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.

Quinn Hawkins - Eccentric

 

Well into our 10th year, this like going back to the beginning, the sort of thing that I Don't Hear A Single was built on. It is astonishingly great, Intelligent Indie, but much more than that. Pop Rock of the highest order. What an essential listen this is.

San Francisco's Quinn Hawkins has hit our sweet spot. At times, it is Brit Pop, but most of all, in many others it is Andy Partridge-esque in both the second half of XTCs career and even Dukes Period. It is wonderfully put together with unexpected arrangements.

It stays wonderfully melodic, equally adept at both Piano Pop and Psych Pop. There isn't a duff song amongst the 11. Even a more straight ahead song such as Different Level Of Hell should just be Piano Pop, but the instrumentation takes it into greater depth, particularly with the Guitar work.

Nothing Seems To Kill Me Now starts as a sort of Geeky ballad, but turns into a wonderfully gentle Psych Pop arrangement. Cleaning Out My Mind is Brit Pop, but with another splendid arrangement. Indeed, a lot of songs become something else has they progress. This adds stellar closing harmonies.

But is the XTC comparisons that resonate the most. We don't have miss them and this is as near as you are gonna get. You'll have heard I Can't Wait To Go Bed Every Night on the current Listening To This Week Playlist and it's a cracker.

But that is matched by both (Back Off) I'm On Vacation and Souvenir In The Dirt. These are masterful slices of Guitar Pop. This is one of those albums that you just can't believe has come into your possession. Album Of The Year potential? You betcha and we are only mid March.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It cries out for a physical release. 

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