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Thursday 27 September 2018

Mick Dillingham Interviews : Curvey



It's about high time that we had another Mick Dillingham Interviews feature. This is a hectic time for Mick with another couple of interviews coming up in the near future.

Here at IDHAS, we are big admirers of the magnificent Psych Pop purveyors, Luck Of Eden Hall. We also love Curvey's latest project, Custard Flux. So we thought it was about time that we caught up with the great man. Mick found out all about Custard Flux, including a track by track breakdown of the Helium album and much more.


Mick: So you moved from Chicago to Detroit. That must have been quite an upheaval for you both physically and emotionally.


Curvey: Yes.  I really had no desire to leave Chicago, and my house that I’d been pouring my heart and soul into for ten years. But my wife was really burned out from working for the City of Chicago for twenty years and she was receiving job offers from all around the country.

So we decided to make the move for her career.  I thought I could handle it, but it has really taken a toll on me psychologically.  Detroit has a great music history, but I haven’t had much luck finding local musicians to play with and it’s been quite depressing.


Mick: So how did the Custard Flux project first germinate in your mind?


Curvey: My friend Lee Klawans, a great photographer and man of many talents, was managing an estate sale in Chicago, where they were selling an old harmonium, or pump organ.  He told me that I should see it and that I’d fall in love with it, so I rented a trailer and drove from Detroit to Chicago to have a look.

Jim Licka had one in his keyboard emporium that I used to play on and I’d been wanting one of my own, so I bought the harmonium and brought it back to Detroit.  I played on it for about a week before it started to fall apart.  First, one of the old straps that work the bellows ripped, so I replaced both of them.  Then the mechanism that allows you to play an octave higher without touching the keys broke.

So I ended up taking the Harmonium apart and gave it a thorough cleaning and replaced all of the felt pads and cloth hinges.  Once I had it all back together, it was just about as good as new.  My fantasy was, or is, to set up in the park and play progressive psych pop without any amps or p.a.  A green dream, if you will, to share with the kiddies.







Mick: How did the recording process and musical approach taken differ from Eden Hall, what challenges did you encounter and what lessons did you learn from setting yourself this goal?


Curvey:  On this project I wanted every instrument to be recorded with microphones, not plugged in directly, to give the songs a true acoustic feel.  I don’t own an acoustic bass, so I had to borrow one from my friend Steven Chamberlin and it sounded fantastic when recorded.  I never mic the bass when I’m tracking songs for The Luck Of Eden Hall.  I always use amp software for that and occasionally for my guitar sounds too.

Another big difference is that I didn’t use a click track for most of the songs this time.  My studio’s in the basement and my piano is on the first floor, so I had to run mic cables through a hole where radiator pipes pass through the floor to be able to record the piano.  My headphones wouldn’t cover the distance, so I had to track the piano first and use it as a guide for recording the drums and the rest of the tracks.

That really helped give the songs a different feeling.  I basically approached mixing the songs the same way I do with Eden Hall.  As far as panning, I just limited the effects used to reverb and delay.  I did learn a lot about blending acoustic sounds on this project, but it’s basically the same as mixing electrified noise.


Mick: In your mind did the songwriting process differ in anyway from what you’d done before….were you conscious of writing Custard Flux songs rather than Eden Hall songs or did you just write songs as normal and then let the creative approach turn them into something else?


Curvey: I wanted Custard Flux to be more progressive than it turned out, but pop songs flow out of me like slag.  I had written a slew of tracks that were starting to lose their appeal and then The Hit Parade happened.  I really liked the different time signatures in that song and tried to write more songs that way to break out of the typical pop mould.







Songs usually come to me eighty percent complete, and yes, I was very conscious of writing acoustic songs for this project.  I knew I wanted to include a few instrumental tracks, but most of the ideas I had required electric guitar and echoplex.  I saved a few to flush out for the second release.


Mick: If you had to sit down and re-record any of the tracks as Eden Hall versions how different do you think they would be. Are there tracks on the Flux album that you couldn’t fathom how to do an Eden Hall version?


