NEPS - Common Life

 

Austria's NEPS offer up a cracking slab of Pop Rock. Massive memorable choruses, songs that you can sing along to, these choruses are like chants at times.You could call it a big stick of Rock with Brit Pop stamped through the middle of it.

Brit Pop is a genre that people think was only about Oasis, Blur and Pulp. But, if you moved away from the middle, the far more interesting harmony led stuff was easy to find and far more thirst quenching. NEPS would have fitted perfectly into that scene.

So maybe it is time to revitalise that scene with the new breed. This debut album would certainly help lead the way. Also, away from the big sounding chorus led songs, there is plenty of variety. Pop Shuv It for instance is a great mix of UK New Wave and early Blur.

Kicking Habits is a great male female vocal that gets into The Housemartins, even The Supernaturals territory with great pace. Goodbye is a great closer, much moodier with a real lighters out chorus, anthemic to the extreme.

Lessons For Your Life is an obvious single, although to be fair, any of these songs could do that job.Run gets all US 90s Rock with added Grunge Guitar. This is right up our street and would probably add a ramp to interest if it was on Bandcamp to listen to and buy. A splendid listen!

You can listen to the individual tracks here. The Vinyl can be bought here. Other links to listen are here.

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Shake Some Action - Chase The Light EP

 

Shake Some Action are never gonna change from the 60s Guitar Pop territory that they master, but here the vibe is more crunchy at times. The opener, Cut Loose, lets rip in fine style revealing another string to the bow.

How Far Will You Go is more UK Beat, but again adds ace Lead Guitar, a little Psych Pop at times, a bit of an Orgone Box feel without the trippiness. Spend The Days In The Sunshine is a little Medway, all 1967 getting it together in the country. There is also a great Brass interlude that is close to Brit Pop.

Chasin' Time gets seriously Toytown, wonderfully so and I Don't No Where She Goes goes back further towards Merseybeat, but also as a modern day jauntiness, a bit like a happier version of The Coral. Five songs here that master a beloved genre.

Shake Some Action certainly know what they are about. The sound may be a little retro and that suits. I would rather hear something that sounds like the past done this well than some of the mediocrity that we get from more modern chance takers. I don't hear anyone around doing this so well.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Dear Misses - Cool Down Under

 

Dear Misses are a five piece from Switzerland , three take Lead Vocals, two males and one female. This initially confused me as I was introduced to the band via the Listening To This Week Playlist. That song was Mosquito Dance and has Belinda Villforth raking the vocals.

So approaching the album, I expected a sort of Rockier version of the likes of The Cardigans or In Deed. The vocal splitting means that this is obviously not the case and Cool Down Under lands much more in Classic Rock territory with Indie Rock to the left and Psych to the right.

The band's fourth album is also different to their past. The Country tinge has largely been left behind with the exception of the Country Rock on Cotton Candy which gets slightly Jangly at times and the magnificent Terra Australia. 

The latter is Wild West desolation mixed with a dollop of Psych Guitar that is brooding and may be the best thing on display. Yet Lemon Juice is driven by a cracking Bass Line and even hints at Shoegaze instrumentally. Again Villforth takes the vocal and it may be deduced that she takes on the more left field songs and delivers beautifully.

Shine & Glitter is much near Indie Rock with a cracking Riff and Superman Is Outta Town gets near to Modern Prog. Child's Eye is great Classic Rock and yet Mouse Cadaver is wonderfully moody and Shine & Glitter is a mix of Southern Rock and the West Coast variety.

The template is Classic Rock, but there is plenty of variety. We don't cover the genre too often. I suppose I look at it as old hat. The music of my youth, but not as shiny as the big riffs and choruses that we tend to gravitate towards. Cool Down Under sort of proves that my assumptions are misplaced.

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

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Barbara - Happy Days

 

After featuring two singles on the Listening To This Week Playlist around the same time as discovering that long time Anything Should Happen favourite, Paul Steel was producing them, we fell in love with the Tydeman Brothers.

