Sparkle Blood - Zip Zap.

 

An album from a fine Trio, it can only come from Canada I hear you say, well it does, Sparkle Blood are from Alberta. They master a sort of say what you've gotta say and get off in a delightful Indie way. The result is a great listen.

Tyler Stewart's songs offer up great, slightly angular, Guitar Pop. Built on great riffs and earworm choruses, a little DIY, slightly scrappy, but incredibly effective. At times, they sound like your favourite UK New Wave Power Pop.

Canada seems to get that UK Power Pop down to a tee, far better than any Brit outfit. The vocal interplay between Stewart and Bailey Kate works wonderfully well, particularly on Around We Go. When the pace picks up, the trio are equally effective, as on In Real Life with its killer chorus. 

There's also real wit on the splendid Who The Fuck Is Patrick Swan with its punkier vibe. My Favourite Pee Hole mirrors that late 70s New Wave let's do the song right here feel and The Fridays Of Our Life is a little Husker Du with a Merseybeat chorus.

Restless is Power Pop joy. The whole production feels a little Guided By Voices, but the songs have more in common with Power Pop, particularly the strength of the choruses and the multi backing vocals om Mad About It work like a charm. A cracking up and at 'em listen.

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

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Change Life - Change Life.

Known more for Woolen Men and their excellent Singles Club releases, Portland Oregon's Lawton Browning gathers a collective for his Change Life project. There can be no better liaison than its appearance on the excellent Meritorio Records label. 

There is the joy of Intelligent Indie with a social conscience. The album feels a little 80s, but I'm only thinking of bands and artists who took chances in that decade. At times, a little Japan in touch and certainly a Talking Heads in feel.

That Talking Heads in feel is most notable on the opener, Smile, but the whole album is built on hypnotic gripping arrangements that aren't afraid of changing direction. For instance, there is a real Funk to Beyond Control that is addictive.

Eden Express is built on a Gabrels like Guitar Orchestra, yet vocally has more in common with Ska and those Guitars even get a little Psych. From Zero To One gets close to something off English Settlement and At Last I'm Free could be King Crimson and yet is choral.

The album is experimental, yet never up itself. The arrangements are deep, drawing you in. It is an incredible listen, deep and reflective, a sum of its parts, but centring on Browning's wonderful songwriting. An incredibly inventive debut.

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

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Andrew Weiss and Friends - ...To Change A Light Bulb

 

I'm a big fan of New York's Andrew Weiss. He has a reputation as a sort of Laurel Canyon troubadour and a fine storyteller. But there has always been much more and as he has become really prolific recently without ever foregoing the quality.

He has always had a way with Pop Rock that transcends his West Coast Rock reputation and it bursts out in spades here. There's also the surprise of liberally spread more modern synths that have more in common  with 80s New Wave.

Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty of his 70s sounding joy present, for instance the splendid Mr Roy Gee Biv with its Don Henley like vocal and storytelling strength of Milk Carton Missing Kid, a top notch duet with Sara Barsky that mixes American, West Coast and Folk.

You Against The World gets all Classic Rock and Weiss still has his strength with a building Anthem, this time it is Shirley, This Can't Be It. The songwriting strength stands out on Today, Tomorrow, The End Of Next Week, The Latest is Easy Listening Joy.

The Pop Rock really stands out, especially on the magnificent This Parking Lot Has No Vacancy, which may be the best song that Weiss has ever written. Epic in scope, beautifully arranged. There has never been a Weiss album that disappoints, but this may be his best ever.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Big Nothing - Big Nothing

 

I adored Big Nothing's debut album, Chris, still do. It featured heavily in our Best Albums Of 2019. So I have no idea how I missed the follow up, 2022's Dog Hours. Maybe it is a label thing. We have never had that great a connection with Lame-O, I've no idea why.

With listening to so much stuff, the label connection can be vital. There are great labels such as Dandy Boy and Meritorio who keep you informed regularly. They know that you are not going to like everything that they release, but when you connect, you really do.