Curvey: Oh, I think they’d all work as The Luck Of Eden Hall songs.  Some of the tracks would be much heavier and psychedelically blown out, to be sure.  I actually had a hard time not putting down more electric guitar solos on these songs, because I hear them in my head that way.  There’s no sustain when using an acoustic guitar, so I really had to practice my scales, which has really improved my skills.





Mick: How about a track by track breakdown of the album.


Curvey: The Hit Parade.  This track was written around the beginning phrase and the “I feel better” chorus.  I liked the sound of the riff being doubled on piano and guitar.  The lyrics are all about the high you get when you create something new artistically that’s well received by critics and the public.


Forevermore.  I wrote this on the harmonium, but was really pleased the first time I heard the piano and harmonium parts together.  It created a real dreamy circus feeling.  The lyrics are about the current dingbat U.S. president and his administration.


Empyrean House.  I wrote this track for a collaboration I did with Icarus Peel.  I’d finger picked the guitar on the version he released, which was beautiful and mellow and I decided to rework the song for this project after playing it on my Harmonium.  The lyrics are about experiences I’ve had in the wild, on mountains and in India, how man is really out of balance with nature.


Tiger.  I really liked this riff.  I record melodies on my phone for later use and it was one I’d thrown down.  The chorus lyrics are from a Buddhist saying.  My friend Gregory Chamberlin, who let me use his art for this project, is Buddhist and I wrote it for him, but it’s really about me.


The Shire Of Gingin.  The name of an Australian town I’d passed while on vacation.  Actually my wife was asked to speak at a conference in Perth and I was her baggage boy.  I thought it would make a good song title, so I logged it into my handy dandy iBrain phone.  The lick felt like dark magic and I had to learn a completely different set of scales to be able to riff on top of it, which was fun.  I imagined the shire swirling with magic and genies.







Sleepy.  This was written on the piano and is one of my favourites on the album.  I really like the riff, which got a little buried in the final mix.  I recorded most of the piano tracks on this album with the sostenuto pedal pressed, letting the piano strings ring.  The song is about being lonely.


La Mort.  I had this happy riff and couldn’t seem to turn it into a lyrical song, so I played solos over it and let an ominous blanket of dark harmonium engulf the end.  The drums were added last.  I was picturing a happy child blindly running through a field of daisies and tripping into an old well.  I hope that doesn’t ruin it for you.


Out Of Phase.  This is a track that was left over from The Acceleration Of Time sessions.  I liked how it sounded on the piano, so I rearranged it and added the trippy ending.  It’s all about relationships.


Golden Opportunity.  I wrote this while on tour in England.  I’d played at Kozfest and saw Soft Machine, who blew me away, and it rained the entire weekend.  The mud was thick and hungry for wellies.  I had a great time.


Tiger Reprise.  Believe it or not, all the parts in this song were recorded as part of the Tiger track, but I decided to strip Tiger down for the final mix.  I liked my solos and the drum part, so I mixed this version without vocals.


Helium.  Written on piano.  The Floydian bass line brought it home for me.  I’d nearly scrapped it for being too pop, but I really liked the lyrics.  Dreaming about the queen of psych.  I was originally going to title the album Harmonium Chrysanthemum, but decided it was a little misleading and one of Gregory’s paintings reminded me of a helium balloon, so I made this the title track.







Bonus Disc.  All of the original songs on the bonus disk, except for Innermission, were early songs I’d written for Custard Flux that fell out of favour.  I’d grown tired of them.  It’s usually a sign for me that I shouldn’t release the song if that starts to happen, but I remixed them and added parts that made them more interesting to me again.


Sweetened Hallowed.  I premiered this song last summer at the Halfmoon in Putney.  It’s a made up story about a beautiful, nice lady who gives money to children for candy.


The Feline Hallucination.  Written on guitar, and a little more jazzy.  Another fictitious story, this time about a guy who’s lost his mind.  Me.