Like Steel, they are from Brighton, although this may surprise you as they sound more like a 60s West Coast Pop affair, although at times the Englishness breaks through, particularly on Mein Fraulein, a song that chops and changes wonderfully.

Recorded as a five piece, built around Henry's Piano Pop playing and the gentle engaging vocal of John, the arrangements are spellbinding. At times 70s Pop Rock breaks out, certainly on the smooth as silk, Pretty Straight Guy. 

It could be John Miles playing the Guitar on Waiting Outside Alone, instrumentally it could be something from the Rebel album. Barbara aren't afraid of embracing Soft Rock, especially on Master Narrative which is very Andrew Gold, Lane Steinberg even.

In the wrong hands, a song like Grandad could be cringingly twee, but in these hands, it is charming, theatrical even and would make quite a show song. The main take is that mellow can be so engaging, particularly when it is arranged and produced as well as this.

The songs change directions at will with a real cleverness that never distracts. Happy Days is great jaunty Pop that revels in its all round joy. Maybe a little mellower than we are used to, but an absolute winner. Prepare to be delighted!

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Later than usual and a little lighter in numbers due to me not being around as much over the past week. 22 songs for your aural pleasure await you. The playlist may be shorter this week, but it is as splendid as ever.

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, most likely tomorrow due to the later hour of posting. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here. 

Teenage Frames - I Wish I Didn't Know That About You

Buddie - Impatient

Christina Mantis - He Doesn't Mind

Lighten Up, Francis - Please Stay

Paul Molloy - Hey Nancy

Barefoot On Bumblebees - Sleeping In Cars

Radio75 - Screaming Out

20/20 - Back To California

Dream Phases - Speed Of Light

VESSELS - Nowhere To Be

Blue Vultures - Escape This Town

Liverpool Alligator Park - BRAVADO

Matt Young - The Reactivist

Grumpy Custard - Jobsworth

Lovebugs - Coraline

Lovebugs · Coraline

Foul Out - Aching

Foul Out · Aching

Hanemoon - They Bring The War Back Home

Jason Lyles - Survival

Don't Watch The News - I Won't Miss

Don’t Watch The News · I Won't Miss

Last Days Of Rome - There Is Motion 

Andie Loren - Some Special Light

Fun Facts - Walking The Dead

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Custard Flux - Live At 20th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus Festival 2024

 

To be in one exhilarating band is commendable. To start again and be just as great, if not better than the previous one reveals massive talent. Chicago's Curvey Gregory is certainly a major talent and getting about more Gig wise these days where people witness the man at his best.

The Luck Of Eden Hall were always special. The type of band that you get excited about when a release is near and frustrated at because it is an impatient wait. There were more outlets that covered the Psych scene in their time, in what was still a buoyant internet scene, unspoilt by social media.

The second coming of Gregory was the magnificent Custard Flux. A band that initially was more about analogue and non Electric, but over the five albums, they got more and more Electric. You can read our Reviews of the Custard Flux albums here y searching the Review Archive.

Again not as Psych as you might expect for Dr Sardonicus, the band are somewhere between Psych and Prog, but with songs built on riffs rather than terminable solos. Extremely melodic with a vocal that is not a million miles away from Peter Gabriel and just as adaptable.

It is always a delight to see him over here. Gregory is a multi instrument talent with a killer detail for arrangements and an ability to wander off into different tangents without ever losing the focus of the song. Yet he can play around with and lean on a killer riff. Enjoy the Festival Performance of the five piece.

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

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Spygenius - Live At 19th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus Festival 2023

 

I adore Canterbury's Spygenius, partly because of my love of Psych Pop, but more so, because of the type of people that they are and the way they celebrate the success of others. There's also the rapier wit of Pete Watts, a man who shares my bizarre sense of humour.

You might expect the quartet to be lumped in with the Medway lot, but they aren't as restrictive as many of those bands who still think it is 1967 and that Sandie Shaw lives next door. There's a melodic, almost Indie feel to what they do. They are also a sum of their parts.

Those who know the festival, may be surprised to see and hear Spygenius there. They are certainly more Pop orientated than the Psych generally on show and have no doubt that they are Psych, just coming it from a different angle.

