Modern Marriage - Grim Up North

 

Closer to home for today's closing review with a wonderful album released on the splendid Skeleton Records, home of the fine Record Shop and label. Follow them on Facebook to enter the home of twisted wit to which I concur.

Thinking of the Wirral, there are gonna be obvious comparisons to Half Man Half Biscuit and the humour and lyrical dexterity are here, but the arrangements and directions are miles bigger. This is Indie, but takes many unexpected turns.

These songs are stories about characters, filled with observation and biting wit and attitude. Who else would write a song called Gerry And His Pacemaker, wonderfully written and a groove led anthem. Grim Up North is very C86, a little Housemartins, sardonic, yet also houses a killer chorus and Trumpets and everything.

Lobster Pot is more Punky and a reference that most scousers would know. Instrumentally, it is awesome, messy, noisy, yet addictive. Modern Marriage even enters the realm of a Pop song. Dear John gets all Rickenbacker Jingle, maybe the most straight ahead here and it works beautifully.

IKEA Flatpack is glorious Brit Pop with a wonderful string arrangement. Blue,Red And Yellow...Maybe is awesome, great Pop Rock, a song you don't want to end. Speke Now (or Forever Hold Your Peace) starts all Psych Pop and hurtles into great UK New Wave.

Ben Savage is a gifted songwriter with an ability to come up with engaging Pop songs, whilst also having a knack for observation and a sharp tongue. Modern Marriage are also a locked in trio as well as being proof of the inventiveness on The Wirral. Grim Up North is essential.

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

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Slippers - Slippers 08

I still ache from this place being called a boys club around the middle of our 10 years. My argument was that it wasn't, but the female vocal led material at that stage was either wistful and breathy or shouty, neither of which suited what we cover and still don't.

Five years on, look at us now. Without ever changing direction, the ladies are offering up the best of what's around. With three albums in our Top 10 of the Best Albums of 2025 and currently compiling Monday's Listening To This Week which is female dominated. Proof, that we are not sexist, the music is everything, nothing else.

Phew, glad to get that off my chest. On to Slippers and Madeline Bubaka Black's second album is stunning Pop. It may not sound original, reminding you of many different things from the past, but it is so beautifully put together. Stunning Indie Pop.

The vocal is sugar sweet, she could sing the phone book and make it alluring. But the arrangements all take their share of the weight. Every song is different to the last. Beautifully produced and arranged in a way that makes the very best of that top notch vocal.

Castaways is all 60's Studio Pop, whilst Wasted Tonight, a co write with Mo Troper, is perfect 80s Jangling UK Indie Pop. Til You Know is pure Saint Etienne and Fool In Your Room is superb Jangle Pop with crossover Guitars.

Sunday Morning could be Tamar Berk as does Wants For Everything and you know how much we adore Tamar Berk. Slippers 08 demonstrates the joy of melody and even, more the beauty of Pop. Let your cares wash away as you sing along. Wonderful!

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

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The Regulars - Lights Get Low (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

All the way from Boxborough, Massachusetts, The Regulars offer up something a little more Rocky than we normally don't always go for. But the album is a really joyful listen. Indie Rock at heart, with an emphasis on the Rock.

The Riffs are killer, really gripping and the joint combined vocal of Jeff Clarke and Julia Fernandez - Turk works really really well. Clarke's songwriting is the strength, but his Guitar playing is extraordinarily great. The songs are tight and don't veer off into other directions and this straight aheadness is really appealing.

They can get looser and do so on the excellent slightly meandering Gotta Wait. The heavier Evening Phase has a slight feel of The Successful Failures and that similarity is around more than once. There is an earthy grit to what the band do and that is special, because not many are attempting such.

Petrified closes the album and is the one time that The Regulars come up for air and they still can't resist a regular breed crunch. They are nothing like Deacon Blue, but the dual vocal does have Ross - Mcintosh in feel, much more in your face though.

There is also a slight less Pop similarity to latter day Ash in parts. The standout song is Impossible which kicks in with an explosive Riff. It's the most Pop Rock that the band gets and is real belter of a song. At 21 minutes, the album is more of a mini one, but it is one that says what it wants to say and then gets off. A truly great listen!

The album is available at Name Your Price, so you have little to lose. You can listen and buy here.

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Deadbeat Beat - From Here To Ohio

 

I think many of you know how engaged that I am with intelligent Guitar Pop, especially when it adds a little Gravitas. Detroit's Deadbeat Beat have come up with exactly that, the 7 years gap has been way too long. This is an incredible listen.

I have a theory that the most compelling albums are when my great friend, Darrin Lee and I move from our own spheres to meet in the middle. From Here To Ohio is sure to hit us similarly. It retains its originality without ever losing the melody.

