31 Reviews In 31 Days

 

We are 4 Reviews short of the 31 and six were actually planned. Delays are for two reasons. A hectic real life work schedule due to Covid raising its ugly head and so extra hours have been needed there as cover. Secondly, this week has had a massive volume of submissions for next week's Listening To This Week.

I've chosen 24 for tomorrow's LTTW which are all top notch. But there seems to have been a common trend this week. So many submissions comparing themselves to King Gizzard or Oasis. I have no particular interest in either of those bands, quite the reverse. 

I love Prog and Psych, but the former are a particularly dull uninspiring version of the genres. The latter released one and a half decent albums and then a load of nothingness. Review wise, there will be a catch up over the next two days.

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Various - I Don't Hear A Single Audio Extravaganza Pre-Release Special 2

I didn't expect to be doing another of these for a while, but we had a number of pre-release songs that were more than worth getting out there. Initially the plan was for 10, but two haven't arrived on time, so we go with 8. All are excellent.

The Audio Extravaganza ended its run when Jim was busy in real life and we could no longer provide his audio expertise. It was replaced by the IDHAS 10 Song Mix. This Special therefore hasn't got that mastering expertise.

Below is the playlist and a link to the mix. There is also a direct link to play the mix at the end of the post. 

01 Caddy - Why Worry

I've loved Tom Dahl from the first time, I put that Sugarbush Vinyl album on. He fashions up great Power Pop time after time all the way from Norway. A drummer by trade, but you would never know that as his one man band performs. arranges and produces excellence.

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02 Dave Cope - One Hell Of A Ride

I used to think of Philadelphia's Dave Cope as my guilty little secret. He's certainly not that these days. He's flirted with Country and Folk, but this is where I prefer him best. Splendid Pop Rock with hints of Psych. Catchy choruses and riffs, A new album< Hidden From The World will be released on 19 April, His Patreon is well worth joining.

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03 Aerial - Pixelated Youth

The return of Aerial is something to be celebrated. They don't make 'em that often, this being the third in 23 years. They emerged in that late 90s Scottish scene with a 2001 debut. The follow up, Why Don't They Teach Heartbreak At School was Goldmine's 2014 Album Of The Year and is an album that I continually play. Back with Duncan Cameron of Travis and Teenage Fanclub fame producing, this is essential Pop Rock of the highest order. I've been fortunate to have the album and I can tell you that Pixelated Youth only gives an inkling of how great the album is. Out on 5 April.

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04 Picture Box - Lennie Godber

I think many of you know of my love of Psych Pop and Canterbury's Picture Box are masters at it. But they mix it with a sort of sounds from your street vibe. Think The Kinks, Squeeze, Blur and even Half Man Half Biscuit lyrically. The Psych is very 60s, Toybox even, but the Guitar Pop is as good as anything around. I reviewed the album this week on IDHAS and I urge you to give it a go. 

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05 Society Of Rockets - The Other Side

I'm a little later than planned getting this out this week and so the new The Society Of Rockets new album, Tough Trip Through Paradise, album is out today. The veterans have lost none of their strengths. This is great Pop Rock that crosses genres with big hints of Jangle Pop and Psych Pop all wrapped up in great choruses and big riffs. They also do gentle just as effectively. This is probably my favourite album of the year thus far. 

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06 Extra Arms - I Don’t Wanna Surrender

I've been with Ryan Allen since his solo days with the Michigan posse. His expansion into the group format has been a revelation. The quartet specialise in a heavier type of Power Pop, at times Garage Rock or Indie Rock. It is certainly up and at 'em, particularly awesome live and that almost Live In The Studio feel is an essential part of what they are great at.

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07 The Sabs - Cloudy Day

The Sabs may be a UK band, but they are particularly unknown to me. This is the only thing that I've heard so far. It sounds very Thomas Walsh at times, wonderfully so and they are certainly ones to watch. I will certainly be keeping a keen eye out.

