If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Stella Kola Album : Stella Kola Quick Thoughts : Stella Kola is a musical duo out of Massachusetts that might have already made a leading candidate for best debut of 2023. This album leans heavily into the psych-folk past while still feeling incredibly modern and current, with addictive songs and absolutely beautiful instrumentation from start to finish. I did not expect to outright love this album as much as I did, and I want more. Great listen on a whole, make some time for this. Songs of Note : "Rosa," "Epiphany," "Free Afternoon," "November," "The Air We Breathe" Artist : Hamish Hawk Album : Angel Numbers Quick Thoughts : I didn't know Hamish Hawk before this week, but I wish I had, because this is an early favorite for 2023 best of lists. Hamish Hawk is what you've wanted Morrissey post-Smiths to be: a gorgeous baritone with excellent lyrics and a knack for storytelling. I was captivated by this album and...

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 - ...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Activity, the NYC semi-supergroup featuring members of Grooms, Field Mouse, and Russian Baths, are back with another single from their upcoming debut album. "Nude Prince" continues the trip hop meets shoegaze sound we loved from their previous single. If anything, "Nude Prince" dives further into the dark side of trip hop. It's a black hole of a song, sucking everything into itself the longer you listen. It's an impossibly slow song with a drum and bass rhythm and a shoegaze fuzz swirling the entire thing together. The band explains the song:  " Those icy synths for whatever reason made me think of the title and I worked back from that into this idea of what happens to the families of people, specifically men, who do shitty things, especially after they get caught. This one was pretty much totally cut together piece by piece in the studio, not live at all." You can listen to "Nude Prince" below. Unmask Whoever...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Activity are somewhat of a New York City indie rock supergroup. The band features Travis Johnson and Steve Levine of Grooms, Zoe Browne of Field Mouse, and Jess Rees of Russian Baths. Their single, "Earth Angel," is chill in its vibe but intense in its noise. It's almost a combination of 90's trip hop mixed with 90's noise rock. You get this incredibly compelling mixture of two seemingly opposite genres blended into one sound. Vocalist Travis Johnson explains the song:  " It's a song about the freedom of a lifelong love .  I think we were going for a very Talk Talk 'Laughing Stock' vibe in general. The vocals at the end physically hurt to perform... I could taste blood." You can listen to "Earth Angel" below. Unmask Whoever , the upcoming album from Activity, will be out March 27 on Western Vinyl. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Activity, check them out on Facebook and Twitter .

Artist : Field Mouse Album : Meaning Quick Description : New album from indie favorites in these parts. Why You Should Listen : This is a much more introspective, quiet record in many regards. Overall Thoughts : Field Mouse has been a favorite of ours since we tripped up on them. Their first album was in constant rotation, their second a nice sidestep into a more robust, mature sound, and this new album continues that evolutionary trend. Equal parts witty and introspective (not that the ideas are exclusive to each other), the more prominent acoustic guitar combined with a continued separation from the more dreamy alt-rock that put FM on the radar makes for an interesting listen that I fully enjoyed on first listen while wondering what else it will uncover in future rotations. Definitely one of the better releases of the week. Recommendation : A must-listen this week. Artist : Lillie Mae Album : Other Girls Quick Description : Expertly crafted roots music. Why You Should Li...

Photo by Katie Krulock Anticipation for the new album from Field Mouse continues to grow over here at If It's Too Loud..., since they're one of the few bands both of us are equally as obsessed with. Right now we can hear a third single from the new album. The title "Black Hole, Son" is obviously a play on Soundgarden's classic "Black Hole Sun," but that's where the similarities end. Field Mouse's song is this bouncy, fuzzy, kinda sorta shoegazey song. It's very mid-90's alternative inspired, but it's also a very poppy song. It also stops just shy of being epic, although on the twee/lo-fi scale "Black Hole, Son" might be one of the most epic songs ever recorded in that genre. You can listen to "Black Hole, Son" below. Meaning , the new album from Field Mouse, will be out August 16 on Topshelf Records. You can pre-order the album here . For more on Field Mouse, check out their website . (Seriously, if you'v...

