Strange Neighbors - People Pleasers Pleasing People

 

We first heard of New York City's Strange Neighbors at the start of 2023 and covered their mini album, Party Of None, which appeared in the Top 30 of our Best Albums Of 2023 (review here). 2024 found the quartet rightly picking up momentum and now we have People Pleasers Pleasing People.

The Power Pop is still as strong, but the band may just be the future of Indie Guitar Pop. There is real wit and depth lyrically, unusual in this type of genre, a quirkiness that is sassy, but aided by the arrangements.

They are at their best when the quirk is high, but they can also do straight ahead. You Got Love is prime time Kirsty MacColl and the magnificent Silk And Cyanide is top notch Power Pop with great pace and an engaging twang. The rockiest the band get and a great solo is added to close proceedings.

Beer At The Bar dallies with Jangle Pop and even gets a little Cranberries and the closer, Your Last opts for a surprise hoedown. The quartet even get more straight ahead Pop Rock on Wherever We Fall which reveals great maturity.

There is a lot of variety on display, but I have to admit that I really can't resist the sassiness. Crush is the best example, but Influencer remains a crackerjack single. This album shows a band at the height of their powers. Climb aboard, before the space has all been taken.

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

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

Communicant - Harbor Song

 

We adored Communicant's debut album, Sun Goes Out, so much so that it was in the Top 20 of our Best 100 Albums Of 2022. You can read the review here. We were a little late with that review and we are a little late with the follow up.

So much new music comes into our orbit that we can lose sight of past celebrations unless we are reminded by the artist. But better late than never. Harbor Song does feel a little mellower than Sun Goes Out, less about Psych Pop, more about a soundscape, but what a soundscape it is.

There are still Psych overtones, but this much more reliant on the melody and the Pop. There are so many great arrangements, particularly on the likes of Falling Into One. The album has more in common with Pop Rock or gentle Neo Prog, but the vibe and melody are both captivating.

Dylan Gardner may be more restrained, but the beauty and touch of the songs is just as wonderful as what went before. The vocal arrangement on Dream State has to be heard to be believed. At times, you think of Radiohead's more delicate side, at others, you marvel at the almost classical sound and yet, you are still reminded of glorious restrained Pop Rock albums.

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

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

Danny Carney Chainsaw Symphony - Scorpio Rising

 

I like to think that I know everything that I want to know about musically. Of course I don't, but this rams it home. I had never come across Danny Carney despite the first album being 22 years ago. Maybe, the band name didn't make me dig more, Chainsaw Symphony makes you think more of Metal than Guitar Pop.

This is great melodic Pop Rock. For instance, the title track sounds like prime time Squeeze and even adds a surprise short Psych Pop solo. Dull Switchblade is wonderful jaunty Jangle Pop and Molasses In February is more Power Pop, built on some great harmonies.

After one complete listen, you realise that this is an album of catchy, melodic Guitar Pop with plenty of variety and the pre-requisite memorable riffs and big choruses. No Front end loading here, all 10 songs are killers and you will soon be singing along.

Martha's Boys is pacy and lyrically adept, it is a little 80s New Wave with a Glasgow Jangle vibe and a great solo. TJ Fangs is again a little Squeeze, but this time more Difford than Tilbrook, aided by a great instrumental track that adds David Mead on Balalaika and an unforgettable chorus.

Crook Of Love has a big tint of Psych Pop mixed with 70s Pop Rock, It is the closer and may be the best thing here, reminded of Ex Norwegian. The only described Psych Fools which is motormouth vocally and can only be described as magnificent.

Every single song is worthy of your attention. It seems a little unfair to compare someone with a career in their third decade to others, but it gives you a flavour of what to expect. This is chorus heaven from start to finish. It may only be April, but Scorpio Rising is an Album Of The Year contender.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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

Brass Camel - Camel

 

We celebrate Canada a lot, particularly as that country seems to be at the forefront of all that has interested us musically across the past few years. We do so again, although this is not about the usual crashing riffs that venture out from there.

My love of Prog is well known and it has been pleasing to see others appreciate it. It isn't just about terminal solos and a demonstration of how well the band play their instruments. Brass Camel demonstrate this wonderfully.