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08 The Orange Peels - Second Sleep

I've been with the Orange Peels for so long now that they must feel as old as I. Primarily Psych Pop, but not this time. The trio have always threatened full on electronic, but this loses none of their trademark inventiveness. Second Sleep is totally hypnotic and mesmerising and I can't wait for the album. Whatever direction that they have taken has never ever disappointed me.

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I Don't Hear A Single Audio Extravaganza Special

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Marc Valentine - Basement Sparks

 

When I reviewed last year's Future Obscura album, I mentioned how it was a rarity for British Power Pop artists to sound so American. You can read that review here. Valentine seems to have gone the whole hog with his deserved signing to Little Steven's Wicked Cool label.

This is great Power Pop and no song demonstrates that more than Skeleton Keys with its massive Butch Walker like riff. The song has everything that Power Pop requires including pace, a massive chorus and a killer solo. I'm convinced that it will be a future classic.

Have no doubt, this is a magnificent Power Pop album. The sort that many threaten but can't keep up the quality after the front loading ends. There are different strands of the genre, whether they be rocked up or built around killer chorus, big harmonies or solo vocals, everything works.

It works because of the lyrical adeptness and those catch all choruses. There are surprises. One is the balladic anthem that is Ballad Of Watt. The album doesn't come up for air, but this shows a different side to Valentine, part Pop Rock and even more UK 70s Glam Rock.

Repeat Offender is very UK New Wave and even as a cod reggae Police style guitar interruption. But it is the big chorus led guitar sounds that most will want and deserve. Eve Of Destraction adds the obligatory and big harmonies on another crackerjack of a song.

I Wanna Be Alone is more akin with the new breed of slightly noisier Power Pop, but largely this is a demonstration of how all encompassing the genre can be. Catchiness that rocks you and soon has you singing along. If anyone ever tells you that Power Pop has had its day, play them this and sit back revelling in your smugness.

You can buy the album everywhere. You can listen to the album here.

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Day Dreems - Day Dreems

 

Portland's Day Ricardo has fashioned up an outstanding Pop Rock album. The type that you used to hear in the 70s that everyone dissed and now say that they were always big fans. It isn't stuck in that decade, but it does remind you of it a lot.

In a long career, most notably with The Zags, it is as though everything has led to this. What is even remarkable is that everything is played by Ricardo. The album is so cohesive, bursting with melody, wonderfully arranged and performed.

F Natural is a great example of what makes the album special. On the surface, it appears to be a big easy listening song from 1975, but there are bursts of instrumentation that catch you surprise such as 60s Psych Pop Trumpets here.

The jauntier Easy similarly adds a spacey Telstar like organ. The Bad Old Days. with its dismay at the rise of the Right is great Piano Pop with a chorus to die for.and adds more of that wonderful trumpet song. Brain Drain is even rapid pace 60s Pop, a song that could appear on a TV cartoon show from the period.

Make That Go is perfect 60s UK Beat and Fountain Of Truth is built around a great Guitar Riff, part Glam Rock, part Surf. This is all set to a You Can't Hurry Love Rhythm track. Make That Go is more Beat Pop, but this time a little hand clap with a great Guitar sound.

The whole thing is splendid Guitar Pop on the whole. The songs feel very autobiographical without ever seeming to be " All About Me". The production is top notch too. This used to be the type of album reviewed by many of the numerous Blogs. One by one, those Blogs seemed to have disappeared which is as a shame as this an album that deserves masses of coverage.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Picturebox - Mobile Disco

 

The return of Picturebox for their first album in over five years is a reason to rejoice. The quartet are from Canterbury, so you would expect something Psych Pop or UK Beat and there is plenty of such here, but there is much more to them than that.

There is a real Street Pop vibe to what they do. Songs are about the everyday banality of neighbour hood life, past and present, almost like Half Man Half Biscuit in subject matter but accompanied by catchier arrangements than altogether now Folkish chorus singalongs.

Just listen to Office Of Compline and Lennie Godber and you realise that they come across as lost Brit Pop gems. Things wouldn't be the same without some Toytown and Nice Boys Mobile Disco (Versification) does that well.

