31 Reviews in 31 Days In October

 

You may have wondered why there were a few less reviews than usual in September. Well...........

March and October are the traditional I Don't Hear A Single 31 Reviews in 31 Days months. There may be days without a review, but overall at least 31 Reviews will be posted over the whole of October. There will also be the 4 Listening To This Weeks. There will also be a new Here Is The News.

IDHAS has gone ballistic this year. There will be over 175,000 views this month. Heartwarming that people are interested in new music, long may it continue. We are planning some additional features that were originally planned for last month. 

But the increase in contact and listening has delayed this. I expected August to be quiet, it was far from it. Hopefully December will be allow time to get these implemented before the annual Best 100 Albums Of The Year.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 29 September

 

24 songs this week, all Top Notch. For a change we don't start with something crashing in. It is wonderful to hear the dulcet tones of Jon Auer again on the opener. 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 for us, 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    (The Sector Frontier and Faulty Cognitions songs are not on Spotify)

Link To Spotify

The Sonny Wilsons - Desert Song

Them Jones - Feel Right

Chris Lund - You've Got A Lot Of Nerve

Sector Frontier - Tears!   (Not On Spotify)

The Popguns - Oh Harry

The King Of Mars - Cracking Up

Evening Standards - Paynes Prairie

Phantom Dots - Phading

asalone - The Beat I Drum

Dimitri Toonen - Insignificant

Faulty Cognitions - Arsonist (Not On Spotify)

Repeat - Framed

Repeat · Framed

Jacqueline Tucci - Burning Out

smear - Way

smear · Way

Guy Bennett - Make It So Hard

Pynch - Microwave Rhapsody

Powers Of The Monk - Bread & Circuses

Powers of the Monk · POTM-Bread & Circus MASTER v1

Wes Anderson (With Nathan Aurora) - All Works Out

It's Irrelevant - I'M VERY FEEL

Ghost Rebel Club - The Anomaly

DelCobras - Someday Soon

Brighter Suns - Easier Than That

Bedlam - The Tower

No Lonesome - Great Eternal

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Evening Standards - Prairie Vida

 

This has really crept out and I wouldn't have known about it if it hadn't been our great friends at Add To Wantlist. I adored last year's The Shining, so much so that it hit our Best 100 Albums Of 2024. You can read my review here.

As I mentioned then, for a band with such a Pop Punk reputation, they have certainly branched out into outstanding Guitar Pop, Indie Rock if you like. If you thought The Shining was great (and it really was a popular Review) then this is its equal or probably better.

Slightly UK New Wave with footprints in Indie and even Power Pop, Prairie Vida is laced with Riffs and melody, you are just smitten throughout. The vocals of Chris Mott and Daun Fields resonate, both separately and together. 

Fields's sweet vocal tempers things beautifully and slow things down beautifully, whilst Mott's vocal handles the faster driven offerings. Added to the twin Guitar attack, you have an album of extraordinary quality.

When the quartet let loose on Ray of Light and Wild Horses another dimension is opened. Saints, sang by Fields, is Indie Rock with a memorable chorus. There's even a closer that mixes Americana and Melodic Rock with a Dylanesque opening verse and a killer Guitar solo.

There is also another point to make. Albums of this nature are usually less of a concentration on lyrics, but here these 10 songs are stories, the songwriting is top notch and that can get hidden in all the instrumental joy. This album will certainly feature heavily in our Best 100 of 2025.

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

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Absolute Losers - In The Crowd

 

Now to something more in line with what we became noted for. Absolute Losers are a Power Trio from Prince Edward Island, Canada and they offer up big sounding Guitar Pop, deliberately a little retro with much more variety that you might expect.

Listening to the opener, you'd expect to be about to listen to something similar to The Who, certainly they early years and if Pete Townshend did invent the term Power Pop this can be their tribute. But the album takes on many directions. 

Don't Go is jangling Merseybeat whilst the title track is more Brit Pop, Cast springs to mind. Yet, Kiss Of Death could be something from the Stiff Records label and adds some wonderful harmonies. Whereas, the album does sound very Brit, Eagerness is far more American, a bit Tom Petty in Heartbreakers mode.

You Never Say That You Love Me is great Classic Power Pop whilst For So Long is nearer Vintage Rock And Roll, with hints of Americana and American Graffiti. Your Colours has a wonderful retro Jangle Pop vibe.

