Silk Cut - Silk Cut

Auckland's Silk Cut offer up their second album and do much to dispel the myth that every band from New Zealand is a dreamy Guitar Pop affair with sugar sweet songs. The quartet are not such, although the superb Turning The World On gets close until the Psych Pop Guitar kicks in towards the end.

Truth be known that that song is really more Jangle Pop and a little early Crowded House. Overall though, the self titled album sounds more UK 1970s from Glam Rock to Pop Rock to New Wave and it is an absolutely corking listen. 

There is plenty of choruses for the Pop kids, but also plenty enough diversions into Intelligent Indie with hooks, riffs and an angular intent. Arrangements are surprising and engaging from the melodic to the surprising. Every song seems to pack in a surprise.

Part of this is the super vocals. Sounding more than a little Muse on Punches, but more Nolan-esque Glam on Chip Away At The Stone. Tom Toms instrumentally sounds like the theme of an Armchair Theatre episode. Control Option Command mixes Brit Pop, Glasgow Jangle and great New Wave.

Heavenly Nova fits in with the new louder version of Indie Power Pop, Old Blue mixes late 60s Film Soundtrack whilst edging to both 70s Classic Rock and even Psych. Anywhere Can Happen goes full on Psych Pop and nails it, whilst The Transfer may be the best thing that you'll hear all year.

They even go to extremes with the 7 minute long Dead Star which gets all moody and magnificent instrumentally, yet could easily be on Ness's debut album. Compare that to the 1 minute closer which is all Bodie and Doyle with a cover of The Professionals Theme Tune. This album is magnificent, right up our street with real surprises without ever losing the plot.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You really should!

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Listening To This Week - The Mixcloud Version

 

The second week of our trial, we are adding the LTTW Playlist to Mixcloud. It is exactly the same as the Monday playlist, just on an extra format and allows listeners to hear the whole thing without individual clicks. May even be a great way to spend 90 minutes on a journey etc. We will see how popular this version is before deciding whether to continue when the trial ends.

A reminder of the song order is below. Links to the Mixcloud Playlist are also below.

01 Mothboxer - Maybe It's Just Me

02 FEET - No Vision

03 Tamar Berk - Good Impression

04 Hubbell Benson - Except For Him

05 Pontiac Flare - After Yesterday

06 Late Cambrian - Ride To Valhalla On A Tooth Balloon

07 8X8 - The King Of Everything

08 Silk Cut - Turning The Whole World On

09 Parking Garage - Meathead Olympics

10 The Duke Of Randwick - Only Life

11 Lunavela - Lavender Haze

12 The Jerrys - It Only Takes One Song

13 Cameron Sage From - You Won

14 Sumos - Hunting Tracks

15 Aldeconia - The Gilded Door

16 The Racquets - Coral Reef

17 Lost In Society - Pascal And Sabine

18 PICKLE JUICE - Toxic And Sweet

19 Youth of Tomorrow - Pleasure House Road

20 Poppy Harlo - Rabbit Hole

21 Backroads - Bad Habit

22 Trademark Issues - Looking The Other Way

23 Holy Roller Baby - Girl From The East Side

24 The Sifters - Far Away

25 Mr. Gnome - Fader

26 Casino Havana - How Does It Feel?

27 Owen Mellor - Cheap One Bed Hotel Rooms

28 TIFFY - Mirror

29 Davis Gestiehr - High

Mixcloud Link

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Another 29 new songs to delight your aural senses. 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. 

A reminder that we purposely do not have a Spotify Account, believing that it does little for the type of artists we cover. We will only use a Spotify link if the artist insists or there is no other link available. We are also looking for a new logo for LTTW if any of you creative people fancy coming up with one.