So we reach the band's third album and it is a cracker. It feels a little more mainstream than Chris and is wonderfully big chorus led. The Replacements connection seems even less so, in its place big Pop Rock songs that Jangle and you can't stop yourself singing along.

Now seemingly down to a trio, the album does seem to have a bigger Rock sound, the arrangements are just as big and Matt Quinn's pipes remain in fine working order. The band still flirt with the likes of Americana and Indie, but is the Jangle that stands out most.

There is also a secret vocal weapon. Bass Player takes the lead on two songs . Crusin' is a little more 90s Rock, but her sugar sweet vocal takes it into much more. Stumble is more restrained, but built on a killer riff and stands up with the likes of Fortitude Valley and adds a splendid Twang.

The band's third album feels a bit more commercial, a little more Pop Rock, but it lights up that genre. Beautifully performed and arranged, this is a release that hits home, simply because it is so damn catchy. Your feet won't stop tapping.

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

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Listening To This Week Update

 

For only the second time since its inception, there will be no Listening To This Week Playlist for the coming week. Nothing to worry about! A combination of a heavy real life work schedule and the Heatwave over here in the UK this week has led to this.

Bailey The Lurcher has needed extra attention due to the heat and any spare time available was not favourable for sitting round a computer, compiling. The same has applied to Reviews. Finally, submissions were unusually lower, maybe due to the weather and the World Cup.

The Playlist will be back on Monday 6 July with a bumper edition. Some Reviews are planned for tomorrow as the catch up begins. Onwards and errr Upwards!

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Listening To This Week Playlist 22 June

A day later than usual, here is this week's LTTW Playlist. 23 songs that sum up pretty well what we are about. Maybe a bit of Prog would have been a complete description. I've just re-listened to it all and it sounds really ace.

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 those who appear here. 

The Blusterfields - Mr Secretary

Elephants And Stars - Of Halfway Houses And Ambulances

Thee Windows - Linen

The Hanging Stars - Show Me The Way

Bramwell - Standing On Stones

Onesie - In Your Dream You're Every Character

Radio Weekend - Circles

Charming Arson - The Wednesday Of My Discontent

The Allwells - Any Day Now

We Are Dust - The Third Door

Astrologer - Drug Of Choice

St. Davis - More Or Less

King Black Acid - Dialling 911

Scott Gagner - Sugar Rush

Tom Minor - Bureau Of Change

Tom Minor · Bureau of Change

Adult Magic - Drift Dive

Mo Troper - Let's Get Back To Music

Your Friend, Death - Oh Come On!

Your Friend, Death · Oh Come On!

DTDR - The Dirty Robot

Shredded Sun - Skyscraper

Radio Days - I Won't Give Up

Oddfellows - Draw The Line

Grant Morriss - World's Collide

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Onesie - Way Thousand Bump To The Sky

I joined the Onesie party in 2019 as they released their second album, Umpteenth. That album hit our Best Of Year. 2023 brought Liminal Hiss which hit the Top 10 of that year. Here's the Brooklyn Trio's fourth and it is a stormer.

You might call them Power Pop, because they can be, however they often aren't. When they are it is usually a noisier version of the genre, but they are also Slacker Pop, without the my life is shite bit. Then again they aren't much of these things.

Incredibly Inventive, with quirks a la Andy Partridge, at times they remind me of Ash, the wit is the same, but there is far more depth to Onesie. They are noisy, but in a good way that never loses sight of the melody. Chorus led joy.

The riffs are what make them most, unusual at times, often coming out of nowhere, but completely hitting the sweet sport. There is also a lyrical adeptness to aid these great arrangements. Tryptophantastic is so XTC, even like Blur doing XTC. 

Yet, Maybe Life's Just A Monitor Gig is a great Guitar Pop song with a Rush like riff. So Darkside is very close to a Toytown song. Superlative could be The Sugarplastic and the 100mph of Doing A Band sounds a little Sugar.

The closer, In Dream You're Every Character, is an astonishing song. Very like another band that I hold on a pedestal, The Mommyheads, almost a doppelgänger. Adding Sax, it shows a completely different side to the trio.

