End Scene - I Will Not Live Safe, I Will Live True

 

It has been four years since the Sydney Trio's debut album, All My Ghosts and End Scene don't disappoint. Revolving around James Jennings's vocals and songwriting and Tom Dufficy's multi instrumentalism, the results are totally engaging.

Jennings has that Australian vocal art of sounding laconic and laidback that allows songs to breathe, very much like the likes of Steve Kilbey. Indeed, In The After is not a million miles away from The Church. Yet Jennings gets outspoken Oz in Flavour Of The Month which is more straight ahead with Dufficy adding a killer solo.

Silver Streak gets more Post Punk 80s, particularly with the synth runs that could only be from that decade.Pull Focus goes Brit Pop and New sounds very early 80s Manchester, thematic, a little gloomy, but absolutely hypnotic.

Without You flirts with gentle Psych Pop. Big Feelings closes the album, but may be the best thing here, the riff just grips you and you don't want it to end. A brooding song that allows Dufficy to build and build on that superb theme.

The real win here is the variety. Two songs contrast the most. Land Of Plenty is pure 1977 Punk, an in your face joy. But compare that to A Million Ways To Break Your Heart which is Pop Rock of the highest quality. End Scene know what they are about and have the ability to come at you from all angles.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Red Cavalry - Democracy Died EP

 

Crunchy Power Pop from Aberystwyth, a little basic sounding at times, particularly drums wise, but also there are some cracking big sounding riffs that break out at will. Red Cavalry deliver lyrical sentiments that we endorse, but never let it cloud the great sounding Indie that is on show.

Indeed, the opener and title track, Democracy Died comes over all Housemartins and then that big Riff breaks out and the song gets bigger accordingly. Suits is slower and heads more for the poppier side of Brit Pop where the best of that genre came from.

Hollywood Ten sounds more American instrumentally, but breaks out into a chorus that The Speedways would be delighted with and also adds a little Post Punk break. A really engaging EP that features all of the things we love, particularly the massive singalong choruses.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. The download is available for a bargain £1.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

After a week off, you'd expect us to come back with a bang and we have big time with the new LTTW showing the full gamut of what we cover. Particularly Guitar Driven this week and offering up the maximum 35 songs that we allow ourselves. 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 Easys - Haunt Me Again

OK Koala - Roaring Lungs

Skeleton Staff - Sugar

Arn-Identified Flying Objects And Alien Friends - Sing-Along Songs

Flathead - Everybody Will Survive

Julez And The Rollerz - Call Me Up

Daily Worker - Gloryland

Stannington - Hudson

101 - The Sun Is Leaving Again

Mythical Motors - Car Rainbow Record

Smug Brothers - Take It Out On Me

The Purple Helmets - Let's Blaze A New Path Forward

Big Mess - Terry

Really Great - Way Out

Still Traffico - Two Birches

Wide Orbit - What's The Point

K Michelle Dubois - Tar And Scars

Secret Molecules - Dream Little lies

The Oh Yeahs - Never Be The Same

Celestial Skies - Desperation Nation

Celestial Skies · Desperation Nation

Sloan Brothers - Off The Record

Christian Demman - The Sun Still Rises

Johann Zeijl - Follow The Moon

Max Ceddo - Dreaming Under The Hammer

Max Ceddo · Dreaming Under the Hammer

Dorian Taj - Place Where We Were

Honey I'm Home - Wishful Thinking

Avery Friedman - New Thing

Red Tuesdays - Na Na Na Na

Maryse Smith - 635

Starbender - Seeds

Room To Care - Push It Down

Wynona - Flowers To Arrows

Tiny Tiny - Ultra City

Max Hell - Goodbye

World Without Humans - Shifting Sands

World Without Humans · Shifting Sands

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Chris Church - Obsolete Path

 

I think many of you know what a fan that I am of Chris Church. Ever taking different roads, yet always hitting the spot. A new album is to be rejoiced and we have one here, released today. Parts of it are what you might expect, but as with all his albums, there are big surprised.