We're rabid Field Mouse fans here at If It's Too Loud... ever since stumbling on them opening for Laura Stevenson & The Cans at TT the Bear's (RIP) years ago. We're beyond thrilled to find out they have a new album coming out in August and a new song right now! "Heart of Gold" is a gorgeous fast paced dream pop song, aka exactly what we want from Field Mouse. Saying a band has a more mature sound is such a music writer cliche, but "Heart of Gold" shows much a step forward for Field Mouse it's hard to avoid using it. Singer Rachel Browne explains the new album this way: "A lot has happened in the three years since our last record came out. While there is far too much to say about it all in one place, we wrote this album anyway. What are the broad strokes, you ask? It's more or less about the end of the world and all of the ways that it seems to be happening, but also about making peace with former selves and growing as a person de...

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 slowish week, but with one highly anticipated release and one awesome surprise. Album of the Week : Artist : Field Mouse Album : Episodic Quick Description : New album from an indie/dream-rock blog favorite. Why You Should Listen : Field Mouse's debut album was my favorite album of 2014 . Overall Thoughts : Episodic is not Hold Still Life . It's a little more raw, a little more mature, and a lot of the reverb/dreamlike status of it has been put aside. The changes are really solid, though, and the result is an album that, on first listen, I am really into. The slow trickle of songs over the course of the last few months acted as a solid preparation of what came, and the result is just a great album across the board and one that might be a favorite of this year again. If the first Field Mouse album didn't quite do it for you, definitely give this a shot as it has a little more polish. But if you're already a fan, you're going to find a lot to lik...

A few months ago I rediscovered Field Mouse's Hold Still Life , my favorite album of 2014 . The band is one we clearly love here , and their new album is coming out in August on Topshelf. They've been slowly tweeting out information on the album recently, but NPR debuted their new single "The Mirror" today, and we get our first glimpse as to what to expect. Guys, it's spectacular. A slow, Field Mouse-ian intro blasts wide open with a wall of fuzzed-out guitars and the song just doesn't let up after that. Combine that with what is the catchiest chorus the band has put out yet, and not only is this song a true winner anyway, but feels both fun and defiant at the same time right through its appropriately abrupt finish. I hope this ends up being the sort of breakthrough this band deserves, because this song is just crazy great. I don't feature individual songs here very often, so for me to be so excited by a song to share it immediately should tell yo...

Credit:  Dominick Mastrangelo In order to help pay for touring, Field Mouse have a special tour store with special items and deals. They're basically crowdfunding the costs of touring. Since we love Field Mouse ( especially Jeff ), and we love covers, we're especially excited for their promised covers LP. They've already shared their cover of the Jurassic Park theme and  Joyce Manor's "Schley," and today they shared The Smashing Pumpkins' "Mayonaise." It's a near perfect cover, to the point that I immediately started listening to Siamese Dream  once it was over, and I can't remember the last time I broke that one out.  For more information on Field Mouse, including dates for their upcoming tour with Hop Along, go to their website . To pre-order their covers LP, and check out all the other offerings, go to their tour shop . You can also listen to their cover of "Mayonaise" below.

Credit: Shervin Lainez In May, Field Mouse is heading out on tour with Hop Along. For smaller bands, touring can be expensive, and is largely paid for with merch sales. Field Mouse is following that, but by kinda sorta crowdfunding their tour. They have a special tour store  with lots of bonus merch and experiences. The basic is a handwritten postcard from the band for $5, and for $50 you get a VIP experience with a ticket to a show of your choice and the band will buy you 2 drinks. My favorite is the covers album level. As you know, If It's Too Loud... loves  cover songs, and the band is recording an album of covers just for those that help out with funding their tour. So far they've revealed two covers: "Jurassic Park Theme," which is a cover of the actual film score and not the "Weird Al" song (unfortunately), and a version of Joyce Manor's "Schley." You can listen to "Jurassic Park Theme" below.    Washed Up Emo has an exclus...

