Listening To This Week Playlist

25 Top Notch examples of how strong the Indie scene is at present. 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 plenty of time 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.

Sour Ops - Standing In The Shadows

Phantom Note - Gold & Green

The Wrong Signals - Façade

The Town Heroes - Singin'

WILD YAKS - See The Light

The Boathouse - On VHS

Hazy Day Parade - Play It Backwards

Restless Leg - Dance Around My Head

Teenage Tom Petties - Kissed Me In Seattle

Mavis - Carolina

Kait Warner - Rodeo Clown

Common Crime - Ghosted

Klevershirts - Interstellar

Steve Creep And The Wildcards - Bottles And Cans

Roger Songbird - Bad Religion

The Fictionals - Don't Worry About The Time

James Haro In Storage - City Terrace

Flashlight Faces - Wild Ones Went Away

Mo Troper - You Always Loved Me

The Erly - 55 On The Other Side

Orbit 17 - Hummingbird

Thunder Boys - I Need A Hug

Blanker - Hives

Edgar Everyone - U PUSH ME

Kishi Bashi - Icarus IV

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Pantomime Horses - Forever Polyester

 

I've had the album for a while awaiting release and struck up conversations with Guitarist, Tony Laming, who is bang on our wavelength and if ever there was an album that you could say gets close to what IDHAS does, it is this.

The trio were in a band from Portsmouth called Candystash in the early 90s. Rob Silber moved to South Africa thereafter and Tony has lived in Spain for the past 20 years. Drummer, Nigel Kirkby is the third member of the trio. The threesome made contact with each other again four years ago.

Thus Pantomime Horses were born and here is the resulting album. The three finally met up again over Christmas 2023. Darrin's Subjangle label is the perfect choice to release the album. The Physical CD is released next Monday. It can be pre-ordered now and the download is already available.

Forever Polyester really is right up our street. Silber's storytelling songwriting makes the album special, but all three provide a genre defying sound. Covering everything from Brit Pop to Psych Pop, Indie Rock to Pop Rock.

At times the band sounds like a laidback understated Big Big Train or even vocally a laidback Custard Flux, Silber certainly sounds Gabriel-esque at times. Pantomime Horses are equally at home with the great  intelligent gravitas Indie of the 80s, but equally are not afraid of 60s Beat Pop.

For Psych Pop lovers like myself, Paris Garden is as good an example of the genre as you are likely to hear. There's also the wonderful Dressed Like Elvis which is a cross between Glasgow late 80s and UK Beat Pop with a great keyboard run.

YLF borders on Electronica whilst Plastic Glasses mixes Jangle Pop with great Organ. Lily Molita underlines the great storytelling, very Brit Pop, wonderfully so. whilst Morning Star gets very Dropkick. The album is not to be missed, it is a stellar listen. The type you hear so infrequently these days.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Raised On TV - Make Time To Make Time

 

Raised On TV reach their fifth album and still manage to sound as fresh and enthusiastic as a new band with their debut album. Los Angeles's Keaton Rogers and Kacey Greenwood are awash with a California Sun Sound, yet sound so Brit. Everything is so damned catchy.

Greenwood's vocal still sounds so 80s UK, wonderfully gentle, a little Manc maybe complimenting songs that are the Guitar Pop side of Indie Rock that equally fit the commercial current Indie sound enough to build a wide audience, but will also appeal to the older Power Pop fans.

Yet Make Time To Make Time opens the album with a great Indie Pop example that sounds so 80s. Just Wanted To Tell You is a cracking slice of Upbeat Pop, but from then on, the album is a riff led joy, wonderfully so.

Back In The Sun battles to be the album's best song, but the quality overall makes this a hard task. The song is all Brit Pop, summer sounding with its frantic riff, yet still sounds a little California Surf, no main feat.

Waiting On A Girl is all Glasgow Jangle, Story Without An End enters Lightning Seeds territory with a particularly effective arrangement whilst Road Dogs picks up the pace and adds an urgent Fuzz. The Wonder Of Things cries out for a Boyband cover yet still adds another addictive riff.

The ability to say what you want to say and then get off helps the album enormously. In the wrong hands, songs would be extended by a minute with repeated choruses. Make Time To Make Time is a joyous celebration of harmony and melody that allows the songs to become earworms and that is a great thing.

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Howdy Doodle Doo! Another week races by and here are 26 songs to become your new favourites this week. 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 plenty of time 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.

