I Don't Hear A Single 10th Anniversary Planning

It is a crazy time here at IDHAS as the 10th Anniversary approaches in July. We will hit the 4th million view before that and that is a little frightening. The place was only ever meant to be a small reaction to people of my age constantly banging on about how all new music was crap before they went and listened to Badfinger for the 10th time that week.

Nothing at all wrong with Badfinger at all, I love 'em, but there has been music since. So as I begin to think about the milestone, I wanted to celebrate in some way. It isn't something we normally bother with, I don't put myself about much and allow modesty to hold back self congratulation. So, the answer was to let the artists do the talking, simply because this place has always been primarily about them. 

So the plan is to have a week of Live sessions from artists who have made the biggest splash here over the decade. The last time we did this, it was incredibly popular and led to some surprise associations that continue to this day. That was for the hundredth edition of the Audio Extravaganza. 

The planned feature will be a week of sessions, three a day, totalling 21. The format will be 4 songs, one of which will be a cover. The cover was thought of with not doing any on the LTTW Playlist and that it would be nice for the newer to celebrate the older. 

I'll be going through the 10 years to note artists who have made an impact. It will be Guitar Pop heavy of course, but there will be Prog, Psych Pop, Rock and other diversions. I'll be inviting artists over the next month to finalise a line up.

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Vanilla - Psychedeli

 

I am a big fan of Vanilla and they do release an exhausting amount of stuff, although this is a positive thing in these days of three year cycles. I first got into Vanilla, via my adoration of Liar's Club which began in the days of Anything Should Happen.

Their Come And Go album was a real favourite on ASH and still is in these parts. That album is still available on Bandcamp, expanded as a Name Your Price and is highly recommended. You can get to it here. Vanilla had released a self titled album in 2006, but largely carried on where Liar's Club left off.

The Tacoma lot release great Guitar Pop, but here is an anthology, not of their career, but of the Psych Pop recorded throughout the band's two decades. It is an inspired collection and many of you know that the easiest way to my heart is via Psych Pop. A genre that I adore more than most.

I say inspired, because Psychadeli works beautifully as a stand alone Psych Pop album with the emphasis on Pop. The band's lyrical wit and adeptness shines through, as it always does, but the complete celebration of the genre here is totally engaging.

I don't intend to talk about the songs too much as I really want you to go off and listen to the whole thing. Amidst the Andy Partridge like Pancake Hat and the Jangle Pop and Brass instrumental extravaganza of Swinging London are 9 other equally splendid songs. I've embedded my three current favourites. I urge you all to take in the whole thing.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Pretty Graves - The Pretty Graves

 

Welcome to the Connecticut quartet, The Pretty Graves, debut album and it is a storming amalgam of styles. Complex, yet incredibly melodic. Dark, yet built on almost Power Pop choruses. Deep, yet incredibly accessible.

At face value, you might take this lot as Alt Rock, but that is just a part what they do, extending to multi faceted individual songs. The riffs and solo are incredible and the songs veer between Pop Rock, Psych and Slacker Rock.

The opener Bending Reeds kicks off with a Bowie Berlin Guitar Intro and a vocal that is all sleazy Noo Yawk. but morphs into a Psych Guitar extravaganza and that is just one song. Each Breath instrumentally is wonderful fuzzed up Noise Rock, yet vocally somewhere between 90s Grunge and Slacker Rock.

Up On The Hill gets all Velvet Underground, yet Nothing Passes Like Time is outstanding melodic Pop Rock. That Guitar Pop is present throughout, Do It All Night and Feels Good are other examples. The latter is pulled along by a magnificent riff and groove.

Queen Of Lies gets mighty close to Psych Pop, whilst Walkin' is nearer to the late 80s, early 90s, melodic shoegaze. It is rare to hear a band that can be so melodic, yet also let loose. This debut promises so much and is absolutely engaging.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week 11 May

Welcome to the new Listening To This Week Playlist. 28 songs. Great Guitar Pop as always, but some really interesting diversions too.

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. 

Rural France - Electrical Tape

Pop Crimes - Promises

Professor And The Mad Man - 12 Strings And Tambourines

Future Teens - Unmade Bed

Sumos - Icebreaker

Hurry - Zoned Out

The Kashbuk - Sunset

Strange Little Hazards - Sweet Little Bird

The Speedways - Luna

All These Animals - Tap Water Or Bad Habits

He's Dead Jim - Glam Droogs

Adios Fatso - Gopro Not Again!