Brightest & Best is pure early Syd Barrett and you can imagine Jarvis Cocker regaling Addendum, The Car Of A Man That Drives Alone reveals an inner Ray Davies and underlines how off beat the subject matter. It is wonderfully melodic, yet also melancholic.

(The World Of) Autumn Feelings should have been something on Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish, whilst Utility Contractors is prime time Difford Vocal Squeeze set to a New Wave Beat that threatens to go Glam Rock.

There are also short vignettes reveal the off kilter of the band such as Quickfire Les and the short spoken world tale that is The Story Of The Biscuit Man. Mobile Disco is an album that appears simple on the face of it, but it has tons of ideas and a lyrical adeptness that you can admire and be bemused at simultaneously. An incredible listen. An absolute delight.

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

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Savak - Flavors Of Paradise

 

Brooklyn's Savak have built up a collection of Genre labels across their previous five albums. I suppose Post Punk is the one you see most and many people seem to want them to be The Fall 2.0 which I'm not sure that ever have been.

These sixth album from the Trio is confuse the scribes even more, because it is even more varied than what has gone before if that was possible. They major on being Angular, but that jaggedness takes them in all directions and having two vocalists helps those adventures even more.

They appeal to me most because they are equally at home with intelligent Indie with the likes of Psych Pop which puts them right in my listening spotlight. Flavors Of Paradise is a wonderfully inventive affair that can be as straight ahead or complicated as you wish.

Living Will is great 80s Indie miserabalism, yet Paid Disappearance is top notch UK Late 70s New Wave and Let The Sunlight In is Psych Pop. What Is It Worth instrumentally gets close to The Len Price Three adding a lovely Jangle.

It Happen To You is all Noo Yawk attitude, yet Will Get Fooled Again is incredibly IRS. Only Attribution gets close to Post Punk. But the ability of the trio is best explained by Leash Biter. It may not be the best song here, but is a demonstration of what a great Trio they are instrumentally with its in your face riffs and  the wonderful locked rhythm section.

Save are a very unusual band in they can appeal in so many directions. Lyrically adept, arrangements that are unusual and the ability to be incredibly melodic, but also able to appeal to those that like their music a little left of the norm. Flavors Of Paradise is absolutely splendid.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Paul Collins - Stand Back And Take A Good Look

 

This is classic New Wave Power Pop and Paul Collins is a master at it. It was a scene that I was heavily involved in. I sort of left it behind, not because of the music or the artists, quite the reverse. It was a large section of fans who were sycophantic to the long established and took every opportunity to diss the new.

I just got tired of it all and moved to a world of the completely new and IDHAS successfully moved away to a more Indie following, much more engaged and largely a generation below where I was. But as I said, it was never ever about the artists.

Looking back at the genre now from a different angle, I can still recognise the joy of the genre and the mightiness of Paul Collins, a giant in the field and here he demonstrates his storytelling strength honed through years of seminal outfits like The Nerves and The Beat.

He is also aided by guest appearances from fellow luminaries such as Shoes, 20/20 and Dwight Twilley. His vocal has mellowed a little, but that perfectly suits the material and he also demonstrates his ability to step away from the Power Pop Template.

How Will I Know has a wonderful gentle twang and You Can't Go Back has a real Americana and Rock and Roll vibe that is a great listen. The arrangement on That's When I Think Of You is top notch, particularly the Guitar work. One Hill And I'm Home goes full on Country Troubadour.

There's even some great 12 bar and Barrel Piano On Westbound. The album does feel less Power Pop than past glories, more Pop Rock. But songs such as the title track and I'm The Only One For You are classic Paul Collins. The album is a great listen and reveals that there is far more to the man than just Power Pop.

You can buy the album in all formats everywhere. You can listen to the full album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

After the quieter week last time, we have a massive 31 songs for you. The offerings have been flooding in. I did think of splitting them into two parts, but thought that would confuse listeners and so the new LTTW is up a little earlier than usual.

There is no song preference in track order, just what we think flows.  I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. The last listed is as great as the first and you have all week to listen. This weekly playlist is solely for submissions, not the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves.

