Smackbeat - Little Letters

 

Although the Listening To This Week Playlist is becoming a monster as we plan to put it everywhere (including, hypocritically, Spotify), it is worth remembering that it was never only about introducing single songs to here. The success has come from that, but we were also wanting something else.

It was also about discovering music that we wouldn't normally see in our normal searching. Hence, insisting that it was largely based on submissions. There is a delight when we discover a splendid album on the strength of a single submission as we do remain largely a home for Album Reviews.

Smackbeat submitted Song for Nolti and we loved it. It encouraged us to search for more about the Munster 5 piece. Little Letters was released last month and it is an absolute cracker. A wonderful mix of late 70s UK New Wave and the Power Pop Revival of the 90s.

It also is well in touch with the new breed of younger Power Pop bands that have cropped up over the past few years and one by one built a movement. There is a crunch at times, but its strength is on the rhythm, riffs, big choruses and melodic drive of Power Pop.

The band get a bit noisy and that works just as well and there is the odd hint of Pop Punk on the likes of I Got You. The Stream is an example of that 90s College Rock energy that is well due a return, all pace and Guitar. You can imagine how great this lot are live.

The riffs just grab you and shake the living daylights out of you. Meet Me In Hawaii is a great example of this, sounding like a bigger produced Guitar Pop from the UK in 1978. It is a crackerjack of a song that just delights you. 

Smackbeat get even heavier on Andora coming across has one of the more melodic Metal bands from the NWOBHM. The title track closes proceedings and is anthem, keeping all that energy and drive going right until the end.

Indeed that is maybe the beauty of the album. Most tackling this sort of thing over the years would break things up with a slow soppy ballad. Not here, they don't come up for air with their twin Guitar attack. There isn't a duffer here across all 11 songs. This is the type of album that IDHAS was built on when it opened 9 years ago. We visit the area less, but Little Letters reminds you that it has not lost its greatness.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is also available on Vinyl and that is probably the best way to listen to an album that has so much class.

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ICEBEING - Elf Music

 

I'd love to know what goes on in Brighton's Luke Philips's head. He's been involved in around 30 albums over the past decade, largely under pseudonyms and his own solo banner. ICEBEING has been a thing and releasing throughout that decade, but this sounds the best example of what is intended and achieved.

You all know how we love intelligent left field Pop. especially when it is left field, daring and inventive. Elf Music is just that. We also love Psych Pop and this is very much in that area, at times a little Toytown at others more Psych, but there are also great moments of Pop Rock, encompassing everything from the 60s to the 90s.

Its heart is possibly more in the second half of the 60s, but Phillips takes proceedings everywhere with unexpected twists and turns in individual songs and just as you can compare certain bits to the likes of Orgone Box, early T. Rex, Medway and what has been going on in Oz over the same time, the album is also unlike anything else that is around.

You, Looking A Gift Horse In The Mouth may be the best Toytown that I've heard for years, yet Wooze Continued sounds more Brit Pop for the majority, but still manages to burst out into incredible Psych. The whole thing is a relegation.

It is Retro, but also nods at the now. I like the album when it gets weirder and it does this at will without ever losing sight of the melody and the sheer catchiness on show. It may go off on mind blowing tangents, but always returns to the beauty.

Elf Music took three and a half years to make, probably because of all of Phillips's other project. He is also aided by Eve Morris's Flutes and Recorders and Harry Morris on Oboe on Woodwind  on the magnificent Inside Bells which add Baroque Pop to the mix. Elf Music is magnificent, an album to be listened to from start to finish and then put on again.

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You can listen to and buy the album here. It also has limited Vinyl run which you can buy here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

You may have read about the intention to start a sister to I Don't Hear A Single, imaginatively called I Do Hear A Single. That will expand the weekly playlist in a much deeper way and will be launched before the month end. 

We do believe that we need to tell you more about our weekly choices and also felt that at times, the LTTW had become a bit of a wade through. With this in mind, we have reduced the maximum songs on the Playlist to 25.  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. 

Chris Church - The Great Divide

Smackbeat - Song For Nolti

The Violet Mindfield - Supersonic Girl

You Filthy Dog - Dagon

The Response - Set Something On Fire

Teenage Joans - Sweet And Slow

mikuljoanz - End Of The Earth

Caper Clowns - Take A Number

Melin Melyn - Mill On The Hill (Intro)

Hamlet - The White Stars

Ova Kvaloy - Everybody Knows

Sharp Pins - If I Was Ever Lonely

Greer - One In The Same

The Probies - Behind The Door

Peter Johnston RVA - The Garden / Banishment

White Collar Rebel - Beware Of The Sugarman

Maneater - Bluebrint

Blue Rose - Let Me Love You

Blue Rose · Let Me Love You

Darker Lighter - Open Up Sunshine

The Medium - We've Got A Winner

Portside Dive - Different Kind Of Me

Portsidedive · Different Kind Of Me

Johnny Manchild And The Poor Bastards - Voluntary Animals

Dylan Mundy - Solomon Gray

Dylan Mundy · Solomon Gray

Cleo Handler - maybe you've noticed

Lulu - Sur La Corde

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You Filthy Dog - Dagon EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

We do like Sheffield's You Filthy Dog and this is their third EP in recent years. The quartet describe themselves as Bubblegum Punk. They sound much more than that, more like a long lost UK New Wave band. The songs are incredibly melodic, getting very close to Power Pop at times.