In The Crowd is splendidly melodic and an album that shows admirable maturity for such a young band. Excellent produced and arranged, vocally harmonic and really catchy. The time in the Studio has paid dividends and the whole thing is as enjoyable a listen as you could wish for.

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

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Them Jones - Instructions For Re-Entry

 

I feel more than a little guilty to have ignored Them Jones since my 2020 review of The Saturn Cinema which you can read here. This is the third album since and takes the total to 7 for the Philadelphia five piece and it is wonderful.

Many of you know that two ways to my heart are through Psych Pop and Pastoral Pop. Instructions For Re-Entry does both brilliantly, but adds a whole lot not more. At times, it is wonderfully hippy-ish, but the arrangements can be like soundscapes or even Shoegaze with more words.

It is the arrangements that stand out, ethereal at times but with big footprints into Pop at times. Songs can whisk you away, but then catch you by surprise with the addition of a surprise instrument or Guitar intrusion, yet on other occasions they can even sound a little Madchester.

A song like the wonderful Extras In Mine is inspiring Trippy Psych, but also gets close to The Dukes Of Strasosphear. Even the excellent, more straight ahead, Almost Home reveals slight changes of direction, this time edging to Pop Rock.

Pop Rock is served even more on the slower A Distant Sound which adds Violins and the standout song, Feel Right, even adds English Horn. Human sounds a little Revolver, but could also be on the soundtrack 60s European Film soundtrack.

This is a tremendous album, more Psych than The Saturn Cinema, but it is wonderfully arranged in its instrumentation, melody and vocal harmony. An exceptional offering that you could prefer the term Pastoral Psych. Excellent!

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Chris Lund - Surveillance

 

This is a wonderful Pop Rock album. If this were the 70s or 80s, the pressing plants would struggle to cope with demand. But times have changed and it is hard getting noticed anywhere. Pop Rock is such an all encompassing genre, Leo Sayer to Bad Company, that the walls move in.

Cheap Trick manage it (and there is a song here, Got Me Running, that could be prime time CT) but they have a fanbase that take along their kids and grandkids and despite decent new albums, their setlist is still about the hits. 

Surveillance reminds you of many of the best. Badfinger, Big Star etc. It rocks at times and the Guitar riffs and solos are as great as the arrangements. The only way for it to catch on is for you tell your friends, because when anyone hears this thing, there is a fair chance that they will be hooked.

Touch And Go is built on a fine Jangling riff and sounds very 60s, Merseybeat even. Blow Up Night is anthemic, the kind of the revived Aerosmith might come up with and the chorus is again Cheap Trick like. Swallowed is all Psych Folk Pop, really engaging.

Sing Bird Sing even gets a little Lennon - McCartney and Crazy Driver is great Power Pop. You've Got A Lot Of Nerve even flirts heavily with Psych Pop. God Loves All His Children has a slightly mawkish title, but is wonderfully melodic and more than a little Beatles 1967 and even gets near to Queen on the solo.

Lund is no overnight sensation. A career approaching three decades, through Loser, International Pop Overthrow and Lund Bros. But his solo stuff has taken on even greater dimensions. As well as a fine set of pipes, he is an extraordinarily good guitarist. Listen to the album and then tell everyone you know how great it is.

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

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Sector Frontier - Sector Frontier

 

Another Alter Ego, this time from our long term favourite Dave Cope. Just as with Elvis Eno, this is another artist known in a different genre. Makes a change when the fake band are actually a real life artist instead of all this AI nonsense that seeps everywhere.

Sector Frontier mine the territory from UK New Wave to Post Punk. Very 1978 - 1981 before dressing up seemed more important than the music and all the money was spent on videos. The results are brilliant, Cope has always been a man with a thousand ideas and this may be his best ever.

The first three songs go down very different directions. Love Goes Out The Window is prime time New Wave with its nod towards the poptastic 60s and 70s as the original time was. Tears! is all 1980s Sparks and  Why Can't We Get It Together? gets very close to a popped up UB40 with its Reggae bassline and slashing riff.

The variety is endless. You experience 80s New Wave, AOR and celebratory Chic Disco Funk. Goth, Angular Indie and Synth Pop, Star Quality could be Pete Wylie after a night at Erics. I Do My Best On The Dance Floor could be played at Blitz and be subject to dozens of remixes.

