Whelligan - In Pursuit Of Inchoate Visions Of Beauty

 

The final Review of the 31 in 31 is something very close to my heart and deliberately left until the last review. I last visited Whelligan for his previous 2022 album, In The Mean Meantime, a corking affair, you can read my review here. 

So four years on cometh the follow up and it is an absolutely charming offering of Indie Pop and Neo Psych, wonderfully pastoral. Produced by long time IDHAS favourite Nick Frater and there are similarities to Frater, but this is less Guitar Pop and more life affirming.

The use of Brass and Acoustics enhances a really thought provoking album. It may be gentle, Jamie Whelligan's vocals will always give you that, but the arrangements are absolutely stunning. The Melotron just melts my heart when it appears.

The theme is about Whelligan's growing up in 80s Birkenhead. It is an area that I am utterly familiar with, having worked on the Wirral for most of my life. I know the times well to as the town and Liverpool were in the midst of the Thatcher slump, all we really got was some nice gardens and managed decline.

It wasn't as mellow as this album though as anyone going through St. Johns Subway at night would testify. but there was a defining spirit, an ability to laugh at the degradation with a self reference. So to the album, which is a must for all.

It is pensive, beautiful, if I don't sound too soft using that word and just to show Whelligan isn't all about soundscapes, there is a jaw dropping piece of Scouse Guitar Pop in the closer. Game Over, which revives the Brass as a Revue band and even has a lullaby instrumental extract to end.

I really don't think you will hear a more affecting song than the gentle Psych of Bedroom Reminiscences, truly heartfelt and what an ace Guitar ending. My Friend 'The Messenger' gets all Jazz and Hero To Clown gets close to a mid 60s Studio Ballad, a little Gene Pitney with a Brass Band. 

There's even room for a couple of short instrumentals, the Canterbury-ish Box Of Roses and the Twanging Beau Jolly. The title may be long, but the album is all too short. I just want more and more. It whisks you into a different time and place, magnificently so.

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist 30 March

The 5th and final playlist of the month. An absolute belter! One to listen to from start to finish. The maximum 30 songs that underline what we are good at and offers up plenty of the usual surprises. Last week's was incredibly popular, this may very well surpass it.

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 those who appear here. 

Phenomenal Cat - The Little Islanders

The Big Believe - Personal Air Traffic Control

Louie Cameron - Canina Canoona

Taylor D - Strange Addiction

Peel - Heaven From Here

Dirty Beau - Backseat Driver

Onesie - Meetcha At Minnies (The Captain's Song)

Bory - Living Proof

Sona Bliss - Take A Ride

Sharp Class - Faith In The Breaks

bothsxdes - addict

My Life As A Bird - Cheers To My Old Friends

Livingmore - Undone

Conor Miley - Raise Your Red Flag

The Idiot Kids - Age Of Instants

Sour Ops - Opting Out

Soviet Dust - Kakadu

The Hanging Stars - The Glass House

The Hopeless Romantics - Maybe We're Not Meant To Be

Hedge Childe - Beckoning The Angels

The Casbahs - Leaves

The Skinny Dippers - Sunshine Overdrive

Greg Williams - Every Day It's Your Birthday

Buttercup - Uncle John

Frog Fortress - Hardcore Band

Weyes Pez - Watching Paint Dry

Modern Olympia - Confirmation

The Living Orchestra - Animal Party

The Violet Twilight - Lime Green

Devotion - The Journey

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My Life As A Bird - The Cabana

Here we celebrate the new and under appreciated and San Jose's Mike Keller fits both camps. His solo project, My Life As A Bird, reaches its second album, hot on the heels of last year's debut album, Sunflower. It is right up our street, in fact it probably lives next door.

Get ready for Guitar Pop of the highest order. It is a Guitar fest of the highest order covering Power Pop, Slacker Pop, Pop Punk and much more. There are big hints of Weezer, but also big crunches. The solos take on epic proportions, at times sounding noisier Not Lame.