At times, they are more than a little Robyn Hitchcock, there's certainly a big hint of Toytown. Through seven studio albums, they are themselves, they don't want to Rock things up further to gather a few long haired fans, nor thrown in a lighters up ballad.

So sit back and enjoy this live set that demonstrates what a great band Spygenius are. Remember that this is a recording directly from the board, so there are no edits of intros or touching up in the studio. You hear the band exactly as the audience did and how they should be heard.

You can listen to and buy the album here. Stocks of the CD are now extremely limited.

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Something Different Tonight

 

I wanted to do something a little different tonight for the two Album Features. It has been so frantic at IDHAS this year and surprising opportunities arriving to consider that I have been wanting to do something a little different, if only for one day.

I've also been a little nostalgic for Anything Should Happen, not that it will ever return. But I liked the collaboration, the anything goes genre wise, the old and the new and the pleasure of something Live, or Demo'd. The Live part hit home most.

So I wanted to celebrate two bands via a Live Recording. Those bands are Spygenius and Custard Flux. The fact that the two recordings are from two Dream Of Doctor Sardonicus Festivals also allows me to celebrate the magnificent work that Sendelica's Pete Bingham and Fruits De Mer's Keith Jones do for the scene. Both are taken for granted too often.

So coming up are Spygenius's performance last year at the 19th Festival, something that I've wanted to cover for quite a while. The second features a man who was once in the greatest Band in the land and now heads one just as great. So you also have Custard Flux's appearance at this year's 20th Festival.

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Crash Harmony - Nobody Asked For This

 

New York's Crash Harmony finally record a debut album, over three decades on, and it is really good. Reviews have centred on comparisons to the mid to late 80s period of the band's heyday citing The Replacements and R.E.M and there are examples of both.

There is the scuzziness of The Replacements the odd time and the Indie part Jangle of R.E.M., but on a song like Writing You Out Of My Scene, the quartet get more 80s Rock, even Classic Rock. The Jangle when introduced works really well too.

German Camp gets closer to Garage Rock, yet Building Blocks is classic Soft Rock, Yacht Rock and Orange Background could be 70s Pop Rock. The excellent Floating's chorus would even make a great TV Comedy Theme Tune if this were the 90s. The slow riff is a killer on the verse too..

There is great Power Pop present also on the likes of Velour Goodness and Last Night's Girl, both coincidentally contain Jangled Riffs. Then there is the complete surprise of the closer, Cymbeline, and it's approaching 7 minutes.

It is a monster of a song that is so good that it flies by quickly. Very mid 70s Classic Rock with brooding slightly Psych Guitar and yet at times the song could appear on Fleetwood Mac's Tsk. It is out of kilter with what goes before, wonderfully so, but just adds to the variety on display.

It is not as though careers ended 30 years ago. Dave Derby is the kingpin of the splendid Gramercy Arms and Mike Potenza is in my beloved Anderson Council. Reviewers will have you believe that this is all late 80s influenced, it isn't, it showcases much more than that and does it really really well.

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

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Benny P - No Place (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

Recorded as a solo album in which Ben Polito plays most of the instruments himself, since moving to Philadelphia, Benny P have become a band and started live shows. To be fair, this doesn't sound like a solo recording, the drumming is live tracked, which is unusual for such a recording.

Another example of a Listening To This Week submission leading to an album review. That song was Some Days and it still sounds wonderful now. Essentially, the album, released yesterday, is great gentle Jangling West Coast Pop, but there are plenty of surprises as the album progresses. 

The title track instrumentally has a real Jazz tint and Little Wonderful Mistake is great Americana. Lonely even steps into Classic Rock and Aching Hearts is fine 60s Summer Pop. But it is the Jangle that hits you most, at times venturing well into Power Pop.

Can You Tell Me? even has a Psych Pop Jangle that is music to my ears. Save Me even mixes Rock and Roll with a rock out chorus. Morning is the type of song that Americans do so well, it just breezes along at a pace that just draws you in.