Sector Frontier are described as the forgotten vanguard of Post Punk Britain and this album is just that. Also hidden towards the end is the magnificent Hanging The Hangman, part Synth Rock, part 60s Psych Pop, part singalong Pop, it is a crackerjack of song.

This may not be a real band, but the material is from an artist who has gathered a growing audience with Pop Rock, Folk and Classic Rock. This is very much a diversion, maybe a one off, but I hope not because the whole 11 songs are a cracking listen. Inventive yet Retro.

 

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Prize - In The Red

 

You don't want the most anticipated album of the year to be a letdown and thankfully it exceeds all expectations. We've been waiting for this since hearing the extraordinary Wrong Side Of Town EP three years ago. You can read my review of that here.

Essentially, this is full in tune with the new noisier breed of Power Pop that has revived the genre. But In The Red is much more than that. This is anthemic, mixing the fun and vibe of the UK New Wave with hints of Glam Rock and even guitar assaults more akin to 70s Classic Rock.

A band with three guitarists is never gonna be mellow and laidback, but this is pure power, a melodic Guitar attack built on Riffs and memorable solos. But the songs are also singalongs and you can even shake your fist at times. 

The Melbourne five piece shake the living daylights out of you. Had It Made is UK Glam Rock with the emphasis on Glam Rock, Drummer Nadine Miller's turn on vocals lights up proceedings as she does on the Loose Lips album, particularly on First Sight which turns out to be a real Guitar blast out.

Indeed the Guitar wig outs are the most appealing thing here, solos that you expect on a Rock album, not supposedly a Power Pop recording. You should also get yourself prepared for the intro riff on Reaction. There is a surprising Jangling Pop Rock closer in Silver Bullet.

That closer is the first time that the band come up for air and be thankful of that and the raucousness of the album. It is also worth mentioning that From The Night still sounds as great a singles as it first did. In The Red is a celebration of the Guitar is well in contention for Album Of The Year.

You can listen to and buy the album here. If you are buying the Vinyl in the States, you should buy it here. The album is available on Vinyl, CD or as a download.

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Teen Creeps - Today Is The Day

Ghent's Teen Creeps return after a four year gap with their third album and it is Indie Rock of the highest quality. At times, it sounds like the more melodic side of 90s Rock as the Power Trio knit together like glue to provide a rousing affair.

The band have this uncanny ability to offer up both laidback riff led songs and noisy outbursts. There are other times when they hint at mid 80s Indie, yet then surprise you with something more shouty. Those killer riffs are at the front of everything.

They can be a more heavy Feeder or on a par with the likes of Superchunk. Running Start for instance is like three songs in one, incredibly melodic, engaging and meandering at the end. No-Show is much faster and energetic, more in your face, very 90s.

Yet Stay Here gets incredibly close to Power Pop. Engine is closer to early 80s Post Punk and Stranded is a little Green Day without the showing off. There's even a hypnotic closer that washes you away in Signs & Symptoms that bookends with a much heavier vibe.

Automatically is the major surprise with its brooding, more West Coast Rock or Classic Rock than you would expect. The album does sound a little Retro at times, but Today Is The Day is performed with such a gusto that this matters little. But oh those Riffs! They just grab a hold of you.

You can listen to the whole album here. It can be bought and listened to at the places noted here. It is available on Vinyl and as a download.

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Elvis Eno - I'll See Myself Out

 

New York's John Dunbar is one hell of a talented musician. From his singer songwriter solo stuff to the Guitar Pop Rock group output of The John Sally Ride and then there are Elvis Eno albums where far greater chances are taken and that is what you have here.

Dunbar is charmingly self effacing, sometimes too much so. My frustration is that has such variety should be far wider known. Most of us find social media a bind, but I do wish that his three entities had their own social media output. It certainly would make a difference to his career.

Dunbar's gentle melodic vocal suits all three of his projects, but it is with Elvis Eno that it really excels. Here his voice is multi tracked wonderfully and with I'll See Myself Out being so great a Baroque Pop album, the vocal arrangements are wonderful.

Put to strings, his vocal soars sting the wonderful arrangements. At times, it sounds a little 60s which was the golden age of the genre. These songs radiate due to their construction added to the aforementioned vocal and his trademark wit.

