Derrero - Breezing Up

 

If you've been paying attention, you will know how much we adore Derrero. Brit Pop botherers, but always more Cymru giants. They underline how effective intelligent Indie is with unexpected arrangements and prove you don't have to blow the bloody doors off to master Guitar Pop.

The two albums since their 2020 reappearance have both featured in our Best 100 Albums Of The Year, Time Lapse reaching Number 2 and looking back, it should have really been Number 1. They've even had an exhaustive interview with our Mick Dillingham which you can read here.

There is no doubt that Breezing Up, their sixth album in all, will feature high up in our Best Of 2024 Edition, not out of any favouritism, but because it is so damn good. Ferrero are a band that push boundaries with continued excellence.

The arrangements and harmonies continually catch you buy surprise. They can provide mellow West Coast Rock such as A Line In Space, yet also offer up glorious Pop with Catherine and its stunning Brass arrangement.

Yet they can rock out on the likes of the title track with a massive sounding instrumental which is one of the best things on here, very Psych at times, which is a strange thing to say bearing in mind what a wordsmiths, the band are.

Mile After Mile gets all Americana with its all together now harmonies and Painting With Sound goes well into Teenage Fanclub territory. Creepy Crawlies is hypnotic Psych and Mile After Mile again showcases the outstanding harmonies of the trio, a foot tapping joy. What a glorious album!

You can listen to and buy the album here.  It is available on CD and as a download. Treat yourself and own an album by possibly the best trio in the world right now.

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Shenanygans - On Monte Verita

 

Swiss based, but including two Irish brothers, Shenanygans are a quartet that sound like days gone by, but often their own take on the genres and it has to be said that they are refreshing as this sort of material isn't as widespread as it once was,

Similar line ups all seem to want be King Lizard And The Lizard Wizard, as if that band don't release enough stuff under the own steam. On Monte Verita is very 60s and 70s, but beautifully performed and arranged.

They cover the likes of West Coast Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Pop Rock and a fair bit of Classic Rock. The harmonies really stand out and for that reason the 60s sounding material is their speciality. But they are not afraid to tread on many toes. 

The vocals are wonderfully gentle and clear. For instance, Where I've Been isn't a million miles away from Stealers Wheel. Brings Me Back Again is wonderfully Swinging Sixties and So Hard To Get By is very close to Country Rock.

Nothing Was Giving To You is ace Psych, yet Count On Me gets all Merseybeat and Over You goes drop out Hippie. All The Trippin' Around is very Beach Boys and highlights those splendid harmonies. Like Strangers could easily be one of those great 70s Pop Rock albums.

Songs are built on riffs and tasteful solos and there are some real hooks. Beautifully arranged, the album touches all bases, but it is those stellar harmonies that grab you most. On Monte Verita even edges into The Coral land, but it also stands up superbly on its own. One hell of a debut album.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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St. Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club - Into Your Heartbeat

 

St Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club are a five piece from Stockholm. They've featured regularly on Listening To This Week and now we have the resulting second album and it is really rather good. Essentially Guitar Pop, but a swirling organ takes them in different directions.

Those directions take many paths through UK Beat, New Wave, 80s Indie Guitar Pop, Mod Pop and Brit Pop. The keyword is catchy and with big riffs, Brass and memorable choruses, the pop element rings true. Until We Meet Again is one of the singles that you've heard and that may be the best example of what they do.

Led by Jimi Sebastian, but very much a sum of their parts, the band have an ability to speed things up or slow them down perfectly aided by surprise twists and turns instrumentally and vocally. Songs change moods part way through in unexpected ways.

Lemonhead Cabaret is almost Music Hall and a little Steve Marriott Small Faces cheeky chappie. Golden Parachute even gets a little Housemartins in vibe and Penguins Of The Ghetto mixes 60s UK Beat with Brit Pop in the style that made the latter genre great.

Sailor Girl closes the album and goes all Folk song with a big hint of sea shanty. Into Your Heartbeat is an album that underlines the glory of intelligent Pop demonstrating that it does have to be one thing, it can branch off. What a fine album!

You can listen to the album here. It is available on the excellent Beluga Records label on Vinyl here. You can find out more about the band here.

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Mythical Motors - Seven Is Circular

 

Our adoration of Mythical Motors knows no bounds. Regularly reviewed on here, deservedly so, culminating in Upside Down being our Album Of The Year last year. That album takes some following, but MattAddison is so prolific that we knew it wouldn't be long before we got to know if it could be.