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 the artists who appear here. Thank you for supporting the new music from Indie artists.

The Dirty Nil - Am I The Menace?

Charming To The Last - They Walk Among Us!

The Cle Elum - I Am A Robot (feat. Matthew Caws) (Radio Edit)

S.J. Armstrong - Orange And Gray

You Filthy Dog - Mind Twins

The Eargoggle - Write A Song

Mavis - Lonely Show

Ollie Lloyd - Rhubarb Hill

Velociraptor - Computer Future Part 1

William J Locker - Baby Likes To Rock And Roll

unsafe! - Paranoid

elephants and castles - 125

YANG - Madison (Oakland)

B. Hamilton - Hey Sunshine 

The Vaniers - Charlie

Limbonauts  Come 2 Where U R

First Day Of Spring - Operation

Lunde - Deja Vu

Janus 4-14 - RedRum

The Fourth Wall - No Daggers

The Bogmen - In My Kingdom

Safer Dead - Egotistic Love

Carrabelle - Let Me In

Cat Cork - Disappear

Marloes Van Asselt - Going To New York

Portside Dive - Stare Into The Water

Jamie Turner - Ordinary Song

gopublic - The Great Revelation

The Velvet Fuzz - What's On Your Mind?

Luke Meyn - When It's Over

Jay Valeyo With Ethan Nox - WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW

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Space Kitchen - What's Cookin' EP

 

Toronto's Space Kitchen offer up their second EP and it is splendid 70s Pop Rock. All the relevant nods are here and I'm reminded of John Miles in particular due to the mixture of Guitar Riffs mixed with both Piano Pop and keyboard runs.

The best example of this is Believer Deceiver which marries all of this with hints of the likes of 10CC and Alan Parsons Project to name just two. The song even flirts with Modern Prog and Symphonic Rock It is the centrepiece of this EP.

Life At Sea is even nearer Prog with its Space Rock keyboards married to Riffs that are not unlike the chiming six stringing offerings from fellow Cannuck, Alex Lifeson's early 80s. My Love To You crosses genres too. A bit like Jethro Tull does late 50s Rock and Roll at times.

The 50s I love you vibe turns into a 70s keyboard run and then on to Classic Pop Rock. Look Out for the killer riff though. Lovin' 9 To 5 is a little more 80s arrangement wise. There is a lot to like here from the duo, I just wish there was more.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Listening To This Week And Spotify

 

Just a quick explanation of why we don't use Spotify links on Listening To This Week. There isn't an IDHAS Spotify account and I have never had a Spotify account. It isn't how I want to listen to music. Almost 8 years into I Don't Hear A Single. it isn't worth starting now.

Putting a Spotify embed up would have little benefit to the artist with us not having an account. IDHAS has a sizeable following and they are used to links not being on Spotify. So the biggest benefit is to embed other links that can be used and accessed free. 

If I opened a Spotify account now, it would never get the volume of interest to benefit musicians. The recent change in Spotify terms regarding Indie artists most likely means that no Indie Musician gets any benefit whatsoever from Spotify.

So LTTW wise, I only ever use Spotify links if specifically requested by the artist or if there is no alternative link available. 

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The Supernaturals - Second Thoughts (Collected Recordings 1999 - 2002)

 

My love of The Supernaturals knows no bounds as you can probably tell by how often they are on here. They've even had the Mick Dillingham treatment in one of my favourite interviews here. They lit up a particularly dour back end of Brit Pop.

But did you know that in between the jaunty pop of 1998's A Tune A Day and 2002's moody Paul Heaton-esque What We Did Last Summer that there was a lost album and here are the candidates for inclusion? Me neither! So what an exciting release this is.

A few things jump out. James McColl has lost none of his wit, taking on a cynical take on the banal and everyday, witness Richard And Judyincluding the Brass Refrain.  Secondly, his chops are as great as ever, checkout the soulful ballad that is How Do You Stop Loving Someone? 