The riffs are completely hypnotic and veer into Classic Rock, UK Glam and encompass the likes of Teenage Fanclub and the noisier brand of Power Pop that we all currently adore. There is such a shake yer fist feel to proceedings, but an admiration of the sheer hypnotism of the guitar.

It doesn't fit one area, but encompasses all. The Pop Punk is incredibly melodic, none of that robotic vocal nonsense. It also treads into Emo with not a pair of half pants in sight. I keep coming back to the earlier days of Weezer as a pointer.

I suppose Slacker Rock is really the easiest description, but there is so much more here than that. Towards the end the album surprisingly gets slower. Sadie is built around a mesmerising riff and Who? closes things with a stripped down acoustic delicate feel until it explodes. 

I've deliberately not described other songs to encourage you to delve in to the whole thing. The Cabana is 31 minutes that will underline the glory of Guitar Pop. If you wanted to know where our heart is, it is probably here. What a great album!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Mr Magpie - The Fever Dreams Of Mr Magpie (Official Release)

 

Last year for a week until Sunday 21 December, Mr Magpie made their second album available to listen and download on Bandcamp, at Name Your Price. It didn't feature in our Best Of 2025 because the album was being released this year.

It is an extraordinarily great album. Now it has been released on Vinyl and as a download. The guys from the Peak District offer up a heady mix of restrained Jangle with a hint of Gentle Psych Pop and journeys across both Folk Rock and Classic Rock.

The album is wonderfully restrained allowed the atmospherics and vocal to breathe. It is almost chilled at times. Nervous Breakdown is the song that probably best expresses what they are about incorporating all the genres that I've previously mentioned.

The Boy You Never Knew is splendid Folk, still a hint of Jangle, but acoustically led as a lot of the album is. The song is hypnotic. Dead Orchard Voodoo is a haunting listen until a surprise chaotic Slide Guitar outburst at the close.

Meet Me By The Lighthouse is lyrically adept and almost a Porch or Campfire song. Lloyd Loom is almost Americana and Amanita allows you to envisage endless beautiful landscapes. The album is very laidback yet a cracking listen. Too few bands grip you with such restraint.

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

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Bory - Never Turns To Night

 

Welcome to Portland's Bory and his second album. It is a corking melodic listen. The wonderfully laid back vocals just weave and warp over you around some really all encompassing unusual arrangements. It is an album which gives you real affection to it.

It is also a whistle stop tour around the genres without ever losing its touch and feel. The harmonies are blissful, a little west coast maybe, but it is as at home with Slacker Rock and the Psych Pop ventures are absolutely notable and Psych Pop is always gonna grab me.

So you get the smooth easy listening of The Test contrasting with the 60s Psych Pop of Runner's High, a splendid pastoral pop sort of affair. The dreamy What I Needed acoustically mixing Folk and Indie Pop contests with the top notch Power Pop of Living Proof.

By The Lake is life affirming Jangle Pop, all Glasgow 80s, yet That's Jazz mixes 60s California with Brit Pop and even threatens a little Noise Pop, far more urgent than what else is on display. These are real examples of how great the variety is here.

We'll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It is a masterpiece of an opener, very Andy Partridge in places with a cracking other worldly instrumental arrangement. The arrangements throughout are what seals off a great album. A fascinating listen.

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

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The Pretty Flowers - Never Felt Bitter

 

I absolutely adore The Pretty Flowers. They are everything you could want in a Guitar band. Never Felt Bitter is the band's third album and we've covered the previous two, Why Trains Crash here, A Company Sleeve here. As well as perpetually bothering the Listening To This Week Playlist.

The Los Angeles quartet are anything that you want them to be. A cross between The Replacements and The Killers and everything in-between. They are in touch with what is around that is modern, yet knowledgeable about the past. 

Every album progresses and here is no exception. Album No 3 is a real Guitar album, epic in sound, a big production that doesn't lose touch with their roots. You want something that is in touch with the new noisier breed of Power Pop?, here's Convent Walls.

