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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Amateur Ornithologist - The Haunted Life Of Architecture

 

It is very rare for a debut album to reach our Top 10 albums of the year, 2024's Hide did just that and could have been Number 1, but for the quality ly original. on display from that year. You can read my review here. I've been dying to tell you about the follow up for ages and now I can.

The Haunted Life Of Architecture is every bit as good if not better. Daniel Clifford is up there with the likes of Andy Partridge and Stephen Duffy and when Clifford brings the songs home to Sunderland and the other five band members, they become arrangements of the highest order.

Amateur Ornithologist summon up the soul of XTC and the beauty of The Lilac Time. Stunning Orchestral Pop with extraordinary gravitas. Soulful, blissful and incredibly arranged. Songs that are not afraid to take unusual directions when they are already gobsmacking. 

It isn't just the arrangements, the vocal harmonies and rhythm section enhance the joy. This is one incredible listen. At its heart, it is Guitar Pop, but the six take it so far as to be incomparable to that, each song takes you in a different direction.

But, more often it is Pastoral Psych Pop, something that is hard to master, hence my comparison to Partridge and Duffy. Complex arrangements married to vocal harmonies and unique arrangements that are just jaw dropping.

I could have written reams and reams about these 10 songs, but similar to whenever I discover such a great album, I prefer to direct you to a full album listen. I've picked my three favourites that will probably be different tomorrow. Prepare yourself for an extraordinary listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Good Reverend - Sweet Tea And Cigarettes

 

We don't venture into Guitar Rock too often, too often it sounds too good ole boys and come on girl. It isn't that we don't acknowledge the ability, it is just that lyrically, it gets too samey and all Guitar Solo hell. There are exceptions and Columbus quartet, Good Reverend are certainly one.

Yes, they can't half rock, but it is done with such variety, melody and style. Tongue in cheek at times, a little like The Darkness without the high pitch. Across these nine songs, there are so many styles incorporated without ever losing the fact that they are a rock band.

Damn Good Time edges towards Chinn and Chapman Glam Rock. Apple Core Face gets very close to Prog. Icarus even adds Queen like harmonies to something that isn't a mile away from Queen I. My words suggest something that isn't ordinary. It certainly isn't.

Then there is Fine which is absolutely off the scale in weirdness and sheer invention. Rocked up Pop Rock that completely surprises you and makes you halt the album listen to hear it again. Two and a half minutes of sheer joy.

Chocolate Fingers is heavy Psych Pop, totally incomparable to the all out Rock of Mosquito. There is also a surprise 7 minute song halfway through as Whatever You Want meanders on a hypnotic groove that is totally absorbing.

The lesson of the story is don't believe what you initially think. At face value, Sweet Tea And Cigarettes would appear another of those Classic Rock affairs, but one listen and you realise you are in the court of greatness. What a welcome surprise and what a totally splendid listen.

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

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Future Teens - Still Life

 

Still in Boston, this time with the mighty trio Future Teens who reach their fourth album and it is an amazing listen. A decade on, they termed themselves as Bummer Poignep largely due to the souls searching and self reflection of their lyrics.

They sound like two bands in one with Amy Hoffman and Daniel Radin's songwriting splitting the vocals, 5 each and both taking slightly different directions. Hoffman sounding more in your face, wonderfully so, whilst Radin is more Slacker Pop and mellow. They complement each beautifully.

With both alternating on Bass, there is a locked in rhythm section with drummer, Colby Blauvelt, the three are one hell of a band. Both Radin's Half Loser and Adjust Failure are great Guitar Pop, a little 90s Slacker, but expertly put together.

You'll have heard Unmade Bed on the Listening To This Week Playlist and it remains my favourite here. Confessional, lyrically adept and passionate and wonderfully honest. Yet Still Life shows a completely different side to her skills.

It is a hypnotic slowed down joy. Superbly arranged, more laid back, the arrangement is superb. Mourning Time is a tribute, very singer songwriter, almost Folk and Bad Faith is fuzzed up dynamite. Hoffman responds with Harm Production.