Mythical Motors have a reputation of being a more melodic, chirpier Guided By Voices and I get that, but there is far more contained within than that. His Power Pop is second to none and when he ventures into our beloved Psych Pop, he nails it. 

However, he is not afraid of stepping well outside his box. Here, for instance, on Queen Domino, he gets very Lindsay Buckingham and follows that with a magnificent Baroque Pop affair on Slow March To Clown City, sounding a little Adam Faith vocally.

That is the beauty of a Mythical Motors album, no two songs are the same and here you have 20 and the quality is consistently high. Not many exceed two minutes and that say what you wanna say and get off attitude means that if one song doesn't quite take your fancy, you know the next one will.

The Psych Pop of Sister Blank brought a massive smile to my face. Apollo's Ashes is wonderful Power Pop and Impossible Symmetry goes all C86 with a wonderful Jangle part way through. The Tunnel Keeps Moving is another example of how well Addison masters Psych Pop.

I can't ever recall a bad Mythical Motors song. It is deliciously lo-fi at times, but incredibly inventive with the Pop never far away. The delicate vocal is a great antidote to the complex unexpected arrangements. I've started to get excited whenever a new album arrives and I couldn't give a bigger compliment as down at heart, I am a cynical miserable old git.

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

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Ell Freeman - A Hard Place

 

Sometimes, in fact too many, I look at how regional the UK has become and despair. I see and hear what is happening in the States, Australia and Europe, I despair for us here in Brexitland, so when you hear something refreshingly great, you should hold and treasure it.

London's Ell Freeman is such an example. His debut EP, pushes all the right buttons and thankfully isn't another version of the same thing. The EP is also another example of how the Listening To This Week Playlist is opening up the longer player releases. It was what we always wanted to achieve, but it has took a while to get there.

A Har Place opens up with a big slab of UK New Wave in Cold Shoulder. It is a cracking melodic shake your fist sort of thing that owes just as much to the Classic Rock of the 70s. Uptight goes one step further with big Glam Rock overtones.

Even when the pace. is slowed down a little on Middle Finger Moments, the song can't help bursting out. The whole EP is built on big choruses, riffs and unexpected directions. This particular song, jangles a bit, but also steps into Psych Pop instrumentally.

Music Only Knows closes the album with a more Acoustic gentleness, but also contains a magnificent Verden Allen like Organ run. A Hard Place is beautifully performed and arranged, really really listenable. I just can't wait for more.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. I say EP, but there are almost 24 minutes of music here, so this is more of a mini album. You can find out more about Ell Freeman here.

https://ellfree.bandcamp.com/album/a-hard-place

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Packed out this week with 33 songs. Everyone a winner!

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. 

Tamar Berk - You Trigger Me

Sunbuzz - Desiree Today

Ben Newgard - Mind Eraser

Shake Some - Every Little Noise

Curling - Radio King (Stereo)

Slowly Slowly - Forgiving Spree

Librarians With Hickeys - Hello Operator

Zulitas - Why Don't You Love Me

5606 - Are You Happy Now?

St. Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club - Stockholm Central Station

Shining Bird - No Silver Lining

RedPrint - Inner Court

Owen Marchildon - Weather Girl

Velociraptor - Falling

Collly - The Shakers

Peacebone - Never Run Away

ABOE - Same Old Sound

Paper Space - Plastic Limbs

Dan Cook - When The Morning Comes

Emunclaw - I'm Scared I'll End Up All Alone

Object Unto Earth - Plea To The Abjurative Warden

Slung - Neurotic

Sound Thing - Something

Holotropics - Open

Andy Alexander - Gilded

x2 fast - Chameleon

Kelsey Montanez - Kick The Habit

Baccuda - The Beach

Duckboi - I Don't Want To

the small house movement - Coffee & Tea

Eleanor Henderson - Screaming Out Of Neverland

Futura Free - Folded

265 South - Looking To The Clouds

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Mountain Movers - Walking After Dark

 

New Haven's Mountain Movers are well into their second decade and the phrase "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" was ready made for them. Over the last eight years or so, they have grown and grown an audience as they moved away from the Jam Band scene into something much more deep.

I spent a good while in the Jam Band scene in the late 90s / early 00's and although it was a fine place to be, with really engaged and great people, it was a bit self fulfilling, all self contained, no one sort of broke away from that scene. It was dominated by bootlegs and live performances.

