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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Log Flume - Go Where The Money Goes

 

We've normally had a run of summer Power Pop by now, so I'm delighted to at last have something to get a hold of. Log Flume's 2024 debut caught me completely be surprise, it was really popular on here and reached the Top 20 of 2024's Best Albums. You can read my review here.

So what caught me by surprise, is the low key release of this follow up. I expected red carpets and fireworks, yet it has appeared without a whisper and it really takes what they do onto greater things. There are the sort of things that made Splash Hit so appealing, but there are big strides contained within.

The Chester County PA quartet still master the Power Pop. The Jangle Pop of Got This Feeling is just the ticker, as is Misery which is top notch Guitar Pop. But other songs take other directions. Far From You has a much noisier riff led that takes it into UK 80s Indie with aplomb.

Up By 9 O'Clock is pure Housemartins and the title track could be Mighty Wah with a haunting Guitar track. Misery is C86 Glasgow joy and Anything raises the spirit of 70s UK New Wave, a real let's do the show right here.

Every Single Day slows things down into a Slacker vibe, Weezer-ish and is the one song that denotes the American influence, because throughout the album sounds more Brit. It is a stunning listen with its Psych Pop Guitar feel.

The whole thing is a celebration of the beauty of Pop and the Guitar. Never more so than on the closer, Follow You which is wonderful Power Pop. If you liked the debut album, you will adore this. The four of them should be shouting from the rooftops about the sheer joy of this melodic Pop.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Sour Ops - Bikers Make Better Lovers

 

It is an extraordinarily fine time for Guitar Pop and Indie Rock presently as favourites return with new albums, it's just finding the time to tell you all about them that holds back joy. Nashville Trio, Sour Ops are first up to enhance your lugholes.

The band mix Indie Rock with Power Pop and Guitar Pop. A little rockier than those around them, songwriter Price Harrison's vocal helps make them so. His voice allows them to straddle genres meaning they are at ease in whatever direction they choose.

The riffs are heavier than you might expect, at times bordering on the rockier side of Indie Rock, yet also in touch with something more Classic. Power Pop with an edge and even an ability to mirror UK Glam Rock or sound like someone such as The Successful Failures, particularly on All That Matters Now with some ace Pedal Steel courtesy of Paul Niehaus.

The Power Of Right Now is Glam Rock played with a Power Pop beat. Opting Out opens up the album with a New Wave Synth Intro before moving at pace into something a little 80s Indie aided by an absolutely killer solo.

She's So Strange is melodic Indie Rock and adds a blistering Fuzz solo and No Winner Tonight borders Garage Rock and Punk. Fake Appeal is Noo Yawk sleaze. Sour Ops don't come up for air through all 10 songs, not that you'd ever want them to. Great Stuff!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week 1 June

As we approach our 10th Anniversary and pass 4 million views, it is worth noting how popular the LTTW Playlist has become. Like I Don't Hear A Single itself, it was only meant to be a small thing. Initially, a way to note great songs from artists who didn't necessarily have an Album or EP planned.

It has become a real driver for what happens here, bringing new followers and listeners. We were adamant that streamers such as the likes of Spotify did little for the artists that we like. Great music fell down a big black hole. Hence, the concentration on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube.

Those sites allowed people to listen to an artist's Back Catalogue and listeners didn't have to sign in or pay to listen. Bandcamp, in particular, allows listeners to buy. Streamers provide a song and that's it, we try to get people to become fans of the artists and this place is all about the artist.

26 songs this week 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 - Sticky Menu

Jade Green - I Can't Wait

The Martial Arts - Seeing Double

The Regulars - Impossible

Miserable Chillers - Bikeman

Sour Ops - Problem Number Next

Herr Nilsson - Queen Melody

Dave's Manual - Electrical

Wooden Overcoat - Home

Forgotten Garden - Rain

SPRINGCLEAN - Let Go

ELIKSA - From Falmer Court

The Jonnybirds - St. Venice

Middlebees - When Will The Light Shine

Cashell - Around Town

Magic City - Airtight Alibi

Hoaxxers - Hard Luck

EG Vines - I Like 'em Brain Dead

Hexham Heads - In Time

Vemberlain - Your Memory Has Been Magnetised

Electric High - Higher Heights

Roy - Pity Party

Tiny Tiny - Friend In Philadelphia

Tradie - Swan Drive

Jonny's Day Out - Zumba

Rockvyn - Parasocial Metabolism

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4,000,000

 

Over the weekend, I Don't Hear A Single exceeded 4 Million visits, what is even more amazing is that the 4th million came up in under 4 and a half months. Over 350,000 in May, the interest in new music really does warm the heart.

I've never been self congratulatory, IDHAS has always been about the artist and remains so. I don't really talk much about myself, but this is the longest that I've ever stuck with anything and the place seems to grow and grow. My Attention Span remains.

I only really look at the numbers to see what has been hot and not to guide future Reviews. 

What has been most pleasing is how the archive here has been trawled resulting  and how the LTTW Playlist has evolved. I, personally, do not think that I have been as hectic or active this year, which is a testament to how the place keeps growing. 

Lots to come in June and then of course the 10th Anniversary celebrations that arrive mid July.

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.