Weird Nightmare - Hoopla

 

METZ released 5 albums on Sub Pop, the last being in 2024. Alex Edkins was the vocalist and guitarist. His solo vehicle is Weird Nightmare and this is the second album, the first was recorded whilst METZ were still a thing. Edkins is still on Sub Pop.

Weird Nightmare is very different to METZ, the latter were noisy and disruptive, wonderfully so and a little Punk. Weird Nightmare are surpisingly and splendidly Guitar Pop. At times a mix of classic Power Pop and the current noisier version of the genre.

But there isn’t just that. Never In Style is pure Replacements, as is Bright City Lights and Pay No Mind is ace 60s UK Beat with a top notch noisy ending. Yet compare those two the Jangling Twanging sugar sweet Power Pop of If You Should Turn Around and you soon realise that you’ve got quite an album on your hands and in your ears.

Little Strange is even more astray from the rest. A Punk vocal matched with a gripping Riff and a driving rhythm. At times very 1978 and yet also in touch with the 90s College Rock Revival. But it is the Guitar Pop that resonates most as it might for our followers.

Might See You There is a Power Pop classic, reminiscent of The Speedways, but with a bigger arrangement. Baby Don’t leans more to the likes of Uni Boys and Forever Elsewhere picks up the pace without losing sight of the genre.

The whole album is a revelation. A great celebration of the chorus with killer riffs and tight arrangements. I’ve select three songs that show the range of the album, but I urge all to listen to the whole of Hoopla to appreciate how great the Power Pop is.

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

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The Tyde - Once (25th Anniversary Reissue)

 

In my previous life at Anything Should Happen, the concentration was on collectively finding great lost albums. The breakaway to IDHAS was because of how the new was slated by peers and now I’ve spent as long here as I did there. So the looking back doesn’t happen too often these days.

But two albums have been reissued this year that both remind me of those times and what exceptional albums that they are. The second will appear in the near future, but for now we will concentrate on the first. Los Angeles’s The Tyde and their magnificent debut album.

Released at the back end of Brit Pop, it was largely ignored at the time, how many great American bands fitted into that genre. Once slightly did, but there was much more to it did. It is an album that is essentially built on a groove encompassing multiple genres, a proper album where each song complemented the previous one.

It does sound very U.S., particularly West Coast Rock, especially the laidback feel. However there are hints of San Franciscan Psych, the likes of Primal Scream and a restrained Black Crowes. There is even a hint of The New Radicals at times vocally.

It is a beautifully performed and arranged affair. A backing track that holds everything together, allowing the riffs to reach out and grip you, whilst at the same time leaving you hypnotised. I suppose that this is essentially a Rock album that provides something for everyone.

There are great moments of Pop, surprise Steel Guitar and a wonderful organ tone throughout. I’ve deliberately not mentioned any songs, but I have embedded my three favourite songs which change regularly. Once sounds as great as it did 25 years ago.

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

Weird Bloom - Wrong Time Wrong Place

 

It is great to have Weird Bloom back. I loved Stargate, which appeared in the Best Albums Of 2025 and the Italian five piece are back for more. They call it Junk Shop Glam, I’d call it UK Glam Rock 1973 - 1974 and there can lie a problem because I am of an age that can remember that period.

So my review will delight in how the band has got that period nailed down and make them sound like a retro band. However, most people will be much younger and not know the past bar the odd single. To them, these songs will sound as new and they are original songs.

So for the new, this is great joyful good time Guitar led Pop Rock. The oldsters can marvel at how close the band are to a beloved singles led time. Simply put, this is a great feel good album that puts its own spin on a glorious age and what bookmarks there are.

Look At Me is Bolan-esque, Lend Me Your Bones is not a million miles away from the Bay City Rollers. Wrong Time Wrong Place revives memories of Mud and Tiger Feet. Love’s A Glimpse is a little Suzi Quattro and The Devil On The Hill sounds like one of the rockier Sweet B Sides.

So having mentioned the references, it should be noted that the album is total fun, great Guitar Pop, beautifully performed and arranged. You will soon be tapping your feet, ckapping your hands and singing along to the choruses. Great Stuff!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist 25 May

A brief story about this week's LTTW Playlist. I was going to give this weeks a rest for only the second time. Simply due to how much I Don't Hear A Single has on this week. Meetings everywhere about its future advancement. 

However, I decided to have a quick listen to what was in on Saturday morning and was still listening at midnight. The result is the maximum 30 songs this week. A playlist that grows and grows as it goes. There are surprises, but this is probably the most Guitar Pop, the playlist has ever been.

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. 

