Star Collector - Everything Must Go

 

The return of Vancouver's Star Collector was one of the joys of doing what we do on I Don't Hear A Single. We love the band so much that they even got the Mick Dillingham Interview treatment in 2021. You can read that here and it describes the band's career to that point really well.

A new album is always to be celebrated, the quartet always deliver and here is a wonderful marked change that adds many strings to their bow. They have always managed variety, but their strength has always majored on Rock, a little flavour of The Who, a dash of Mod, a hint of Punk, but with a large willingness and need to Rock.

Everything Must Go reveals a much bigger ambition. It shows in the arrangements, but especially in Vic Wayne's vocal. He can belt songs out in his sleep, but here he stretches his vocal to extremes offering an unexpected tenderness at times across whatever genre they enter,

Take, for instance, The Best Thing. This is essentially Jangle Pop that can't resist a breakout solo, but Waynes's vocal is beautifully restrained in a way that enhances the song. There are examples of this everywhere.

The Rock is well catered for, but it is the diversions that grab a long term fan like myself most. It adds a whole new world to a Star Collector album. You know it will be absolute quality before you listen to any of it. But here the four enter a new dimension.

There are some heavyweight collaborations, you can read the Bandcamp page to discover them all. I've also held back on most song descriptions, hoping newbies will go and discover the band themselves. I've picked the three songs that are my favourites today. This is an essential listen, off you go to hear the delights!

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

....................

Glowbox - Bland Ambition

 

Chicago's Glowbox are back and get a large hoo and indeed rah, It has been a while since late 2021's Your Call Is Very Important To Us. You can read my review of that album here. After three singles in the interfering years, that fine album now has accompaniment.

Bland Ambition was released last Friday in a low key release. But now you know about it, you can listen and shout about it all over the stratosphere. You can expect big riffs, killer choruses and exhilarating solos. The band do Power Pop so well, but there are other areas that the quartet excel at.

The blast in with No Place Like Nowhere is pure Power Pop and the whole listen does feel more Power Pop adjacent than its predecessor, but there are still big footmarks in 90s Indie Rock and College Rock, particularly on Should Have Known.

There is also a venture into 70s UK Glam Rock with the all together now of Doesn't Mean That Much and that works beautifully. Wait And See also demonstrates again, how comfortable the band are in laid back melodic Pop Rock.

The Closer, Horizon, underlines the ease in that genre, a little West Coast in places, with great vocal harmonies, but with 70s Pop Rock at its heart. Joke's On You gets more Classic Rock. In Your Orbit is again classic Pop Rock.

The stand out though for me, something that may come as no surprise to you, is the wonderful Philosophy 21A. Psych Pop of the highest order that even adds a blistering solo and also adds a hint of Prog. Glowbox dish up a crackerjack of an album that will delight you with its variety.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

...........................

Listening To This Week Playlist 1 September

 

A little later than usual, here is the first LTTW Playlist of five that will appear in September. 23 fine 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.  21 of the 23 songs are available on Spotify.

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 Joe Giddings and The Second Summer Songs are not on Spotify)

LINK TO SPOTIFY

Superchunk - Is It Making You Feel Something

Yawn Mower - Speed Boat!

Infidels - When The Clock Strikes 12

Pearl Charles - Gone So Long (feat. Tim Burgess)

the dt's - Sun Shines Down

Lot Long - Drive

The Flashcubes - If These Hands

The Second Summer - Try (Not On Spotify)

Richard Turgeon - Song Of Discontent

Joe Giddings - Stay In Nowhere (Not On Spotify)

da nang - Kids

Late Night Lies - Tiny Hand

Edison Gomez - Krauss - Stupid Little People

Chris Lund - You've Got A Lot Of Nerve

Healer - We Follow

Dylan Fellows - Dream Of Other Things

Dylan Fellows · Dream of Other Things

meltcitizen - What Do You Do If You Are A Satanist, Anyway?

sulk - like I do

RedWood - Whatever You Want

Cliff Root - Holy Visions

The Telephone Numbers - Ebb Tide

Problematic Jam - It's So Confusing

Airplane Mode - Late Stage Capitalism

.............................