Mothboxer - Maybe It's Just Me

FEET - No Vision

Tamar Berk - Good Impression

Hubbell Benson - Except For Him

Pontiac Flare - After Yesterday

Late Cambrian - Ride To Valhalla On A Tooth Balloon

8X8 - The King Of Everything

Silk Cut - Turning The Whole World On

Parking Garage - Meathead Olympics

The Duke Of Randwick - Only Life

The Duke of Randwick · Only Life

Lunavela - Lavender Haze

The Jerrys - It Only Takes One Song

Cameron Sage From - You Won

Sumos - Hunting Tracks

Aldeconia - The Gilded Door

The Racquets - Coral Reef

Lost In Society - Pascal And Sabine

PICKLE JUICE - Toxic And Sweet

Youth of Tomorrow - Pleasure House Road

Poppy Harlo - Rabbit Hole

Backroads - Bad Habit

Trademark Issues - Looking The Other Way

Holy Roller Baby - Girl From The East Side

The Sifters - Far Away

Mr. Gnome - Fader

Casino Havana - How Does It Feel?

Casino Havana · How Does It Feel?

Owen Mellor - Cheap One Bed Hotel Rooms

TIFFY - Mirror

Davis Gestiehr - High

......................

Hubbell Benson - Phantom Frequencies (Name Your Price)

I've mentioned before that although we are delighted with the success of Listening To This Week as a playlist and forum for single songs, it was also set up as an additional way to discover albums for written reviews. It had been less successful at that until recently and August releases are bringing quite a few, 

But Friday led to the release of the Hubbell Benson album and I've been dying to tell you about this for a few weeks. The New Jersey duo have fashioned up a great Pop Rock album. I know New Jersey is more associated with a brasher version of Power Pop and Indie Rock, but look between the gaps because there is much more to the scene than that,

Phantom Frequencies overall is great melodic laidback groove and riff driven in a wonderfully arranged package, but there are also big surprises. Except For Him is a fantastic Power Pop song and you will also hear that on tomorrow's Listening To This Week.

Come On (Elephant Graveyard) is even more varied. It is like three songs in one. It starts all Shaft and turns into an 80s Pop Rock classic before switching into something that is almost Prog. A cracking listen in which you marvel at the scope.

Last Call mixes an Indie Pop ballad with a sort of Eastern Film Soundtrack Instrumental, Names goes all 70s Smooth Rock, Soft Rock even and Gimme All You Got even gets a little George Michael, pure Pop at the flick of a switch.

The closer, Needs Someone is classic 60s gentle Prog set to an instrumental that is almost Jazz. So much talent is on display here on a laidback album that is not afraid to stretch out. A great listen and you have a chance to grab it on Bandcamp whilst it is at Name Your Price.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Swim Deep - There's A Big Star Outside

Swim Deep's fourth album foregoes the experimentation of the past couple and offers up a gentle, pastoral, almost Indie Pop affair. The Birmingham band excel in this soundscape. Austin Williams's songs are allowed to breathe without the need to show how different they could be.

The arrangements are outstanding, aided by Bill Ryder-Jones's production that allows much more space and the marrying of a more Acoustic direction with some wonderful Mellotron, yes Mellotron, allows the quality to shine through. 

It's not just one thing though. First Song, for instance, is very Spacey, almost gentle Psych with added Electric Guitar that underlines the fact that Swim Deep have not changed direction to come up with 11 songs of chilled out gorgeousness.

Glitter has a Jangle like feel that is restrained, but incredibly effective. These Words is Americana and It's Just The Sun In Your Eyes has an almost West Coast Jazz Rhythm to it, Baroque even, and the vocal is astounding, almost a croon.

Fire Surrounds is incredibly melancholic with a weeping guitar line and a totally chilled out ending. But there is also great Pop, most notably on Very Heaven and Don't Make Me A Stranger may be the most beautiful song you that will hear this year. 

There's A Big Star Outside is not the usual big choruses that will generally hear on here. Swim Deep are also a little bigger than the type of bands that we cover. But this is such a wonderful album, particularly instrumentally, that it demands to be hears.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is also available on Vinyl and CD everywhere.

.............

Velvet Attack - Visions From Inner Space

 

There's always been new albums around to feed my love of Psych Pop, a genre that is something of a personal obsession. Usually, the majority of these are from Medway or the West Coast of America. How about one from Dortmund?

Velvet Attack are a five piece and their album, as you might expect, is very very 60s. There is also a great deal of crossing genres. Whereas, I like to pat myself on the bat for discovering the new, I can take no credit for this. It is Ray from Kool Kat's release of the the album on CD that brought this joy to my attention.