At times the album appears to be a cross between 60s US Summer Pop and the best of 80s Indie Pop. But there is also plenty of gentle Psych Pop that nears Toytown without ever getting there. Yet, the quartet can fashion up something as sprawling and magnificent as Straight Friends.

Although, this is essentially Guitar Pop, Pete Steffy's keyboards add something extra instrumentally, taking the songs into even more Poppy directions which are unusual for music of the genre. The songs are outstanding from the jaunty Jangle of Butchertown to the wonderful Psych Pop of Dying On That Hill.

I adore Toytown and Mellow fits into that village perfectly. Atmospheric is joyful New Wave Power Pop and the opener, Peach Sprite, is ace West Coast Jangle. At times, the spirit of The Sugarplastic hovers around and that makes From Here To Ohio an essential listen.

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

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Listening To This Week 8 June

Usually, the playlist is being compiled right up to the deadline. The most pleasing ones always seem to be sorted well ahead of time and this is one such one. 29 songs that were ready gradually and easily. It left a virtually free weekend and preparation for a glut of reviews that will be coming towards the weekend.

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. 

Local Drags - Feeling Down Is On The Way Out

Onesie - Tryptophantastic

Log Flume - Get The Picture

Gentle Brontosaurus - Tumbleweed

The Race - The Best Is Yet To Come

Velour on Tap -Hourglass Lake Ahead

Bramwell - Standing On Stones

Aaron Skiles - Ain't No Marks

GALORE - Life Comes Quick

Kilo Bravo - World On Fire

The Greenberry Woods - Lame Love Letter

Bunchy's Big Score - I Don't Wanna Dance

MARKETPLACE - Jennifer Said

Marketplace · Jennifer Said

Vinyl Floor - Tell The World It Happened

Keaton Schiller - Spill

Conor Miley - Peepshow

The Mosfets - Keith Is A Blues Artist

The Mooches - Skinhead

Holy Coves - Hole

Palm Ghosts - Sear Zoning

Willie Dowling - Carry On Refusing

No Museums - Time Trials

Cocktail Slippers - This Town

Twin Bloom - Magazine Dreams

The Ragamuffins - Wobble Wobble

Soft No - Done

Clay Pigeons - The Flow

The Youth Play - Sunday

Deer Fang - Howl

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Wooden Overcoat - Hello Sunbeam EP

The Portland Oregon quartet offer up a dynamic debut EP. Not taking the obvious route, Hello Sunbeam offers up a mix of Dream Pop, Psych Pop and Shoegaze, generally in the same song and this works wonderfully well.

As well as a vocal smoothness, the soundtrack is soothing, almost soundscape and certainly Pop, but with tremendous riffs dominating proceedings. The best example is Finally Arrived which is wonderfully hypnotic and engaging.

Heaven Right Now is still instrumentally effective, but adds a twang and stupendous organ mixing something like 60s Psych with C86. I Knew We Would adds a folk feel to a strumming vibe, again sounding Psych Pop, yet this time more led by a Dream Pop vocal.

Home is the moodiest song of all four, skirting Surf and Spaghetti Western like feel, but also totally catchy. The band are instrumental led, offering up themes that connect completely and are a delight when the Joe Meek like Organ comes in. They are also not afraid to Twang.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.
 

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Local Drags - Cool If We Split?

 

What once appeared to be a solo shoot off from the excellent Starter Jackets is now the real main thing. Lannie Durbin is back on the excellent Stardumb Records label with his classic Power Pop that adds a slightly modern touch.

You got the warning with Sticky Menu on the latest Listening To This Week Playlist and here is the full palette. People note The Speedways as heading the revival of the genre, but Local Drags have carried the load just as much.

Everything that you need in a Power Pop album is here. Great melodic vocals, thrilling Riffs and big Choruses. It takes talent to nail the format and Durbin has it in spades. Cool If We Split? is more American than many which underlines what the country brought to the genre.

The Riffs are everything here, never more so than on the superb Bitter Fruit, a song than you will be singing in the shower for weeks to come. High Beams is a little more UK 1979 with its brain drilling Riff which underlines what a way the man has with catchiness.

Can't Get Through is wonderfully anthemic and Little Grief harks more to the 60s Guitar Pop. The best may be saved till the last. Feeling Down Is On The Way Out is slower and has more in common with the 90s Slacker Pop.

The link to Starter Jackets is still here with Luke McNeill records, mixes and masters Cool If We Split? If you wanted to know what Power Pop means to the fans, this album shows how it can revive the spirits, no matter how bad things are personally and worldwide, there is an ability to listen and forget all the outside noise.

You can listen to and buy the album here, You can buy the Vinyl and CD from Stardumb here.

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