You want something heavier, down and dirty Garage Rock like?, here's Never Felt Bitter (We Burn).  Something slower, almost ballad like?, here's Not Dissolve. Ring True mixes, Post Punk with Noise Rock, yet remains incredibly melodic. It is possibly my favourite diversion, what a Guitar sound!

There are also anthems. To Be So Cool and Came Back Kicking are great examples. The opener, Thief Of Time sets out the agenda with its surprise Twanging solo that lets you know that this is no ordinary album that you are about to witness.

There is a real lyrical adeptness to discover, courtesy of front man, Noah Green, if you can tear yourself away from the stellar arrangements. Everything you could want from a Guitar band is here. Album Of The Year contender? You betcha!

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

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Ceylon Sailor - the tiny wave EP.

I've been loving this EP and wanting to tell you all about it. It is finally here. Unusually, for a Brooklyn band, this is wonderfully gentle Power Pop The five piece master melody with ease and venture towards Indie Pop vocally.

There's even some wonderful Brass accompaniment on the songs. All are as catchy as catchy can be. Well produced, arranged and performed. The title track has been constantly played here, a pacier affair amongst the four songs.

Candy is more straight ahead Power Pop with hints of 70s Pop. It is the surprises that hit you most on the song, the drum rolls, the 80s synth reminders and most of all that splendid Brass that enhances each and every song.

The Brass Intro on Sold Me Down is killer, as is the chorus. Never And Ever is an Epic collection, a real fanfare. The arrangements are stellar and really mark the material distant from the ordinary. These sort of songs used to be everyday, but not any more, meaning that The Tiny Wave is a real bolt from the blue. Great stuff!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Autos - Autos (Back In Print)

 

Great news from Bobby. Dandyboy are reissuing the Autos Mini Album. One of the best things on here last year. The debut is being reissued in time for Record Store Day on the 18th April. You can read my original review below and listen to the album as well as ordering this really hot ticket.

Dandyboy Records is a label that continually comes up with the goods and here is even more proof. Autos are a quartet that have a Power Pop starting point, but the quartet step further afield, partly due to the strength of Brandon Tomavic's laidback rasping vocals.

Adding in a driving rhythm section and a twin guitar attack, the world is their oyster. This allows them to cross boundaries with ease. Into The Grey heads into UK New Wave territory with its driving riffs and singalong chorus.

Yet on Spark In The Dark fairly races along across boundaries. It feels a little 80s New Wave, but also has a Feargal Sharkey tone to the vocal with some great Guitar Play. Drive gets even more Mainstream. Instrumentally, it is a little Blondie, yet also has hints of UL Glam Rock with a corking chiming riff.

Yet Breakin' The Ice comes across all IRS, even heads towards The Replacements. Whilst Arturo is a massive display of how inventive they can be over a longer time period. A killer jangling riff is accompanied by something much harder, whilst never letting the song break its restraints.

Power Poppers will love these six songs, but there is plenty here for the Indie Kids and Guitar Pop fans. I'm completely convinced, my only regret is that there isn't more to enjoy. I could listen to this forever. A wonderful example of how Guitar Pop can delight without every song having to sound the same.

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

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Sparrowhawk - Sunflowers In The Moonlight

Recommended to me by our great friends at Add To Want List via their review. We are very similar places and meet in the middle. They are a little punkier than us, we perhaps a little more Guitar Pop, but I consider both essential oasis's in a musical world of desert.

Niek mentions that we are in a period of Rock n Roll renaissance and he's absolutely right. I'm fortunate to hear stuff ahead and some of the albums that are to come are amazing. They seem to be centred around the same release dates, but Friday and 17 April are real hot spots.

Have no doubt that Minneapolis's Sparrowhawk are a Rock band. A have a good time all the time sort of band. Very Thin Lizzy in their twin Guitar attack. 70s Classic Rock as a base template, but with an ability to link in Power Pop and UK Glam Rock.

They don't come up for air, those guitars gripping you, shaking you into submission. All riffs and killer solos. Noisy neighbours, but incredibly melodic. The solo on Lonesome Operator is jawdroppingly great in a glad to be alive way.