We love Field Mouse, so you can imagine our excitement when Rachel Browne announced a side project, Anomie. Anomie has a 4 song EP coming out on Febraury 10. From the description of the EP: The four songs on Anomie’s self-titled EP, available February 10, 2015 (Father/Daughter Records) were written in California over the span of a week where Rachel escaped to think during a difficult time. What emerged was a time capsule for the experience -- the music functioning as a therapeutic means to alleviate the heartache Rachel felt in the moment.  Yeah, that sounds like how every great album is written to me, too. The first song on the EP, "So Long," can be streamed now, and it sounds like Juliana Hatfield fronting Letters to Cleo. Just when I thought we couldn't love Rachel Browne's music any more... You can pre-order Anomie EP  on their Bandcamp page , and listen to "So Long" below. Anomie EP by anomie

Albums like this are why I like being able to write for this blog. Ken was raving about this band for a while, sent it over to me, and I fell in love almost immediately. Hold Still Life is the first full length as a full band for Field Mouse, and it's really quite the musical achievement. Sometimes it's like Velocity Girl, sometimes it's like the hazy indie dream pop/rock that's been popular as of late, and far too often the structures of the songs remind me of one of my favorite bands of all time, The Reputation. All the songs just stay stuck in my head, with "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Reina" in constant rotation, and the lyrics definitely tell some really interesting stories. "Bright Lights" would have resonated heavily with me 10 years ago in particular. I can't say enough good things about this album. By far, it was my favorite release of this year, and I'm hoping I can find some time/energy to see them live soon. Y...

A pretty stacked week this week for releases. Got a Girl - I Love You But I Must Drive Off of This Cliff Now : Got a Girl, the Dan the Automator/Mary Elizabeth Winstead project has been highlighted here at the blog before , and now that we have a full-length album, we can hear how well the initial song release matches the album. Overall, Ken is right that it feels a lot like the Lovage project, and while it may be a tad too long for my ears, there is more than enough here to really enjoy as a lounge-style electronic piece, and Winstead more than holds her own as a singer (which can be dicey for actors and actresses who try to cross over). Definitely worth putting in your rotation. Alvvays - Alvvays : I hate their name, and there's not exactly new ground forged in the debut album from Alvvays, but there's something very pleasant and reliable here that I appreciate. Polyvinyl specializes in this sort of indie pop, and Alvvays, even with the amount of hype and buzz they...

I've never really been a huge Record Store Day person. I love the concept, but lately it seems like you have to get there the second the store opens and hope they happen to have the ultra rare 7" of some 20 year songs you already have in three other formats. It might seem like blasphemy, but I've always been more interested in hard to find content than product. That being said, I can't wait to get my hands on Faux Real. Faux Real  features a bunch of up and coming indie bands playing songs by bands that don't really exist. For example, Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz covers "Pretend to Be Nice" by Josie & the Pussycats. I feel like this type of album already exists somewhere, but if it doesn't, it's about damn time. Another Western Mass band, Potty Mouth , covers "Take Me Away," which is apparently by a band called Pink Slip from Freaky Friday.  The 2003 Lindsay Lohan version, so yes, this will make you feel old. But you also get B...

Photo by  Shervin Lainez Brooklyn based neo-shoegaze band Field Mouse is using Kickstarter to fund their debut album. As of this writing, there are only a few days left and they have just beat out their goal, but it's still worth helping to fund it. As with most decent crowdsourced campaigns, it's more of a preorder than a donation. $10 will get you a digital download of the album, $25 will get you a cd, digital download, and copies of the demos. It even goes up to some more premium packages, like a $1000 dinner date package which gets you dinner with the band (they pay) before a show and a ton of available merch. If you plan on picking up this album (as anyone who likes their shoegaze with a groove to it will), please consider donating this week. You can find Field Mouse's Kickstarter here , and check out their website here .