Part of my remit has been to show that we are not just about crashing chords and big choruses nor angular Indie and gently, bit by bit, brick by brick, guide followers to the joys of music outside of our comfort zone. This has worked in a way, particularly with Psych and Prog.

Mountain Movers are a quartet who fit into both of those genres, yet are also quite a few steps away at times. You are likely to hear Bongos, but also synths. The music is more of a soundscape, ethereal in a way. A mixture of instrumental and vocal.

They aren't afraid to tread into Folk or even gentle Space Rock. Songs are built around riffs that are never gonna burst an amp, but are incredibly melodic and hypnotic. At times, there is a real chill out feel to proceedings, yet the Psych, in particular, is incredibly engaging. 

A double album may not be the best to place the start, but it is where the band are currently at and they move on quickly. Thought the long and short songs, I would urge listeners to make the time to listen to Walking After Dark from start to finish, Listening as such underlines the joy of the album format.

You will note that I haven't embedded or chosen any of the songs for this post. That is deliberate, hopefully encouraging you to listen to the whole offering.

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

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Deer Tick - Contractual Obligations

 

I adore Deer Tick. I would admit that if they had only ever released Sea Of Cloud, a song for the generations, that would do me, but they just get better and better. I mentioned during my review of last year's Emotional Contracts that the song selection was pared down from many more.

You can read that review here. Contractual Obligations consists of 8 of the songs that didn't make that album. Suffice to say that these songs would match others' fresh offerings. The band have such a fine ability to mix genres seldom seen elsewhere.

Deer Tick mix Indie, Rock and Americana in such a melodic way. I can only think of The Successful Failures who are able transform Americana into something nearer Guitar Pop. Here, though, only Goodbyes enters Americana territory and that adds a great orchestral like close.

This is a great Rock album, at times Indie Rock, built on big choruses and riffs, you can sing along and still shake your fist. Sacrosanct isn't a million miles away from Power Pop. Waisting Time has a real Brandon Flowers feel to the vocal which is matched to a killer riff. 

The Last Book On The Shelf is great Classic Rock, even Blues Rock at times and Life Insurance sort of mixes The E Street Band with Ska, I Know!, but it works so well. Big Black Hearse could be a Revue song, very The Commitments.

Die On A Hill is more 12 Bar, but adds an interupting Flute that makes you think that Ian Anderson is guesting. Then there is On Fire, the strangest thing here and it is short but enthralling, almost Robert Plant 70s mode with psych overtones. I don't hear a better Rock band around than Deer Tick presently.

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

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Tamar Berk - Good Times For A Change.

 

I  have mentioned in the past that I consider Tamar Berk to be one of the best female singer songwriters around, if not THE best. As she reaches her fourth solo album here, the previous three have all appeared in our Best Album Of The Year lists,

Berk can be gentle, scathing, laidback or in your face and provide you with a song that just engages you. There can be some lazy comparisons to Sheryl Crow or Aimee Mann. Neither is really true, but she can do both. She certainly has Crow's way with a chorus and Mann's emotional depth, but there is much more on show.

Coming from an Indie background allows a willingness to be angular, but also there are killer Guitar Pop songs. If we were using a Crow / Mann meter, the dial would flick more to Mann, but we are not. Certainly, the heart that is constantly on Berk's sleeve is most relevant here.

The variety on show is best explained by the two songs that bookend the 12 here. Good Impression is a wonderful upbeat Pop song about the mid 80s obsession with workouts and self improvement. But the real killer song is Comin' Around To Me Again.

That closer is a song of two halves. The first part is a breathy emotional affair, beautifully sung, but then the song just explodes into a Psych Feedback Guitar sensation that just shakes you up and makes you realise what a talent the lady is.

Compare those songs to what is contained inside. I Don't Mind is more straight ahead, melodic West Coast Pop Rock of the highest order, a song that gets better and better and catchier and catchier as it progresses. But compare that to Sorrow Is Hunting and the stunning Guitar lines and moodiness.

Overall, the album may appear a little quieter than those that precede it, which is not a criticism because Berk always masters melancholy and excels on Millennium Park where moody meets a wonderful Baroque Pop, almost European arrangement.

The quirkier moments resonate best with these ears. The Indie 90s joy of You Trigger Me, a song that you can dance to sounds so fresh.Artful Dodger is part Power Pop, but also enhanced by a splendid Brass arrangement that is more 60s Studio in feel and all this chipperness is matched by lyrical putdowns, the type that Berk does so well.