Wifey - Mary Ann Leaves The Band

Norðir - UNIFY (2024)

Aura Blaze - Any Open Door

Barry J Walsh - Rescue Me

Mo Troper - The Billy Joel Fan Club

The Bad Actors - That's Molly (For Ya)

Marc Ambrosia - Brooklyn

Abraham Cloud - Reading My Mind

Shady Cove - True

The Oakwood Collective - Empty Pockets

Peel - Someday/Someone

Summer Salt - Take Carra Me

Lomma - Dracula Dirge

Acey Ace - Murder On The Dance Floor

Lost In Society - Wake Up

Megan Winsor - try 2 h8 u

Las Nubes - Enredados (Misty's Mix)

Rick Fricano - Don't Go

Sludgeworth - Together Not Together

The Wild Kindness - AITA (I Forget)

The Ilfords - Snake Groove

hour of pearl - Gotta Get It Right

Lanternfly - Vicious Fishes

Big Bluff - Prince Of Whales

Lee Isaacs - Summer Nights

Summer Fruits - Cover Of The Book

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Fuzziliers - Sail The Seven Seas

 

We introduced you to Fuzziliers at the start of the year, before we got into the all dominating Best Of Year listing. The band's debut EP, Would You Believe, was a fine listen and you can read the review here. The mix of styles and genres shone through the EP and the same thing applies on this debut album, only on a bigger canvas.

For those who want a quick start to what Fuzziliers do, the opening title track sort of throws everything into one song, chopping and changing across multiple genres with ease, there's even a little Jazz Rock added. Indeed one of the band's strengths is how they begin a song as one thing and end it as another.

This approach never gets over the top, in fact the songs are arranged perfectly. From the part Toytown, part Music Hall joy of Dirty Unicorn. Never Let You Down is great Soft Rock whilst Try is jaunty Pop Rock of the highest order with an ace bandstand accompaniment.

This is Love mixes 60s Psych with West Coast Vocal Harmony Pop and a Glam Rock Guitar solo. No No No combines 1974 UK Glam Rock with Southern or Classic Rock. There are many other big footsteps into the likes of Brit Pop, Psych and Prog.

For a band from St Petersburg who reside in Turkey, the album shows that influences are worldwide and never more so on the splendid Mention Me which reveals the full creativity of a pretty unique band in an every day latch on to the current big thing world.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Custard Flux - Einsteinium Delirium

 

Custard Flux's first four albums were heavily acoustic, played largely on nostalgic equipment. That did not stop them rocking, but for Einsteinium Delerium, Guitars are fully plugged in and I can think of no better artist in this situation.

As part of a quartet with added Mellotron from Andy Thompson, Curvey is on fire as Custard Flux unleash sheer magnificence. Still somewhere between Psych and Prog, the album is awash with melody and choruses that at times get nearer to Pop Rock.

This is a lesson for those who think Prog is just pretentiousness and Psych too way out, Custard Flux are here to make you see how joyous and accessible both can be. The album feels more joined up than ever, indeed Einsteinium Delirium could easily be thought has one complete piece.

The rhythm section are absolutely locked, which allows the riffs to take over your head and those riffs lead to spellbinding solo. Although, there are great moments of Psych, particularly the magnificent Open Wide, this feels more and more like a Modern Prog album.

The focal point of this Progressive fest is the mellotron heavy Fat Man's 8 minutes of melancholic moodiness that closes the album. It is the one time that you think of 70s Prog. The Guitar lines here at times lend themselves to Art Rock, Alt Rock and more commercial directions.

There are also great lighter moments where the arrangements are even more accessible, songs like Burning In The Sun and Right Now Here In Time and the poptastic chorus of Valentine. Curvey's vocal is still very Gabriel, but that softens the material too. Custard Flux could yet bring the complex to the masses. Here's hoping!

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

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Kelley Stoltz - La Fleur

Kelley Stoltz is not new, this is his eighteenth album, so appearing here must mean he is under appreciated and he is, in spades. Truth be known, Stoltz could write any of the more exalted peers' offerings, but I doubt that any could write an album of his.

Steve Kilbey may go part way, certainly Psych Pop wise and Lloyd Cole, vocally perhaps, but could either  produce an album as stunning as this. The unusual arrangements, the changes of direction, instruments joining the fray and the control of tempo.