The Psych is wonderful and incredibly melodic. Choruses are almost Pop Rock and memorable and there is a surprising amount of catchiness across the piece, which isn't always usual on albums of this nature. The band are at ease moving things from one area to another.

There are lashings of Jangle Pop, often straight ahead West Coast, particularly on I Cannot See A Forest Without Trees, at others it is classic Psych Pop. Yet the heavy Popsike of (It's The) Dawn Of The Summer's edges towards Classic Rock and Jazz Rock.

Drinkin' Water Praying' Wine even adds Psych Folk. Hellfire is great Garage Rock, a little Arthur Brown at times. You Know Everything Better gets as close as you can to Pop Rock and there is a real gem in the Pop of Kill The Weekend and its Rock Guitar solo.

This is essentially great Psych Pop, although there are great entries into UK Beat. I have to underline the sheer melody and catchiness inside. I really don't deserve this, it is an album that thrills my very so. A really splendid discovery. Thanks Ray!

You can listen to the album here. The CD is on the Kool Kat label and can be bought here. The Vinyl album is on the Soundflat Records label and can be bought at all good record stores.

....................

Mothboxer - Twelve

 

One of the bands that have defined I Don't Hear A Single are Mothboxer. When I talk to people about IDHAS, which is getting rarer these days due to the monster that it has become for me personally, Mothboxer are mention. Now we have, as the title suggests, the 12th album in a career that has defined by quality.

Dave Ody's materiał has never lacked depth, but Twelve feels even deeper. There is the same melody led feel, massive choruses that underline the melody and catchiness of Mothboxer's Pop Rock credentials, but at times the songs venture further into territory that Ody has only trod one foot in previously.

Changes can be noted on repeated listens. The Keyboard cupboard has been opened, but the content is tastefully used. These are not the plinking plonking 80s version of the instrument, but more the 60s and 70s versions.

Ody has always described his music as Progressive Power Pop and Maybe It's Just Me is certainly wonderful Power Pop, but after earlier days when the Power Pop was more upfront, I've thought him more Progressive Pop Rock. 

The addition of extra keyboards may seem strange to avid listeners, bearing in mind the quality of his Guitar playing. But there is plenty of Guitar here and the keyboards are vital to the directions that he takes here. They also don't detract from the songs in any way.

The directions taken include Neo Prog, Classic Rock of the 70s, but there are also big parts that feel 60s. There is also Space Rock in which, he seems at his best. But fear not, the Psych Pop and late Beatle-esque Guitar Pop that has always been a strength are still around in spades.

There is the funkiness of the verse on Give It A Try that breaks into a Sunshine Pop chorus. Crazy Anyway gets all Pink Floyd and None The Wiser is pure Brit Pop mixed with 60s Beat. Dumber By The Day even gets a little Stealers Wheel and When The Lights Go Out is great 70s Pop Rock mixed with a Prog feel.

Then there is the 13 minute closer that is How Does It Feel? A song that encapsulates everything that Mothboxer are about. Raiding multi genres, through heavy and light and yet never losing touch with the harmony and melody in its magnificence. Mothboxer's best album yet? Possibly but that might denigrate the previous 11.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy the CD here.

................

Feet - Make It Up

 

People will tell you that the Indie Guitar market is overcrowded and to break through you need to have an angle, a story. a lot of money, whatever. It is crowded, but the contents are much of a muchness, too many sound the same as the next one, it is all a bit nothingness,

I'd like to say that talent will out, but Bandicoot anyone? A band that produced a debut album that became our Album Of The Year and a few months later were no more. Feet are not Bandicoot as we now have their second album and it is absolutely glorious.

They sound a little American, but are actually a five piece from Coventry. They could easily be thought of a time a couple of decades ago when the likes of The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs were hitting pay dirt. It is nigh on impossible to count the cash these days, but Feet deserve to.

