T Shirt Month - Splitsville

 

Here I am again, this time celebrating the return of Splitsville. When I started out with Anything Should Happen all those years ago, the focus was completely Retro, the exact opposite of what here does and so it looked backwards at what had been. I had spent the 90s immersed in the revitalisation of Power Pop and ASH took on that mantle initially. Many bands that were not around in 2007 were celebrated and introduced to a new set of listeners. One time, we talked and talked about our favourite Power Pop band and even revisited every album on John Borack's Best 200 Power Pop Albums. Splitsville came out top and rightly so. So the return of the Baltimore quartet  on the acclaimed Big Stir label is really exciting and having heard the new album before its release next Friday, I had ever reason feel to feel so.

Many people will rightly point you to The Complete Pet Soul as their masterpiece, but I was enamoured before and after. I missed out on their debut, U.S.A. which was largely the introductory demos, but I was a massive fan of the two albums by The Greenberry Woods, the band that became Splitsville. But the follow up, 1997's Ultrasound, gripped me thoroughly and led to the third album, Repeater, an album that is a Power Pop classic and one of my favourite albums ever. The Complete Pet Soul was released in 2001 and is a wonderful listen. It mixed originals that blended the harmony and orchestration of Pet Sounds and the more stripped down Guitar Pop of Rubber Soul. In that Top 200 albums, it was 45th.

2003's Incorporated is another fine listen. It slowed things down a little, less up and at 'em, more thoughtful, allowing more space than the melodic riffathons that had largely defined their career thus far. Now over two decades later comes Mobtown, an album that builds on the strengths of the past, but feels more modern, more now and will fight for space with the next generation as an album that will define Guitar Pop Rock in 2025.As they have matured, it is now not all about Guitar Riffs, there is space for keyboards and roots. My two embeds are the two singles from the new album.

The back catalogue is available on CD fairly cheaply on Discogs. Hopefully, the success of Mobtown will make these albums available for all again. You can find out more about Splitsville on their website here. The new album can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp here and the Big Stir Records site here It is available on CD or as a download. You can listen to the new album in full on Friday 18 July, the release date. It will be reviewed here just after release.

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T Shirt Month - It's Karma It's Cool

 

The second post of T Shirt Month features Bailey, our Lurcher, modelling the It's Karma It's Cool attire. Bailey will be making an appearance or two throughout the month. It was in 2013 that I was introduced to main man Jim Styring in our Anything Should Happen days. He was behind the Pop Dogs and starting out with an EP that I loved and I was so taken with his enthusiasm, that I just wanted to help. As he had grown through various ventures, that enthusiasm has never wavered. It is hard to make any impact in the UK these days, but that doesn't stop Jim and the band has grown well in the USA, supported admirably by the Kool Kat label.

Via B-Leaguers in 2016 and The Ego Ritual in 2019, Jim eventually settled into the established quartet that is It's Karma It's Cool. The quartet consists of Styring, Martyn Berwick, Mikey Barraclough and Danny Krash. The debut, 2019's Hipsters And Aeroplanes has been followed by three more albums, Woke Up In Hollywood, Homesick For Our Future Generations and Thrift Store Troubadours. There has also been a departure from their Guitar led Pop Rock with a side project in Solitary Bee that have released three recent singles. The return of IKIC has been marked by a great single, Crashability, released in May.

Initially built on big choruses, unexpected riffs and a real lyrical adeptness, the band's career developed as did their sound. The Power Pop roots were not as obvious. Ventures into AOR, Modern Rock and Classic Rock revealed that there was far more to the quartet than initially met the eye and ears. Thrift Store Troubadours continued the diversity adding Psych, Glam Rock, West Coast Rock and generally the sound was even bigger. It is a tremendous album and maybe the best place to start for newcomers.

Styring has come a long way in 12 years and It's Karma It's Cool is a tight unit, not one man trying to find a path through the mire. Instrumentally, the development has been magnificent, but the strength is also in his vocals. He has an ability to sing Pop or Rock, easily adapting to whatever he sings. As is the case with all of this series of posts, I am choosing my favourite track by the band and the most current. IKIC are a band that have all the tools to break through considerably, they will need a bit of luck, but they certainly have the talent.

You can read all our reviews by searching the band's name on here and clicking on the tag. The complete back catalogue of the band can be listened to and bought here.