The bemusement of relationships is still present, particularly on She's A Robot which sort of out Heaton's Paul Heaton. She's The One is prime time Supernaturals, but also has a chorus that intimates what is to follow in 2002. 

Golf is great Indie Alt Pop, but it is the slower songs that impress you must. That is where the real melody impresses most. Whether these songs are Guitar or Piano led, they are incredibly catchy and beautifully arranged. There is a gentleness, but also a yearning to sing along. 

Grooving In The Sunshine even bridges both the sandwiched official release and even that turns into harmonic pop gold. As lyrical adept as ever and with a vocal than can sooth monsters, this is a wonderful set of 12 songs, as good as anything around. This has made my year musically thus far,

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Big City - Full Service

 

Although New York's Big City specialise in great Pop Rock, there is a wonderful looseness to what they do. This mini album emphasises that. A too Rock for Power Pop, too Power Pop for Rock sort of vibe persists. 

This is personified on Forget Her Name which is essentially great Guitar Pop, but the Sax takes it down a more Classic Route despite the lazy slacker vocal. It works really well. The title track instrumentally even mirrors The Faces, but the vocal is very Noo Yawk.

The centrepiece is two songs in one, a type of A Side and B Side in one song. Superlove is Classic Rock with its The Boys Are Back In Town rhythm and it does feel a little Thin Lizzy. Lucky Catch is wall to wall UK Glam Rock and all the better for it.

Rock Star is Acoustic with a falsetto vocal edging towards More Than Words territory, that doesn't quite work for me, but others may like the slow down. Tell Me is great Power Pop, akin to the new wave of the genre that has broken through over the past year or so adding an edge to the genre.

That leaves time for the closer and Dear Night brings everything that's gone before together. Great Sax, a killer riff and dashes of ace Organ. Part Indie Rock, part Guitar Pop and a majority Classic Rock with its killer Guitar solo. It rounds off a great feel good album. 

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Hanging Stars - On A Golden Shore

 

As I mentioned in my review of last year's album, Hollow Heart, it is still a little unbelievable that this lot are from Walthamstow and not the West Coast Of America. You can read that review here and the template here still centres around great melodic Pop Rock.

There are still surprises to be hand, but On A Golden Shore concentrates most on their gentle beautifully arranged and performed West Coast Rock. Why shouldn't it? The band are incredibly skilled to underline their strength and they master it.

At times they remind me of West Coast Music Club and this, their fifth album, does edge a little more towards Country Rock, Americana even. Disbelieving is probably the best example of this, it is a song of incredible beauty.

But they are stuck on one thing. Let Me Dream Of You is wonderful Pop Rock, very 70s and very jaunty. Golden Shore adds some ace Prog flute and Silver adds Toy Piano to a great percussive arrangement. There is even some top notch Brass on Heart In A Box.

The band even manage to out Dropkick Dropkick on I Need A Good Day Soon. It is an incredibly upbeat affair with both splendid Twang and some superb Steel Guitar. The easy laidback feel of the album is incredibly endearing and proves to be a great listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Glitter Wizard - Kiss The Boot

 

The album's title largely gives what you are in store for. This is the UK  in 1974, although the Glam Rock is enhanced at times with Guitar Rock and Synth Runs. It takes me back to the teenage me and the singles that I adored. All this here and the music that surrounds me started with Glam, both sartorially and listening wise.

Glam Rock should always be fun and this is from start to finish. She's A Star certainly wears its Platform Boots proud and tall with its Glitter Band drums and from then on the glitter never stops. Sequins And Leather adopts all the riffs. There is a cover of Bowie's Suffragette City, a great song covered faithfully, but I'm not sure that you can add much to the original.

Sugar Beat is call and response and Pogo Tonight heads more towards Pop Rock with a Synth Riff that is all Sweet's Fox On The Run, It is the period Synth parts that take the songs into different directions such as Space Rock and even light Prog.