There is a sense of Indie here in its true spirit. Songs are inventive both musically and lyrically. There is more than a little of Gravitas Pop about them. They have that vibe and touch of genuine originality of a Soft Boys or XTC,

Yet the songs will appeal to a wide audience. Beautifully performed across many moods with arrangements of unexpected beauty and unusualness, yet wrapped in a big production that never gets larger than the songs or drains their quality. 

There are splendid angular moments, some very left field and yet there are songs that have glorious choruses. You will note that I have unusually not mentioned any song descriptions, this is solely to encourage you to listen to the whole thing yourselves.

I've picked my three (today as it will change daily) and now you can pick yours. Here are 12 great songs, none the same as each other. This is Indie Inventiveness of the highest quality. A definite IDHAS Album Of The Year contender. This is an album that makes me realise how much I love what I do and above all, music.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl and CD at all good Record Stores. The Download is only £5 on Bandcamp. Further links can be found here.

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The Happy Somethings - Caught In The Web

 

I love The Happy Somethings. Their jauntiness has been a fine antidote to the gloom that seems to have descended on proceedings over recent years. They have encapsulated what is great about Indie Pop in a roundabout twee way.

But what is this I hear here? Our beloved Trio appear to be all grown up and only Smitten really compares to what we know, all Housemartins jangly. Caught In The Web seems more serious, deeper and reveals different strands to the band. This is a set of themed songs about disenchantment with the internet.

Emerald Green Eyes even has hints of French Pop in the chorus and A Quick Waylay treads into Toytown with light footsteps and has a big almost Glam chorus. Prey is wonderfully melancholic and sports a cracking instrumental arrangement.

Kiss Of Life almost attains The Seekers in a strumming all together now affair. The opener, Is This Thing Broken is Folk Pop. There is real lyrical depth on show that is admirable, previously missed in the happiness of previous songs. The Happy Somethings show a whole new side and it is splendid.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. It is currently at Name Your Price.

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Big Bad Bobby And the Shoe Horns - Like That, But Louder

 

You see a name like Big Bad Bobby And The Shoe Horns and sort of expect a Rock And Roll Revue, an altogether now and dance affair. Not a bit of it! This lot are a quintet from Braintree Massachusetts and very much a Pop Rock band.

Off the top of my head, the nearest comparison may be Vegas With Randolph. This is well produced, big sounding Rock, very commercial and melodic and the extra horn section is used sparingly and tastefully. A rockier version of AOR. I think you catch drift.

The major focus is on Harmonic Rock, all encompassing, almost 1980s, but with an eye cast to the next decade. Maybe It's Monday though is nearer Power Pop and may be the best song on show. Incredibly catchy with the focus more on Pop.

Stutter reverses the emphasis to Rock and is a song that threatens a harder rock, but thankfully never quite gets there, instead being a fine driving Rock song. This is an album that has to have a ballad and that is the closer, Where Were You?, but that is only half the story as half way through it becomes a storming instrumental that builds and builds. A great six minutes.

The template though is big melodic catchy Pop Rock. At times a little Styx in feel. Like That, But Louder is the sort of Rock that I haven't listened to in a long while and so you appreciate the strength of the arrangements and performances and realise that previous prejudices were because there was so much of it around. This is a great listen from a band that know exactly what they are about and which buttons to press.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

.........................

Listening To This Week - The Mixcloud Version

 

As a trial, we are adding the LTTW Playlist to Mixcloud. It is exactly the same as the Monday playlist, just on an extra format and allows listeners to hear the whole thing without individual clicks. May even a great way to spend 90 minutes on a journey etc. We will see how popular this version is before deciding whether to continue when the trial ends.

A reminder of the song order is below. Links to the Mixcloud Playlist are also below.

