Listening To This Week 8 June

Usually, the playlist is being compiled right up to the deadline. The most pleasing ones always seem to be sorted well ahead of time and this is one such one. 29 songs that were ready gradually and easily. It left a virtually free weekend and preparation for a glut of reviews that will be coming through the rest of the week.

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. 

Local Drags - Feeling Down Is On The Way Out

Onesie - Tryptophantastic

Log Flume - Get The Picture

Gentle Brontosaurus - Tumbleweed

The Race - The Best Is Yet To Come

Velour on Tap -Hourglass Lake Ahead

Bramwell - Standing On Stones

Aaron Skiles - Ain't No Marks

GALORE - Life Comes Quick

Kilo Bravo - World On Fire

The Greenberry Woods - Lame Love Letter

Bunchy's Big Score - I Don't Wanna Dance

MARKETPLACE - Jennifer Said

Marketplace · Jennifer Said

Vinyl Floor - Tell The World It Happened

Keaton Schiller - Spill

Conor Miley - Peepshow

The Mosfets - Keith Is A Blues Artist

The Mooches - Skinhead

Holy Coves - Hole

Palm Ghosts - Sear Zoning

Willie Dowling - Carry On Refusing

No Museums - Time Trials

Cocktail Slippers - This Town

Twin Bloom - Magazine Dreams

The Ragamuffins - Wobble Wobble

Soft No - Done

Clay Pigeons - The Flow

The Youth Play - Sunday

Deer Fang - Howl

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Wooden Overcoat - Hello Sunbeam EP

The Portland Oregon quartet offer up a dynamic debut EP. Not taking the obvious route, Hello Sunbeam offers up a mix of Dream Pop, Psych Pop and Shoegaze, generally in the same song and this works wonderfully well.

As well as a vocal smoothness, the soundtrack is soothing, almost soundscape and certainly Pop, but with tremendous riffs dominating proceedings. The best example is Finally Arrived which is wonderfully hypnotic and engaging.

Heaven Right Now is still instrumentally effective, but adds a twang and stupendous organ mixing something like 60s Psych with C86. I Knew We Would adds a folk feel to a strumming vibe, again sounding Psych Pop, yet this time more led by a Dream Pop vocal.

Home is the moodiest song of all four, skirting Surf and Spaghetti Western like feel, but also totally catchy. The band are instrumental led, offering up themes that connect completely and are a delight when the Joe Meek like Organ comes in. They are also not afraid to Twang.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.
 

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Local Drags - Cool If We Split?

 

What once appeared to be a solo shoot off from the excellent Starter Jackets is now the real main thing. Lannie Durbin is back on the excellent Stardumb Records label with his classic Power Pop that adds a slightly modern touch.

You got the warning with Sticky Menu on the latest Listening To This Week Playlist and here is the full palette. People note The Speedways as heading the revival of the genre, but Local Drags have carried the load just as much.

Everything that you need in a Power Pop album is here. Great melodic vocals, thrilling Riffs and big Choruses. It takes talent to nail the format and Durbin has it in spades. Cool If We Split? is more American than many which underlines what the country brought to the genre.

The Riffs are everything here, never more so than on the superb Bitter Fruit, a song than you will be singing in the shower for weeks to come. High Beams is a little more UK 1979 with its brain drilling Riff which underlines what a way the man has with catchiness.

Can't Get Through is wonderfully anthemic and Little Grief harks more to the 60s Guitar Pop. The best may be saved till the last. Feeling Down Is On The Way Out is slower and has more in common with the 90s Slacker Pop.

The link to Starter Jackets is still here with Luke McNeill records, mixes and masters Cool If We Split? If you wanted to know what Power Pop means to the fans, this album shows how it can revive the spirits, no matter how bad things are personally and worldwide, there is an ability to listen and forget all the outside noise.

You can listen to and buy the album here, You can buy the Vinyl and CD from Stardumb here.

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Log Flume - Go Where The Money Goes

 

We've normally had a run of summer Power Pop by now, so I'm delighted to at last have something to get a hold of. Log Flume's 2024 debut caught me completely be surprise, it was really popular on here and reached the Top 20 of 2024's Best Albums. You can read my review here.