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OMEGA THREE - POWER POP PUNK ROCK

 

You might expect an album released on the excellent Grow Your Own Label to be a little too In Your Face for us here. But Omega Tribe are a trio that have Anarcho Punk credentials but present them in a manner that appeals to followers of a Guitar Pop Persuasion.

Lyrically, their sentiments shine through at times, but the songs here are incredibly melodic. At times, I'm reminded a lot of the post punk UK New Wave period when it wasn't just about being to hold a guitar and pose in the correct manner.

Essential Workers is a good example of what the trio do well. The message is clear, but the arrangement and performance gets very close to Power Pop. Anti Government Forces has a hint of The Clash, but is primarily great UK Glam Rock.

The First Time reveals a much broader Pop Rock side and as a love song that shows not all about smashing the state with its melodic joy. Upside Down is wonderfully commercial and has more in common with 70s Pop Rock.

How I Love You is a monster of a song that goes over 6 minutes and crosses genres at will, unexpected violin and mouth organ and at times it gets close to Modern Prog. There are also three great bonus tracks including the magnificent Streets Of London, a song that sounds more Folk than anything, but the lyrical sentiments are something that I agree with fully. 

My town in the north is not a million miles away from this commentary. But the real lesson here is not to believe the label or the tag. Omega Three are a trio with beliefs, but also know how to write catchy, melodic Pop and deserve to be heard much further afield. This album is so good that I could have embedded most of the songs. I still don't quite get Animal though.

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

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The Brigadier - Sailing The Seven Neuroses

 

The last time that we heard from Matt Williams was in our first year and it has taken that long to follow up the excellent Wash Away The Day. That album reminded me a lot of City Boy's Dinner At The Ritz, a real fave of mine. You can read my review here.

It really is great to have him back as the world does not have enough great Pop Rock and this certainly is. Harmony laden, at times Sailing The Seven Neuroses sounds more than a little 70s Pop Rock, particularly with the Pilot like Guitar solos.

But the album isn't just that. Blessings is great gentle Jangle Pop and Man About The House moves into the prime time UK Glam Rock period. Heaven's In My Heart even gets into Electro 80's New Wave whilst It's You I Think About goes further into 80s synth laden very smooth Indie Pop.

Yet What About Tomorrow is very Nick Frater and Peace Within The Poison is a mix of West Coast Harmony and Andrew Gold 70s Pop Rock. The Title Track has a glorious arrangement, almost Modern Prog and as an instrumental breaks the album up nicely.

The opener, Bleak Companion rock things up considerably and Don't Go To Bed With A Bad Mind is a great closer and allows Williams to add in all the ingredients that he excels at across a 5 minute plus piece that allows the harmonies to excel across a fine arrangement.

The album feels a little different to Wash Away The Day The feel is more mellow, the sound more Commercial Pop, but it is so beautifully done that you just can't help yourself revelling in the mellowness. Wonderfully arranged and performed, this a cracking listen.

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

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T Shirt Month - The Supernaturals

 

Here I am, looking my age, at the start of T Shirt Month on I Don't Hear A Single, a celebration of the upcoming 9th Anniversary of IDHAS next weekend. You will see a different T Shirt each day until the end of the month. We begin with one of my favourite bands who are now in their fourth decade. Unlike many bands from those beginnings, they are still around and releasing albums as good as, if not better than, their perceived heyday and that heyday was Britpop.

Britpop was the last scene that I was immersed in, Since then, it has been here there and everywhere and it wasn't the headliners that really moved me. Oasis and a great first album and a half and then became the sound of Coke. Blur were interesting, but you felt that Daman Albarn wanted desperately to be Andy Partridge. Ditto Brett Anderson with his Bowie fascination with Bernard Butler as his Mick Ronson. I had a lot of time for Pulp, but it was away from the noise that the better stuff resided. Guitar Pop bands that concentrated on the Pop that were the most interesting and still are. The Supernaturals were the best of these, run close by the likes of Dodgy and other bands such as Straw and Octopus that we celebrated on Anything Should Happen.

Since reforming in 2015, the band have released four superb albums that don't rest on their past, but are every bit as good as those glorious Brit Pop days. Their current album, Show Tunes is as good as they've ever been and they are currently working on their next opus. Reviews are aplenty on here of all stages of their catalogue. Not only did the band remain relevant in the now, but they also caressed their past. Releasing the tapes of their pre major label days that were as easy to get hold of as record horse droppings. As well as bringing them to CD and download. The big albums were also released with loads of bonus tracks and you realised that these songs were as good as anything that you had previously heard. 