01 Strange Neighbors - Tell All Your Friends

02 Secret Molecules - High Tide

03 Aldeconia - Someone I Knew

04 Hoaster - Spiderweb

05 Daryll-Ann - A Note About Time

06 Nepal Death - Freak Street Blues

07 The Jellybricks - That Way

08 Gustavo Warnunk - Double-Decker Dreamer

09 Kyle And The Juggernaut - Katarina

10 The Duskwhales - St. Anthony

11 Desert Kites - Holiday

12 MOVIE MOVIE - You Closed The Door

13 Reader - Nothing To Say

14 Nadia Vaeh - Rewind

15 Bandeliers - Maya

16 Iron Daisy - I Only Think Of You Sometimes

17 Midwest Royal - Bad Brain

18 Stannington - Roads

19 Dan Destiny - I Can't Dance

20 Grizzly Coast - Washed

21 Caravan Dream - Like No Tomorrow

22 Boyriot - All The Best, Jess!

23 Friends With Boats - Bumper Sticker Poetry

24 Rosetta West - Turning Upside Down

25 Sylvia - Found And Lost

26 High Pitched Scream - Morning Light

27 Weknewnothing - Forever

28 Couple Tracks - Bitterness

29 Kinsua - Common Fates

Mixcloud Link

Listening To This Week Playlist

First of all, a reminder that LTTW adds a second format to proceedings this week. Tomorrow, there will be a Mixcloud Edit of the Playlist posted. Another forum to hear the great weekly Indie choices that you seem to enjoy as much as us.

 29 gems for you 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. 

Strange Neighbors - Tell All Your Friends

Secret Molecules - High Tide

Aldeconia - Someone I Knew

Hoaster - Spiderweb

Daryll-Ann - Everything I Knew

Nepal Death - Freak Street Blues

The Jellybricks - That Way

Gustavo Wornunk - Double-Decker Dreamer

Kyle And The Juggernaut - Katarina

The Duskwhales - St. Anthony

Desert Kites - Holiday

MOVIE MOVIE - You Closed the Door

Reader - Nothing To Say

Nadia Vaeh - Rewind

Bandeliers - Maya

Iron Daisy - I Only Think Of You Sometimes

Midwest Royal - Bad Brain

Stannington - Roads

Dan Destiny - I Can't Dance

Grizzly Coast - Washed

Caravan Dream - Like No Tomorrow

BOYR!OT - ALL THE BEST, JESS!

Friends With Boats - Bumper Sticker Poetry

Rosetta West - Turning Upside Down

Sylvia - Found And Lost

High Pitched Scream - Morning Light

WeKnewNothing - Forever

Couple Tracks - Bitterness

Kinzua - Common Fates

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Pontiac Flare - The Blueprint

 

I have always been a big fan of Strange Ranger and so I was always going to be interested in this solo project from Nathan Tucker and his Pontiac Flare project. The songs have great Power Pop at its heart, more the 90s version, but expands the three chords sound.. 

There is also a big jaunty feel akin to bands as far afield as The Lemonheads and The Rembrandts. All the materials required are present. Riffs, Jangle and hooks. Choruses matched with instruments such as organ which allows journeys into Classic Rock, Sunshine Pop and Pop Rock.

The album opens with After Yesterday, which is pure Prime Time Brit Pop to a tee. Get Your Feet Wet treads similar territory, but this time with a slight Teenage Fanclub tint. Both songs are big sounding anthemic affairs and Tucker does this incredibly well.

The Context and Couldn't Be Falling Faster are more of an Indie Guitar Pop sort. The latter Jangles lovingly A much more American slant prevails, an almost US TV Sitcom feel maintains the sheer catchiness of proceeding.

You Don't Have To Tell Me is more Classic Rock, West Coast maybe with a big hint of Americana, like a sped up Jayhawks. Dumbstruck has a wonderful Organ run and a real laidback feel, a little 70s Pop Rock, but also a Guitar line that is Classic Rock, even gentle Blues Pop.

You Remind Me Of Everything is the big closer, a ballad with an Embrace like instrumental, great Pop Rock. Overall, the album has more restrained slower moments than you might expect, bearing in mind, Tucker's background. But these work beautifully because they are so well performed and arranged, especially Can't Walk Away. The Blueprint is Pop Rock of the highest quality.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Chris Cohen - Paint A Room

 

I was always a fan of Deerhoof, so I feel really guilty about missing out on Chris Cohen until now, his fourth solo album. Paint A Room is adorned with magnificent unusual inventive arrangements that make you beat yourself up more about missing out on his previous three solo offerings.