Stoltz is primarily known for Psych Pop, but it is not the meandering riff of 60s Pop that you associate with that genre. It is a laidback, almost pastoral version of the genre, understated, almost unnoticeable unless you are a fan of the wonders of the genre.

But is has never been just about that, even more relevant in his more recent work. My review of his last album, The Stylist can be found here. That is a wonderful album, but La Fleur takes the variety even further. There is a Jangle at times that effortlessly draws you in.

Pop Rock choruses take over on occasion that completely surprise you. A song like About Time is mesmerising both instrumentally and in its Bowie like delivery. Jason Falconer guests on two songs, Hide In A Song and Make Believer, both are the most commercial here and may even be the outstanding songs.

It is unusual for me not to talk more about the songs, but as well as being an album of splendid individual songs, La Fleur is an album to be taken in whole, start to finish. It is a journey that you will not regret. It is also heartwarming to see the album on one of the better labels out there, Dandy Boy Records.

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

28 songs this time to liven up your week.  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 plenty of time 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. 

Please note that we purposely do not have a Spotify Account as we feel it does little for the type of artists that we cover. We only include Spotify embeds when there is no other link for a song or the artist/s insist on it. This week there are unusually 3 Spotify embeds because no other links were available.

Thank you for supporting the new music from Indie artists.

Them Elephants - I Don't Want To Be There

The Peawees - Lost In The Middle

Three Lefts And A Right - Opened Up My Eyes

Hey Geronimo - Live For Today

Zeny Bux - Better Dreams

The Cle Elum - Goodbye Night Sky (feat. Josh Caterer)

House Plants - I Guess That I'd Forgotten What It Felt Like

Repeat - Reasons

Jacob The Horse - The Black Hand

Dale Webster.- Atlantic Sun

Noah Colton - Rocket on the Beach

Janus 4-14 - The Boys Who Bears The Weight Of The World

Rocky Bottom - Strangers Of Love

Gunner Lee - Hey Dakota

zorin morris - the one that I Love

June Body - Agree To Stop

Kevin McClure - Strawberry Blonde

Carolina Drama - I Don't Like You

Artelomeus - Sunset Boulevard

Subterranean Street Society - Killing For Fun

The Dreaded Laramie - Where's My Crystal Ball?

Apifera - Iris Is Neil

Buddy Wynkoop - Racing

Baby Spiders - Big Black Sea

Modern Moxie - Don't Look At Me

Neely - Twentyfour Seven

Akrobat - Mosquito

Birdman Cult - Highs and Lows

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Them Elephants - Come Calling

 

Them Elephants is San Francisco's Alex Charlow and Come Calling follows on from the self titled debut from last year. It is hard to call what the base is, not quite Power Pop, not quite Indie Rock, but the songs are very melodic with memorable choruses and very Guitar Riff led.

Very American, very cool, these 10 offerings do cover a wider spectrum than you might expect. Goddamn adds a surprise 80s Keyboard Run and Wake Me Up is very Garage Rock, but adds a great Power Pop chorus and an ace solo.

Loving Is Hard is 90s College Rock, Turn Up That Charm is all 80s Indie Groove and Catching Waves is 60s Surf with Toni Basil's Mickey Handclaps. You mixes Slacker Rock with something you might find on a Sparks album from the first half of the 80s.

Don't Do What You're Told opens the album in jaunty let's do the show right here manner, but even that can't better the wonderful I Don't Want To Be There. I doubt that you will hear anything catchier this year and it underlines just how all encompassing Guitar Pop can be. A Top Notch album.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Billy Tibbals - Nightlife Stories

 

I Loved Tibbals's debut Stay Teenage, you can read the review here. 12 months on, here are another six tracks. Although many are calling this an EP, I still think 6 songs constitute a mini album and the 21 minutes here would seem to underline that.

Nightlife Stories does sound more mature, more tongue in cheek and less Power Pop than the debut. It is still very 70s, maybe more Pop Rock, but the UK Glam Rock of my youth still rings through and is really well done. 

Produced by Chris Robinson and again on his Silver Arrow label, the album is really good at what it does, seemingly bringing that 70s fun to a new generation. Both Burn Out! and The World Revolves are pure 1974 Flares and Platform Shoes. 

The chorus is absolutely killer and with Tibbals spending the first half of his life in London and then in Los Angeles, the vocal style comes across as a little mockney, similar to Ian Hunter in Hoople mode. The falsetto comes across as a little Sweet, although it is overused a little at times which in the wrong hands would have made a couple of the songs a bit twee.

