First Listen: New Releases for 5 March

Artist: Adult Mom
Album: Driver
Quick Description: Solid indie rock.
Why You Should Listen: Adult Mom is always good, and shifts from genre to genre with ease.
Overall Thoughts: Wanted to highlight this up top as one that I liked this week. Adult Mom brings a really solid listen here, with an opening track that just kills it and an album with some solid indie rock tunewriting. This is a very enjoyable album this week.
Recommendation: Give this a shot.

Artist: Field Mouse
Album: Memory Card
Quick Description: Bandcamp-only covers record from a favorite here.
Why You Should Listen: The only flaw is that it's only 11 songs.
Overall Thoughts: We can't get enough of Field Mouse around these parts. I'll be honest, though: I usually don't buy stuff on Bandcamp even though I really should. Spotify is too easy. But Field Mouse puts this out during a pandemic on Bandcamp Friday for five bucks? Yeah, I'm in. And it would have been worth ten bucks - there's so much fun on here to go around, and even tragic choices like Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me" are turned into something noteworthy. We're biased, for sure, but if you like cover songs of the songs you couldn't avoid 20-30 years ago, this is worth the financial investment for a ton of reasons.
Recommendation: Give up a Starbucks run for this one.

Artist: Genesis Owusu
Album: Smiling With No Teeth
Quick Description: Slighty off-center rap music.
Why You Should Listen: There's something different about Owusu's presentation that just works.
Overall Thoughts: I tripped up on "Gold Chains" a few weeks back and really fell for this one. Is it a rap record? An R&B effort? There are a lot of ways to describe it, but none of them quite fit, and that's what makes it special. The delivery, the music behind the whole thing, it's all really compelling and infectious.
Recommendation: Make time for this one.

Artist: Wayside
Album: Shine Onto Me
Quick Description: Debut from a fuzzy rock act.
Why You Should Listen: Has some elements of shoegaze and alt-rock mixed in.
Overall Thoughts: This was one album that caught me off-guard this week. Wayside does noisy, melodic, fuzzed-out rock music right, and there's something about it that makes the album stand out. Songs like "Shine (Onto Me)" and "Room 22" really set the tone for the record. It's definitely a favorite this week.
Recommendation: Mandatory.

Artist: Jane Weaver
Album: Flock
Quick Description: Interesting indie rock.
Why You Should Listen: Jane Weaver has decades of great work behind her.
Overall Thoughts: I didn't know the name Jane Weaver when I tripped up on this album. Listening, I loved it - it's strange, it's different, it has a very unique feel to it, songs like "Pyramid Schemes" get stuck in my head. I go hunting for the cover image, and Weaver was a member of Misty Dixon, a band in the Twisted Nerve family that I was fairly into back whenever. So it explains a whole lot. Anyway, loved this album, one of my favorites this week as well.
Recommendation: Make time for this one.

Artist: Jimbo Mathus and Andrew Bird
Album: These 13
Quick Description: Collab between the whistling violinist and the Squirrel Nut Zipper.
Why You Should Listen: Everyone involved is great.
Overall Thoughts: I don't have a lot to say about this one, but its got a lot of great moments throughout, and is an interesting, raw folk record.
Recommendation: Don't miss it.

Artist: SATURNIIDS
Album: Duplicate Tapes
Quick Description: A nice 1990s time capsule.
Why You Should Listen: This is almost too on-the-nose to be real.
Overall Thoughts: Another one I didn't want to slip through the tracks. If you told me this came out in March 1991 instead of March 2021, I would believe you. This is so good, and it might be the one more than any other that I'm excited to go back to.
Recommendation: Listen. To. This.

Of note:

* W O L F C L U B - Just Drive - Part 1 (Really good synth pop.)
* Elizabeth and the Catapult - sincerely, e (New record from the adult-alternative-adjacent act, some excellent moments.)
* Prism Bitch - Perla (Don't sleep on this one, it's fun.)
* Electrocute - Make Some Noise (This one is fun, too!)
* Tigers Jaw - I Won't Care How You Remember Me (Another solid indie rock record.)
* Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - UNLOCKED 1.5
* Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
* Zara Larsson - Poster Girl
* Bernice - Eau De Bonjourno
* Fruit Bats - The Pet Parade
* Ian Sweet - Show Me How You Disappear
* Kaiti Jones - Tossed
* Jay Gonzalez - Back to the Hive
* Sarah Haras - Mirage
* Charles Ellsworth - Honeysuckle Summer
* Lisa Jeanette - Jellyfish on the Moon
EPs:

* Linnea's Garden - Nowhere Friday Nights (New music from one of the minds behind Powerslut.)
* April March and Olivia Jean - Palladium
* Norma - Full Emptiness
* Worriers - The Old Friends EP
* Middle Kids - Stacking Chairs
* upsammy - Bend
* Octo Octa - She's Calling EP
* Otto Von Schirach and Qubrus - Ottobrus
* Billy Nomates - Emergency Telephone
* Juliet Quick - Glass Years
* Rene Wise - WSNWG007
Live albums/Compilations:

* Allie X - Cape God (The Digital Concert)

Also out:

* Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark
* Kings of Leon - When You See Yourself
* Ron Gallo - PEACEMEAL
* The Spill Canvas - Conduit
* of Montreal - I Feel Safe With You, Trash