He has form for picking quirky subjects and unexpected twists and the work so well here. This is string orientated joy throughout. Unusually, for Dunbar, there isn't a Guitar in sight, which will of course be rectified on his next album.

No two albums are ever the same from the man, but Baroque Pop was a surprise to me, especially from a New Yorker. This is a very different album to tackle, it succeeds simply because of Dunbar's ambition and drive. A great listen!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week 22 September

 

The maximum 30 songs this week and this has probably been the hardest to tracklist for a long time. I ask that you listen to everything if you can as the quality doesn't let up. 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 for us, 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   (Both the I Was A King and Icecream Hands songs are not on Spotify)

Link To Spotify

I Was A King - Sleepless Nights (Not On Spotify)

Elvis Eno - My Thing Isn't My Thing Anymore

Washing Machina - Debbie Lost Her Mind

Buddie - Stressed In Paradise

PHWOAR - So Much Better

Bird Streets - Run For Our Lives

This Little Badge - 7 x Lucky

Dom Mariani - World On Its Head

Nepal Death - Divine Destroyer (The Mahakala Mantra)

The Radio Field - A Mess

Mo Troper - When She Says My Name

Daniel Feinberg - Goodnight Rain

Daniel Feinberg · Goodnight Rain

The Sun Harmonic - Glory Days

Juppe - Seasick

Greg Hill - Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Dave Cope And The Sass - Don't Let My Dreams Come True

The Rumours - Let's Run Away

Sparky Bosque - I'm So Cold

Wedding - Worlds

Muo Duo - Exciting Times

Muo Duo · Exciting Times

The Needmores - Side X Side

Boxing Club - Barbra

Deen's List - Lake

Maybe Margate - Wild And Free

Icecream Hands - Back On The Road (Not On Spotify)

Making Friends As Adults - The Thing That I Call Love

SNAKEHEADS - Top Of The Pops

SNAKEHEADS · Top Of The Pops

Black Seagull - Lines

Coast Arcade - Kids

Hand Gestures - Once It Starts To Kick In

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The Wellingtons - Baby Moon.

 

The return of Scotty at Popboomerang is just as welcome as the return of Melbourne's The Wellingtons. It has been 8 years since 2017's End Of The Summer and their return couldn't be more fitting than on Popboomerang. 

Baby Moon is Power Pop at its very very best. If you ever want to know why I love the genre, then listen to this from start to finish. Newcomers may just want to head off to I Won't Turn Away and you will immediately want to play the whole album.

The band offer up big choruses, memorable riffs and most of all harmony and melody. They also have a weapon in Kate Goldby who takes vocals on two songs and takes them in a more earthy Indie Pop Rock direction on The Things I Did Before and even gets a little Bangles on Not Ready To Give Up.

The band themselves are not frightened to take chances themselves. I defy anyone to write a better Indie Rock song than End Of The World.  They also show that they can Jangle on the excellent Better Me, a song that takes you back to those CD buying days of Not Lame.

Sound Asleep shows that things can get slower, the vocal reminds me a lot of Jeff Whalen of Tsar and The Brothers Steve. The Long Goodbye may be the best Weezer song that they didn't write. The sheer Power Pop joy of the two opening songs are worth the admission alone.

Both She Still Loves Me and Always Gonna Be That Girl are reminders to an old man like me of all the previous waves of the genre are adored. Power Pop may be a little noisier now, but this album is a reminder of how music can cheer you up and look at the bright side. I had real trouble deciding which 3 songs to embed. I could have chosen any of the 12. Wonderful!

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

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The Radio Field - Air And Sunlight

I love The Radio Field. Based in Dusseldorf, they specialise in Jangle, but also mix the moody and magnificent expertly. At times, they sound like a great 80s Guitar Pop outfit, but it is their ability to surprise that marks them out even further from most around. 

The quartet are here again for their second album on the excellent Subjangle label and it is a cracking listen. Fans of their Jangle Pop will be delighted with their Jangle Pop will be delighted to hear the opener, It's Alright and the pacier Sellout which gets a little Dropkick.

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But the album is more like an adventure. A Mess is wonderful Indie Pop with added engaging Brass. Short at under 2 minutes, but delightful. Ride With Me gets all Americana and Alt Country, whilst Sun Dial is West Coast laidback Pop Rock.