Innermission.  Written on piano.  One of my favourite instrumental tracks and I was very happy to get artist Shane Swank to create a music video for the song.  You can check it out on YouTube.






Ascending Stories.  The music for this was written on guitar after returning from tour a couple years ago, but I finished up the lyrics for this project.  It’s about fighting depression.


Mick: So you put together a live band, how did that go?


Curvey:  Well, I wish that were true, but I haven’t put together a live band.  I’d really like to find some local like-minded musicians, but the Detroit scene is about electronica, Jazz, or hard and heavy rock.  Everyone’s already in three bands, or committed to another group.  I really wish I lived in England!


Mick: How has the response to the album been so far?


Curvey: Fantastic!  The first review was out of Moscow, and blew me away.  Shindig and Record Collector magazines have agreed to review it and I’m working on getting more.  I’m so behind in my promoting.  I’ll tell you I’m really happy to be talking to you again!


Mick: As ever you’ve come up with another dazzling limited special edition CD version. How was putting all that together?





Curvey: I wanted Custard Flux to look different than my usual releases and was extremely thrilled when my friend Gregory Chamberlin agreed to to let me use his paintings for the album art.  That too was a lot of pressure off me from coming up with artwork.  About four years ago, my wife and I backed the production of Glowforge, a laser cutting machine, because we could get one for half price.

It took three years for them to get the bugs in their design worked out and our unit arrived last year.  I knew I couldn’t hand cut anything out with exacto blades anymore, because of the pain it causes in my hands. A laser cutter seemed perfect for one of my CD projects or possibly an etched vinyl edition.

I looked into pressing vinyl locally, but the cost was way too much, so I decided on a CD Box Set.  The laser can etch images beautifully into wood.  As I started pricing out the supplies needed for each Box Set, including wood, hinges, CDs, a booklet and postcards. I ran across some boxes for wedding DVDs that were already assembled with hinges and a latch.

They were one third of the price that it was going to cost me to make each box, so I ordered ten to test how they worked under the laser and was pretty pleased with the result.  I had the CDs manufactured at Diskfaktory, where I’ve had CDs made since Subterrene’s release.  Had 100 of each postcard printed by a place I found online.

The 16 page booklets were printed locally, and I saved money by assembling and stapling each one myself.  Then I put the printed pieces in a paper envelope and sealed it with a wax stamp.  The positive feedback that I’ve received from customers has been rewarding.


Mick: You say something about the CD version being edited?


Curvey:  Yes, what I mean by that is some of the songs fade into one another.  If you download the songs from the Custard Flux Bandcamp page, each one is completely separate.


Mick: Will there ever be a second flux album at some point or is this a one off.


Curvey: Oh yes.  Number two is already starting to form in the ether.


Mick: Future plans?






Curvey:  I’ve just finished up a recording session with Tim Ferguson from The Red Plastic Buddha and the three songs we tracked need to be released. Keith at Fruits de Mer Records has asked me to piece together songs The Luck Of Eden Hall has previously released on the label, plus a couple new cover tracks, including one recorded with members of Sendelica, for a new compilation LP.

Mark Lofgren and I will be getting together this winter to start on a new album for The Luck Of Eden Hall. I’ve been asked to record drum tracks for a project Andy Budge is working on and I need to finish up my work on a live album recorded in Glastonbury with The Cary Grace Band and Andy Thompson. That should keep me busy!






You can listen to and buy the Custard Flux album, Helium, as a download, CD or Deluxe CD Set (as mentioned above), here. You can find more about the delights of The Luck Of Eden Hall here.



Lisa Mychols - Sugar




Lisa Mychols is back and we should all celebrate that. Whilst there are many contenders for King Of Power Pop, Mychols is certainly the Queen Bee of the hive. Her sugar sweet vocals adorn these 11 songs. Her Queen title is safe and sound, although the album is less about Power and far more about great pop.

It's been quite a while since her last album, five years on from the glorious Above, Beyond And In Between and I think everyone was more than ready for the next adventure. The Pop Community knew it would be great and will it on simply because of the support that Lisa gives to others in the same field.