This is a song that blows the doors off, intelligent Lavigne but much more grown up, slightly angry with a heartfelt roar. Future Teens have hit the point where they don't have to prove anything, they follow their own course and rules. The yin and the yang are perfect. What a great album!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy the vinyl here.

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The Northern Line - The Northern Line EP

 

Straight outta Boston, but sounding more like a band from 90s Northern England, come The Northern Line. The driving Bass and Inspiral Carpets like Organ provides the groove, but there is no fear of a great guitar solo.

Throw A Fist is totally Baggy Madchester, all groove, Guitar music that you can dance to with a killer riff. Lightning Strikes is a cracking opener that has as much in common with Brit Pop as it does with 60s Beat with a splendid Guitar solo.

Out In The Drift is moodier, built on a meandering riff. hypnotic instrumentally, story telling lyrically, a little more Indie Rock in feel. Let's Roll On sounds a little Northern Uproar without the celebration, a groove (and what a groove) that lets in a wonderful Guitar solo to its driving rhythm section.

You sense that The Northern Line could be any sort of band that they wished to be, the parts are all there. However, they choose to celebrate the UK 90s in an a really original way. So few take this direction, particularly towards Madchester, that it is so refreshing to hear someone do it so well.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. 

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I Don't Hear A Single 10th Anniversary Planning

It is a crazy time here at IDHAS as the 10th Anniversary approaches in July. We will hit the 4th million view before that and that is a little frightening. The place was only ever meant to be a small reaction to people of my age constantly banging on about how all new music was crap before they went and listened to Badfinger for the 10th time that week.

Nothing at all wrong with Badfinger at all, I love 'em, but there has been music since. So as I begin to think about the milestone, I wanted to celebrate in some way. It isn't something we normally bother with, I don't put myself about much and allow modesty to hold back self congratulation. So, the answer was to let the artists do the talking, simply because this place has always been primarily about them. 

So the plan is to have a week of Live sessions from artists who have made the biggest splash here over the decade. The last time we did this, it was incredibly popular and led to some surprise associations that continue to this day. That was for the hundredth edition of the Audio Extravaganza. 

The planned feature will be a week of sessions, three a day, totalling 21. The format will be 4 songs, one of which will be a cover. The cover was thought of with not doing any on the LTTW Playlist and that it would be nice for the newer to celebrate the older. 

I'll be going through the 10 years to note artists who have made an impact. It will be Guitar Pop heavy of course, but there will be Prog, Psych Pop, Rock and other diversions. I'll be inviting artists over the next month to finalise a line up.

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Vanilla - Psychedeli

 

I am a big fan of Vanilla and they do release an exhausting amount of stuff, although this is a positive thing in these days of three year cycles. I first got into Vanilla, via my adoration of Liar's Club which began in the days of Anything Should Happen.

Their Come And Go album was a real favourite on ASH and still is in these parts. That album is still available on Bandcamp, expanded as a Name Your Price and is highly recommended. You can get to it here. Vanilla had released a self titled album in 2006, but largely carried on where Liar's Club left off.

The Tacoma lot release great Guitar Pop, but here is an anthology, not of their career, but of the Psych Pop recorded throughout the band's two decades. It is an inspired collection and many of you know that the easiest way to my heart is via Psych Pop. A genre that I adore more than most.

I say inspired, because Psychadeli works beautifully as a stand alone Psych Pop album with the emphasis on Pop. The band's lyrical wit and adeptness shines through, as it always does, but the complete celebration of the genre here is totally engaging.

I don't intend to talk about the songs too much as I really want you to go off and listen to the whole thing. Amidst the Andy Partridge like Pancake Hat and the Jangle Pop and Brass instrumental extravaganza of Swinging London are 9 other equally splendid songs. I've embedded my three current favourites. I urge you all to take in the whole thing.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Pretty Graves - The Pretty Graves

 

Welcome to the Connecticut quartet, The Pretty Graves, debut album and it is a storming amalgam of styles. Complex, yet incredibly melodic. Dark, yet built on almost Power Pop choruses. Deep, yet incredibly accessible.