So what caught me by surprise, is the low key release of this follow up. I expected red carpets and fireworks, yet it has appeared without a whisper and it really takes what they do onto greater things. There are the sort of things that made Splash Hit so appealing, but there are big strides contained within.

The Chester County PA quartet still master the Power Pop. The Jangle Pop of Got This Feeling is just the ticker, as is Misery which is top notch Guitar Pop. But other songs take other directions. Far From You has a much noisier riff led that takes it into UK 80s Indie with aplomb.

Up By 9 O'Clock is pure Housemartins and the title track could be Mighty Wah with a haunting Guitar track. Misery is C86 Glasgow joy and Anything raises the spirit of 70s UK New Wave, a real let's do the show right here.

Every Single Day slows things down into a Slacker vibe, Weezer-ish and is the one song that denotes the American influence, because throughout the album sounds more Brit. It is a stunning listen with its Psych Pop Guitar feel.

The whole thing is a celebration of the beauty of Pop and the Guitar. Never more so than on the closer, Follow You which is wonderful Power Pop. If you liked the debut album, you will adore this. The four of them should be shouting from the rooftops about the sheer joy of this melodic Pop.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Sour Ops - Bikers Make Better Lovers

 

It is an extraordinarily fine time for Guitar Pop and Indie Rock presently as favourites return with new albums, it's just finding the time to tell you all about them that holds back joy. Nashville Trio, Sour Ops are first up to enhance your lugholes.

The band mix Indie Rock with Power Pop and Guitar Pop. A little rockier than those around them, songwriter Price Harrison's vocal helps make them so. His voice allows them to straddle genres meaning they are at ease in whatever direction they choose.

The riffs are heavier than you might expect, at times bordering on the rockier side of Indie Rock, yet also in touch with something more Classic. Power Pop with an edge and even an ability to mirror UK Glam Rock or sound like someone such as The Successful Failures, particularly on All That Matters Now with some ace Pedal Steel courtesy of Paul Niehaus.

The Power Of Right Now is Glam Rock played with a Power Pop beat. Opting Out opens up the album with a New Wave Synth Intro before moving at pace into something a little 80s Indie aided by an absolutely killer solo.

She's So Strange is melodic Indie Rock and adds a blistering Fuzz solo and No Winner Tonight borders Garage Rock and Punk. Fake Appeal is Noo Yawk sleaze. Sour Ops don't come up for air through all 10 songs, not that you'd ever want them to. Great Stuff!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week 1 June

As we approach our 10th Anniversary and pass 4 million views, it is worth noting how popular the LTTW Playlist has become. Like I Don't Hear A Single itself, it was only meant to be a small thing. Initially, a way to note great songs from artists who didn't necessarily have an Album or EP planned.

It has become a real driver for what happens here, bringing new followers and listeners. We were adamant that streamers such as the likes of Spotify did little for the artists that we like. Great music fell down a big black hole. Hence, the concentration on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube.

Those sites allowed people to listen to an artist's Back Catalogue and listeners didn't have to sign in or pay to listen. Bandcamp, in particular, allows listeners to buy. Streamers provide a song and that's it, we try to get people to become fans of the artists and this place is all about the artist.

26 songs this week 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. 

Local Drags - Sticky Menu

Jade Green - I Can't Wait

The Martial Arts - Seeing Double

The Regulars - Impossible

Miserable Chillers - Bikeman

Sour Ops - Problem Number Next

Herr Nilsson - Queen Melody

Dave's Manual - Electrical

Wooden Overcoat - Home

Forgotten Garden - Rain

SPRINGCLEAN - Let Go

ELIKSA - From Falmer Court

The Jonnybirds - St. Venice

Middlebees - When Will The Light Shine

Cashell - Around Town

Magic City - Airtight Alibi

Hoaxxers - Hard Luck

EG Vines - I Like 'em Brain Dead

Hexham Heads - In Time

Vemberlain - Your Memory Has Been Magnetised

Electric High - Higher Heights

Roy - Pity Party

Tiny Tiny - Friend In Philadelphia

Tradie - Swan Drive

Jonny's Day Out - Zumba

Rockvyn - Parasocial Metabolism

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4,000,000

 

Over the weekend, I Don't Hear A Single exceeded 4 Million visits, what is even more amazing is that the 4th million came up in under 4 and a half months. Over 350,000 in May, the interest in new music really does warm the heart.