Onesie sort of catch people by surprise. On the face of it they appear to be a slightly noisy Indie band. But listen to this and you will realise the work that goes into an album and how spot on they get it. Not like any one else, totally themselves. Way Thousand Bump To The Sky is a masterpiece.

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

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The Get Alongs - Second To None

 

We do travel around the genres, but always know when we are at our home base and The Get Alongs are there to welcome us home. The quartet are from Toronto, where else? and Second To None is wonderfully right up our street.

Great Pop Rock that mixes everything that you think of from tied to the genre put together in one handy 10 track offering. There's the looseness of 70s Rock, Power Pop and even Psych Pop. Songs are built on a rhythm led groove.

Sunday Afternoon is all let's do the show right here, but catches you with killer Psych Pop Riffs and an extraordinary solo. Secret Shopper is built on a Rock and Roll instrumental, Sound is great 70s Pop Rock, but hints at both Primal Scream and Brit Pop.

One And Everything sounds a little Madchester, but is also great noisy Psych. Merry Way is top notch jangling 60s UK Beat. On And On enters Garage Rock with another killer riff, the heaviest that they get here and they do it so well.

Then there is the monster closer, all 6 and a half minutes of it. 232 is off the scale. It broods and broods and you know that you are waiting for the explosion to come. When it does, it just grips you completely. You know that the song is gonna close live sets for years and years.

We are fortunate that the last couple of years have been a great time for Guitar Pop. But Second To None is much much more than that, it moved, it shakes, the riffs just grab you and the songs are performed so well. This is The Get Alongs second album of many more.

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

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The Hanging Stars - Just A Day

Welcome to the sixth album from The Hanging Stars. More recently, I've reviewed the last two albums. Hollow Heart here and On A Golden Shore here. A decade or so, these type of albums were predominant, less so now, as if the best have surprised and the potential return of The Vapour Trails.

The Hanging Stars are a quartet that are up there with the best of them, they know what they are great at and take it a step further with each album. Initially, more noted for Americana, they are now more based with the likes of Dropkick and the more recent mellower, Teenage Fanclub.

They are never gonna blow the bloody doors off, that isn't what they are about or want to do. Although, they are some band when the pace picks up, most noted here on the wonderful Show Me The Way. There is always gonna be something a bit special from an album produced by Gerry Love in Edwyn Collins's studio.

The songs are beautifully played, built on riffs and keyboards. When the keyboards kick in, there is an instrumental feel of The Band, when they Jangle, you think of The Byrds, so there is still a very West Coast feel.

What marks them out most from their peers are the four part harmonies, demonstrated perfectly on Time Is Nothing with its I Can't Let Maggie Go vibe. Sister Of The Sun underlines those harmonies splendidly, great California Pop Rock. The Hanging Stars are masters of what they do and long may it continue.

 You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Thee Windows - Out And Down

 I have previously noted that there seems a surplus of bands wanting to call themselves Thee at present in a flagon of your finest ale stout yeoman of the bar way. Just a general observation! I forgive Baltimore's Thee Windows as they build an ever interesting developing career.

Out And Down is the quartet's second album bisected by an EP and the growth is really obvious. Previously known as Indie Pop, I question that as the genre should maybe reserved for chart bothering wannabes commerciality. Guitar Pop seems a more apt starting base.

But even that genre doesn't do justice to the band's scope. The songs are beautifully arranged and performed with complex arrangements that are far from obvious and instrumentation that is as at home with the Organ as the Guitar and the band raid genres at will with ease.

You can hear so many different directions across these 11 songs. There is Pastoral Pop, Shoegaze, Psych Pop, 80s Indie and Brit Pop. The rhythm section nail every song down, allowing the songs to drift in any direction that you wish.

The stand out is the magnificent Linen. In other hands, this would be a straight ahead affair, but these four turn it into an extravaganza instrumental. This may be Indie, but it fully explores areas that show that that can be just a catch all description.