Vocally, Polito has a soothing effect that suits the material perfectly. At times, he sounds a little like Michael Collins of The Summer Holiday, although a little more Soulful and a bit less Pop. Catchy as Catchy can be, with a maturity beyond its years, No Place is an absolute cracker.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available at Name Your Price, so what have you got to lose.

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Eve 6 - Dream Fist

 

Eve 6 are obviously a band with a deep history and a long career. Most notably recently, their reputation has been handed due to vocalist Max Collins take over of the band's Twitter account and turn it into a must read fun packed thing. One of the great things on the Musk riddled bollocks spreading thing that it became.

The Trio have also been great exponents of Patreon, and use it as it is meant to be used. Allowing interaction with fans, but more essentially a way to ensure music is rewarded financially with its fair recompense. These 12 songs were released monthly to Patreon subscribers and now they are collected on Dream Fist.

This is not something that is just random songs thrown together. It feels and sounds like a proper album, a splendid album in fact. I do wonder what long term fans think of it, it does feel very different to the Alt Rock they are known for. Bands move on and many of my faves started as something completely different, particularly Pop Punk bands.

It has an opposite effect with me. Eve 6 have been a band that I've admired casually, largely because I don't indulge in that genre enough. But I think this is one of the most interesting albums that I have heard in a long while. It is an absolute stormer.

There are still hints of the trio's past, but here the variety is totally admirable. At times, it is Modern Rock, at others Indie Rock, but there are even footsteps into Power Pop and Electro Rock. Indeed considering the latter, Even Though is completely out of kilter with everything else here, but absolutely wonderful.

I'm not going to go into the songs, because this is an album that deserves your attention from start to finish. I've picked my three favourites, but I could have chosen any 3. I don't know if it is the way songs were recorded one per month, but the results are extra-ordinary. I urge you to get the headphones on and give it a go. Wonderful!

You can listen to and buyout e download here. The Vinyl and CD can be order via the Band's website here.

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Classic Traffic - Turn It Up

 

New Jersey Trio Classic Traffic are back and get ready to be rocked. Very 70s, Pop Rock that hints at Cheap Trick with a bit more Classic Rock or The Darkness without the bombast and the high pitched vocal.

There are also nods to Slacker Rock, Power Pop and Glam Rock. It is a real Have A Good Time All The Time vibe, songs built on big Solos, killer riffs and gigantic choruses. Following on from their first two albums, Turn It Up shows no sign of letting go of the feel good attitude.

Yet when they slow things down on the Acoustic Ballad, Black Rose And Marigold, they show a surprising delicate side with a real gentleness and a deft arrangement. Sadie even gets very Weezer, wonderfully so in fact.

The trio are also great on the faster, Lead Your Way, when the Power of the three shines through when they lose the solos. The Burning Man comes across as half Power Pop, half Teenage Fanclub. However, there is no doubt that they are their best when they Rock.

Satan's Sister is very Thin Lizzy instrumentally and songs and songs such as Private Pain and Missing Person underline how great they are Rocked Up Pop Rock. Songs are short, a real say what you wanna say and get on to the next one song thing. Great Stuff!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

This month may be about Album Reviews on here, but we can't forget the Monday regular LTTW Playlist which has been one of the real success stories for us over the past couple of years. 33 songs this week and it is another cracker.

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. 

The Rare Occasions - Mr. Bubbles

Nick Piunti - Rejection Letter

The Confusions - The Kid

I Do You Do Karate - Buckle Bunnies

Simon Chesterfield - Something

The Low Sixes - The Worst Is Yet To Come

Mavis - Holy Shit, I'm Sorry

Young Scum - Velvet Crush

Lofi Legs - Chain

Roger Songbird - FIREFIREFIRE!