I suppose you might call him Indie Rock, but that is nowhere near the story. He can riff, jangle and rock out and yet come up with something dark and moody. He does take you on quite a trip. His nerve shows, opening with the Acoustic Troubadour short title track. It is surprising to open with such from such an electric focussed.

However, compare that to She Looks Good In Black which is wonderfully commercial, a rocky jangle in the mode of Matthew Sweet that will delight long time listeners here. Instrumentally, Life On A Trampoline could be The Police and Running Right Back To You almost sounds Garage Rock in parts.

Then there is Vice Versa, a co-write with Bill Lloyd, who plays mandolin which is incredibly Indie sounding, moving at a frantic pace with a much moodier darker production. Tell Me What You Really Are is stripped down, sounding more like an 80s Pop Rock sounding.

Like A Sucker is a splendid sprawling 6 minute plus epic. A little Southern Rock, but maybe more West Coast. It is a song that reminds us what a great guitarist the man is. It gets a little Crazy Horse instrumentally. A cracking listen, 

What Are We Talking About gets a little Country, a side of Church that gets forgotten about, the vocal is perfect. I'm A Machine gets all 80s soundtrack, Electric Dreams maybe, yet also has hints of Modern Prog instrumentally.

Fear not, there are great moments showing the more commercial side of Church, both Sit Down and the aforementioned She Looks Good In Black are great singalong joys. Plus, The Great Divide may be the most all encompassing song that Church has ever done, certainly Guitar wise.

Gretchen's Wheel's Lindsay Murray adds voice of an angel Backing Vocals on 9 of the 12 songs and the joint production by Church and Lori Franklin is possibly his biggest yet. A major talent releases a fine album isn't a surprise, but the sound on Obsolete Path is one of all inclusive joy.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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rincs - Swimming Pool Disco

 

The Title Track was sent to me as a submission for Listening To This Week and I loved it. However, I just felt that it would get lost in what is gonna be a massive playlist on Monday and the song deserved far far more than that.

You might categorise Los Angeles's rincs as Alt Pop at heart, but they are much more than that. Built around the wonderful vocals of Rebecca Ramirez, again that is half the story. This micro album's equal strength is built on the arrangements which are magnificently left field, like something you have never heard before.

That submitted song was described by the band as an anti single and it is certainly Alt Pop, but instrumentally it is all over the place, parts are Alt Rock, but there are real Prog overtones and the bass line is driving and hypnotic. It is absolutely wonderful.

Yet Don't Wanna Go To The Pool is all US New Wave and Indie, a complete contrast. The more straight ahead vocal works well on Tarp. It is nearer Indie Pop, but again the arrangement gets more and more intense.

Then Bobcat IV comes across as something mid 80s Indie with a distorted Glasgow Jangle and a cracking chorus. The nearest rincs will get to the mainstream on this splendid album. It may take a little listening to get, but Swimming Pool Disco is magnificent and well worth the effort.

You can buy and listen to Swimming Pool Disco here. It is on Bandcamp at Name Your Price, so what have you got to lose?

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Daily Worker - Field Holler

 

One of the great things about doing the two 31 Reviews In 31 Days is that I get to move around the dial more than just fitting things in wherever possible with all the attention that the Listening To This Week Playlist takes.It allows me to focus on different genres and new and old friends.

Daily Worker may be new to you, but Cotton Mather are not. At times, all the CM attention goes to Robert Harrison, forgetting the long time Guitarist, Whit Williams. Daily Worker is Williams's solo project and is a precious listen.

Field Holler is the new album and it is a corker. I've seen it described as lo-fi, it sounds higher fi than that and what is unmistakable are the Guitar runs. The Psych sound runs through the album, but is mixed with much more and the laidback gentle Vocal allows the variation to blossom.

You'll hear Americana, Indie and 60's Beat as well as our beloved Psych Pop. It is quite an exhilarating listen. The vocal seems deliberately low key but Williams's Guitar playing is unmistakeable and the songs are lyrically adept, helped by the alternate career that Williams has as a poet.