I've never been self congratulatory, IDHAS has always been about the artist and remains so. I don't really talk much about myself, but this is the longest that I've ever stuck with anything and the place seems to grow and grow. My Attention Span remains.

I only really look at the numbers to see what has been hot and not to guide future Reviews. 

What has been most pleasing is how the archive here has been trawled resulting  and how the LTTW Playlist has evolved. I, personally, do not think that I have been as hectic or active this year, which is a testament to how the place keeps growing. 

Lots to come in June and then of course the 10th Anniversary celebrations that arrive mid July.

Weird Nightmare - Hoopla

 

METZ released 5 albums on Sub Pop, the last being in 2024. Alex Edkins was the vocalist and guitarist. His solo vehicle is Weird Nightmare and this is the second album, the first was recorded whilst METZ were still a thing. Edkins is still on Sub Pop.

Weird Nightmare is very different to METZ, the latter were noisy and disruptive, wonderfully so and a little Punk. Weird Nightmare are surpisingly and splendidly Guitar Pop. At times a mix of classic Power Pop and the current noisier version of the genre.

But there isn’t just that. Never In Style is pure Replacements, as is Bright City Lights and Pay No Mind is ace 60s UK Beat with a top notch noisy ending. Yet compare those two the Jangling Twanging sugar sweet Power Pop of If You Should Turn Around and you soon realise that you’ve got quite an album on your hands and in your ears.

Little Strange is even more astray from the rest. A Punk vocal matched with a gripping Riff and a driving rhythm. At times very 1978 and yet also in touch with the 90s College Rock Revival. But it is the Guitar Pop that resonates most as it might for our followers.

Might See You There is a Power Pop classic, reminiscent of The Speedways, but with a bigger arrangement. Baby Don’t leans more to the likes of Uni Boys and Forever Elsewhere picks up the pace without losing sight of the genre.

The whole album is a revelation. A great celebration of the chorus with killer riffs and tight arrangements. I’ve select three songs that show the range of the album, but I urge all to listen to the whole of Hoopla to appreciate how great the Power Pop is.

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

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The Tyde - Once (25th Anniversary Reissue)

 

In my previous life at Anything Should Happen, the concentration was on collectively finding great lost albums. The breakaway to IDHAS was because of how the new was slated by peers and now I’ve spent as long here as I did there. So the looking back doesn’t happen too often these days.

But two albums have been reissued this year that both remind me of those times and what exceptional albums that they are. The second will appear in the near future, but for now we will concentrate on the first. Los Angeles’s The Tyde and their magnificent debut album.

Released at the back end of Brit Pop, it was largely ignored at the time, how many great American bands fitted into that genre. Once slightly did, but there was much more to it did. It is an album that is essentially built on a groove encompassing multiple genres, a proper album where each song complemented the previous one.

It does sound very U.S., particularly West Coast Rock, especially the laidback feel. However there are hints of San Franciscan Psych, the likes of Primal Scream and a restrained Black Crowes. There is even a hint of The New Radicals at times vocally.

It is a beautifully performed and arranged affair. A backing track that holds everything together, allowing the riffs to reach out and grip you, whilst at the same time leaving you hypnotised. I suppose that this is essentially a Rock album that provides something for everyone.

There are great moments of Pop, surprise Steel Guitar and a wonderful organ tone throughout. I’ve deliberately not mentioned any songs, but I have embedded my three favourite songs which change regularly. Once sounds as great as it did 25 years ago.

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

Weird Bloom - Wrong Time Wrong Place

 

It is great to have Weird Bloom back. I loved Stargate, which appeared in the Best Albums Of 2025 and the Italian five piece are back for more. They call it Junk Shop Glam, I’d call it UK Glam Rock 1973 - 1974 and there can lie a problem because I am of an age that can remember that period.

So my review will delight in how the band has got that period nailed down and make them sound like a retro band. However, most people will be much younger and not know the past bar the odd single. To them, these songs will sound as new and they are original songs.

So for the new, this is great joyful good time Guitar led Pop Rock. The oldsters can marvel at how close the band are to a beloved singles led time. Simply put, this is a great feel good album that puts its own spin on a glorious age and what bookmarks there are.