Same takes a different direction, moody Indie, built on a hypnotic riff and an unexpected broody vocal drawl. There is even room for an instrumental that just meanders into your heart on Of Dragons And Souls. 

But the band are at their best when they let go. What It Takes is a fine example as the melody, harmony and pace just grab you and Apogee is one of the best songs that I've heard all year. It just builds and builds and mesmerises you. Air And Sunlight is absolutely splendid.

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

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Upgrading Our System

 

I am upgrading our system after a Network Drive started to reach the end of its life. It's a real chuff moving the music off it and leaving us tight for space elsewhere. So I realised that we were storing 20 years of music from both Anything Should Happen and here. 

In many cases, we had the physical releases which meant downloads were unnecessary and there are albums that we are unlikely to revisit, being as we are a place that concentrates largely on the new. Equipment was so interlocked that the risk of so much storage failing has become a bigger and bigger problem.

I have moved most of the music to other storage areas, but the sorting out of what's what will take a couple of days. So I'll be taking a break from posting until later in the week. However, I will still be listening to Music and choosing what to Review and what to Playlist. This is just an explanation for people who want to know why it is quieter here.

You may want to visit previous reviews and the Listening To This Week Playlists have been really strong. There are lots of Reviews to come and Friday 19th sees the release of five or six exceptional albums. 

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Listening To This Week Playlist 15 September

 

After showing our other sides last week, this week fits more into our usual Guitar Pop and Indie vibe with one or two surprises. 29 songs for your listening pleasure. 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 for us, so the following there is nowhere near our one here. However, Spotify have noticed its growth and asked us to be involved in other things. We have politely declined as we are too busy with all that we do and also value our independence. We have always refused similar requests from other places. 

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 Prize - From The Night

The Sonny Wilsons - Miss Kinetic

Ahhmanda - More Or Less

Teen Creeps - Anywhere

Michael Robert Murphy - Cyclone

The Goods - April Fools (Not On Spotify)

Shaw's Trailer Park - Phone Wars (Not On Spotify)

Next Week's Washing - Empty Pages

Witkin - I Hate My Brain

Mike Dropped - Control These Feelings

Billy Peake With Extra Special - Annie, You're A Lightning Bolt

Sharp Pins - (I Wanna) Be Your Girl

Rex On Demand - White Rose Bleeds

Palm Ghosts - Last of The Hold Outs

Bonus Room - Riot Gear

The Mars McClane's - GO!

The Mars McClanes · Go!

Gabriel Delicious - Who's The Starman Now?

The Unknowns - Ain't What You Want

REDRAW - Real Anymore

REDRAW · real anymore

The Double Happiness - Omnibus

The Violet Twilight - Better Than You

House Of Jed - Never Gonna Be Enough

The Way After - Love Seeks No Easy Way Out

In The Pines - Hide The Sky

Rad9 - Zombie

Larlin - Limbo

Nihil Admirari  - Make Amends

Dan Sindel - Freedom

Jakob Boon - K.O!!!

Jakob Boon · K.O!!!

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Tigers And Flies - Smashing Scene EP

 

There is nothing I like more than intelligent angular Indie, it equals my love of Psych Pop, as Andy Partridge would say, it makes my bamboo curl. Manchester's Tigers And Flies offer it in spades aided by the power and energy of youth.

The EP reminds me of the likes of XTC, The Sugarplastic, The Futureheads and earlier Blur. The five piece also have a secret weapon of Brass which catches you unawares. The Angular Guitar even treads into the likes of King Crimson Discipline era.

The sheer inventiveness just floors me. They even get close to a Pop song with Enoch's Hammer, but their left field intent won't let it stay that way. Going To Bed unleashes their chaotic bent, but also sounds a little New Wave, wonderfully so.

Hulme High Street Ablaze is built around a driving rhythm section, but the real joy is Silver Lashings, if the kids get this, it will make an old man happy. It reminds me of my youth, wonderfully melodic and that Guitar Riff! This is an incredible five piece that can appeal across the generations. Self effacing with serious messages, Tigers And Flies have come up with possibly the best thing that I will hear all year.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. It is something that aches for a physical release and will have a limited Vinyl Release in October.

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