Listening To This Week Playlist

The 5th LTTW of the month.Initially planned as a 30 song playlist, 2 embed links have not arrived from the artists despite our searching the net for them.So we run with 28 and those 2 songs will be moved to 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. 

Crash Harmony - Velour Goodness

Log Flume - At Your Leisure

Aaron Orbit - Red Flags

The Catchmen - Hangover

Mike Dunbar - You've Got Yourself A Problem

Super Big - Mandy's

The Swedish Models - The Wolf

The John Sally Ride - The Band I Can't Stand

Thee Strawberry Mynde - Reflections

Daydream Keys - Neo-Trauma AWAIT

Limbo Days - The Jester

Sunbuzz - Sunny Days

Homer Junior - Spare Room

Vies Vignette - I Don't Know Where No I Don't Know Where No I Don't Know Where To Go

Ronnie Wilson - Girl With The Vacant Eyes

Memorial - The Well

October Man - Dandelion

Kim Cho - Don't Rescue Me

The Criticals - Adoringly Drunk

Dorian Baldari - Raytheon Bassline

Jyra - Signs

My Dinosaur Life - Peel

Sputnik The Band - Under The Milky Way (with Jimmy Dean)

We Found A Lovebird - 100%

Poets Corner - Over And Over

Warren Records · Poets Corner - Over And Over

Mr. Gnome - Not This Time, Devil

Garland Kelley - Nectar

Cliff Root - Losing My Mind

No Flowers - Original AWAIT

The Mercury Sounds - Playing With Knives

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October Update

 

Just a quick update as we much prefer talking about Music than ourselves. We are behind with Reviews at present, partly due to the volume of albums that we are listening to and the continued success of the Listening To This Week Playlist. However, with October being the traditional 31 Reviews In 31 Days month, there is a chance to catch up.

October will also feature the latest Here Is The News and there are some cracking releases to tell you about in that post, including some real surprises. We have also been asked about doing another Back To The Future Weekend which covers reissues which we rarely do. There will be an October Weekend of that featuring six reissues.

The rest of September will add some Reviews and culminate in the fifth Listening To This Week of the month on Monday. We've also been impressed with the recent growth of Threads. It has gone back to older days with discussion of music, particularly new music with threads about music promotion, music sites and streaming alternatives to Spotify etc. 

It has took its time to provide a social media alternative, but the signs on Threads are good. There is more of a concentration on scenes, labels, Blogs and Sites rather than playlists and without the nonsense of what is and isn't Power Pop, band slagging and egos. It is less about personalities and more about helping artists. The things that the Facebook Groups used to major on. New Music is a big feature, being more about helping than people who produce lists or playlists. 

I believe that a playlist should be secondary to telling people about the new music via reviews and features than providing periodical lists. It is also about earning artists money, rather than Live or Album playing for exposure. Music is an art and art should provide recompense.  

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Log Flume - Splash Hit

 

Over to Chester County PA for the excellent Guitar Pop debut album from the quartet, Log Flume. The band told me that At Your Leisure might suit what we do most, but the whole thing is great, especially when it gets Power Pop.

OMIT is a wonderful example, a rocked up version of the genre that suits the 90s US Power Pop revival to a tee. It knows exactly which buttons to press. Wilted Dream is closer to UK New Wave with its killer intro riff and general pace.

All four sing and Bass Player Scronky takes over on Surfer On Acid and owns the cross between Indie Rock and Slacker Rock with a large dose of Fuzz. The 80s synth works really well on Rom Pom Pom. Simple Friend gets really close to melodic Pop Punk.DB Cooper is more great Power Pop and another killer riff.

Angel's Flight goes all UK Glam Rock, yet On The Spaceship could be something on the Stiff Records label. December's Ending would be the standout single if it were slightly song, again it is outstanding Power Pop.

Elevator Up closes the album and is delivered at lightning pace, a little sped up Weezer, but a more chaotic joy to listen to. There is a real say what you wanna say and get off which works well. It was really hard to pick out three selections to embed as all 12 songs as winners.