Although many outsiders will know them as a singles band due largely to Smile, the quality throughout their career is unrivalled. Never afraid to take chances, but never forgetting about how strong the chorus is meant to be. I was also delighted to see the addition of Joe Greatorex to the band, an artist I had followed throughout his career. His band, Colin's Godson, remain one of my obsessions, the most underrated band ever who made their releases unique with the artwork and extras.

The band's discography remains fully available on Bandcamp. If you haven't been there, you are in for a treat. It Doesn't Matter Anymore and Show Tunes have also been released on Vinyl recently. Embedding wise, I have gone for my favourite song by them showing them live on Scottish TV and my favourite on the latest album.There is no better band to start off T Shirt Month. Look out for tomorrow's guest and I will try to look younger. 

You can listen to and buy the albums here. You can also buy T Shirts there. The two Vinyl releases can be bought here.

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Finn Wolfhard - Happy Birthday

 

This may be the first time that I've covered an artist with over 21 Million Instagram followers. The Canadian is of most noted for his acting in Stranger Things, the two It movies and the two most recent Ghostbuster films.

However, the 22 year old has a less famous musical career. Initially through Calpurnia, onto The Aubreys and now with his debut solo album. Whereas you might expect his day job means a vanity album made of up of mediocre Pop and cover songs, this is nothing of the sort. 

Finn Wolfhard · Choose the latter

The majority of Happy Birthday is close to great Guitar Pop and the rest is excellent noisy Indie Rock. It is also not front loaded as the contrast of material is segued wonderfully well and the closer may be the best song on show, a song that wouldn't be out of place on one of the current hip West Coast Pop Rock labels.

That song is Wait and it is an engaging strumming stomp. But the standout may be the Power Pop joy of Choose The Latter which is all Jangle and riff. Objection! runs that close with its mix of 90s slowed down melodic scuzz and Scouse Pop nearness. A song that sounds akin to the splendid Guitar Pop that breaks out all too infrequently.

Finn Wolfhard · Eat

But when the fuzz and noise comes to the party, it is just as effective. Crown is such a think, all 90s In Your Face, hypnotic and gripping. Happy Birthday is an album promoted as a stand alone thing, not a mention of Wolfhard's mega TV and Film career. It deserves to be listened to as such, because this is a really really good Guitar album.

Finn Wolfhard · Crown

You can listen to the album here. It is available to buy everywhere and on all streaming sites.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 7 July

 

Welcome to the latest Listening To This Week Playlist. 25 songs with two of our favourite bands to close proceedings, giving you the devastating wit of HMHB and a 12 minute Psych masterpiece from Custard Flux. As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. Remember this is early days on Spotify, so the following there is nowhere near our one here. 

The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  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 Spotify Version.    (It's All Songs is not on Spotify. The other 24 are.)

Link To Spotify

Pedestrian Traffic - Sister Mysterious

Crying Shame Records · Sister Mysterious // Pedestrian Traffic

Alex Kasznel And The Board Of Directors - Lock & Key

Takeover - The Uncle

Takeover · The Uncle

Pup - Concrete

Tom Minor - The Loneliest Person On Earth

Tom Minor · The Loneliest Person on Earth

Strange Pink - Boys Club

The Confusions - You Fuck It Up Again

The Shipbuilders - Daydreaming

Shake Some Action! - Spend Your Days In The Sunshine

Cream Crown - Very Strange!

Trolley - A Carnival Of Grey And White

Sona Bliss - You Will Be Mine

Kirk Adams And Ed Woltil - It's All Songs (Not On Spotify)

The Radio Field - It's Alright

Tommy Magik And The Wonderfulls - Absolute Legend

Austin Rain - American Classic

Mo Bedick - Hourglass

Messmaker - Faster Than The Night

The Conspiracy - Icarus

Barking Poets - Change Our Ways

Royal Fools - Madaket

Royal Fools · Madaket

Loose Lips - Don't Mess Me 'Round

Maya's Radio Orchestra - Garden Variety

Half Man Half Biscuit - Record Store Day

Custard Flux - The Floating Chamber

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Custard Flux - Enter Xenon

 

Custard Flux are beloved here. The albums regularly bother the higher echelons of our End Of Year Album lists and each album adds something different to the Curvey Back Catalogue. We know how the followers here are also enchanted as Reviews are regularly most popular when posted. 

