Nick Piunti - Solo...ish

It is sort of a back to the beginning for both us and Nick Piunti. As we approach our 10th Anniversary, his Trust Your Instincts album was our first album of the year in 2016. He wasn't new to me then as both 13 In My Head and Beyond The Static had been covered in our Anything Should Happen Days.

Piunti wise, it is also a return to those earlier days. After the crunchier time with The Complicated Men, the new album is more restrained and both Andy Reed and Donny Brown are back in tow. This had led to a feel that is a little more mellow and at times, a softer tone vocally.

But the album isn't solely about the laidback. There is still classic Piunti in abundance. If you wanted a song to define his career, it would be Handshake Deal which contains all the elements that make the man great. The sheer melodic, the killer vocal and a riff to die for.

One Dimensional is similar, but with more Riffs where Piunti is joined by fellow Complicated Men Guitarist, Joe Daksiewicz, for Guitar Heaven, Be in no doubt that Solo...ish still rocks, but the gentler songs resonate equally.

Better Songs is a big Pop number, even sounding a little 60s in feel.Bruises And The Bandages is a fine ballad with Reed's keyboards adding great effect. Peripheral gets close to Americana. The gentle Jangle on  Tragic Tragedy is hypnotic as is the twanging solo.

Nick Piunti has never made an album that is anything below top notch and he isn't gonna start now. All his trademark melody is everywhere, that wonderful vocal shines. Here, he has managed to incorporate bigger arrangements and add keyboards that don't overshadow what he is best at. Another superb album!

You can listen to and buy the album here. The album is available on Vinyl and CD on the Jem Records label here and everywhere. It is also available as a download.

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31 Reviews In 31 Days In March

 

It is fair to say that February was our quietest month in a long while, even it is always a month that we take it easier in. A general tiredness kicks in and there is always a lot to catch up on with all the work that goes into the Best Albums posts. This February has been even more so. The past week has been spent to listening.

That was always the reason for the 31 Reviews In 31 Days in March. A chance to tell you about all the great new albums that are out. Both March and October are the traditional I Don't Hear A Single 31 in 31 Days months. 

There may be days without a review, but overall at least 31 Reviews will be posted over the whole of March. There will also be the five Listening To This Weeks. The success of the Playlist has been a real surprise and we tend to leave Mondays just for that which means there will be more posts on the days before or after.

The 31 in 31 kicks off Big Style tomorrow. Thank you for your continued support. as ever. This place is artist led and getting them the attention that they deserve is all we hope for.  However, we are never short of delight at how this place continues to grow as it approaches its 10th Anniversary in July. We do have something special planned for that.

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Silver Heir - Hindenburg Variations

It gets rarer and rarer that I get surprised by a band or an album. This is one such band and album. A debut album from a New Jersey quartet that is wonderful Pop Rock that reminds me so much of prime time 10CC in the arrangements and the Eric Stewart like vocal.

Unusually, I let the band tell you about themselves as I was so taken with the wit that they offered up in their write up. Mainly melodic and mellow, it is when they break out that they excel even more. But first a song before their story.

"Many years ago, there was a band. They were a lot like your band, or your friend's band. There were four of them, they made music together in the mountains and they had a great time.

But they were kids and like many kids, they could not finish the assignment.The songs were never good enough (for them), the recordings were never good enough (for them), and frankly, they were not good live (for anyone). They heard the music in their heads, but when it came out the other end it was mangled, tortured, and self-conscious. It was a band only mothers and girlfriends could love."

"The years passed and the idealistic youngsters turned into "professionals." They married and were fruitful. They learned to finish assignments. But they did not hear the music anymore.

Then a great plague came over the land, and I don't mean to make light of it: it was a great plague, wasn't it? And one of the professionals thought: what am I doing here? And he heard the music again. And he brought the music to the other professionals, and they heard the music too. And they became as kids again, but kids with adult superpowers, like not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and holding each other accountable."

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 23 February

   

The maximum 30 songs this week. As ever, a mixture of what we are known for and some engaging surprises. We do go for depth, so I do urge all to listen to everything if you can. Listening back, it does feel a bit Power Pop heavy in the middle, but that allows you to listen before and after to the other delights.

The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. 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. 

Weird Nightmare - Might See You There

Silver Heir - Big Storm

Prism Shores - Didn't Mean To Change My Mind

Pet Needs - Duckling

Mike Browning With Elena Rogers - Over And Under And All Around

Daily Worker - Anything Can Explode

Slip-Ons - Overtime

Shy Pit - Fuck

Sadlands - Bad Idea

The Blue Herons - Willow

Gunmoll - Gave My Love Away

Ex Norwegian - Don't Go Miles On Me

LOGRO - I Miss That Lousy Bus

Ryan Hamilton - The Come To Jesus Moment

Daniel Feinberg - Carry My Man

The Suncharms - Midnight Train

Richard Turgeon - Girl Like You

Holy Coves- Falling Down

Holy Coves · Falling Down

Sorry Darling - Sorry Darling

The Foot & Leg Clinic - Where Did All The Fruit GO?