This may be the Power Pop album of the year. The variance in vocals and arrangements enhances the selections. The Riff count is high, the harmonies work beautifully and the whole thing is so damn melodic. Splendidly arranged, produced and performed, Splash Hit is a crackerjack of an album. Here's hoping a label picks it up for a wide physical release.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Housewives - Home At Last (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

You will have heard Pacific Coast Highway on this week's Listening To This Week and that gives you just an inkling of how good a long player that the song is on is. That song has a real summer feel whilst sounding more than a little 80s Guitar Pop, the album reveals much more from the Hartford CT Trio.

Home At Last is essentially intelligent Indie that brings a smile to your face, but the sheer harmony masks an ability to switch course part way through songs to burst into great vocal arrangements whilst offering up surprise chord changes.

Those vocal harmonies are prevalent on Just So You Know, a laid back affair that evokes memories of 60s Studio Pop and also Summer joy. Contrast that with the UK New Wave of Wonderbread and that incredible addictive riff.

Favourite Friend is all Americana, yet Summer That The Boardwalk Fell is 60s West Coast harmonies of the finest quality and Far Too Long is great moody 70s Pop Rock. Then there's the Housemartins Guitar Pop of Pacific Coast Highway and its terrific breakout chorus that catches you completely by surprise.

There's even a slight hint of the likes of XTC on the catch all opener that is Sleepless Night It has been a little unfashionable lately to offer up vocal harmony albums. House wives are able to match such with an Indie catchy vibe that makes Home At Last a terrific album.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Alex Pester - Boy

 

Bath's Alex Pester will bring the average age down here considerably. In his early 20's, Boy is his sixth album, count 'em. He also inhabits a world that is ideally suited to what we do. Whilst most his age would be reaching for the beats and autotune, Pester is much more ambitious and far behind his years. 

Boy is a mix of McCartney Pop, 70s Pop Rock, Piano Pop and The Lilac Time. More importantly, there is some wonderful Psych Pop on display. Indeed, the opener, Spiteful Song, is a wonderful journey into the latter genre, approaching seven minutes and like a mellower Orgone Box.

That Psych Pop is what stands out most, very 60s, but it's not all backward Guitar and Eastern Riffs, enough to bring an old man like myself to tears, such is the gentle beauty. Indeed parts of Christmas venture well into Toytown.

Yet, How Could He Change Your Way approaches Folk Pop and Sad But True is very Indie Pop, almost C86. The Rain is very Stephen Duffy and Moon Song is real 70s Singer Songwriter Bedroom Pop, wonderfully so. A Tongue-Tied Tiger is Rick Corcoran to a tee.

Boy is slightly falsetto McCartney and Living In The World even rocks out a little. and is Pester's most modern venture. The whole album is like a soundscape, beautifully arranged and performed, clever to the extreme, but never losing sight of the melodic pop.

The album belies Pester's tender years, you would expect that is performed after years and years of perfecting his trade. It is also another example of how Listening To This Week continues to reveal the longer format, something that was always intended. Simply Magnificent!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

A little later than usual due to IDHAS being so busy with other exciting developments, here are this week's essential songs. 30 of them and I will make the bold statement that this is probably our best ever selection. Absolutely Top Notch!

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. 

Lighten Up, Francis - Rich Kid Americana

Deer Tick - Sacrosanct

Stanmore - Say My Name Make My Day

Housewives - Pacific Coast Highway

Borderlines - Cut You Out

Tender Claws - I'm A Leech

Mythical Motors - The Tunnel Keeps Moving

Beyond Abbey - The Age Of Mercury

 

Alex Pester - Sad But True

Idaho Green - Something New

We Are The Willows - To Be Where You Are

Derrero - Catherine

Our Nameless Boy - Leaving Party

George Mashour - High Time We Transcend

Earthgirl - In The Dark

Onofree - Fireworks

Arn-Identified Flying Objects And Alien Friends - Happy People Won't Hear

The Daytime High - Reaper

The Marley Woods - Good Times

Shakyflakes - Paws

Kid Bowery - Devolver

Ichigo Star - Gloria

Diane And The Gentle Men - Shimmy

Curling - Mallow (Stereo)

John Wlaysewski - Far From Here

Bees & Sawdust - My Favourite Hit & Run

a

Deadly Spirits - Why Did You Do (The Things You Did)

Damian Wolf - Brutus

Alex Gage - September, Julia (feat. Ang)

Human Potential - Clear Notes For A New National Anthem

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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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