If It's Too Loud...

There are a few factors that guarantee we're going to like Beachy Head. First of all, they're a bonafide supergroup. Back in 2019, Christian Savill of Slowdive started writing and demoing some songs without any real plan. He sent these recordings to Ryan Graveface (The Casket Girls) and Steve Clarke (The Soft Calvary). Fleshing out the band is Matt Duckworth (The Flaming Lips) on drums and Rachel Goswell (Slowdive, Mojave 3, The Soft Calvary, Minor Victories) adding some vocals.  The second factor is the name. Beachy Head is a popular destination in Sussex because of its beautiful chalk cliff. It's also known as a suicide spot. Third is the music. "Destroy Us" is a swirling song that may lean more towards the pop side of dream pop or shoegaze than we'd expect. It feels like an updated throwback to the gothic side of New Wave. Of course, as with most music of this genre I find it to be beautiful and uplifting, but I'm pretty sure that's just me. Most pe...

Because sometimes you swap them a dozen times over the course of your final rankings and decide they're both worthy. For Field Mouse, Hold Still Life was my favorite album of 2014 , and the band continues to be a favorite of ours around these parts. The Casket Girls are definitely a band I've come to love at all, with True Love Kills the Fairy Tale a favorite of mine from 2014 even if it didn't make my top ten. With their new albums, we have two bands on two different trajectories, both making for great listens, but for different reasons. With The Casket Girls, The Night Machines is largely more of the same. It's a solid listen from top to bottom with a great share of dark indie pop, but also just haunting melodies throughout. Field Mouse, in comparison, abandons a lot of the moodier, shoegazey style in favor of a more up-front indie rock affair. In both cases, they end up being addictive listens, both in terms of general musical quality but also in terms o...

Another really busy release week! Album of the Week : Artist : Ladyhawke Album : Wild Things Quick Description : Tight, well-crafted indie rock. Why You Should Listen : Ladyhawke's first two albums are interesting and great, so this was a must listen anyway. Overall Thoughts : I'm a new convert to Ladyhake, who does a type of indie rock I really love. There's a little bit of fuzz on the edges, the melodies addictive, the whole nine yards. While Wild Things is perhaps a little more polished than it needs to be (especially compared to her earlier albums), this is an incredibly solid release with a lot going for it. As with many albums, you'll know if it's for you within the first few moments, but this is really a highlight of the week. Recommendation : Best album of the week for sure. Artist : The Claypool Lennon Delirium Album : Monolith of Phobos Quick Description : Collaboration between Les Claypool (Primus) and Sean Lennon. Why You Should Listen...

A favorite of both of us here at IfItsTooLoud..., The Casket Girls are releasing a new single this week. "Western World" is a little cheerier than most of the songs on last year's True Love Kills the Fairy Tale , but it's right along with the Casket Girl's sound of droned out eerie alternapop. If they ever make another Addams Family movie, they should get The Casket Girls to provide the soundtrack. "Western Girls" will be available as a split 7" with Stardeath and White Dwarves on Graveface Records, to be released as part of Record Store Day's Black Friday on 11/27. For more info on Casket Girls, check them out on Facebook and Bandcamp .

Busiest new release week so far this year, so let's not waste any time. ††† - ††† : ††† is a side project of Chino Moreno of the Deftones. I only realized this after finishing the album for the first time, and it explains quite a bit - the album would fit right in on mid-1990s alt-rock radio in a lot of regards, and it is ultimately an all-over-the-place nostalgia trip more than anything else. It's worth listening as a curiosity, for certain, but whether it has staying power for you might be based more on your love of the Deftones and/or the state of alt-rock when you were in high school/college. Nina Persson - Animal Heart : Nina Persson is perhaps best known for her work as lead singer of The Cardigans, but this is her first solo album. Truly, this is an album that mirrors her work with A Camp more than it resembles anything you remember from The Cardigans, but that's not really a bad thing. There are some memorable tracks on here along with some slower-type songs...