Out Of Touch is a bit more melodic Punk, certainly very New Wave. Nobody Knows is again New Wave, but treads into the US version of the 80s. Again, the vibe is Sparks' Whomp That Sucker. I'll Die is much more in your face, bearing comparisons to the likes of Heavy Metal Kids and Radio Stars.

The closer, Dream Away, brings back so many memories. A big Pop Rock ballad that reminds me of the great Granada TV Kids Pop shows such as Lift Off With Ayshea, Disco 45 and even ITV's Supersonic, even down to the fake opening and closing applause. Nighlife Stories is pure Fun!

You can buy the Vinyl Edition everywhere. The album is also available on all the streaming sites. For those of you like us who are Spotify averse, you can listen to the whole album on Soundcloud or You Tube here or here.

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Gramercy Arms - The Making Of The Making Of

 

As you'll have noticed, June has so far has had the Reviews coming in thick and fast as we try to catch up on the ones we are behind on. This was intended to be reviewed over a month ago, but the sheer volume that have come in as meant delays that hopefully we can rectify over this month.

Dave Derby's New York Collective follows up last years excellent Deleted Scenes album. Indeed, most of this follow up was recorded during the same sessions. It would be unfair to judge it as the Outtakes album,  Derby suggests it is like the B Sides album, as it stands up more than well with its relation.

Gramercy Arms are never gonna blow the windows out, but this does feel a little gentler, certainly more collective, as though songs were recorded on one or two takes and that gives it a special groove. There is even extra points for a splendid cover of our beloved The Loud Family's Don't Respond, She Can Tell.

It may be on the gentler side, but The Making Of The Making Of still wanders across genres. After The After Party may be the best example of this. It is a real jaunty affair that sounds like a Jangled up Del Amitri at time.

Pilot Light even heads right into the world of Power Pop and excels at it. Lux is a groove laden 70s all together now sort of thing, whilst Alaska drops somewhere between Wilco and Dropkick. The Title Track is primetime first half of the 70s with a wonderful arrangement and an ace Guitar solo.

There is even an Acoustic Version of Deleted Scenes's Never Say Anything that goes full on Americana, Country even, a truly wonderful alternate version. No one should think of this as the Bastard Son of a great album, it should be treated as a fine offering in its own right.

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

 

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Ward White - Here Comes The Dowsers

 

As long time supporters of Ward White, we are delighted to see him on Roger Houdaille's excellent Think Like A Key label. As you might expect, White continues his usual inventive take on Art Rock with his plummy vocal and unique storytelling, but at times this feels like his commercial album yet.

Whereas you normally expect the Bowie-esque stylings of Cliffhanger, with lots and lots of words, that takes on an extra dimension with its Guitar solo. There is also an out and out killer Pop Rock song in the opener, Continuity.

It doesn't end there. Our Town is so damn catchy with its killer chorus, slight Jangle and background Piano Pop, there's even some whistling. Pick Up Your Face is even as close as Ward White will ever get, it is a splendid song.

This is not to say that White has forgotten what he is about. There is still plenty of the wonderful storytelling that he is noted for. His writing lets you imagine the scenes of the characters and events that he betrays.

There is also the magnificent closer Speak, Harry. Superbly arranged, moody and melancholic, it is a fitting curtain on a fine album. The title track is also an example of what White excels at, 70s sounding smoothness, lyrical excellence and a hook all chorus.

Here Comes The Dowsers is his best album yet. There is plenty of what established fans will admire, but there are also lighter, poppier moments that will hopefully bring many more. The man masters his own patch, but it would be nice if there was more general appreciation of his unique talent.

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

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Nihiloceros - Dark Ice Balloons

 

Brooklyn's Nihiloceros are a suitably noisy Trio, yet songs are built on complex arrangements. There is a bleakness lyrically with a sound that edges toward Grunge at times, but not the repetitive riffs that ruin that genre, nor the miserable is me vibe.

They do make you think of the late 80s and the Punkish tendencies of the better bands from that time, particularly vocally. Yet you also hear Post Punk, Husker Du and the Rhythm section even get a little Joy Division at times. There are even Power Pop riffs that catch you by surprise.

As you might expect, Dark Ice Balloons does get loud and heads down, but the difference with these three is that they can really play and that takes them into directions you might not expect, Hard Rock and even a little Prog instrumentally.

