Spygenius - Rhizomania

 

I am a writer, people tell me I'm a decent one, but I wish I could write as well as Peter Watts. His lyrics are inspired taking lyrical adeptness to higher levels. He has depth, a wonderful turn of phrase and a biting wit, he sees things that others see, but describes them at a higher level

A song like the vaudeville My Toxic Pal is 7 seconds short of a minute, but sums everything that I personally feel at this particular time. He also is the prime vocalist and guitarist. But this album is not just about Watts.

The album is totally a collaboration, all sing and the arrangements are stellar. They've not forgotten what they are good at, but this album takes them miles further. Previously known as a Psych Pop band, there isn't that much Psych Pop here. It is more Guitar Pop or Pop Rock.

I've had the chance to listen to the album many many times and at first you fall for the wit and the arrangements, particularly the choruses, but as you listen to it more, there are different songs that grab you and I want to mention my two current favourites are the closing two songs.

Different to the ones that precede them, they show off the band's skills to even greater extent. Beachcomber is the longest song and the most straight ahead, but it is totally engaging, there is a build, but not much of one. You hear flute, a little Baroque and mellotron, but the song doesn't want to deviate from what it is and nor should it.

Tre-Biwt is Welsh, Button in English. Ruth Rogers, bass player extroadanaire is Welsh and takes lead vocal on the song. It is superb Indie Pop with accompanying Brass and great harmony vocals. It is a complete surprise and spending listen.

Elsewhere, the delights are many. Watch Like Not One Is Dancing would be the ideal single and But Is It Powerpop takes the mick out of longstanding Power Pop group jokes and arrangements. Canute is great 60s Beat Pop, a little R and B with some top notch Farfisa.

Mr Blue Sky Thinking Blues has a really hilarious deep lyrical message, but is jaunty, full of vocal harmonies, barrel piano and Banjo. Horizon Shine has a real 60s Trippy message, opened by a sort of I Can't Let Maggie Go and has Pastoral Pop Psych vibes.

Alone Again, Orwell hints to their Psych Pop past. I know writers often state that this a band's best album ever, only for it to be thrown to history soon after. This probably is and certainly shows how much the quartet have progressed through 9 albums. Magnificent.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD can be bought from Canute Records here.

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Softjaw - Love Can't Kill You

 

I wanted to save two albums to close the latest 31 in 31. I've had both for a while, but the testament to both albums is that I'm still hearing new things as I listen to them again today. Both are so good, that followers have asked when they are going to be reviewed.

I'm sure Softjaw will have been reviewed gloriously elsewhere, but I have deliberately avoided all to form my own take on what will be up there in the Best Of 2026. Although technically their second album, the first was gathered as a sort of best of what had been around in one place. 

At its heart, Love Can't Kill You is a 60s album, not throughout, but certainly half of it. A wonderful 60s affair that takes in Merseybeat and dare I say it, the early Beatles albums. I do dread saying that because I get so much sent to me that notes it as Beatles and it isn't fit to wipe their shoes. These songs do though, not copyist, they stand up in their own right.

But a couple of songs get extremely close to prime time Cheap Trick. These being You May Be Right and the magnificent Flying High. There's also 70s UK Glam Rock with You Won't See Me Cry and I Know You Do, but mirror brilliant 7 inch singles from that age.

My heart is also melted by the glorious Psych Pop of Million Different People. All 12 songs are beautifully constructed. Beautifully produced and arranged. Riffs and harmonies everywhere and where one is needed, a killer Guitar solo.

It is the vocal arrangements that are most effective, particularly on the big choruses. I could have embedded any of the songs, but have chosen three to show the variety. As well as being a possible Album Of The Year, a special round of applause should go to Dandy Boy Records, which should definitely be the label of the year.

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

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Exploding Flowers - Alphabet Window

 

There's a really lovely piece from Niek in his review of the Exploding Flowers album on Add To Want List that notes what Indie writers are about and he is absolutely right. His review is great too and Alphabet Window is a cracker of an album.