Oceanator - First Time

Joe Kelly & The Royal Pharmacy - Little Fears

Loser Demon - P.S. Don't Die

Lomma - Nicotine Submarine

NEPS - Good For Nothing

No Parking For Caravans - No Accident

Khaki (Oslo) - Of Course (2024 Remaster)

Unpacked Suitcases - Sandcastles

Lazy Sunsets - Cast Ashore

Pearly Gates - Sunny Sunshine Song

Mt. Misery - Hey

Orbis Max - Candy On The Hill

WAATT - Eggs

Idaho Green - Studs Up At The Suds Hut

Kwolek - Calliope Does The Hobgoblin Bop

Rocketsmith - Ride

The Hvnter - Bury The Dead

mtvkid - Ghosting

Karaboudjan - Revendeur d'écume

Trash Man - Ruin It

Pit Pony - Well Well

Camilo EG - Vines

The Deadly Beloved - Can't Go Under

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Nick Piunti And The Complicated Men - Up And Out Of It

 

I Don't Hear A Single seems in a much different place than when it started over 8 years ago. Nick Piunti has been with us throughout and in the Anything Should Happens days that preceded it. A reminder of our past, but still very much in our future.

When we celebrated the 100th Edition of the IDHAS Audio Extravaganza, a precursor to Listening To This Week, we celebrated with a week of Live Sessions and Piunti was the centrepiece being a specially recorded session that got the biggest reaction of a stellar week.

In a self effacing manner, he will call his music Dad Rock, but that is tongue in cheek because few manage to be as melodic as the man. Since branching out with The Complicated Men, he's gathered even more pace.

This is Power Pop and Pop Rock of the highest order. Sing along foot tapping songs built on harmony, big riffs, big solos and massive choruses. There is never a duff song in sight. Few manage his consistency. You know a little of what you are gonna get, but you just want more and more of it.

There his even rockier intent here, particularly on Rejection Letter.Above Water even gets all Classic Rock, a slight surprise, but expertly done. I'm Ready isn't as pacy, but stretches across almost 5 minutes and again shows a different side to Piunti, more West Coast than you might expect. 

Eyelids has a magnificent Twang and On The Ropes is more keyboard led than usual. The obligatory ballad, Long Way Down is also top notch with a crackerjack riff and solo.  Piunti serves up for what you want to hear, but also takes more chances than he needs to and would expect. It really really works!

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

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Keeley - Beautiful Mysterious

 

Two albums today that I've been waiting to tell you about for a while. We start with Keeley, a band centred around Keeley Moss, although Keeley is a band project with Lukey Foxtrot and Andrew Paresi. It is an absolutely stunning listen.

The beauty of the 31 Reviews in 31 Days feature is that it allows us to stretch out into different territory whilst still satisfying the boundaries of our growing followers. Beautiful Mysterious is a soundscape that covers Indie Pop, Dream Pop and Shoegaze. but isn't afraid to step outside those genres. 

This is more Electronic, but not beats and synth lines, more symphonic taking in Shoegaze and Electro. Moss is also a fine Guitarist and so you get unexpected riffs, Guitar Pop and Jangle. Vocally, it is outstanding gentle and harmonic.

It is also a concept album, but before you run for the hills, this isn't in any way Prog. Just as with the debut album, the subject is backpacker Inga Maria Hauser, a German brutally murdered in Northern Ireland's Ballypatrick Forest in 1988.

This isn't a subject picked at random, Moss is known as the authority on the case primarily through the Radio Show, The Keeley Chronicles. This does sound like dark stuff, but the album is exactly the opposite, instrumentally it is incredibly harmony led and that Vocal just melts you.

There is also individual variety, although this is an album to be listened to from start to finish. You Were The Beauty is almost Americana, Inga Maria's Dream is wonderful 80s Indie Pop and Galloway Princess steps into Classic Rock and Rocks accordingly.

Forever Froze is splendidly poppy with its killer riff and Scratches On Your Face builds and builds instrumentally the arrangement into something akin to the Alan Parsons Project and listen to that solo. The whole piece is memorising, awe inspiring and incredibly listenable.

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

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Young Scum - Lighter Blue

 

I am not the expert of Jangle Pop and Indie Pop, that title belongs to my great friend Darrin lee and his essential Janglepophub. If it Jangles, he will tell you if it is the Bees Knees. Having said that, I think many of my peers will agree that Young Scum's 2018 self titled debut album was a wonderful example of both genres.