Wynona Bleach - Be Positive

The Chovies - Lili Taylor

Next Week's Washing - All You Fear Is All You Feel

Weird Bloom - Wrong Time Wrong Place

The Speedways - I Shouldn't Have Tried To Leave Without You

Billy Reeves - Encyclopedi-ite

The Allwells - Walk All Over You

Shapes Like People - My Paradise

Tom Emlyn - Miss Understood

Radio Days - Flying High

Barry Walsh - Star Ride

Cult Canyon - Real Sublime

Bullseye - Tell Tale Signs

Tamburella - Slovenia

The Silver Bars - The Man Who Follows The Man

The Glorious Rabbits - Shine

Young Couple - As The Leaves Unfold

Michael Slawter With Julian Volpe - Give It All Up

Dead Star Boys - Killed By Dreams

Whoop - Tightrope

Sundrast - Tennis Coach

Certain Things - Sullen Freak

Certain Things · Sullen Freak

Jim Allen - Panic Button

Ben Auld - Hell Bent

Yacovelli - Doppelganger

District 8 - Don't You Believe In Miracles

The Creepy Jingles - All Because Of You

White Fence - Unread Books

Mean Sea - Pick Me Up

Crocodiles - Time Is Wasting Me

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Dead Star Boys - RATS

 

Medway, as we've tried to say over the the past year or so, isn't all about Psych Pop and 60s UK Beat. There's a great New Wave Guitar led scene and Dead Star Boys are certainly part of it. The trio's second album is wonderful New Wave.

The band is certainly in your face and a reminder of how great that late 70s / early 80s New Wave scene was. A mixture of the aftermath of Punk, Mod Pop, Canvey Island energy and for all the noise, a way with coming up with killer choruses.

Viv Tucker's vocal is somewhere between Pete Shelley and John Lydon and that backed by a killer rhythm section and an ability to resonate via big chunky riffs. The arrangements aren't ten a penny and allow you to believe that the trio offer a high energy live set.

The pure Punk energy of the splendid Killed By Dreams grips you and adds a surprise Organ accompaniment. So great a song, that it deserved to be the opener. But the equally excellent Plastic Age obviously prevents this. An inspired Buggles cover.

There is such a raucous feel to the whole album. A rawness that drags you in. A hope that the energy of 1979 could be with us again. I was around for that and it fuelled by musical tastes. The noise hides the melody at times, but this is a great set of songs.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD is available here.

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The Violet Twilight - Between The Colours And Me (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

I am a massive fan of Tim Butcher, the Australian multi instrumentalist behind The Violet Twilight. He offers up extraordinary pastoral Psych Pop albums that just appear with little fanfare. Everyone as good if not better than the last.

He deserves much greater attention. Part of me wants to shake him and tell him that you should put yourself about more, because I don't hear anyone out there offering up better music in the genre. Australia, in particular, is laden with similar sounds that are nowhere near as good as this.

At times, he sounds like a less poppy Orgone Box, other times he resonates with the late 80s / early 90s Neo Psych revival and yet he can also sound 60s hippy trippy. The songs just resonate, particularly instrumentally, in a sort of Kula Shaker way.

But these songs drag you in to an all peaceful listen that kinda washes over you. But a song like Fade Away is a much more all encompassing arrangement that veers close to Toytown. The Reaper is ultra jaunty, almost Brit Pop.

Lost To Time appears twice, the second version is a revelatory Harmonium version that is just captivating. Between The Clouds And Me is a mellow listen, deep, thoughtful, almost shoe gaze at times. An album that provides complete relaxation and that is exactly what is needed in these times.

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

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The Loft - Badges

 

The second album since their 2023 reunion underlines everything that is great about the quartet. Four decades on, they stand as relevant as any of the newer upstarts from both here and the States. Badges is no nostalgia trip.

Around as C86 became prevalent, an early Creation signing and reverential platitudes from the next generations, this could easily be a paean to what has gone before, similar ages to myself, around at a time when music influenced me most, but this is none of that, because the whole listen reveals this to be an album that could be a debut now.

This is beautifully arranged and performed Indie Guitar Pop. Built on inspired riffs that mirror that late 80s scene, but with an intelligent lyrical bent, the songs are great story telling affairs. Instrumentally, they flirt with Paisley POP and the long gone IRS scene.

These are riffs to die for, never more so on the meandering Ex-Lovers And Long Lost Brothers. The twang on Goodbye Saturday Night and that intro riff on Junk Shop make you stand to attention. 1955 is so wonderfully reflective and laidback.

Campervan is a killer song, moody and magnificent with a delightful engaging handclap. Sad Comedian is so Bolan-esque, with its Ray Davies like storytelling and inspired video featuring Stewart Lee. Proper songs built on proper arrangements, what a stellar album!

You can listen to and buy the album here.  The Vinyl and CD can be bought here.

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