Look At Me is Bolan-esque, Lend Me Your Bones is not a million miles away from the Bay City Rollers. Wrong Time Wrong Place revives memories of Mud and Tiger Feet. Love’s A Glimpse is a little Suzi Quattro and The Devil On The Hill sounds like one of the rockier Sweet B Sides.

So having mentioned the references, it should be noted that the album is total fun, great Guitar Pop, beautifully performed and arranged. You will soon be tapping your feet, ckapping your hands and singing along to the choruses. Great Stuff!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist 25 May

A brief story about this week's LTTW Playlist. I was going to give this weeks a rest for only the second time. Simply due to how much I Don't Hear A Single has on this week. Meetings everywhere about its future advancement. 

However, I decided to have a quick listen to what was in on Saturday morning and was still listening at midnight. The result is the maximum 30 songs this week. A playlist that grows and grows as it goes. There are surprises, but this is probably the most Guitar Pop, the playlist has ever been.

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. 

Wynona Bleach - Be Positive

The Chovies - Lili Taylor

Next Week's Washing - All You Fear Is All You Feel

Weird Bloom - Wrong Time Wrong Place

The Speedways - I Shouldn't Have Tried To Leave Without You

Billy Reeves - Encyclopedi-ite

The Allwells - Walk All Over You

Shapes Like People - My Paradise

Tom Emlyn - Miss Understood

Radio Days - Flying High

Barry Walsh - Star Ride

Cult Canyon - Real Sublime

Bullseye - Tell Tale Signs

Tamburella - Slovenia

The Silver Bars - The Man Who Follows The Man

The Glorious Rabbits - Shine

Young Couple - As The Leaves Unfold

Michael Slawter With Julian Volpe - Give It All Up

Dead Star Boys - Killed By Dreams

Whoop - Tightrope

Sundrast - Tennis Coach

Certain Things - Sullen Freak

Certain Things · Sullen Freak

Jim Allen - Panic Button

Ben Auld - Hell Bent

Yacovelli - Doppelganger

District 8 - Don't You Believe In Miracles

The Creepy Jingles - All Because Of You

White Fence - Unread Books

Mean Sea - Pick Me Up

Crocodiles - Time Is Wasting Me

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Dead Star Boys - RATS

 

Medway, as we've tried to say over the the past year or so, isn't all about Psych Pop and 60s UK Beat. There's a great New Wave Guitar led scene and Dead Star Boys are certainly part of it. The trio's second album is wonderful New Wave.

The band is certainly in your face and a reminder of how great that late 70s / early 80s New Wave scene was. A mixture of the aftermath of Punk, Mod Pop, Canvey Island energy and for all the noise, a way with coming up with killer choruses.

Viv Tucker's vocal is somewhere between Pete Shelley and John Lydon and that backed by a killer rhythm section and an ability to resonate via big chunky riffs. The arrangements aren't ten a penny and allow you to believe that the trio offer a high energy live set.

The pure Punk energy of the splendid Killed By Dreams grips you and adds a surprise Organ accompaniment. So great a song, that it deserved to be the opener. But the equally excellent Plastic Age obviously prevents this. An inspired Buggles cover.

There is such a raucous feel to the whole album. A rawness that drags you in. A hope that the energy of 1979 could be with us again. I was around for that and it fuelled by musical tastes. The noise hides the melody at times, but this is a great set of songs.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD is available here.

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The Violet Twilight - Between The Colours And Me (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

I am a massive fan of Tim Butcher, the Australian multi instrumentalist behind The Violet Twilight. He offers up extraordinary pastoral Psych Pop albums that just appear with little fanfare. Everyone as good if not better than the last.

He deserves much greater attention. Part of me wants to shake him and tell him that you should put yourself about more, because I don't hear anyone out there offering up better music in the genre. Australia, in particular, is laden with similar sounds that are nowhere near as good as this.

At times, he sounds like a less poppy Orgone Box, other times he resonates with the late 80s / early 90s Neo Psych revival and yet he can also sound 60s hippy trippy. The songs just resonate, particularly instrumentally, in a sort of Kula Shaker way.