Owl Song is splendid Psych Pop, So Long is Brit Pop and Losin' It is jaunty rhythm led Guitar Pop. The whole album is cohesive, a rarity in that it gets better and better as it proceeds, no front loading here! Out And Down is highly Recommended to all.

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

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Listening To This Week Update

 

I've gone with the old logo as this isn't the new LTTW Playlist that traditionally goes out on Mondays. As a one off, the new Listening To This Week will go out on Tuesday next week, totally a one off. A simple explanation is that I am not around tomorrow for the tagging that goes out after the Playlist goes out.

Rather than going early tonight, it makes more sense to delay the post until Tuesday. Tonight, I am writing Reviews in draft, to be posted tomorrow to keep you all occupied until Tuesday. There are some great albums to tell you about.

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Ben Auld - Loserdom

 

I thought that I had lost my frustration that great artists don't get the attention that they deserve and that they are pushed forward more by fans, reviewers and even themselves. I haven't because I feel that way about Ben Auld's second album.

It is an incredible album that takes up the States' slant of DIY and Lo-Fi and moves it in all directions. At its heart , it is great Power Pop, but is Fuzz laden, built on incredible riffs, the type of album that we really hear recorded by a Brit. It is also a testimony to the joy of the Guitar.

Auld is from Norwich and he is supported by Guitarist, Conor Etteridge, Drummer, Duncan Baker and Bassist, George Witty to form a twin Guitar four piece. The Guitar Riffs are Glam laden and the songs are more than a little Slacker.

The Fuzz is totally engaging offering up a delightful noise. At times, I'm reminded of Weezer and Teenage Fanclub, but there's a real 80s feedback to proceedings. The songs are short, most not much over 2 minutes and just have you think you've heard the best song, the next one beats it.

There is a real energy to the whole thing and Auld's sweet-ish vocal is at one with the instrumentals, but blends perfectly with the material. Loserdom is heads down and onwards, but those unique riffs light up the album and the rhythm section provides a great platform to take off.

A special mention should also be made for York's Safe Suburban Home label. What a year, it has been for them, with this, Labrador, Rural France and Sumos. But the focus here is on this storming wake up album. I can't wait to hear more from Auld in the future.

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

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Skooskny - The Recordings 1971-1981 Remastered

 

Skooshny are one of the great lost bands. This release is another tenuous link to Anything Should Happen days. The remaster, here, is on Roger Houdaille's Think Like A Key label. Roger is a good friend, largely due to my complete fandom towards his band, Ex Norwegian. 

Think Like A Key is a label that releases great new albums, but also digs out great lost albums from the past. His taste is impeccable and you will be reading a review of a joint hero's album soon. That reissue is of Jimmy Campbell's Half Baked Album.

This album was originally released on Bill Forsyth's Minus Zero label. Bill similarly unearthed long lost albums, whilst also releasing new albums, most notably Orgone Box, of a Psych Pop bent. Bill owned the Minus Zero Record Shop, Mick Dillingham worked there and it was a haven for touring musicians.

Mick is one of our own, still a part of IDHAS, although less frequently these days, you can read his interviews across the site. He was also a writer for Bucket Full Of Brains and my main sidekick in Anything Should Happen.

Bill had been recommended to the band by Bomp's Greg Shaw. Contained here are the band's complete recordings up until 1981. The line up of Mark Breyer, Bruce Wagner and David Winogrond aided by different Bass Players, one of which was Michael Penn who produced a 4 Track EP.

The Los Angeles band split up in 1981, but reformed on the release of this which culminated in the magnificent 1996 album, Even My Eyes (also on Minus Zero and the follow up, Money in 2000. Those albums offered up a beguiling range of Psych Pop, Pop Rock and Folk.

Sadly, Breyer died in 2023. His legacy as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter lives on. The beauty of the band's material compares with the Pop Rock greats of the 70s, my beloved Psych Pop and an ability to introduce Folk into the setting.