The obvious question is why it has taken so long for the Richmond, Virginia quartet to follow it up. I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that Lighter Blue is a corking second album. It takes what is great about that debut and ventures a little further.

At its heart, it is still 80s sounding Jangle Pop, very C86, almost Glasgow, beautifully arranged, performed and arranged. Gentle to the extreme with winsome vocals, memorable choruses and gentle meandering jangled riffs.

There are also surprises. Didn't Mean To for instance has a great double vocal and starts all tame and beautiful before slipping into something much pacier and See It Through rocks out more than expected and Wrong gets close to The Supernaturals or The Housemartins and Jangles like a good 'un.

Away is another pacier song with a killer riff. in fact a killer song. But special mention goes to Velvet Crush, a song title that betrays some influence and adds a meandering solo that is very close to Everything Flows. Lighter Blue is as Jangly and Melodic as you would expect, but adds more than you might expect.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl from Pretty Olivia Records here. American Vinyl orders will be sent from Portland to allow cheaper shipping costs.

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Ways In Waves - Matters To Ash

 

This is essentially an Indie site, but quite a few of you know of my love of Prog and where I think it is appropriate and may fit here, I add it in here. Edmonton, Alberta's Ways In Waves are essentially a one man Project with the aid of Drummer, Joel Jescke and some great Backing Vocalists.

That one man is Brian Raine and what a musical virtuoso he is. At its heart, the album is Modern Prog, Neo Prog maybe and it is very melodic at times and sounds as close as I've heard to my beloved, The Mommyheads.

Raine's vocals is very close to Mommyheads land as are some of the arrangements, particularly the more poppy and angular moments. That vocal can also sound a little like a mellow Jon Anderson. This is most relevant when Matters To Ash gets more Classic Prog.

That Classic Prog adventures are spot on, time signature and changes of direction, but the album can also be incredibly mellow on songs such as Enough Of Nothing. Raine can also do Electronic when he gets close to the likes of 80s stalwarts such as a deeper Howard Jones.

The closer, Love Enough, is part Pop Rock, part Eastern, completely out of context with what has gone before and adds great Sax from John Sweenie. But it is Who In War that best encompasses all the strengths of Ways In Waves when Raine is at his most melodic.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about Ways In Waves here.

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No Parking For Caravans - Say Hello EP

 

A quick detour to a 3 Track EP, but what a great EP it is. No Parking For Caravans are a loose collective of Songwriters and Musicians with a great band name from Beverley in Yorkshire. Currently, a trio, these three songs reveal a surprising variety across the release.

Say Hello is great 80s Indie Guitar Pop, the type that we love. Last Train To The Coast is a bigger arrangement, piano led 70s Pop Rock. Then there is magnificent No Accident with its incredible mix of styles.

That closing track starts all Psych Pop, but takes in Shoegaze, Baggy and even Brit Pop. The Bassline is absolutely hypnotic. The whole EP reveals a variety that promises much more. A visit to their Bandcamp site will provide you with other singles from their recording debut in 2018.

Indeed, their debut album from 2019, Where The Fire Escape Touches The Ground, is available at Name Your Price currently. This lot are a collective that certainly deserves your attention and ears. I will be adding a track to the next Listening To This Week.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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The Bad Ups - Life Of Sin

 

There was a post on a Power Pop Facebook Group that suggested that Power Pop fans don't like Pop Punk. That may be true of the dismal old timers who want to gatekeep that genre with all sorts of don't do this, do that rules. Thankfully there are fewer of that breed these days.

Pop Punk is so close to a more aggressive Power Pop when you weed out the robotic vocal stuff. Listen to The Bad Ups and tell me this doesn't get close to Power Pop, particularly the new breed of bands that are livening up the genre splendidly.

The Philadelphia quartet have fashioned up a crackerjack album with a twin Guitar attack that is a storming listen. They come with a Punk or Pop Punk reputation, but Life Of Sin is far more Power Pop than that, rocked up to the limit, but wonderfully refreshing.