Glitterati is the stand out here. With a vocal starts all Ozzy Osbourne and transcends into ELO. The Synth line sounds like something from a 1970s Kids TV Space series. There may be a good deal of pastiche here, but the set works because of its wholehearted musical joy.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Beans - Boots N Cats

 

I adored Beans' second album from 2020 and 4 years on, the Melbourne five piece return. You can read the review of All Together Now here.  Whereas that album was based around great Classic Rock, Boots N Cats is built much more around a groove. 

Arrangements wander through genres and are built around riffs and vibes, hypnotically gripping at times, Indeed the instrumental, Kookaburra is prime time 70s Prog with big dollops of Psych. It is far out in its scope and gripping. Sort of far out man!

Strung Along is cinematic and very 70s in both arrangement and style, it is even Funky at times. Silhouette  even treads heavily into Space Rock. Dreaming Daisy is most like what's gone before, all wonderful fuzzed up 70s Classic Rock.

Calling has a much lazier vocal, delivered almost Mystery Movie like with a brooding haunting feel that is almost frightening. One To Four is another instrumental, this time almost James Taylor Quartet, nearly Disco stomp at times.

All Together Now was Psych lite, Boots N Cats is still Psych, but edging more towards Prog, built on grooves, patterns and riffs. Gentle at times, but incredibly effective. Don't expect choruses and jangling, but it is nice to sit back and let this all wash over you.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on all formats and there are loads of links here.

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Spiral Heads - 'Til I'm Dead

 

Fancy some New Wave Power Pop? Of course you do! This takes me back to those halcyon Anything Should Happen days, This is very UK 1979 although synth accompaniments lead it into the 1980s and like the best of this period, Brooklyn's Spiral Heads are a trio.

'Til I'm Dead evokes wonderful memories of that period and what is unusual is that so few attempt this now and virtually none master it as well as this. The opener, One Of My Dreams evokes memories of The Motors. The vocal is also really close to Nick Garvey.

Contrast that to Seizure In Paris which is prime time jaunty 80s with its mechanical vocal and synth runs. Then Just So Down is sped up Glitter Band Glam Rock until the synth interlude and NY Sorrow is prime time New Wave, it simply races along.

Haunt My Dreams instrumentally is very Bates Motel era Sparks and Psychedelic Privilege even gets very close to the Mael Brothers' first half of the 80s adventures. Stays The Same mixes UK Glam with American New Wave.

The Day My Baby Stopped Breathing even gets Mid 80s Indie with a Goth Guitar Riff and a slightly darker feel whilst A World Without Pain is like Squeeze on Stiff Records with a Difford like vocal. Special mention most be given to the zaniness of The Roomba.

The song is a bizarre listen, completely addictive and hypnotic with a chorus that just won't leave you. The whole album is delivered at a cracking pace. It is charmingly lo-fi and you can only imagine the masterpiece that these three could come up with a bigger budget and a kitchen sink production. Splendid!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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James Clarke Five - Zoom And The Gadflies

 

I wasn't always about the new and came to the internet reviewing world quite late in 2005. I was involved in a place called Anything Should Happen (hence the IDHAS email) that celebrated the under appreciated, but in a lost or long deleted album sort of way. We celebrated James Clarke Five as much as is humanly possible without exploding with enthusiasm.

So it was delightful to see the release of Parlor Sounds in 2019 and that appeared in our Best 100 Albums of that year. You can read the album review here. I've talked enough in the past of my adoration of intelligent Indie, so suffice to say that the Ex Cherry Boy fits that bill and more.

Zoom And The Gadflies is an album of two halves, not that a JC5 ever could be that completely because every song is inventively different. But it does apply here, because in visiting the types of music that influenced him listening wise the direction changes. There are no need for cover songs when you have as wandering mind as Jimmy Hughes.

It gets Electronic as the album progresses, simply because his influences did. What is not in doubt is that everything works. The Indie is still melodic, but incredibly left field. The Electro or Synth Pop is really really catchy. 

Over those first songs you get the Adam And The Ants Burundi Beat of (Who's Been On The) Big Rock Candy, The Protectors TV Theme like Ghost and the Acoustic Pop Rock (with a nod to George Michael's Faith) of Pineapple Rock that incorporates a stomping chorus and a Psych Pop riff.