 The Stand out song is the Psych Pop masterpiece, Gloryland. At times, Williams's vocal edges towards early T.Rex, particularly on the likes of Waterloo Sutra, a real hippy trippy affair. However, the title track is a front porch Country strum.

Broken Men Jangles for all its worth and Born Again (Again) is Jangle Psych Pop. Sky Beyond The Sky gets all Brit Pop. There are also great Pop moments, especially on Delmar oad and there is a Wilco feel to Long Slow Fade. Field Holler is a really admirable listen.

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

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Hamlet - Light Under Repair

 

Darrin Lee's work on his Subjangle label is to be roundly applauded. His constant regular physical releases shine a light on the music that he and many others love. We are great friends and although our writing places don't always converge, we are a little louder, he a little gentler, when they do, it is for something exceptional and this is that.

Cincinatti's Chris Wales is usually more insular and contemplative, here, in trio mode, he reveals how great he is at Indie Guitar Pop. Landing somewhere early Teen age Fanclub (lazy comparison, I know I know and 80s IRS, this is basement Indie at its very very best.

Light Under Repair jangles a lot, as you might expect, both fast and slow, but the 6 songs are never just about that. 100 Cars To 100 Planes is built around a magnificent Cello arrangement from Kate Wakefield. The song weeps and broods, the melancholy almost bringing you to tears. There's an alternate version to close proceedings that sounds even bigger.

The Cost Of The Moon is delivered at a frantic pace, much louder than what surrounds it, very IRS, even a little Psych Pop in feel. Lost In The Underground is more C86, it jangles slowly and benefits latterly from Chris Kertis's Yamaha DX-7 and breaks out into something much bigger.

Both It's Been A Landline Kind Of Winter and particularly, The White Stars are a little more straight ahead and offer up the Jangle Pop that you know and love, but it is the departures from this that are the most intriguing. A cracking listen. More Hamlet please!

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

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The Easys - Feeling 101

 

One quick point before covering the return of The Easys is my wondering about Album Reviews. Just when did they become about just copying and pasting PR write ups and calling them reviews? It is happening everywhere and does for this album. Is it writer laziness or has listening to an album and writing down your thoughts become obsolete?

Little Rock's Isaac Alexander has a fine solo career. Power Pop and Pop Rock does appear on those albums, but they take on a much wider palette, but The Easys are much more about those two genres, particularly Power Pop.

And this is great Power Pop. This is the band's third album, but their last album was 2007's excellent Blood Capsule. Indeed 6 of the 10 songs here are slightly added to outtakes from that album. It is like they've never been away, this is superb Guitar Pop.

The centrepiece is the wonderful Haunt Me Again, much slower than most of what surrounds it, but a master class in writing Pop Rock and it even has a slight late 60s feel to it at times. Cemetery Nights is almost like a Revue song at times, the 80s synth that features on some other songs replaced by something more Farfisa.

Do You Know Who Murdered Me? is classic 70s UK Pop Rock of the highest order and although Take Back Hearts comes across like a jaunty Marmalade. The Thing On The Side is melancholic and moody, heartbreaking at times and out of kilter to the bouncing songs elsewhere. It also reveals the variety on display. The arrangement is exquisite.

But Guitar led Power Pop takes up most of the space and it is great at what it does. The stomp of Glitter, the Jangle of Been So Long and the Fountains Of Wayne beat of Sreanger You Meet are all winners. Framed may be the most Power Pop thing here. I really hope that we don't have to wait so long for the fourth album.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Melin Melyn - Mill On The Hill

 

Welcome to absolute splendidness. My love of Psych Pop is well known, for all my listening avenues, it is this genre that I always feel most at home with. Mill On The Hill is drenched in it, but it also follows roads into Country, Americana, Surf and good old Pop Rock.

