Fantastic Shams - Back Of My Mind

 

You get the impression that the Indianapolis quartet, Fantastic Shams think of themselves as a Garage Rock band, but are so damn melodic that what comes out is wonderful atmospheric Guitar Pop and it is really fine. 

Recorded Live to Analogue, Back Of My Mind is totally engaging. It does feel a little 60s at times, wonderfully so, but they constantly hit the right buttons. My Side Of Town and Window Shopper are delicious blasts of 60s Psych.

Yet Back Of My Mind mixes the band's Garage strength with something far more modern Angular and the chorus is addictive. Bianchi Celeste, as heard on the current Listening To This Week Playlist, is much more Indie Pop and that arrangement is spot on.

Walking The Dog again flirts with Psych Pop, but also chugs along like a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. What Arthur Said is great UK Beat, hints of The Move with a killer Guitar solo. Walking The Dog has an epic vibe that may represent best what the band want to be. It has a real Rhythm and Blues feel.

The closer, Fresh Start comes in at 6 and a half minutes allowing the quartet to hit a hypnotic groove, it is mind blowing, a sort of acid trip. The whole album resonates, a little DIY as you might expect from the way it was recorded. But Back Of My Mind is refreshingly wonderful.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on CD and as a download.

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Feaster - Big Super

 

I've been listening to this for a few months and it hit a nerve pretty early on. Sometimes, it is hard leading a double life. I Don't Hear A Single is my main realm, but away from it, I listen to much noisier stuff, particularly Psych and Prog. The two don't often mix. But when they do, Wow!

Initially, I thought Big Super, a little noisy for here, but repeated listens made me realise that great albums should translate anywhere and this is Great. Feaster are a quartet from Philadelphia and I've seen them labelled as all sorts from Indie to Psych Rock. Maybe best sticking with Rock with a heavy Psych tint.

They raid genres at will whilst remaining quite unique. They aren't Prog, but random changes within songs  may make you think they are. At times, they flirt with 90s Rock, but you think you've nailed them and they come up with a Surf solo.

The album is an incredible listen. The arrangements are complex, but built on a riff or a vibe. They can also be very melodic. I said they aren't Prog, but Footguns is a great Prog song. They can also be gentle, particularly, the magnificent Rally For The Win. Yet, BABA goes full on Led Zeppelin.

Simple John is a corking mix of 60s Psych and Brit Pop. Surprise is probably my fave, it broods and then breaks out. Come To is another cracker, more commercial, great Psych. All 10 songs are different. As we hit August, this will feature high in the Best Albums Of 2026.

You can listen to and buy the album here. An album that serves a physical release.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 10 August

24 songs this week and the LTTW Playlist sounds a little more quirky than usual. Still plenty of Guitar Pop, but also adventures into different areas. Oh! and is that Mitch Easter with his first solo single in 20 Years? 

The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about those who appear here. 

Tom Coward - Waitrose United

Dave Cope - Bard's Blessing

The Kind City - Corpse

The Happy Somethings - Meanwhile

Timothy Ivan - Relax

Winterbury - toky$t@r

Mitch Easter - Fine Forever Wanting

Charming Arson - All The 2s Are 1s

Moon Construction Kit - Down The West Coast

Hello London - Bad Acting

Fantastic Shams - Bianchi Celeste

Corde Sortie - Bizarre

Beans - Remember

Imperial April - Wake Me From My Sleep

Bill Baird - Karma Loan

Anton Barbeau - Come Home To Me

The Cindys - Glass Shattered

Psychotic Youth - Girls

Awake & Dreaming - Cold Shoulder

Awake & Dreaming · Cold Shoulder

Downpilot - Strange Horses

Winter TV - Can't Dine

Lady Flash - ティターンズベイベー (Titans Baby)

Jeff Vidov - Signs Of Life

Translucent Veil - The Veil

Translucent Veil · TRANSLUCENT VEIL - THE VEIL

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Ozconscious - Nostalgia For The Moment

 

My connection with Winnipeg's Ozconscious was a submission for the Listening To This Week Playlist from the Singer, Songwriter and Guitarists of the band, Tate Hiebert. That song is Gaze and it closes the current Playlist. It fits what the Playlist tries to do and the song itself is very much I am about musically, in and out of I Don't Hear A Single.

I'm always concerned about the track order of LTTW, with approaching 30 songs each week, there is a worry that listens drop off as it progresses and so I try to temper that by varying the songs throughout the whole thing and by also making the closer, one of the most interesting things on it.

Gaze fitted the bill perfectly. A cracking mix of melodic Prog and Psych, the type of song that I listen to a lot away from IDHAS and introduce here when I think it fits. There's been great success with this approach, but never have I had so much praise back for one particular song.

I had to listen to the album and I have, a lot! No surprise that they are Canadian, because that country has been one of the bigger providers here, normally Power Pop. The six piece's album is largely different to Gaze, more beautifully produced Pop Rock.

There is variety and Be Real is a cracking slab of Classic Rock. Hiebert's vocal is very close to Ricky Ross and the production even bigger than Deacon Blue. Indeed Dead End Dollar sounds like a rocked up version of Deacon Blue, although throughout the emphasis is more on Rock.