Unsurprisingly, Sugar is wonderful. It continues her reputation as a modern day Rachel Sweet or even taking over the mantle of Kirsty MacColl. The album has a very 60's Pop feel. but there's plenty more present than just that.

Domino has a verse that has a UK 80's chirp and rolls swiftly along, Goodbye To All Carousels is splendidly Saint Etienne and Next To Impossible is Bond Theme like. My Friend And Me allows you to feel the ache with the Organ drifting in beautifully.






Into Oblivion is chanteuse in it's feel and although the Power Pop is still around with He's Got Me Dreaming, a song like Messages To The Muse with it's hypnotic brooding shows how varied the album is. Having said all of this, it's still great to hear Mychols excel on trademark 60's Pop like One Revolution and Loving You Baby.

All in all, in a three decade career and even considering her magnificent collaboration with Wondermints, this is probably Lisa Mychols most accomplished album and I can't pay it a greater compliment than that.





You can buy the CD here and the download from CD Baby here.


The Stan Laurels - Maybe




Austin Texas's John Lathrop is The Stan Laurels. His Third Album is the Soundtrack for Lex Lybrand's Maybe Shower. Don't be fooled by the Soundtrack label though. These are not snippets of instrumental twaddling, all nine offerings stand up alone and combine to make a fine album.

There's a lot going on in the songs and considering Lathrop played everything himself, the greatest compliment you can pay is that it sounds like a band recorded them. Guitar Solos burst out, combined at times with an 80's synth sound. all suiting his laid back vocals.






Maximum Zen edges into Psych, Door #1 is classic Fountains Of Wayne type Power Pop and maybe the best song on the album. In fact, the FOW comparisons are often to be heard as are hints of Sloan. The harmonies on Where I Want To Be hint at Teenage Fanclub.

Maybe is probably most people's choice of single, I've only not embedded it here, because there's a couple of songs that I really want you to hear. Maybe is a mixture of Cars like synths and out and out harmonic Power Pop. The riff just hooks you.






The album is another plus, yes another, on Ray Gianchetti's Kool Kat Label. The label has been prolific in the number and quality of releases lately. You can buy the CD from Kool Kat here. You can listen to and buy the album as a download here,



Greg Pope - A Few Seconds Of Fame



A welcome return of the Pop Monster. Greg Pope is beloved here in what has been a prolific solo career in the last decade. This is his eighth album in that period and you always know that you are going to get Power Pop Excellence before you open the tin.

You can read my review of Guiding Star here and Fan Boy here. The harmonies and riffs are always present, as is that laid back mellow joy of a voice, but there's always more, adventures into the left field, variation or the pure unexpected.







With A Few Seconds Of Fame, there are far more of those unexpected pleasures and although the Power Pop stamp is still present, this album is more of a move into Pop Rock. The arrangements are bigger, the solos are filled out, it all works beautifully.

The 12 songs are book ended by Forget About You and You Got Inside My Head, both are more traditional Greg Pope poptastic, as though they are reminding you of what default is. The latter, in particular, has a blistering Guitar Solo.







The drums and especially Bass Riffs are far more prominent. She's Already There is encased in a real Prog feel, it works so well. The song gets a Part 2 as the penultimate track, but this time in as an acoustic vocal extravaganza.Hopes And Dreams And Fears is classic 70's Pop Rock, think John Miles, even more so with the solo. There's a splendid tempo change partt way through.

Planet Earth is a sort of Classical Rock. Greg's Son, Micah Pope plays harpsichord and Pope himself, goes all Ritchie Blackmore in the Guitar accompaniment, all this surrounds a melodic winner of a song. Compare all the arrangements in that to the simplicity of Give You What You Want, which is a real vent. build around a fine Bass Run.







A Few Seconds Of Fame is a superb album in a superb year. It gives you just enough of what you'd want from a Greg Pope album, but stretches out far more than on previous albums. It's going to be high in people's end of year charts and rightly so. It's highly recommended.


You can listen to and buy the album here.