This new reissue has been remastered by Professor Stoned and adds four bonus tracks. I was tempted to embed my three favourite songs as is the norm, but I really wanted listeners to hear the old thing. So below is a You Tube link to the album. I have also provided details on where to buy.

You can buy the album on CD or as a download here. The CD is available at all good record shops. You can listen to the whole album here.

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Hoaxxers - Hard Luck EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

Austin Texas's Hoaxxers certainly remind me of Green Day. A Power Trio that offer up pace and melody. I get sent a lot of Pop Punk and am a bit of an outlier, because followers don't note this place as one that is a haven for the genre.

This is the sort of Pop Punk that I adore. Not a bit of the robotic vocal and standard riffs. The songs at times edge towards a noisier Power Pop. They don't come up for air and you don't want them to. They deserve a wider audience.

Built on killer riffs, big choruses and short blasts. Hard Luck is an engaging EP, 6 songs in 13 minutes, say what you wanna say and get off. Make Your Bed is addictive, driving shake yer fist stuff with a rare extended solo.

The title track is the most Power Pop, a great energetic anthem and a groove that is hypnotic. These three are great at what they do, real up and at 'em stuff. Totally engaging in a way that asks that you realise that Pop Punk encompasses more than one style.

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

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Flight Of Mavis - Mavis On Mavis

Mavis Sings Mavis is a great album. 1989 was a time that you relied on friends and constant digging to find out what was going on in the States. I was about 6 years into doing that having turned away from the UK scene during all the New Romantic nonsense which was more about dressing up. C86 and the Glasgow scene dragged me back to UK listening, but America was still were it was at. IRS label etc.

I had friends in Philadelphia who lived the album and one sent me a copy. It was a great listen, but in those days spreading the word was a thankless task at times. A 2003 Reissue brought it to the fore more, helped by the internet, but it was still a major surprise to see them back, 37 years on.

The original trio are joined by multi instrumentalist, John Cunningham and they offer up both new songs and archive material. The band were always unfairly labelled as R.E.M. wannabes, there was far more to them than that. They were a mix of Power Pop, Guitar Pop and Indie.

Mavis On Mavis feels that maturity has softened their approach, but these are still stellar songs. The magnificent Down In The Basement is the biggest reminder of what's gone before. It is accompanied by different styles. The Jangle is predominant, but in different ways.

The album sort of is a mix of slight Americana and Guitar Pop. Crowded House spring to mind at times, particularly on Holding Me Back. But the surprises are joyful. Gotta Get New Car is all Bo Didley groove with mouth organ and everything. A great diversion.

Garage Sale Junk gets really close to something on Stiff Records and Tonight's The Night is a splendid Pop Song, a little Costello. But, the real pull for me is the closer, It All Comes Round, that lights up my senses. A reminder of what they were and still are, a change of tempo enhances the song even more. What a delightful surprise this is. Great then and great now!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist 15 June

25 songs this week. As usual, a mix of what you might expect genre wise, but there are surprises.

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 those who appear here. 

Modern Marriage - Blue, Red And Yellow…Maybe

Labrador - Too Much Wanting

The Loft - Campervan

Deadbeat Dead - Butchertown

Parent Teacher - Magazines Say

Slippers - Castaways

Mya Angelique - Teenage Popstar

Ben Auld - Talking Dog

The Roland Highlife - Old Atlantic

Linn Cervell - Lonelier

The Wrong Man - Starship

Abandoned Buildings - Intravenous

The Constellations - Stay Strange

Flight Of Mavis - Down In The Basement

Katie Pojidaeva - Inherited Scars

KATIA.POJIDAEVA · Inherited scars

George Adequate - Where Will We Dance

The Valery Trails - Waiting 2026

Legacy Of Lovers - When Will The Eyes Ignite

Gin Wigmore - Rodeo

The Essence Of The Universe - Bring All Your Lovers

The Cosmic Cowboys - But You Lied

Today We Are - Home

Smear - Close To You

smear · Close To You

Mesh Kimono - Supermoon

Landroid - Hank The Dragon

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Parent Teacher - Tricks For Meds

 

I adore Richard Spitzer's Parent Teacher. He offers up deliciously lo-fi songs, but they are extraordinarily inventive. They are songs within songs, unusual in construction, an ability to take all sorts of left field directions, but underpinned by melody and catchy.