At face value, you might take this lot as Alt Rock, but that is just a part what they do, extending to multi faceted individual songs. The riffs and solos are incredible and the songs veer between Pop Rock, Psych and Slacker Rock.

The opener Bending Reeds kicks off with a Bowie Berlin Guitar Intro and a vocal that is all sleazy Noo Yawk. but morphs into a Psych Guitar extravaganza and that is just one song. Each Breath instrumentally is wonderful fuzzed up Noise Rock, yet vocally somewhere between 90s Grunge and Slacker Rock.

Up On The Hill gets all Velvet Underground, yet Nothing Passes Like Time is outstanding melodic Pop Rock. That Guitar Pop is present throughout, Do It All Night and Feels Good are other examples. The latter is pulled along by a magnificent riff and groove.

Queen Of Lies gets mighty close to Psych Pop, whilst Walkin' is nearer to the late 80s, early 90s, melodic shoegaze. It is rare to hear a band that can be so melodic, yet also let loose. This debut promises so much and is absolutely engaging.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week 11 May

Welcome to the new Listening To This Week Playlist. 28 songs. Great Guitar Pop as always, but some really interesting diversions too.

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. 

Rural France - Electrical Tape

Pop Crimes - Promises

Professor And The Mad Man - 12 Strings And Tambourines

Future Teens - Unmade Bed

Sumos - Icebreaker

Hurry - Zoned Out

The Kashbuk - Sunset

Strange Little Hazards - Sweet Little Bird

The Speedways - Luna

All These Animals - Tap Water Or Bad Habits

He's Dead Jim - Glam Droogs

Adios Fatso - Gopro Not Again!

Bloom Parade - Pop Song

Echo Alexander - Forget The Serotin High, Much Prefer The Void Anyways

With Radiant Action - I Saw A Girl

Cult Figures - Space Invader

Sludgeworth - Hold Steady

Gin Wigmore - Beautiful Mess

Foxy - She Waits Alone

Midland Railway - Hair Song

Marian - Rock 'N' Roll

The Summerlands - Sellwood Bridge Blues

The Burning Limos - Young And Beefy

The Beautiful Game - Not Your King

Sparks After Midnight - Funny Way

Roots Asylum - Femme Fatale

Bakakai - Busy Girl

The Telescopes - White Noise

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Rural France - SLOTHS.

 

Today appears to be a celebration of what's happening over here, long needed after all the tumbleweed we see. It is also a second opportunity to mention Meritorious Records and confirm my love of Rural France. our review of the Wiltshire duo's previous album, Exactamondo!, is here.

I say duo, but this is a trio with Jeff Hamm on Drums. SLOTHS feels a little more laidback than previous offerings, there's less of the early Teenage Fanclub Guitar histrionics. This change of pace, allows the lyric adeptness to shine through.

Indeed at times, there are real comparisons to prime time Go-Betweens, particularly on a song like Someone You Forgot. My long time favourite, Lonely Heart Pyramid Scheme is enhanced by the horns of John Hare as is the closer, Electrical Tape.

Electrical Tape is a stunner of a song that is melancholic and brooding and yet builds and builds until the Effects Pedal allows the Guitar to come in and then the Brass. Jukebox Weepie even gets all Half Man Half Biscuit again and has a wonderful twang to it.

High Hopes (Ballad Of Rural France) is a real let's do the song right here and with a bigger arrangement could have been a Brit Pop classic. It also has a loveable weeping jangle to it. Thirty-Seven Forever is splendid jaunty C86.

How You Gonna Get Even is Guitar Pop of the highest quality, a great Pop song for all times. Rural France's lyrical wit and strength often gets overlooked, the pen is as mighty as the sword. SLOTHS is a wonderfully crafted album, mellow and completely hypnotic.