These three songs are a great example of what they do. Full of hooks, big choruses and unexpected changes in direction and tempo. It is particularly thrilling to see this coming out of the UK. This type of Guitar led Pop has been longed missed here for quite some time.

Dagon begins like a wistful TV Advert theme but soon bursts into an anthem riff driven sing along joy that adds a killer Guitar solo. Glorious You opens as a Pop Rock ballad, but soon breaks into a much bigger Indie Rock affair with its slightly heavier guitar led backing.

Low Calorie Groove sounds much more 70s, slightly Glam, much more all encompassing with another killer chorus with a delicious Blue Oyster Cult like breakout riff. Finance may hold then back, but a full length release would be much appreciated. Maybe they could be the debut album on the I Don't Hear A Single label coming at the back end of the year.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. 

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This Circus Life - The Flowers Know The Truth

 

I've been remiss in taking so long to review this. So long in fact that there has since been a more recent Live album. However, I wanted this beauty to be the review. This Circus Life are such an excellent five piece, that I sometimes take this for granted, hopefully this partly rectifies this.

This place has evolved so much over nearly 9 years that you get entranced in all the noise and multi directions so much that it makes you forget what the place was originally started for and it was for splendid Pop Rock and here is just that.

This Circus Life are undeniably English and master a mellow, beautifully arranged and performed melodic  Guitar led Pop. They sit somewhere between Crowded House and Squeeze, but unlike both of those, the arrangements are bigger and would stand on their own without the vocal of Charlie Mear.

Brass and strings are present, but the songs just as good when straight ahead. Staring At The Sun is built around a piano led vocal, but then breaks into an outstanding string arrangement. Very Neil Finn plus!  The Circus Is Leaving Town is wonderfully delicate, built to made you cry.

A Long Long Time is more electric and Pop Rock gold. Home is gentle Psych and Jangle which will go down well here. But it is the slower thoughtful songs that hit home most here. It is really nice to listen to something that isn't trying to riff you to death. The contemplation eases your mind and soul. Life is not all about noise.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on CD and as a download. You can find out more about This Circus Life here.

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Kicking Bird - 11 Short Fictions.

 

We loved Kicking Birds debut album, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It was well placed in our Best 100 Albums of 2023 (Review here). So, it is great to hear the follow up, released today. The Wilmington, North Carolina five piece, don't disappoint, not that we ever expected they would.

This is still Indie Rock, but the band's take on the genre is much wider than most others. The male / female vocal on different tracks still works, but there is something a little different this time round. 11 Short Fictions sounds a little more in your face. More Fuzz, more Guitar extravaganzas.

The intelligent quirky arrangements prevail, but there seems more urgency making them a little more Garage Rock at times and more than a little Psych. They haven't forgotten how key the chorus is, but there is a rip roaring urgency at times that completely grips you.

Amidst all the riffs and heavier Guitar, there is still beauty. The vocal performance of Shaylah Paul on Too Much Talking sounds very 60s chanteuse and the arrangement is wonderful. The Guitar almost talks to you at times. Good Company is also more straight ahead, almost Noo Yawk Classic Rock.

What Did You Expect (From Such A Beautiful Wife) is almost Power Pop.But is the noisier material that grabs you post.Good Lighting is wonderful Psych, a sweet vocal that battles with a wonderful Psychedelic blast off. 

Cinnamon is pure street Garage Rock. Album 2 is more intense than the debut, but has lost none of its charm, it just wants you to rock a bit more. Intelligent Guitar Noise may describe the album most, but that is just the thing to liven up your proceedings.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy yhe Vinyl Edition on Fort Lowell Records here.

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I Do Hear A Single

 

The success of the Listening To This Week Playlist has gobsmacked us. However, it has brought a couple of concerns that were discussed considered during the week off. We have no intention of ending the support for single tracks.

However, I, personally, thought it was becoming a bit unwieldy. The current Playlist contains 35 songs and in the format used, it is quite a listen. I also had concerns about IDHAS looking less focussed on longer length reviews.

The conclusion is that there will now be a sister site that will cover singles. It took a lot of thinking to come up with the name "I Do Hear A Single". It will be different to LTTW in that singles will appear throughout the week and also contain a short write up.

I understand that opening a second site is not ideal for all, but there will still be a weekly post on here on Mondays. That will summarise all that has been on I Do Hear A Single during the previous week with a link to the songs, but the playable content and short review will be on I Do Hear A Single.

We will see how it all goes as the weeks go on. The start of I Do Hear A Single will be at some stage this month. There will be a LTTW Playlist this coming Monday. Any thoughts or comments? Just get in touch.

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