The arrangements are particularly clever, but contain killer choruses. He flirts between Indie, Guitar Pop and Psych Pop, but is never too clever to lose the plot. At times, I think of Mythical Motors or even Guided By Voices, but the songs take on more complicated directions, nothing is ever as it seems.

Threat Of A Gun is the nearest that he will get to a straight ahead Pop song, underlined by a driving bassline and a closing Psych solo.Oblivion is more Indie Rock with pace, but also seemingly mixes 80s UK Indie with a little 90s Rock creeping in.

Zombie is another song that demonstrates get melody attached to a great chorus. Magazines Say opens proceedings and sort of explains how inventive Spitzer's songs can be. Multi direction, slightly Psych, but more 90s Indie. An incredibly hypnotic listen.

People bemoan the lack of labels, but that has opened the way to home recording. Some of the results of this are dire, but it has opened up a world that allows people to put out material as beguiling as this. A chance to discover something that you might have never heard and Tricks For Meds is definitely worth hearing.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Labrador - The Rosy Red World.

 

Philadelphia quartet, Labrador, had their roots in Alt Country from the 2018 debut. Initially, essentially a solo vehicle for Pat King's songs, since 2023's Hold Through The Strangers, they became a band and the development was rapid.

Now more adjacent to Indie Rock, King's vocals are outstanding and adapt to whatever chosen genre. The Alt Country is still around, particularly on the stripped back Americana of Waiting To Be Useful. Wagers is wonderfully moving storytelling too. Heartfelt to the extreme.

But the Rock dominates throughout The Rosy Red World. The Power Pop interludes resonate just as much. Too Much Wanting and You're Home Is An Eyesore particularly hit the spot, all Riff and Rhythm. There is lyrical excellence throughout, very socially responsible. A slight anger at the world.

The closer, No Man Is An Island is a great closer, epic, anthemic, jangling, a little like The Successful Failures. Slow Down, King is another winner, a jaunty strummer, a little Doolin' Dalton, very West Coast. We Drew Straws is much more in your face, performed at a rapid pace.

The Title Track is a splendid opener, a particularly effective vocal, but also underling the strength of the band, totally locked I'm. Labrador show that they have not forgotten their roots, but they have adapted into  a cracking rocking quartet. The Rosy Red World is a mighty fine listen.

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

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Modern Marriage - Grim Up North

 

Closer to home for today's closing review with a wonderful album released on the splendid Skeleton Records, home of the fine Record Shop and label. Follow them on Facebook to enter the home of twisted wit to which I concur.

Thinking of the Wirral, there are gonna be obvious comparisons to Half Man Half Biscuit and the humour and lyrical dexterity are here, but the arrangements and directions are miles bigger. This is Indie, but takes many unexpected turns.

These songs are stories about characters, filled with observation and biting wit and attitude. Who else would write a song called Gerry And His Pacemaker, wonderfully written and a groove led anthem. Grim Up North is very C86, a little Housemartins, sardonic, yet also houses a killer chorus and Trumpets and everything.

Lobster Pot is more Punky and a reference that most scousers would know. Instrumentally, it is awesome, messy, noisy, yet addictive. Modern Marriage even enters the realm of a Pop song. Dear John gets all Rickenbacker Jingle, maybe the most straight ahead here and it works beautifully.

IKEA Flatpack is glorious Brit Pop with a wonderful string arrangement. Blue,Red And Yellow...Maybe is awesome, great Pop Rock, a song you don't want to end. Speke Now (or Forever Hold Your Peace) starts all Psych Pop and hurtles into great UK New Wave.

Ben Savage is a gifted songwriter with an ability to come up with engaging Pop songs, whilst also having a knack for observation and a sharp tongue. Modern Marriage are also a locked in trio as well as being proof of the inventiveness on The Wirral. Grim Up North is essential.