Thursday 20 September 2018

The On and Ons - Welcome Aboard



In The Big Sunset album review I mentioned the joy of discovering a new band that you knew nothing about. It's also great to discover a band that you've missed, but that is mixed with an irritation that you should have noticed them much earlier.

That irritation is increased when you realise that you know of the four band members through other things. Sydney's The On And Ons released their second album about 12 months ago, so now is the time that we can all catch up on what we've missed.

Brothers Glenn and Brian Morris were in The Zeros and then became part of Paul Collins Beat in 2012, touring the US and Australia in 2012. Clyde Bramley was in The Hoodoo Gurus and Jon Roberts was in The Barbarellas.






Welcome Aboard is on the excellent Aussie Label Citadel, another plus and the album offers up some good old fashioned Power Pop. Old Fashioned is meant as a compliment, I listen to so much Power Pop that isn't really such, that I've tried to separate it with a Pop Rock tag.

The On And Ons offer up a mixture of 60's Power Pop, also think The Knack and splendid Psych Pop. They are also not afraid to Jangle. There are also hints of the 90's Pop revival of Cast etc. All 13 songs speed by, leaving you with a "that was ace" feeling.

Glenn Morris's laid back vocal works on whatever they turn their hand to and there is plenty of variation. Mystic Eyes is very Big Star, Things I Love is Gallagher-esque with a great hippy trippy guitar solo. She's Leaving is great early Beatles Pop. To Die For is Jangle Heaven. Not The Only One, pure mod pop.






It is however the straight ahead Power Pop that appeals most to these ears, it's so refreshing to hear it done well, most notably on No Good For Yourself and (Not A) Sweet Girl. Welcome Abroad is a charming slice of Power Pop that deserves your attention.

You can find further details on buying the album at Citadel here. It's also available for download on the likes of iTunes here.



Tuesday 18 September 2018

Caper Clowns - A Salty Taste To The Lake



I know that I've been rattling on about what a great year 2018 is for Pop Rock. The end of year charts are going to be so competitive and there's more to come yet. One of the albums that I've been looking forward to most is Caper Clowns' second album and it doesn't disappoint. Quite the opposite in fact.

I loved the band's debut album, The Buca Bus, you can read the review here. These Danes have moved on apace, the maturity gained from all those gigs has resulted in one of the great Pop albums of this year.

A Salty Taste To The Lake has been trailed by two splendid singles, The Way I Dream, in which they out Finned Crowded House and the jaunty McCartney Pop of Sacre Bleu. A third single, Paper Trail is released next week in anticipation of the album's appearance on 5 October.








All three singles are worth grabbing, each includes an unreleased B Side.The Paper Trail flip, Just Another Supersonic Mastodon is particularly great, 4 minutes encroaching on Psych Pop with it's constant changes.


No difficult second album problems are present here. Whilst still mastering Beatles Pop, Caper Clowns broaden the range. Paper Trail is classic Difford Tilbrook, you can imagine a Boy Band grabbing hold of Loops and bringing it to the masses.

What If is an acoustic orchestral Windmills Of Your Mind sort of thing. Me For A Friend reflects a lot of what I feel about the album. It reminds me of one of those great Pop Rock albums of the 70's. Lifeline starts with a Roy Wood Move like riff, it's a fantastic piece of Psych Pop.








From the minute that I heard The Way I Dream earlier this year, I knew the album was going to be a stormer, I'm still singing the song six months on, it's a real earworm. A Salty Taste To The Lake is an upbeat melodic joy.

The biggest problem that I've had is keeping quiet about the album until now. It's been on constant repeat for the past few weeks. All of the things that were great about The Buca Bus are present, but the band have grown into an even greater outfit.

There is real depth in these 11 Songs. Caper Clowns may very well be my favourite band of the last couple of years. The album is a must have. It will be available as a 5 October release from both Kool Kat and Moby Disc.

You can pre-order by emailing caperclowns@gmail.com. I will update further links as I have them.