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

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He's Dead Jim - Ludovico Technique EP (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

 

Hot on the heels of the These Men, These Monsters album release at the start of the year, a real favourite of followers here, comes a follow up EP and is as interesting as this quartet ever are. I suppose you might call this lot Art Pop, but that doesn't nearly tell the story.

Each song comes in on a different angle packing so much into its time. Glam Droogs is all 1974, a year that I still apparently live in, all Flares and Butterfly collars. Slumber Down is so 80s smooth with Sax and everything, a song that you can imagine Sade singing.

Love Plus Death shows a more default approach, wonderfully all over the place. A little Brit Pop, a little Noise Rock. rocking your socks off, even a little Punk. I can't help imaging Liam Gallagher or John Lydon  singing it. It doesn't half rock.

The real surprise is the cover of Sheila & B. Devotion's Spacer. There's not a hint of Chic about it. this is more Indie Rock anthem and inspired. It would be on tomorrow's Listening To This Week if we allowed cover songs on it. This band is so ultra interesting!

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

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Sumos - Luck.

Near to home as the excellent Manchester quartet release six cracking songs on the equally excellent Meritorio Records label. You've already heard the title track on a recent Listening To This Week Playlist and it sounds as great as ever.

Sumos offer up a mix of Indie Rock and Brit Pop with side orders of Guitar Pop and Power Pop. All six songs reveal an outstanding variety and ability. Indeed, at times they have a tint of something from the other end of the East Lancs Road, a Scouse 90s Pop feel. I live somewhere in the middle of the two cities, so both suit well.

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The increased pace of Icebreaker allows the band to get noisier and come across as a rockier Housemartins. whereas Hunting Tracks is more Brit Pop, the poppier type around the edges of the genre rather than the bombastic nonsense. If I Would shows a more reflective Acoustic side, sounding more than a little Deer Tick.

Aram is brooding late 80s Scouse Pop with a corking hypnotic feel. Honesty is great 80s Indie Guitar Pop, too melodic for C86, It may be the best thing here. But the whole affair is a great listen revealing the strength of melody and the guitar. Wonderful!

 

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

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Slow Century - Goodbye Oblivion

 

I love it when a release catches me by surprise, particularly when it offers up things that we wouldn't normally make our ears prick up. Goodbye Oblivion sounds a little 80s at times, but not in a dreadful Synth Pop or New Romantic way.

There's a lot going on, Post Punk, a little darker Synth Rock, but at times it is wonderfully angular and the choruses grab you in an anthemic way. The Synth Rock is largely covered by Old World and that breaks out wonderfully into a slightly shouty Post Punk.

At times, there's a slight latter day Skids feel, Absolute Game like pensive, particularly on the title track, a corking listen. Scatter Atoms is splendidly Angular, nearer Guitar Pop, Field Music with more attitude. Cover The Bruise sounds very mid 80s and is funky as funky can be with another stellar chorus.

Paint The Shadows starts with a My Sharona like riff, but is nowhere near Power Pop, being a much darker anthem with yet another stellar chorus and a killer brooding guitar track. This Portsmouth five piece have an ability to engage without ever being ordinary.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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PM Me Babe!

 

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. I've had a viral infection that just won't go away. The last week has brought Brain Fog, being unable to concentrate on anything. Enough of all the attention seeking, let's get on with what this place is supposed to do.

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Listening To This Week 4 May

29 songs on this week's LTTW Playlist. Including the Glam Power Pop debut of The Fourth Act, showing all the Yorkshire Wit of a Terrorvision and the magnificent return of The Loft with Sad Comedian and an inspired appearance from Stewart Lee.