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

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Slippers - Slippers 08

I still ache from this place being called a boys club around the middle of our 10 years. My argument was that it wasn't, but the female vocal led material at that stage was either wistful and breathy or shouty, neither of which suited what we cover and still don't.

Five years on, look at us now. Without ever changing direction, the ladies are offering up the best of what's around. With three albums in our Top 10 of the Best Albums of 2025 and currently compiling Monday's Listening To This Week which is female dominated. Proof, that we are not sexist, the music is everything, nothing else.

Phew, glad to get that off my chest. On to Slippers and Madeline Bubaka Black's second album is stunning Pop. It may not sound original, reminding you of many different things from the past, but it is so beautifully put together. Stunning Indie Pop.

The vocal is sugar sweet, she could sing the phone book and make it alluring. But the arrangements all take their share of the weight. Every song is different to the last. Beautifully produced and arranged in a way that makes the very best of that top notch vocal.

Castaways is all 60's Studio Pop, whilst Wasted Tonight, a co write with Mo Troper, is perfect 80s Jangling UK Indie Pop. Til You Know is pure Saint Etienne and Fool In Your Room is superb Jangle Pop with crossover Guitars.

Sunday Morning could be Tamar Berk as does Wants For Everything and you know how much we adore Tamar Berk. Slippers 08 demonstrates the joy of melody and even, more the beauty of Pop. Let your cares wash away as you sing along. 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 Regulars - Lights Get Low (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

All the way from Boxborough, Massachusetts, The Regulars offer up something a little more Rocky than we normally don't always go for. But the album is a really joyful listen. Indie Rock at heart, with an emphasis on the Rock.

The Riffs are killer, really gripping and the joint combined vocal of Jeff Clarke and Julia Fernandez - Turk works really really well. Clarke's songwriting is the strength, but his Guitar playing is extraordinarily great. The songs are tight and don't veer off into other directions and this straight aheadness is really appealing.

They can get looser and do so on the excellent slightly meandering Gotta Wait. The heavier Evening Phase has a slight feel of The Successful Failures and that similarity is around more than once. There is an earthy grit to what the band do and that is special, because not many are attempting such.

Petrified closes the album and is the one time that The Regulars come up for air and they still can't resist a regular breed crunch. They are nothing like Deacon Blue, but the dual vocal does have Ross - Mcintosh in feel, much more in your face though.

There is also a slight less Pop similarity to latter day Ash in parts. The standout song is Impossible which kicks in with an explosive Riff. It's the most Pop Rock that the band gets and is real belter of a song. At 21 minutes, the album is more of a mini one, but it is one that says what it wants to say and then gets off. A truly great listen!

The album is available at Name Your Price, so you have little to lose. You can listen and buy here.

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Deadbeat Beat - From Here To Ohio

 

I think many of you know how engaged that I am with intelligent Guitar Pop, especially when it adds a little Gravitas. Detroit's Deadbeat Beat have come up with exactly that, the 7 years gap has been way too long. This is an incredible listen.

I have a theory that the most compelling albums are when my great friend, Darrin Lee and I move from our own spheres to meet in the middle. From Here To Ohio is sure to hit us similarly. It retains its originality without ever losing the melody.

At times the album appears to be a cross between 60s US Summer Pop and the best of 80s Indie Pop. But there is also plenty of gentle Psych Pop that nears Toytown without ever getting there. Yet, the quartet can fashion up something as sprawling and magnificent as Straight Friends.

Although, this is essentially Guitar Pop, Pete Steffy's keyboards add something extra instrumentally, taking the songs into even more Poppy directions which are unusual for music of the genre. The songs are outstanding from the jaunty Jangle of Butchertown to the wonderful Psych Pop of Dying On That Hill.

I adore Toytown and Mellow fits into that village perfectly. Atmospheric is joyful New Wave Power Pop and the opener, Peach Sprite, is ace West Coast Jangle. At times, the spirit of The Sugarplastic hovers around and that makes From Here To Ohio an essential listen.

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

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