Mod Lang - In Advance

Mansfield - Much To Handle

Mansfield · Too Much to Handle

SubPersona - Find Me A River Act II

Your Academy - Kind Of Love

The Smug Brothers - Interior Magnets

My Unicorn Dream - Room In The Oven

Wills Van Doorn - Ever Wonder Why

Special Friend - Clipping

SKEP WAX · 02_Clipping

The Needmores - Side X Side

Pom Femme - Sunny Side Up

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Captain Wilberforce - Another World. Another Life. Another Time

 

In a fair musical world Simon Bristoll's Captain Wilberforce would be massive. He seems to be destined to be another of those artists / bands that frustrate us when more don't seem to get them. Originally that was blamed on gatekeepers or labels who only wanted the fashionable.

The internet and ultimately Social Media were supposed to usher in an age were music could be picked up easily by all. Instead it provided a world where people believe music is free and therefore unless you are mega, it is now a second job,

Both didn't usher in a new world, they encouraged attention deficit, listeners like something and then a few listens onwards move onto the next without telling anyone else about what they've found. The only way forward may be for us to shout loudly as a group, ditto other great music places.

Captain Wilberforce has been with me forever. Now into the third decade, I've covered them on here and Anything Should Happen throughout. Bristoll's seemingly forever known as the English Neil Finn and that is apparent the slower songs here. When the pace picks up, the comparison becomes Squeeze, but there is far more here than just that.

Bristoll has a lyrical adeptness akin to Chris Difford, but a bit more worldly and the arrangements are out of this world. The Jangle Pop is present regularly, but usually mixed with something else such as Psych Pop on The Installation.

The arrangement on the UK New Wave of Christine, You're A Drag also has big hints of the 60s Beat.  Sonny even adds a great Brass arrangement and the closer, Lighter Shade Of Blue is Americana. Yet Four Words  And The Enter Key is rockier, with a killer riff and driving rhythm and a solo that catches you off guard.

It is Holding On that probably defines a base camp Bristoll song, great Pop Rock. The whole album is a testament to how great the Leeds scene is at the moment. These songs are largely stories, beautifully presented. I'll allow myself a cliche. This is the best album that Captain Wilberforce has ever made and with the best being so strong, that is some compliment. This album is magnificent. Go tell your friends.

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

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Where Have You Been?

 

This is a fair question. I haven't published as many reviews this month, but looking back, this happens most Februarys. The Best Of Year takes a lot of work and relistening. Whilst compiling it means nothing else is done or listened to during that fortnight. A big backlog is created and I always feel a bit tired. I do have to admit that it is great to see 2026 stuff knocking the Best Of Posts down the most viewed things.

The Listening To This Week Playlist continues and that takes up a fair bit of time, real life work is busy this month and the weather doesn't help motivation. You just want to get home and do nothing. So I felt that last week was a time that I wanted to just take a break from it all and so I did.

Normal Service is now resumed and two Album Reviews will follow this post, both extraordinarily good, and the new Listening To This Week will go up this evening. There will be Reviews during the rest of February. But remember that there is an onslaught in March with the regular 31 Reviews In 31 Days. 

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Daily Worker - Prefab Maverick.

Harold Whit Williams is some talent, a well known poet, ex guitarist of Cotton Mather and then we have the delight that is Daily Worker. Whereas, musically, Robert Harrison took one direction, this fellow went into a world of inventiveness left field. A world where he could take any direction he pleased and he does.

He can be incredibly off the scale, but also at ease with the mainstream. Psych Pop is never far away. Daily Worker's last album in 2025, Field Holler, was really well received here and appeared in our Best Albums Of 2025. You can read our review here.

As well as the constant originality on show, people forget what an incredible guitarist he is. Riffs that can be Power Pop or Fripp-esque. There is always room for a great Guitar Pop song and here, The New Insincerity is one such example and adds a great Jangle.

Elsewhere, Western Wear even has hints of 60s Pop and the title track is even jaunty, it fairly bops along with a shuffle and even has a vocal that sounds early Bolan. All of this is a complete opposite of the lyrical content.

Pop Knock Offs is a real punt at song retreads and Daily Worker are the best example of not doing this. There is a sense here, lyrically, of someone aging looking at the younger generation with a big sigh, not with anger, but weariness. You won't hear this kind of quality elsewhere.

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

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