Add in the Piano Jazz of Manhattan Rock, the wonderful UK Glam Rock of Gadfly Groove and the fairground joy of D'You Not Think with another killer chorus. The remaining five songs are very different, but as enjoyable. 

It's Been So Long is great 80s Synth Pop, incredibly catchy and Buddy and Joe is cinema organ like twang. Zoomdust is short and ethereal and Hot Chicory Bop is an Electro Funk instrumental. All of this is rounded out by the splendid Pop Rock of Goodbye Patience. Absolutely Wonderful!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Wesley Fuller - All Fuller No Filler

 

I can't believe that we are in the 7th year since Wesley Fuller's debut album, Inner City Dream. You can read our review here. He's lost none of his accessibility. This second album is as catchy as catchy can be with great big singalong choruses.

This will be labelled as Power Pop, but it seems more Pop Rock, 70s Pop Rock is the base and it successfully treads that line between Easy Listening and great Pop that those great 70s bands did successfully, in fact it does far more than that.

The Velvet Affair does this most successfully. It is great Pop Rock, but with big hints of Psych Pop. Jacaranda follows a similar suit, swapping Psych with Jangle this time. Everything Is Strange, however, is all US 60s Sunshine Pop, brilliantly so.

Trade War rocks proceedings considerably towards 70s New Wave, but All Of My Dreams is splendid UK Top Of The Pops Glam Rock. The gentle psych riff on Inside And Out is countered by great catch all harmonic Pop, particularly on the chorus.

Counting Down The Days is great all together now Pop with a fine arrangement and a chorus that is very ELO. The album is at its best when it is at its jauntiest. Back To Square One is a great example with its 1974-ish vocal matched to a more progressive arrangement and spacey keyboard run.

And if you want a stomping ear worm that will stay in your head all year then you should hear Alamein Line. All Fuller Not Filler is superb at what it does and that is great Guitar led Pop. If I am being hypercritical,I have just one minor quibble and that is the drum sound which is way too mechanical and holds back the overall feel a little bit. But this album is an absolute winner.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl. The CD is available on the Kool Kat label here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Welcome to another week of top notch songs. A slightly smaller 23 offerings have been selected this week.

There is no song preference in track order, just what we think flows.  I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. The last listed is as great as the first and you have all week to listen. This weekly playlist is solely for submissions, not the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves.

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 the artists who appear here. Thank you for supporting the new music from Indie artists.

Custard Flux - Right Now Here In Time

Steve Conte - We Like It

The Society Of Rockets - Doors Are Opening

Tragic Love Company - Bonnie And Clyde

Solitary Bee - Love Wakes Up

Dan Parker's Damage Report - I Can See the Moon

Jason Lyles - Deflated

Gabe Ziro - Now It's Over

Raging Sons - Black Room

The School Book Depository - Landmine Fall

SPIN KLASS - Fanfare for the Common Sense

Tyler Hutton - The Answer

Kyle Poppen - Anyone But You

Kama Tala - The Late Design

Holy Fool - Ache

Spinafex - A Little Bit

NEPS - Lessons For Your Life

The Dirty Vultures - 5 Shot .38

From Atoms - Material World

Alex Couch - Bye Bye

One Friend - Sharks

Flamingos - Everything's Pink

SoundDrive - Power Of Love

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Eyelids - No Jigsaw

 

We love Portland's Eyelids. As proof, you can read our review of last year's album, A Colossal Waste Of Light here. This is something different across 26 songs that fill a double LP celebrating their 10 Year career. This isn't a Best Of, but a collection of rarities and outtakes that reveal even more about the band and their influences.

Contained within are unreleased recent songs, outtakes and long lost 7 inch releases. It is a great mix of originals and covers sitting side by side. It is obviously a big listen, but a highly rewarding one. Long time associate Peter Buck even takes Lead Vocal on It Hurts Me Too, an Elmore Janes song.

Taking some of the originals first, the band have never been afraid to Jangle or even out TFC Teenage Fanclub and Masterpiece (Wanna Die) and Psych #1b do that respectively. Polar Bear is all happy clappy Jaunty Guitar Pop.