After a couple of EPs, the last in 2015, the band return with a refreshed line up and a much more vigorous sound. Cryptomnesia is a great jaunty Pop song, the type that great Indie bands of the second half of the 80s broke through with.

Be Real is anthemic with a slight eastern feel that rocks out into a massive chorus. The Intro build on Powder Love is splendid, building into a melodic Pop Rock chorus. My Eyes Are Wide Open is much smoother, a little funky, a great joint vocal with a Red Hot Chilli Peppers like intro.

I Love Myself (I Hate Myself) is again great pacy Pop and catchy as catchy can be with a hypnotic riff. Nostalgia For The Moment is a top notch listen, wonderfully produced and arranged, it is not only about Gaze. 10 songs that make you forget about the outside world as you sing along.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It cries out for and deserves a physical release.

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Tom Coward - Have A Word With Yourself

 

Welcome to something wonderful! I know little about Tom Coward, except that he is from Glasgow, but Have A Word With Yourself is an exceptional listen. 5 songs, but more of a mini album than an EP as it runs for over 24 minutes.

Send Closure is on the current Listening To This Week Playlist, but all 5 songs are worthy of your attention, all are very different to each other. Send Closure is ace Jangling Pop, slightly Folk, but it houses a killer riff and a big harmonic chorus.

Waitrose United is one of the finest songs that you will hear this year, perhaps any year. Pastoral Pop of the highest order, hints of Glasgow Pop and Intelligent Indie, a song of beauty, charm and melody. The Dinner Party is more direct, built around an incredible arrangement, almost Baroque Pop.

Christmas In Jail is more Indie Pop with an incredibly addictive Baseline, beautifully constructed with a breakout chorus, again wonderfully put together with the Sax again providing a different feel. These four songs only partly prepare you for the closer.

Stalingrad is just short of 7 minutes long, but those 7 minutes fly by. It is an essential reminder of the great Piano led Pop Rock of the 70s. Epic in scope and arrangement, it has a real jaunty bouncy feel with some wonderful harmonies. A real altogether now vibe and rounds off an exceptional album. Where have you been hiding Tom?

You can listen to and buy the album here. Surely someone will give it a Physical release. Last Night From Glasgow maybe?

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Invisible Rays - Blame It On The Rays

 

The downtime here has allowed has allowed me to discover quite a few albums that I've wanted to cover, but unlike the norm, have given me the time to see what others are saying about these bands and it hasn't been a lot. Surely there aren't just the few of us looking around to discover something new to us.

Those that have, have been linked by a common theme of adapting the PR as though they haven't listened to the album at all. It is a poor state of affairs. Boston's Invisible Rays are a band worth noting. The beauty of Guitar led Indie is that there are so many strands. Compare these four to my previous review of Attic Salt and the only common thing is that they are both Guitar led.

I find most Indie bands are like this, all taking different routes. Many outsiders say that Indie is all bands doing the same thing, which is rubbish. Invisible Rays don't rely on the strength of their choruses, great though they are, it is their adaptability that marks them out, especially the variety.

Interstellar Sweetheart is great Classic Rock, yet I Don't Dream Of You is ace Jangle Pop and Sir David Mineham is great 90's Power Pop, College Rock even. Owe Me even gets a little Prog instrumentally. These differences are what marks out the band.

Landline is on the current Listening To This Week Playlist and is outstanding Indie Rock. Kill The King Of Rock And Roll has a great instrumental track, all Psych Jangle and an outstanding chorus. In Store comes up for air, slowing things down acoustically, almost Camp Fire like.

The stand out song is the magnificent Violent Says which has an R.E.M. vibe, but sort of incorporates everything they are good at and is so damn catchy. Blame It On The Rays is a wonderful listen, the arrangements are beautifully thought out and it is different to a lot of the stuff that I listen to.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Attic Salt - Stay In The Midwest

Attic Salt hit their third album, a long six years since the previous, Get Wise. The Springfield Illinois quartet press all of my buttons and so will likely push yours too. This is life affirming Indie. Power Pop, I suppose, but much more than that.

Songs are built around key requisites, killer riffs, big choruses and top notch solos. Slightly noisier than you might think, without ever losing the melody. A little Punk, a bit more detached from the genre that you might expect, more of a distorted feel, a tad Slacker, but as effective as say, a band like Ash.

They are in the mould of the new breed of Power Pop, but happier to ramp things up more. This is real singalong stuff, aided by the split vocals of Andy Harmon and Alyssa Currie, the male / female split works wonderfully well and their twin Guitars chime together splendidly.

Held together by the rhythm section of Frederick E. Malcolm and Skip Davis. Those joint vocals work even more when shared on songs. The energy on show is awesome, the four don't come up for air, Stay In The Midwest will shake the cobwebs off.

Not one song is over 3 minutes and this say what you wanna say and then get off is part of the album's charm. A few tears ago, I moved away from Power Pop, simply because it became too rooted in the Classic, all I Love You, Yes Ido, I've lost my girl on repeat.

It was albums like this that brought me back. Bands who proved there was more than just the same in the genre. Any of these 10 songs will light up your life. I've picked my current three faves, but they'll most likely be different tomorrow. Up and at 'em Guitar led joy at its most effective.

 

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD or as a download.

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