Enter Xenon is no different as Curvey's shifting of the dial continues. There are songs that you might expect, built on wondrous Riffs, surprising choruses that grip you and an early Gabriel-esque vocal. But Custard Flux are about evolving.

A band that initially started out using heritage instruments gradually morphed into an outstanding is it Prog? is it Psych Pop? electric affair. Now even wider steps are taken. The use of Monophonic and Duophonic synths changes the mood considerably.

There is far more of a soundscape feel when you move away from Opportunity Knocks. The keyboard element is incorporated into the norm on Winter and Tomorrowland, enhancing strengths. This is nevermore so on the magnificent Superposition.

There are also two instrumentals that underline how ace Curvey is at moving on with an uncanny knack of taking you along for the ride. Just when you have made your mind up that Custard Flux have done it yet again, stepped slightly away, you get the superb 12 minute closer.

The Floating Chamber is gobsmacking Psych that underlines the power of the Guitar in mesmerising fashion. It is jawdroppingly great and a perfect end to another Curvey masterclass. Thank goodness we have him or we would all be listening to the same thing time after time after time.

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

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Iain Hornal - Return To The Magic Kingdom

 

We are big fans of Iain Hornal. He seems to be on a four year cycle of album releases as his third arrives after 2017's The Game Begins With The Lights Out and 2021's Fly Away Home. Both of those albums featured high up in our Best Albums Of The Year. You can read our reviews here and here.

This is Pop Rock of the highest quality. At times there are comparisons to Hornal's sideman jobs in Jeff Lynne's ELO and 10CC, but it should be remembered that these are bands that celebrate their past, new material is a long time ago. Here you have the now, new songs that delight.

The centrepiece is The Magic Kingdom, the jauntiest of jaunty affairs, that even sideswipes the ELO vocoder and offers up a real wonderland listen. But throughout, the melody smashes through, massive choruses, beautifully sung.

There are surprise interventions and slight changes of direction, but these never detract from the song. There are also footprints into other genres. Just My Personality gets close to Psych Pop at times and Over And Out mixes Jangle Pop with Prime Time 70s Pop Rock.

There are nods to what has gone before. Already There is prime time Andrew Gold and the single, Positive People still sounds as wonderfully Glam as ever. But that song and many of the others makes you realise that this is not just about the singalong.

There is a lyrical adeptness throughout, unusual in Pop Rock when easier rhymes are lazily used. Return To The Magic Kingdom. however, is a tribute to the power of the Chorus and the album is chock with them. When you have finished singing along, you can head off and buy this bundle of joy.

You can listen to the album here. You can buy the CD and Download here. The CD is available at all good Record Shops.

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Sandra's Wedding - Arturus Rex

 

Another returning favourite and more great Pop Rock as Goole's Sandra's Wedding return on Darrin Lee's excellent Subjangle label. The previous two albums have both appeared on our End Of Year Best Albums list. 2021's Pleausure Grounds is reviewed here and 2023's The Hopeful Boy Replacement Service is reviewed here.

The sixth album is great Pop Rock again, but there is a marked change in direction. The choruses are still there as is Joe Hodgson's vocal similarity to Paul Heaton, but this time round that vocal link is less prominent.

The arrangements are much bigger, much more fleshed out. Aided by Brass, Strings and a more Acoustic led feel. The choruses are as massive as ever, but the bolder wider arrangements allow the full effect of the song to burst through. 

As lyrically adept as ever, these songs tell stories of suburban and by the water everyday life, but the wit also shines through. There is an Orbison-esque vibe at times as these mellow, yet soul hitting vignettes hit home.

Beautiful can be an overused word, describing things that are a little better than the ordinary, but this is a beautiful listen. Instrumentally, the album washes over you, livened up by the sheer jauntiness and singalong choruses.

Sandra's Wedding are not a trio in the first flush of youth, but there is a real grown up feel to the whole album. Arturus Rex is stand out proof of how songs can lighten the mood, make the world feel brighter and there is no better compliment that I can make. Wonderful!

You can listen to the album here. The album can also be ordered as a CD or Download for its 2 August release.