Bloom Parade - Pop Song

Echo Alexander - Forget The Serotin High, Much Prefer The Void Anyways

With Radiant Action - I Saw A Girl

Cult Figures - Space Invader

Sludgeworth - Hold Steady

Gin Wigmore - Beautiful Mess

Foxy - She Waits Alone

Midland Railway - Hair Song

Marian - Rock 'N' Roll

The Summerlands - Sellwood Bridge Blues

The Burning Limos - Young And Beefy

The Beautiful Game - Not Your King

Sparks After Midnight - Funny Way

Roots Asylum - Femme Fatale

Bakakai - Busy Girl

The Telescopes - White Noise

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Rural France - SLOTHS.

 

Today appears to be a celebration of what's happening over here, long needed after all the tumbleweed we see. It is also a second opportunity to mention Meritorious Records and confirm my love of Rural France. our review of the Wiltshire duo's previous album, Exactamondo!, is here.

I say duo, but this is a trio with Jeff Hamm on Drums. SLOTHS feels a little more laidback than previous offerings, there's less of the early Teenage Fanclub Guitar histrionics. This change of pace, allows the lyric adeptness to shine through.

Indeed at times, there are real comparisons to prime time Go-Betweens, particularly on a song like Someone You Forgot. My long time favourite, Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme is enhanced by the horns of John Hare as is the closer, Electrical Tape.

Electrical Tape is a stunner of a song that is melancholic and brooding and yet builds and builds until the Effects Pedal allows the Guitar to come in and then the Brass. Jukebox Weepie even gets all Half Man Half Biscuit again and has a wonderful twang to it.

High Hopes (Ballad Of Rural France) is a real let's do the song right here and with a bigger arrangement could have been a Brit Pop classic. It also has a loveable weeping jangle to it. Thirty-Seven Forever is splendid jaunty C86.

How You Gonna Get Even is Guitar Pop of the highest quality, a great Pop song for all times. Rural France's lyrical wit and strength often gets overlooked, the pen is as mighty as the sword. SLOTHS is a wonderfully crafted album, mellow and completely hypnotic.

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

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He's Dead Jim - Ludovico Technique EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

Hot on the heels of the These Men, These Monsters album release at the start of the year, a real favourite of followers here, comes a follow up EP and is as interesting as this quartet ever are. I suppose you might call this lot Art Pop, but that doesn't nearly tell the story.

Each song comes in on a different angle packing so much into its time. Glam Droogs is all 1974, a year that I still apparently live in, all Flares and Butterfly collars. Slumber Down is so 80s smooth with Sax and everything, a song that you can imagine Sade singing.

Love Plus Death shows a more default approach, wonderfully all over the place. A little Brit Pop, a little Noise Rock. rocking your socks off, even a little Punk. I can't help imaging Liam Gallagher or John Lydon  singing it. It doesn't half rock.

The real surprise is the cover of Sheila & B. Devotion's Spacer. There's not a hint of Chic about it. this is more Indie Rock anthem and inspired. It would be on tomorrow's Listening To This Week if we allowed cover songs on it. This band is so ultra interesting!

You can listen to and buy the EP at Name Your Price here.

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Sumos - Luck.

Near to home as the excellent Manchester quartet release six cracking songs on the equally excellent Meritorio Records label. You've already heard the title track on a recent Listening To This Week Playlist and it sounds as great as ever.

Sumos offer up a mix of Indie Rock and Brit Pop with side orders of Guitar Pop and Power Pop. All six songs reveal an outstanding variety and ability. Indeed, at times they have a tint of something from the other end of the East Lancs Road, a Scouse 90s Pop feel. I live somewhere in the middle of the two cities, so both suit well.

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The increased pace of Icebreaker allows the band to get noisier and come across as a rockier Housemartins. whereas Hunting Tracks is more Brit Pop, the poppier type around the edges of the genre rather than the bombastic nonsense. If I Would shows a more reflective Acoustic side, sounding more than a little Deer Tick.

Aram is brooding late 80s Scouse Pop with a corking hypnotic feel. Honesty is great 80s Indie Guitar Pop, too melodic for C86, It may be the best thing here. But the whole affair is a great listen revealing the strength of melody and the guitar. Wonderful!

 

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

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