Falling somewhere between a less character focussed Ward White and a less 60s orientated Mark Bacino. There is incredible depth. Yet on listening to the opener, Damage, you wouldn't be castigated for thinking this is a Jazzy Lounge album with its complex instrumentation.

Then you hear the title track with its Flute arrangement than leads into a mellow almost Costello vocal followed by the jaunty 60s Folk of Sunever with its hint of Pastoral Psych Pop and you know you are in for quite a ride.

Laughing is very experimental but heads into what is almost Prog. Wishing Well instrumentally mixes Dream Pop, 80s like Gravitas Pop and a riff that Robert Tripp would not be ashamed of.  Night Or Day has a lightness that you expect to break into Jangle Pop, another fine arrangement, almost jaunty.

Physical Address again edges towards Jazz and Prog without ever losing its melodic sensibility. At times, it seems like Cohen has raided the instrument cupboard, but all add effectively and generously to the arrangement.

This isn't the crash bang Guitar pop that you might expect from us. It is an album that will take more than one listen, but it is absolutely hypnotic. Such depth and talent has to be admired greatly. It maybe shows that we have come a long way from our just Power Pop days, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Paint A Room is a total musical education.

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

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Joy Buzzers - Shake On It!

 

I've banged on many times in the past about how close Pop Punk is to Power Pop. If you lose the robotic talky vocal for something more melodic, at times as if by magic, you have great Power Pop. Joy Buzzers' debut album is a great example of this. The songs become les aggressive and far more melodic.

I'm certainly not having a go at Pop Punk, we cover enough of it here to prove that. But Shake On It! is so much fun, surprisingly lyrically adept and not afraid to divert from the template. Riffs are aplenty and there is a real say what you wanna say then get off, something more bands should do. 

13 songs in 30 odd minutes is just dandy. You can listen to the album twice in just over an hour. People will bring out Weezer comparisons, when labelling the Chicago Trio, but truth be known, they are closer to a less serious Material Issue.

The longer songs work just as well as the shorter ones, they just have more to say or play. For example, Dusk is wonderfully different to what surrounds it, slower, darker, more Indie Rock.  Similarly, Bleed For You is a sped up joy, wonderful Power Pop.

Call Of The Wild has the urgency of the UK 1978 has Punk crossed over to New Wave. There's even Ska here, Brass and all on Naomi. The strength of the band is that they can mix the good time, this is us, witty stuff with songs of depth that belie their ages.

This week has been a real week of great debut albums. This is another as good as any of them. Beautifully performed Power Pop with a real sense of melody. In the wrong hands, this could have been woe is me Slacker Rock. This is exactly the opposite and thus absolutely splendid.

 

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

...........

Gustavo Warnunk - Semi​-​Detached Tales Vol. I

 

You know that feeling when something catches you completely by surprise, well I've got it. Gustavo Warnunk is Brazilian and living in Muswell Hill. My initial inkling of this album was via a submission for Listening To This Week.

That song is wonderful and will appear on next week's LTTW and is so good that I went and looked if Warnunk had recorded anything else and yes he has. It is so pleasing because that was what Listening To This Week was partly intended to do. The finding albums has took a back seat due to the sheer monster that LTTW has become as an outright playlist.

The album is very 60s and the periods that we love from that decade. There is a real Psych Pop bent, but big feet are trod into Classic Rock, Folk Rock and UK Beat. As you'd expect there's lots of wonderful Organ accompaniment.

At times there is a Brut strut, Kinks-ish on Semi-Detached Tale, Trippy on Day/Night which has an ace Indian Psych chant, a Classic Rock strut and strum on Finsbury Park. There is a real Alt Noir film soundtrack vibe on Woodberry Down.

480 Lockdown is even great Pop Rock and Mathew Street is jaunty Piano Pop that turns into technicolor Psych Pop playfulness. Double-Decker Dreamer enters Toytown with great effect. Wood Song is the big closer and six and a half minutes long. It is magnificent Canterbury Prog, flute and all.

People know what a Psych Pop fan I am and there is delight here in such. But there is much more. With the exception of pure Pop, it is the 60s that I listen to most. A real surprise and an absolutely awesome listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

.......................