Good Times For A Change just enhances Tamar Berk's reputation further, no easy task four albums in. Through all the mighty arrangements and surprise directions, the lyrical strength shines through. Listen to this and then buy it. Talent deserves reward!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Shorter than usual at 25 songs, but quality oozes from every pore.

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. 

I Do You Do Karate - Peanut Carter

John Wlaysewski - Running Out Of Time

Emy No Joke - Keep On Partying

McGet - Hundred Versions

Blue Orchid Reaction - Tiny House

Loopole - Candles

Caldwell - Love Confessions

October Man - Vessel

Tom Emlyn - Kafka

Charles W Hammell Jr - Peace

Dear 25 - Belgium

Sister Ghost - I Bite Back

Happy Accidents - Dog Day

Touchdown Girl - Fallen

Neato - Quiet Thing

The Backfires - Dressed For A Funeral

An Overnight Low - Between Is My Keep

Chas Leman - The Last Boy To Be Picked At Football

Grumpy Custard - Kleptomania

Michael Barrow & The Tourists - Over It

Gary Twinn And The Long Shadows - I Know, I Know, I Know

The Stone Souls - Small Stone

Hard-Ons - Buzz Buzz Buzz

Bunchy's Big Score - Scrapbook

Sol Feo - Lucy

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The Junipers - Imaginary Friends

 

We prepare Review posts ahead as we never release ahead of a time that we can embed three selections and so most are on or just after the official release date. But we do get the benefit of plenty of listens before the words and music get posted.

This is making September really busy and The Junipers are first up, probably as they always should be, with this more than welcome new album. It also brings back memories of the start of IDHAS, 8 years ago. There were reviews of Vinyl issues of albums by both The Junipers and Caddy on the much missed Sugarbush Records label. Caddy follow this week.

Imaginary Friends is, as you might expect from them, a very melodic gentle affair. Crossing the boundary between 60s Psych Pop and 70s Pop Rock, but this time around there is a lot of time spent in my beloved Toytown.

My Imaginary Friend, already heard by many as a single, is a great example of the Toytown on display. All village like and jaunty, but with added Lieutenant Pigeon piano and a slight air of Horace Wimp. But they are not all about whimsy. 

Red Song is simply beautiful, an hypnotic melotron arrangement on a song that has a slight Americana and Folk vibe. While You preside picks up the pace and gets a little West Coast funky with a rhythm that chugs gloriously.

You're My Sugar And Spice is all mid 60s Bubblegum and The Swarthy Smith is easy listening on opening, but then floats away, a fine piece of Piano Pop. Monday On My Back may be the gentlest thing on here, but is a great opportunity to reveal a splendid set of Backing Vocals.

Annie Almond is wonderful Psych Pop and there is the great marching bassline on Mary In The Rain and Hollow Song again gives the opportunity to their Beach Boys harmonies on a jaunty closer. Just wait for the twee solo. This is an album wonderfully performed and arranged, Imaginary Friends is an absolute joy. 

The mellotron is used to great effect rather than obviously and the Fairground feel on certain songs just adds to their appeal/ It is also ace to see Manchester's Portable Radio as part of the group. They are also a band that we know and adore who also feature on past reviews.

The album can be listened to and bought here. It is currently available on CD or as a download. A Vinyl version can be pre-ordered on via the same link and that will be released on November 15.

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The Cleaners From Venus - Lilli Bolero

 

Martin Newell is one of the great national treasures. Too many concentrate on his Tascam 8 Track Recordings in a sort of awww bless him way when if they paid more attention to the quality of the songs and the songwriting, they would treat his work in a far more serious way.

Never one to take himself seriously, nor play down his Englishness, he is a master at making the mundane interesting. master of writing about the mundane. Just listen to the title track and realise what a great Guitar Pop song it is, all riff and chorus.

Not An Ordinary Love is also a magnificent offering.  A spoken storytelling joy, it is a splendid moody song that just engrosses you. A Poem set to a gentle arrangement. But compare that to the Jangle Pop of Queen Of The May. 

Too Nice To Be Tuesday is all 60s UK Beat, bordering on gentle Psych Pop and A Country Affair is a piano ballad, almost Peter Skellern without the Brass. Light Of My Life is a real campfire jaunty number with a great bassline and a sub baroque accompaniment that is bursting to get out without ever quite managing it.