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 Fourth Act - Filthy Rich

Change Life - Smile

Radio Weekend - Circles

The Loft - Sad Comedian

Vanilla - Sweetshop

Beaten Docket - The Winston O'Boogie Band

Beaten Docket · The Winston O'Boogie Band

Florence Dore - Abacus

Tigers Jaw - Primary Colors

Slow Century - Scattered Atoms

Mythical Motors - Solid Wall Of Light

The Response - Hollow Hour

The Response · Hollow Hour

Secret Molecules - What's Come Over Me

Scott C Park - Marlene

Johnny Marie - Down A Long And Lonely River

The Hanging Stars - All Your Yesterdays

Gian Solo - Come With Me

Jenny Gillespie Mason - Rungs Of Love

Faiyaz And The Wasted Chances - Bleeding Out

Larlin - Sondheim

Larlin · Sondheim

Big Liz - Long Long Time Ago

Mark Crozer - Everything Must Change

Illuminated Sidewalks - Mazes And Faces

Gomez Addams - Let's Blow Up The World

Scott Fisher - A Billion Suns

Jonathan Segel - World Still Burns

Martial Arts - Before The Fire

The Bernadette Maries - ESO

Modern Holiday - Beware The Robots

So Beast - New York

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Cape Crush - Place Memory

 I've been loving the singles and been waiting impatiently to tell you about the album and now I can. On first listen, the Massachussetts quartet seem guided for other great female led bands pile that includes the likes of The Beths and Fortitude Valley.

There is certainly similar depth to that pair and songs are just as melodic and Guitar led. Ali Lipman's vocal is sugar sweet, she could sing the phone book, but there is much more to this band. They are the sum of their parts and carry with them a much edgier sound.

The songs are beautifully arranged, offer up surprise diversions. This is Guitar Pop, wonderfully melodic Guitar Pop, but the twin Guitars take the songs into much rockier directions such as Indie Rock, even emo without ever detracting from what the band are good at.

Without those diversions, songs that take surprise directions mid stream, solos that rip, Place Memory would be a Power Pop album, but those heavier interests make the offering more unusual and even more satisfying. The choruses are killer as is the Guitar work, but the whole thing never rests on its laurels.

North Street shows restraint, even hinting at Americana, Dotted Line is even more bare, even a little Cranberries, beautifully sung. Also-Ran even reaches into 90s Rock and I Care Too Much About Everything gets all Big Rock.

But it the Guitar Pop that rings out most, lyrically adept and real foot tapping joy mark this album out as one of the years best. Catchy as catchy can be, but not afraid to blow the doors off. Melodic Joy, wonderfully performed and so well brought to market. Absolutely outstanding!

You can listen to and buy the album here. This album demands a physical release! It has one. You can buy the Vinyl here.

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Secret Molecules - In Your Shadow EP

I am a big fan of Secret Molecules and have covered the EPs since that initial wonderful self titled debut album in 2022. That album was in the Best Of Year and the follow up EPs have been every bit as great. Splendid Pop Rock!

The Dutch Trio from Dordrecht other up bouncy melodic joyful releases. These five songs even closer to Power Pop, but still retain the proximity to the likes of Squeeze and in particular Caper Clowns. Stereo Music On The Radio is probably the best example here. A Caper Clowns ringer.

The title track is great Guitar Pop, with a twang that gets a little Americana. Mulholland Drive sounds a little more 60s, Merseybeat even and offers up great melody to a Power Pop drum beat. I Don't Think I Know Your Name gets more jangling 80s.

What's Come Over Me is a great closer is great Pop Rock with its slight UK New Wave feel.  In Your Shadow is a great Summer EP revealing big choruses, killer riffs and a sheer pleasantness that completely washes over you and makes the day brighter.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Welcome To May

 

April is always a bit strange for me on here. I don't know if it's the hecticness of the Best Of Year albums or March's 31 in 31 Days, but April always seems to be slow going. A sort of tiredness creeps in. So I was surprised that we got a record 220K views in a month when we didn't do a lot.

However, there's loads to come in May, Review wise. The LTTW Playlist gets more and more popular despite our resident troll and we are hoping to get a couple of new features up and running. We always leave today free with it being Bandcamp Friday and New Release Day (and there are quite a few great releases today).

Back tomorrow evening, but keenly listening to loads.

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