Down The Line is all Boogie with a California Man riff diversion. Fool's Mercy is Glam Heaven and the riffathon that is Power And The Glory is simply overwhelmingly ace. Again there are Glam overtones, but heavier than you might expect.

Dog Track gets close to Punk and Still Talk About It rattles the dentures. Underneath The Moonlight is so Robertson - Gorman, as is Roll On To Better Things. How about closing things with a 11 minute rock out? The Ranch Trilogy does just that. Awesome!

There's even one small slowdown, just the one, with the Acoustic title track, that reveals an intriguing side to the band. Overall though, this is a little rocky compared to our usual choices. But it is 100% fun and takes you into another universe were all is more than well. Superb!

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

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Otoliths - Lithos

 

Great Guitar based Pop Rock from Oakland via Tom Smith's One Man Band, Otoliths. Everything that a riffaholic needs is here as Lithos cross genres at will with expertise and intent. Packed with melody and Guitar heaven.

The banging Riff and killer solo of Bi-Weekly Lady enhances the mix of 90s Rock and Slacker Rock, yet Maeve's Melody and Bar Pilots are great Jangle Pop and the hippy-ish Limb From Limb enters my beloved Psych Pop avenue.

Minna mixes Classic Rock with 70s Pop Rock and adds a weeping Peter Green like riff. Projectionist is hypnotic with its Americana like instrumental theme, yet it also sounds ethereal with its haunting Guitar accompaniment.

Too Slow goes all West Coast Rock with the gentle vocal and wonderful easy listening harmonies. Crenellations even treads down the Prog Road. Sense In Asking is very close to UK New Wave. Go To Sleep reveals another fine meandering instrumental arrangement.

If you want 11 songs that sound the same, this isn't the album for you. It is multi directional, equally held back and rocking. The variety is laudable. A really interesting listen that will delight you as much as it did me. 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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Headaches - Happy To Be Crappy

 

I love it when a submission for the Listening This Week Playlist leads me to the accompanying album. This is great album, right up our street from the North Devon Trio. Looking at the cover, you would expect something shouty. There's not a bit of that.

The pace is certainly quick and you can imagine what a great live act they are. There are big nods towards Power Pop and 70s New Wave, but also melodic Pop Punk, a little Green Day at times. The sheer energy grips you completely.

I have a lot of time for Pop Punk, but not the robotic vocal type, there's none of that either. At times, the trio instrumentally sound a little Len Price 3 without the mod overtones. The Power Poppers amongst us will adore the album and there is a Ramones feel to the lightning speed.

Picking favourite tracks is difficult because the joy of an album is that you can listen to something complete. I've picked my favourite three to embed, but I would urge all to listen and buy. What's Happenin' reminds me of the great Emo that came through in the 90s from bands that didn't wear half pants.

Scene To Be Scene is anthemic and we can all agree with the sentiments of Superheroes (Run Small Indy Venues). Bucky In The Truck is great Pop Punk. I Wanna Dance (But I Can't) has Canvey Island reminders and Time To Lose is great UK Beat and actually a little Mod Pop.

My only complaint is that the album is over too soon. I just want more and more. Great Riffs, big choruses, songs that you can sing along to. Surprise Guitar solos too. What more could you want? What a great listen!

You can listen to and buy the album for a bargain Fiver here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 23 March

28 songs this week, all of them are essential listening. I don't go on Social Media too often apart from tagging this, but I spent the weekend on the music group on Threads and I was impressed with how engaged and passionate the people, largely musicians, are. None of the negativeness, all about how they can change things.

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 those who appear here. 

Rob Bonfiglio - Monsters

Robertson - Illusion To Me

Duncan And The Dragonslayers - Wish I Could Wish You

Hard To Miss - Spinning

Tory Silver - Microwave

Salieri And The Turnspit Dogs - The Thief In The Fruit Tree

Rizla Silvers - Disconnect

The Wave Pictures -  Alice

Headaches - Supermarket Fantasy

Ben Auld - Red Bandana

Benji Kaplan - Ticking Time Bomb Serenade

The Empty Page - A Feminine Ending

The Collective - Saturday Night In A Northern Town

The Greenberry Woods - Whenever You Want Me Too

Trial Tapes - 42

The Fast Camels - L.A.