The Queen Of Oysters is simply wonderful, a sort of modern day Gilbert And Sullivan that has a fine arrangement and harpsichord, yes harpsichord. I could write endlessly about all 13 songs. But suffice to say that this is Newell's best album in ages.

That is some compliment, because I cannot remember a duff one throughout his extensive career. The biggest take is what a songwriter he is. There is a lyrical adeptness throughout. Despite the fine arrangements, seldom do you listen to an album concentrating on the words. Absolutely ace!

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

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John Wlaysewski - Far From Here EP

 

We are big fans of Late Cambrian, but are equally enamoured with band leader, John Wlaysewski's fledgling solo career which is running parallel. Following on from this year's 7 Track mini album is this splendid 3 Track EP.

Wlaysewski in solo mode reveals a great singer songwriter. Centring in Pop Rock land, the songs go further afield with changes of direction in individual songs that cover Indie Rock, Modern Pop and Psych Pop. 

The title track continually adds surprise interruptions that catch you off guard yet never detract from the song. Running Out Of Time sounds more Power Pop and has a great chubby Slacker verse that leads into an ear worm of a chorus.

Future Ghost has a more funky vibe that heads into Modern Indie Pop, very different to the two songs that precede it, but again showing the versatility on display. I recommend anything by the band that you care to listen to. All are available on the Bandcamp site.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Dream Phases - Phantom Idol

 

It isn't coincidental that Ray Gianchetti of Kool Kat releases Phantom Idol on CD, as it was he who introduced me to the band with the 2019 album, So Long Yesterday, an album that I adore. We have since played later songs on the likes of the IDHAS Audio Explosion and Listening To This Week, so they are well overdue for a written album review.

Whereas that album was very much a Psych Rock affair, the new one is decidedly different. I've seen descriptions of the album as being Garage Rock and Post Punk and I don't hear too much of that, the main take that I hear is one of Pop Rock.

 

Indeed, Living In A Cave is adorable, melodic, gentle Melodic Rock, very 70s. Come On Now goes one step further into Soft Rock. Not Laughing even gets into the 60s, with gentle Psych crossed with the likes of Merseybeat and the riff is hypnotic.

Middle Of The Road even edges towards West Coast Country Rock. There's even a great closer in Turn Away which mixes Psych Pop and Britpop. Whilst Way Down comes up more 80s Guitar Dream Pop. Speed Of Light is a song that changes direction regularly, even adding a little Prog and Psych.

The riff on Another Getaway is Psych Pop joy, even trending towards Toytown instrumentally. No Reflection is a reminder of those great Pop Rock albums of the 70s, think Liverpool Express. Fate Came Knocking is very Psych Pop and mixes the two components of the genre equally well between verse. chorus and riff.

At times, the album sounds very Brit rather than Californian.  Phantom Idol is beautifully written, arranged and performed. Very gentle, particularly vocally, but backed up by instrumentals of the upmost quality and melody. Dream Phases are on a splendid journey. What a great album!

You can buy the CD on Kool Kat here. The album is available on Vinyl, Cassette and as a download. You can listen to and buy the album in those formats here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

I think this is possibly our biggest Playlist yet. 33 songs, which is over our usual 30 limit. It is simply that the quality has been so high this week and there have been more in over the weekend that we will have to be held back  until next 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. 

Haircut 100 - The Unloving Plum

Barking Poets - I Could've Been A Contender

The TOMS - Zebra

The Swedish Models - I'm Ready Now

Billy J. Kramer - My Sweet Rose

The Kindest People - Lap Dog

Defise - To The Moon

Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts - End Of An Era

Chase Long Beach - Secrets Of Summer

Gentleman Speaker - Tire Worth Kicking

Modern Moxie - RPG

GRIND - Don't You Know Me

AUTOS - Stay Clean

Some Gifts - WTFU

Ruaraidh Dumbreck - What Do I Know

Oddysseys - Cerbie

The Zaddies - When I Hear That Song

Needles - Expectation

Nurse - Beautiful Lie

The Warlochs - Clay

the unwanted overtures - keepin' on (I need a baggie)

Nic Hessler - Seven Days

Grave Waves - Bender

Hattricks - Faults

Shady Cove - Midwest

Dream Boy - Furanku

We Are The Willows - Saturday

Say Something In The Morning - New York Man

Fuzzysurf - Don't Go Overboard

Seelonce - Begone

Strawberry Moon - I'm So Wet

Skäl-'All of The People'

Orange Element - Hotel (Wanderer)

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