Brass Camel's second album is perhaps a little rockier than people are used to but it is absolutely wonderful and deserves an audience beyond the usual Prog spots. Firstly, this is really funky at times, a bit like a Funky Rush or 90s Rock. 

But there is also a real Classic Rock, almost Led Zep in moments, feel to it. Great riffs and solos and a vocal nearer to classic or Hard Rock. However, songs change direction and genres at will. It is also compiled wonderfully.

There are six songs. The opener and closer are 11 minutes long and that may appear pure Prog. But this length allows the five piece to fully demonstrate what they can do. It allows them to be Prog, but also change styles at will. These two songs are the most commercial, but also the most Prog. That is the reason I've embedded both.

However, the shorter songs provide shorter sharper bursts and are as focussed as the two aforementioned songs, they just provide a shorter introduction. Camel is an album that Rocks without fear or favour. It is Prog Plus and unlike most of the meandering whimsical stuff that gets offered up as Modern or Neo Prog, this is proper Prog and absolutely splendid.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy it on Vinyl here.

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

Listening To This Week Playlist

Welcome to the new Listening To This Week Playlist. 24 splendid songs. It feels a bit louder than usual this time round. As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. Remember this is only the second version on Spotify, so the following is nowhere near our usual one.

It has been added as a precursor for I Do Hear A Single and is simply and only started to help artists to get a further audience. 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.  

Jetstream 20/20 - Fall is not yet on Spotify and will be added when it is.

 

The Spitfires - Better The Devil You Know

The Jimmy C - The Back Roads To Ruin

Wyldlife - Dizzy

Jetstream 20/20 - Fall

The Setting Son -  I Still Can’t Decide What I Want

The Ratchets - Can't Walk Until You Run

Twilight Stunt Work - Lana

Brass Camel - Pick Of The Litter

Dead Actors - Exit Through the Fire Escape

Max Look - Always

The Would Be's - That's How It Gets You! 

IPKISS - 90s Kids

Dennis Davison - Putting Up With People

Risley - Walls

The Fictionals - Match

The Fictionals · Match

B'Joy - Bright Blue

The Sunmills - Rock and Roll

The Sunmills · Rock and Roll

Howling Home - Bright Lights

Nadia Vaeh - a nOOd.

Nadia Vaeh · a nOOd.

NevilleSounds - Right On Time

The Dirty Nil - Gallop of the Hounds

Lunavela - I fall down

Myriads - Call It Quits

Nunchukka Superfly - What's Ya Week Like

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

Harrison Rimmer - Cheaper Than Therapy

 

Harrison Rimmer is from Fleetwood, a town that is only about 50 miles from me. I remember Blackpool being a bit grim in Winter, I did a relief for 4 months there at the beginning of my career, but the people of Cleveleys and Fleetwood were incredibly welcoming. 

Enough about me. Harrison Rimmer's second album is great Indie Pop Rock. Jaunty at times with pace. It is a little more modern than we normally cover, but the songwriting and arrangements suit us really well. The songs are stories and Rimmer is a fine storyteller.

This is an album built for a mass market given half the chance. It may fit America more than the UK sound wise, particularly as it is so hard to grow any talent in the UK at present. The majors are so London centric when all the talent is regional.

Rimmer is a singer songwriter that knows what he is about. There is a commercial feel to what he performs and the arrangements reveal this, but these 10 songs are beautifully performed suited to the everyday streaming listeners.

There's a lot to like here such as the Celtic tinged ballad, Be Reet and the quartet thrive on the rockier, Cold. Ripped Up Magazine is great Power Pop with a much faster pace. I maybe wish there was a bit more of this. Rimmer masters mellow, but when you hear how great he rocks, you want more.

Shores adds some great Brass and a splendid chorus. The song itself is storytelling at its finest. Dave's House gets near to Americana and that works well too and adds a great Twang. Hopefully, the future is bright Harrison Rimmer, this album shows that it should do and would be well deserved.

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

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

Block 33 - The Promised Land

Enfield's Block 33 are noted as Mod Revivalists and this debut album has been highly anticipated. It even hit the UK Top 30 and with the return of The Spitfires, that scene hints at a much welcome revival. Mod Pop has always had a live reputation, but it has been sadly missing from the airwaves.