Welsh six piece Melin Melyn have conjured up an incredibly melodic affair, mellow vocally, but instrumentally wont to change direction at will song by song, but more likely in the song itself. Mellowness turns into catchy pop at a stroke.

There is also a real lyrical adeptness with a wit and purpose. It is the instrumental arrangements that grab you most, particularly the frequent slide guitar which enhances the great Pop on show. This is a very laid back comfy chair listen, but the album also makes you stand to attention at times.

Dail is sung in Welsh and that language seems an ideal fit to the variation across the album. The Pigeon & The Golden Egg is part Rock and Roll, part Surf Rock, but is incredibly jaunty Piano Pop at the same time.Running MT is Country Folk, 

Vitamin D is wonderful Toytown, Fantastic Food is 60s soundtrack, instrumentally French Pop and Promised Land is awesome Americana. But it is the song, Mill On The Hill that dominates the album with its cracking Psych Pop. It is here as an Intro, Reprise and Close.

The Intro is like an album in itself across 4 minutes, there is so much in it. An incredible story of the village across multi genres, it is magnificent. This album will delight Psych pop fans, but there is loads here to interest Pop Rock, Intelligent Indie and any music fan.

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You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on CD and as a download. The Vinyl is sadly sold out, but hopefully there will be more soon.

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Greer - Big Smile

 

Costa Mesa quartet Greer offer up a wonderful album. Full of surprises, it inhabits a nosier world of ,Indie Rock. But the songs are delivered in unusual ways packed with 90s Alt Rock and Scuzziness. Fuzzed up Riffs dominate one of the more interesting albums of the year so far.

It is the type of release that floats our boat, unusual indie that mixes catchy moody songs, but isn't frightened to get into Radiohead territory. and also Pop Punk and Noise Rock. It is great Guitar Pop, but probably has more in common with a less bombastic Muse than any three chord band.

The arrangements are the key, unexpected and most welcome. From the opening chaos of Omnibus, which surprisingly breaks into completely engaging charging Indie Rock to the closing melancholic acoustic strum of audio_77, this is a totally engaging listen.

Vocally, it can be a little angst sounding, but this is mixed with wonderful mellowness. The arrangements are superb with an outstanding rhythm section and big riffs that switch into something much wilder and alt at will. This stuff really grips you.

It is a little dark at times, but there are great poppier moments. Mugwump is beautifully done and closer to Brit Pop and the chorus of One And The Same may be the best one that you will hear all year. There is a lot of depth and the album may take repeated listens, but it is very special.

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

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Creem Circus - Get Switched On

 

There's been a real spate of UK Glam Rock albums over the past couple of years. All welcome and fine listens, but going back a few years more, the revival of it began a little earlier with both Ulysses and Creem Circus. The latter's 2020 album still sounds as great as it did then.

I can't believe that it has been over five years since I reviewed that album which also had the longest title outside of an early T. Rex release. You can read the review here. Fret not, there is still plenty of the essential Glam here, but there are steps away from it, whilst staying firmly in the 70s.

The Philadelphia band know what they are about and do it so expertly. There's a real Noo Yawk sleeze to Keepers Of The Hip with references to the Sunset Strip. It is built around a big groove and the six and a half minutes of it fly by. It is a real rock out.

Riff Down is all Cheap Trick, whilst Tell Me About It goes rocky UK New Wave. Caesar's Palace mirrors The Darkness without the high pitched vocal with exceptional Guitar solos akin to the twin attack of Thin Lizzy.

Edge Of The Morning has a riff not a million miles away from Another Girl Another Planet, but is much more Classic Rock. Get With The Power, instrumentally gets even closer to Thin Lizzy, but also adds a Psychedelic Intro and interlude. It is splendid Guitar overload.

Switched On and Playgirl show that the band have lost none of their 1974 Glam Rock chops, but Get Switched On is a much more rock focused album than the last. Guitar and Groove driven, incredibly melodic and singalong stuff, but with more Grit. A magnificent listen!

