Alex Pester - Yours

 

We are long time fans of Alex Pester, a young prodigy with a fantastic back catalogue and Boy remains one of the best albums you will ever hear. It is sad reading the album notes that he has been struggling recently. The decision to go back home appears to be a good one.

The result of this is this new album and what an incredible listen it is. It is very different to what has gone before, incredibly inventive and very hard to label, which makes the album so wonderful. It really is all over the place, a myriad of ideas, all self recorded.

I really don't want to go into individual songs, this is an album to discover yourself. I'll embed my three current favourites, note the word current as these will change and your choices may be very different. It is heartfelt and beguiling.

At times, it is incredibly gentle and fragile, yet it can be chaotic and noisy. You will hear Folk that can be straight ahead or something acoustic that is twisted. There are changes in direction that are completely unexpected next to straight ahead charming.

I like it most when it gets a little twisted and you will have already heard the Psych Pop joy that is Pearl And Dean on a Listening To This Week Playlist. But Yours is an absolutely intoxicating listen. This is an album that has the promise to be looked back on in the future as something to constantly to recommend. So damn inventive!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Heavy Water - Sundown

 

After adding two songs to recent Listening To This Week Playlists, I felt it worth investigating the mini album from which they came and the six songs are a cracking listen. Heavy Water is the project of Lubbock Texas's Mitch Rambo.

Just as those two LTTW selections varied, the album does two. Split into two directions, both work really well. The default is heavier Power Pop that edges towards Rockier AOR. These songs hit my sensibilities most. They Rock without ever losing the melodic joy. 

High School, Never Be A Saint and Lithium Of That all fit that template and are great listens that will certainly be enjoyed by longstanding members here. But the other directions taken are beguiling and work equally well.

Forget It is a little more 90s Rock, but also sounds a little Classic Rock. The male / female vocal blends beautifully. Pain gets into Pop Punk, built around an hypnotic riff. Of Sound Mind still sounds as good as it did on my first listen. It broods and the Country Guitar sound complements a slowed down song. It is very different to what has gone before.

This type of album was everyday a decade ago, but too few attempt this type of Melodic Rock these days. AOR seems to be left in the past. Being able to mix this with the current noisier new breed of Power Pop is an admiral skill. The production is top notch and the album is a fine listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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Listening To This Week Playlist 2 February

   

Normal Service is resumed this week with 26 songs. Would we dare to open with a 16 minute song? Yes we would. You can educate your musical sensibilities or move on to song 2, big faves of ours, with something off their upcoming album.

Elsewhere, there are returning heroes with Nick Piunti, the black watch, He's Dead Jim, Dave Cope, Guv and Marc Valentine. PLUS all the great new sounds that you have come to expect. 2026 has officially begun in these parts.

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. 

Sykofant - Heart Of The Woods

Log Flume - Necessary Evil

He's Dead Jim - The Process

The 425's - Beautiful Mistake

Dave Cope - Funny Thing Love

Prism Shores - Kid Gloves

Nick Piunti - Big In Madrid

Living Too Late - Starting To Be

Marc Valentine - NY UAP

Guv - Blue Jade

Joe Glass - Man Who Lost His Diamond

the black watch - some people will believe

You Filthy Dog - Shared Universe

Hard To Miss - Pick Up The Phone

Muo Duo - After The End

Muo Duo · After The End

Nollvision - Orolig Sijal

Vehicle - You Are Not A Cowboy

Hedge - Hey Dude

Rock Berg - Stop Drop And Roll

ROCK BERG · Stop Drop and Roll

Miracle Finds - Miss You, My Friends

Dewey - Outside Of The Lines

Mirrorglass - Better Off Dead

Heavy Water - Of Sound Mind

Joe Doonan - Before You Leave

Kamikaze - X Me Out

LANPE - Findsine

LANPE · Findsine

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