Prism Shores - Magical Thinking

Pete Davies - I Didn't Want To Do That

Seadog - Against The Grain

Soft No - Oxford Street

Max Threat - Thrown

MAX THREAT · Thrown

Celestial Sailors - Yes You Can

Matthew Squires And Sunk Coast - Wing Song

Davey Harris - Burnin' 

Davey Harris · Burnin

Shake Some - Rest Hide

Telephone Romeo - Ways Of The World

Raine - Summer Rain

Boni - Serious

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Outfit - Preservers Of The Pearl

 

Daniel Romano is back and his Outfit are named as stand alone. A proper band now who have brought along Strings and Brass and everything without losing any of the thing that made them amongst the new breed of Power Pop.

Canada still leads the world of Guitar Pop presently and here Outfit prove that. They still have that melodic joy and riffs that resonate, but they add even more. The One/The Many even heads down the Bob Dylan road.

The title track gets all jaunty with its Revue like Brass and the wonderful harmonies. The latter are a real feature of the album. Autopoiet revels in its 60s Psych Pop vibe and just listen to those harmonies on the West Coast Rock of Play With The Wild.

The majestic Classic Rock of Secret Of The Eye is as relevant as the urgency of Unsseable Root with its overtones of The Who. Phantasy is a great example of the variety on display. A song that sounds like Garage Rock instrumentally, yet has a Glam Rock chorus.

Any of the 14 songs could be embedded here, I have to pick 3. Preservers Of The Pearl is the sum of its parts. An album with grace and great songwriting, stellar arrangements and harmonies with excellence. It is as at ease with the up and at 'em, but the reflective songs are truly amazing. A quartet to die for!

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

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Rob Bonfiglio - The Over Under

 

It has been 8 long years since Rob Bonfiglio's last solo album and it's great to have him back. 2018's Trouble Again, an album that featured heavily in our Best 100 Albums Of that year. He has a storied career behind him and that experience really comes to the fore here.

A key part of one of my all time favourite Power Pop bands of all time, Wanderlust, you can also read Mick's extensive interview with the band here. He is also Guitarist and Musical Director for Wilson Phillips as well as an in demand Session Guitarist.

Many have him down as a Not Lame-esque Power Pop which has never really been the case. The Over Under feels more Pop Rock with departures into other areas, although Runnin' From Me certainly fits that description.

The title track is more 80s, particularly with the US New Wave synth, but it is also a little funky. Yet Fade Away is very Americana with some great Pedal Steel from Xandy Chelmis. Wandering Eyes is very very Matthew Sweet like.

The album reminds me a lot of Andrew Gold without the piano a fair bit, which is a complement. There is also an absolute gem within. Monsters is absolutely stellar, a little Butch Walker when he was relevant. All in All a wonderful melodic listen.

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

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Robertson - Robertson

 

Keith Klingensmith's Futureman label has revealed many gems to these aging ears. One of the most pleasing was The Vapour Trails, an Aberdeen five piece that jingled and jangled with a brand of West Coast Rock that was totally engaging.

Kevin Robertson and his son Scott were key parts of that band and as Kevin went solo, Scott was still around. That solo career showed a different side of the man, the jangle was still there, but enhanced by treading into other genres.

His last solo album, last year's Yellow Painted Moon was magnificent, an Electric Guitar-athon that encompassed Power Pop, Indie Rock and Psych Pop and deservedly finished high up in our Best 100 Albums Of 2025. You can read my review here.

Robertson is the combination of both father and son. The same line up as Yellow Painted Moon with Nick Bertling on Drums as well as producing. As you might expect from someone who has never stood still. the direction differs slightly.