You can listen to and buy the album here. A Vinyl Version is released in June, details here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

 

A reminder that, for the first time since it began, we are taking a break from the LTTW Playlist this week. This allows us to seriously catch up on Album Reviews which are way behind. Next week's promises to be a monster week and probably our biggest number of featured songs yet. It is already under collation.

In the meantime, the Reviews for this week start shortly.

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Shaw's Trailer Park - I Thought I Saw You

 

I think many of you know how I feel about the UK Music scene over the past decade. It has become so regional affected by the cultural wasteland that has been foist upon us by Brexit and fast talking bigoted politicians. So it is nice to welcome back Brighton's Shaw's Trailer Park for their second album.

The quartet offer up a cracking album of great variety and it sort of gives you more faith in human nature. On The News is maybe the best example of what they do with a song. At its heart, it sounds UK New Wave, but takes in UK Beat, a little Psych Pop and even adds a splendid dark cinematic instrumental at the close. All this in four minutes.

Crash Landing is awesome slow West Coast Jangle Pop whilst Lost And Found is great 60s Psych and Sun Dance is American Garage Rock sounding, a little Peaky Blinders in places, slightly threatening and hypnotic. The playing on this song just nails the mood.

Overdrive is a brave dark opener, very mid America that is built around an ace Rhythm track. It broods and threatens to burst out menacingly without ever doing that. Put It Down again mixes UK Beat with Psych, again a little US Garage Rock like.

Special mention has to go to the almost 6 minutes of Sun Device, sounding again like the darker side of America, rocked up Americana, built on a riff that totally grips you in an all encompassing way. The Guitar work is just enthralling. Instrumentally, it just doesn't let go.

You will not hear many albums like this this year and that adds to its charm. It is beautifully arranged, performed and produced and laden with Psych without ever trying to overdo it. It is extraordinary good and I can't see any reason that will stop it appearing in our Top 10 of 2025. 

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on CD and as a download. The whole album can be listened to on Bandcamp, but I am unable to embed the songs. Go get it!

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Secret Molecules - The Strawberry Sun EP

 

We have been supporters of the Dutch Trio since their cracking self titled debut album in 2022. That album was in our Best 100 Albums Of 2022 (Review). We also reviewed the follow up EP from last year. High Tide (Review). Now we reach the band's third release.

Secret Molecules offer up great Pop Rock, but unlike most of trios that we cover, the instrumental make up side of the songs includes Organ and Brass. Songs are incredibly melodic and catchy, perhaps a little more mellow than you see / hear here at times.

Thus EP does sound more Pop than Rock. The title track flirts a little with Country, which has always been in their armour, but is a fine Pop Song with a hypnotic keyboard riff and adds Psych Pop trumpets. Take It Easy moves at a brisker pace, strumming along with a fine twang.

Carol Kaye is a little Caper Clowns with a strutting verse and a crackerjack of a chorus that is totally memorable. The stand out though is the wonderful Dream Little Lies which gets more than a little Power Pop and adds a wonderful Organ instrumental run and an unexpected Guitar solo. 

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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The Violet Mindfield - Distorted Portrait

 

What a fantastic cross between 60s UK Beat and Psych Pop this is. This sort of delight seems to generally come from two places, Medway, here in the UK and the West Coast Of America. There are hints of Austin Powers Yeah Man! here, but the Psych Pop emphasis is largely on the Psych, Freakbeat maybe.

Although I thought of Medway most as I listened. Distorted Portrait does have a Garage Psych feel. The band aren't afraid to stretch out into other areas. She Done Lied is a cross between Merseybeat and Rhythm And Blues, 

I Don't Mind is particularly groovy and Somebody Else gets really Poppy, Billy Fury-esque, it certainly sounds from that period. But with my love of the genre, it is the Psych Pop that beguiles me most. It is done with such expertise, a real affection for the period without ever sounding like a copy band.

Anything And Everything has a real Garage feel, yet Supersonic Girl is pure Psych Pop with a terrific rhythm track and a riff that pops out and grips you.The title track is driven by Farfisa, but a corking Psych solo breaks out to end the mellowness more than once.