Secret Molecules - High Tide EP

 

Dordrecht's Secret Molecules' self titled 2022 album is a cracking debut album. We loved it so much that it made our Best Of Year. You can read the review here. The follow up EP is just as great, but in a different way as High Tide is much more Indie Pop for the majority of EP.

Having said, this will be one of the best things that you will hear this year. My only wish is that there were more, at least double what is on show. The back end also shows how varied they can be as the back end heads into very different directions.

The title track is wonderful 80s Indie Pop. Great vocal harmonies, lyrically adept and a tip top jauntiness, it is the ideal Summer Song. Whereas High Tide sounds very UK Pop, At The End Of The Day is more like the US Indie Pop variation of the genre. It also sounds a little Seekers at times.

Heaven's Band is equally melodic. Slower, but just as effective, maybe more 60s. Pick Up The Phone is an absolute gem with a quirky arrangement and a vibe that crosses the 60s, 70s and 80s. Much more Pop Rock than what has gone before.

That leaves Somewhere In Between which is splendid Country Pop, a real altogether now song. Secret Molecules are one of our best discoveries of recent years. All five songs here would grace anyone's playlist. Pop this great shouldn't be hidden away. Don't sit Secret Molecules in a corner.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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The Hollywood Freeway Ghosts - Broken Doll

 

Freeway Bill will tell you that Rock n Roll is a young man's game. This isn't his 90s in bands that are looking for a Record Deal. However, a move to Luxembourg revived a yearning to return to performing, initially Cover Bands.

Broken Doll is an album that is a tribute to those Hollywood days, over three decades ago. Whilst centring around Indie Rock, there is great variety, with some unusual instrument additions, but the focus is largely on the Electric Guitar with some enormous riffs.

The album is not a solo album, but a collaboration with musicians from as far afield as the UK, USA, Netherlands and Argentina. The strength of the album is that it sounds as though everyone was in the same studio. 

Whereas Invited is Classic Rock mixed with a 90s College Rock feel.Try is more 80s AOR, but built around a big Power Pop Riff. Never Mind is prime time melodic Pop Rock, but adds unexpected Brass and a killer Rock Guitar solo.

Better Days adds Brass too, but in a more dominant all encompassing role, to a killer chorus and a slight Jangle at times. Love Sick Mind is my favourite track, a real Alt Rock riff that is slightly Psych Pop. More restrained than what surrounds it, but hypnotic.

Is She Watching borders on Madchester, allowing Little Broken Doll to close proceedings with another killer riff on a more Blue Collar All American Blue Collar Rock. Beautifully performed and arranged, Broken Doll is a cracking 7 song affair.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Another 30 splendid songs to see you through the next 7 days. This week's LTTW feels a little more mellow at times.  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. 

A reminder about the previous IDHAS post. From next week, the Listening To This Week Playlist will be duplicated as a Mixcloud mix.  Thank you for supporting the new music from Indie artists as always.

Laughing - Will She Ever Be A Friend Of Mine?

Cherry Fez - Superexcited

Caddy - Someone Like You

Midwest Royal - Baby You're The One

Paul Molloy - Luxury Bunker

The Breaks Inc. - The Ins + Outs Of Always Being Sad

Desi And Cody - I Really Like You

The Glad Machine - So High

The Junipers - Annie Almond

An Overnight Low - Lady Londonderry

AJ Baragar - accountable (dying in submarines)

Soft No - Melting Timelines

Sputnik The Band - King Of The L.E.S.

The Duke Of Surl - The Bells

Summer Fling - Never Ending

Lucifer Sunshine - My Immunity

The Crystal Teardrop - Running Out Of Time

A Days Wait - Lay It Down

Peel - Love Phobia      

My Loving Tiger - Cupboard Wars

Christina's Trip - Swim

Big Bad Bobby and the Shoe Horns - Moving On

Ardy - You Only Love Me When You're High

Casual Male - Half Cut

Capture This - Empty

Mingo Drive - Color Blind Stories

Guest In The Car - Music For The Kids

Dear Misses - 1% Suckers

Third Time's A Charm - Fading Innocence

executive dysfunction - Holy City

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