These 12 songs are more insular, folk at times, not the hey nonny no variety, more melodic. It has a laidback feel that seems extremely content in the surroundings. The vocals and harmonies are much more to the front and the Guitars at times more Acoustic

There's still nods to what has gone before. The West Coast Jangle Pop of Don't Know What It Means for instance. Illusion To Me is splendid Psych Pop that melts my heart and Noon At Night is top notch Americana.

There are also big surprises. Get In The Parlour, Jean adds haunting cello from Marco Pescosolido, a song so good that it gets a second part later in the album. Ahren Buchheister plays pedal steel on Sticking Around as well as the aforementioned Noon At Night. The string arrangement from Kateryna Mytrofanova & Alexey Zavgorodny on Is It Wrong? is jaw dropping.

But Today is real Cambridge Folk with a wonderful Brass Arrangement, that is a little Spaghetti Western. To You is yeah man UK Beat. The highlight for me is Illusion To Me, largely because of my love of the genre, but it doesn't put a note wrong. Kevin Robertson is never offers up the same album twice and here is another great album.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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The Foot & Leg Clinic - Sit Down For Rock And Roll

 

Formerly The Wife Guys Of Reddit and forced to change their name by a cease and desist, welcome to Glasgow's The Foot & Leg Clinic. What a debut album this is. If you want to know what Indie means, it is potentially this. 

The album offers up whatever you need. Angular, yet Indie Pop. Want some Garage Rock? How about a little Psych. Female or Male Vocal? Indie Pop, no problem! Noisy or Gentle. It really is a bonkers album, yet totally sane. At its heart, it is Pop, but very unordinary Pop.

Intelligence and Innovation oozes out it, but if you want something straight ahead, OK. There is a fascination with Worms and what is wrong with that. The female vocals are a little Indie Pop, the male more Rocky, but the parts together are equally amazing.

Where Did All The Fruit Go? even ventures into Power Pop with a slight touch of UK Glam Rock. The Mariposal Antedote is folky Psych Pop. Simon Kitchen's Drystone Miracle is instrumentally amazing and driven by a really funky bassline.

Songs are built on killer riffs that grip you completely. There's even a hypnotic one on the delicate...Halycon which morphs into and incredible Guitar wig out. The angular The Early Bird is splendid Indie and maybe the best thing here.

Worms 2 is utterly bizarre, yet completely engaging, both lyrically and instrumentally. Indeed, the whole album is. Sit Down For Rock A Roll risks being one of those albums raves about and nobody buys. This is an outlier in the annals of Scots Pop, don't let it be that.

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

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The Gold Needles - Mood Elevator

 

Over to Hull for I Don't Hear A Single regulars, The Gold Needles. I'm sort of proud of our association with them since 2018's debut album, Pearls. I've reviewed all three previous albums which have appeared in our Best 100 Albums Of The Year.

They are a band that support others, something that doesn't always happen here in the UK. They fit perfectly on the Big Stir label, a sort of natural home and I also feel a little guilty about taking 3 months to review this fourth album.

To be honest, the December release date was a strange one. We leave the Reviews and the resulting Best Of Year, but I just couldn't get around to a proper listen with all the tying things up and preparing for the End Of Year thing. We intend to approach 2026 differently with an earlier publication date as the way we have approached things in the past means it is mid February before we get into the following year.

So I felt that getting to March may be the best time to present this review as the Best Of 2026 is out of the way and out of sight. I can now concentrate on the words for this melodic gem. As ever beautifully produced centring more around Pop Rock.

There's a lot to note, but I'll concentrate on a few main takes. Firstly, Simon Dowson's pipes are as in great form, gentle for most of the time, but wonderfully affecting. Secondly, his guitar work is stunning, through riffs and solos, this is a Guitar album of the highest order.

Finally, Mood Elevator is a Pop Rock album, but this time the genre leans more towards Power Pop. The Psych Pop has been largely smoothed out. I'm a bit sad about that, but a more focussed direction certainly helps a great deal.

There are outliers which work well, for instance the funk and 80s synth led title track. Crescent Moon gets a little Classic Rock, but jangles wonderfully. Pale Blue Silver Eyes sounds more 70s, the vocal is very Justin Hayward.