This quartet though are not a Secret Affair copy band. They are much crunchier and enter many more areas. Yes there are glimpses of The Jam and the better UK New Wave and 60s bands from the genre and they do align with The Spitfires, but they thrive in the splendour of their own space.

At times, they sound R and B, Feelgood like if you prefer and even a little Punk. They can also perform Pop Rock and Lose Your Way may be one of the best songs from that genre this year and Drift Away is pure Brit Pop, almost Robbie Williams.

They do mellow just as well as the Up And At 'Em. Indeed the second half of the album is much slower in pace than the first, but still manages to add the wonderful Alive & Dangerous which drives through at a fine pace. The closer, Keep On Smiling, is an absolute epic, beautifully arranged and performed across the full 6 and a half minutes.

Despite the second half gems, it is the first half that grabbed me most with its sheer energy that shows me how much that I have missed this sort of stuff. You hear Mouth Organ and Organ and songs are delivered thrillingly.

The title track simply rocks your socks off and Lost In The Crowd is the sound of Woking 1977. There is another epic to open proceedings, Breakthrough, a wonderful sprawling meandering heavier example of what the band can do. What an absolutely splendid album.

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

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

The Campbell Apartment - (510)

 

San Francisco's The Campbell Apartment never ever disappoint. I suppose that you might call the trio, ;ed by Ari Vais, Indie Rock, but they cross genres into Pop Rock, Power Pop, Alt Rock and IRS joy. Here though my prevalent take is how Brit Pop they sound at times.

Not the bombastic headline grabbing Pop Rock, but the cleverer stuff that was on the edges. Melody driven with nods to the back end of the 60s. They allow well arranged and written songs to breathe. They never sound ordinary all through the variety.

But is not all about Pop Rock and Brit Pop. Words With Birds is superb Classic Rock and Grudge is all 90s Alt Rock with a big hint of Garage Rock. Life On An Oil Rig is somewhere between Acoustic Country and Americana with a switch of vocal from deep to McCartney Pop.

There is a nice mix of Acoustic and Electric, but it is the Guitar Pop that will light up people's eyes most. Winter 2028, featured on the current Listening To This Week Playlist is top notch Power Pop and 30,000 Days sounds like The Supernaturals in their prime.

Tululah Says is 90s Slacker Rock of the highest order and Ambulem could be Blur with a better vocalist than Damon Albarn and adds a wonderful Psych Pop solo to the great great Pop. An absolutely splendid album, yet I suspect that Ari has already moved on to the next one.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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

Rocket Rules - immediately and without hesitation EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

The follow up EP to their self titled debut EP from last year finds the Melbourne duo in wonderful form. A short by sweet three songs that reveal the splendour of what they do, Rocket Rules are an example of an act that is crying for a full length release.

The sugar sweet vocal is the voice of an angel, a vocal that you would expect to feature on the Subjangle label, ideally suited to Dream Pop and all things 80s, but instrumentally, there is far far more. These ditties are soundscapes.

They mix shoe gaze with something that comes across as a far less angst ridden and more Poptastic Garbage. add up all the chances is pure 80s Gold Pop to an almost gentle Psych arrangement. the weight, bursts out of the blocks with the even gentler vocal meeting a Great Wall of sound.

It is the mix of the soft and the hard that makes this EP. Chalk and Cheese maybe, but both complement each other wonderfully. By the time draynor village ends with its slower, more restrained backing and an ace instrumental break, you are convinced that these two have a future as bright as the stars.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. It is at "Name Your Price", so what have you got to lose?

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

Listening To This Week Playlist (Spotify Version)

 

Our first ever Spotify playlist which is the translation of the new Listening To This Week Playlist from earlier today. This will now be an additional feature weekly, but from next week, it will appear as an embed in the main LTTW Monday post.

We are purposely latecomers to Spotify and we do this only to benefit the artist. We do not want to be Playlist Gurus. I Don't Hear A Single is primarily a Review site and will remain so. Anything we do is solely to benefit new and under appreciated artists.