This is wonderful gentle Pastoral Pop that just melts your heart. Essentially Guitar Pop, but with added keys and a slight raiding of the Instrument cupboard. Splendid harmonic colliding vocals light up a truly absorbing listen.

The three songs in the second quarter are slightly rockier and as good as anything that I've heard all year and even those are matched throughout. The glorious vocals on the Indie Pop of Build A Garden and the Paisley Psych Pop of A Youthful Hurricane.

Xylophone and Vibraphone light up Crumbles In The Sand and Catch the moment respectively, the latter even sounding a little Madchester. Teenage Fanclub have mellowed, how I wish they had developed into something like Space In Between.

Information Age even gets really close to 1974 UK Glam Rock. Janglers will love the Jangle, Guitar Pop fans will be cast back to the productive 80s. I thought nothing would beat the Psych of The Moon Upstairs, but with three quarters of that band here, this is even more endearing.

The arrangements have depth and are inspired. The interplay between the band stands out, This fourth album from the band finds them reaching their peak. If only this album could hit mainstream, I'm convinced that anyone you introduce to it will love it. Magnificent!

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

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I Don't Hear A Single News

 

The main news is that after thinking about it for most of the lifetime of I Don't Hear A Single, the plans to start our own label have advanced over the last few months. It will be on Bandcamp and begin slowly and gradually. More details are to follow as we discuss with the early artists to appear. All monies will go to the artists, IDHAS is just the middle man. There will be no contracts, all is planned to open doors for the relevant artists. The plan is to have the first release in the middle of January.

Why January? Simply because of the volume of Reviews still to be completed. The 31 in 31 in October will have the most Reviews ever. But there is still enough to fill November and a lot of December. We then  move on to the Best 100 Albums of 2026 which is always a big piece of work.

Talking of the 31 in 31, it has been one of the most popular ever with over 300,000 views anticipated before the end of the month. People have asked about a couple of albums that have been expected to be reviewed so far. These have been saved until towards the end of the month and will appear soon. 

As well as the start of the label, a couple of old features will be back in January. Here Is The News and The Garden Of Earthly Delights will reappear. The former informs you of upcoming releases. The latter covers albums that wouldn't normally fit our remit. The rest of the year concentrates on Reviews and the Listening To This Week Playlist.

Finally a reminder to submitters for the LTTW Playlist. We don't do Spotify or any similar streamers. Our embeds are via Bandcamp, Soundcloud or You Tube. It is always really helpful to provide any social media links for tagging. Most of our time is spent searching out such links and freeing up that time allows more time for Reviews.

Thanks as ever for your continued support, it is never taken for granted.

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Joy Cleaner - Laugh A Minute

 

Joy Cleaner bring back memories of those great 90s days when Guitar bands decided to banish the I am really miserable Grunge days and embracing the College Rock and Bar scene when you could watch a great band any night of the week.

Economies and the internet have banished those days, so it is great to be reminded them by a band who know what they are about. Full on Guitar riffs and solos with big choruses, melodic, yet just a little bit noisy.

What you have hear is a great mix of Slacker Rock and Power Pop, never more so than on the splendid Ego Death, a song that is like early Teenage Fanclub doing Power Pop. The whole album wraps you in a whirlwind of engaging Guitar Pop Rock that allows you admire those magnificent Riffs.

World Of Good is anthemic as is Screwball. The choruses will soon have you singing along. Spiralling is a rare slow down and even sounds a little Elvis Costello. Postcard is great 80s Indie, a little Plimsouls and Something Like 25 Hammers is very Bob Mould.

Laugh A Minute may be a splendid Guitar album, but if you can concentrate on the lyrics, there is a sad sadness and reflection around. Not that you can really get to them with all this wonderful Guitar work taking over your mind. Superb!