Turns To Gold even has UK Glam Rock overtones. But it is the Power Pop that resonates most. I Don't Know About That, Eleven Eleven and Keep On Telling Me Why are absolute winners as the whole album does. Pop Rock never sounded so good.

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

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Motorists - Never Sing Alone

 

Motorists have become one of my favourite Guitar Pop bands. As I mentioned in my review of their second 2024 album, Touched By The Stuff, the development of the Toronto quartet was plain to hear, with its bigger production. You can read my review here.

That album featured heavily in our Best Albums Of 2024 and album No 3 continues those strides forward, adding even more variety and strings to their bow without ever losing sight of their Power Pop excellence. There is a smoother mellower vibe at times here and it complements those strengths wonderfully.

Diogenes gets all UK C86 Pop and Anomaniacs goes Jangle Pop, whilst Man In The Circular Window ventures into pastoral gentle 60s Psych Pop. These three songs are in the middle of the album, showing that this is no front loaded affair.

Next Blue Kings isn't a million miles away from Squeeze or Crowded House with its hypnotic riff and killer bassline and Scattered White Horses is great classic Power Pop. The Damage even enters UK Glam Rock, very Chinn and Chapman.

Cristobal opens and is pacier, more Indie Rock and an R.E.M. reminder instrumentally. PCSD takes that vibe even further, it could easily be a song on the IRS label, more street vocally. The closer, Reprise< could be Dropkick or modern day Teenage Fanclub. Motorists are a band that keeps on giving.

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

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Lone Assembly - Knots & Chains

 

We don't usually go for something so Synth 80s heavy, so many do it and it always seems to sound the same. But Swiss quartet Lone Assembly show how great this genre can be in the right hands. Knots & Chains never sticks in one area alone.

There is the straight ahead, but also departures into Post Punk, Goth, Darkwave and Pop allow the band to stretch themselves. At times you are reminded of Japan, but also Sisters Of Mercy and A-ha. There is even an Ultravox vibe at times, a darker one maybe.

The arrangements are hypnotic, beautifully arranged and in keyboard player, Raphael Bressler, they have an extraordinary vocalist. His vocal resonates splendidly, it is totally engrossing. On Call Of The Swift, it even gets close to Bryan Ferry.

The songs are soundscapes that allow that vocal to thrive and boy, does it thrive. When the instrumentals are more laidback, it allows that vocal to come front and centre, such as on You're Pulling At The Same Strings and A Dark Score. The latter is epic.

Although the Synths denote the genres, the other three band members shouldn't be ignored. The rhythm section is awesome and when Glenn Le Meur's Guitar takes hold, you note that there is far more to this foursome. They are a sum of their parts, but that vocal is to die for.

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

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The Dream Machine - Fort Perch Rock

 

New Brighton five piece The Dream Machine offer up their third album and it is a belter. There is something about the Wirral bands that may come from the River Mersey. They master gentle Psych whilst are able wholeheartedly to garner the Guitar Pop that resides across the water.

The single, Things That Make Us Cry, previewed this strength, part The Coral but with a Power Pop beat, a wistful joy, laidback, yearning and incredibly hypnotic. There is plenty of that here, but also plenty that isn't. 

The Dream Machine · Flowers On The Razorwire

Duck Bone Fever is a heady mix of 60s UK Beat and Garage Psych, yet I Had A Friend is very close to Merseybeat. Night Owls is moody and magnificent, yet The Best Days Of Life is Acoustic Folk or even Americana.

The First Bird instrumentally could be Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, wonderfully so, haunting almost. The title track allows the band to break out, approaching 60s R and B with magnificent Guitar solos that match the driving organ amidst the all together now feel.

The Dream Machine · Duck Bone Fever

My personal fave is Flowers On The Razorwire with its jauntiness and La's like vocal. It has a killer chorus. But the album itself is a splendid affair. It shows its influences, but also shows the band revelling in their own sound. Highly Recommended.

The Dream Machine · Things That Make Us Cry

You can listen to the album here. You can buy the physical album everywhere.