Safe Houses - Someday Is Starting Now

Tablefox - Digging In

The Blackburns - The Video Den

The Campbell Apartment - Winter 2028

The Speedways - Visiting Hours (Replaces Now That I Know How which is not on Spotify)

The Jetglows - Daisy

The Supernaturals - Don't Let The Past Catch Up With You

Miracleworker - Set Your Aim

Grooblen - Like A Gator Does

The Electorate - The Great Divide

Harrison Rimmer - Ripped Up Magazine

The Last Post - 1999

Milk For The Angry - Yeah, Yeah OK

Bryan Estepa - Version Of Me

Tugboat Captain - Thank God

Rare Phantom - isolamento

Secret Monkey Weekend - So Much Joy

HLLLYH (fka Mae Shi) - Dead Clade

Don't Worry - Middle Finger

Black Moon Howl - Bad Bowl

Fluung - Starvin Heart

Fawn Breaks - Sharpened Eyes

Direct Spotify Link

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

The Probies - Time To Pay

 

If you read the blurb about the Seattle quartet's debut album, you might think that Time To Pay is a return to those self anihilation days of the early 90s. However, this is a great album, but I don't hear much Grunge at all. Personally I'm thankful for that.

I never really connected with that genre. It was all a bit woe is me, riddled with dirge and the majority was terminally slow. Here you have pace, melody in an area somewhere between Indie Rock and Classic Rock. The results are very melodic and can hit you both harder and softer.

Behind The Door is great Pop Rock, but that can be contrasted with the much noisier, almost shouty So Far. I Don't Know Why isn't a million miles away from the slightly louder new wave of Power Pop and even skirts Punk.

'Til The End Of Time is agin great Pop Rock, this time very 70s and close to Classic Rock.Your Slave even treads into the 60s with its Garage Rock slurred vocal, sort of Noo Yawk street at times. Like A Bird sounds more modern, the rockier end of Brit Pop maybe?

The quartet don't come up for air, so don't expect any ballads. They even close with a song that gets into Psych territory and may be the best thing on the album. All in all, this is exceptional Indie Rock, beautifully performed and here to rock your socks off. Great stuff!

 

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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

Listening To This Week Playlist

A day later than usual, here is the new LTTW Playlist.  22 songs to make your week. After constant cajoling, a Spotify version will be organised within the next 24 hours. Remember that that is an addition and will start from scratch as we avoided that platform until now. Therefore, it will not have the following that we have elsewhere until it builds.

The Spotify version will be posted separately for this week and will then have a link on the weekly post from next week. It has been added as a precursor for I Do Hear A Single and is simply and only started to help artists to get a further audience. 

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. 

Safe Houses - Someday Is Starting Now

Tablefox - Digging In

The Blackburns - The Video Den

The Campbell Apartment - Winter 2028

The Speedways - Now That I Know How

The Jetglows - Daisy

The Jetglows · Daisy

The Supernaturals - Don't Let The Past Catch Up With You

Miracleworker - Set Your Aim

Grooblen - Like A Gator Does

Rare Phantom · isolamento

The Electorate - The Great Divide

Harrison Rimmer - Ripped Up Magazine

The Last Post - 1999

Milk For The Angry - Yeah, Yeah OK

Bryan Estepa - Version Of Me

Tugboat Captain - Thank God

Rare Phantom - isolamento

Rare Phantom · isolamento

Secret Monkey Weekend - So Much Joy

HLLLYH (fka Mae Shi) - Dead Clade

Don't Worry - Middle Finger

Black Moon Howl - Bad Bowl

Fluung - Starvin Heart

Fawn Breaks - Sharpened Eyes

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

Apologies For The Delays

 

Sorry for the lack of activity on here over the past week. This is simply down to illness, nothing serious, just a nasty bug that got worse as the week progressed, It seems to be the back end of it now and so the hope is that the fun returns from tomorrow. 

There will be a lot of Reviews to catch up on. This has also meant that there has been a delay in compiling the new Listening To This Week Playlist. The plan is for that to appear tomorrow. Thanks for your understanf=ding.

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

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.

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

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.

/p>

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

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

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

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

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. 

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

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.

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