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Welcome To July

 

Thank you all for an incredible June. Our focus was on Reviews which meant one of our busiest month's ever. Those Reviews and the continued growth of the Listening To This Week Playlist resulted in over 130,000 hits in June, our biggest ever month.

July continues our Review catch up, simply due to how much is to be written and wanting to keep August more free for the new additions to I Don't Hear A Single. We also enter our 10th year on 19 July and will celebrate this throughout the month with our daily T Shirt Posts which begin in a few days.

Thankk you for all your support, but thanks go more to the artists who provide the new music for here. It is those that we all should continue to support.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 30 June

 

22 songs make up our 5th LTTW Playlist of the month.  As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. Remember this is early days on Spotify, so the following there is nowhere near our one here. 

The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  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 Spotify Version

Link To Spotify

The Jimmy C - The Back Roads To Ruin

Caper Clowns - Strange Boy

Endelouz - Eggs & Steak

The Girlheads - Waiting On A Lonely Planet

Joe Giddings - Pandora's Brand New Box

Charlie Hannah - Iceberg

Ponta Preta - These Days Are Gone

Jeremy Serwer - Horns And Stars

Kevin Robertson - Kings Of Most Of Yesterday

The Rallies - Love

The Bret Tobias Set - Happiness Writes White

The Noisy - Twos

vverevvolf - Laughing Til I Cry

vverevvolf · Laughing Til I Cry

Janus 4-14 - Tattered Dreams

a

Lake Crook Mouth - Boring Jobs

Damien Baby - Boys In The Back

Fortitude Valley - Video (Right There With You)

Alien Eyelid - Vinegar Hill

Max Rauch - Waste More Thyme

Jaime Orr - Somebody Like You

Jaime Orr · Somebody Like You

Tom Henry - Close Your Eyes

Chris Roach - Man In The Sky

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The Jimmy C - Refreshing

 

As a log time of Jamie Coghill's Jimmy C adventures, this is a great concept as he hits his third decade in music. He approaches his songs from his formative years between 2004 and 2009 and can now use modern recording techniques rather than 4 Track and Computer software in its infancy.

The Melbourne multi instrumentalist was initially known more as a drummer for the likes of Lava Fangs and Fez Perez, but during his solo career, he has become a mainstay in Power Pop. However these songs show a much wider genre area.

A prime example of this variance is the wonderful meandering West Coast Rock of Your Corpse Is A Bore which is all Crazy Horse-esque. All Nite Ride is melancholic and stoner. Yet there are also big hints at what was to come.

The Back Roads To Ruin is magnificent with its killer riff and Guitar Pop sensibility. I Want Her is pure Classic Rock, indeed a lot of what is on show here fits that direction. There are also a couple of darker brooding instrumentals that show a completely different side to Coghill.

Just A Fool is built around another outstanding riff and The Boy In The Suitcase mixes a Road Song with a more Psych Pop feel. Refreshing is special in that it shows another, equally excellent, side to the Power Pop Icon that The Jimmy C recordings has since provided. 

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Pet Symmetry - Big Symmetry

 

I am 62 and there are many of my peers who look at my interest in Emo and Pop Punk over the past three decades plus as a mid life crisis. They think I sit at home in my half pants wearing my cap backwards. What they don't realise is that as the better of these bands have matured, they are now excellent at offering up music that is not a million miles away from the stuff that they like.

Pet Symmetry are a living breathing example of this. So many look at those two genres and run for the hills. Just as Modern Prog is not all about 8 minute drum solos and weird time signatures. Psychn Pop is not about backward recording and hippie tableaus. Music listeners should open their minds as much as their ears. 

I Don't Hear A Single started as a reaction to these attitudes, those who said all new music is crap and I suppose we've proved them wrong. It has been four long years since the band's third album, Future Suits, and it has been worth the wait. Big Symmetry is such a wonderfully positive album.

The Chicago Trio are still locked in instrumentally, almost a Power Trio, yet whilst this album still has hints of Emo, the sound is much nearer to the new breed of Power Pop and it takes it to a whole new level. Songs are not about lost love, more about the world now, but providing hope.

Offering up 12 songs that with titles that all begin with Big tells you about the aims of the album. Big Symmetry don't come up for air, but the songs are melodic, never in your face, all perfectly formed, they get near to Indie Rock without ever trying to blow the doors off.