But these songs drag you in to an all peaceful listen that kinda washes over you. But a song like Fade Away is a much more all encompassing arrangement that veers close to Toytown. The Reaper is ultra jaunty, almost Brit Pop.

Lost To Time appears twice, the second version is a revelatory Harmonium version that is just captivating. Between The Clouds And Me is a mellow listen, deep, thoughtful, almost shoe gaze at times. An album that provides complete relaxation and that is exactly what is needed in these times.

You can listen to and buy the album at Name Your Price here.

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The Loft - Badges

 

The second album since their 2023 reunion underlines everything that is great about the quartet. Four decades on, they stand as relevant as any of the newer upstarts from both here and the States. Badges is no nostalgia trip.

Around as C86 became prevalent, an early Creation signing and reverential platitudes from the next generations, this could easily be a paean to what has gone before, similar ages to myself, around at a time when music influenced me most, but this is none of that, because the whole listen reveals this to be an album that could be a debut now.

This is beautifully arranged and performed Indie Guitar Pop. Built on inspired riffs that mirror that late 80s scene, but with an intelligent lyrical bent, the songs are great story telling affairs. Instrumentally, they flirt with Paisley Pop and the long gone IRS scene.

These are riffs to die for, never more so on the meandering Ex-Lovers And Long Lost Brothers. The twang on Goodbye Saturday Night and that intro riff on Junk Shop make you stand to attention. 1955 is so wonderfully reflective and laidback.

Campervan is a killer song, moody and magnificent with a delightful engaging handclap. Sad Comedian is so Bolan-esque, with its Ray Davies like storytelling and inspired video featuring Stewart Lee. Proper songs built on proper arrangements, what a stellar album!

You can listen to and buy the album here.  The Vinyl and CD can be bought here.

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No Buses - Boys Loved Her

 

One of the things that concerned me about being in a Blog format was people not noticing older Reviews. The 7 posts front display meant that much previous could be missed and although each artist was tagged, that provided a really long tagging list, too unwieldy to be of great use.

So it is delightful to see that the current most popular post over the past 30 days is a 2019 Review of the superb No Buses album, a Japanese band with incredible Intelligent Indie credentials. They are still around, albeit sporadically, I just wish that their music was a little bit more organised distribution wise as they are a superb band.

I put a lot of work into Google Analytics around 2019 and 2020. It was really boring stuff, lots of reading and tip getting, but it does work. Older posts get spotted much more often such as Mick Dillingham's Interviews. It is great currently to see this album and a Listening To This Week Playlist from 2024 both getting such attention.

I Don't Hear A Single has always been a bout the artist and older posts getting attention leaves me with a big smile. In the same way, that I hope people reading a review of a new album then go back to listen to the artist's back catalogue.

I'm no advocate of anything Google, it sort of swallows up everything great and its latest focus completely on AI is totally welcome. But Analytics continues to work with little personal attention. I just wish other initiatives could make new music more accessible. Spotify is never the answer.

You can read the review of No Buses by clicking on the link in the most popular posts section at the top of the left hand side of the Blog. Alternatively, you can click on the review link here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 18 May

A shorter 22 selections this week. A really strong playlist with some real eye (should that be ear?) openers and one of the best kick offs that we have had in a long while.

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. 

Good Reverend - Fine

The Get Alongs - Sunday Afternoon

The Pretty Graves - Nothing Passes Like Time

Joy Vibes - Someone To Open Up My Eyes

Amateur Ornithologist - I See Faces

TV Star - Reality Cheque

Proun - Miracles

Soft Girl - They Bugged Our House!

Thee Windows - Um Something

Vanilla - Black Saturday

Swive - Fading Out

Rusty Shackle - Your Arrows

Rusty Shackle · Your Arrows

U.S. Highball - Copenhagen Chemistry

Tim Gambles - Through The Sound

Elephant And Stars - Take It All

Foliage - U Love Me

Ram Vela & The Easy Targets - Zoloft Rock City

Ram Vela & the Easy Targets · Zoloft Rock City

The Hollywood Stars - I'm Not Broken

Blueboy - Stardust

Girls Are Waiting To Meet You - Zombie Girl 

Go Sports Team! - Screen Time

Sunny Jim - It's No Joke

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