Autonomous Overdrive is very 1967 Pink Floyd, you can imagine The Violet Mindfield playing it at The UFO Club. Similarly, you can envisage Cry, Cry, Cry being played on Ready Steady Go. Questions sounds Joe Meek at times yet remains a great Pop song at heart.

A special must go to Go On Now, much more modern sounding vocally and a great Pop Song.In essence, the beauty of Distorted Portrait is how great Psych Pop has been merged with UK Beat and Great Pop. There's a real catchiness that springs out surprisingly across the whole album. 

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

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The On And Ons - Come On In

 

We are long term fans of Sydney's The On and Ons. Their fifth album, Let Ya Hair Down, featured in our Best 100 Albums Of 2023. You can read the review here. 5 Tracks from that album feature amongst the 13 here. Come On In is a compilation selected from their previous albums with three new songs added.

We also reviewed 2018's Welcome Aboard here. It is great that Jem have brought the band to the American market, as the reach out of Australia evaded them and all of their albums particularly suit that country. The three new songs are great. Sadly, the 2 of the 3 streams for those songs are not available in the UK. 

The On and Ons · Roller Coaster

I have posted the Soundcloud links for the newbies, knowing that listeners elsewhere will be able to hear them. The other 10 songs can be heard on the band's Bandcamp site and there are three song embeds in each of the two reviews.

The sound is very 60s lead, taking in UK Beat, Psych Pop and Pop Rock. They easily venture into Power Pop, Merseybeat and Brit Pop as well as other Guitar Pop genres. Games People Play still sounds as great here as it ever did with its UK New Wave 70s joy.

The On and Ons · (Scare Me) Outta My Mind

As with any compilation, the selection for long time fans may be disagreed with. I know that I would have chosen Run To Tomorrow and Patriot from Let Ya Hair Down, but the album isn't aimed at me, nor should it be. The remaster sounds wonderful and it really is exciting that the band may get a much deserved wider audience.

The On and Ons · Been There

The CD is available from all music retailers worldwide. You can listen to and buy the back catalogue of the band here.

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Flathead - Flathead

 

Listening to this Flathead album, my mind was cast back to my initial review of The Speedways' Just Another Regular Summer. I knew Matt Julian as former Guitarist with The Breakdowns and The Speedways album was intended to be a one off Power Pop album, but the album took off, boosted by a further reissue and Julian and The Speedways sparked off a new movement.

My initial review from nearly 7 years (count 'em) ago is here. That movement continues to grow, particularly in Europe and lately in the States. I mention this, because Flathead are the latest to join the wave and the Marseille five piece's self titled album is a cracker.

It has all the chops of the scene, but sounds much more UK 1979 and also gets a little crunchier at times. Everybody Will Survive is probably the best example of this. A real New Wave, slightly Mod feel, is enhanced by a blistering Guitar solo.

The Power Pop is great, both Action Man and All I Want sound like something from the American second wave of the genre. The former is fast scuzzy, almost Garage Rock sounding, the latter is all harmony vocal led Guitar Pop. Every Nights In My Arms even mixes Merseybeat with a Little Rock and Roll. Just over half way through the Organ signals a much looser riffathon for a while.

However, amongst the melodic Power Pop, there a sense of urgency and at times this debut can be more Power than Pop. It certainly fits into the new noisier Power Pop of the past couple of years and you sense that this could be the direction that band take in years to come.

Big riffs, memorable choruses and a rhythm section to die for make this one of the more interesting and catchy listens that you will get this year. It is certainly a really impressive affair. Maybe France will be the new Spain.

You can listen to and buy the download here. You can also buy the album on vinyl from here, here or here.

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Sharp Pins - Radio DDR

 

Welcome to something wonderful.  Radio DDR is the solo project of Chicago's Kai Slater, guitarist with the much noisier Lifeguard and provider of the Hallogallo fanzine. The album was released last year, but now gets a more fully fledged release with 3 Bonus Tracks, intended to be singles. 