Songs are beautifully arranged, all big choruses and big riffs. I've deliberately not wrote about individual songs, because this is an album to be listened to from start to finish. However, I have embedded my favourite three to lead you there. Big Symmetry is the sound of three friends, happy with their bond and their lives. We should get more of this sort of vibe.

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

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Caper Clowns - Without The Aid Of A Safety Net

Having been with Caper Clowns since the early years, it is a delight to see how they have grown and now have the world at their feet. Many more Reviewers and DJs now claim them and rightly so. It is getting nearer to the time when their acclaim from the more mainstream will leave us behind.

But we don't want to let them go yet and will hold on for dear life. We are door openers, but the Danes are a lovely band and as they have gotten bigger, they have gathered fellow musicians to start a scene that is delightful and they have never ever forgotten us.

They've been regularly compared to Crowded House, fairly so, and Anywhere Is Home on this album is a great example of that. Without A Safety Net is a prime example of how constant touring and their encouragement of others has led them to the experience that makes this album so great.

The marked difference to what has gone before is that this album is a much Rockier affair. The songs are still built on great choruses, but the sound is bigger and the pace much quicker. It suits them really well as they have come up with a tour de force, a beautifully arranged and performed affair.

Little differences mark this growth. The Guitar solo on Tight Ship, the Psych Pop of the standout Strange Boy. The instrumental arrangement on Martyr's Dream which is unlike anything they've gone near before. Behind The Waterfall (Ayahahoo) is all Indian Tableau, very hippy trippy.

A Silhouette Of Past Regrets is epic, a little Scouse Pop feel at times, Space maybe and edging into Brit Pop, but sounding like no one else. Quixote is a great Pop song, Jaunty to the extreme with a wonderful Jangle. 

Dawn's First Light and Reset The Sun point to Caper Clowns' past, but Without The Aid Of A Safety Net has moved the band into a much wider sound, a new level of arrangements and performance, a proper band album. 

Having seen them so far, I was still gobsmacked at the giant steps that have been taken here. Complicated arrangements, surprise departures, yet still incredibly melodic. If you like Pop Rock, you MUST listen to this. It is a great example of how music can affect the soul.

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

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The Electorate - By Design

 

What a trio, Sydney's The Electorate are. Forgetting about the actual songs for one minute, instrumentally they are built on a locked in Rhythm Section that drives songs and angular unexpected riffs that cross genres. Then there is the vocal that links the instrumentals perfectly in a sort of Kilbey-esque manner.

This is the band's second album, five years on from that outstanding debut and this time there seems more space for songs. The first three songs underline the variance on show. End is built around a wonderful Psych Pop riff and a driving bass line.

Peace Love And Kindness is built on more of an Indie Rock vibe and I just can't help thinking of Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire on the verse. Sleeping On The Job is wonderfully angular, but the vocal is uncannily close to Neil Finn. These three songs are not even the apex of this stellar album. 

Unfamiliar is slower, darker and splendidly Post Punk with a hint of Will Seargent on the Guitar sound. Summer Of Cicadas sounds more front porch and yet Ten Times Round is more IRS, 90s College Rock even, with a mesmerising Guitar sound.

Don't Go Out is much noisier, a real thrash out at tines, yet remains a cross between The Church and 80s King Crimson. Face Of A Giant returns to Psych Pop with a jaw dropping riff and a hypnotic rhythm section. This may even e my favourite here and it is the closing track.

This is the sound of a band at the top of their game. By Design has hooks and riffs that just grab a hold of you, but there are also Pop elements mixed with incredible arrangements. You just don't want the thing to end, it is a magnificent listen.

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

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Fuzziliers - Most Fun (Free Download)

 

I love Fuzziliers, we were there from the early days with their debut EP,  Would You Believe, and followed up with the quartet's debut album, Sail The Seven Seas. So as we reach their second album, it is interesting to hear how they have developed.

Whilst Most Fun has parts that are significantly theirs, particularly the Psych on the title track that even gets a little Primal Scream, there are also changes in direction. This sounds a more Indie Rock album. It Rocks as well as ever, but there does seem a more commercial slant.

Future Society is great Pop Rock, almost Brit Pop. In The Morning is splendid Jaunty Pop with some great harmonies and an ace Brass arrangement. Amsterdam remains a great single, again a little Brit Pop, but also a little Folk with another stunning Brass arrangement. 