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

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Snatch The Snail - Full Wet

 

I was introduced to Snatch The Snail via a Listening To This Week submission and headed over to the album, only to be surprised and enthralled. It is a wonderfully engaging listen, all over the place and incredibly inventive. 

It is hard to define genre wise, but why does it need to be labelled? It is definitely defined by our Intellectual Indie examples of the past, there are tons of ideas, all within songs that rarely go beyond 2 minutes. 

I'd love to know what goes through Zachary Sullivan Carson's head, but it is inspiring. Between the adventurous arrangements and slight cacophony, there is catchy Pop and some incredible Guitar solos. There is also a feeling of him raiding the instrument cupboard.

The brevity of the shorter songs could give the impression of throwing ideas at the wall, but you sense it is more saying what you want to say and then getting off. From Slacker Pop to an inkling of 90s Rock, Psych Pop to Alt Rock, darkness to the light, the journey is an amazing one.

Some of the arrangements are bizarre, take unusual directions, but the man also gives the impression that he can really play. It is also Zappa like in parts. I've deliberately not mentioned individual songs to encourage you to listen to the whole thing. It won't take you too long and I hope you will be as delighted as I was.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Hamlet - The Breaking Point Is Grieving.

 

I adored Hamlet's 2025 album, Light Under Repair, (review here) and the follow up is even more interesting. Appearing again on my good friend Darrin Lee's Subjangle label, as you might expect the trademark Indie Pop and Jangle Pop are all shipshape and ready.

But this is much more than that. The string arrangements at times, make the album more Baroque Pop. As I mentioned in the previous review, the trio format fits Chris Wales like a glove, but the guest appearances add much too.

Travis Talbert's Pedal Steel on Blocked At The Bank turns the gentle Guitar Pop into something more Americana and the killer chorus is anthemic. Kate Wakefield's Cello on Borrowed Time is hypnotic, nourishing a great Pop song.

Mike Fair's Guitar on the closer, Columns is incendiary and enhances and embraces a song that shows another side of Wales, a darker vocal, a little Talking Heads in style and the arrangement is wonderful. On the vocal side, Wales's mellow laidback vocal suits the material perfectly.

There is great variety too. Looms Large is great Power Pop, While You Were In The Window is splendid pastoral Psych Pop. The Story After is great Guitar Pop, built on a killer Riff. Emptying Pockets is a little IRS and adds yet another string to the bow.

Obvious comparisons will be made to Flying Nun and Sarah Records, but at times, the album is a little more muscular, for want of a better word. The arrangements are exemplary and admirable. You just have to sit back and admire what Hamlet have come up with.

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

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Steve Robinson And Ed Woltil - Temporary Sun

The third album from the North Carolina duo. We've followed Steve Robinson for quite a while and the duo have likewise offered up really enjoyable albums. Robinson has generally been the more  Pop orientated, Woltil, a little more towards the Rock.

Here, they meet in the middle more. Nearer to Robinson's Folk and Americana roots at times. Dave Gregory is here again, playing on 7 of the 12 songs and Dave Mattacks also appears on 4 of the songs. Both add great things.

Temporary Sun is much more laidback, really easy to listen to. Gregory's Electric Guitar adapts beautifully to the material, coming in much more for variety of songs rather than those solos. With that in mind, his playing shows a much greater range than he is usually noted for.

I do miss the previous work's Psych Pop and Jangling, but the songs are beautifully constructed. The more mellow material works really well and both have great voices that lend to the quality of the material. There are plenty of stand out moments.

Junk Drawer Heart is great Pop Rock with a killer chorus. The Man With The Interrupted Heart is particularly jaunty with a slight ska feel to the rhythm. Outrun The Sun is a rockier affair with a Guiar sound that reminds me of John Miles's Zaragon era.

Although the album falls into the Pop Rock genre, the Acoustic touches and Americana adventures work superbly and Gregory's Guitar work on the closer, Squint, is superb. An album to curl up to in these Darker, Colder, Nights.

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

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