This lands somewhere between Indie Guitar Pop and Pop Rock. There is tons of Jangle Pop present, but the main take is sheer melody. There aren't enough catchy songs in the world and this provides an overload of such. Certainly, these are needed in these strange times.

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Production wise, the album will be compared to Guided By Voices, sort of mid hi-fi, but Slater's versatility outshines everything. That gentle vocal could sing the phone book, if there is such a thing now, but the material spans everywhere from Merseybeat to Scuzzy 90s Rock. Psych Pop to West Coast Jangle. The La's to Teenage Fanclub.

Lorelei is jaunty 70s Pop, Sycophant is 70s Acoustic Folk and Chasing Stars is the Canterbury version of it. Every Time I Hear is Glasgow Jangle and  If Ever I Was Lonely is so Merseybeat. You Have A Way is very Orgone Box and Is It Better is a mix of Psych Pop and 80s Post Punk Indie.

The three new additions match the quality of the previous 11. I Can't Stop is C86, Storma Lee is Stealers Wheel doing Psych Pop and With A Girl Like Mine is mid 60s strumming melodic pop of the highest order. All add joy to that original release.

It seems a long while since I have heard so great a melodic Pop album. Inspiring riffs, memorable choruses and equally great when Acoustic or Electric. The variety is wonderful without ever losing you, an album to be listened to from start to finish. 

The album is available to buy on vinyl or as a download from Friday. You can get it here, where you can listen to all 14 songs now. You can find out about Hallogallo in the archive here.

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Brian Noyes - Seelie Court

 

Seattle's Brian Noyes was new to me as this is his second album. I can tell you that Seelie Court is a great album. On the back of playing Psychodrama on the current Listening To The Week, I was so surprised by it that I went off and listened to the album.

Those who have listened to Psychodrama will know that it is great jaunty 70s Pop Rock with a hint of Psych Pop, a little Marmalade in places. If your first visit is with the opener, you would be forgiven for thinking that you are in for some mellow Piano Pop.

My heart is particularly warmed by the splendid Psych Pop of Dollhouse Man, very 60s and it may be one of the best things that I've heard all year. Both Tapestries and The Swimmer are very Canterbury Folk with arrangements to match.

The album is really lyrically adept, songs about people and places that aren akin to the writing of Ward White, indeed at times, the songs could be Ward White songs, but with the plummy vocal being replaced by something much more pleasantly gentle. I can't pay a higher compliment.

Sally Knew The Words is a cross between McCartney Pop and Acoustic Jangle and Epistle To Faye closes the album in great Brit Pop style. Beautifully arranged and produced, Seelie Court is a real tour de force that underlines the strength of melodic Pop Rock.

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

25 songs this week. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows. This weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. 

Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here. A reminder that we are taking our first ever break from the Playlist next week. 

The next one will appear on Monday 31 March.

Tristan Armstrong - Queen Of Diamonds

The Goodbye Radio - She's Got A Death Ray

Greenbak - Do You Lower Your Eyes

The Gromble - Favourite Joke

Skeleton Staff - Sugar

Real Sickies - Never Going Back

The States - View From The Top

Block 33 - A Glimmer Of Hope (For The Small Guy)

Brian Noyes - Psychodrama

Tiny Forehead - Be My Plane Crash

Vordermann - Delirium Tremors

Another Day - Merry Go Round

The Guilteens - Further Down The Channel

The Spindles - Henry And Leslie

Train Room - Station Road

Chaft - 95

Pantomime Horses - 5 O'Clock Bluebirds

Jon Anything - Take You By Storm

The Black Moods - I Want Your Love

Tom Lark - Fuselage

Harmonic Permanent Drive - Graveyard

Luke Meyn - Shifting Walls

Lonesome Territory - Guarded

Hope Slide - Manchester By The Sea (Spotify Link)

Lilywhite - Cheeks Are Cold

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