There's even nods to Indie Rock, Garage Rock and of course Pop Punk. There's also a nod to lead singer Travis McKayle's Jamaican roots with a little Ska on Lowes, guitars up to hilt of course. The album is really melodic and delivered at pace, but it is full of riffs.

There's even a surprise Acoustic closer in NTB which almost drifts towards Americana, completely out of kilter with the 10 songs that precede it which rarely come up for air. The Bad Ups follow the fine tenet in saying what you want to say and getting off. No boring extended songs are present here.

Better Than You reveals their Pop sensibilities as proven on the latest Listening To This Week. With a killer Rhythm Section (Chris Slaughter's drums get very Motorhead's Phil Taylor at times) and a magnetic front man, this is an album that gets you singing along and shaking your fist.

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

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The Rare Occasions - Through Moonshot Eyes

 

I'm not one for predictions, but I will get on my soapbox and say that The Rare Occasions are going to be massive. They are already on their way as the followers show and that grows and grows with the reaction to their current Tour.

I listen a lot to the new arrivals in Indie Rock and although I am delighted about the return of the Guitar band only a few years after being told that the instrument was dead. Yet so much of it is mediocre, if that, the next band sounding the same as the last one. So many seem to want to be Oasis and although they are gonna tour again, that time is approaching 3 decades ago. 

These three are the real deal. It isn't exactly my Future Of Rock And Roll moment, anyway the trio leans far more towards Pop. The trio hail from New England, now reside in Los Angeles and sound so Brit. They have a mastery of Guitar Pop that covers everything from the Glasgow Bands to Brit Pop to now.

Everything is just so great sounding. Great variance, a big sound, a maturity beyond their years and an ability to come at songs from different angles, yet be so dynamic and melodic. The opener, Mr Bubbles, could be a great lost Brit Pop song, but Brit Pop just appears in glances thereafter.

They also have that knack of turning songs on their heads by changing tack part way through a song, the almost Space Rock of Hummingbird being a fine example. Bury The Knife could be Franz Ferdinand and Black Ballons could be a less pompous version of The Killers.

Darling, The Planets is the song that introduced us to The Rare Occasions with its ace angular feel. Through Moonlight Eyes is the best debut album that I've heard in a long time. Follow the link and see if you think I'm right. Just remember my words in 2026!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Nature Strip - Domesticated Beast

 

I suppose that for all our adventures around Indie and more, if we had a centre point, it would be intelligent melodic Guitar led Pop. Bands that are not of the lyrically banal, magpie, riff gathering persuasion. Here's a fine example of what I mean.

The Sydney quartet master the catchy with bigger than expected arrangements and gentle-ish vocals, but wrap surprisingly adept lyrics around instrumental excellence. If the past few years have been dominated by great Canadian albums, this year feels like the resurgence of Australia. 

Australia used to more than hold its own Power Pop wise, but it seemed to be overtaken by a mixture of Blues Rock and melodic Indie Pop. Add into that passive Psych and Prog, too many bands wanting to be King Gizzard. Vocalists seemed to want to be Jimmy Barnes or Neil Finn. Now the fightback is on.

You've already heard Wavelength on Listening To The Week and that is one of the singles of the year. The Nature Strip's fourth album adds 11 more songs and what songs they are! The variety on display is both delightful and a little jaw dropping at times.

You get Brass laden Summer Pop with Prime Time and even more Brass on the smooth 80s sounding Surgery. Sixth Sense is great 60s UK Beat Pop whilst Signature Move is more 70s Pop Rock and The Big Chorus gets close to Yacht Rock.

Baby Beast is all Psych Pop and there really should be more Mouth Organ in Indie Rock. Monday (Roll The Dice Forever) could easily be on an 80s Teen Movie Soundtrack and this lot can Rock testified by the superb opener, I Cannot Deny You which Jangles like a good 'un.

Both Wavelength and Prime Time even encroach into more recent Andy Partridge territory which is no bad thing. Domesticated Beast is an absolute belter of an album. An explanation at joyful Pop can be and how it can change the weariest of minds into something far more positive.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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