Big Sunset - Big Sunset



I think I know what's going on, but what always delights me more is discovering something that I had no idea about. I heard the Big Sunset album and loved it. It is a great example of a Pop Rock album that took chances.

None of the push button instrumentation is present here. You will hear Accordion, Tuba, Double Bass and Ukulele in some pretty stunning arrangements. Having said that, the stand out song is the stripped down, The Night I Was Murdered, a brooding hypnotic listen that just grips you.

Five Years in the making, this is a beautifully arranged affair. There is so much going on, but the album's themes and song structures never lose track of melody. Invisible Men comes in as a cross between Jellyfish and ELO, but with Beach Boy Harmonies and Accordion.







In all of these fine arrangements, there is very little electricity, so the big sound is even more admirable. I asked Jay Caruso about the album, how it started and came to completion. I was interested as I knew so little about the album and knew you would be too.


"I had the pleasure of recording, producing, and mixing an album for some good friends in a band called The Contestants.  In the process of recording the records I ended up contributing some extra instrumentation and vocal harmonies.  I found that I really loved the way JP Ramos wrote and that our voices worked well together.  After the album was finished, I reached out to JP to see if he wanted to write some songs together.  For me, it was a chance to explore the pop side of my musical tastes.  Both JP and I are huge Jellyfish (and associated acts) and XTC fans."

Writing together was a blast.  We would each bring fairly finished songs to the table and then take each others songs home to write our own take on them.  This process distilled a product we felt was better than our solitary vision had brought to the table.  As we continued to hone the songs an idea came to our minds to not play on our own album."






"If we broke out of that traditional songwriting mentality, where would these songs lead.  We were both established musicians in Portland and both had a roster of versatile friends who agreed to come to the table.  Notably was Don Schwarz, of Tales Untold - a band you simply must seek out if you have not heard, on Tuba and Todd Bayles on pretty much everything.  I had the pleasure of working with both of these guys over the years and they are both amazing."

"We did a few rehearsals with JP and I reworking parts to better fit the instrumentation then hit the studio for basic tracking.  Eventually we both caved and added our own performances back to the mix.  Drums, guitar, bass, and the occasional balloon track.  Todd was such an inspiration that we eventually asked him to just be a part of the project as a whole."

"The project was tweaked over a long period, in between works from our other projects, JP having a kid, and me taking on new responsibilities at my day job.  Ultimately I had become so close to the material that we opted to have our good friend Kevin Hahn mix the material, so we could get an objective mix.

The end product is a labour of love and an exercise in setting lofty expectations for ourselves.  We are working towards playing these songs live in a three piece setting of piano, drums, and bass with hopes of eventually creating another album in the near future.  Bigger Sunset anyone?"





I can't recommend this album highly enough. It's a cracking listen. You can buy the album at the likes of Google Play and iTunes. It's also available on Spotify and Pandora. You can buy the physical CD or download on CD Baby here. You can also listen to all the songs on You Tube by following the embedded songs above.



Monday 17 September 2018

Your Radio Station Needs You



Later in the week, you will hear about a Second IDHAS Radio Show that will start in October. It will be one of a series of updates this month as I Don't Hear A Single starts it's quest for World Domination (The Marketing People told me to say that).

The new show will be a 2 hour affair that includes Sessions, Special Guests and Interviews, as well as me banging on about how great 2018 has been for the music we love. The first few shows will be pre-recorded as I try to get the format right. The intention from November is to broadcast Live.

Interviews and Sessions are already in progress, but should any artist/s be interested, please get in touch via email, Facebook or Twitter. Contact details are on the Right Hand Side of the Blog.Sessions will be pre-recorded, interviews may be live.

Many of you know that this 2 hour show has been planned for a while, but it was important to start it when the time could be devoted to it. When you get to know of the other things that are happening, you will realise why it's taken longer than expected.

People asking about the current IDHAS Radio show, that has had the summer off, will be pleased to know that that returns this week in it's usual one hour mix format. Again details will be later in the week.