Amplification is beautifully restrained Classic Rock that simmers without ever boiling over and is dominated by a meandering riff and some wonderful organ playing. Fake Dancer is a reminder where the band's beginnings started, a great Psych Pop feel to proceedings.

I don't criticise the change of direction in any way. The band are incredibly good at what they do and the arrangements are as strong as ever. The Brass also adds something different and that works too.Fuzziliers are a band on the move, time to jump on and enjoy the ride.

You can listen to the album here. It is a free download and little now is free, particularly nothing as good as this album.

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Charlie Hannah - Tortured Genius.

 

The first point that should be made is that this is a great Singer Songwriter album. Charlie Hannah has a mastery with lyrics that is something that you don't hear as often as you should. These are storytelling songs that are incredibly effective.

Hannah's way with words makes you listen to the story as much as the song in a way that Ward White manages to do the same. Tortured Genius is beautifully arranged, gentle Pop Rock, very 70s in feel and vocal arrangement wise.

A song like Kansas is splendid Piano Pop with a Brass Arrangement that is very Peter Skellern like. Don't Confuse The Singer With The Song benefits from another fine score, this time sounding a little Kid In A Big World era John Howard.

Wyatting is part Folk, part Jazz and Lower The Bar gets a little funky. The Greatest Role I Ever Played enters McCartney Pop. with another great Brass arrangement. But the album isn't all self reflection although I am reminded of Al Stewart at times.

Iceberg is a wonderfully jaunty Pop song. On the verse, it sounds very Nick Heyward, yet the chorus gets all poptastic in a Nick Frater sort of way. Tortured Genius is the sort of album that used to come along regularly, very British Pop.

This album sounds even better due to the absence of competition. Hannah encapsulates a time when we marvelled at quality songs that delivered joy in a laidback way. It is a cracking listen and a refreshing change from big choruses and crashing chords.

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

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Force Model - Barricade

Force Model are a trio from Los Angeles, but Barricade was constructed much further afield. Only one member remained in LA, whilst the other two were in New York and Japan respectively. The demos were written across those divides, before the band flew home to record these 5 songs.

That, perhaps, explains the variety on show here. Whilst always sounding melodic, they venture into other areas without any restrictions. The title track is a wonderfully schizophrenic affair. Part Noise Rock, part Radiohead, whilst also allowing the catchiness to peer out.

Compare that to Nothing At All, which graced the current Listening To This Week. which is more Power Pop and close to Slacker Rock. Then there is the standout, How Can One Girl Be So Bad which is Pop Rock of the highest quality. 

That song is a mix of 90s US Indie Rock, 80s C86 jauntiness and even edges towards Brit Pop. Pisces Dreamboat is more of a scuzzy affair that explodes into a wonderful Alt Rock noisy feedback joy. Barricades is a cracking celebration of how life affirming Guitar Pop can be. I can't wait for the band's next chapter.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. It is available to buy for $1 or more, so what have you got to lose?

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Mick Ralphs RIP

 

I generally don't mind getting old, but one of the main drawbacks of doing so is seeing your musical heroes pass away. Although many will know Mick Ralphs from his forming of Bad Company, it will always be his time in Mott The Hoople that is it for me.

Mott The Hoople were my band and it was the Mott album that introduced a council estate kid to how glorious the longer format could be. That album still sounds magnificent and it was Mick's Mott Swanson. His playing on that album is priceless and complemented Ian Hunter's strut. It is hard to believe that the promo photo above from that album now only has Hunter still with us.

Although the band are known more for the Glam singles, it is the work before that has always kept my interest peaked. Those Island label years had Hunter and Ralphs as co-leaders and the sheer nerve of the noise that they created contrasted with Ralph's more mellow Country Rock influences. Although both wrote the songs, Ralphs always seemed a more laidback songwriter. Wildlife was dominated by Ralph's songwriting and remains a superb listen.

Yes he could Rock as Bad Company proved even more particularly on the Straight Shooter album. It is an album that rattles your dentures. Seeing the band back together for the 2009 Reunion dates was something that stays close to my heart. Grown men were in tears, me included. 

Another key figure of my informative musical years has gone.A great Guitarist who was always about the band. Self effacing and happy to take a backseat to strong front men. He was a major part in both bands and one of the most underrated guitarists around.

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