The title track is top notch gentle Psych Pop, Cannon And Dee is beautifully Acoustic and Maybe More is so Dropkick. The covers are a selection of the great and the should be, some are faithful, others inspired. The version of Seven Seas is lightened up and jangled splendidly. 

There has to be a special mention for the cover of one of my favourite songs ever, The Clean's Anything Can Happen. Holiday Innn is wonderful, part Synth Pop, part UK Indie New Wave. The band's take on Enjoy The Silence is faithful yet surprising as is the choice of The Cars' Let The Good Times Roll.

No Jigsaw gives you a big look into the slightly off kilter world of Eyelids. They do the straight ahead so well, but there is a mischievousness that allows them to experiment. They have always ploughed their own field and long may that continue.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Clay Cambeck - Psychoboy Transition

 

Cambeck was Claudio Cambedda of The White Paper, who had been an Italian Beatles Tribute Band who turned to writing their own songs. After 2 EPs and 2 albums, the band split and Cambeck went solo. The White Paper's two albums have been recently remastered on the excellent Gare Du Nord label.

But we concentrate on the third of Gare Du Nord's releases which is a compilation of Dambeck's solo work in which he explores his influences beyond the Liverpool lads. This of course enters into prime territory and fascination with all things Psych Pop.

And Psychoboy Transition races from the stalls with the opener, The Other Side Of Mars which is all 1967 UFO Club Toytown wonderment. I Got A Sunshine again feels of the period, but also gives big hints of the second half of the 80s Indie Scene that discovered the genre.It is even a little Bowie-esque at times.

All The Roads To Himalaya is more traditional 60s Beat Psych Pop, a little White Album maybe. Shocked Clone edges a little towards Pop Rock, but at times it is delivered Torch song like vocally. Yet I Can't Play Anymore starts all Liverpool Express and then ventures into splendid Prog.

Algorithm is more like a soundscape. All chilled out and melancholic moodiness. But it is the Psych that stands out most. Where's The Trombone / 40 Tailcoats is a magnificent example of Psych that adds Prog Brass and Space Rock at will. It is truly superb.

But the stand out is Claps And Stamps. Whereas the latter is intentionally chaotic, this is one of the finest examples of Toytown that you are likely to hear and underlines how addictive and Pop led that genre can be. This collection is awe inspiring in its inventiveness.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Dan Parker's Damage Report - I Can See the Moon

 

One of the joys of doing this thing is coming across something unexpected. Amongst the connections that bring a lot to here are surprise submissions and amongst the good, the bad and the ugly, a gem can emerge and here is one.

Dan Parker is a New York Therapist who teamed up with Alan Weatherhead of Sparklehorse and more fame and has fashioned a great Pop Rock debut album. I initially came across him via a submission for the Listening To This Week submission as a growing amount of potential album releases are. 

The result of that is that the title track appears on tomorrow's weekly episode. The album is very American fayre, Petty-esque at times. It is a little gentle, but splendidly arranged and performed, extremely melodic with highly memorable choruses.

There is a linking theme about the human condition, but that is more in the background as the songs take centerstage. At times, there is a feel of Jeff Lynne's Armchair Theatre album, but there are also some wonderful Country instrumental interruptions. 

Unhinged, for instance is particularly Petty with a wonderful twang, but also adds a surprise violin / fiddle run. LFF is much more melancholic and particularly moody, but it breaks into a magnificent mellotron run and again adds a cracking twang.

My Friend has another big production, this time more 80s with a rockier guitar arrangement that makes you suspect that Parker could rock out if he needed, he just doesn't wish to. He makes you wait until the very end for the rockier Sorry I'll Try and that excels. It gets very Jeff Lynne at this point.

Lidocaine is the big number and that brings together everything that Parker is great at. I Can See The Moon is a wonderful debut, beautifully written and arranged songs. This is the sort of album that used to be released at well, not so much these days, so you notice when something is top notch and this is.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The album is also available on Vinyl.

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