Big School - It's Really Real



I get told, too often, that I live in a world of Power Pop and Pop Rock that only interests my generation. It's up there with being told that the guitar is dead and if they were any good they'd be on 6 Music.

So it's always refreshing to hear Guitar Pop from the younger generation, especially when it's done this way. Big School are a quartet from Welland in Ontario and they specialise in the kind of music that we love. In fact they do it better than a lot of long established bands.






It's Really Real is the band's second album and where as last year's Mint was great, this is a step up, more mature and very comfortable in it's own skin. Rocket Boy, in particular, is a real blast of a song, bordering on Psych Pop with a Mod Backbeat.

The major take from this album is how many influences there appear to be and you suspect that the band have probably never listened to any of them. We'd be delighted if one of our stalwarts offered up something so good.







Big School offer up a mix somewhere between 60's British Beat, bordering on Mod Pop and the Brit Pop of The Supernaturals or The Bluetones. The album is an absolute joy. You can listen to and buy it here. Well done all!




Singing Lungs - Groan



Michigan Trio, Singing Lungs are new to me. A strange combination of a Board Game Publisher, a touring Punk Rock Veteran and a Zookeeper have fashioned up a refreshingly noisy album that has one foot in Punk and in the other in the early IRS of R.E.M.

The front end of the album is splendidly in your face with the openers Home And Flow, very Smoking Popes but with a Power Pop Back Beat. Hanging Around is excellent loud New Wave and Where I Belong would be The Posies if sung by Jon Auer.






Conscience Rocks is the stand out song. It reminds me a lot of the spirit of The Housemartins. It's a four minute romp of a song, very different to the short sharp blasts that go before it. Groan only comes up for air on the penultimate song, Where Have You Been, which has a killer riff dying to get out.

I'm really impressed with the album. It's very different to a lot that I've heard this year. It is very direct, you can imagine Singing Lungs being a riot Live. However Groan is built around a more melodic rhythm section that gives the album a chance to impress much longer. This is great!

The album is released on 28 September. You can pre-order it here.



P. Hux - This Is The One



IDHAS has always had two remits. As well as celebrating the new, it also gives a big hurrah to the under appreciated. So it's about time that I mentioned Parthenon Huxley. This Is The One is his eighth album and all are top notch Pop Rock.

Despite often seeming to be under the radar, those who know know and far more should. His collaboration on the two E solo albums deserves applause as do his stints in ELO Part 2 and The Orchestra. The No Rewind album from the latter is another sadly ignored affair which deserves greater attention.






However it is his solo and P. Hux adventures that merit most examination. His latest offering, This Is The One, is his first in five years and has been well worth the wait. As with any of his albums, you know that you are gonna get beautifully constructed singalongs, but there is always plenty of variation to admire.

Off We Go is very Alan Parsons Project, it is wonderfully meandering. Running Home To You made me think of Gerry Rafferty and Just Sayin' is splendid Glam in the area of Ian Hunter spangle. Honey Sweet Baby has a real jam feel. it's a fantastic song. The stand out for me is the Power Pop Gem, Inside Your Shoes. It's a jangling joyful listen.






2018 has been an exceptional year for Pop Rock, the best in a long time. This Is The One adds to that statement. It's a professionally crafted upbeat affair, made my a proper musician with proper songs. You should give it a go you won't be disappointed.

You can buy the album at the likes of CD Baby here.  You can find out more about P. Hux here



Friday 14 September 2018

I Don't Hear A Single News



It's nearly the middle of the month, so I'd better get out of my golden slumber and do something. The weekend will be chock full of reviews as I pull my finger out and write things on IDHAS,

On Monday, I'll tell you about the new Radio Show, a 2 hour affair with chatting and everything. Behind the scenes I've been arranging Sessions and Interviews for that. The regular hour long I Don't Hear A Single Mix will be back next week as well.

Finally, there's some news that I'm dying to tell you all about, but won't until it's all a done deal. A little clue is it's about a label and distribution. This is what has been taking up the early parts of the last few months. I'm hoping to be able to announce it all at some stage next week.