These aren't choruses that you are gonna sing along to necessarily, but they will certainly grip you. This type of album can be ruined by mindlessness, but when you have the chops and are not afraid to take things in different directions, you can make an album as good as this is.

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

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Bottlecap Mountain - Electric Love Spree

 

We do love Austin Texas's Bottlecap Mountain. This is album Number 7 and as we've covered the previous three, there was no way we were gonna miss out. The band are one that evolves constantly and were as O! Fantastic Melody revealed their rockiness in parts, this new one again takes a different route.

The theme here is love, respect and kindness and that offers up a more laidback vibe. The songs concentrate on lower key arrangements. There is more simplicity, building compositions on a melodic strength that allows them to breathe. 

There is a Poppier feel, songs are built more on vibe and the strength is the sheer catchiness of the whole thing. Electric Love Spree may be the band's Summer Of Love album, but they do sound an act that is entirely comfortable in their own song.

The songs may be less complicated in sound, but they are just as engaging as what has gone before. In fact without the blasts, the album achieves much more than less, it underlines what a great band this is. Even the great Classic Rock of I Need Love could have let go, instead it washes itself in splendid Hammond Organ.

Peace Of Cake is a wonderful heartfelt storytelling song about family that may be Stewart German's finest songwriting moment, at over 7 minutes long, it feels more like 4. I've Got Loving For You is exactly the opposite, a chorus singalong that is a real altogether now 70s Pop song.

Tsarina Tsarina is all 80s Groove Smooth Pop and Freedom! 24 is more a campfire Bo Diddley Beat affair driven by more great Organ. There is even time for another 7 minute song in Really Gone which masters a Southern Rock direction. You just know that the next album will be very different and that is the beauty of this splendid band.

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

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Lava Fangs - Sub Auroram

 

Melbourne quartet Lava Fangs return with their second album and great variety is provided by the sum of their parts. We know Jamie Coghill well from his adventures as The Jimmy C and he was in the respected Punks, Fez Perez with Stu Manchu, who went on to Sons Of Lee Marvin and Thee Argyles.

Both were reunited in 2016 with Guitarist Drew Horne and Bass Player Wesley Fahey to form Lava Fangs. All four sing and that adds even more to the genre hopping, aided by the twin guitars. The results are right up our street.

Coghill's Power Pop credentials are second to none, but the other three allow the band to venture down different roads from UK Beat and Psych Pop to 80S Rock, Garage Rock and out and out Pop Rock. There is great melody and riffs aplenty, but also the addition of the likes of Brass. 

Where Did She Go is the killer single with its mix of UK New Wave and jaunty 60s rhythm. Photograph follows a similar path with its Jangle Power Pop mixed with Psych Pop riffs and 60s UK Beat. Night By Day is a reminder of the great Oz Guitar Pop of the 80s.

The Psych Pop of Lost For Words, as you might expect, is heaven to my ears, a fine example of the genre. But it is the sidesteps that grab you most. The 80s Horror Pop of Dancing For Satan, the Garage Punk od Anticippointment and the jaunty Brass arrangement on Take Him Apartment.

Want Me, Need Me, Love Me even gores out and out Rock, a sort of Lemmy sings Classic Rock. Special mention must go to the moody closer, Under The Dawn which contains a jaw dropping Guitar solo outro. What a cracking listen Sub Auroram is. An album that ideally compliments what IDHAS is about.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy the album on Vinyl or as a download there. The album is also available on CD on the Kool Kat label here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

A more manageable 25 songs this week on a playlist that seems little Rockier 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 plenty of time 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.

Alain Pire Experience - The Journey

Stonedog - Time Machine

Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam - Ibiza Rocks (Redux)

The Hollywood Freeway Ghosts - Is She Watching

The Roland High Life - Always Almost Ready

Marni - 99¢

Eurekas - Falling From Your Grace

Murphy Phillips - Feel Weird

The Unbranded - Novacaine

Julian Lahdesmaki - Part Three

Tina & The Hams - Can't Stop Dreaming

Following April - Landfall

Electric Candlelight - Struggle Street

Counterpart - Oleander

The Constellations - Save It For Somebody Else

Josh Phillips - How It Is

Small Boy - All My Friends

KID SPIRIT - Kid Vision

Trope - Callous

Zen Orchestra - Time

Snowcuffs - Uptown

Edgecliff - Heart To Glow

aldn - icantbelieveiletyougetaway

Kalligary - We'll Meet

Mope - Oh No!

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