it's no different, and, honestly, if "i like the devil" doesn't make you feel anything, I don't know what you're doing here. This is a worthy new effort from the group, and I'm glad we finally have it to listen to.
Recommendation: A great listen.

Of note:

* BROKEN UP - Soul Victim (Gives some serious School of Seven Bells vibes.)
* Clem Snide - Forever Just Beyond (Maybe their best effort in their more recent evolution.)
* Orion Sun - A Collection of Fleeting Moments and Daydreams (An odds-and-ends collection from earlier this year.)
* Locate S,1 - Personalia (The most Of Montreal album I've heard in 15 years.)
* Thievery Corporation - Symphonik (Provides arranged versions of some of their work.)
* Anna Burch - If You're Dreaming (Not transcendent like her previous work, but still great in its own right.)
* Johanna Warren - Gemini I/Gemini II (Don't miss this one. A lot of music here, but a lot to like.)
* Es - Less of Everything
* TOPS - I Feel Alive
* Born Ruffians - Juice
* Empress Of - I'm Your Empress Of
* Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
* Ms Amy Birks - All That I Am and All That I Was
* Warm Digits - Flight of Ideas
* Logan Ledger - Logan Ledger
* James Elkington - Ever-Roving Eye
* Yaeji - What We Drew
* Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea
* Melkbelly - PITH
* Peel Dream Magazine - Agitprop Alterna
* M. Ward - Migration Stories

Seven Song Albums:

* Deserta - Black Aura My Sun

EPs:

* Zuzu - How it Feels (I hate the new version of "Get Off" compared to the old, but this is still great.)
* Amos the Kid - Mountain View ("What Did You Do" and "Jesus Cocaine Ketamine Christ" are awesome.)
* Emily Jane White - Dark Undercoat (B-Sides) (My kingdom for a full-band, full production version of "The Witch," please.)
* Crush - Sundown
* Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Born Deadly
* Shel - Wild Child
* Telyscopes - Recycled Bath Water 2
* Alva Leigh - Self/less EP
* Fiver and The Atlantic School of Spontaneous Composition - You Wanted Country? Volume 1
* Forever - Close to the Flame

Also out:

* tetema - Necroscape
* NNAMDI - Brat
* Enemy Radio - Loud is Not Enough

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - "Phenom"

Photo via Facebook

One of the few bright spots in the next month or probably more is new music, and I don't think anything is more highly anticipated than the new album from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Their latest single, "Phenom," is nothing short of exceptional. It's everything we want from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. "Phenom" lives in a bizarre world that's equal parts folk and dance music. I don't mean folk that people dance to, I mean actual dance music. This is an odd, kinda quirky song that feels like Billie Eilish for grown ups. Plus, the video is nothing short of brilliant. Filmed during quarantine using a Zoom conference call, this would be a huge MTV Buzz Bin mega-hit if those were still a thing. Perhaps in another universe, somewhere.

You can watch the video for "Phenom" below. Temple, the upcoming album from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, will be out May 15 on Ribbon Music. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, check out their website.

Henry Jamison featuring Darlingside - "I Forget Myself"

If you like a song with a good story, it's going to be hard to outdo the latest from Henry Jamison. He wrote the song about a former partner. Nowadays, not only are they back together, but they find themselves quarantined together. As Jamison explains: “I Forget Myself’ is a song of regret, written in the aftermath of a breakup. When I wrote this song a year ago, I obviously had no idea that it would come out in the middle of a global pandemic nor that we would be back together."

The song itself is fairly brilliant. It's a fairly standard singer/songwriter folk song, but with this lovely twist as if it was being filtered through the brain of Brian Wilson. Jamison has always been a brilliant and captivating live performer, and "I Forget Myself" might be his first recorded song that captures that.

You can watch the video for "I Forget Myself" below. The song, which features Darlingside, will be on his upcoming collaborative EP, Tourism. Tourism will be released May 15 and also features collaborations with Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Lady Lamb, and Fenne Lily. For more on Henry Jamison, check out his website.

Tysk Tysk Task - Everybody's Worried About Us

Even though we're relatively new to the Tysk Tysk Task bandwagon, it feels like we've been waiting forever for a full length from them. Luckily for us all, the wait is over as last week brought us the release of Everybody's Worried About Us.

The Lowell band has always had an awkward intensity to their music. Maybe it's just what we're all living through, but Everybody's Worried About Us seems to intensify that feeling. "Colorado River" kicks the album off and sets the mood for the album. Samantha Hartsel's vocals are almost painfully intense. At times this album isn't exactly pleasant to listen to, but that's not always the point of good art, right? "Colorado River" truly jerks the listener around with it's blend of indie rock, blues, and... whatever else Tysk Tysk Task inject into their music. That's not me being flippant. This is one of the few bands around that truly is doing their own thing. Besides the aforementioned indie rock and blues, there are the traces of electronic music and even pop. "Lovers' Covers" is a ballad that's a bizarro universe top 40 song.

You can listen to "My Mistake" below. Everybody's Worried About Us, the debut album from Tysk Tysk Task, is available now via Bandcamp. For more on Tysk Tysk Task, check them out on Facebook and Instagram.

Allegra Krieger - "The Push and the Pull"

Photo by Liz Maney

Hailing from Brooklyn, Allegra Krieger has released a new single, "The Push and the Pull." It is an incredibly simple and beautiful indie folk song. Krieger isn't rewriting the rules of songwriting or the genre of indie folk. There's a lot that is familiar here... but that's perfectly ok. "The Push and the Pull" is one of the most gorgeously compelling songs you've heard all year. In its simplicity, you're sucked in by Krieger's vocals, which are simply stunning. As you listen a few times, you start paying more and more attention to her songwriting. This is a masterful song that truly demands your attention.

You can listen to "The Push and the Pull" below. The single is available now via Northern Spy Records. For more on Allegra Krieger, check her out on Facebook.

Stormstress - "Paint the Mask"

Photo by Fuel Heart Productions

Here at If It's Too Loud... we bring you music we truly love. Typically that falls into the indie rock, folk, punk, garage rock, etc world, with occasional trips into the world of hip hop and pop. One thing we don't cover that much is metal, but every so often something slips into our consciousness that we simply have to bring you. 

Right now that is Boston's Stormstress. Led by identical twin sisters Tanya Venom and Tia Mayhem and joined by Maddie May Scot on drums, Stormstress is a powerhouse trio that rocks huge metal riffs. Their latest single, "Paint the Mask," is a huge rock song that rarely gets made these days. It's incredibly theatrical, like Alice Cooper and Meatloaf levels of theatrics, which is really rare in music these days. "Paint the Mask" is great if you loved early The Darkness but wished they weren't so ridiculously silly.

You can watch the video for "Paint the Mask" below. For more on Stormstress, check them out on Facebook.